Dead Poets and the Gospel

A few months back my wife and I watched Dead Poet's Society. Surprisingly a first for me.

It is a well-known movie starring Robin Williams, Mr. Keating, as the iconic professor who stands up to a boy prep's schools "regime" and way of teaching - and he encourages the boys to think for themselves and to be poetic.

There is one scene in particular that I like and can tell us something about the Gospel. This is one of the early scenes of Mr. Keating introducing the boy's to poetry... really good stuff :)

When I saw this it struck me as a great analogy to relating the Gospel to today's generation.

It seems like the world and many of my peers have read about Christianity and the Church in a sort of a "J. Evans Pritchard, PhD" sort of a way. Either from the media or a detached religion teacher or bored parent. And they are left with a view of God that is distant, a behavior nazi, judge, boxed-in, narrow, etc.

Not the unspeakable and personal love of the Trinity many of us have experienced- loving Father, brilliant and compassionate and strong Savior, and fiery Spirit.

What we need are impassioned followers of Jesus - Christians, Catholics - ready and able to tell the Gospel in its fullness, beauty, and passion (better than Mr. Keating, cause poetry ain't that good :)

To take what could be explained very easily in a dry textbook on "Christianity 101" and squeeze the essense out of the Good News...

"But poetry, beauty, romance, love -- these are what we stay alive for."

"That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse."

This is the beauty of being captivated by Jesus... Its more than encountering beauty and love... But it is overflowing to others in mission. One full of danger, romance, adventure, sacrifice, tears and joy!

What are your thoughts on this clip? What does it stir in you?

The New Atheism

So, circulating in academia and increasingly in postmodern culture is a new resurgence of disbelief in God that has been dubbed 'the new atheism.' This comes in two forms: 1) outright intellectual challenges to Christianity and 2) the subtle or not-so-subtle influence of media and the daily practical agnosticism of many peoples' lives, including 'believers.'

One of the most recent challenges comes from the world of comedy. Its a movie that just hit box offices on October 3, by Bill Maher, called 'Religulous.' Yeah, a combo of religion and ridiculous. Before we write it off as "ridiculous" in and of itself - which it is - we must realize this medium of a comedic video like this is extremely powerful to the media generation and thus it is dangerous. If you watch the trailer (above link), be careful, Bill is slick as I would imagine the devil is - checkout what follows below...

Thankfully, Fr. Robert Barron, among others, has offered an intelligent and inspiring rebuttal of this film:

Regarding the more intellectual side of the 'new atheism' Chuck Colson has this to say:

You know these names, or at least you know many of them: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens. They’re some of the best known of the “New Atheists,” the group that’s launched a massive public assault against religion over recent years.

Now here are some more names that you need to know: Ravi Zacharias, Alister McGrath, Timothy Paul Jones, and Dinesh D’Souza, among others. These are just some of the outstanding Christian apologists leading the charge against the New Atheists. Each of these distinguished authors has recently published a book targeted at a specific New Atheist, and their arguments are devastating to the atheistic worldview.

First is Ravi Zacharias’s latest book, The End of Reason, a response to Sam Harris’s Letter to a Christian Nation. Ravi Zacharias is one of the great Christian thinkers of our time, and one of my own favorite apologists.

Just like Harris’s book, Zacharias’s book is written in the form of a letter to the American people. But as Zacharias points out, “By the end of Sam Harris’s Letter to a Christian Nation, we don’t know who we are in essence or where we are in the grand scheme of a world without God."

Zacharias wants to set that situation straight. He knows the atheistic worldview all too well, as he states in the book, because he used to share it. And it drove him to the brink of suicide.

It was not until he was given a Bible and came to Christ that his life was turned around. He spends the rest of the book explaining why atheism is “devastating to our hunger for significance,” while the God of the Bible gives us meaning, purpose, and hope.

Then there’s The Dawkins Delusion? by Oxford scholars Alister and Joanna McGrath, which, as the title suggests, deals with Richard Dawkins’s popular book The God Delusion. The McGraths pull no punches about Dawkins’s book; in fact, they ask, “Is the case for atheism really so weak that it has to be bolstered by such half-baked nonsense?”

Lest you think that’s going a little too far, the atheistic philosopher Michael Ruse actually endorsed the McGraths’ book by saying that Dawkins’s work “makes me embarrassed to be an atheist, and the McGraths show why.”

Though Alister McGrath respects Dawkins intelligence and used to be an atheist, himself, he says the kind of blistering and abusive rhetoric that Dawkins resorts to isn’t worthy of him and is easy to take apart.

Then we have Misquoting Truth by Timothy Paul Jones, a response to Bart Ehrman’s book Misquoting Jesus. In contrast to Ehrman, who argues that the Bible is full of changes and mistakes, Jones provides a serious, thorough examination of how the Scripture was compiled and passed down to us over the years, and why we can trust it.

Finally, Dinesh D’Souza’s What’s So Great About Christianity is a very effective answer to Christopher Hitchens’ God Is Not Great.

So don’t forget those names—again, that’s Ravi Zacharias, Alister and Joanna McGrath, Timothy Paul Jones, Dinesh D’Souza—and come visit our website, BreakPoint.org, to find out how you can get copies of their books. You can also order a copy of my book The Faith, which answers many of these same charges. The charges of the New Atheists are all sound bite and no substance. These books will equip you to challenge those baseless assumptions.

Also, if you don't feel like delving into a serious book responding to the new atheism, checkout this Web site which houses quite a few apologetic articles specifically responding to the new atheism.

