Yes

by Stavesacre, from the album (Self-Titled)

couples gather on the street
no way they notice me
but i watch them walk together
and it reminds me
of nights when everyone was gone
and i ended up alone
nights that were unsafe to hope for anything

lately i have noticed that so much
is not what i imagined it’d be.
when the harder times come calling on us
we’ll know if we’re gonna need

(chorus)
promises
don’t promise me
say yes
say no or yes
but don’t promise

for all the reasons not to try
i can’t forget the times
i swore that if i finally knew
the answers to my prayers those nights
when it came time to decide i’d just know
and i would be ready

lately i have noticed that so much
is not what i’d imagined it’d be
when the harder times come calling on us
we’ll know if we’re gonna need

Theology Talk

While I'm writing my credo for Theology 301 (which was due Friday), I've decided to indulge you exceptional readers into some of the daily matters and topics that arise in my theology class. These are issues and subjects in which we discuss and focus on in the class:

-A daily conversation in Theology 301 about the nature of sin-

Professor, Dr. Rathel: "...sin is a state..."
Student, Jeff Watkins: "I wonder where that is?"
Student, Chad Underwood: "I think it's below Rhode Island."

Note: Chad then proceeded to draw a map of the United States, exactly showing where 'sin' is located. It ended up being underneath New York...

Exodus Comes Before Deuteronomy

How I’m feeling today
Isn’t always easy to convey
Mad at you, this situation, and the world
Most of all, mad at myself

I can’t recall the feeling of goodness
Because all I see is your hurtfulness
You lash out irrationally without any reasoning
It’s funny to hear the dissonance

You say something like, “Climb that hill”
You mean something else by your own will
I can’t fathom your mindset
Especially now when you’re being ridiculous

Tactless words that have no rule
You’d like us to think ourselves a fool
Needless remarks beyond any comparison
You damaged a friend with no remorse

I implore myself to you
Now I abhor anything you do
Maybe we could think back to a time when it was real
Unless your unmistakable expressions have been forgotten

I’ve written so much about this
Right or wrong, hit or miss
I do it to feel better about life
Not self-serving, like your own ambitions

From USAToday.com, Big Bands With Christian Roots

11/01/2002 - Updated 10:53 AM ET

Other bands with Christian leanings that have made a dent — in some cases a crater — in the general market:

Blindside-- P.O.D. protégés from Sweden released first albums to Christian market in USA; new Silence, on Elektra/Three Points, recently peaked at No 83 on Billboard chart.

Chevelle-- Chicago-area band released first album on Christian label; now on Epic for Wonder What's Next, out Tuesday.

Creed-- Singer Scott Stapp's lyrics reflect his Christian upbringing, though group has avoided "Christian band" label.

Dashboard Confessional-- Lead hunk Chris Carrabba spent time fronting Christian-market emo band Further Seems Forever.

Jars of Clay-- Christian-market mainstays had crossover success with first hit, Flood; recently toured with Sheryl Crow.

MxPx-- Warped Tour punk mainstays from Washington state cut their teeth in the Christian industry, now on A&M.

Nickel Creek-- Bluegrass revivalist trio are all Christians. 2000 debut album went gold; current This Side No. 73 on Billboard chart.

P.O.D.-- Rap-rockers' songs are openly Christian; albums distributed to Christian market, but band shuns "Christian" tag.

Project 86-- Truthless Heroes on Atlantic/Tooth and Nail entered at No. 146 on Billboard chart last week; on tour this month with Taproot.

Sixpence None the Richer-- Band that made Kiss Me ubiquitous was a Christian-industry mainstay before crossover success. Divine Discontent out Oct. 29.

U2-- Bono, Edge and Larry Mullin Jr. have all acknowledged their faith, though the band has avoided the Christian tag.

interesting...

I Really Don't Like School Today

School sucks sometimes... Today is the last day of regular classes and on normal terms, this would make me very happy. Yet, I am verily busy with all the things I still have left to do (if anyone is contemplating taking twenty hours, I have a piece of advice, DON'T!). I got back from Pensacola last night around 5:00 PM. It was an interesting week to say the least. I did learn a lot about ministry. I learned a lot about the clinical and emotional aptitude in how to make a hospital visit and talk to a total stranger about their condition. I learned a lot about myself. Something interesting, I learned I have a problem with silence. Not necessarily being alone and by myself in silence, because that is solitude and I enjoy it sometimes. However, being in a room with people and hearing everything nothingness has to offer drives me into my psychosocial demise. I think the reason for this is because I equate silence with being upset. Like, if someone hurts my feelings or I'm mad at them, I'll get quiet. Pretty much because I have nothing to say. So, looking at my own rationale, I tend to think others do the same thing. When people are quiet, I often ask if they are ok. I don't know what this spawned from, but it's a part of me being little ol' me. I have to finish the other nine pages of my credo in Theology 301, which I found out last night (thanks Teresa) that it was due today! And I have to type my Psychology 310 paper which is due Monday. Oh yeah, I have all my finals next week too! So much fun, I can hardly breath. Good day.

