Jamie Greening's Blog, page 53

JURASSIC WORLD: A NO-SPOILER REVIEW

Last night Mrs. Greenbean and the two sprouts joined me in a late showing of Jurassic World.  Here are some of my initial thoughts.

Overall:  Go see it.  The movie is a great summer flick–everything you want for a popcorn and Skittles movie.  The acting is pretty good, although no one shines as outstanding, except maybe Jake Johnson.  He has some great one liners, and he delivers them well.  The CGI is outstanding, and the storyline moves along at a good pace.  It doesn’t bog down.  The violence, to me, is not overtly graphic (no more so than any other Jurassic Park movie) and the language is, for the most part, tame.  I give the film a grade of “B” for over all moviedom, but solid “A” for summertime fun flick and “A+” for dinosaur awesomeness.  If you didn’t like the other three, you will not like this one.  If you liked those, you’ll love this one.

Borrowed Tropes:  So let me know if this sounds familiar to you:  Two young kids lost in a jungle full of carnivorous beast, while the people trying to save them have romantic tension.  How about corporate and militaristic interests try to exploit something dangerous with the result being catastrophic disaster.  Or what about the contingency plan to keep things in check failing.  These plot devices are found in every other Jurassic Park movie–particularly the kids.  The stats are in–seventy-five percent of JP movies feature kids stranded and in distress.

What it Reminded Me Of:  Remember, I liked the movie, but it reminded me of Jaws III.  The whole theme-park, corporate greed, nature expert, and so forth was almost identical.  Of course, the story was much better than Jaws III and, so were the graphics and effects.

It also reminded me, rather egotistically perhaps, of my own Deep Cove stories, particularly The Deep Cove Lineage.  There were several paragraphs of dialogue that could have  been lifted directly from that story.  The key difference is that my story is retro-scifi and it is not about dinosaurs, it is about a monster.  And for what it’s worth, my Dr. Sleeth is eviler than their evil mad scientist guy, and The Colonel is more believable than their military what’s his name.

Emotions:  Each Jurassic Park story has a type of moral lesson to it.  The first movie is about messing with nature, the second one is about exploitation, the third film is a clunky attempt to talk about family and communication within family.  Jurassic World doesn’t have any of these types of moral lessons, instead it carries a giant weight of sadness.  Everything that happens in this movie is just plain sad, and I wonder if this is not a reflection of a sad world that, even when it is trying to have fun, can’t allow itself to do so without sadness and brokenness.

What to Watch For:  When you go watch for A) Dallas Bryce Howard’s footwear B) Chris Pratt playing Michael Douglas from Romancing The Stone C) Serious Red Shirt homage D) The scene that will make you feel old because you remember watching the first Jurassic Park in the theater.

image from forbes.com

ROMANS, CHAPTER FOUR–FROM THE GREEK TEXT

In the fourth chapter of Romans Paul turns the corner on his opening thoughts, where he outlines that the whole world is condemned, in one way or another, and comes down a stretch where he explains why exactly not only faith in Jesus matters, but also why it works.  Romans four might be the most Jewish chapter in the whole New Testament.

Translation Notes:  The reoccurring word I have translated here as “counted” is a sticky wicket.  It can be rendered in so many different ways, and they all would be accurate.  It might be reason, reckon, thought, considered or even evaluated.  I seriously thought about going with evaluated, because I think that is part of what Paul is communicating:  “God evaluated Abraham’s faith as righteousness.”  I am also intrigued by the word being translated here, because it is in the same root family from which the English word “logic” comes from:  “It was a logical conclusion that Abraham’s faith was righteousness.”  I like that a lot because of the shocking and alarming juxtaposition of “logic” and “faith” so close together.

One other note, about verse 14.  I have rendered the last phrase as, “the promise doesn’t work” but the actual word should probably be translated as “broken.”  I opted not to do that because it would indicate that the covenant is broken, but that is not really what Paul is saying.  Therefore, I opted for “doesn’t work” instead.

Theological Notes:  This entire chapter reads like a proof for a geometry problem we all had to work on in high school.  Remember those?  This one goes like this.  If Abraham was counted as a righteous person before he was circumcised and if it was his faith that made him righteous, then he is the spiritual father of all those who have faith, regardless of genetics.

