Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The Dumbest Generation & C.S. Lewis

On my birthday (August 15) I did what I love to do. I went to the bookstore and spent time browsing. I bought a book called "The Dumbest Generation". It is unfortunately about my generation--the generation raised on TV, the generation who was introduced to Internet in our teen years, the generation with by far the most knowledge at our fingertips then any generation in history, but which does not show that we any smarter or better off than previous generations. The book explores the perplexing question of how this could possibly be the case.

The author (Mark Bauerlein) points out study after study that shows my generation (which watches an average of 5 1/2 hours of television per day!) does not know basic knowledge such as the significance of 1776 (its an American book), who the British Priminister (its Gordon Brown, by the way) and who made the first electric light-bulb (I am not going to help you with this one).

Bauerlein states the paradox this way:

We have entered the Information Age, traveled the Information Superhighway, spawned a Knowledge Economy, undergone the Digital Revolution, converted manual workers into knowledge workers, and promoted a Creative Class and we anticipate a Conceptual Age to be. However overhyped those grand social metaphors, they signify a rising premium on knowledge...a knowledge economy. Any yet while teens and young adults have absorbed digital tools into their lives young [people] today are no more learned and skillful than their predecessors, no more knowledgeable, fluent, up-to-date, or inquisitive, except in the materials of youth culture. They don't know any more history or civics, economics or science, literature or current events. They also read less on their own. (Mark Bauerlein, The Dumbest Generation, [New York: Penguin Books, 2008], 8-9).

Much could be said about how scary all of this is. I think his point about youth culture is important. Our generation does know and do more about this specific reality, which, though some may argue against this, I can categorically say, is, in the large scheme of things, less important to know about, and at times even destructive to our thinking, living and acting.

Youth culture is at times culture created to be consumed at a mass scale and thus shoots for the lowest common denominator. Think of movies directed to this audience: poo jokes, penis jokes, more poo jokes; music videos: half-naked girls dancing in the desert, cut to boat no one can afford, party scene, chains, watches; and these are the moguls which then want to shape voting (Remember P. Diddy's "Vote or Die") world views. I am all for artist being political and offering prophetic critique to a culture that has lost its way, but not artist that convey such ridiculousness on a day to day basis.

To conclude my thoughts on this I though I would hold up as an example of what I am talking about an extreme example of brilliance, but I am not sure that he was a complete anomaly in his time. C.S. Lewis. Here is an excerpt from a letter that he wrote to his best friend when he was 17-year-old:

12 October 1915

"You ask me how I spend my time, and though I am more interested in thoughts and feelings, we’ll come down to facts. I am awakened up in the morning by Kirk splashing in his bath, about 20 minutes after which I get up myself and come down. After breakfast & a short walk we start work on Thucydides a desperately dull and tedious Greek historian (I daresay tho’, you’d find him interesting) and on Homer whom I worship. After quarter of an hour’s rest we go on with Tacitus till lunch at 1.

I am then free till tea at 4.30: of course I am always anxious at this meal to see if Mrs K. is out, for Kirk never takes it. If she is I lounge in an arm chair with my book by the fire, reading over a leisurely and bountiful meal. If she’s in, or worse still has ’some people’ to tea, it means sitting on a right angled chair and sipping a meagre allowance of tea and making intelligent remarks about the war, the parish and the shortcomings of everyones servants. At 5, we do Plato and Horace, who are both charming, till supper at 7.30, after which comes German and French till about 9. Then I am free to go to bed whenever I like which is usually about 10.20.

As soon as my bed room door is shut I get into my dressing gown, draw up a chair to my table and produce, like Louis Moore, note book and pencil. Here I write up my diary for the day, and then turning to the other end of the book devote myself to poetry, either new stuff or polishing the old. If I am not in the mood for that I draw faces and hands and feet etc for practice. This is the best part of the day of course, and I am usually in a very happy frame of mind by the time I slip into bed.

So glad you too like the ‘Faerie Queen’, isn’t it great? I have been reading a horrible book of Jack London’s called ‘The Jacket’. If you come across [it] anywhere, don’t read it." (The Letters of C. S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves (1914-1963) , ed Walter Hooper (NY: Collier Books, 1979), pp. 84-86.

This, I hope the experience of more and more young people, not to mention my own children, as we move forward in our world. My hope is they work to bring the healing power of Jesus to a lost and hurting people. That by saturating themselves in Scripture, prayer, Christian community and even by expanding their mind by reading good cultural expressions that they would "appear as lights in the world to a crooked and perverse generation" (Philippians 2.15).

