i'm looking
for a show i heard on NPR's This American Life show about man who lost sense of desire for anything (not just that) with loss of testosterone and it made me ponder the connection of body and spirit. if anyone knows where to get the audio i'd be grateful. it looks like the official site is down.

the only way to be human?
it's not often that i think poorly of people but Hellboy, the movie i saw tonight, certainly made me question the general intelligence level and thought of the average screenwriter and producer in Hollywood. now hear me out. i know Hellboy is not some art house film or some classic story. it is an attempt at entertainment that communicates something of value and provides some mirth. (i'm trying not to use such a holy word as joy. if you have an idea let me know.)

short story of the move: evil Nazis (gasp) almost free evil demons to destroy the word but fail, only releasing a weaker demon before he's fully become evil. the good guys (WWII Joes huzzah) take care of the demon and he begins a path towards acceptance. the giant horns, red flesh and stone hand obviously don't help much so he's conflicted. his on and off love interest adds some touch of real inner struggle. he does eventually save the day though nearly going bad in attempt to save his love interest from hell.

in general, there were some good things. evil is ugly and ends in destruction like real life. even the worst is able to be redeemed. love is shown to be a key part to a true and good life. there is hope of good without taking bad shortcuts.

what killed it all for me was the end of the movie. once again we are told that what makes us human is this effort against evil and for a generic good. be generally moral, try harder, fight against evil through willpower and use of charms of good is the set of council we gather. there is no defined good. there is no higher power that obviously provides aid. God is reduced to a few token rosary beads and a cross. even the resurection of the dead woman is glossed over. we hear a little music and then she's breathing. in the following words we're told that Satan let her go because Hellboy was so tenacious that he would have gone to hell for her and caused Satan problems.

perhaps this is man's reaction to a world shaped by evolution. we must try harder and progress or revert to a primal evil, represented by the devil. good is not personified. it is within us.

understand i'm not really surprised at the summation. personally i see this "work harder" idea in all religious thinking. think harder, serve harder, pray harder and it will all be ok. secular thinking is simply the stripping away of the facade that so many belief systems put up. no wonder people see religion as bankrupt. and let's be honest. much of the "Christian" world thinks like this so they're mocked by others. why not? they've poluted God's grace and many lead nice people to an awful end.

i guess i just don't get why do people have to be so silly as to repeatedly make that power in our humanness the moral of the story. they could talk about aspects of humanness, develop themes of struggle with greater depth and variety than this moral but that's all they can come up with again and again. you wouldn't even have to have a right view of God in the movies to make them better on a thinking level. just talk about other parts of life and recognize that not everyone agrees with your utopian views.

i'll wrap up with this. i've been reading Isaac Asimov's books lately. if you're not familiar think classic science fiction. i would say, in my uneducated mind, the Shakespeare of scifi. in his books, the world has changed. earth is a backwater planet of people who hold onto a human experience that grow less and less so. robots are becoming more intelligent and man is starting to question what value he has in light of this perfect group of beings he created. here is a messy discussion of what it means to be human. i saw in the previews that Will Smith (Men in Black, Independance Day... countless formula comedies and a few action movies) will star in one of Asimov's stories put on film.

think about this. thinking man's scifi and man most known for comedic roles. things do not look good for chicagokid.

where is the joy?
i've been thinking a great deal about hope and joy lately. some things i've posted here but other will come in time. till then a few thoughts

CT - "good things are happening"
could it be that things aren't as bad as we often believe? Philip Yancey thinks so. see his editorial in Christianity Today at this link.

God - "trust me"
we have a lot of verses the tell us to rejoice in God and i'm pretty sure God's not just talking about when you're at a David Crowder concert. take a look at Psalm 33 when you next get a chance. it like so many other psalms kicks me when i need a refreshed perspective on life. (no link here. i've noticed lately that it's helpful to read Scripture offline as time is needed for reflection. i'm sure you know how to find it online if you want to.)

take a break
today was a very busy day. as i sit amongs the wreckage here at my desk i realized that i'm tired, confused about the future, unsure about a potential relationship and generally frazzled. so tonight i'm headed to the beach to watch the sunset. no big plans. no one going along. me, the New Testament and God.

don't know about you but i think i need breaks like this more often.

new e-maill acount
if you get a chance and wouldn't mind helping a guy out drop me an e-mail at parke4 [at] gmail.com

i was able to pick up a beta account because of my acount with blogger. looks good so far. excellent storage capacity, connection to google's great search capabilities.

the epic saga continues...
many of you who have stopped by throughout the past few months or talked to me on Relevant know i've been thinking i might have to move. while this would put me close to Chris and his family, a definite plus, it would mean i was farther from many other friends and my church. either way the goal was to honor God through my service so God has helped me stay more or less flexible.

the latest word is that i have final say in where i serve at for now. that means after two more conversations i could conceivably decide to move or stay here indefinitely. talk about crazy.

i have learned a good deal lately about God and sacrifice that i might try to get up here soon. we'll see how it goes. when the weather is warm out here it's hard to stay inside.

i praise God
when i see all that He created
when i see all those around me He connected me with
when i see how weak i am

my friend Ken
who's link to the right is incorrect posted a very compelling quote by Immanuel Kant. to borrow some of his intellectual capital I suggest you look it. (i'll change it to http://melancholics.typepad.com/ soon. till then, you have the link.)