Paul then tells us that the object of faith now is Jesus and his resurrection.

Chapter Four

1. Then what can we say about Abraham, was it only biologically that he was found to be our ancestor?

2. If Abram was made righteous because of works he has something to boast about, but not before God.

3. For what does the scripture say? “But Abram believed God and it was counted as righteousness to him.”

4. Now, to someone who has worked wages are not counted as a gift of grace, but as a debt.

5. Yet to the one not working, the one believing in him who makes the ungodly righteous, it is his faith that is counted as righteous.

6. Just as David says, “Blessed is the person who God counts as righteous without works.

7. Blessed are those whose lawlessness has been forgiven and those whose sins are covered.

8. Blessed is a man whose sins the Lord does not hold against him.”

9. Therefore, who is this blessing for then, the circumcised or those uncircumcised too? We say, “He counted Abram’s faith as righteousness.”

10. When was he counted? Was it when he was circumcised or while uncircumcised? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

11. He received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness of faith he had when uncircumcised, to be a father of many people who believe yet are not circumcised, so that righteousness might be counted to them too,

12. to be not only a father to those who are circumcised, but to those who are outside of circumcision who follow the footsteps of the uncircumcised faith of our father Abraham.

13. It was not by law that the promise to be heirs of the world was made to Abraham’s offspring, but by the righteousness of faith.

14. If it is by law that they are inheritors, then faith is empty and the promise doesn’t work.

15. The law causes wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

16. That is why it is by faith through grace, so that the promise might be reliable for all the offspring; not only those from the law but those who also are from the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

17. Just as it is written, that “I have appointed you as a father to may nations,” in the sight of God, whom he believed gave life back from the dead and called forth things into being that did not exist.

18. He hoped against all hope. He believed that he would become, “A father to many nations,” according to the words spoken, “about his offspring.”

19. And not weakened in faith, he considered his already impotent one hundred year old body, not to mention Sarah’s dead womb,

20. but he did not doubt the promise of God in unbelief. Instead he was strengthened in his faith, giving glory to God.

21. And he was fully convinced that the one who had promised is able to do it.

22. And this is why, “He counted him righteous.”

23. That it was, “counted to him” was not written down for him only.

24. But it is for us that it is counted, those believing upon the resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the dead.

25. Who was handed over because of our trespasses and was resurrected for our righteousness.

Romans One

Romans Two

Romans Three

ROMANS, CHAPTER THREE–FROM THE GREEK TEXT

So, I’m a little behind schedule.  I hope to make up time during the month of June and still finish this translation of the New Testament letter from Paul the Apostle to the church in Rome before Independence Day.

Translation Notes:  In rendering this particular passage, I opt for the phrase ‘made righteous’ where a lot of English translations choose ‘justified’ to allow the English reader to perceive it is all the same word group. Also note, my verses 25 and 26 are very different from most English translations. I don’t really know what their problem is?

Theological Notes:  In my opinion the key text here is Romans 3:22 & 23, with its ringing judgment that everyone, Jew and gentile alike, are not righteous before God but through faith they are able to receive grace.  This is the main work of Romans 3, to put everyone on equal footing.  God doesn’t play favorites, as we were told in Chapter 2, and Paul is telling us that here is the proof, proof that has been there all along, according to his long string of quotations from Psalms, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Proverbs in verses 10-19.

Chapter Three

1. What, then, is the Jewish advantage, and what exactly is the benefit of circumcision?

2. A lot, and in every possible way. It is primarily because they were entrusted with the words of God.

3. So what if some of them were unfaithful, did their lack of faith nullify the faith of God?

4. Of course not! People are liars, but God is true, just as it is written, “So that you will be vindicated in your words and victorious in your trials.”

5. Humanly speaking, then, if the righteousness of God leads to our unrighteousness, what can we say? Is God unrighteous in bringing the wrath?

6. Never! How then could God judge the world?

7. But if my lie magnified God’s truth and glory, then why am I being judged as a sinner?

8. And why not say—as we are slandered as having said—that we should do evil so good might come of it? Those who say this of us deserve their condemnation.

