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Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Movie Review: The Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams is an almost spiritual experience as we enter into the life and times of ancient humans through cave paintings that are 32,000 or more years old. Using 3D technology we are taken into the Chauvet Caves of Southern France - a rare opportunity as no one else has been allowed to film in the caves.
The caves were discovered in 1994 by a group of scientists. They contain the oldest known human drawings and represent a remarkable cultural and historical find. The French government immediately realized the value of the find and sealed the caves, only allowing a small group of paleontologists and archeologists annual access to its treasures. Access is extremely constrained and small non-professional cameras with limited lighting only were allowed on the first visit. On the second, state of the art 3D cameras were used allowing the rich texture of these paintings to be shared. It is awe-inspiring to think that over 30,000 years ago someone was painting these drawings illustrating the animals and birds that were part of their world and telling stories that we now are "hearing". But we can know very little even though what has been preserved is in pristine condition. Just to enter the caves in 3D is enough though. In places it is like a cathedral and the experience, along with the haunting music of the soundtrack, provides a humbling meditative experience.
At times, the commentary is a little over interpretive and the post-script is excessively hyperbolic to the point of almost spoiling the mood of the film. The film could be shortened by cutting some of the extraneous material. But overall it provides a rare opportunity.
For some Christians, certain difficult questions will immediately arise (and most likely quickly avoided or rationalized away). Specifically, those Christians who believe in a very young earth need to deal with the fact that these paintings are over 32,000 years old and some of them even older than that. More and more evidence mounts for a very old earth and for a chronology of human history that just doesn't fit with a literalistic reading of the Old Testament. None of these issues are mentioned in the documentary but a thinking Christian will inevitably need to deal with the implications of the facts.
The Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a simple film on one level. But the 3D immerses us into what soon feels like a real visit to these caves. I recommend the visit - particularly in view of the fact that very few people will ever get to actually step inside this monumental discovery.
Positive Review
'Director Werner Herzog's latest cinematic mind trip blows you away with its beauty' - Joe Neumaier/New York Daily News
Negative Review
'Cave of Forgotten Dreams feels stuck in a middling zone of too much conjecture and not enough scholarship.' - Joshua Rothkopf/Time Out New York
AUS: G
USA: G
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
The Unjust Steward
This is a book first posted on Grace Connection, the Magazine. There is no printed edition. All 30 chapters will appear on the Wheel in the following weeks.
CHAPTER 28
Luke 16:1-13
In this parable Jesus tells the story of a rich man who had a trusted, highly paid steward who was dishonest and squandered the rich man's wealth. When the rich man asked the steward to give an account of his missing funds, the rich man told him that he would be dismissed because he could not account for the missing assets. The steward then reasoned that when others found out about his situation, he would find himself in desperate straits. Either he would have to earn a living by hard labor or resort to begging. Since neither of these options appealed to him, he devised a scheme that would ensure his future.
His master had a lot of debtors, and he reasoned that if he could reduce their debts, they would be obligated to him. So before the debtors discovered that he was about to be fired, he offered to reduce their debts. Since the money involved was considerable, the debtors accepted his offer.
Read more at Adventist Perspective.
Scientists Discover a Diamond as Big as a Planet
by Michael Lemonick
Back in the 1920s, the great Jazz Age writer F. Scott Fitzgerald published a story titled The Diamond as Big as the Ritz — the Ritz-Carlton hotel, that is, which even in those pre-high-rise days was a pretty hefty chunk of real estate.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
The Kinderwagen
by Eric Ayars
It was February, 1999. I was a graduate student, trying to prepare my final defense. My wife had graduated the previous year, but the only job she could find in her field was a 3-hour drive away. She would take our car on Sunday night, work four tens, come back Thursday night. I got around on a motorcycle while she was gone.
At three AM one morning I got a phone call from Grandpa.
“Hey, I hear your wife's working out of town?”
“Yeah. . . What time is it?”
“Well, you need two cars if she's out of town.”
“. . . Three AM. . . I have a good motorcycle, Grandpa. It's what I ride when she's in town, and we really don't need another car!”
“Never mind that. You should have two cars. I'm coming out to get you one.”
“Well. . . see you when you get here. Good night. . .”
I woke up at a reasonable hour, poured myself a bowl of Cheerios, and started wondering about the funny dream I'd had. It seemed so real that I decided I'd better call Grandma and check; sure enough, she told me Grandpa had left at 3:30 that morning and should be there any time.
I still wasn't sure what I'd do with a second car, but he dragged me off to “Dealer Row” and started showing me Buicks. I gradually steered him towards the Honda lot hoping to find a used Civic that wouldn't break my fuel and insurance budget. They didn't have any used Civics, but as I passed this pretty Accord wagon I joked that it was the car we would get when we had kids.
Grandpa called the dealer over and wrote out a check on the spot.
Chinese food was always Grandpa's favorite, so I picked my jaw up off the floor and treated him to dinner at the best Chinese restaurant in town. My fortune cookie said “He who knows he has enough is rich” and I taped that slip of paper to the instrument panel. One week later, we discovered that we were expecting.
It's fall of 2011 now. My daughter is almost 12, the family has grown in size and number, and it's time for us to let this car go. It has served our family well, and we'll miss it. The fortune-cookie slip has been carefully removed from the instrument panel and is now in our family scrapbook next to the last picture of Grandpa. It's faded completely white, but even our youngest knows what it says.
I couldn't let the car go without a note, so I put this in the glovebox for the next owner.
-ea
The Watchmen, the Steward, and the Thief
This is a book first posted on Grace Connection, the Magazine. There is no printed edition. All 30 chapters will appear on the Wheel in the following weeks.