Finally, a prayer:

Lord Jesus, I ask you would keep me "abiding in you" and in your love. I ask that you would protect me from deception and help me to share with others the light and love I've found in faith in you. Thank you so much for the faith you've given me! Amen!

Ben Stein's Documentary

Ben Stein's controversial documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, about the possibility of an intelligent designer who created the universe (i.e. God) is coming to theaters this weekend! He interviews scientists who have lost their careers and reputations for questioning the theory of Darwinism and suggesting that, scientifically, there may be evidence of an superior intelligent being who created the universe. Ben Stein shows how the theory of Darwinism is infiltrating the media, the courtrooms, school systems and society in general. Freedom of speech is impeded on those who point out the flaws in this theory. If you would like more information on this documentary or to find it in theaters near you click here, and check out the trailer below:

And Action!

I don't know about you but I don't get the opportunity to be in movies very often, so when I had the chance to go to Philly to be an extra in a new movie called Our Lady of Victory I was pretty excited. Although doing "extra" work was not everything I ever hoped and dreamed of, it was a pretty good time. In addition to spending hours waiting to go on set and then hours on set being really quiet and doing the same thing over and over, I had the opportunity to talk about Jesus! Now, it wasn't anything amazing – no mass conversions or anything - but just talking about faith a couple times reminded me of how simple sharing Christ can be.
The first opportunity I had was while on a bus on the way to the set. It was about a 10 min. ride but I had to sit with a stranger. Of course we went through the normal introductions listing who, what, where, ect. and eventually we got into where we work. She is married and does "extra" work a good amount and I introduced myself as a summer intern at ChristLife: a Catholic ministry of Evangelization. From then we continued on, chatting about faith here and there and discussing the importance of knowing Christ as your personal Savior and then sharing your faith. This little chat got me excited for the rest of the day as I looked for more opportunities to share Christ's love.
To my surprise and joy the scene we were shooting was in a Catholic Church. So, sitting quietly for 4 hours on hard wooden pews was a task my body was all too well trained for and of course the setting lent itself to an easy discussion of faith. During the scene the "priest" read from 1 Peter making sure to emphasize the verse “wives submit to your husbands” and that women are the weaker sex and then, according to the script, the priest was to go on giving a very sexist homily. During a short scene break I turned to a girl near me and we discussed the verse from 1 Peter. We shook our heads sadly at the movie's misuse of the verse, recognizing important parts that were dropped and I summarized Ephesians 5:25, 28 which says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.” The other women near us overheard our conversation and began chatting on their own about the movie’s misrepresentation of the Catholic Church and the Mass in various ways.
After a few similar conversations I inwardly rejoiced in the Lord for having the chance to talk about faith in an easy casual way. Hopefully I’ll continue to take advantage of the little ways I can share Christ’s love daily on set and off.

Into Great Silence

I went to a showing of this movie, Into Great Silence, last week with some friends in Baltimore. Its an independent film that was produced in Europe last year. Here's the movie's own description:
Nestled deep in the postcard-perfect French Alps, the Grande Chartreuse is considered one of the world’s most ascetic monasteries. In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Gröning wrote to the Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about them. They said they would get back to him. Sixteen years later, they were ready. Gröning, sans crew or artificial lighting, lived in the monks’ quarters for six months—filming their daily prayers, tasks, rituals and rare outdoor excursions. This transcendent, closely observed film seeks to embody a monastery, rather than simply depict one—it has no score, no voiceover and no archival footage. What remains is stunningly elemental: time, space and light. One of the most mesmerizing and poetic chronicles of spirituality ever created, INTO GREAT SILENCE dissolves the border between screen and audience with a total immersion into the hush of monastic life. More meditation than documentary, it’s a rare, transformative theatrical experience for all.

Overall I agree with the review above - it was very good - and different... I must say I've never been to a movie with so much silence ... it was a bit hard at first to watch because we are so used to action and noise... but, as I got used to it, it grew on me. It is a movie that, if approached in the right way, is very profound and can move you to prayer and meditation of the God who reveals himself "not in the earthquake or the thunder, etc." but in a "whisper" (see 2 Kings). It is also remiscent of the Psalmist who says "For God alone my soul waits in silence."

In addition to the daily lives of the monks - there are many impressive and artistic shots of the nature that surrounds the monastery.

If you have a friend who is interested in the arts or in learning more about the experience of living in a monastery... well this is a good film. It also - is not overtly Catholic - in that you could go with Joe Smo the agnostic - and they would probably be comfortable throughout the movie... it may even spark a conversation or - the joy in the monk's own lifestyle - may witness of the beauty and joy of knowing Jesus.

Checkout the trailer online, if interested in seeing it.

Anyone else seen this movie? Do you think it provides a chance for evangelization? Or maybe is a turnoff?

Spiderman III

From Fr. Mike, a Dominican priest who is a lead contributor at an excellent blog called Intentional Disciples:

Christianity Today has a movie review about the new Spiderman movie that might be interesting to read if you plan to see the movie... Apparently, the Peter Parker/Spiderman character has to deal with his own pride and vengeance. According to Mark Moring, the reviewer, "The movie's tagline is "The Battle Within," and the story is reminiscent of St. Paul's struggle with his sinful nature in Romans 7: "I do not understand what I do," the apostle writes. 'For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.' The film is rife with themes of love, friendship, pride, vengeance, confession, repentance, forgiveness and redemption. No kidding—it's all there … not to mention a critical scene in a church that I won't say much about here."

If you've seen the film, would you recommend it to others? Is it something that might generate a discussion on the topics of temptation, repentance, confession, forgiveness, redemption or virtue with someone who is not a Catholic?