Shattered: Exposing Windows of Evil (A review of the most recent incarnation of Christian legalism and fear mongering)
October 28, 2010
The Calvary Chapel of Albuquerque, as many CCs are, is a city unto itself. It boasts a membership of over thirteen thousand, and claims to be one of the twenty largest churches in America. It owns its own television station, radio station, book store, skate park, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. Of course, this all causes the congregation and its leadership to come under sharp, and sometimes unfair, scrutiny. Apparently, the latest product of the holy city in the ABQ is a film production company (Connection Communications) that produces, among other things, Christian films. The most recent of these Christian films, a documentary on culture, has me pondering some issues.
This film, “Shattered: Exposing Windows of Evil” comes out just in time to scare the bejesus out of evangelicals in Albuquerque at Halloween.
Now, in an uncharacteristically diplomatic turn, allow me to make several qualifications before I continue (these will be necessary, because I seldom aim the gun so close to home). I have no “axe to grind” per se with CCs, Skip Heitzig, Chip Lusko or anyone else associated with Calvary of Albuquerque. I have had most of Skip and Chip’s children in class (and have found them to be delightful people). I have many students and friends that attend C of A. So, for anyone looking for an offense, I know that the aforementioned are favorite targets of CC haters. You’ll have to pick your fights with the ideology at hand, though, because I have no desire to breach these issues.
So, here’s my question – why the cycle of Christian scare films making claims that cause viewers to believe that our media has been infiltrated by the occult, and that participating in said media endangers us all personally? While it may be extreme, there are even some that actually teach you will be possessed if you read or watch any of these media (though, I am not aware of any of these “teachers” being associated with CC). Consequently, if you happen to have a personal penchant for anything of the fantasy or horror genre, then you are opening yourself unnecessarily (or so the theory goes) to the wiles of “the Enemy.” Additionally, if you happen to be going through a “dark spot” in life or if you just happen to be one of those (gasp) “dark” people, then your very salvation is in jeopardy. The documentary promises to “give the real meaning” behind the supernatural themes so prevalent in our media. Perhaps, most troubling of all, is the prescribed game plan for dealing with this infiltration of the enemy.
The most frustrating element of this project is the “Quick Guide” insert in the DVD – which minces the project’s already poorly constructed thesis into short generalized truisms. And, like the most insidious lies, it all contains just enough truth and genuine wisdom to cause thinking individuals to second guess their instincts. Frankly, I deplore these appeals to fear. I deplore it when politicians do it, when educators do it, and especially when pastors do it. Without further ado, allow me to quote some of the examples – then you give me your take.
Intro: “Take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day” (Ephesians 6:13)
Families are under attack as never before; media is aggressive and dangerous. But there is no reason for fear. The Bible says where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. The weapons of our warfare are not earthly, but they are powerful. God has given us what we need, etc. etc. so on and so forth… (Don’t want to get into copyright issues) ;0)
Fast Facts
Harry Potter movies have made $4.2B worldwide, over 300M books in print
“Twilight” vampire movies have made over $775M, with 100M books in print
97% of teens play video games, 75% have cell phones
25% of teens have created an online false identity…
Warning Signs “Being filled with all unrighteousness…” (Romans 1:28)
Glamorization of the occult
(Culturally)
Pagan versions of Christianity
Mocking of truth
Misrepresentation of reality, creation of false identities
(Personally)
Decreased interest in God
Obsession with increasingly dark and bizarre entertainment
Preoccupation with death and the grotesque
Increased isolation from family and social norms
Kids barring parents from their rooms
Excessive time online gaming…
Practical Steps “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” [sic] (James 4:7)
Make sure your relationship with God is strong (James 4:8)
Have a biblical “filter” and worldview
Take inventory: where is your family really at in these matters?
Set an example: Make sure your relationship with God is strong (James 4:8) and that you have and use a biblical “filter” for your worldview
Get informed about what’s in your home
Learn about the current culture; it may seem foreign
Be bold, loving, and persistent
Now, allow me to itemize a list here, which I believe will help contextualize my complaint. In my estimation this is poor theology couched in great parenting advice. So, the positive things first:
1. There is no such thing as parents being too restrictive with young children when it comes to visual media. Countless studies from a diverse array of disciplines (psychological, medical, theological, etc) have directed parents to monitor carefully the influences children have at impressionable ages and have proven that visual media like television and movies have detrimental affects on small children. Which, of course, is precisely what some of those interviewed in the film say. There is a dangerous window of impressibility that closes around 10 years of age (but, does the presentation stop there? No)
2. I wonder whether parents could actually do anything more productive in their homes than getting involved in the lives of their children. This documentary, at its core, insists that Christian parenting requires engaged adults. Who could argue with this?