CHAPTER 27
(1) Mark 13:34-36; Luke 12:35-38 (2) Matthew 24:42-44; Luke 12:39-40 (3) Matthew 24:45-51; Luke 12:42-46
Three different parables are discussed in this chapter. Their theme is vigilance with regard to the Second Coming of Christ. The first parable in Mark is somewhat general. The master goes away and is coming back at an unannounced hour. He expects those he has left behind to be prepared at any time for his return. In a variant of this parable In Luke, the master has gone to a wedding banquet and he expects his slaves to "open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks" (Luke 12:36). They know where he has gone and while they do not know the exact time, they know approximately when he will return. "If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves" (Luke 12:38). An interesting feature in this parable is the fact that if the master finds them alert and ready, he will gird himself and serve them their meal. In those days, this was highly unusual conduct
but significant, because this is exactly how Jesus portrays the kingdom of God elsewhere, notably through his acted parable of washing the disciples' feet at the last supper (in John 13:1-17) and also through his words explaining his own death as the model of Christian service and the antithesis of worldly styles of leadership (see Matthew 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-45; Luke 22:25-27). The kingdom of God is all to do with the unbelievable generosity and condescension on the part of `the Lord' to his servants. Our parable speaks of this in looking forward to the coming feast of the kingdom; Jesus demonstrated it at the feast of the last supper and in his death, and he called his disciples to do the same.
Read more at Adventist Perspective.
Conservative Bashes Vegans
by Jake Richardson
A recent blog post from the conservative website First Things makes a point of blaming veganism, and therefore vegans, for their alleged involvement in plant harvesting that kills many small animals.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Friday, September 09, 2011
Movie Review: The Ledge
The Ledge is a flawed but legitimate attempt to tell a story exploring the relationship between faith and reason – from an atheist perspective.
The story opens with Gavin (Charlie Hunnam) standing on a ledge on a tall building clearly planning to jump. Hollis (Terrence Howard) is the police officer in charge of talking Gavin down. In a series of flashbacks, we find out that Gavin has been having an affair with Shauna (Liv Tyler) who is married to Joe (Chris Wilson). Shauna and Joe are fundamentalist Christians. The mystery is what has brought Gavin to the ledge willing to jump – and it is not what you might think it is.
The writer and director, Matthew Chapman, to his credit, wrote the script and planned the movie determined to do it the way he wanted to – fully expecting not to have the movie made because of that. But it got made and it provides for thought provoking viewing even if it is somewhat amateurish in its execution.
The major problem with the movie is that it has a “preachy” flavour like so many Christian movies that offer black and white answers for complex questions. The dialogue is forced and some of the acting is artificial, although Wilson and Howard just about rescue the film with their interpretations of their characters.
Another flaw is that both the fundamentalist Christians and the atheist characters are too simplistic. The film overall is too dogmatic in its view of both and does not reflect the nuanced best of these antagonistic views. The premise of the story is brilliant and it had the potential to be a very profound piece of cinema. But, as Chapman has indicated in an interview I heard on Point of Inquiry, he wanted this to be an explicit argument from an atheist perspective. And that is what it is – an overt argument about faith and reason with cardboard stereotypes and simplistic reasoning. The “philosophical” agenda of the writer has overshadowed the story and made creative writing and professional production a secondary concern.
As a vehicle to stimulate some discussion around a number of issues, the movie has some value and there is a certain level of entertainment. But given the movie had such well known stars and was clearly backed by commercial support it is surprisingly amateurish. And the “winning” side of the argument is rigged from the beginning by comparing the best of atheism with the worst of Christianity – a poor thinking move itself.
For me, the most significant theme in the movie is whether people need God (or a belief in some external authoritative revelation of morality) in order to live good lives. I get very frustrated when I hear some Christians saying how atheists cannot have a system of moral values because they don’t believe in God. Clearly, many atheists do. They have reasons for living well and, sometimes, those reasons are based more in a care for humanity itself than some Christians who seem to merely be obeying the laws of God (as they define them) to avoid God’s displeasure. The gospel of grace subscribed to by most Christians should free them from serving for any other reason than love for fellow humans. And there is absolutely no reason to think that an atheist cannot do that.
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
The Wise and Foolish Builders
This is a book first posted on Grace Connection, the Magazine. There is no printed edition. All 30 chapters will appear on the Wheel in the following weeks.
CHAPTER 26
Matthew 7:24-29
Jesus had just presented the Sermon on the Mount in which he set forth the principles by which men should live. He had blessed the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted. He had spoken of the necessity of moving beyond the letter of the law to its spirit, beyond action to motive. He called for complete integrity, for non-retaliation, for loving one’s enemies. He denounced doing good for display and encouraged doing good without ulterior motives or thought of reward. He emphasized loyalty to God and laying up treasure in heaven. He denounced destructive criticism, set forth the golden rule, the necessity of taking the narrow gate and the hard road, the bearing of good fruit, and the importance of obedience rather than mere confession.
Having set forth his principles, he advised the people to act on them. Those that did would “be like a wise man who built his house on rock" and those who refused would “be like a foolish man who built his house on sand." Notice the astonishing claim made by Jesus. The person who acted on his principles would stand, would abide, would survive, while the person who did not would fall away, would be swept away, would perish.
Read more at Adventist Perspective.
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Jessica Green: Are we filtering the wrong microbes?
Should we keep the outdoors out of hospitals? Ecologist and TED Fellow Jessica Green has found that mechanical ventilation does get rid of many types of microbes, but the wrong kinds: the ones left in the hospital are much more likely to be pathogens.
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