Losing the Meta-Narrative in Noah

All stories told assume a larger story of which which the specific story is a part of. It is that larger story which gives context and meaning to the people and events of the story being told. It is this Meta-Narrative issue that is particularly highlighted in Darren Aronofsky's March 2014 film release "Noah".

I knew from seeing the very first trailer release for "Noah", that it was going to be a film that at some point I would want to see. I never expected that this would be a film that closely followed the Biblical narrative of Noah and the flood in the book of Genesis. Subsequent reviews and rantings and ravings confirmed that.

I did not really follow how well "Noah" did at the box office. My general sense was that after the usual initial flash of a new "epic" film, it faded to the obscurity of the cheap re-run theaters where I just this week finally went to see "Noah" for myself. We live in a day when so called epic films have very little staying power in the mind of our media soaked and sated pop culture; that shallow culture that seems incapable of taking time to really think deeply about what it is seeing and hearing, and so quickly rushes on to the newest and "greatest" info spot factoid that grabs its attention. Only time will tell if Aronofsky has made a film that becomes a classic.

It was because of the previous reviews and controversy and hype that I went into the theater with low expectations. This film has some strengths. The depiction of the wickedness of the humanity of the world that perished, though colored by Aronofsky's own meta-narrative context, was not sugar coated, and illuminated the depravity of that per-deluge world. It was finally nice to see a Noah who was not portrayed as some kind of half senile bumbling old man. The passing down of the oral tradition from generation to generation is clearly illustrated; that oral tradition that later would be written down by Moses under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The horror of the destruction is not muffled, and the film, in my mind correctly ties the incident of Noah's drunkenness to the resulting post-traumatic distress he had to deal with after the flood.

Darren Aronofsky clearly took liberties with the Biblical story. There are a number of points where the film departs from the facts as told in Genesis. Those have been more then adequately covered in the essays of other reviewers. I would like to focus on what is the one thing missing from Aronofsky's view of the greater meta-narrative that, in my mind, is a crucial and critical departure from the Biblical meta-narrative, and that is the loss of the place of the promise in the story. I would also submit that it is the loss of this critical point, the promise, that explains much of the factual departures from the Biblical story that Aronofsky made.

Consider the words spoken by God to the serpent; the proto-evangelium:

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

Add to that meaning of Noah's own name:

"Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.” (Genesis 5:28-29)

It was the purpose of God in the bigger story of the Genesis account, the purpose of redemption, that is absent from the film, and it is that loss which is the most disappointing thing about Aronofsky's telling of the Noah story. He gives us a Noah whose purpose in what he does is at best foggy and muddy; a Noah who seems to have no sense of the promise and meaning of his own name; a Noah who instead of believing the promise as Hebrews 11 describes him, is a Noah who despairs to the point of considering total xenocide; who as another "Adam" is put into the place of making a choice which way future humanity will or will not go. So it is that Aronofsky ends up giving us an essentially pagan Noah.

I leave it to others more qualified then myself to speak to the quality of the acting and the cinematography, as well as the special effects.

It is not my intent to tell you, the reader, if you should or should not see this film. Each of you are capable of making that decision for yourself. Whatever film you do or do not see, I encourage you to ask yourself the question, "What is the larger meta-narrative behind this version of this story?" The meta-narrative of the Bible contains as a crucial part of that narrative, the promise, and it is that promise that, in my mind, makes all the difference in the universe.

When a deal goes wrong...

Note to Johnny Blaze: The devil is not to be trusted when it comes to his making promises.

Thoughts Upon Seeing "Red Dawn

This movie is "believable". By that I mean it comes across as something that could really happen.

What I was sensitive to was how the kids involved came face to face with and had to deal with the realities of war. Comrades get killed. There are the retaliatory executions of civilians by the enemy occupiers. There is betrayal by one of their own, and the resulting justice on the betrayer. And there was the issue of how the violence of war tended at points to make the kids the same as the enemy in terms of the ruthlessness with which war is waged.

When I was in school, our education was not suddenly interrupted in a way that thrust us as 15 or 16 year old kids into fighting enemy troops. We got to go to our Sr. Prom, and walk across the stage and get our diploma and for the most part, go on with the rest of our lives. The kids in "Red Dawn" didn't get to do that. War stole it from them... They had to grow up before their time.

It was the loss of innocence and childhood that was the saddest thing about "Red Dawn".

