"Balanced" Is WAY Over Played

Brant Hansen:

When it comes to giving money, you should be reckless. Joyfully reckless.

I know, I know: "Brant, bless your heart, we know you mean well, but you really can't say be 'reckless' with your money, even when it comes to giving, because..."

Also: "Brant, I see maybe what you're saying, but you know, it's really about 'balance', and..."

Yep. I know. I hear this kind of thing a lot. Balance!

"It's all about balance, Brant."

Balance. Planning. Moderation. That's how we like to give, when we do it. Makes total sense.

Too bad Jesus never mentioned any of that.

Read the rest.

No Private Sin

Brant Hansen:

A friend of mine did smething really, really bad a couple years ago. Real bad. Not illegal bad, but...bad enough it's followed him, years later. It showed up on page two of a metro newspaper, a thousand miles away from where he did it.

I love this guy. He's fun, smart, and fairly new to Christian belief. He's accepted responsibility for what he did, and he's had to live with it every day. He told me the other day he was sorry even I was having to deal with it now. "I'm amazed how many people this has affected. One stupid, wrong decision I made and it keeps affecting so many people. My wife, my kids...it just keeps going."

And so it does.

We marveled at that, and, just stood there, quietly, just shaking our heads. Amazing? Yes. But not really surprising.

The older I get, the more convinced I am there is no private sin. They don't all wind up on page two, but the surface of the pond is never undisturbed by the pebble. The ripples move well beyond ourselves, and, in many cases they radiate through generations.

Read the rest for some sobering examples.

Brant Hansen: "Europe Was Really Pretty Cool for Awhile There"

In his usual witty and sarcastic style, Brant Hansen writes an interesting post of the state of culture in Europe. His conclusion:

Americans who love Europe, who want to emulate Europe, who admire Europe, need to cram in all the love and admiration quick-like. Europe doesn't work. It's not going to be around much longer. This is not my guess, this is the simple math: They're not having kids, folks.

No kids, no culture. And the math -- they're WAY below replacement rate, and have been -- is the future. Last one out, turn off the lights.

Those government benefits Americans admire? Europeans won't have them much longer. Some are being cut already. Again, simple math. They're forced to accomodate -- not assimilate, really --immigrants to do the jobs that they no longer can do, to help pay for the benefits promised to an aged society. Europe is becoming Muslim, right now, and it's not fear-mongering or anti-Muslim to say it -- it's mathematical reality. Muslims know it, too.

Turns out that "backward" view -- supporting marriage as a coherent legal concept, and viewing children, and families, as a blessing -- turns out all that keeps a culture from dying.

Extensive benefits, long vacations, socialized medicine, post-Christian sexual autonomy, unlimited abortion, the diminution of marriage, sneering at people who still cling to their religion -- if you admire that, hurry and admire it while you can.

This was a very limited engagement. It's just amazing how short-lived, and depressing, it all was. And that we want to replicate it, here.

Read the whole thing.

Dark Knight Of The Soul

Brant Hansen has an interesting take on the new Batman movie. He writes:

"The Dark Knight" is cultural rigormortis. It's what happens when we are done, and we are done. Jacques Barzun had it right, when he wrote a history of western culture up through the 1990s, and said, certainly, that our age is defined by boredom. We are excited by nothing, really, but maybe for a moment here, or a moment there, we can try to be turned on. Sex can do it (or fake sex, much more likely) but brutal violence can work, too, if for a short time.

Our culture is lying on the table, and "The Dark Knight" is just another jolt before the flatline resumes.

At least give us this: Our mass-market (which included me, yesterday) is willing to pay for it, but also demands some sense that it was all, ultimately, high-minded, that it was making some statement, that it was horrific, yes, but redemptive, blah blah blah. Expect many hip Christian types to write as much, because 1) That's the essence of being hip, and 2) Who doesn't like Batman?

But it's not redemptive...unless...

Unless we can emerge in the sunlight, after ALL THAT HYPE for this masterwork, this penultimate expression, this marvel-ous creation, saying, "Really? That's as good as it gets?"

Then we walk out into the sun, and decide it's infinitely more interesting than what we just paid to see.

I think I get what he is saying here, but I don't find myself bored by experiencing great art. Perhaps he doesn't classify this film as "great" art". I guess having your expectations in line is probably the first step to not being bored or disappointed. When I see this movie on IMAX on Monday night (God willing) I don't expect to have it change my life or makes all my problems go away, but I do expect to marvel in the creative gifts of the hundreds of different people that collaborated to make this movie. When I observe this kind of artistic expression I find myself pointed to the ultimate Creative One and I find satisfaction in that. The finite creative expressions of humans point me to the infinite Creator. I don't think we have to disparage the former to see and worship the latter.

This line of thinking for reflecting theologically about movies certainly has it's limits. Can watching porn draw my attention to the beauty of God's ideals for sex? Certainly not. Should a movie be watched that seems to simply glorify violence or torture? Probably not. Decisions about what kinds of movies should be viewed need to be made with much prayerful discernment and wisdom. Perhaps the artistic bad will outweigh the good in Dark Knight. I guess I'll have to wait until Monday to see...

If Jesus Had A Blog

Brant Hansen pens (or types) an interesting post imagining if Jesus had a blog. In his usual way, it's funny, but also not so funny if you get the point. Read the whole thing here.