Let me start this off by saying this conversation between these two “celebrities” is about homosexuality and its acceptability. You can watch the video HERE, there is also the full link at the bottom of this page. I just watched it and had to respond some how. Piers is on the side of pro-homosexuality and Osteen on the Biblical side of the matter. Normally I am opposed to Joel Osteen and his feel good, watered down, semi-Christian messages, but in this case I am totally on his side. I was surprised as to his defense that homosexuality is wrong, as it seemed out of character for the type of preacher I presume he is, though his argument is incredibly weak and even more so his readiness for the defense of the Gospel. He starts off well, but quickly gets lost as you can feel Piers Morgan’s temperature rise as he brings “his friend” Elton John into the mix by posing the question “What do you think Elton and his partner would think?”. Joel, let me answer the line of questioning for you.

First of all, who cares what Elton John thinks. Joel Osteen should have continued down the path of “I am not the judge” and described why he’s not the judge. Problem being, Piers Morgan is a judge in the same way Osteen is, they both stand on a message and proclaim it from the tops of their celebrity and judge those who don’t agree. Remember, everyone is preaching something, even more so with ANY celebrity. In this sense, “Judgement”, is a calling out the deviation from the acceptable standard. Problem is, those who aren’t Christians create their standards and normally base their standards on themselves as the judge. Elton John could be in the top 10 in his preaching and “judging”, behind Oprah and a few others. Piers Morgan, is setting a standard, making a judgement and picking a side, Elton’s side. Unfortunately, Joel fails to make the point that we all “judge” one another in this sense, yet will be “Judged” in the end by the one who made the mind in which the standards were set.

If there were ever an entry point for the Gospel it was there, when Morgan spoke about being a judge. Speak of the law God put in place in Exodus and Deuteronomy and how we have fallen short of it. All of us, even Elton John. Then clearly state from the pages of scripture that you have a debt to pay and Christ did it for you. Turn the argument back on Piers Morgan and remind him that assumption of truth doesn’t lie with him, but on the side of Biblical truth. The atheistic argument has far more explaining to do that the side of scripture. Ask him to explain why homosexuality should be accepted (or any other sin of that matter). The answer you will get every time will be a philosophical explaination of why the sin (their sin) should be accepted and the law disregarded. This is normally wrapped in a pseudo fairy-tale love “for all”and a determined outset to not offend anyone, because clearly offending anyone would be the worst of all sins.

Far too often, Christians forget they are the orthodox ones and not the deviants from the truth. As Christians, we are all entrusted with the office to be bastians of truth to a dark and dying world. To “stand in the gap”. Osteen should have put the emphasis on the one who has departed from a super-natural truth and have them defend why their position clearly makes more sense. Of course, it won’t and won’t make any logical sense, because it will be about 70% emotional response and 30% a regurgitation of fact they have heard somewhere else. The fact you brought their moral compass into question is what is going to make them upset. We (Christians) forget we are coming from a position of Biblical backing and expositional truth, not from psycho-physiology or philosophy. We are people of the book and speak only the truth we have been given and that truth is from the One who created the Earth and all that is in it.

Secondly, I wish Joel Osteen would have brought some truth to the assumption Morgan made when he started talking about, “if you’re gay, there’s nothing you can do about it, you’re just gay…”. This is where the argument gets nasty. Being a homosexual is a choice, NO ONE is born gay, they are born sinful. All people who are gay choose to give in at some point. I don’t think, they “woke up one morning and thought, ‘I think I will be gay’” as Piers Morgan states, but I think that choice was slowly made over time. Just like the Great Wall of China wasn’t built in a day, I think one’s decision to declare their gayness was/is the result of many choices made over years of perpetuation. However I do believe certain people are more predisposed to fall to specific sins, drunkenness, deception, theft, anger, adultery. I happen to be more predisposed to lie because of the sins of my father. It is my choice every time I lie. Just like a thief doesn’t wake up one morning and think, “Hmm, a life of crime and burglary sounds like a good plan for my life, I think I will do that.”, neither does a gay man or woman make the choice with no other external forces. A thief is “developed” over time (so to speak). Small theft, here, a larger one there. You were born a sinning seed, ready to sprout into a full blown sinful being. The walls of conscience begin to break down over time until one day, a thief wakes up in prison and asks, “how did I get here?”. Being gay is no different, except for the jail part. There are many things that can make a child, “gay”. Competition amongst boys on the playground, getting molested, being a little more “soft” than the other boys and getting made fun of can all contribute to the outcome. I think most of it comes from a lack of a strong AND loving father. Father’s have more of a role in the lives of their families than anyone else ever could. Discipline without love is a form of hatred. I would presume most gay men are gay because of the influence of their fathers or lack of it, not because they were born that way.

