6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

Samuel's Warning Against Kings

10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

The Lord Grants Israel's Request

19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”

...abortion was a bad idea?

...the "Hippocratic Oath" meant what it said, and the doctors taking the oath meant to keep the oath:

     "I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.

     "I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a (an abortifacient) to cause an abortion."?

...America believed in a representative government, with God-given and state-protected "inalienable" rights, with three branches of government with limited power?

...America believed in capitalism, individual rights, and 'liberty and justice for all'?

...we fought for the right to freely assemble, freely speak, freely worship, and freely bear arms to protect ourselves against a tryannous government (can you picture King George III asking Sam or John Adams for $700 billion to bail him out of his war debt?!)?

...we believed that Marxism was a stupid idea, because we knew world history, and knew it's NEVER WORKED?!?!??

...we had a country that we were proud of, and proud to pass on to our kids?

...we had a true conservative running for office that actually had a chance of winning?

Me neither, it's been so long.

--JMH

Alright, so we're a Netflixin' family.  What that translates into is that we're a few years, sometimes decades, behind the times.  It also means we can review movies that all of you have seen the last time Haley's Comet did a drive-by, which means that you forgot all about these movies and my review will be fresh.

Onto the movie at hand: Bella.  It was produced in 2005, stars Eduardo Verastegui (a Mexican actor who gained fame in the film Chasing Papi, but began acting on a popular Mexican soap opera) Tammy Blanchard and others most Hollywood fans don't recognize (well, in my narrow opinion, then again: what would I know?).  The director is Alehandro Gomez Monteverde, newcomer and visionary along with Verastegui, and co-owner of the production company "Metanoia Films."

Cool tidbit: Metanoia is Greek for "repentance" or "changing one's mind."  Only bad thing about it--this movie is several years old now, and it doesn't look like this team did any other films since. 

What's the movie about?  Well, several things, and I don't want to make the plot seem overly simplistic or in the least bit cheesy.  Not that I don't love cheese.

The character-driven story centers on the characters Jose (E. Verastegui) and Nina (T. Blanchard).  Both have ghosts in their past, and in finding each other they embark on a journey of healing.

Was that vague and cheesy enough?  Allow me to disambiguate a bit.

Nina is facing a difficult moral dilemma, and Jose is a shell of the man he once was. They both have a need for healing (did I say that again?), and each other.  This film is about human vulnerability, maturation, relationships, and the idea that we were created to experience grace in community with one another. 

Seriously, the way this film's written, if I give any more details, I'll spoil the whole cotton-pickin' thing! 

You know something?  I think this movie review sucks, big time, but the movie was hands-down one of the best I've seen.  The cinematography, subject, characters/actors, the experience of the Latin culture, the positive (though equally melancholy, gotta love it!) view of reality, the refreshingly positive message, it was a shock to find such a gem of a film hiding on the back shelf of the Netflix repertoire.  Then again, that isn't too surprising.

What can I say?  Grab a Kleenex box, your spouse, and check it out!  It might not change your life, but that depends on which side of these real-life issues you sit.  As a father of six and husband of one, I'm authorized to give this movie 16 thumbs way up for cultural relevance, refreshing points of view (especially on the Latino culture), art value and overall quality.

--JMH, world's not-so-best movie critic

If there’s anything that I’ve found in walking with Christ, it’s this:

“Life is hard, God is good.  Don’t confuse the two.”

Put perfectly, Job said:

“Though [the LORD] slay me, yet will I praise Him.”

And:

“The  LORD giveth, the LORD taketh away, blessed be the name of the LORD.”

In pondering the last 10 years of living conscientiously as a Christian, I’ve learned what the Lutherans call the “theology of the cross,” that is, this idea that we are guaranteed to suffer in this life.  That we will suffer is as sure a thing as the sky is blue, or the sun rises, or taxes are due in April.

This is such a true facet of life that I find the following cliché utterly disagreeable:

“To err is human, to forgive divine.”

I don’t disagree that we humans err, nor that forgiveness is divine.  However, I have to ask: did Jesus ever err?  We might assume he made mistakes that weren’t sinful (maybe He tripped on His sandals once while carrying a piece of furniture He’d just helped Joseph make, for instance).  However, that’s only speculation.  We can’t know for certain since the Bible doesn’t reveal these details.  It does, however, reveal how Jesus suffered.  In fact, He promised at various times in the Gospels that we would and should expect suffering—don’t be surprised at it, either.  Don’t suffer and think, “God, where are you?  Why me?  This isn’t good of you.”  No, we ought to expect suffering this side of Paradise.