Easter unbiblical?
Ambra (link at right) recently hosted a post about Easter's pagan foundations (actually two) that i thought merited some comment. If you feel inclined to read this I'd recommend checking out the two posts (1) (2)

my basic summary? Easter is based on pagan traditions. it still contains some markers of that time like Easter eggs in fact. early Christians never celebrated this holiday (from "holy day") but instead celebrated the Passover. we should do the like in our effort to stick closely to the Scripture and early church tradition.

my problem with the base argument is simple. at what point do we freeze time? what era of the early church should we follow as our model. the above argument is based on the idea that the Apostles and their well-known, immediate followers (Polycarp) were most closely in touch with God and should be our model.

then a question arises in my mind. what Jewish traditions do we need to keep? obviously circumcision was deemed as unnecessary for Gentiles. is that the only one?

i understand when i celebrate Good Friday and Easter that they have some shared dates with ancient pagan festivals. i understand that at some point the history of these traditions is based on the church's attempt to cover over pagan rites. what happens though if my church's celebration isn't a reflection of that? we celebrated the death of Christ and his resurrection from the dead, both of which define our salvation and our relationship with God. if anything it seems more logical to increase our celebration of these things than to reduce them. perhaps churches need to ruthlessly evaluate their traditions but let's not toss out the newborn.

no surprises here
in a recent article by FOXNews Relevant and XXXchurch came up as topics of discussion.

the tech spokesman thought it was a natural idea:
"If you want to reach them, you’ve got to speak their language,” said Paul Boutin, contributing editor at Wired magazine. “It makes perfect sense to take the ministry in that direction. I really think that if Jesus were around today, he would have a blog.”

the Christian Coalition spokeswoman wasn't too keen on Relevant's cover with Bono but was clueless about Relevant:
“I don’t agree with what Bono did — the language is terrible,” said the CC’s Michele Ammons. “We should not promote him. I don’t agree with putting Bono on the cover.”

though our pragmatic nature nowdays did shine through later in her further comments:
“If that’s appealing to the young people and changing their lives and making them more spiritual, then it’s good,” she said. “Anytime you can make someone closer to God, that’s a good thing.”

and last but not least it was clear once again that Jeus junk is nearly always a bit of baggage that good efforts must carry:
There has, in fact, been a whole wave of Christianity-themed pop culture — from Mel Gibson’s (search) film “The Passion of the Christ” to pop music with Christian themes done by bands like Creed and POD (Gibson and POD have both been Relevant Magazine cover stories).

"I see nothing, I hear nothing, and I know NOTHING!"
Can't say too much right now but the short story is that I know less about my future than before. If there is an option that involves me, writing, the group i serve with and either Dallas or Southern California then it's probably on the table again.

earlier to Ken
(15:36:47) parke: so while i'm typing here
(15:37:08) parke: i'm mentally on my knees chuckling at how little I know about my future and trying to trust God

revolution is possible (from a little while back)
call it a result of my pre-mil background, a by-product of my pessimistic nature or just a cultural mindset but for most of my life i've doubted that large-scale cultural change was possible. certainly God called us to work in the lives of people and individuals but the revival movementseemed near hopeless pursuits. the world was going downhill and the end of things was coming. life was bleak but still joy-filled in Christ.

lately though i've been questioning that premise. at the missions conference i spoke at another missionary reminded us of the past revivals. in a book i've been reading, "Red Moon Rising," the conditions before the Second Great Awakening were pointed out. i imagine people of that era believed some form of "the world was going downhill and the end of things was coming. life was bleak but still joy-filled in Christ."

so where do i go from here? well i watch and pray. i serve and love. many things remain the same. even some of todays revival movements are still to be viewed with caution, possibly man's desire to manufacture change through music or speaking. what is different is my perspective. this opens the doors to new horizons of God at work. God is more powerful. the future is brighter. certainly God may come at any time but Christians have expected his soon return ever since the early church so in the meantime i renew my push to honor Him and recognize there could well be massive revivals before then.