"I wish I was someone else. I'm confused I'm afraid I hate the loneliness. And there's nowhere to run to. Nothing makes any sense. But I still try my hardest. Take my hand. Please help me man..." Something To Believe In --The Ramones

The Problem with Christian Film
I received this in my e-mail and thought you might appreciate it.

HOLLYWOOD JESUS
NEWSLETTER #43
Pop Culture From A Spiritual Point of View
December 4, 2002
Greetings from David Bruce, Web Master

___________________________________

Main Topic:
THE PROBLEM WITH "CHRISTIAN" FILMS
Thoughts from Brian Godawa
and Dan Dunkelberger

SUB TOPIC:
TO END ALL WARS

Contents:
1. Introducing Brian Godawa
2. "Christian Movies" So-called
3. Listen to the History of Christian Films
4. TO END ALL WARS Comes to Los Angeles
5. A Book Worth Giving

*************************
1. INTRODUCING BRIAN GODAWA
*************************
Recently it was my good fortune to meet Brian Godawa.
He is a screenwriter living in Southern California.
He wrote the screenplay for the feature film To End All Wars.
And he is the author of the book,
Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Movies With Discernment (Intervarsity Press), which I highly recommend.


He has some interesting views that I think need to be shared!
Below I are some of his views of "Christian" movies.
I think this may lead to a lively discussion.

*************************
2. "CHRISTIAN MOVIES" --SO CALLED.
*************************

“Christian” Movies When it comes to a meaningful portrayal of Christianity, one has to ask why is it that so-called secular movies do a better job of it (when they so rarely do) than so-called “Christian movies?” Why are Christian movies at the theater mostly rejected as unbelievable and contrived propaganda? Part of the problem is that they tend to be narrowly focused, which reduces the message to clichés. And clichés do not ring true.

CLICHÉS
There always seems to be a priest or pastor or “religious” character who is the wise man or the voice of conscience. There tends to be a “salvation scene” where the main character falls to his knees in a church and prays to “accept Jesus into his heart.” And there is often some kind of religious ministry at stake, be it a homeless shelter or kid's ministry. Now, to be fair, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with such clichés. It's just that they have become precisely that—clichés.

SINNER PRAYER APPROACH -IRRELEVANT
There is another tendency in overtly Christian movies to neglect incarnating redemption in the story theme. Rather than accurately portraying the spiritual need of a character and how it is remedied through the story, “accepting Jesus into their heart” is often the prescribed panacea for all their problems. This early twentieth century “altar call” sinner's prayer approach has little relevance for the postmodern human, and is rather suspect itself as a biblical concept. Praying a prayer may be part of regeneration, but it is not the certainty of true and full salvation which comes from a changed life of repentance (Mt 7:21-27; 13:18-23; Lk 8:11-15). And prayer is certainly not the only outward _expression of a changed heart, though one would get that idea from watching more than one “Christian” film.

World Wide Pictures, the film arm of the Billy Graham Ministry, suffers from this weakness. Since they are required to have a Billy Graham (now Franklin Graham) crusade in every film, the stories suffer from heavy-handed proselytization which immediately alienates most sophisticated viewers. And this alienation is not necessarily from the audience's rebellious sinful natures.

A PREACHY MESSAGE IS A TURN OFF
Any movie with a “preachy” message, be it Christianity, environmentalism, political positions, or what have you, turns away people because rather than letting the audience figure out for themselves what the meaning is, they are told exactly what they ought to think and usually in terms of slogans and buzz words. This is the nature of propaganda, a one-sidedness that ignores the ambiguities and difficulties of reality. The Billy Graham Association is undoubtedly sincere in their desire to have meaningful drama, but what is sometimes missed is that the power of drama lies not in placing cure-all messages on top of their stories but in incarnating the redemption into the story and its theme.

BAD WRITING, BAD ACTING
Having said all this about the need to transcend preachiness, most of the time it's just simply bad writing, bad acting, and bad directing that ruins “Christian” films. Recycled television plots, distinctly unscary villains trying to sound scary, contrived “sinner's prayer” conversions (Mercy Streets, 2000), and even Christians trying a bit too hard to act like movie superstars themselves (Carmen: The Champion, 2000).

RETREAT FROM CULTURE
Why are the standards of excellence so neglected in “Christian” art? Perhaps this is the terminal legacy of those who consider “the message” as “more important” than the medium (of storytelling), rather than seeing the medium itself as part of the message and created by God as valuable in and of itself. Perhaps we are still bearing the fruit of the pietist and fundamentalist retreat from all things cultural as evil. We seem to feel that the rest of the “stuff “ is just not as important as putting in that “altar call” scene.

ENDTIME MADNESS
Another detrimental aspect of “Christian” films is the obsession that many of them have with the end of the world. One would think the book of Revelation is the only unique element of Christianity because we seem to make so many movies about it. It all started back in 1972 with A Thief in the Night and those scenes of the big bad One- World government chasing after Christians in One-World government vans, and soon grew to monstrous Blob-like proportions with A Distant Thunder (1978), Image of the Beast (1981), The Prodigal Planet (1983), and more recently Revelation (1996), Apocalypse: Caught in the Eye of the Storm (1998), Revelation (1999), Apocalypse IV: Judgment (2001), Tribulation (2000), The Omega Code (1999), Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 (2001), and the granddaddy End-Times marketing phenomenon of all time, Left Behind: The Movie (2001). This adaptation of the mega-million best-selling series that began as a trilogy and soon mutated into a 12-book series (not to mention the myriad of other rip-offs for children and others) has brought the book of Revelation to the forefront of popular interest—and with it a host of problems.



