The violence of freedom April 1, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Buddhism, Jesus, Movies, Violence, War.add a comment
My wife and I finally saw “300″ the other night. Well, I didn’t see all of it; I hid my eyes. Peeked a couple of times and saw stuff I didn’t want to see — often seemed to be heads flying assunder from their bodies.
Bloody, bloody, bloody; but beautiful, too. It’s odd to see a film that is both visually alluring and disgustingly violent, and it was not the violence that was alluring. The visual was a frame for the disgusting.
Why did I close my eyes? Afraid? Yes. Not of being grossed out, though I was, but of what that violence does to one’s brain and spirit.
I listened recently to an audio book titled Living Buddha, Living Jesus, by Thich Nhat Hanh. He talked about Buddhism as teaching that a person should only bring good into his or her body. Food and drugs, of course, fit into that; but Hanh also spoke of bringing violence into our minds through the things we watch, reach and see. I kept thinking of that book as I watched “300″. I felt polluted, that I was allowing a crafty filmmaker to pour evil into my soul.
Of course, the basic point of the movie is good — freedom is worth the sacrifice of one’s life. At least that’s what we in the West or the United States believe. So maybe in order to sustain a culture of freedom we must continuously be reminded that our liberty required deaths in the past and will require more.
One thing I like about today’s war movies, like “300″ and ”Saving Private Ryan”, is that they do not make war seem only to be a heroic affair. They show it to be grossly vicious, unbelievably dehumanizing, even animalistic behavior.
Freedom requires war and death because there are those who fear freedom or want power or harbor ethnic prejudices.
I don’t know how to completely hormonize freedom’s need for defensive war with Jesus’ turn the other cheek. Jesus, I’m convinced, points us to a heavenly world that is not this one; but I think He’s given us insight to begin creating shades of the heavenly even now.
Summation: War is terrible. Freedom is good. Jesus, and Buddha, would want freedom and not war. It’s a shame that some people want only war or freedom, but I’m afraid you cannot have freedom without war when you live in a fallen, sinful world. This is not heaven, “300″ reminds us; but I hate the violence of it.
Modern day Persians March 19, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Military, Movies.Tags: Middle East
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I haven’t seen it, but the movie “300″ may provide the United States, my beloved country, with an important reminder. That reminder will not come from the movie itself, I suspect; but it will come if people learn about the true story of the battle of Thermopylae. The reminder — the arrogance of the powerful will lead to destruction.
In America, we want to identify with the Greeks of this battle; but I fear we have much in common with the Persians. They had the greatest empire of their time, unbelievable in scope and power; and, from what I can tell, the Persians were not terrible rulers. They allowed a measure of independence and religious freedom in the lands they ruled.
The problem with the Persians was that they got mad and sought to teach the Greeks a lesson. The Greeks had burned Sardis, a city under Persian control, and the greatest empire in the world sought to teach the Greeks a lesson. Their first attempt, a sea invasion, failed; so Xerxes sent a giant army and navy to do the deed. The army won the land battle at Thermopylae and then burned Athens, but their navy was damaged to the point where Xerxes had to tuck tail and run. The Greeks eventually, over a number of decades, pushed the Persians back to central Asia and gained an empire of their own.
The United States is now the world’s largest, most powerful nation. And we have made the Persian mistake — we have thought that we can do whatever we want because we are the biggest and the baddest.
Greece stood because the Persian threat brought the various warring Greek city-states together in common defense. With our uncalled-for attack on Iraq and our threatened attack on Iran, the United States is on the verge of doing the same thing in our time. (Afghanastan was a different matter. It really was part of a war on terror.)
The victory of the Greeks over the Persians made possible the flowering of Western civilization. If the West, read United States, is not careful we will doom Western civilization. Just because we have the power to pursue certain ends does not mean we should.
The United States of America is the greatest nation in the history of the world. I pray we can learn again that principles of right and wrong must govern the use of our power.
For the “least of these” March 1, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Christianity, Faith, Movies.Tags: Amazing Grace
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God still amazes me. I wrote yesterday that after seeing the movie “Amazing Grace” I prayed with my two youngest children and asked God to help us be like William Wilberforce, to help us see people in our world today who need our help, who need our protection, who need our action.
