I don’t particularly enjoy horror movies, although I’ve seen quite a few. But one thing I like about horror movies is that they depict evil as a real thing, aggressively coming to get you in spite of, and sometimes because of, your virtue. Also, horror movies often show the truth that you are more likely to be destroyed by evil if you behave stupidly, like by opening that door “just to see for yourself.”
But even though they show evil as a real thing, horror movies also can be very misleading about it’s true nature. For example, few of them ever do justice to the supernatural essence of demonic activity. But the real problem with horror movies is the portrayal of evil as spectacular when the truth is that most evil is quite ordinary.
Far more evil has been done by “normal” people than by lunatics and madmen. It’s not the masked man with the chainsaw we need to fear, but the slumlord who bribes the inspector rather than repairing the building. The midnight stalker scares us in a movie, but I’m more disturbed by the medical claims adjuster who denies a needed treatment he could have approved.
As Hannah Arendt put it, evil is banal. Boring. And when we conceive evil through the eyes of Wes Craven or Eli Roth, we both deceive ourselves into a false sense of security and we distract ourselves from the evil all around us…and within us.
Thought of the Day 06.05.09
In hosting a radio show, I’ve grown accustomed to emphasizing my points with sound effects and music. I do this with a laptop-sized electronic device. So when I was given the chance to preach at my church recently, I really wanted to use this machine to enhance the sermon.
Well, one of the challenges was finding a suitable stand for it to sit on. Two chairs would be too low to use conveniently. A music stand wouldn’t be strong enough to hold this very expensive piece of equipment. And I just didn’t have anything to do the trick.
But then on the way home Saturday afternoon, I saw that my neighbor had a bunch of garage sale leftovers sitting outside for free. Among the items was a two-drawer file cabinet exactly the right height and size for my needs. It worked perfectly on Sunday morning.
Now I know this may not seem like a major act of Providence, but to me it was yet another reminder that God cares about every detail of our lives and delights in providing for us in unexpected and creative little ways, too.
Well, one of the challenges was finding a suitable stand for it to sit on. Two chairs would be too low to use conveniently. A music stand wouldn’t be strong enough to hold this very expensive piece of equipment. And I just didn’t have anything to do the trick.
But then on the way home Saturday afternoon, I saw that my neighbor had a bunch of garage sale leftovers sitting outside for free. Among the items was a two-drawer file cabinet exactly the right height and size for my needs. It worked perfectly on Sunday morning.
Now I know this may not seem like a major act of Providence, but to me it was yet another reminder that God cares about every detail of our lives and delights in providing for us in unexpected and creative little ways, too.
Thought of the Day 06.04.09
Many Americans believe that faith is naïve and gullible whereas doubt is savvy and sophisticated. In reality, faith and doubt are the very same thing, merely in opposite directions.
Faith is the word we use for belief in the presence of uncertainty, and doubt is the word we use for disbelief in the presence of uncertainty. This means that both faith and doubt are forms of unwarranted belief in the sense that neither is demonstrably provable. Yet despite having this same basic substance, our culture has somehow internalized the surprising notion that unproven disbelief is superior to unproven belief.
So, if I have faith in God, then I might just claim to doubt the non-existence of God. Likewise, I might say the atheist simply has faith in God’s non-existence. If doubt is better than faith, I can thus win the God argument just by inverting the proposition. The silliness of such a move shows why saying doubt is better than faith is a lot like saying negative numbers are better numbers than positive ones.
Faith is the word we use for belief in the presence of uncertainty, and doubt is the word we use for disbelief in the presence of uncertainty. This means that both faith and doubt are forms of unwarranted belief in the sense that neither is demonstrably provable. Yet despite having this same basic substance, our culture has somehow internalized the surprising notion that unproven disbelief is superior to unproven belief.
So, if I have faith in God, then I might just claim to doubt the non-existence of God. Likewise, I might say the atheist simply has faith in God’s non-existence. If doubt is better than faith, I can thus win the God argument just by inverting the proposition. The silliness of such a move shows why saying doubt is better than faith is a lot like saying negative numbers are better numbers than positive ones.
Thought of the Day 06.03.09
All of America is discussing Sunday’s murder of Dr. George Tiller, a notorious late-term abortion provider. Although pro-lifers aren’t likely to shed any tears over the death of this man, we must unambiguously condemn the actions of his murderer.
Some may find this tension baffling, but it’s important to recognize the distinction between means and ends. In this case, we certainly can be glad that some babies will not be killed late in pregnancy. Nonetheless, we must condemn both parts of the means used to get there: killing Dr. Tiller and doing so by vigilante action.
Christians ultimately believe that God is sovereign over everything in this world. This means that we can endure the existence of some evil because we know that a much more powerful God does so as well. Also, because we have the example of Christ who died for His enemies rather than killing them, we know that our foremost obligation in this life is to demonstrate the Gospel we claim to believe.
Some may find this tension baffling, but it’s important to recognize the distinction between means and ends. In this case, we certainly can be glad that some babies will not be killed late in pregnancy. Nonetheless, we must condemn both parts of the means used to get there: killing Dr. Tiller and doing so by vigilante action.
Christians ultimately believe that God is sovereign over everything in this world. This means that we can endure the existence of some evil because we know that a much more powerful God does so as well. Also, because we have the example of Christ who died for His enemies rather than killing them, we know that our foremost obligation in this life is to demonstrate the Gospel we claim to believe.
Thought of the Day 06.02.09
Boy, I sure hope there’s baseball games in heaven, because I can’t imagine spending eternity without being able to enjoy the playoffs.
I wonder what the food will be like in heaven. I sure hope we get to eat meat, because eating filet and lobster every day would be heaven for me.
I wonder if God likes rock and roll, because an eternity without good music would be unbearably boring. I sure do hope it’s not just organs and pipes all the time.
Putting aside the fact that the Bible teaches that heaven comes to us rather than the other way around, all of these people seem to be missing the main point. The only thing about eternity which matters is that we get to be with God. And the only thing about hell which matters is suffering His absence. And until God becomes so magnificent to us that an eternity spend in His presence eating rice and listening to elevator music without a television becomes thrilling to imagine, we can’t really say that we’re ready for heaven.
I wonder what the food will be like in heaven. I sure hope we get to eat meat, because eating filet and lobster every day would be heaven for me.
I wonder if God likes rock and roll, because an eternity without good music would be unbearably boring. I sure do hope it’s not just organs and pipes all the time.
Putting aside the fact that the Bible teaches that heaven comes to us rather than the other way around, all of these people seem to be missing the main point. The only thing about eternity which matters is that we get to be with God. And the only thing about hell which matters is suffering His absence. And until God becomes so magnificent to us that an eternity spend in His presence eating rice and listening to elevator music without a television becomes thrilling to imagine, we can’t really say that we’re ready for heaven.
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