What a hoot!  If you can handle the language (make sure the kids are in bed with ear plugs) this is a great movie.  Steve Carel plays a depressed gay scholar that gets stuck on a road trip with his sister's family because he was released into her care from the mental hospital after a failed suicide attempt.  However, every character in the family has a leading role in their tale of a frustration and angst that ends with a jolly kick in the butt to all the meaninglessness of this world. 

I couldn't quite figure out what the philosophical background of the writers is, but I am pretty sure it was anti-Nietzche, which gets them an A+ in my book.  The eldest child of the family (17ish) is a boy who wants nothing more than to fly jets in the airforce and reads nothing but Nietzche.  However, against all the Nietzchian principles he breaks down and cries and lays down his will when he finds his dreams crushed.  In fact, the whole family seems to find their dreams crumbling around them, and not to mention a dead grandpa in their trunk.  Yet they rise up from the ashes of their shared misery to join in support of the youngest and most innocent of the family, Ollie, with a rockin dance routine set to Superfreak.

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Out of all the meaningless television programming that is piped into our homes (though not by force) Extreme Makeover Home Edition has always been one show that has been different from the plethora of self-centered, and celebrity-centered content that is out there. It is refreshing to see an hour of prime time television devoted to a story of charity and, in a sense, redemption. Though I am not convinced that the brains behind the show are doing it out of total charity, since for instance Sears gets tons of ad time in the show. Nonetheless, it is a unique show that challenges us.

In many episodes the people who are being helped are Christians and their faith is highlighted as the center of their lives. And being a very tolerant bunch of folks, Ty and the rest of the gang become ‘Christians’ for an hour on Sunday night. Yet I suspected that this focus on religion would not remain only in the shows with Christian beneficiaries. During tonight’s episode I found my suspicions to be warranted. This episode focused on helping a Hindu family. The father of which was actually a Hindu priest. While I whole heartedly support any charity to anyone without regard to creed, race, or nationality, the analytical side of me wants to scream when I see a group of people who last season sang a heart felt Amazing Grace now worship “Mother Earth” with in a Hindu ritual.

I know I can’t expect religious consistency from such a popular TV show, but come on… can the hosts please refrain from upholding people of mutually exclusive proclamations as both being virtuous and true and right?! Oh well… maybe next time they can rebuild the Branch Davidian Complex in Waco… an excellent candidate for the show if there ever was one.

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Regarding the crisis that America is in involving the popular ideas of Truth, Os Guinness said:

Washington couldn’t tell a lie. Nixon couldn’t tell the truth. [Clinton] couldn’t tell the difference.

Posted In: philosophy life

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Kathryn Lindskoog has been described by C.S. Lewis himself as a person who knows his ideas and works thoroughly. And she demonstrates the validity of that statement in her book Mere Christian. Beginning with a fairly detailed history of Lewis’ life, Lindskoog sketches the life that made this man. She peppers the brief biographical section with quotes and ideas from Lewis’ writings. However, when the biography nears its end the role reverses and his philosophy, theology, and imagination are highlighted with relevant facts about his life.

Many of Lewis’ ideas are summarized in this book. It is somewhat like outer edge of a piece of cake where all the icing is. You wish you could eat all the way around it, but for the full effect you need the whole thing.

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I am reposting this article to make sure my technorati tags are working. Enjoy:

I was blessed to be able to study cults this last semester under Dr. Tsoukalas founder of Sound Doctrine Ministries For my final paper I challenged the Mormon view of God. Essentially it is within itself contradictory and as a whole it is inferior to the classical understanding of God. The problem lies with the LDS attempt to hold to God as omnipotent and omniscient, and at the same time believe that God had a beginning just as you and I. The famous saying goes like this:
As we are God once was, and as God now is we can be.

A link to my paper in .pdf format is Here. It borrows from Craig’s argument against a beginingless universe as well as an article from Beckwith and Parrish. Craig uses a strain of an ancient argument rooted in Islamic mathematicians called Kalim that argues against actual infinities. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Blessings,
jeremy

Technorati: MormonismApologeticsConcept+of+GodWilliam+Lane+CraigKalimEternal+GodChristianityLDSLatter+Day+Saints

Posted In: philosophy theology

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