Jesus was absolutely the perfect picture of God our Father and the perfect picture of Man.  In that, we can have no doubt. 

Thus, the cliché ought to read:

“To suffer is human, to endure divine.”

Don’t be surprised when you suffer, but ask for the grace to suffer for Christ’s sake, without sacrificing His honor and glory.  Jesus didn’t promise us a painless life.  He was known as the “Man of Sorrows,” after all.  He told us to take up our cross (burden/suffering) and follow Him—perfectly obeying the will of God.  It’s easy to write this now when most of my suffering seems behind me.  Most of my suffering was the consequence of failing to follow Christ, failing to lead my family, failing to measure up to God’s standard, missing the mark of holiness.

To suffer the consequences of my sinful and imprudent choices is to be expected.  The suffering Christ promised was of all kinds: suffer our consequences for sin, suffer the normal effects of sin (death, disease, etc.) that aren’t necessarily a judgment against us personally, and to finally suffer for righteousness sakes (the “unfair” type of suffering).

In the book whose name I bear, we read that we are to “count it all joy” when we are in trials of all kinds, because God is fashioning us into holy vessels, driving out the dross and impurities in our hearts, perfecting us as Christians, that sort of thing.  In other words: we are to expect and be joyful to receive the suffering of discipline.

Looking back, I’ve suffered for greed.  I’ve suffered for lust.  I’ve suffered for pride.  I’ve suffered for unwise choices, thus not being able to provide for my family.  I’ve proved the verse in Galatians 6:7-8:

 “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption (NIV says, “destruction”) but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

What I have very little of is the “good” kind of suffering: suffering for righteousness’ sake.  The type of suffering that drained the martyrs of life and limb.  The type of suffering that Christ endured, and that is the unmerited suffering because the world simply hates its Creator.  The kind of suffering that we ought to covet.  This is the type of suffering for being bold in the faith.  It’s a prize, a joy, a mark of a Christian.  I have seen my wife go through it, I have seen her stripes and burden.  I myself have caused her suffering many a times simply because I wasn’t in the same spiritual place as she, and I couldn’t understand nor rejoice with her.

I covet suffering for Jesus’ sake.  Am I odd for saying this aloud?  Here’s something odder still: I sometimes think I’m not a Christian because I have so little experience of this kind of suffering.  I read it in the book of Acts, in the Epistles of Paul when he’s jailed, I read it in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, I read about our Lord on the cross suffering and then praying, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced it, however, and it worries me at times.

Is it weird for wanting to suffer for Christ’s sake?  I think this would bring an assurance that my comfortable life simply doesn’t afford me.  I sleep well these days, my wife and children are in good health.  I am loved.  I have a great family, church and employer.  I am well taken care of.  My stomach is full (and is, in fact, a floatation device!). 

This I still lack: I don’t suffer for Christ.  It makes me uneasy.

--JMH

 

Idols For Destruction

Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3)

Christopher Paolini

I've reviewed this book in greater length on two other forums, and wanted to simply say this to those who haven't read the book yet: go to a library and read it free.  Better yet, pick up anything from C.S. Lewis or Tolkien or even the Brothers Grimm. 

If worldview isn't such a big deal, pick up something from Roald Dahl for a better read.  Reading the book was as fun as watching one of those Nova specials on PBS that take for granted the theory-turned-law of evolution and materialistic drivel: nice pictures, laughable content.  It's hard to take seriously a moral dilemma that would involve the death of plant life.  The elves in this book march to war over such a dilemma, and in my mind I pictured tree-hugging druid hippies, weeping over the loss of old growth trees (while Planned Parenthood goes unnoticed). 

I don't want to downplay what Paolini has done: become a very young and successful, published author.  His storytelling has developed with his age and maturity, but the laughable and "Green Peace"-ish worldview present in the novel leaves the thinking reader unsatiated, especially when said reader is a Christian.  Truth be told, the story is vast and complex.  The writing of it was a work of some magnitude, no doubt.  The style and substance, however, especially a book of this length, required a little more buttoning-up IMO.

Out of a possible 5 stars, I'd give it 2.5 at best.