Images of War: Passchendaele

"Listen to me. Forests burn 'cos they have to. And oceans, they go up and down 'cos they have to. I don't think we're that different. If you want to get through this you have to start seeing it for what it is. It's something we do all the time because we're good at it. And we're good at it because we're used to it. And we're used to it because we do it all the time."

~ Michael Dunne, in the movie "Passchendaele"

That's Christmas

The JESUS Film Project

"But how can any single film reach so many people and touch so many lives?"

It is the power of the Word of God in their heart language.

Based on the Gospel of Luke, the "JESUS" film has now been translated into more than 1,000 languages, with a new language being added nearly every week. This brings God's Word to people in more than 200 countries in languages they know and understand...

You may if you choose to do so, quibble about any number of things about The Jesus Film Project. I can be as cynical as anyone, and more then a few so called "evangelism" methodologies leave me cold.

And yes, I was even skeptical about the Jesus Film Project... until I started to actually watch the film and realized what was being done.

The Word of God.... from the Gospel of Luke... Scripture itself, yes, being acted out but also being spoken aloud via film... Faith comes by hearing, and not hearing any old thing someone wants to say but hearing the Word of God...

So though I don't put to much stock in the statistics about how many people come to Christ through the Jesus Film, I believe there are those those who do. It is not "the film", it is the Word of God the film is bringing to the ears of millions of people around the world, and that in their own heart language...

Be a skeptic if you want, but don't be a skeptic about the power of the Word of God, and do not be so quick to skepticism regarding the medium that might be used to bring that Word of God to a lost world...

After all it is not about the numbers and statistics. It is about faithful proclamation and the witness of Jesus Christ to every kindred, tribe, and tongue and nation.

Peace,

~ The Billy Goat ~

Billy Goat Log: January 9, 2011

• The church we attend is inter-generational. We have a pretty good balance from youngsters on up through the grey haired seniors. So it is we see the normal ebb and flow of life in the life of the congregation; births, weddings, funerals, and etc. This past week was the occasion of several deaths in the Church family.
  
  We knew Sue was not long for this world. Cancer had taken its toll on her body, and chemo was no longer effective. My wife and I went to see her this past Monday. She knew we were there, but it was hard for her to talk, and the morphine to control pain made her drowsy. Friday we got word she was now with Jesus.
  
  I'm glad we got to know Sue and her husband over the past eight years we've been at our church. I'm glad she got to hold her grandchildren in her arms before leaving this world. I'm glad my last spoken words to her were, "Jesus still loves you..."
  
  RIP
  
  
• I had to get a new mobile phone. The old one totally died. It was about three years old so it didn't have many bells and whistles. The new one has the camera and some text and e-mail capabilities the old did not. Of course I had to check out all those fancy new features. It's like having a new toy.
  
  
• The Detroit Lions finished the regular NFL season with a string of wins. The roar is starting to come back... I remember the last time the Lions were in a playoff game many, many years ago. Maybe next year...
  
  
• Back in September I posted a study on The Lord's Table. I recently had opportunity to present a more developed and expanded version of that material in an adult Sunday school class. I want to do some further work on that and sometime in the future publish that revision here. It has been of particular interest to me to read John Calvin's Commentary on the 1 Corinthians 10 & 11 passages that deal with the Lord's Table.
  
  
• Over the Christmas break we took the oldest grandson to see The Voyage of the Dawntreader in 3D. If you are a stickler about a movie following closely to the book, you will find this version of the Dawntreader a disappointment. That said, I thought the movie did retain the basic essence of Lewis' original story, and the technical things such as graphics and etc, were well done. Somethings were left out that I would have like to have seen included. Some things were included that I thought could have been left out. Overall it was passasble though not outstanding; three stars out of five.
  
  

• "With nearly 230 million total speakers, Bangla (Bengali) is one of the most spoken languages, ranking sixth in the world. The predominent religion among the Bangla people is Islam 89.5%, followed by Hindu 9.6%, and "other" 0.9% (2004, CIA Factbook). That less then 1% "other" includes Christianity."
  
  Bangla Ministries Worldwide (Facebook)
  Bangla Ministries Worldwide
  

  
  
  

Creator & Creation: What Has Man Wrought?

This past week I got to see Tron Legacy at the local Imax.

Amidst the outstanding graphics is a story that touches on fundamental questions of being and existence, creator and creation, love & sacrifice. Though Tron Legacy was not intended to necessarily be philosophical, I found it pretty profound.

This is not at all to say Tron Legacy is "Christian". Any religious allusions are more along the line of an Eastern pantheistic mysticism. But that said, any story dealing with the human condition in whatever setting, fiction, science fiction, or etc, will deal with those fundamental questions of being and existence that cut across all cultural and religious lines.