9. What now? Are we better? Not at all, for we determined beforehand that both Jews and gentiles are sinners.

10. Just as it is written, “There is no one righteous.

11. No one understands, no one seeks God.

12. Everyone turned away together, becoming useless. No one shows kindness, not even one.

13. Their throat has become an opened grave. Their tongues deceive. Asp venom is upon their lips.

14. Their mouths, full of curses and bitterness.

15. Their feet, swift to shed blood.

16. Ruin and misery is their way.

17. They have not known the way of peace.

18. The fear of God is not before their eyes.”

19. We know at least this much, that the law says it shuts every mouth of those under it, and eventually the whole world shall be held accountable to God.

20. Therefore, because of this sin consciousness, it is not from works of law that all people will be made righteous before him,

21. but now the righteousness of God has been made clear apart from the law as attested to by the law and the prophets.

22. Through the faith of Jesus Messiah the righteousness of God is for all those believing, for there is no difference.

23. For everyone has sinned and come up short of the glory of God.

24. They are being made righteous as a gift of his grace through the redemption that is in Messiah Jesus.

25. God designed a place of propitiation with blood by his faith as proof of his righteousness, by overlooking their sins committed beforehand.

26. God’s tolerance toward us back then is proof of his righteousness right now, to the righteous and those he is making right by the faith of Jesus.

27. Where then does all this boasting come from? That was done away with, but by what kind of law? Works? No—not at all, but through the law of faith.

28. For we reason people are made righteous in faith without works of the law.

29. Is God of the Jews only? Not also the gentiles? Yes, yes, in every way.

30. If true, then God will make righteous those circumcised by faith and those uncircumcised through faith as well.

31. Do we therefore abolish the law because of faith? Never. Instead we keep the law.

Romans, Chapter One

Romans, Chapter Two

NO SPOILER REVIEW OF TOMORROWLAND

Saturday it rained cats and dogs.  Not being able to enjoy the outdoors, we decided to see a film.  A friend was visiting us with her two children–9 and 11 years old–so we needed a family friendly film to watch.  We settled on Tomorrowland, because, well, science fiction and we we like Tomorrowland at Disneyland.

I don’t think this scene is in the movie

WHAT I LIKED

I was prepared to not like this movie, because George Clooney is in it, and from the previews I’d seen it looked like a revamp of Spy Kids.  Please, not another Spy Kids.  My trepidation was unjustified, because I really enjoyed the movie!

The acting was outstanding, except for the disappointing Hugh Laurie.  He really did just mail it in.  The little girl who played Athena, Raffey Cassidy, steals the show.  Clooney and Britt Robertson also turn in very solid performances.

More than the acting, though, I liked the “Retro Sci-Fi” feel (Click here for my take on Retro Sci-Fi) of the movie.  Rockets, jetpacks, robots and hidden dimensions all wave their hand in tribute to science fiction that wasn’t just about space and and aliens.  Not that there is anything wrong with space and aliens, but science fiction used to be more than that, and this movie reminds us of it.  Bradbury and Asimov would be pleased, I think, with the effort.

I also liked that, in general, the movie was family friendly.  True, Clooney is so profane that he just can’t help throwing out a swear word or two, but those are minimized and not that strong.  The movie was appropriate for the 9 and 11 year old audience.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

Having given the movie these praises, it is far from a great film.  My first complaint is that the movie turns is a wee bit too preachy.  A little snappier screenplay and dialogue writing and we could have gotten the same message without the sermon.  I am not against the message of hope in the film, but the delivery of the message was less than fantastic.

The real problem, though, is the hero confusion.  The movie can’t quite seem to figure out who is the focus–is it Casey Newton (the teenage girl) or Frank Walker (the bitter old man).  Either way, neither story is developed enough.  We are left with huge gaps in Walkers life–like he went form being a child to a bitter old man overnight, and Casey’s character is equally enigmatic.  I couldn’t tell if she should be grounded or given a medal.

Last complaint–I promise.  The beginning and ending of the movie is terrible.  Clunky is not even a good word for it.  If director Brad Bird (Who made The Incredibles, which I love!) had lopped off the forced and contrived beginning and the unsatisfactory ending the movie would have been far better.

FINAL EVALUATION

Even with these flaws, it is a good movie you can watch with your older children.  It will also give you something to talk about over dinner.  Go see it, and let me know if you liked it or not.

image from sciencefiction.com

LET’S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN, AND AGAIN AND AGAIN . . .