Homosexuality is such a hot topic is because people relate to being gay more than any other adjective to describe people involved in sin. I would say you would have a difficult time finding one person who lies about things, to proudly call themselves a liar; or a person who has sex with lots of people, proud to call themselves a fornicator. People who are gay and who have come “out of the closet”, flip the switch and become very proud of it because they affiliate themselves so closely with it. Its “who they are” now. They are not a person who has a propensity to act in homosexual behavior, but they are homosexual. So now, as a Christian who believes in the Bible, when you tell them the Bible says being gay is wrong, all of a sudden you are not talking about a sin, but talking about a person being wrong. Calling the homosexual lifestyle “sin” is no longer holding to a standard, but rejecting a person. There was a fear to “come out” and there was at some point a fear to be accepted, which may even have been the catalyst that drove them to being gay  in the first place. Everyone wants to be accepted because its natural. Everyone wants to be loved. No harm there. The issue is not one of acceptance of the person, but of the sin. The sin will never be accepted (by Christians, nor should it as it is clearly anti-Biblical [Rom. 1, Lev 18]). The person on the other hand should be handled gently and lovingly and helped to repent and be saved from sin. The fact remains though, just because I was born a violent man, doesn’t make it permissible to be a murderer.

But again, we see ourselves in to high a standard. Although we may not be proud of it, we are not people who lie and steal and cheat, we are liars, and thieves, and cheaters. “But while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Rom. 5:8. Lets not stand on the moral high ground of heterosexual and look down from the top rung, but view ourselves for what we are, broken people in need of a savior. Gay or not gay, the forecast for eternity is all the same without Christ. Not loving the lost is wrong too.

For those Christians out there, remember 1 Corinthians 2-4, your wisdom will be seen as foolishness and you are to be considered as nothing but a vessel for Christ. Joel Osteen has no way to “win” this discussion, but could have done such a better job running to the Gospel, standing on truth and refusing to move at whatever cost it may be to him or “his” ministry.

youTube video →

http://dentonbible.org/2012/05/10/dbc-response-to-obamas-support-of-same-sex-marriage/

DBC Response to Obama’s Support of Same-Sex Marriage

I tend to take the road of highest thought when dealing with theology proper. Meaning, I believe down in the deepest parts of my being, that God is big and almighty and perfect far beyond our imaginations and we are tiny, evil and educated beyond our intelligence. There is a large divide between our intellect and will and those same attributes that exist in God. We are less than nothing when compared to God in every category, like your cornea is to the Hubble telescope, so are we to God. Unfortunately, just like a cornea can become dystrophic so our view of God has deteriorated.

Since the eating of the tree of the knowledge of good an evil, our propensity for evil has grown. We seek our own desires at such a ravenous cost we are willing to stop viewing other humans as anything valuable and start to see them as obstacles in our paths to self fulfillment. Woe is me. We no longer see man as being made in the image of God but view ourselves as being “the captain’s of our own ships”. We see ourselves as God. This is no surprise.

The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. (Genesis 11:6 NASB).

Having been made in the image of God we possess some of His more awesome qualities. The ability to love, create, reason we have all received from our Father. Yet our twisted natures cause us to use these characteristics for our own glory. We are limited by our sin which we will never be loosed of except for the blood of Christ and the redemption of our bodies when we “meet Christ in the air.”

It occurred to me today, all of what I just wrote is far deeper than I give credence to. We are far more depraved than I realize, probably due to the fact the ruler of this world has pulled the wool over our eyes and gotten all of us so side tracked that,

Professing to be wise, [we] became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man… (Romans 1:22, 23 NASB)

So we see ourselves in too high a manner. We ascribe too much glory to ourselves and have been tricked into thinking we can take the glory of God for ourselves and partake in the original sin. Our adversary is a valiant foe. We view God as contemptible, antiquated and idealistic; maybe a good idea for our grandparents, but we have progressed beyond that… we have science. The problem is, the only way we know anything about God is by His revelation. Think about it, if we are the lesser how could we ever rise to the point of the greater. A work of art will never be greater than the artist, but it reflects the glory of the artist and the artist is gloried by it. God has made His

…invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature…(Romans 1:20 NASB)

clearly seen through His creation. We have evidence there is a god simply by the facts that science reveals daily. We know who God is by His specific revelation, an offering or insight into the “personality” of God. God has done this with the Bible, His word.

