Chritians are Satisfied in Vanity Fair

Carl Trueman writes this a penetrating article about how evangelicals tend to domesticate our radicals, referring specifically to Jesus, but spending most of his time on C.S. Lewis and John Bunyan--very interesting!

At the end of the article, he explains the sinful reasons why we tend to domesticate our radicals in this very insightful paragraph:

"Given the way in which evangelical culture in America is so deeply embedded in the systems, practices and aspirations of American culture in general–-from its colleges and seminaries to its publishing houses to its relentless vision of `big is best’ to its personality cults of celebrity theologians to its mega-ministries to its amazing ability to transform anyone – even the patrician Anglican C S Lewis and the radical tinker John Bunyan – into friendly evangelical allies, the outlook is not bright. To put it bluntly, we live in Vanity Fair, and we seem to be quite happy there."

People, pastors and churches that don't address this reality will have a very difficult time experiencing sanctification while being so unknowingly and satisfyingly embedded in the sin-driven culture that we tend to love so much.

Rambo 4...Finally!!!

For those of you who've been waiting to see how disgruntled Vietnam vet John Rambo's been doing, Sylvester Stallone is bringing him back for a fourth installment. Yippie!!!

There are two very interesting things from this article that I must share with you.

First, listen to the description of the plot: "Rambo finds himself recruited by a group of Christian human rights missionaries to protect them against pirates, during a humanitarian aid delivery to the persecuted Karen people of Burma. After some of the missionaries are taken prisoner by sadistic Burmese soldiers, Rambo gets a second impossible job: to assemble a team of mercenaries to rescue the surviving relief workers." I really didn't need an excuse to do so before, but now I really want to see the movie just to watch Rambo maybe become a Christian.

Second, and this is the best part, is the headline of the article: "Stallone hires 30-year-old body double as he resurrects Rambo." All I have to say is, when I'm 60 I hope a 30 year-old could be my body double.

So that it fits the theme of this blog, is it a sin that I want to see this movie?

Rocky VI

Click here and learn, like I just did, that Sylvester Stallone got his inspiration for Rocky Balboa in the person of, are you ready for this, Jesus Christ!

Also, I had no idea Stallone, best known to my generation by his indestructibility and prolific body counts as John Rambo, claimed to be a Christian.

This makes me want to see Rocky VI now too.

However, is the point of mentioning things like Stallone being a Christian and the Nativity Story being blocked from the Chicago fair that it will make Christians want to see it?

As there's been a gradual blurring of the lines between news and advertising (if you want proof, watch CBS' 60 Minutes when Simon & Schuster has a new book [both are owned by Viacom] or LA's KABC 7 News when Disney [ABC's parent company] has a new movie) are these two stories really meant to be subtle forms of marketing?

Haggard Gay-Sex Scandal

If you haven't already heard about the tragic scandal revolving around Ted Haggard, please see the posts at hubmaier.blogspot.com with the same title as this one.

Though the evidence is starting look pretty bad for Haggard, let's hope it's not true.

UPDATE: It was true. Check the blog above for the story.

Jesus is NOT your Homeboy

This is another in a long line of examples in our culture that trivialize the least trivial Person, by any standard, who's ever existed. No one needs to debunk Christianity through dialogue and debate anymore. Today, it's simply overlooked as insignificant because it's Founder is no longer seen as the One before whom "every knee should bow" (Phil 2:10) as Lord and King of the Universe. He is just another in a long line of pop culture icons that have their "day in the sun" before being put on the shelf while they wait to be reinvented. No wonder God rests so inconsequentially upon a Christianity who thinks we honor Him when we market Him like a commodity and consume Him like a product. What happened to witnessing with our lips and our lives, not with our t-shirts and tattoos?

Postmoderns are Pre-Modern

In the middle of the last chapter of the Confessions, Book V, I came across this line as Augustine (354-430 AD) is describing his struggle committing to or leaving the Manicheans: "the method of the Academics—doubting everything and fluctuating between all the options" (V.14:25). [If you want to read the quote in context, click the title above.]

The intelligencia of his day both doubted everything and were a shifting shadow "between all options." Hmm.... Doubting everything...? Waffling among all points of view...? These pre-moderns sound awfully, um, post-modern. Maybe postmodernism isn't all that "post" after all.

What do you think? Leave a comment.