3. The video admonishes parents not to let schools and churches to do the parenting for them. As an educator, I have experienced that you can almost point out the kids that have engaged parents and the kids that are being sent to me for babysitting. I heartily congratulate this effort, and wish more spiritual leaders would emulate the message, “parents, you are the front line in a battle to raise Godly, church going Americans.”
4. The video addresses a modern trend to view Satan as a “contemporary” or opposing force to God, instead of the limited, created being that he is. (Though, I can’t help but point out here that one central premise of the video is the insidious infiltration of Satan and the occult into the lives of Christian young people through the glamorization of such in our media, and then boldly pronounces that the enemy has no true power, but indeed “cannot even tempt Christians without God’s permission.” So, if it all has to be cleared with God first….oh, nevermind)
Now, a few of the things I take issue with:
1. The host and guests in the video consistently assert that there is a concerted “occultist” effort to trap Christians in a fantasy world of power and control via their own personal curiosity. They pound it again and again. If your child is curious or role plays or has an imagination, then you may already be too late. Which translates, at least to me, into a simple message, “listen to our story of power and control in your life or you’ll end up in hell (because we have the power and control and say so).”
2. Their anecdotal ”expertise” on the occult is manipulative and disingenuous. For every “I was a mixed up kid, and turned to the occult to gain power over my situation and realized that I was influenced by my culture into dark and dangerous things that nearly destroyed me” story that the hosts can produce, I can produce an ”I was looking to hurt people with black magic and the occult - now I am a fruitful Christian and movies/music/games had nothing to do with either of them” stories.
3. Each of the presenter’s erroneous or anecdotal arguments eventually run thin and they ultimately identify the home as the impetus behind trouble. Yet, they will not abandon their thesis. They want us to believe that Columbine happened because those kids played video games, role played, and read fantasy/horror literature, and not because their parents were completely disengaged. One father even laments, “Let me be perfectly clear about this, my son died because I put him in a secular, humanist school – and I knew what they taught. And I did that.” Then the host points out that the attackers wore t-shirts at school that endorsed “natural selection.” “This whole crime,” the father goes on to state, “was based on the belief that evolution was true and that they had the right to kill those they deemed weaker…” Any coincidence that there is a CC Christian school in Albuquerque that is in desperate need of enrollment?
4. From this springs an entire series of slippery slope arguments. If you send your kids to secular, humanist schools (i.e. public school), you may be sentencing them to death. If you watch horror movies, you are getting a perverse blend of sex and violence that will turn you into a serial killer – just like Ted Bundy. If you dabble in Harry Potter or other “Wiccan” spiritual influences, you’ll become a crazy universalist pagan just like Chuck Russell who used to be a good Christian man. If you are hurt in your relationships and get involved in online chat communities, you will join an online coven and will become demon possessed. If you play the role-playing games (online or tabletop), you are merely trying to find a “life” you like better than your own and the occult content of those games will corrupt you.
5. I reject the thesis that things are “worse than they ever have been before.” It demonstrates a lack of scope or a lack of expertise, I’m not sure which. Even the simple proposition that movies are somehow “worse” than they used to be is a completely subjective statement. At best, the most that can be asserted is that the previous generation of media better suits the sensibilities of the writer, host, and guests in the documentary. Frankly, I think “Nosferatu” is far more terrifying than many modern horror films, which according to the documentary, are the true gateways into the occult.
6. The big problem – They are not offering a solution. Bishop Pierre Whalon gave the sermon in our church last Sunday. In it he gave a simple and profound explanation of the Church’s purpose: Reconciliation. It is the job of the church to proclaim the Gospel, feed the poor, protect the orphan, care for the widow, and generally to live out the love of Christ toward the disenfranchised of the world – to reconcile them to God. This video leaves its viewers at a serious disadvantage with an aggressive ideology. Viewers who buy into its whole message are left feeling afraid, powerless, and inept. A feeling that can only be alleviated by submitting to the ideology engendered in the video itself. There is no option, take their advice, purge your home to rescue your family - assimilate. There is no plan to reconcile those who may actually be hurting to God. If your children pull away, seek privacy, get moody, want to be around their friends (you know, normal teen-age stuff), then they may have been infiltrated by the occult and you must aggressively intervene (but in a loving way). Oh, and don’t be fooled, because, “This will all be slickly packaged and very attractive but the message is just below the surface – once an appetite for unhealthy entertainment is created it will only grow and demand more radical expression – take strong, immediate, action now…this is war.”
There are, of course, numerous other anachronisms, inaccurate facts, and incomplete statements made throughout. I cannot really fault the production as a documentary for such things, though. Which documentary have you watched that got all of the facts right? My most serious complaint is that it is a production designed to “scare parents straight” on the “facts” concerning media. Ultimately, though, the “facts” fall short of anything but the preferences and sensibilities of those involved in the production; and they belong to a broader group of Christians that are under the impression that only “wholesome” media are pleasing to the Lord. This certainly causes a plethora of problems for me, that cannot be rightly expressed in a post that is already too long. In short, the experts are suspect, the evidence is anecdotal, the theory is flawed, and the outcome is fear and confusion. It’s just too bad, because all of its shortcomings obscure some sound admonition to be an involved parent.