What year is it again?  Someone remind me.

GREAT SCOTT!

Its either Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, or, if you want something milder maybe Back In Time from Huey Lewis, via the film Back To The Future.  Pick your theme song.

But we need one or the other, because I can’t figure out what year it is.  Here is why.

1.  People keep talking about the movies Mad Max, Terminator, and Star Wars.  Oh, and Poltergeist opened this week.

2.  Two top candidates for President of the United States are named Clinton and Bush.

3.  Outlaws rode into Waco, Texas and had a shootout.

4.  My copy of Texas Monthly arrived and Urban Cowboy featuring John Travolta is on the cover.

really?

I’m beginning to think we are stuck in an infinite time loop, caused by a merging of lack of creativity, nostalgia, and cultural dementia.  My sources tell me if we can find the flux capacitor and get Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick to break it, then we can return to real time.  It also occurs to me, maybe only Texas is caught in the time bubble?  If that is the case, then the fix involves Sarandon and Bostwick have to eat chicken fried steak while breaking the flux capacitor.

image from mentalfloss.com

ROMANS, CHAPTER TWO–FROM THE GREEK

In the second chapter of Romans Paul gives his reader a constant barrage of contrasts.  There is the contrast of having the law but not doing the law, not having the law but doing it anyway, failing at the law but teaching others about it, good works and bad works, eternal life and eternal wrath, circumcision and uncircumcision, secret Jew and the apparent Jew, and spirit and letter.  If one dug harder a person could find more contrasts, I’m sure.

All of these contrasts serve the purpose of showing the reader how unsuccessful a life committed to Hebrew law is, and how judgment looms on the horizon for all human beings.  Verse 6, in my opinion, takes its place alongside Job 1:8 and Hebrews 10:31 as some of the most frightening in all of scripture.

Translation Notes:  Verses 1 and 3 have a vocative and that is rare.  I think it sets a philosophical tone for the chapter.  Verse 18 was a particularly sticky wicket for me.  I think Paul is referring to the idea that Jews not only have the law, but that they know (they think they know?) what it means.  He is talking about hermeneutics and application.  I played with verse 27 quite a bit.  The phrase “by nature” I take to be best connected to the idea of judging rather than the usually take that it modifies circumcision as a natural or physical (ESV) reality.  It is possible that I am applying a modern idiomatic construct here, but I like the way I worded it.

Chapter Two

1. Therefore, O Man, you are without excuse! For whoever judges someone else condemns himself, because he is doing the same kind of things as the person he judged.

2. We know that the judgment of God truly is upon those who practice these.

3. What do you think, O Man, that you who do these things, and yet judge those doing them, that somehow you will yourselves escape the judgment of God?

4. Or do you, in the light of his abundant goodness, tolerance, and patience, not know that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

5. But with your hard and unrepentant hearts you stored up for yourselves wrath on the day of the revelation of the just judgment of God,

6. who will give to each according to his works.

7. On the one hand, for those who seek perseverance in good works, glory, honor, and incorruption, there is eternal life.

8. But, on the other hand, for those who out of ambition and disobedience to the truth are persuaded by unrighteousness, there is wrath and rage.

9. Distress and anguish will be upon every person who works evil, to the Jew first and then the gentile.

10. In contrast, glory, honor, and peace will be upon all those working good, to the Jew first and then the gentile.

11. There are no favorites with God.

12. Those who sin without the law will be destroyed without it, and those who sin with the law will be judged by the law.

13. Hearers of the law are not made righteous by God, but those doing the law will be made righteous.

14. For when gentiles, who do not have the law, might naturally do the things of the law, even though they don’t have the law, they are a law to themselves.

15. Since these people show the work of the law to be written on their hearts, their conscience bears witness, reasoning within them—both accusing and defending them

16. on the day when God judges people’s secrets by my good news through Messiah Jesus.

17. Now, if you call yourself a Jew and rely upon law and boast in God,

18. and you know the will, and you determine the best understanding of the law,

19. and so you believe yourselves to be guides, leading the blind out of darkness into light,

20. an instructor of the stupid, a teacher of babies, having the formulas of knowledge and truth in the law.