Here’s the deal though, what we have in the Bible is,

…everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. (2 Peter 1:3 NASB)

Basically, we have all we need to know of God by “His divine power”, but the Bible is only 66 books. There are human biographies almost that long, and the Bible doesn’t directly speak about God the way other biographies do. Can you imagine that if all the miracles Jesus performed were recorded, they would fill the Earth, (John 21:25), how much more would the total revelation of God fill? It’s beyond our comprehension.

That’s my point, we know relatively so little about God and yet it’s even more than we can fully understand. Some scholars spend their whole lives studying the scriptures to find out about God, and they find the rabbit hole keeps getting deeper; yet His message is so simple babes can understand it. How great is our God. How does the light of that idea shed on the awesomeness of eternity in His presence? Each day from eternity past to eternity future would not be enough to fully comprehend His majesty and yet He is graceful enough to give you an appetizer here.

He is Matchless.

While I was looking through all these old receipts and statements I started to realize the price of everything has gone up over the past 7 years and food especially hasn’t gotten any better. The same Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger I paid $.99 for in 2005, I pay $1.29 for and the patty is half the size. The camera equipment I thought was great in college is now so outdated I have to keep the camera just to make sure I have a way to view the tapes. The society and the culture we live in has grown increasing more global, violent and distasteful. We think about old rules and the “way” to do things and the majority are put off or even offended by it. Tradition means nothing and it’s extremely difficult to keep any sort of influential traction when we talk about “moral or social law”. Yet God isn’t into change unless it’s about the human heart.

God holds believers to a moral constant. No changing, no bending, no wavering. He says and it is, no matter what. One set of rules, one law, one savior. There are no excuses. The Bible says that God is the same, “yesterday, today and forever”, meaning He never changes. He doesn’t need to. There is no improving, no recalibration, no shifting. God is perfect and exactly what we need.

We (man and woman) make every effort to improve and come to an ever distant place of “arrival”. Status, privilege, money, power etc., like trying to fight through a wet napkin only to find out you are still exactly the same only now, a little damp. We chase a nirvana of sorts or a utopia where everyone is treated as the “law of good morals” would have them treated, yet call the ones who adhere to the pages of the Bible “dogmatic” or “antiquated” or “fundamental”. All these words have such a negative connotation in today’s society. Yet God calls us all to one standard, Himself, the standard of holiness and He isn’t changing. Never has.

So in order to be a follower of Christ and child of God we must follow the age old Father and play by His antiquated rules, be counter-cultural and struggle with traveling down the status ladder to find, that loss of everything the world says to aim for, just so happens to be the very secret to life’s joy… Dying to self.

Recently, today actually I received a message from one of my dear friends via Twitter (@sjheron) asking me what I thought about an article written about film making, especially film makers who are Christian. (Note: I am not calling them “Christian filmmakers”). You can find a link to the article I was forwarded here.

I do think the article was well written and fairly well thought out and I am in no way rebutting it or trying to measure my Christian values and/or my film making prowess by writing a response on a website that is clearly “Christian” in content; that I think, would be foolish. I am attempting to bring to light my thoughts on why so many “Christian” arts are so poorly done. With that said, I think the article is good, but the message a bit muddied by the delineation of basically what makes films good and by extension, what makes art good.

So I will start with a question. How many of you have ever been to an art gallery or seen some sort of media on television where you see a trendy “man” wearing tight jeans with some sort of facial hair, speaking to his ever so poignant hipster friend discussing art and what the meaning of it is, when they are looking at pile of forks laying in play dough? If you are laughing, you know what I am speaking of. I am assuming most of you think the same thing I do when you see something like that, “I could probably have done that with my feet, blindfolded and half asleep.” (you artsy types, keep reading) Even more so, to have the artist of such piece enter the scene only to describe it with some extravagant explanation of the deep issues of modern culture etc. etc. etc. blah blah blah, yak yak barf. Most of us normal people look at that scene and chuckle out loud (or under your breath if you happen to be in close proximity to such aforementioned people) because you know that something is missing. The reason we do that is because art as a whole has lost something. We have lost something and everyone who makes good art, is “preaching”.