I could go on at length about the theological implications of the issues and questions inherent in the story this movie tells, but I will leave that for the readers of this short piece to work out when they have seen Tron Legacy for themselves.

For myself, Tron Legacy is a serious contender for my "Best Top Ten Movies of All Time" list.

~ The Billy Goat ~

What They Want...

Trautman: John where are you going?

Rambo: I don't know.

Trautman: You get a second medal of honor for this.

[Rambo looks over at the rescued POWs]

Rambo: You should give it to them. They deserve it more.

Trautman: You don't belong here why don't you come back with me?

Rambo: Back to what? My friends died here, let me die here.

Trautman: The war, the whole conflict may have been wrong but damn it don't hate your country for it.

Rambo: Hate? I'd die for it.

Trautman: Then what is it you want?

Rambo: I want, what they want, and every other guy who came over here and spilled his guts and gave everything he had, wants! For our country to love us as much as we love it! That's what I want!

(First Blood: Part II (1985))

Of This And That
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Micah, a young man I've known from when he was a wee little lad, is home from Iraq. He is now back with his wife and children and that is a very good thing.
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Another young man is facing prison time for sexual misconduct involving some mentally challenged residents of a nursing home. It is right that he face the legal consequences of his choices, but some of the readers' comments on the local news blog go far beyond justice, and beyond the known public facts of the case. It is not a good omen for society when the public is ready to jump to conclusions when not all the facts of a case are publicly known. Why is it not possible to choose to suspend personal judgement on such cases? And by the way, I'm speaking of the same kind of suspension of personal judgement that many of us avoided when we jumped to conclusions about O. J. Simpson's murder trial a number of years ago. Guilt or innocence is not determined by a news poll and neither is such a news poll real "news".
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For the last sixty years the world has avoided a major war; a war of such magnitude that it would rank as World War III. Given the proliferation of nuclear technology in places like North Korea and Iran, one wonders how long such a war can be avoided. With the debate over the American use of atomic bombs on Japan in World War II, one thing gets overlooked. If the US had not dropped those bombs, the world would not have been so vividly aware that we now had the power to destroy ourselves. I am pessimistic and not just because of any particular view of eschatology. I personally think there is a very good probability and it is just a matter of time when we will again see the mushroom cloud unleashed over some city some place on this earth. I sincerely hope I am wrong, and would love to be proven wrong.
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The Anomie of Easy Rider
My daughter and I watched Easy Rider a few nights ago; Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper riding into oblivion on their choppers. It reminded me of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises; a lost generation wandering aimlessly through life without purpose or any real hope except the next high.

The apex of that anomie comes in the scenes in the cemetery when Wyatt and Bill, in the company a couple of prostitutes, are tripping out on acid. In the background of the hallucination scenes we hear recitations of the Apostles Creed and other liturgical recitations. Amidst all of that, in one scene Wyatt holds his fist to the sky, a post-modern Nimrod asserting his freedom from all but self. Then when it's all over and Wyatt and Bill are on the road again, Wyatt tells Bill, "We blew it!"

The ending with the "rednecks" in the pickup truck is tragic and you are not sure who is more tragic, Wyatt and Bill, or the redneck murderers whose miss-placed "purpose" is just as morally empty as Wyatt and Bill's purposelessness. Easy Rider is considered a landmark movie, and insofar as it portrayed the popular cultural angst of the late 1960's and early 1970's, it indeed is.
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~ The Billy Goat ~

Upon Seeing "I Am Legend"

I remember years ago, my sister and I going to the theater and seeing "Omega Man". "I Am Legend" is reminiscent of "Omega Man" with human induced world wide catastrophe (judgement), of the survivors, the remnant of humanity bearing the scourge of that disaster, and the few of humanity who were immune to the disaster, and who were seeking to bring redemption to humanity by finding a cure. Of these two apocolyptic films, in my mind "I Am Legend" is the better.

“I Am Legend” is perhaps one of Will Smith’s finest performances. Towards the end of that film a woman and boy find him in decimated New York City just in time to save him from the “bad creatures”. In ensuing conversation the woman asserts “god” told her to go to NY and so on. Will Smith as the Dr. trying to find the cure for the man made disaster around him responds vehemently, “There is no “god”!”, but then latter near the very end of the film tells the woman there is a reason she is there and there is a mission she was sent to perform. I’d go on, but don’t want to spoil it for those who have not seen it.

