Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Easter 2024!

    

[repost from 2023]
"Who [indeed] is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"

I saw something recently that said that only 39% of Americans thought that religion was very important.  That is down by around 30 percent from years past.  Media, both mainstream and social, are pushing hard for the idea that Christianity is dying.  More and more people are embracing the belief that God is dead.

But, to quote the great GK Chesterton, "I have said that Asia and the ancient world had an air of being too old to die. Christendom has had the very opposite fate. Christendom has had a series of revolutions and in each one of them Christianity has died. Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a [G]od who knew the way out of the grave.  "

Today is a day that we remember that death is not the final defeat.  Even though the world may claim victory, that victory is always temporary.  Final victory is with those who stand with Christ.  He is our Final Victory.

It is true that more and more people are extinguishing the light of Christ inside of them.  And some never have that light kindled in the first place.  

I was at the Easter Vigil Mass last night.  It always strikes me how it opens:  the church in complete darkness, but then one candle enters to pierce the dark.  And that one candle of Christ lights all the other candles until the whole place is filled with light.  

In our world, darkness keeps trying to overwhelm us.  But we must remember "The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:6)

In fact, it is when things get darker that our light matters most.  When the church lights are turned on, we extinguish our candles because they do not add much.  But when it is dark, our candles mean so much more.  It is the same with our light.  In times of great prosperity and faith, our small acts of faith may not seem all that important.  But as more and more of the world turns away from the Light of the World, our candles need to burn bright.

Today we stand with Christ.  Today we light the flame in our hearts to expel the darkness.

Today we remember that we have victory not because of ourselves, but because Jesus won it for us.

He is Risen.

Alleluia!

Divine Mercy Novena 2024

    

(most of the text below is a repost from 2022)

A reminder that the Divine Mercy Novena begins today (Good Friday) and continues through until Mercy Sunday.  You can find the novena here:

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/novena-13366

This has been a powerful and profound devotion in my life and many graces have come to me through a devotion to Jesus' Divine Mercy.  

Very recently, I experienced such an overwhelmingly powerful act of mercy.  I am acutely aware that under Divine Justice, there is much for which I have to answer.  Each day I seem to be racking up a debt of sin.  But even more concretely, the way I treat the people I claim to love is often selfish and shameful.  When confronted with this reality, I often shrink with shame.  I struggle with this.  I think that God loves me but because of my sins, He doesn't like me very much.  It is an image that is horribly unfair to Our Lord.

Sin is a real barrier between God and us, but God's love is greater than that.  Not too long ago, I had to admit my faults to someone, expecting them to return to me bitter (but just) judgment.  Instead, this person simply smiled at me and told me that all was well.  There was no trace of bitterness or judgment.  There was only pure kindness and love and a joy that I could unburden myself on them.  

This act of mercy lifted a great burden from my heart.  And it acted as a symbol for how God's mercy is similar.

It is a beautiful lay your faults bare to someone and have them look beyond them is a beautiful thing.  Too often I think we define ourselves by our sins.

Pope John Paul II once said that we are more than the sum total of our sins.

God sees us as we are, beyond our sins.  He wants us to come to Him and lay our sins on His mercy.  

I look forward to joining all of you in spiritual communion through this novena.

In these days with all of the worries and struggles that we have, we have a greater need to throw ourselves at the Mercy of God!

Film Flash: Ghostbusters - Frozen Empire

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Feels like a big-budget episode of the cartoon series.  As good as Afterlife.

Palm Sunday 2024

  

I re-read my Palm Sunday post from 2020.  At the time, all the churches were still in lockdown, so we had to stream the Palm Sunday mass.

I think back to the first time I could go back to Mass after the restrictions were lifted.  It was a bit odd, but making that touchstone to that spiritual reality was something special.  So much of our Catholic ritual involves filling up the senses.  I love how the Catholic tradition understands that we are not purely intellectual beings like angels.  We need things to encounter in the body in order to make them truly human experiences.  It's one of the reasons I love being able to hold the palms in my hand during the beginning of today's mass (of course as a child, the palms were immediately turned into lightsabers, but I have hopefully matured since).