--JMH

Who on Earth is "Dagon," you say?  I Kings 5 relates the tale of the fall of Dagon, an idol and false god of the Phillistines.  When the Ark of the Covenant is stolen by the Phillistines, enemies of God's people, it's placed in the house of worship next to Dagon.  The next morn, poor ol' Phillistines walked in and said, "Dag' gone!" because their idol was cast down, on its face, before the Ark of the Covenant.  They re-erected the piece of glorified furniture, only to find the next morning it had fallen again.  This time, it was shattered in pieces before the Lord.

Message?  "I am a jealous God, you will have no other gods before me!  There is no other god like me."

Fast forward to Jeremiah's book of Lamentations.  What does this have to do with idolatry?  Amongst many other sins, idolatry was one that Israel had wrestled with from the start, despite many warnings from the Lord.  See this in Jeremiah 1:16, amongst other places.  Israel forsook the Lord, and replaced His glory with lies, idols who were deaf, mute and helpless, and the prophet laments the situation when the Lord visits their iniquity with fierce justice.  He says this in 4:17 of Lamentations:

"Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help; in our watching we watched for a nation which could not save."

Tonight, we watched the debate between McCain and Obama, two giants of the American faith.  I call it the "American faith" because, to hear the various talking heads (including many Christian ministries on the religious A.M. radio stations), we are facing so many challenges as a nation that we're hoping for a savior to arise out of the ballot box. 

We wait, and like Israel before us, we watch vainly for help, watching for a nation which cannot save.  We heard from both aisles how the next president promised to save the economy, how universal healthcare was a "right" according to Sen. O, even how we as Americans were going to save the planet with our greenhouse gas policies (both sides buying the garbage of global warming, or "chicken little says pay Unkie Sam more taxe$").

My friends, to quote Sen. McCain, my friends: our nation cannot save us.  Obama and McCain will not solve our problems, either with their fine-sounding rhetoric, nor their experience as POW's, nor their foreign policies (however congenial and friendly such policies may seem).

Our nation, if it be Dagon, must fall on its face before the Lord if any change will happen that we can approve of.  Our nation, either under a Marxist regime or under a "less bigger" government under the moderate/maverick McCain, will not save us.  Dagon fell before the face of the Lord and shattered.  What will we do?

What was that thing that Jesus did in the temple again?  Oh, yeah.  Chastised the money exchangers and those swindlers who turned His Father's house, our Father's house, into a den of robbers.  I believe Jesus also called His house back to what it should've been doing:  so don't put your trust (or worries) in the money.  Place your hope (and fears) in the God who saves. 

Dagon fell before the Lord, vanquished.  Let's do the same, on behalf of our nation, and wait on the Lord for salvation.  Like Dagon: America can't save us.

--JMH 

The other day began with rather exciting news to those of us who care (all of America seems to have an opinion on the subject):   The Duggars are expecting child #18!

You may be one who responds with: “?!!!?!!” or some synonym.  Usually, when people are introduced to the Duggars, they are shocked to learn that they are “Quiver-full” minded, and are actually taking the Lord at His word regarding children being a blessing.  Folks cluck their tongues, laugh, shake their heads, and exclaim “18?!  I can barely handle two!”  Further commentary usually includes a healthy dose of : “Oh!  I couldn’t homeschool, she has such patience!"  Or "I couldn't homeschool, I'm not called to it, but good for them."

On the heels of that, one usually will catch beautiful snippets of practical/worldly explanations of why the speaker simply couldn’t homeschool, comments on the un-worldly fashions of the Duggar family, and quite a bit about sheltering (I think by “sheltering those poor kids” is meant “These poor kids won’t learn all the cool swear words, they won’t date or have a proper Prom Night introduction into adultery, and they won’t ever fit in with the rest of planet Earth.”  Poor kids, indeed!  Why, they’ll stick out like a sore thumb, imagine that!)  Personally, I got a little jealous seeing them with their 17 kids, in their homemade dresses and used tour bus.

