Mac-man

I have stepped into a different world.

Are you a Redneck Calvinist?

Refreshing humor from the Calvinist Gadfly.

You might be a Redneck Calvinist if…

the church you attend is not seeker-friendly, but cigar-friendly.

you hear “Free Will,” and think about bailing out your cousin “Will” in jail.

your dad uses the double barrel shotgun for his own “effectual calling.”

you think that an Amyrauldian is road kill.

BHT means Barbeque Hogs Tonight.

the only overalls you will buy are made by Calvin.

you compliment your wife with, “God has ordained your voice to sound like a chainsaw.”

your church has justified to include the banjo and harmonica under the Regulative Principle.

your church refuses to call the church picnic a Potluck.

you have the five solas tattooed on your arm.

No, that's not my arm.

Return of the Kong

King Kong roared into theaters Wednesday, December 14th. Apparently the opening was the 21st all-time single day at little less than 10 million. I don't think the anticipation is as great as they thought. And repeat viewing won't be either.

I saw it last night and unfortunately I was disappointed. Say what? This is PJ!?! This is the guy who made Lord of the Rings!?! I wanted to like the big ape of a film, but in the end, I just couldn't. Now, don't get me wrong, the film does have merit. The effects are amazing (especially the climax scene atop the Empire State Building). This movie is visually stunning.

I know, I know. You've gotta suspend belief when you watch these movies. I can do that. I can escape and believe in worlds of giant apes, Jedi and a web-crawling man. But it's when the everyday normal stuff is exagerrated or made unbelievable that I lose all ability to suspend belief and enjoy the story. Case in point: There's a scene in the movie were the hero has huge (and I mean huge) bugs crawling all over him and he's trying to shake them loose. Another guy uses a tommy-gun to shoot the bugs off. A tommy-gun. No way. You'll know what I'm talking about. And what happens next is probably one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen. Believe me, you'll definitely know what I'm talking about.

You can read the Plugged-In Online (Focus on the Family's) review here (Warning: spoilers). There's some interesting tidbits about PJ in there.

Oh yeah, of course, now people are saying that King Kong is racist and represents the white man traveling across the sea, capturing and bringing back the dark man to exploit for the masses. Oh man, can't Kong just be an ape? Sheesh, can't Jar Jar Binks just be a Gungan? It's the same ole, same ole.

I give King Kong 2.5 out of 5 banana peels.

Churches Closed on Christmas?

As I ranted in my previous post, there's a lot of discussion about this out there. Here's another good one from Ben Witherington I came across...

Our culture does not need any encouragement to be more self-centered and narcissistic or to stay at home on Sunday. It is already that way. Christmas above all else should be a day when we come together as the body of Christ to worship and adore the Lord Jesus.

Continue reading here.

Is it really more "family friendly"?

I heard on the radio this morning that several churches are opting to have a Christmas Eve services in lieu of a Christmas Sunday morning service because it is more family friendly. More family friendly? Why don't we just admit that it's more presents friendly?

Oh no, we'll have to wait until after church to open our presents. Oh no. The horror!

OK, may be I'm being too pious, but this upsets me. It upsets me more than SECULAR retail stores saying Happy Holidays. Who cares? It's their store. Of course they don't want to offend...they want to make a profit! If unbelievers want to "take Christ out of Christmas", well what can we say, they're unbelievers, but when "Christians" start honoring "family-friendly present opening lots-of-food extravaganzas" over true worship...we've got issues!

Grrr.