Narnia, A Bit Lacking?

I went to see Narnia the other day, and would have to say that I give it a solid C rating. It's been interesting discussing the film with my evangelical friends who find my review a bit too harsh. But basically I found the film a bit boring, lacking in any real charachter development, and tension in the film. There was no real reason for me to hate the villain, or to even love the hero Aslan. It does seem, as I remember, that the book had a more majestic Aslan. Some have said that the bloodless battle was weak, and maybe it was, but I don't think so. There are plenty of action violence films (Like StarWars) that don't get graphically violent, but still convey action, or even tension. Some have alluded to the fact that Lewis wrote the book as a chil;dren's story, so of course it would lack development, and tension, but even C.S. Lewis was once quoted as saying that if a child's story could not appeal to an adult, it was a poor child's story. There have been many great children films like Shrek (Interesting since Andrew Adamson directed Shrek), Monster's INC. etc. that are made for children, but thoroughly enjoyable. Some have pointed to poor acting, but I really don't think so. I think maybe it's the allegory that C.S. Lewis' friend and colleague J.R. Tolkien had a bit of a problem with. Isn't it how we Christians do art? There has to be that Christ figure, and one for one allegory, or we sem to struggle with it's validity. I just got done reading the Da Vinci Code, and although I find it's theology to be quite amusing, I was encouraged to find out that Dan Brown didn't feel the need to tie up all the loose knots at the end of the story. He actually lets you think about what he said, and what appears to be what he believes. Can't we Christians learn to tell good stories, develop our charachters, allow our readers/viewers to "Feel" our story, and actually allow them to make their own conclusions? Well, see it for yourself, and come to your own conclusions, since that's what aret is ultimately about, our misguided intepretations, isn't it?

What if?

"Think of the impact if the first thing radical feminists thought of when the conversation turned to evangelical men was they had the best reputation for keeping their marriage vows, and serving their wives in the costly fashion of Jesus at the cross. Think of the impact of the first thing the homosexual community thought of when someone mentioned evangelicals was that they were the people who lovingly ran the AIDS shelters and tenderly cared for them down to the last gasp. A little consistent wholesome modeling and costly servanthood are worth millions of true words harshly spoken." Ron Sider

"I have seen the enemy, and the enemy is us!" Forgotten Author

"You Christians seem to Hindus to be ordinary people making extraordinary claims."Dr. Radhakrishnan

What if we actually lived like Christ? What would that look like?

Still Stealing from the gods

Why Prometheus? I guess because I see the need for someone to rebel against the gods of our culture. In the mythological story, after the "Fall of Kronos" Zeus lost interest in humans and desired that they would live primitive lives until they died off. Subsequently he took no interest in mankind. Prometheus representing compassion and desiring that humanity would flourish, stole the creative fire and other gifts from Zeus to give it to humanity who flourished mightily and built a stronger more sophisticated culture full of religion and the arts. Zeus became angry and punsihed Prometheus for this act of treason, and a thwarting of his own plan to "Reshape creation." In order to regain control Zeus along with Hephaistos, Athena and Aphrodite, made the temptress "Pandora" to infuse the earth with evil and ruin its run of success.
So what's the point? Get moving! As followers of Christ it is imperative that we steal back the fire from the cultural gods, and connect the arts, theology and culture back to the transcendent creator, without which the arts, theology and culture become meaningless. I'm hoping in my blog to challenge the prevailing ethos and pathos that often goes unchallenged because it is assumed to be true. I hope to write to a wide audience, but most clearly to an evangelical audience that sometimes substitutes convenience for truth, and assumptions rather than reality. It's time we take a long hard look at culture and quit blaming culture for all of our evils, and begin to construct a faith that looks more like Christ and less like American politics and capitalism. We can no longer worhsip a hyphenated Jesus, but must be compelled to stare deep into the eyes and teachings of our savior, and act out His message to a starving world who has been duped into believing that what they percieve is all there is. Let's move forward together in a revolution of love that challenges both the culture and the church, because that's what Jesus did. It is interesting to note that in the biblical story of creation, God gave man everything he needed to succeed, and called everything He made "Good." God called man to "Be fruitful" and "Serve the creation," giving humanity a soul and a purpose, and even in the midst of mankind's rebellion (Not stealing fire) to go about life his own way, God still provides clothes from them, and ultimately a new way to be human (Through the sending of the Messiah see Genesis 3:15) because of His compassion for His creation. The problem is we buy the lie that the best way to a joy filled life is doing things our own way without God, so we create Prometheus like stories and call them good. We celebrate rebellion, and choose to "Worship the creation instead of the creator," and then still feel the need to blame others including God for our own actions. I certainly don't think a true follower of Prometheus would believe any of this crap that I wrote, but I still would challenge you to consider Christ; Not Christianity, but Christ, and see if there is truly a new way to be human, because the old way just doesn't seem to working too well?