If you can’t catch my drift, I am a sympathizer for all the Duggars stand for:  I believe biblically, we ought to home school our children, and yes I know that makes me a “legalist” in the loose vocabulary of many who think “legalism” means trying to discern and do what God’s Law says—and yes, He does address educating our children and how we as parents view children.  I believe that the state has no right or God-given place to raise my kids: it is a usurpation of power and thievery of my money, and I am by no means the only Christian to think so (see, for instance, J. Gresham Machen before the U.S. Congress back in the 1920’s, arguing that the creation of the Dept. of Education was a “pernicious evil”).  I believe we ought to have as many kids as the Lord should allow, which translates into: at 6 kids and counting: no, we aren’t done having kids, God willing.  I believe that the worldly/risque fashions modeled to incite lustful looks from the opposite sex are horrid, in poor taste, and flat-out sinful.  I believe that we ought not view dating as a mere choice of Christian liberty, but that wisdom dictates we question what the biblical model may be (I stake my soul on this: it sure as heck ain’t dating, folks!).  Just for kicks I'll also mention that no, I don't think worship includes any images of Christ, and that there is such a thing as profane worship in the eyes of God.  Maybe we'll take that one up another time.

I hasten to add: truly and humbly: I am NOT pointing a finger at you or my neighbors.  I don’t ever pray, “Oh, thank you Lord that I am not like those foolish sinners, but I am holy to the power of ten Pharisees!”  Rather, I hold these convictions with the grace of knowing we’ve all room to grow, knowing that I fall short of the mark but have the duty and desire, nevertheless, to keep shooting for it, and ultimately and most importantly: our blessed and forgiven standing before Christ isn’t based in what WE DO, but solely in what CHRIST DID.  I reveal my convictions only to say that the Duggars are a public spectacle of what I and other families believe, and not to cast judgment on anyone reading this post. 

However:

Turning on Air One (K-LOVE’s alternate radio personality) the other day, I heard the morning DJ’s discussing the bit about the Duggar family.  Here’s what was said (paraphrased due to my crude memory):

“Did you guys hear about the Duggar family—you know the family with a lot of kids?”

“Oh, yeah, don’t they have like 17 kids?”

“17 kids?!!”

“Well, now they’re expecting #18!”

(This next part isn’t an exaggeration, it was from a female DJ no less.)

“OH, NO!”

(That was when the first blood vessel officially burst in my eye.)

“Are you serious?!”

“Yeah, and they HOMESCHOOL!"  (In the background, the theme music of Hitchock's Psycho played out in my mind.)

“Oh my!  (laughs)  She has such great patience, I don’t know how she does it!”

Seriously, I think I had multiple blood vessels explode in my brain and blood shot out of my eyes and ears, like some gory fountain.  The bad news is that this is a “Christian” radio station, boasting about being "positive and encouraging."  I found the mockery of a distinctly Christian lifestyle anything but!

I have yet to read in the Scripture, you know, that place where we Christians claim God’s unchangeable laws and character are revealed?, where He says “In the era of the New Testament church, there will be so many people on the Earth that I want you to limit yourselves with birth control.  Preferrably, limit your family to the size of a sporty car, I want my church lookin’ cooler than the world.  3 kids is pushin’ it, folks, try for 1-2.”

Or, where Jesus says, “Peter!  John!  Get these noisy rugrats out of here, I can't hear myself preach! Where oh where are those youth pastors?”

Or, “Thou shalt not have more kids than you think you can give a comfy life to, and by no means art thou to try and step out in faith--what?  Dost thou think this is some kind of religion here??!”

I lament that Air One and K-LOVE and other such outlets have a national platform from which to point their fingers at their own brethren, laugh, and sit in the seat of scoffers and mockers when the church’s reputation is their object of derision.  I lament that the radio show was merely representative of the slothful and worldly Christianity that has little room for “conforming to Christ,” and that it’s somehow “cool” or “relevant” to be indistinguishable from unbelievers.  I lament that the devil has had an easy time coaxing God’s people to believe that God has lowered His standard of holiness to allow us in—to the contrary!  I lament that major media outlets have helped the church to become comfortable in her slothfulness.  I lament that we, God’s people, have forgotten that we are called the church primarily because it means that we have been “called out from” the world!  I lament that there is no hunger for holiness amongst the people of God, because we don’t want to offend our unbelieving family or neighbors.  I lament that there is no understanding of the primary meaning of "holiness," which is: "OTHER-ness," or "Set-apart-ness".  The word's opposite is "profane," or "common."

If the Duggars look different from the rest of their neighbors, praise the living God—the church should always be different from the world.  So much so, that if unbelievers are standing on their two feet while they walk to and fro, that the church ought to re-consider walking on her hands just for good measure!  (Sorry, I robbed that one from R.C. Sproul, Jr.) 