If you want it in an even shorter version, it’s legalism.
(As a minor, personal issue in a post script - I think the video’s characterization of J.K. Rowling, a baptized Christian, as someone who is peddling Wiccan religious philosophy in her books is unconscionable.)
In the Kitchen With Tony
October 26, 2010
Hello, and welcome to In the Kitchen With Tony. Today we are going to discuss the perfect pan; What is it? Who makes the best one? And why?
Let us come right out and say that obviously, one will need more than a single pan for use in the kitchen, but I am going to contend that every kitchen needs this workhorse, I can barely get through a single day in the kitchen without using mine. Just how much work can we get out of a single pan you might ask? Plenty.
Since it is nonsense to advocate for a pan if it can only do multiple things with mediocrity, I can assure you that not only have I used this pan in all these different ways, but it performs incredibly well on all fronts. It can fry, saute’, reduce, roast, braise and sear; it can be used to make rouxs, sauces, rissotos (and various rice dishes), greens and jambalaya; and of course all the many dishes that these uses entail.
The magic pan is the All-Clad, MC2, 4qt saute pan. I imagine that either the 3qt or the 6qt would put limits on its multi-tasking abilities, though for larger occasions sometimes I do wish I had the 6qt as a backup, but the 4qt ends up being neither too small nor too large. 
Why All-clad and why specifically the MC2? Well All-clad because in my years as a professional cook I’ve yet to run across a more trustworthy company, whose products are always top notch. Why the MC2? There are several reasons why:
Price – As fas as I’m aware, the MC2 line is the most affordable of their many series
Material/Control – The ability to change the temperature of the pan at a fair speed needs to be balanced with the ability of the cookware to hold at least enough heat that you aren’t babysitting the pan all the time. Copper cookware is easily the most responsive, especially when lined with Tin, but it’s also the most expensive. Also, tin linings are very tempermental and need a lot of attention and maintenance. Stainless steel, while the least responsive of the common metals, makes the most durable and consistant cooking surface. Aluminum on the other hand, conducts heat quite well compared to stainless and the MC2 not only has a pure aluminum middle layer, but the external layer is a matte brushed aluminum, which is superior to a polished or anodized aluminum for heat conduction. This brushed exterior also collects a very nice patina: DON’T WASH THE PATINA! You want the inside clean and shiny to avoid sticking, but you want that outside coated in ‘gunk.’
With these three layers, the pan responds quickly to temperature adjustments and is able to maintain a consistently distributed heat.
Distribution of heat is also important. You don’t actually want those pans with thick bottoms but thin sides because it causes very uneven cooking (and the responsiveness issue comes in again). These three layers are even from the bottom and up the slightly rounded sides; a big plus.
The pan I got came with a lid and the lid is a must for many different cooking applications from steaming to braising. I do wish it was a bit more domed and that the inside of the lid had little knobs to drip the liquid back onto what I’m cooking, but the standard lid is just fine.
There you have it folks, the perfect pan of greatness.
I Didn’t Really Care For the Original Version
October 22, 2010
Come now, you rich, rejoice and be at peace for the blessings that are coming upon you.
Your riches have trickled down and your garments are $8 a pair.
Your gold and silver have impressed the shareholders, and their success will be evidence for you and will fatten your flesh. You have laid up treasure for the last days.
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields and made your sandwich, which you kept back , are not of any concern to you (if you raised them, inflation would ensue anyway); and the cries of the harvesters pleases the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in your third house.
You have enabled, you have payed minimum wage to the righteous man; he cannot resist you (since unions kill business)
Banksy and the Co-optation of Everything
October 14, 2010
Most readers have probably already seen and/or heard about the “controversial” Simpsons opening, which was (apparently) created by the British street artist Banksy. If not, here it is:
Banksy, an internationally known artist whose vaguely anarchist, certainly anti-consumerist, and possibly pacifist politics are present in much of his art, seems in his Simpsons piece to be making a statement about the prevalence of capitalist exploitation of the 3rd world. Since the animation for the Simpsons is indeed outsourced to South Korea, he seems to be chiding the Simpsons for participating in these crimes of oppression. The irony of course is that his statement becomes a part of the Simpsons, presumably animated in the same South Korean sweatshop(???) as the rest of the show. Banksy, a celebrity artist of resistance becomes co-opted by the show (and really by Satan himself: FOX CORP.) for entertainment value (and publicity value for both the show and the artist), and thereby participates in the very oppression his piece decries.