I've noticed over the years is how some films have this sense of some kind of guiding hand that transcends the material existence of the people in the story. It is often a vague pantheism of sorts. In our hearts we know there is something bigger then ourselves. As a fallen humanity we try to sooth that angst with meaning, but resist going to the One in whose image we were made, even as that image, as broken as it is, testifies to the reality that image was intended to point to.

As an aside, at the end of "I Am Legend" I realized I had watched a film markedly devoid of crude language and cursing. The restricted rating was do to intense action scenes with some pretty scary creatures. The absence of F words and D words and S words was refreshing.

~ The Billy Goat ~

Post-Modern Culture Meets the Magic Kingdom
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The World of Harry Potter

Yes, I've read the Harry Potter books, all six of them. Yes, I've seen the movies, including the latest release, The Goblet of Fire. No, these are not books for young children to read. I avoided that quandary because my youngest daughter was a teenager when I let her read the first book. Yes, she and I have talked about it.

Actually there is nothing really profound about the title to this post. What would we expect? J.K. Rowling was not writing a philosophy of life with the Potter books, but the books reflect a philosophy of life, and it's not just the witchcraft and magic. Rowling is a child of her age, and the Harry Potter books reflect that age in a context of magic. What did we expect?

Suits of armor singing Christmas carols, Christmas trees in the halls of Hogwarts in December, Easter is mentioned, but what do those mean in the world of Harry Potter? The same thing they mean in the secularist post-modern Britain that is the setting of Rowling's life, a feel good tradition with little real meaning.

But even the world of Harry Potter longs for redemption. Has Snape, the former deatheater, really changed for the better? Your heart wants to say yes in spite of all the apparent evidence to the contrary. At the end of book six, The Half-Blood Prince, for the first time in all the years Harry has known Draco Malfoy, he finally actually feels some pity for him. Is there redemption even for Draco? We'll have to wait for the seventh and final book to find out.

The world of Harry Potter is broken even as our world is. The world of Harry Potter is filled with imperfect people, and even the heroes are clearly flawed. So it is in our world. It remains to be seen if there will be any redemption in the world of Harry Potter. In our world, redemption has been made manifest in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and the final consummation of that redemption is yet to come. That is our blessed hope.

Sola Deo Gloria!

~ The Billy Goat ~

The Five People You Meet In Heaven - The ABC TV Special

Recently ABC presented The Five People as a made for TV movie. In cogitating on the book and the TV movie, it is in my mind to write a "chapter 2" of the review of The Five People I posted last week.

There is a complexity involved in presenting, in visual movie screen format, scenes from three different places, in this case, the present on earth, Eddie's present in heaven after his death, and the past which focused mostly, but not exclusively, on Eddie's past. A real physical wooden door in Eddie's past opens onto a scene in heaven... Effective if you've read the book and know the story. I'll never know if I would have been able to follow the movie's story line if I had not read the book first.

As a made for TV movie, it was done as well as any, given the nature of the subject matter. The movie stuck pretty close to the book as much or more then any movie ever does. But I'm not so concerned about reviewing the cinematic technology and quality of the ABC Special as such.

In "Chapter 1" of this review, I commented on the shared values Christians could connect with in The Five People. I qualified that by acknowledging that Mitch Albom was writing from a background in the Judeo-Christian tradition, though not from an Evangelical Christian perspective. In that sense, Albom is in the tradition of Frank Capra and It's A Wonderful Life. We enjoy our annual December viewing of It's A Wonderful Life,and we'll always remember James Stewart as "George Bailey". But as the video tape is rewinding after Clarence gets his wings, we know it is apocryphal.

Where is God in stories like It's A wonderful Life and The Five People? What kind of God is He in these stories?

All the time we see Eddie in heaven, he never actually stands before and meets God. At one point he asks, "Does God even know I'm here?" To which the answer is "Yes". But God Himself is always in the background, distant and unseen.

Then there are the five different parts of "heaven" where he meets each of the five people. The Blue man finds "heaven" at Ruby Pier where he was happiest in life. So it is each of the five are in a heaven that is heaven to them... And happy and content... Again I ask the question, where is God?

It is a Biblical truth that the chief end of each and every human being is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. Ultimate enjoyment and contentment is found in the Creator, not in the things created. It is true that in the New Heavens and New Earth there will be those created things that we will enjoy and delight in. (See Heaven Is A Place On Earth by Mike Wittmer.) But our greatest joy and our greatest delight will be in the Creator and Giver of those gifts.