*************************
3. AUDIO HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN FILM
With Daniel Dunkelberger on RealPlayer
*************************

One of the most encouraging people that I know is Daniel Dunkelberger. He is an expert in the history of film by Christian filmmakers. Above is an amazing speech he gave in 1999 at a Men's Breakfast in California.





*************************
4. TO END ALL WARS IN LOS ANGELES
*************************

The film, TO END ALL WARS opens in Los Angeles for a one week exclusive engagement this coming Friday, December 6-12 at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood. It's future distribution depends on it's success here, so if you live in Southern California, would you please try to go? If you don't live there, but know someone who does, would you please contact them and try to persuade them to go? You could notify all your friends who live in Southern California through email. It is important that it does well during the week, not merely the weekend, so please consider going during the week and bringing some friends with.

You will not be disappointed with this strongly redemptive movie. You can see the web site at: www.toendallwars.com with a trailer and all! It is the story of Allied prisoners of war in a Japanese concentration camp during WW2. As they suffer under their captors’ cruelty, they find redemption in learning to love their neighbor and ultimately what it means to love their enemy. The Veterans of Foreign Wars gave the movie a medal of distinction and honor because of its accurate portrayal. It's like Shawshank Redemption meets Saving Private Ryan.


Here is the info:
Arclight Cinemas
6360 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood
(between Vine and Ivar)
TEL: 1-323-464-1478 for show times



*************************
5. A BOOK WORTH GIVING
Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Movies With Discernment
*************************

Brian Godawa who wrote the screenplay for TO END ALL WARS has also written an incredible book Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Movies With Discernment published by InterVarsity Press. This book will open your eyes to the various philosophies behind some of the biggest hits to come out of Hollywood. I know of several groups that have used this book in their weekly discussion groups. Click this link and read what others are saying about this book. I strongly recommend it in your Christmas gift considerations. Click here for book info.

Post Your Thoughts Here

God bless you.
Warmly,
David Bruce
Web Master, HollywoodJesus.com

Bert Kampfert's Got The Mad Hits
The album, Tommy by The Who has been playing in my head.

Earlier tonight I visited Liverpool Records. That was an exciting time. This was me doing my Christmas shopping. After an hour I held 12 LPs totalling 21 dollars. At the register I found out that the store doesn't accept Visa on vinyl because its so cheap anyway. I had no cash. Neither did Donna. He asked to see what I had and took them. He said, "I'll give them to you for 10 bucks." I didn't know what exactly to say, this didn't change the fact that I had no cash. Donna said, "Can you hold them for a minute?" He agreed and we were off to the ATM. I got back. I handed him the 10 and he handed me the vinyl. He said, "I'll always fix you up with a good deal."

It's great when you don't even have to finiggle for the deal.

So looks like I'll be going back there. A lot.

When I got into the room I showed Jeremy the stack and he said, "but you don't have a record player." I had been thinking it but I definetly must get a record player soon now. I absolutely must.

Where's the best place to sell vinyl online?

Question
Do you plan to teach your children to believe in Santa Claus?

Happy Chanukah (Home For A Few Hours)

In just a few brief hours, I will be waking up to drive over to the hospital in Pensacola. Five hours of sleep seems insufficient. Maybe I should skip. If only I could. I'm sure I won't have a hard time waking up. I know what lies ahead. I will be over there for the next five days doing my practicum part of the class. It’s four-hour credit so it doesn’t seem like that big of deal. Just don’t really know everything that will happen. I had a decent drive back up to school today. I made pretty good time considering the traffic. The worst part is I have to repack for the week. I'm done with my normal clothes, now I have to pack my dress clothes. This responsibility stuff doesn't get any easier. My week home was good. I now know (if there were ever a doubt before) I don't want to live with my folks again, never, if possible. I love them, but there are so many rules. Sometimes I think it's impossible to please my Dad. My Mom is my biggest fan. She'll support me in whatever I do, even though I get her upset sometimes. My Dad is the exception. Sometimes, I feel like his genuine concern for me is not really concern but merely he trying to get me to live the life he thinks I should be living. And that kind of just sucks. I've learned a lot about life just by watching them, but now it's time to stretch my wings out and fly. Well, this is going to be the last post for a while. At least until the 6th of December and relax, it's only the 1st. Chase promises some insightful words for us and who knows, maybe Justin will grace us with his presence. After all it's his site! Maybe at some point, I can get on over at the hospital and go on location and let you guys know how I'm holding up. Once again, thanks for reading. I'd also appreciate any prayers while I'm there. It's going to be tuff emotional, physically, and spiritually. I love you guys and I'll see you when I return.

Until Kwanzaa...