This perfectly illustrates humanities’ inability to break out of paradigms of coercion, violence and oppression; or, in theological terms, humanities’ inability to break free of the bondage of sin. But here, in contrast to pietistic concern for personal bondage and personal freedom, we are dealing with the bondage produced by systemic sin–the kingdoms of this world that hold us all in thrall collectively. Those who try to subvert or resist these systems are always eventually co-opted by them. This is the human condition, and the source of our deepest and most tragic irony.
This is why charity and humanitarian efforts fail, because the good work they do is co-opted, assimilated into the systems of evil that pervade the world. The World Bank and World Food Organization perpetuate the economic misery they were created to eradicate. The most well-intentioned and principled politician quickly becomes an instrument of corruption. The fight against terrorism begins to look precisely like the very thing it meant to end.
The only thing that has ever truly broken this cycle, and successfully withstood becoming co-opted into the evil systems of this world is the Christ-event. Christ effectively withstood and subverted all the evil systems of this world, including the ultimate and most powerful, death. In following after Him, we might have moments of true resistance, true subversion of the kingdom of this world, moments when the Kingdom of God break in; but, Church History’s main lesson should be that we so often fail at the outcome we want desperately to achieve, and our message, like that of Banksy, makes that ironic turn toward saying the opposite of what it was intended to say. The most insidious part of co-optation is that perceiving our own guilt, our own complicity, may be harder than repentance itself.
Christ and Dionysus
October 9, 2010
I’m really loving my Greek and Roman Mythology class. On the one hand, it’s a 1000 level course, so the ‘difficulty’ is pretty minimal, but being a four credit class instead of a three means that we get a ton of reading in the original sources. Amongst other things, it has been very interesting for me to read these ‘myths’ and ‘see parallels’ in certain Scriptural images. As a friend of mine recently confirmed, it is hard to look at Noah the same after reading the Epic of Gilgamesh.
So I find myself confronted with how to understand these things. Of course I want to affirm the ‘uniqueness’ of Christ (and I do!) but it is intellectually irresponsible to apologetically argue that Christ, as represented in Scripture – that is, on a textual as compared to an ontological level – is a totally unique ‘apocalyptic event’ without precedence in other sacred literature. (I take this to be at least a part of what Hans Frei argues.)
A classic example is a confusion that sometimes happened as Christianity came into contact with its neighbors. Jesus was sometimes understood as a sort of Dionysus figure – Christ as Vine; as transforming life in the Eucharist; and as Harrower of Hell, were taken to be parallels to certain Dionysian myths.
There are two thinkers in particular who have been helping me, though in many ways they take radically different positions. Rowan Williams has a sort of take on this in an essay entitled “The Finality of Christ” in his astounding “On Christian Theology.” Williams wants to see Jesus “not dehistoricized or absolutized as an icon of significance, but neither [as] depicted as the teacher of one among several possible ways of salvation. He is presented as the revelation of God: as God’s question, no more, no less. Being a Christian is being held to that question in such a way that the world of religious discourse in general may hear it.” (105)
+Williams represents here a sort of chastened iconoclasm, trying to worm between the simplistic options of ‘exclusivism,’ ‘inclusivism’ and ‘pluralism’ as commonly conceived. I’m not totally convinced of this essay on all points, but his christological focus I think is indispensable in understanding other faiths and ‘myths’ in light of Christ.
On the other hand I’ve been ruminating on C.S. Lewis’ “Reflections of the Psalms.” Famously Lewis makes a (rather good) case for understanding certain myths as ‘pointing to’ Christ. He is most convincing when talking about Plato’s picture of the ‘Perfectly Just Man’ who is scorned by society as a disruptor of the peace and subsequently crucified. Lewis goes on to say “when I meditate on the Passion while reading Plato’s picture of the Righteous One, or on the Resurrection while reading about Adonis or Balder…there is a real connection between what Plato and the myth-makers most deeply were and mean and what I believe to be the truth. I know that connection and they do not…One can, without any absurdity, imagine Plato or the myth-makers if they learned the truth, saying, “I see…so that was what I was really talking about. Of course. That is what my words really meant, and I never new it.” And with his typical generosity he concludes “(Or may we more charitably speak, not of what Plato and Virgil and the myth-makers ‘would have said’ but of what they said? For we can pray with good hope that they now know and have long since welcomed the truth; ‘many shall come from the east and west and sit down in the kingdom’)”
As it stands I’m not looking for the mythic ‘middle’ or ‘third way’ between these two, but I’m feeding off both and trying to see the truth of what they’re saying; I’m looking for the Christ in Dionysus not because I want to cheapen the truth of Christ, who remains the Way, Truth and Life – but I’m looking for him because I believe that it is in him that all things cohere.
Tony Hunt
jstambaugh
Shawn Wamsley