Since the wholesale embrace of post-modern thinking has infiltrated our culture and crept into our churches, we no longer create works of art that reflect a Creator, but create works of art that reflect ourselves. The good the bad, the misunderstood and the longing to return to an understanding of the truth are all embodied in our new-age “art”. Most of the time the people who are heralded with such ridiculous pieces of art are normally very talented, but it was their departure from the normal that made them standout (being the first also helps). The problem, is the people who come after the initial departure who have totally forgotten what they have departed from. Because now, you no longer reflect the truth or the problems with the culture surrounding the truth, but begin to emulate the ignorance that is left in the void of the departure. It would be similar to you picking up a fountain pen and writing your name in all caps and calling it calligraphy. You have been removed from the source of the art. It will be my son laughing when he hears that phones used to have cords. Attempting to describe the state of man only by the inner workings of man is impossible. Its like a book penning its own pages. There is no standard, no mooring of the soul. This is the state we are in in the USA. I hope I am making sense. To put it another way, it is one thing to sculpt the David, then to paint like Picasso, it another thing completely to make a make an obvious mess and assign an meaning to it in post. For it is the meaning in the first place that is important, however it may look (for that is an issue of taste). If born without meaning it is utterly garbage; if born out of a truth, it is “art” (at least on some level). There are starving artists, because there are crappy artists. There are therefore 2 reasons for bad art, like bad movies, either poor meaning (or absence of) or poor execution. The first can be worked out, the second is either because of a mistake or lack of talent (for which there is no recourse). It is this “meaning” that is the “preaching” and everyone is preaching something.

Note: God has made really talented artists and some people should be artists, and may very well starve, but if you’re good, at some point, people will like it, and they like it because it has meaning. It is my opinion that most “artists” (those seeking to be professional artists) should go be something else; and most do.

With those two points made (meaning makes art and we have lost meaning), I digress. We are talking about a movie here. Nothing more than an elaborate piece of art, where the meaning (aka story) is given to you artfully by a crew of people, namely the director. Thats all a movie is, a story, a preaching. I am not attempting to respond to the criticism of the movie, but the exposition of “Christian film making” as a whole.

I haven’t seen the movie the article speaks about, frankly, I don’t like “Christian” movies, because they are poorly done. Its like the 1990′s “Christian” music. Terrible. Carman, seriously. Usually “Christian” movies fall into one of two categories as the reason for their failure.

1. The movie is really poorly done. Characters aren’t developed, we don’t fall in love with any of the characters, terrible dialogue that keeps us from being able to emotionally relate to the characters etc. (this is the argument Leithart was referring to, to which I fully agree), but… The story has a meaning, was written with an intended meaning and a meaning that reflects truth and one I can usually relate to and in most cases agree with it. The problem is the execution.
2. The story line is weird and lacks meaning, or the meaning of the movie is so lost in the art of film making, you are allowed the ability to ascribe to it any meaning you can grasp. This I see as the more dangerous of the two, because as a Christian you will be held accountable for the truth and woe to the teacher who proclaims falsely. We are talking about being faithful to the message of Christ, not to the story or ourselves. If Terrence Malik is a Christian and was attempting to bring light to a biblical truth, he failed because although it may be heralded as a “masterpiece” in terms of film making he leaves the door too wide open to what his message (preaching) really is. I would never want to make a film that would have non-believers left with a clouded truth, because, let’s face it every one is “spiritual” now-a-days and practically atheist at the same time. I would rather err on the side of “Facing the Giants” (as terrible as it was) than on making The Matrix and allowing people to see it incorrectly. Of course this argument ends in pneumatology and election, which is not for this post. Most “Christian” movies are not in this category, because you don’t recognize them as having a Christ centered message, which brings me to my next point.