Back in 2020, I wrote that physical proximity does not always mean spiritual proximity.  I still stand by this, since there were many people who surrounded Christ and still condemned Him to death.  But the physical proximity is important.  My poor mother-in-law has been bed-ridden for a little while now and show she has not been able to come to church.  It breaks my heart to see the spiritual toll that this takes on a person.  It motivates me to be continually grateful for the gift of being able to attend Mass.

So today, may we lift up the name of our Triumphant King!

Hosanna!

Hosanna!

Hosanna in the Highest!

Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the Highest!

Film Flash: Road House (2024)

 

Due respect to the original, the remake is better and more enjoyable.  Jake Gyllenhaal rocks!

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Trailer Time: Star Wars: The Acolyte

I know a lot of people are sour on anything related to Disney Star Wars.  But I am not one of those haters.  I respect their opinions and their dislike of the current state of the franchise, but I have still enjoyed most of what has been presented.  I loved Obi-Wan Kenobi and I very much enjoyed Ahsoka.  However, I did skip Andor because the character held zero interest for me.

I don't know much about The Acolyte.  It seems to take place much further back in the timeline than previous movies and shows.  I am still a bit on the fence on this one, but there is one thing that is really selling me on it so far:

Carrie-Ann Moss as a Jedi.

I don't know why but when I saw her in the Jedi robes it felt very cool.  I have no idea if she is a main character or if this is just a cameo.  If it is the latter, I will be very upset.

I want to see more before I pass judgment on this.

Thoughts?

New Evangelizers Post: Where Did the Bible Come From? Part 3

                                                                 

 

I have a new article up at NewEvangelizers.com.  

Some people oversimplify the truth by becoming fundamentalists. This means that they read every part of the Bible as literally true in all parts. This is straightforward and simple to understand. But this ignores all of the important contexts. Have you ever gotten a text out of the blue from a friend that said, “You’re the worst, I hate you.” And you cannot tell from that simple text if it is a joke or they are serious? (That is, until they send you a winking emoji). How much more difficult is it to understand the Bible, which was written in a different language, in a different century, in a different country, with a culture very different from 21st Century America? We must always look at how the Bible is true in its proper context. The authors of the Bible did not write literature, history, or science the way we do, so we should not expect to find that in the Bible.

Fundamentalism runs into a real problem at the very beginning. Chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis tell two different stories of Creation where God creates things in a different order and in a different way. If you are looking for a literalist reading of Scripture, you have to deal with an immediate contradiction. But if you accept the complexities of the Bible, you can see that Genesis is written in a way that may not be meant literally. Human beings of that day did not understand modern science, evolution, etc. They were trying to explain the deep truths about God’s relationship to creation in easily understandable ways. And if we look at it in that context, we can see they do not contradict each other: both say God is the source of creation, creation is good, and God made him special out of His image or spirit.

Now we do not want to “demythologize” the Bible, which is to reduce all the miraculous stories into mere metaphors or fairy tales. This is the opposite tendency of the fundamentalist. Instead, we must begin with the plainest sense of the text and then look into its deeper meaning. I have heard people say that Jesus really did not multiply the loaves and the fish, but people just shared their surplus. That takes away the miraculous element, but it does not seem to be what John is getting at in the story. The point is that Jesus feeds the people, especially with the Bread of Life.

In order to understand the context, we have to know that the human authors of the Scripture were free agents, using all of their thoughts and skills in composing the writings. They were writing to the people of their day in a context they would understand. Modern people are appalled by slavery. But in the days of St. Paul, slavery was used the way people use electricity: it was just the way stuff worked. They could not think outside of that system. That is why Paul would say things like “Slaves, obey your masters.” But even here, when you read Paul writing to Philemon, there is still an urging to look at everyone as a brother and sister in Christ.

You can read the whole article here.

Sunday Best: Thoughts on Oscars 2024 and Oscar Game Winner!

 

So this year we have another Oscars in the history books.  Overall, I think this year was an improvement over previous years.  

Below are my thoughts on the night.