It is at this point that stories like It's A Wonderful Life and The Five People depart from a Biblical view of heaven. In the Biblical view God is personally interested in and involved in the lives of His creatures. In Jesus Christ, it's not angels who come to earth to help out the George Baileys of the world, it is Emmanuel Himself... God with us.... And that is the true story of Christmas...

~ The Billy Goat ~

PS: .. I know I have not even got to the soteriological issues regarding how salvation is pictured in these stories... That part you should be able to figure out for yourself... (John 3:16)

A Trip Down Memory Lane: Movies I Remember

My daughter, the one known as Elfstone, just introduced me to the All Posters on-line gallery. She wanted to order some Lord of The Rings stuff.

I started browsing the movie poster gallery, doing lookups on movies I remember from long ago and not so long ago. If I had enough wall space, these are some of the movie posters from All Posters I'd hang on that wall. (Listed in no particular order.)

To Kill A Mockingbird : I think I was about ten years old if that. We went to the theater in Arcbold, Ohio with some of our cousins to see this. Gregory Peck will always be "Atticus Finch" in my mind. The best black and white movie I ever saw on a big screen. How The West Was Won We went as a family to Toledo, Ohio to see this. I think mom wanted us to get a sense of the history behind this. The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. I took some friends to the drive in theater in Hillsdale, Michigan to see this. During the intermission the guy in the car behind us came up and politely asked me to take my foot off the brake. I'd unconsciously rested my foot on the car brake, and he and his family were getting my rear brake lights in their face... Not cool... What was cool was to see Moses parting the Red Sea on the gigantic screen. Spartacus My childhood friend Jim invited me to go with him and his family to see this at the theater in Morenci, Michigan. What an epic story. Some years latter I found out there really had been a Spartacus, and he really had led a slave revolt against the Roman Empire. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly The big screens in those days were the big screens at the drive in movies. Those big screens were well suited for the big movies. I saw this movie two times. Both times were at the drive in movie at Bryan, Ohio. This was my first introduction to the "Spaghetti Western" and Clint Eastwood. True Grit This remains my favorite John Wayne Western. I saw this at the old movie theater in Hillsdale, Michigan. Sitting on a horse... Reins in his teeth... Both hands holding a six shooter... Just classic... The Graduate OK.. I know Anne Brancoft seduces Dustin Hoffman. I was a freshman at Michigan State University, and went to see this three times at an East Lansing theater. One of the big draws for me was the Simon & Garfunkel sound track. Looking back, I see that The Graduate was anticipating and on the edge of Post-modernism... I am also pretty sure my wife would not let me keep this poster on the wall. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Of the two Star Wars movies I've seen in the theater, this is my favorite because it's where Yoda gets to really strut his stuff. This poster is for the IMAX version. I didn't see Episode II at the IMAX, but this is the only poster with Yoda on it... I took my daughter and a few of her friends to Celebration Cinima in Grand Rapids, Michigan to see Episode II. We saw Episode I at the same place, but that didn't stick with me like Episode II. 2001: A Space Odyssey I saw this at the old Hillsdale, Michigan theater. Now 2001 has come an gone... Yes, I saw the 2010 sequal on vidio... Now we know HAL was doublecrossed...

~ The Billy Goat ~

DVD review: Luther
by Gene Edward Veith (World Magazine)

"The movie Luther, which saw limited release last year and was a surprise hit in secularized Germany, is out on video and DVD.

Most notable in this vivid re-creation of Reformation history is the high-powered cast. Joseph Fiennes makes a fine young Luther, and Peter Ustinov, in his final role before his death, steals his scenes as the thoughtful, wily head of Saxony, Frederick the Wise, who becomes Luther's protector against the pope and emperor.

The film was shot on some actual historical locations, and for the most part is historically accurate. Luther's disillusioning trip to Rome, the financial scheme that led to the indulgence sale, Cardinal Cajetan's attempt to silence Luther, Carlstadt's change from being his scholastic theology professor to being a follower to being an enemy from the other extreme, the peasant rebellion—it is all there. The movie ends with the princes' confession of faith before the emperor at Augsburg. Luther had once stood alone before..." (Complete review found here.)

I had the privilage of seeing Luther, when it was shown in our area. I've been eagerly waiting for the DVD release. I highly recommend this movie. Peter Ustinov as Frederick the Wise was espicially outstanding... See Veith's full review for his assesment of the accuracy of the historical content. This DVD is on my Christmas Wish List....

Semper Reformanda,

~ The Billy Goat ~

The Secular Apocalyptic

A mega-earthquake hits the American west coast resulting in a major portion of California spliting off to become a large island. Mega-death and destruction.