Movies, just songs and buildings for that matter, are NOT “Christian”, people are, and that is only by the presence of the Holy Spirit, via Christ. I have been tirelessly placing “Christian” in quotes to because I do not believe movies or any other form of media or anything physical for that matter can be “Christian”. “Christian” movies are “Christian” because (as mentioned previously) they have a message that has to do with the things Christ spoke about a.k.a., TRUTH. I know, what an earth shaking statement. Think about it, what makes art, good art is the presence of a meaning through a talented representation. So it is quite possible, the lump of play dough and pile of forks could be meaningful, although highly doubtful as you would have to play metaphorical gymnastics to understand it. On the other hand, arguably the greatest works of art ever made have their origins in Biblical truth, you easily understand them and were masterfully executed, this is why they are in museums and we make movies about stealing them. These works are so easily understood that when combined with a such an amazing level of craftsmanship we are moved. This is the point of making films centered on Christ. To bring Biblical truth through the most popular art form today to the world. The problem is, we like Carman do it poorly. Praise God for the likes of Lecrae and those like him.

There are lots of terrible “atheist” movies out there which preach their message of disbelief (as Leithart said). Even more “agnostic” ones, many of which are good movies, some with sadistic undertones. The problem is, we have been so hood winked by the culture at large we fail to perceive the meaning of some of the most popular movies of all time. Grease (1978) is one of the most atheistic movies around. Sandra D. is a good girl who won’t give into the pressures of a bad boy. In the end she is heralded for “turning to the dark side” and is viewed as having “arrived”. What’s the meaning there? It doesn’t matter, its a good movie so we listen. Don’t be deceived, every movie or piece of media has a message being preached. 50 cent, Celine Dion, Cher, The Beatles, Nirvana, Toby Keith, Lecrae, movies even more so. Are we able to decipher the messages or do we lack the Biblical understanding to even see the attack on truth? Whether intended by the artist or not our adversary is mighty. Where’s your sword? Paul said it best in 2 Timothy 2 when he refers to unbelievers as “captive[s] to do his will (the devil)” and they are out of their minds and may God grant them repentance to “come to their senses”. What else can the dead do but act dead? Meaning is paramount, especially in film since it’s strongest ability is to take your emotions where the director wants to take them. Watch who you allow to preach at you and be prepared to give a defense of the hope that is in you.

The fact of the matter is. No matter how poorly done a “Christian” movie may be, there is a place for it as it attempts to stand in the gap between a dimly lit truth and a culture bent on self gratification. What we need is talented well trained, God fearing, men and women to present the gospel in a manner that is well pleasing, because it is! Film is the most captivating art form world wide and therefore the most powerful. Make sure your voice is clearly heard, truthful, bold and seasoned with salt. Then execute it well.

WORK AT YOUR CRAFT.

The 3 Stooges are applicable, because if you’re not a believer, you probably think I am one. If you are a Christian, get ready to be viewed as one as well. It’s “foolishness” and “wisdom” at the same time.

NAB has been educational and fun to see the extravagance but a week here feels like a year and I’m ready to go home. So I’ll end with a picture of one of my favorite cars.

Again, I have no use for this and I doubt I will ever use one but it’s very clever. So 3D works on the same principal as your eyes do. The distance between your eyes allows for you to perceive space accurately since they are viewing the same item from a slightly different location. The same is true of 3D camera systems and movies. You have to wear the glasses to view a 3D movie because you have to tell which eye to see what. One side of the glasses is polarized vertically and the other horizontally, matching the image projected, left eye then right eye 24 times a second. This is why you can take two pairs of 3D glasses and hold one upside down and when you look through them you can’t see anything.

Since you need to film with each camera just slightly offset this poses a problem for larger cameras. Problem solved with the use of mirrors. You can see there are actually 2 cameras in this picture one vertical and the other horizontal. The vertical camera is filming what is being reflected off a mirror the other is looking through the back of the one-way mirror similar to a teleprompter. Cool

I heard there was something out there like this and didn’t quite believe it. It basically gives the user to put a $35,000 lens on a $700 camera. Silly, but it’s intended as a director’s view finder.

This system is really cool although I have no need for it or will ever use one, but it instantly integrates a 3D computer generated scene with the live action talent.

You can see the finished scene in the top left corner and the actress in front of the screen on the bottom right. The camera is equipped with a system that senses where the lens is in set space and sends it to the off camera “mixing” software. Those antennae you see in top of the camera is the system.

The really cool thing is the system blurs the backgrounds automatically when zoomed in and allows the talent to interact with objects they control via an iPad. Who knows whats real anymore.

I have no idea who makes these or what application you would need this much reflector for (big scene) but it’s awesome! You can tell how big they are by the person in the background.