Yesterday, in a meeting, the group was dealing with a senstive issue and I thought of Wilberforce. After a pretty tricky discussion, I said something like, “You may shout me down for suggesting this, but I feel I need to put this on the table.” I made the proposal, and it carried the day. The organization I work for appears to be ready to go to a higher level in helping some people who have victimized in a particular way.
Forgive me for the vagueness of this post, but I must. My main point is not about the issue, it’s about how God stands ready to help us stand for the “least of these” among us.
“Being like William” may become my personal rallying cry; and, of course, that means “being like Jesus.”
Be like William February 28, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Children, Movies, Slavery.Tags: Amazing Grace
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Last night when I prayed with my two youngest children, ages 9 and 12, I asked God to help us be like William Wilberforce, to help us see people in our world today who need our help, who need our protection, who need our action.
My wife and I took our children to see the moving “Amazing Grace” about Wilberforce that afternoon. Both children stayed with it all the way even though it was more dialogue driven than action centered. I was so proud of them. Afterword, my 12-year-old said she didn’t know which she liked better, “Amazing Grace” or “Freedom Writers”, another great story.
I must say I wonder something. Would my children be so attuned to history and more thoughtful fare if they were not homeschooled? We started homeschooling this academic year, and I believe I already can see a difference. Before this experience our children already were better behaved and more academically inclined that most children, but the academic interest does seem to have increased.
I give my wife great credit for her work with the children; and I give the children kudos because we have always stressed that they share a responsibility in their education.
No matter how we educate our children, I hope parents will take them to see “Amazing Grace.” Some child watching this movie today may be the William Wilberforce of tomorrow.
It is said that Wilberforce, while still a boy, was introduced to John Newton, who wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace.” Later in life when Wilberforce was “awakened to religious concern and sought the good man’s advice, Newton told him that since their first acquaintance he had not ceased to pray for him.” (from ‘But Now I See’: The Life of John Newton by Josiah Bull, p. 282, Banner of Truth edition)
Amazed by grace February 28, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Movies, Politics, Religion, Slavery.Tags: Amazing Grace
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William Wilberforce. It’s a name most Americans have never heard. It’s a name that maybe millions now will come to know.
The new movie, “Amazing Grace”, is in theaters now and tells the story of Wilberforce’s long but eventually successful effort to end the British slave trade. It’s an inspiring story, one that reveals clearly Wilberforce’s great desire to serve God by serving mankind.
The movie’s title comes from the song that so many of us know and love. Wilberforce was influenced in his work by John Newton, the former slave trader who wrote the classic film.
This is a movie about story. It’s not about special effects and wild action.
More personally, it made me cry. I asked myself who are the vulnerable people of my time who need my involvement on their behalf.
Back from Terabithia February 20, 2007
Posted by Alien Drums in Bible, Books, Christianity, Movies, Religion, Salvation, Scripture, Spirituality, Truth.add a comment
The fam and I just arrived home from seeing the movie, “The Bridge to Terabithia”. Very good. My 12-year-old daughter said she liked it but that it was different from the book.
I am not as literate as my daughter at this level of reading, so the movie was my first exposure to the story. I loved one conversation between the primary boy and girl (Jess and Leslie) and and his younger sister (May Belle). The youngest girl said something like you have to believe the Bible or you’ll be damned to hell. The older girl didn’t believe it, and I agree with her. You don’t have to believe in the Bible, you have to believe in Jesus.
Now I know that last sentence is a rather elementery description, but sometimes I just like to keep it really, really simple. Some of you want to expand that last clause into a full-length book, while others of you are a little uncomfortable with such things being said about the Bible, and still others of you are really hung up on that last “have to”.
I leave you in that discomfort and end with a quote from book during that same conversation. (My wife found it for me.)
Leslie, the one who had never been to church, says: “It’s crazy, isn’t it? … You [Jess and May Belle] have to believe it, but you hate it. I don’t have to believe it, and I think it’s beautiful.”