An mega-asteroid comes perilously close to earth and the mega-gravitational effect sends a mega-tidal wave that floods the Ohio River basin. Mega-death and destruction.

A mega-hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico comes hurling north across the United States to collide with a mega-Arctic storm from the north at a point on the southern shore of Lake Michigan where Chicago happens to be located, and just as a computer hacker brings down the Chicago power grid. Mega-death and destruction.

A mega-freak weather pattern brings a sudden and unexpected ice age. More mega-death and destruction.

Scenes from the Left Behind series?

No... These are all scenes from secular Hollywood that have appeared in the past year as made for TV movies, or theater release. And the troubling aspect is they are fun to watch... You know nobody is REALLY getting killed, and it's not REAL buildings falling down... Aren't those special effects just so neat? WOW!

Why is that I get the feeling that the same people who made these secular apocalyptics would have hissy snit if Mel Gibson made a movie based on the Biblical book of Revelation?

The answer of course has to do with the world view such a movie would be based on... A loving God would actually bring judgment on the earth? That assumes there is a God who takes an active personal interest in the world He created, and that He holds mankind morally accountable... And that He will hold me individually personally accountable! Didn't that view of life become defunct with the death of Modernism? After all, the father of Post-modernism told us God was dead...

By the way, I'm not a fan of the Left Behind series, nor do I wish to see even a devout Christian try to make a movie based on Revelation. Biblical prophecy is to serious a matter to be left to our finite and sin impacted imagination.

But why the secular apocalyptic? Is it because even post-modern man still has a semblance of conscience and right and wrong? How can big business corporate executives who are screwing up the environment for filthy lucre be "evil" in a post-modern world? For you see in the secular apocalyptic there is usually the villain corporate executive, or some kind of villain even if the villain is mankind itself... Hummmm.... Yes, there is usually some kind of "social message" in these secular apocalyptics...

Though I have little use for a lot of popular Christian apocalpticism, I do believe there will be a judgment, and as part of that judgment a great tribulation. It's not going to be a fun time... Now please don't start asking me if I'm pre-, mid-, or post-trib... That's not the point... The point is that even the secular mind, alienated from God and His Word, to some degree or another has a sense of apocalyptic judgment... The remnents of a conscience that can not totally deny its Creator, but suppresses that truth in unrighteousness... (Romans 1:16-25) Sola Deo Gloria!

~ The Billy Goat ~

Upon Seeing the Passion

Tonight I saw the movie. I do not think I will ever view Isaiah 53 the same. For me, all the hype and controversy, positive and negative, tended to get in the way of just seeing and fully appreciating the movie for what it is. All the hype leads to expectations about the movie that are not realistic. I may go see it again just to be able to appreciate it for what it is.

At the end of the movie, my daughter, her friend, and I sat there in silence. The Passion is a profoundly personal story. He did that, and went through all that for me. If you see this movie, do not lose sight of that fact or you will miss it all.

A secondary emphasis in this movie is the suffering of Mary. She watched her son and her Lord suffer and die for her. What ever Gibson's intent, the way Mary is included in this movie has nothing to do with any peculiar Roman Catholic view of Mary. Her inclusion does have everything to do with her being a mother whose son was also her Saviour. All generations, Protestants included, will call her blessed.

The personification of the devil, though apocryphal, was effective. The enemy was there; that father of all lies, the slanderer. And it is not apocryphal to say that at the cross Satan was defeated, and the proof of his defeat is found in the resurrection.

Should you go see this movie? It is not for me to tell if you should or not. I will say it is not a movie for young children, or even young teens. There is a reason it is R rated. I choose to go not because anyone said I "have to" see this movie. Nor did I plan on staying away just because somebody was bad-mouthing and trashing it. I choose to see it for myself, and I may well go see it again.

No one "has" to see this movie. But if you do, then set aside all the hype and expectations and let the story that is told tell itself. And amidst whatever was inaccurate or apocryphal, see the true story that is the climatic highpoint of His Story.

In His love and joy,

~ The Billy Goat ~

Reflections on finally seeing "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

If a theater release is so awesome, what will the extended version be like? After seeing such an epic movie like this, how will any other movies even come close? They can not but pale in comparison. "If Return of the King" doesn't get a whole bunch of Oscar's, the Academy Award judges will forfeit any credibility and respect they might yet retain. "Return of the King" is simply the best movie I've seen in my life. Kudos and thanks to Peter Jackson and all involved.

~ The Billy Goat ~