21. Therefore, you who are teaching others, will you teach yourselves? Will you who preach “do not steal” steal?

22. Will you say, “Do not commit adultery,” but be an adulterer? Do you detest idols yet rob temples?

23. Those who boast in the law dishonor God by their transgressions of the law.

24. Just as it is written, “The name of God is being blasphemed among the gentiles because of you.”

25. Now then, circumcision only benefits you if you keep the law, but if you transgress the law your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

26. So if an uncircumcised person observes the decrees of the law, will not his uncircumcison be counted as circumcision?

27. Naturally, the uncircumcised who keeps the law will judge you who have the letter and circumcision yet transgress the law.

28. It is not those who are apparent, neither is it those who are clearly circumcised in the flesh who are Jews.

29. But the secret Jew, who has a circumcision of heart in spirit, not letter, not the praise of people, but of God.

Read Romans Chapter One

A RANT, IN WHICH THE AUTHOR INEXPLICABLY HAS TO DEFEND DEAD ROMANS

Columbia University is having a campus wide discussion about the offensive and sexually repressive material found in . . . classical literature.  I’m not joking.

You can click here to read the whole article, but an excerpt will probably work for now:

During the week spent on Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” the class was instructed to read the myths of Persephone and Daphne, both of which include vivid depictions of rape and sexual assault. As a survivor of sexual assault, the student described being triggered while reading such detailed accounts of rape throughout the work. However, the student said her professor focused on the beauty of the language and the splendor of the imagery when lecturing on the text. As a result, the student completely disengaged from the class discussion as a means of self-preservation. She did not feel safe in the class. When she approached her professor after class, the student said she was essentially dismissed, and her concerns were ignored.

Warning: Belief might be offensive to some.

This is the biggest load of academic garbage I think I’ve seen in a very long time.  What is more, I can’t believe this student’s peers didn’t call her out on it, rather than advocating, as the op-ed continues, that professors be given special training in helping students with trigger warnings about the content of their classrooms.

Let me tell you what I am not saying in this blog post.  One, I am not saying that sexual violence and ethnic diversity are not issues that need to be confronted.  They are.  Universities are great places for awareness, education, and prevention education to take place.  Sexual violence is a real issue and deserves real discussion, rather than this kind of issue avoidance.  Two, I am not saying that Greek and Roman history is the only historical background for western civilization.  There have been contributions to the modern world from all regions of the globe, and a good instructor will recognize this.  Three, I am not saying I like Ovid.  I studied Ovid in college and never really liked him that much because I thought of him as a dirty old man.  I still do.

What I am saying, though, should be noted as well.

1.  Western civilization–literature, entertainment, politics, fashion, economics and religion have an incredible debt to Greece and Rome–classical civilizations that still impact almost everything we say and do in the United States. Therefore, it is reasonable for a university to have as a part of its core curriculum a study of the ancient western world.

2.  The world is hard, and having a bachelors degree from a university tells employers and other academic institutions that the bearer of the degree has demonstrated a certain level of endurance and strength in overcoming obstacles and barriers.  I don’t think we want institutions to hand out diplomas to people who have not demonstrated that toughness.  To create such ‘trigger warnings’ prepares a student to expect this in all avenues of life, and that would be a false expectation.

3.  The Columbia op-ed authors have missed the point.  This young woman has complicated issues that need to be handled by professionals who can help her.  She has been made a victim by someone else, and that is not her fault.  However, It is not the the professor’s fault either.  What they seek to do is pin the responsibility for issues on the classroom environment, and that is a misplaced view.  A classroom is not the place for therapy or comfort.  It is a proving ground, an arena of competition where the individual is challenged, not comforted.