THE GOOD

1. Early Start 

I read someone who wrote that we lost an hour from daylight savings, but we got it back with an early Oscars.  It's funny how true that was.  I think starting the evening early was a great way to earn a bit more good will from television audiences back East.

2. Nolan and Downey Jr. Win

This was a great night for Oppenheimer.  But I was much more concerned for director Christopher Nolan and Supporting Actor Robert Downey Jr.  Nolan is one of the best movie directors working in the industry and he has been horribly overlooked.  In fact, the reason they expanded the number of Best Picture nominees is because his The Dark Knight was overlooked for the category.  In his filmography, he already has more great movies than most directors have in a lifetime: Memento, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Inception, and Interstellar.  And that doesn't even count Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises, Dunkirk, and Insomnia.  I thought that his award was well overdue and that his acceptance speech was respectful and filled with gratitude.

Robert Downey Jr. has always seemed to me to be a person truly grateful for the rebound his career has taken.  When listening to him in interviews, he gets that he has been given a great opportunity after hitting rock bottom.  On top of that, the man is an amazing talent.  When I saw his performance in Chaplin, I was utterly astonished.  With age came an even greater command of his charisma.  But in Oppenheimer, he disappeared into the role in a way I had not seen him.  I am very happy for the success he has.

3. "I'm Just Ken."

Readers of my blog know that I did not care for Barbie.  But the musical performance of "I'm Just Ken" was pure enjoyment.  Ryan Gosling played the part with such serious intesity that it play so well against the laughter of the audience.  The costumes and choreography were incredibly fun and the cameos from the other Kens and even Slash from Guns 'N Roses kept me laughing.  Man, I wish this song had actually won the award.

4.  Godzilla Finally Wins an Oscar

The other truly joyful moment of the night was when Godzilla Minus One was awarded Best Special Effects.  First of all, this award was well-desereved, as anyone who has seen the movie can attest.  There may not have been a lot of money, but there was a lot of love.  Second, it touched my heart to see the entire crew of the movie stand up after the win, holding their Godzilla action figures in their hands.  Again, there was something so touchingly un-cynical about how much they love Godzilla.  Even though director Takashi Yamazaki was difficult to understand at times, his enthusiasm was contagious.  And it was also very sweet and moving to see them holding a photo of one of their late-producers so that he could get the recognition he should have gotten for their work.

5.  Batman Reunion

I loved how the Twins reunion turned into a Batman reunion.  I forgot that both Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger both played Batman villains (Penguin and Mr. Freeze).  But what topped that was the fact that Michael Keaton was in the audience, totally in character.  What would have moved that from a good bit to a great bit is if Jack Nicholson was there too.

THE BAD

1.  The Show Still Drags

Even with the early show time, the show still crawls along.  The first award took 6 minutes to introduce, not counting the acceptance speech!  

2. Jimmy Kimmel

While he was fairly decent, he couldn't help himself in getting political.  To be sure, it wasn't as bad as other hosts of the past, but it was distracting.  Which brings me to...

3. Joking About Robert Downey Jr. Past

Look, Robert Downey Jr. is a public figure and I don't think that anyone is beyond being joked about.  But this night was the culmination of a hard won comeback from the lowest point of his life.  It felt like incredibly poor taste for Kimmel to bring up Downey's addictions at this moment.  It felt to me as if he was saying, "Your accomplishment tonight will not make us forget your worst moments."  

4.  Poor Things

For this next one, please feel free to dismiss my critique as ignorance.  I have not seen the movie Poor Things.  So if for that reason you think that my problems are baseless, I understand.  But the reason I have not seen it are twofold.  The first is that it looked intentionally ugly, something that I cannot stand about modern "important" films.  But the main reason is that the premise seemed so disgusting: a scientist does a Frankenstein and brings a woman (Bella) back to life but gives her the brain of a child.  This in and of itself isn't the problem.  The problem is that a major focus of the movie is Bella having lots of sex.  Again, let me repeat: a focus of the movie is a child in an adult body having lots of sex.  There is something so pernicious about this premise that I cannot bring myself to watch it.  And what bothers me too is how much a movie like this was embraced by the wards that night, winning 4 Oscars.  