Here’s to praying those DJs mature in faith and repent publicly, and that Air One and K-LOVE stop batting for the other team, or otherwise simply go off the air.  Really.

 “You adulterous people!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”  James 4:4

 “And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.”  Ezekiel 36:23

--JMH

Recently, Tasha and I celebrated our 14^th anniversary.  During the past 14 years (we began our relationship in high school a year prior to marriage, so 15 years counting that) we’ve had our share of downs.  Ups?  Sure, those too. 

You can read more, if you missed it (say, if you were recently on a Disney World vacation, or if you simply have a life away from the world wide wisdom of the intergalactic net): This was Tasha's version of our story. 

This was the version I composed.  If you’d like to know more, there’d have to be strict gag regulations and no satellite coverage.

That being said, let’s say my wife and I have grown up together.  Neither of us have come from Christian households.  By that I mean that neither of our families identified themselves as households where Jesus Christ and God’s truth inform and color every moment, activity and expenditure.  Christ was not the central theme, in what can be called a “fanatical” sense.  Anything less, you see, is exactly that: something less than Christian.  Alas!  I digress.

Without re-hashing my life’s story (collective sighs of thanks all around), Tash and I watched the movie Fireproof which...re-hashes my life’s story!  Those of you who know me can save the money and reflect on my life’s story.  If you want to see paid professionals tell it, or if you want to stick it to the Hollywood elites, pay to see it instead. 

If you don’t know of the movie, it’s directed by the same church team that produced “Facing the Giants,” another movie worth seeing.  (On that note, so is To End All Wars and the HBO series John Adams and…)  A little church in Albany, Georgia (not in Russia, but in the USA) produced both movies.  Fireproof is the tale of every marriage in America, it seems (exchange your sins for theirs and the pieces seem to fit, unless your marriage has had no sin: skip movie).

The movie tells of Caleb and Catherine, young 30 somethings in suburbia, America.  Both are career-driven, and both could care less about their marriage when we meet them.  It seems selfishness and immaturity, as well as an overall spiritual deadness, has made their union falter.  To the Christian mind, this stands to reason: at the center of/back of the creation of the universe there has eternally existed a perfect community/unity: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  When we were created in His image, we were created man and woman, destined to long for perfect fellowship with our Creator and with one another.  If the creature seeks to be autonomous from his ultimate relationship (i.e.: with the Father through the Son and in the Spirit), then any relationship between man and woman fails at the outset or becomes idolatrous.  Think of it another way: the 2 greatest commandments are "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; Love your neighbor as yourself."  We are creatures created to relate to God and one another.  Without this understanding, and especially without this ultimate relationship, we'll fail miserably and make idols out of another creature.  End soapbox, continuing review...

In the intense opening scenes, we see a meltdown between the two, and the pieces are in place for an impending divorce.  Both audience and the characters are asking the same question: why are they married?  Enter the dad we dads all long to be.  Kirk Cameron’s character, Caleb, has a meeting with his father who challenges him to take a 40 day challenge to love his wife, postponing the divorce for that 40 days.

Through the process of actually going through the motions of loving his wife, and various meetings with his father, Caleb comes vis-a-vis his deepest challenge and need.  At the heart of the movie is the call of the Gospel of Christ: “Come to me and I will give you rest.”  Overall, it’s well-done, and in its portrayal of ordinary circumstances somehow the movie becomes extraordinary.

I suppose I may be a bit biased, since Caleb’s story is my own, but I cried my way through and loved the movie.  In many respects, it was difficult to watch on the order of “much too close for comfort.”  Then again, I'm just not as unique as I'd like to believe: I am a walking cliche.  (I don't even read Shakespeare!)  As our pastor said recently, the Gospel needs to be told and re-told, in a million contexts and a million ways.  The Greatest Story Ever Told is a story that doesn’t get old in the telling!

Note about that mammalian gold called "cheese":

If you are anything like me (sorry for you): you love love LOVE the cheese.  Really: on lasagna, pizza, sandwiches, atop the toast floating in your French Onion Soup (as the French call it: “Onion Soup”), in your stuffed shells, in your enchiladas, with your ice cream and cereal, what have you.  However, with my movies: "Garcon, hold the cheese, please."  No worries here, “Fireproof” comes delivered without the otherwise coveted melty goodness.