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Captain Formidable! (A film by Mark Clark)

Since I was a kid I have always made movies. I also have written multiple scripts (including a sequel to Titanic!). My best friend and I would shoot movies of all kinds of different stories and then spend hours in his editing suite editing them. He went on to live in Hollywood and now works on TV shows and with MTV, I on the other hand ended up in BC as a Pastor).

This year I took on a film project for our church. It was supposed to be a kind of training video for a mission trip (to an island in BC called Saltspring), but I shot it in the form of an epic movie.

I loved directing, editing and even having a cameo in this movie and I am thankful to all those who spent time being involved in this project especially Chris Finch, Britney Broadhead, Jordan Scott and Paul Johnson.

This is the link: Captain Formidable movie

Enjoy!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Rick Warren & The President(s)


"Now we believe in the separation of church and state but we do not believe in the separation of faith and politics."
--Rick Warren

On Saturday night Pastor Rick Warren held a civil forum at his church in California (Saddleback). He interviewed the two presidential nominees Barak Obama and John McCain. He did it in a different, but, I think, a very effective way: he interviewed Barak first for one hour and then interviewed McCain, asking the same questions. McCain was isolated so that he could not hear the questions or Obama's answers, in what Warren called a "cone of silence". There is a bit of controversy stirring around this actually (for more on this) -- supposedly Larry King will address this question tonight (August 18) on his show.

The point of these interviews was to expose the candidates to the evangelical Christian community. Which, of course, is hugely important for both candidates as this is a huge voting block (estimated at between 20-40 million people). The issues that were discussed were those which have become extremely important to evangelicals over the last 20 years:personal faith, abortion, evil, morality, supreme court justices, and gay marriage.

Here is a sample of what they said on a few of these issues.

Christian Faith
Explaining what it meant to him to be a Christian, Obama, a long time member of Trinity United Church of Christ, in Chicago, said he works on
walking humbly with our God...I know that I don't walk alone, and I know that if I can get myself out of the way, that I can maybe carry out in some small way what he intends.

He also paraphrased a line from the New Testament to answer Warren's question about what had been America's greatest moral failure saying:
We still don't abide by that basic precept of Matthew that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.

McCain, an Episcopalian who attends a Baptist church in Phoenix, when asked what it meant to be a Christian, said:
It means I'm saved and forgiven.

Abortion

Obama said,
I think that whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.

He then offered an explanation of his views, saying he supports the landmark abortion-rights decision Roe vs. Wade, adding to that a stress upon his commitment to reducing the number of abortions.

McCain, when asked by Warren "At what point does a baby get human rights?" immediately responded that a baby's rights begin at conception. Adding also, in light of his recently criticized comments that he's open to a running mate who favors abortion rights:
I will be a pro-life president and this presidency will have pro-life policies.

Moral Failure
Obama's greatest moral failure, he said, was his use of drugs and alcohol as a youth.

McCain said his greatest moral failure was "the failure of my first marriage," alluding to his 1980 divorce from his wife Carol McCain, of fourteen years, because of admitted affairs after returning from Vietnam, and the meeting of his present wife Cindy.

Gay Marriage
Obama called marriage "a sacred union," drawing laughter and applause when he added, "God is in the mix." But he also said he did not support a constitutional amendment to ban Gay Marriage, a position he shares with McCain, who believes it is an issue best left to the state.

Obama did express support for civil unions, which McCain does not support. Obama said:
...historically, we have not defined marriage in our constitution. It's been a matter of state law. That has been our tradition. I mean, let's break it down. The reason that people think there needs to be a constitutional amendment, some people believe, is because of the concern about same-sex marriage. I am not somebody who promotes same-sex marriage, but I do believe in civil unions. I do believe that we should not — that for gay partners to want to visit each other in the hospital for the state to say, you know what, that's all right, I don't think that in any way inhibits my core beliefs about what marriage is. I think my faith is strong enough and my marriage is strong enough that I can afford those civil rights to others even if I have a different perspective.

When asked to define marriage McCain said
Union - a union between man and a woman, between one man and one woman. That's my definition of marriage.

Warren then asked McCain about California's Proposition 8, which hopes to overturn this year's gay marriage win. Saying he believes the state's Supreme Court made the wrong decision, McCain reiterated his support for federalism - the state's right to determine its same-sex fate.
In my state, I hope we will make that decision, and other states, they have to recognize the unique status between man and woman. And that doesn't mean that people can't enter into legal agreements. That doesn't mean that they don't have the rights of all citizens. I'm not saying that. I am saying that we should preserve the unique status of marriage between one man and one woman. And if a federal court — if a federal court decided that my state of Arizona had to observe what the state of Massachusetts decided, then I would favor a constitutional amendment. Until then, I believe the states should make the decisions within their own states.