Anything worth reading–or watching–will have trigger points for someone, in some way or another.  That is what makes it great literature.  It is true of Ovid, Homer, The Bible, Suetonius, The Koran, The Bhagavad Gita, Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Steinbeck, Hitchcock and Star Wars.  The first book that ever made me cry was “Fathers and Sons” by Turgenev, which I read for a Russian history class.  A university is not a high school.  A university student is being shaped into someone who can handle the world without kid gloves.  Some students at Columbia University apparently wants to put gloves on everything.

image from wordsonimages.com

ROMANS, CHAPTER ONE–FROM THE GREEK

I’ve been working on Paul’s letter to the Romans from the Greek New Testament.  Here is chapter one.  I’ll add more chapters as I get there.  My goal is to finish the letter before July 4.  We’ll see.  Translating a few lines every morning is slow going.  Before you start, three translation notes and a warning.  Note one:  Paul uses the word “For” a lot to start verses, but I omitted many of them because they are clunky.  Note two:  I tried and tried and tried to polish up the first five verses, but take heart, they are just as cumbersome in Greek as they are in English.  Its just the way he wrote it.  Note three:  I am opting for the Hebrew word Messiah instead of the Greek word Christ, because that is the eventual end translation, as Christ is a Greek word that means Messiah.  It is not always capitalized because it is not always a title.

WARNING:  This chapter ends with some strong material.  Rather than sanitize it, I tried to make it clear.  Some readers might find it offensive, but if you want to get offended, get offended at Paul.  He is the one who wrote it.

Romans–Chapter One

1. Paul, a slave of Messiah Jesus, a called apostle, who has been set apart for the good news of God

2. who promised before through his prophets in holy scripture

3. about his son, who was by flesh born into the family of David,

4. but he is by the Spirit of holiness designated as the son of God in power by resurrection from the dead, Jesus the messiah, our Lord.

5. By whom we received grace and apostleship in the obedience of faith among all the nations, for the sake of his name.

6. Among whom you are also called by Messiah Jesus.

7. To all those in Rome, loved of God, called to be holy, grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Messiah.

8. First, I give thanks to my God through Messiah Jesus for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in the whole world.

9. For God, whom I serve in the spirit of the good news, is my witness that I mention you without ceasing

10. in my prayers, always begging that somehow, sometime, I might finally succeed in the will of God to come to you.

11. For I long to see you, so that I might give a spiritual gift to you, to strengthen you.

12. What I mean is, to be encouraged by one another together, among the faithful, both you and me.

13. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I often intended to come to you so that I might produce some fruit among you just as I have among other people, but I was prevented up until now.

14. I am a debtor to Greeks, barbarians, wise, and those who are unlearned.

15. As for me, I am eager to preach the good news to those of you in Rome.

16. I am not ashamed of the good news, for it is the power of God bringing salvation to all those believing, to the Jew first, then to the gentiles.

17. For the righteousness of God is uncovered in him by faith and in faith , just as it is written, “The righteous will live by faith.”

18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodly and unrighteous acts of men, those who obstruct the truth.

19. For it is known that God is evident, for he is God, and that has been made evident to them.

20. As created beings, they understood and perceived the invisible, eternal things of the creation of the world such as the power and deity. So therefore, they are without excuse.

21. Yet they knew God but they did not glorify or thank him as God, but they were vain in their logic, darkened, without understanding in their hearts.

22. Alleging themselves to be wise, they actually became fools.

23. They changed the glory of the immortal God into a likeness, an image of mortal men, birds, animals, and reptiles.

24. Therefore, God left them to the desires of their filthy hearts as they degraded their own bodies among themselves.

25. As such, they exchanged the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.

26. Because of this, God left them to their disgraceful passions. Women exchanged natural coitus for something against nature.

27. Likewise, the men abandoned natural coitus with women in their burning desire for one another, men in men, committing indecency. They received the necessary reward of their error.

28. Since in the same way they did not acknowledge God, God left them in their failed minds, to do that which is not proper,

29. being filled with every kind of unrighteousness evil—selfish greed, bad character, full of envy, murder, strife, guile, malice, gossip,

30. slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, boastful, innovative criminals, disobedient to parents,

31. without discernment, without honor, without feelings, without mercy.

32. They are the kind of people who know the decree of God, that those practicing these things are worthy of death, but they do them anyway, and give their approval to others who practice it as well.

THE DEATH RATTLE FOR FREE SPEECH

I should be working right now–working on my science fiction story–but I can’t because I am irritated.  Bothered is more like it.  To link my irritation to science fiction, I should quote Guy Montag from the Bradbury classic Fahrenheit 451.

We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?

