Welcome to the first installment of Marriage in the Movies: a new series wherein I survey what the art form of film can offer on this all-important topic. The movies I will feature stand out because marriage, as opposed to mere romantic affection, is absolutely central to the story. Without it, none of them would have a plot. Some may state their message clearly, others may let the story do the talking, but all of them have something to say about marriage. That’s where... Read more
It’s always a delight to run across a bit of C. S. Lewis that I’ve never read before. The other day, I picked up a copy of a magazine on the snack table at church which excerpted Lewis on God’s worthiness of our praise. The selection is taken from A Reflection On the Psalms. As usual, Lewis expresses so well so many things I would like to say, but couldn’t say as well as he could. He begins by confessing that as... Read more
Although this is a secular comedian, he makes a very shrewd point here about the silliness of distancing oneself from “organized religion,” as if there is such a thing as “disorganized religion.” In the process, he also, perhaps unintentionally, provides a brilliant parody of many contemporary praise & worship songs. “La-la-la-la-la… disorganized.” Read more
With increasingly less time to devote to blogging as the semester marches on, it’s clear that I need to open a category that I can update simply and frequently, which will also be of interest to my readers. To that end, I present The Definitive Hymns: a series in which I look at a favorite hymn of mine, explain a bit of its background, and then showcase my personal favorite version of that hymn. You are encouraged to share your own thoughts on the... Read more
[Note: In haste, I didn’t notice that someone quietly cleaned up the egregious error in the most recent version of this NYT article. Below is a screen-cap of how it actually, originally appeared. Now is your chance to find out! See if you can pinpoint what is wrong with this paragraph from a recent report on Holy Land tourism: Tick, tock, tick, tock. As a reporter for The Federalist dryly put it, “Did you know that Christians do not believe Jesus... Read more
A little outdated by now, but hey, I just now found it and felt led to share. “So look, Vlad, just to recap our call, no progress was made here, right?” “None at all.” “Okay, take care! Read more
All credit to the creator of this meme. I can claim none of it. Let my readers make of it what they will! Read more
Goooood morning! It’s 0700 and I am waking up to another day of back to school excitement, this semester with an extra dose of crazy thanks to my new (minimum-wage) job as a teaching assistant. But thanks to the Good Morning Vietnam soundtrack, I have a fresh batch of retro tunes to get me out of bed and kick-start my mornings. For those of you who can actually remember when some of these little gems first came out, you are so very welcome. Now if you’ll excuse... Read more
A few weeks ago, a certain Youtube video went viral. In this video, a young man secretly filmed his family’s intervention, staged some months after he informed them that he was homosexual. Family members present appear to include his grandmother, stepmother, father, and another male relative. People were shocked by the raw, painful nature of the conversation, which escalates and culminates in an explosion of physical rage from his stepmother and his male relative. Naturally, the unanimous decree of the... Read more
So the other day, this regional quartet called Mark209 put out a silly music video for a novelty song called “Have a Good Time,” and now some people are getting all upset about it. Some other gospel artist (I know his name but he’s nobody I’ve ever heard of before) was Facebooking his thoughts on the matter rather bluntly. He thought it was risque, said it “nauseated” him, and wished that Mark209 would just leave southern gospel altogether and go play to the godless... Read more
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