This is a very interesting video of Jon Stewart interviewing Marilynne Robinson.  She explores the tension between science and religion and suggests that scientists are not being honest about their own science.  For the sake of good atheism they need to admit their limitations.

Stewart is a great interviewer here asking who is more afraid.  He suggests, “the more you delve into science the more it relies on faith.”

This is a very powerful video on people’s experiences of being judged, specifically within the church space.  I have felt some of these statements myself and have seen them in other people’s lives.  Not trying to be funny but I really loved the story of the guy who stole the Jesus statue for his grandmother.  Its sad that a little boy did something for such good reasons but it became one of the defining negative events of his lives.

Judgment is so destructive.  When we exclude someone from love, when we see someone as outside of the possibility of being loved, it ruins people.  I would suggest the people who are doing the judging are the one’s suffering more because they are likely unaware of what they are doing.  But in the end I think everyone falls into that category to an extent.

Love wins out in the end.

[Note: The above video contains graphic violence.]

Sometimes I wonder if our fear of hell in the afterlife is keeping us from seeing the reality of hell in this life.

Some of you may know that I spent some time working in Hollywood.  I wanted to be a screenwriter after growing up watching movies.  I was captivated by the storytelling process in a visual medium.  Two of my favorite directors were Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorcese. To this day A Clockwork Orange remains one of the most haunting movies I have ever seen. If Kubrick and Scorcese have done anything it is display the brutal reality of the human situation.  We like to kill each other, sometimes in horrific ways.  We don’t like the idea that we are capable of such madness, yet we watch it.

Well some guy decided to mash these two directors together using 34 of their films to produce three short segments.  What is brilliant about it is that it in a very simple way captures the madness that both directors seemed to present but in a very simple narrative.  By isolating the emotion, it magnifies the emotion.  The first section explores violence.  The second section explores madness.  And the third section explores the anger of loss.  In all three sections  I couldn’t help but see the reality of hell.

The second section is particularly interesting to me because it seems to explore the reality of our own brokenness.  I think the central question in the entire human story is, “Are we good or evil?”  And at certain times in our lives we are struck with consequences that actually suggest we are evil.  The expression on the characters faces provides an amazing glimpse into that moment.  This is the moment when we’re contemplating the need and want for redemption yet it seems beyond our grasp.  That is hell to me.  It’s that moment when we see ourselves as beyond the love of God, with no hope.  If we extend that thought to eternity, we are trapped.

What do you think of the video?  And if you’re so inclined, what do you think of hell?

So a construction friend asked, “Wouldn’t it stimulate the economy better by sending our mission trip $$ and have locals build houses?” The idea being that mission groups commonly go to orphanages, and villages to build stuff.  The average trip includes airfare, and hotels for a group of people.  The heavy expense is not actually in the building project but in the cost to get there.  My friend was suggesting that if churches adopt these projects remotely, they could stimulate the local people’s job by giving them work, which would go a long way towards solving the problem. I attached the video as an alternative dialog (ht) by seeing mission trips as relationships.

Interested in your thoughts.

Amnesty International from Digital District™ VFX Post-Pro on Vimeo.

This was exceptionally creative. How do you feel about the death penalty?

For fans of LOST.  There are so many questions left unanswered.

I love Victor Frankl.  If you have read Man’s Search For Meaning you’re missing one of the more important books in the human story.

This short 4:00 video shot in 1972 suggests a compelling idea.  We don’t change much do we.  We’re still searching for meaning. Meaning appears to inform our humanity about who we are.  It gives us reason for being in the absence of an intrinsic mobilizing story.  And as Frankl suggests in his book, when we know what the meaning is, we can endure any form of suffering inflicted upon us.  But if we don’t, we crumble under the weight of nothingness.

What do you think of the video and what he’s saying?

I love satire, especially when its self-deprecating.  Some of the points this video makes are so hilariously rich.  And its also important to know that it was produced by one of the largest megachurches in America, Northpoint. Well done. (ht)

This is a remarkably insightful short video on politics.  It suggests people are more likely to vote for what they already know even if it sucks because its a known quantity.  But it also takes a dig at politics in general.  My favorite line is: “Just remember the most important thing we stand for is reelection.”

I love Greg Boy and Tony Campolo.  Some classic lines in this one.