Perhaps you’ve heard some of the promos from the movie on Focus on the Family or Family Life, and think you have the story down.  “Boy meets girl… meets sin…loses girl, almost…meets Christ…wins girl.”  OK, fine, that is the story.  Is the plot predictable?  Somewhat, but with a satisfying plot-twist, Christ at center of said plot, and with a delivery that's well done.  Overall, take it from this critic (I am convinced criticism is my Spiritual gift): it’s a movie worth seeing and supporting.

If you need further proof that it’s worth seeing, read Michael Hardy's critique at the Boston Globe's online rag Boston.com.

In my favorite quote, the frothing Mr. Hardy says (WARNING: PLOT SPOILER! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK):

“Director Kendrick seems to care less about his characters' relationship with each other than their religious fealty. We start to realize this when Catherine meets a charming doctor at the hospital where she works. Compared to Caleb, who needs some very worldly help, preferably from a psychiatrist, [JMH: Can you say "Materialist?"  Or "Ranting Atehist"?] this doctor is a dream. But Kendrick is so intent on saving Caleb and Catherine's sacred covenant that he sabotages this budding romance, forcing Catherine to take Caleb back out of sheer desperation. One of the film's songs advises couples who get married to "lock the door and throw away the key." That sounds more like prison than holy matrimony.”

This brings up a question: what does a materialist know or care about what is "holy" or "sacred"?  Since when is breaking your covenant with your wife something to be commended?  Oh, wait, that's right.  We're beyond ethics, or beyond good and evil, as the sage Nietzsche once quipped.  (The 19th-century German father of Nihilism who boldly wrote that "God is Dead" and that He died of pity, no less.  Wonder where Nietzsche is these days?)

I wonder if Mr. Hardy’s view of marriage, wherein he mocks the “sacred covenant” in favor of an illicit affair (“budding romance”), has produced anything remarkably positive in anyone's life.  How does such a view help build or promote civilized society in any way?  Surely, the de-evolution of marriage can't be a product of a "survival of the fittest" worldview or be construed as our species "evolving" in a positive sense?

I wonder if Mr. Hardy’s view of “budding romance”/illicit affairs has anything to do with his closing comment:

“…‘Fireproof’ is good for just about one thing: dousing whatever flames might be left in your marriage.”

?!  Pardon me, I just choked on my own rising vomit, or was that actual fecal matter?  No, wait, it was that comment.  Did he just say this movie "douses the flames left in your marriage?"  Pardon me?  What does that mean?  Is he calling a failing marriage frought with infidelity a marriage with flames worth feeding?!!  Anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller?

It’s anyone’s guess why Mr. Hardy and myriad others like him want Hollywood to produce more movies on affairs, sin, and the dissolution of marriage for the sake of excitement or “flames,” or perhaps “authenticity,” but it behooves Mr. Hardy to re-visit the movie and give a more accurate representation of the film.  In his article, there are no less than 3 misrepresentations of the film’s plot details.  You’ll have to view the film to do your own comparison.

What I love is the antithesis the film represents to the shameful, boring drivel Hollywood wants us to keep choking down.  Why do I stay at home and Netflix all my movies?  Simple: popcorn prices are too high.  Well, that and the fact that people won't stop talking during the film...Oh!  Wait, my point was supposed to be that I don't find most movies to be worth seeing.  Really, it's that last one.

I also love the fact that people who hate Christ and anything supernatural (again: see the article above) simply hate this movie.  It stands to reason: they killed the prophets, apostles and Jesus Himself.  Why wouldn’t they try to shoot this one down?

Matthew 5: 11-12, ESV, Jesus speaking:

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

--JMH

I once knew a 19-year-old couple that had a baby girl shortly out of high school.  Sitting on the couch planning a trip to Tahoe, there was a flicker in the girl’s eyes and a smile bloomed across her face.  In a phrase, a mere moment, Providence (which neither believed in at the time) intervened with His hidden hand.  This was the phrase:

“Hey!  Since we’re going to Tahoe…you wanna get married?”

Dumbfounded, but smitten with the idea, the boy answered with the typical manly response when one’s future wife has just, in effect, proposed:

“Are you serious?  Yeah!  Dude, did you just propose to me?” 

They immediately raced for Sears at the local shopping mall to buy their wedding bands with their plastic money.  Having no job to speak of, the boy was happy that his girlfriend’s job afforded them such luxuries as credit cards.  How sophisticated and grown-uppish it seemed then.