Yeah, I’m that kind of bothered, bothered about that cartoon contest Sunday night near Dallas where two gunmen showed up, intending to do harm (Update–ISIS is now claiming responsibility for the gunmen) but they were stopped before they ever got started  (click here for CNN) because one Garland traffic officer with a pistol took out two terrorists with automatic weapons and body armor.  And yes, in case you’re wondering, that is how we roll in Texas.  When they make this movie, Bruce Willis will no doubt play the role of the traffic officer.

What bothers me is that by the next morning people all over the media were blaming the people hosting the cartoon contest for the incident.  For an example of this type of gross equivocation click on this link to read a hatchet piece over at the Huffington Post.  It is rather nauseating, because people can’t seem to tell the difference between words and weapons, and the result is that over and over and over again pseudo-intellectuals and media types were blaming the people at the “Draw Muhammad” contest, those people who would have been Charlie Hebdo-ed had the police not been there.

I have no doubt that the people who organized the “Draw the Prophet Muhammad” contest, or whatever it was named, are odious and mean, even hateful.  However, people who are exercising their constitutional right, however distasteful it might be, can never be cited as the victim or as the ones who brought it upon themselves.  I’ve used this analogy before, but it needs stating again–this reasoning is akin to blaming a woman for being harassed or raped because of the way she dressed or behaved.  Need another example?  If someone is burning the United States flag in protest, but an offended patriot tried to kill them, no one would ever blame the flag burner even if we all disagreed vehemently with what the flag burner was doing.

As a pastor, preacher, writer, and historian free speech is dear to me, and it is sad to watch it fall upon such terrible times.  We are told what words we can’t say, we are told who we have to be nice to, and we are warned constantly not to offend anyone.  The net effect is that liberty is retarded in the United States.

Free speech in our nation is almost dead, and you can hear its death rattle every day on the news.

Other free speech posts from Pastor Greenbean

Charlie Hebdo

Koran burning

Google Searches/Spying

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GEN’XERS JUST LACK THE NUMBERS . . .

But we have the skills.

I was Anthony Michael Hall

The title of this blog post is a quote from the Sunday paper article highlighting the passing of the torch from Baby Boomers to Millenials.  The piece appeared in our local paper, the Austin American-Statesman, but was written by Rick Montgomery of the Kansas City Star.

The gist of his argument is that the divisiveness in government we are experiencing right now is the fault of the Baby Boomer politicians who are now in control.  Montgomery quotes a generational expert who summarizes the issue like this:

Remember, baby boomers were on both sides of the guns at Kent State.

He goes on to say that the Baby Boomers are the second largest generation in American history, and the largest are the Millennials. Sandwiched in between are my peeps—the Gen Xers. That is when he says,

The Gen Xers—those late -30-and 40-somethings in between—just lack the numbers.

Montgomery is talking about politics, but it is true in just about every realm of culture—business, boardrooms, entertainment, and yes, especially church life. The fact is there are not many Gen Xer pastors. Boomers, yes. Millenials, yes. Gen Xers are a rarity, and it is only becoming more pronounced as you look at the ‘church planting’ movement. I am not against church planting, but that is the focus of much church/denominational life today, and I do not know if it is intentional, but a by-product of this movement is to skip Gen Xers, because it is millennials that people want to reach. No one really cares about the 30-and 40-somethings in America right now—those people who have teenage children, a mortgage, aren’t cool or hipster, and are just trying to love their families and friends.

But we have skills. We have mad skills.

I had the privilege of speaking last week to some pastors, and one of the things I was talking about was leadership styles, and I just referenced that I was a Gen Xer and that colored my view of church and life. A big part of that is being noticed or singled out is not really what matters to me. What matters to me is being a part of a tribe—my group—and expressing myself without fear or condemnation within that group. The freedom to do what I want to do without being told I am wrong or stupid. If that sounds familiar, it is because most Gen Xers are still locked away in that library on a Saturday morning with the rest of The Breakfast Club.

I have a prediction. Some of you will not like it, but here it goes. The Millenials have started fast, but alas, they will falter, sputter, and in many ways fail. Their failure will be because they have been so busy being important, clamoring for their 15 minutes of fame, and vining that they have not developed any real skills. That is when Gen X will come to the rescue, after our kids have grown up and the mortgage is paid.

We have mad skills, and we will save the world, with Alive and Kicking playing in the background.

image from mentalfloss.com