So those are my thoughts.  What are yours?

And now, the moment you've been waiting for... the winners of this year's CATHOLIC SKYWALKER OSCAR GAME.

In third place with a combined score of 18.6... Linda!

In second place with a combined score of 18.8... me!

And in first place with a commanding score of 26.8... Nicole K!

Nicole is frequent winner of this award and she is once again a returning champion.  Congratulations Nicole!

This year, I think not seeing most of the nominees hurt my score.

When grading purely on predictions, the order of the top three winners remains the same (Linda = 11.6, me = 11.8, Nicole = 13.8)

When it came to scoring purely on choice, Nicole still wins (13), but second place goes to Catholic Lois Lane (8).  And there is a 4-way tie for third place with 7 points: Linda, Phil, Eponine Von Trapp, and me.

Thank you to everyone who played this year.  Good luck in next year's game!

Trailer Time: The Crow (2024)

 

(I'm not posting the trailer itself here because there is some mature content in it that I do not want to post here)

CLICK YOUTUBE LINK HERE TO VIEW

I was a big fan of the original Crow when it first came out.  It very much captured the grunge spirit of the age.  I wonder how it would hold up to if I watched it today?

Ultimately it is B-movie action film with a supernatural twist.  It has a strong tone, but it never tries to be more than it is.  I remember going to see the sequel with my cousin and we both agreed that it was pretentious dreck, having none of the B-movie fun of the original.

This new Crow looks more like the sequel rather than the original.  Something about it feels like an empty exercise, capturing none of the emotion of the first. The action for this new one looks like it could be good.  But this Eric Draven looks even mopier than the original.  At least Brandon Lee had a sense of humor and danger about him.  This looks like its trying to be John Wick without the fun.

Thoughts?

Sunday Best: Oscars 2024 Tonight (And Last Chance for Oscar Game)

  

Tonight are the Oscars.  

This used to be my yearly Super Bowl.  And while the bloom is off the rose, I still watch every year.

The Academy was wise to nominate the two of the top 10 highest-grossing films of the year: Barbie  and Oppenheimer.  But I still think this will be a very low-rated Oscars.  Though perhaps the ratins will be slightly higher since general audiences really seemed to like both movies.  

But, as has been the case for the past few years, most people haven't seen most of the movies nominated.  I usually try to see most of the nominees for best picture, but not this year.  In fact, I've only seen the two movies mentioned above.  Some of the other nominees sound interesting, but I could not bring myself to commit the time.  I generally do not enjoy Alexander Payne movies so I skipped The Holdovers.  It looked like Killers of the Flower Moon was going to be a long lecture.  The Zone of Interest, Past Lives, and Anatomy of a Fall looked intersting but depressing.  I found the concept behind Poor Things repugnant.  I had no interest in Maestro.  

For me, I am hoping that this will be the night that the Academy finally acknowledges Christopher Nolan.  He is one of the greatest filmmakers working today.  He is also one fo the few directors that can get people into the theaters simply by the power of saying  "It's a Christopher Nolan movie."  Oppenheimer is not his best movie, but it is of a higher quality than most movies today.  So I'm hoping tonight will be Nolan Night.

This is also the last chance to enter the Oscar Game.  Just fill out the chart below.  The winner will get bragging rights and a mention on this blog.  And just to keep everything above board, I am publishing my votes for tonight as well.

Good luck and enjoy the Oscars tonight!