Conclusion
At the beginning of the debate Warren made it clear that its purpose was to promote dialogue and discussion without a systematic demonization of candidates. I think this is a great goal. And one to keep in mind as the debates and discussions move forward from here to November and beyond, both on a national and personal level. Especially in the midst of our Christian communities.

We as Christians have things that we value and care about, some of which were included in this discussion, and many that were absent, or which were not discussed as much (war, the environment, social justice, AIDS relief, and so on) -- and because we care we must be engaged in the democratic process of discussion, questioning, accountability and voting. And in this way we live out the teachings of Jesus and proactively "give to Caesar that which is Caesar's". Existing as good citizens in both the City of God and the City of Men as St. Augustine said, to the glory of God.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1918-2008

The world learned recently of the sad passing of who many consider to be the greatest writer of Twentieth century, a Russia and a genuine prophet: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Humanity will forever be in his debt for exposing the horror of Soviet totalitariainism and the moral bankruptcy of Marxist-Leninism.

Here is a link to one of many obituaries to come. It contains a wonderful quote comes from the Russian writer Aleksandr Genis, who described the Solzhenitsyn as "the last remaining prophet in the abandoned temple of absolute truth".

Solzhenitsyn was a devout Christian and a critic of evil wherever he saw it.
He was a dissident Russian writer and Nobel laureate whose portrayals of Josef Stalins labour camps and political oppression helped undermine the Soviet grip on power. He was 89.

He died of heart failure. Solzhenitsyn revealed to the Western world the inner workings of the gulag, the network of prisons and camps that held as many as 20 million people during Stalins reign of terror and killed at least 1.5 million. He became a thorn in the side of Soviet authorities and was an icon for Russian intellectuals, helping trigger the demise of the communist regime with his calls for social conscience and historical justice.

He criticized the West for its godlessness, hedonism, moral relativism and shallow consumerism. Here is a link to his famous Harvard Commencement Address "A World Split Apart," which caused him to fall out of favor with Western liberal intellectuals.

My favorite quote from this speech:

"It would be retrogression to attach oneself today to the ossified formulas of the Enlightenment. Social dogmatism leaves us completely helpless in front of the trials of our times."

He rejected both of the great religions to emerge out of the European Enlightenment as replacements for Christianity: Capitalism and Marxism. He was a prophet. He will be missed but never forgotten and his writings live on.

source Craig Carter

Monday, August 04, 2008

Dark Knight Curse?

There is talk of a Dark Knight curse. Some may say "Curse? The movie has made 400 million dollars in 17 days. That is anything but a curse!"

To put that in perspective Titanic made 1.5 million dollars in the same amount of time -- it is this bloggers opinion that The Dark Knight will become the biggest domestic grossing film of all time; Titanic is presently the biggest with 600 million dollars; yet I think Titianic will remain the largest international grosser with 1.8 billion dollars.

The talk of curse comes from elsewhere, however. I was in the grocery store two days ago and saw the front of the National Enquirer and its title read Dark Knight Curse. The article was about the fact that both of the big stars of the film have undergone bad experiences: Heath Ledger, of course, dying of an accidental drug
overdose in January and Christian Bale's recent arrest and accustion of assault on his own mother and sister. Both stars suffering tragedy.

And then something strange happened. I came home today from a town parade, sat down on my couch and turned on CNN, and the first thing that came up was the following story:

Hollywood Actor Morgan Freeman Seriously Hurt in Car Accident:

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman said to be in a serious condition after the car he was driving flipped over several times late on Sunday. Freeman was driving near his home in Charleston, Mississippi, at the time of the accident. The actor and a female companion were cut free by emergency workers before being airlifted to a hospital 90 miles away in Memphis, Tennessee.

Kathy Stringer, a spokeswoman for the regional medical centre in Memphis, described the 71-year-old actor's condition as "serious".
The editor of the Charleston Sun Sentinel newspaper, who arrived at the scene shortly after the accident, said Freeman had been conscious and talking to rescuers. "They had to use the jaws of life [hydraulic cutters] to extract him from the vehicle."


Don't get me wrong I don't think there is curse. But I hope that this bad run for the cast of this film stops.

I hope and pray that Morgan Freeman is alright.