The Link, February 13, 2009: The Sad State of "The Office"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"1. You should check out Stephen Witmer's church blog.\u00a0 Stephen is a bright, godly pastor in Pepperell, MA who has a PhD from Cambridge and training under\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/02\/the-link-february-13-2009-the-sad-state-of-the-office\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Link, February 13, 2009: The Sad State of "The Office"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1. You should check out Stephen Witmer's church blog.\u00a0 Stephen is a bright, godly pastor in Pepperell, MA who has a PhD from Cambridge and training under\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/02\/the-link-february-13-2009-the-sad-state-of-the-office\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thought Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-02-13T23:33:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Owen Strachan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Owen Strachan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/02\/the-link-february-13-2009-the-sad-state-of-the-office\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/02\/the-link-february-13-2009-the-sad-state-of-the-office\/\",\"name\":\"The Link, February 13, 2009: The Sad State of \\\"The Office\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-02-13T23:33:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-02-13T23:33:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53\"},\"description\":\"1. 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{"id":1254,"date":"2009-02-13T23:33:03","date_gmt":"2009-02-13T23:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owenstrachan.com\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2009-02-13T23:33:03","modified_gmt":"2009-02-13T23:33:03","slug":"the-link-february-13-2009-the-sad-state-of-the-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/02\/the-link-february-13-2009-the-sad-state-of-the-office\/","title":{"rendered":"The Link, February 13, 2009: The Sad State of “The Office”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

1. You should check out Stephen Witmer\u2019s church blog<\/a>.\u00a0 Stephen is a bright, godly pastor in Pepperell, MA who has a PhD from Cambridge and training under John Piper.\u00a0 As a fellow New Englander, I am really excited to see what the Lord does through the ministry of his church in coming days.\u00a0 He just started blogging, but has already written a number of very thoughtful posts.<\/p>\n

2. Can I say something about \u201cThe Office?\u201d<\/a> The show, which started as promisingly as any other and continued on that promising vein for two seasons, has tanked.\u00a0 Why is it that Michael Scott, who used to be uproariously needlesome, now cries for 10 minutes every episode?\u00a0 And why do the writers expect us to feel so deeply about a relationship that lasted for about three weeks?<\/p>\n

Furthermore, why have Dwight and Jim lost all their zip?\u00a0 And why did they select Karen in season three as Jim\u2019s new squeeze?\u00a0 That generated absolutely no heat.\u00a0 The writers squandered a great opportunity to give Pam a real competitor for Jim\u2019s affections.\u00a0 The Angela-Andy thing went absolutely nowhere.\u00a0 The writers also let Pam and Roy\u2019s relationship, with all the tension built in, fizzle out with barely a mention. The Jim-Pam relationship is a dead fish these days; they make eyes at each other, but they have very little spark.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t believe me, watch season one, where they had explosive chemistry and the drama was amazing.<\/p>\n

In short, the show is embarrassingly bad these days and often gross and sometimes inappropriate.\u00a0 It\u2019s still good compared to most of what\u2019s on tv, but it pales in comparison to what it used to be, when the Jim-Pam-Roy love triangle generated a lot of heat, when Michael wasn\u2019t a wimpy, weeping, anesthetized version of his hilarious, overbearing, awkward self, and when the writers didn\u2019t rely on ridiculous low-brow humor like cats in heat.\u00a0 Give me a break.\u00a0 As one who has loved this show and talked it up to lots of poor, unsuspecting people, it pains me to say: writers and producers, please, just end it all.\u00a0 Your show is a shadow of what it used to be.<\/p>\n

3. John Piper has publicly pointed out that Yale is offering the Works of Jonathan Edwards online for free<\/a>.\u00a0 I have been using this resource for months now in my work on a five-volume series on Edwards that I\u2019m writing with Doug Sweeney, and I can tell you I was astonished when I stumbled on this offering by accident some months ago.\u00a0 It\u2019s way too good to be true.\u00a0 But there\u2019s no catch.\u00a0 It\u2019s all there, it\u2019s easily searchable, and it\u2019s free.\u00a0 Incredible resource, and one that pastors and thoughtful Christians should consult extensively.<\/p>\n

4. Less than two weeks until Union University\u2019s conference on \u201cMaking Men Moral\u201d in honor of conservative scholar Robbie George<\/a>.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait.\u00a0 See if you can join us for a high-level event featuring several of the best conservative minds around.<\/p>\n

\u2013Have a great and spiritually rich weekend, all.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"