Click the link below to play the game.
Link

Here are my choices so far:

Name
BEST PICTURE - MY CHOICE	"Oppenheimer"
BEST PICTURE - MY PREDICTION	"Oppenheimer"
BEST DIRECTOR - MY CHOICE	Christopher Nolan, "Oppenheimer"
BEST DIRECTOR - MY PREDICTION	Christopher Nolan, "Oppenheimer"
BEST ACTOR - MY CHOICE	Cillian Murphy, "Oppenheimer"
BEST ACTOR - MY PREDICTION	Cillian Murphy, "Oppenheimer"
BEST ACTRESS - MY CHOICE	DID NOT SEE
BEST ACTRESS - MY PREDICTION	Lily Gladstone, "Killers of the Flower Moon"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - MY CHOICE	Robert Downey Jr., "Oppenheimer"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - MY PREDICTION	Robert Downey Jr., "Oppenheimer"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - MY CHOICE	Emily Blunt, "Oppenheimer"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - MY PREDICTION	Da'Vine Joy Randolph, "The Holdovers"
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - MY CHOICE	"Oppenheimer"
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - MY PREDICTION	American Fiction"
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - MY CHOICE	DID NOT SEE
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - MY PREDICTION	"Anatomy of a Fall"
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - MY CHOICE	"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny"
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - MY PREDICTION	"Oppenheimer"
BEST ORIGINAL SONG - MY CHOICE	"I'm Just Ken" from "Barbie"
BEST ORIGINAL SONG - MY PREDICTION	"What Was I Made For?" from "Barbie"
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM - MY CHOICE	"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM - MY PREDICTION	"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - MY CHOICE	"Oppenheimer"
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - MY PREDICTION	"Oppenheimer"
BEST COSTUME DESIGN - MY CHOICE	"Barbie"
BEST COSTUME DESIGN - MY PREDICTION	"Barbie"
BEST FILM EDITING - MY CHOICE	"Oppenheimer"
BEST FILM EDITING - MY PREDICTION	"Oppenheimer"
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING - MY CHOICE	"Oppenheimer"
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING - MY PREDICTION	"Poor Things"
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN - MY CHOICE	"Barbie"
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN - MY PREDICTION	"Barbie"
BEST SOUND - MY CHOICE	"Oppenheimer"
BEST SOUND - MY PREDICTION	"Oppenheimer"
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS - MY CHOICE	"Godzilla Minus One"
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS - MY PREDICTION	"Godzilla Minus One"
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM - MY PREDICTION	"The Zone of Interest," United Kingdom
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE - MY PREDICTION	"20 Days in Mariupol"
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT - MY PREDICTION	"The Last Repair Shop"
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM- MY PREDICTION	"Letter to a Pig"
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM- MY PREDICTION	"The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar"

Film Review: Dune Part 2

 

Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable

Violence Acceptable

Vulgarity Acceptable

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Mature

One of the greatest book adaptations of a beloved 20th Century series was Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  There are many reasons that these films were instant classics.  But above all it was because of: excellent directing, expert use of special effects, intelligent writing, and fantastic performances.

And that same formula is what makes Dennis Villeneuve's Dune movies so good.

Are they as good as The Lord of the Rings?  No.  

But the quality is so high that seeing the movies in the theater is like a glass of cool water in a scorching desert (pun intended).

SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE FIRST DUNE MOVIE

Dune Part 2 picks up immediately after the events of the first movie.  Paul Atredies (Timothee Chalamet) and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) are in the harsh deserts of Arrakis making their place with the nomadic Fremen, led by Stilgar (Javier Bardem).  Stilgar believes that Paul is the Lisan al-Gaib, a promised messiah who will make Arrakis a paradise.  Others like Chani (Zendaya), the literal girl of Paul's dreams), are skeptical of such prophecies.  And she has reason to be this way.  The Bene-Gesserit, an order of psychic women Jesuits, have been at work for centuries on Arrakis planting the myth of the Lisan al-Gaib in order to control the people.  Jessica leans into this fertile ground of belief, but Paul resists, revolted by its dishonesty.  Instead, he embraces the life of the Fremen despite their deification of him.  

Meanwhile, Princess Irulian (Florence Pugh), daughter of Emperor Shadam (Christopher Walken) consults with the Bene-Geserat about what to do next.  Paul was part of their plans to create male Bene-Gesserit called the Kwisatz Haderach.  But now that he is supposedly dead, they need to look for a new potential line.  They look to House Harkonnen and to Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), the savage and psychotic nephew of Baron Vladamir Harkonnen (Stellen Skarsgaard).  All of these forces eventually converge into a final climactic confrontation for the fate of not only Arrakis, but potentially the universe.