With nothing more than a weekend’s worth of time (Friday wedding, Saturday “honeymoon”?), a few cans of soup (Campbell’s Chunky Sirloin Burger, to be precise), a rickety Hyundai Excel (which had a moon roof, CD player,  and manual shift…and a clutch when they embarked on said journey) and a fool’s hope (centering on “Pappy and Grandma did it, why can’t we?”), the new parents set off without the blessing of anyone in particular but a foreboding warning from certain members of the boy’s family.  That last bit went something like, “Don’t you dare even think about it, you need a real wedding.  Besides, how can you provide for your family?  You have no means.”  Ah!  Details, schmetails!

After arriving late to their own wedding—some habits die hard—and meeting with the inebriated owner of the Love-Shack-ish cottage (thinking B-52’s off-kilter crooning), being wed by a female minister, unashamedly overcharged for blurry wedding pictures that were taken by said inebriated cottage-owner, and blubbering their way through their very own sentimental vows written in typical “cramming-for-the-test” script, they were wed.  That night a display of lightning declared war against the gloom, bathing the landscape in flashes of violet light.  Their hearts were full of the unknown, full of the terror of what would happen upon their return.  Would they, could they outlive the odds against them?  Would Providence, Fate or Chance smile upon them?  Would Mother Nature, Mother Earth or Mother Goose take them into her warm embrace?  Certainly their good intentions and well-crafted vows accounted for something on the cosmic scales?

They had no belief but the oddly naïve and yet true statement: love would establish their house.  Love would see them through.  Love was enough, and all they had.

During the 2-hour drive home, as the clutch threatened suicide and slowly burned away on the mountain roads, their fears loomed on the horizon.  The only thing that was certain was their promised eviction upon their return.  Knowing this fact didn’t change that a wedding was the right thing to do.  They were incurably in love, and incurably parents.

…..

Our only comfort at the time was that Larry and Kitty, Tasha’s grandparents, were the products of elopement.  They were married for 57 years before Larry returned to our Father.  Their marriage was proof enough that marriage transcends the wedding, extends beyond the ceremony and the paper license.  Marriage is not merely the romantic climax to a Jane Austen novel; married life only begins there.  So, it didn’t matter to us then if we eloped or if we were married at St. Peter’s basilica.  Even a village idiot could take a 3-second glance at Hollywood headlines and see the folly of big-bang weddings producing meaningless and empty marriages, more often than not ending in divorce.  Larry and Kitty were a hope against that.  At the time, they were our only hope.

Now here we are, 6 kids and 14 years later, still bucking the odds and at long last finding the reason for our longevity: Christ alone.  It was through our messed-up union, destined to failure at every turn, that the megaphone of God was in our pain (as C.S. Lewis eloquently put it elsewhere), screaming truth into our foolish ears.  Through the folly of falling down, constantly getting everything wrong, Christ found us and said “I am that I am!  And I am enough.”

In Christ alone is our hope wrought, and through our sinful choices He decided to satisfy our longings and appetites, even replacing our appetites and longings with a holy variety.  When we were downcast, He lifted us up, and introduced us to our Father.  When we despaired of hope, He sent the Comforter, and breathed life into the carcass of what I left of my marriage.

As tenaciously as I evaded my duties, as tenaciously as I clung to a sinful boyhood, God was there, undaunted, seeking me all the more.  If I was tireless in my pursuit of carnal desires, there He was with the endless endurance of the Ancient of Days.  I could but relent, defeated before this ageless foe who would not be denied.  When I dashed my marriage and my wife’s heart to pieces, He remade the whole thing, and we are stronger for the wounds.

Through the road most travelled, the path well-trod from Adam, Cain, Hitler and men like myself, I discovered the God from Whom I was running.  He was the reason my beloved bride was (is) such a Proverbs 31 soul.  His craft was behind her magnanimous heart.  His hand set the beauty into her hazel eyes, painted the freckles that I’ve been counting the past 14 years, set her frame, made her such a fruitful woman (dude, half a dozen ain’t bad for a start).  Through Tasha’s love, even her well-deserved hatred, I discovered my need for Christ and fell before him, vanquished.

He pursued us with a vicious grace: His is a love with a vengeance. 

If the Spirit is the wind, He made Tasha to be my sail. 

We were naïve when we thought it as 19-year-old agnostics, nonetheless we were spot-on:

Love established our house. Love has seen us through.  Love is enough, and He’s all we have.

I John 4:10, 16: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.  God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

--JMH