Huckabees = No Good

I finally got around to renting the movie I (heart) Huckabees, and it turns out that I really don't heart Huckabees at all. There ARE several funny parts, if you're into weird existential humor that's a little tough to follow (and I am!) but they're not worth the effort of waiting through the excruciating boredom of the rest of the movie and the often blistering blue streaks that really don't serve any purpose except to remind me of myself in the early 1990's.

Bottom line: There are lots of better things to do with 106 minutes and $2.50 so don't waste either on this movie.

The Judas We Never Knew

It's hard to know what to think about new writings you haven't seen, but most of what I've heard has been from the secular media, depicting the Gospel of Judas as a nail in the coffin of Christianity. Here's a look at it from Christianity Today's Collin Hansen.

Lent And Holy Week

Lots of people will be attending Holy Week services at church this week: Palm Sunday (yesterday) Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and finally Easter. But I'm not one of them. I used to appreciate entering into the solemn mood of the days leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus, and if you do that's fine, I don't want to take anything away from that. It's just that it began to seem like too big of a production to me. I got the feeling myself and from talking with the pastor of my old church that all the black shrouds hanging from the church cross, the low light in the sanctuary, forbidding the word "alleluia" (What's up with that?), the bare altar, and slow-moving gut-wrenching hymns of sorrow were only there to provide contrast to the glorious Easter Morning services. To make it SEEM even better. How do you do THAT? "Pretend you're there at the cross, that you don't know about the ressurection... enter into the dispair" he told me.

Why?

It's not like I've forgotten what I was saved from. I don't need to pretend I don't know about the ressurection, why would you do that? I live in the joy of the resurrection every day! I do my best to keep it real. If I find myself pretending, I try to snap out of it. It seems to me to be counterproductive. Am I giving up chocolate during Lent to remind me of all that Jesus gave up? Come on! I give up all my sins, and not just during Lent. Not to remind me of all He gave up, but because I love Him! My life is a celebration of Him, or at least I want it to be. The glory of Easter and the wonder of the resurrection is every day! Don't pretend it isn't!

Silly Rabbit

Yesterday I noticed a gopher hole in my back yard so I set a rat trap next to it. We've had them before and they're a pain, so I'm hoping to trap them before they breed and I have to catch the whole family. When I got home today, I went out to check the trap and there was nothing. The trap was still set, and looked untouched. When I walked around back, I noticed something laying in the grass and thought it might be the gopher. Instead, I found half a bunny. "Half" a bunny. Something had apparently caught it and devoured everything from about the middle of the rib cage up. So I took a couple pictures and sent out an e-mail saying that we caught the Easter Bunny stealing our candy. I'm sick ain't I? I thought about putting the pics up here, but that would have been disgusting. I'm not that sick!

I hope to see that carnivorous gopher in the trap tomorrow.

How Is Stealing Okay?

Several people I know regularly download and/or share pirated music, movies, and applications. I myself don't, because I think it's plainly wrong. I figure if a CD you want costs $13 and you don't think it's worth that much, then don't buy it. If you really like it and you want it bad enough, then go ahead and buy it. But it still costs $13. Or if you don't want to pay 8 or 9 bucks to see a movie in a theater, then don't. But that's how much it costs. Nobody's saying you have to go see it. If you want to though, that's the price.

I recently was surprised to see someone who in most regards is one of my heroes, using a copy of an application that sells for well over $1000. It's quite a program, and it's brand new. They said they got it from a friend whose kid had cracked it. "I don't feel too bad about it though, because there's no chance I would ever have forked out that kind of money to buy it, I would have just gone without it."

So that makes it okay? Is it all about what you can get away with, not whether it's right or wrong? Does anyone have a conscience anymore? The hero I mentioned above is still one of my heroes, but I'm less in awe than I once was. I think that the price you pay in cash for these things (no matter the amount) is cheaper than the price you pay in character, integrity, and what your kids and others see in you when you steal.

But that's just me.