As you can tell from the plot summary, the story is complex.  But the filmmakers are able to handle the complexity of Frank Herbert's world with great skill.  In addition to the characters who survived the first film, the narrative adds even more people into the mix.  But everyone is given enough time so that you can get a strong sense of who the character is and what place they have in the story.

Visually, I cannot say enough good things about Villeneuve.  He has a command of the visual style so that the harsh deserts of Arrakis are presented with an incomprehensible beauty while at the same time losing none of its starkness and danger.  He knows how to frame a shot and to move the camera in ways to get you into the emotional space of the characters.  He also is one of the few directors working who knows how to use CGI to its maximum effect.  Like Godzilla Minus One, the effects are so well incorporated into the overall aesthetic that I forgot that I was looking at computer creations.

The acting is also fantastic.  Chalamet gives Paul a commanding presence inside of his wiry frame.  You see this especially as he character evolves.  The way he holds himself and modulates his voice and posture show you the command that the actor has over this skill.  Ferguson is as good in this as she was in the first, projecting confidence while hiding terrible insecurity.  Bardem played so differently than I have seen him in the past.  His Stilgar is a man of such blind faith that he approaches Paul with wide-eyed devotion to the point of almost seemingly like innocence.  Zendaya's aloofness mixed with passion make for a wonderful contradiction of emotions.  However, special mention should be given to Butler.  His Feyd-Rautha is as much a transformation for him as he had in Elvis.  He carries himself with a deadly, snake-like quality while perfectly capture the accent and cadence of Sarsgaard.  Walken and Pugh are fine in their roles, but they are not quiet given enough to do.  Although from the trailers I was hoping that Walken would play a bit more subtle than normal, but he didn't go as far as I would have liked.

My biggest critique of the film is the pacing.  With everything set up in the first movie, this one should have been all about watching the dominos fall.  And for the first hour, that is the case.  It wasn't that this first part was all action.  There are long moments of ponderous dialogue.  But in all of those scenes, you can feel the tension and emotion.  As the movie carries on, the sharpness of the emotion begins to dull a bit.  Unlike The Lord of the Rings, this movie does not build to a great catharsis.  The further we go, the more we feel Paul being pulled towards his destiny and away from us.  While this move may be intentional, it makes the experience less satisfying.

The themes of Dune are also very complex.  Throughout the movie, you can feel Frank Herbert's distrust of religion (although JRR Tolkien never said why he detested Dune, I might guess that this was part of the reason).  It would be easy to dismiss Dune as a simple take-down of simple-minded religious faith.  But I think that would do Herbert and Villeneuve a disservice.  There is clearly a distrust of blind faith.  Stilgar is a perfect example of this as someone who interprets every possible detail as proof of his belief.  But are the prophecies of the Bene-Gesserit really lies?  When is a lie not a lie?  When it unintentionally tells the truth?  And if Paul turns out to be everything that the made up prophecies say, does that mean that they are all lies?

Dune's main philosophy is one of humanism.  There is a suspicion of religious faith because of how it can lead people give up their rationality.  The Harkonnens are portrayed as villains because they are slaves to their animalistic impulses.  There are no computers in Dune because people are supposed to think for themselves.  On Arrakis, the people survive and thrive by their will and their wits.  In the world of Dune, Christianity has been subsumed into an amalgam of other religious faiths, so I could understand many seeing the movie as having an anti-Christian tone.  But taken on its own terms, I think Herbert and Villanueve are exploring the consequences of belief on a society.  Without their belief in Paul, the Fremen would have no chance at victory.  So it seems like some kind of belief is necessary in this world.  But the story is mature enough to let the audience draw its own conclusions.

I also liked the how they foiled Paul with Feyd-Rautha.  Unlike the other Harkonnens, Feyd-Rautha does have some sense of discipline and honor while losing none of his psychotic evil.  Both he and Paul are caught in a conflict larger than themselves and brings them to a collision course.  

The movie also throws you into several moral dilemmas.  If the only way to save the ones you love would result in the deaths of others, what is your responsibility?  Can you use an immoral means to achieve a moral end?  At what point does a hero turn into a villain?  How do you choose between your heart and your duty?  All of these questions are answered by the characters, but we are invited to agree or disagree.  Dune respects us enough not to force-feed us the ideas of the filmmakers.  Instead we are invited into the conversation to contribute our judgments.

The biggest difference between Villeneuve's Dune and Jackson's The Lord of the Rings  that Jackson's movies are aspirational: he presents the kind of heroes that we would want to be.  Villeneuve's movies presents morally ambiguous heroes that are shaped by the harsh sands of Arrakis.  This results in two very different types of stories.

But both are absolutely worth telling

New Evangelizers Post: Where Did the Bible Come From Part 2

                                                                

 

I have a new article up at NewEvangelizers.com.  

It is important to understand that we do not mean that the Bible was dictated by God, as if the human author had no control or influence. Inspiration does not mean some kind of divine version of demonic possession where God takes complete control over the mind and actions of the person. Inspiration also does not mean writing the most “inspiring” things. If that were the case, a lot of dry legal books like Leviticus or confusing books like Revelation may have been omitted. Instead, inspiration refers to God’s activity in the special history of revelation/salvation which led to the foundation of the Church. We only call those books inspired which helped lead to the foundation and shaping of the Church. Forming the Church also went along with the formation of the Holy Scriptures. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the other Biblical books helped shape what the Church became. In turn, the Church recognizes God’s hand in using those books to build up His body on Earth.

So what is the relationship between the human author and the Divine Author in the writing of the text? It is not either fully only the Divine nor fully only the human author. Nor is it some kind of 50/50 split in authorship. If that were the case, one could isolate the truly infallibly divine passages from the fallible human ones in Scripture (which one cannot). Instead, it is both together, all human and all Divine.

You may ask yourself, “How could something be human and Divine at the same time?” Yet this is the same question we confront in the Person of Jesus: true God and true Man. Jesus is not only fully Divine nor only fully human. Nor is He some kind of 50/50 split of God and Man. Instead, He is in all ways fully God and fully man at the same time. In the same way, the Scriptures are fully the Word of God and also the full authorship of the men who wrote down the words. If you cannot fully wrap your head around that, this is okay. It is ultimately a mystery beyond human comprehension.

Because the Bible is God’s Word in human language, we believe it to be true. Once again, we want to make sure that we do not oversimplify what this means. St. Paul wrote, “When I was a child I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.” While Christ calls us to a “Child-like” faith, it should not be a “childish” faith. By childish, I mean one that refuses to see the complexities that are challenging. It is “Child-Like” to believe in true love in marriage, like in the fairy tales. This is not a bad thing. This is what I have found with my wife. But it is childish to ignore the complexities of married life, like balancing responsibilities to children, work, in-laws, etc. In the same way, we have to approach the Bible the way we approach our marriages: with devotion and accepting the complexities.

When we say the Bible is true, it is important that we are not saying that it is only propositionally true. “Propositionally true” means that it only offers up to us articles of faith to believe. To be sure, the Bible does give us things that we are to believe, like God made everything and that Christ rose from the dead. But when we say the Bible is true, we mean it in a relational way. The Bible is one of the fundamental ways that God reveals Himself to us and we can encounter Him. For example, if I wrote an autobiography and you read it, would you say that you know me? To some extent you would say yes. Because in that book I have revealed some true facts about myself. But do you really know me? Do you know me the way my father, my sister, my wife, and my friends do? The answer is no because they know me only in a way you can be known through relationship. I know a lot of facts about my wife. But those facts are ways for me to enter into a deeper relationship with her. In the same way, you could memorize every passage of the Bible, but if you do not use it to enter into a deeper relationship with God, then the real truth of the Bible has been lost on you.

You can read the whole article here.

Film Flash: Dune Part 2

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Intelligent, beautifully acted and directed sci-fi epic.  Though pacing dulls the emotional impact, it's still powerful