Interesting, Interesting

Elizabethtown

It was amazing. I think I watched it before, because it was all so familiar, but I don’t remember it being AMAZING! lol. And it WAS! It was one of those movies that gave you a warm and fuzzy feeling without being cheesy or silly or anything like that. My favorite kind. Elizabethtown was up there with Stranger Than Fiction and Finding Neverland. Apparently, Kirsten Dunst doesn’t do Holocaust movies, but does do the “thinker movie.” You know, the movies that make you think and feel without twisting your brain or wreaking havoc on your emotions? That’s cool with me = )

In-N-Out

Sometimes life requires things. Right now, my life is requiring a cheeseburger, fries and lemonade from In-N-Out. Seriously, dudes.

Quote of the Day

“I used to have goals. They were evil goals, but they were goals…”

-The Evil Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz (aka Dr. Doofus) from Disney’s Phineas and Ferb

On Divorce, “Broken Homes,” and Kidnappings

People act as though parents who act strange about custody of their children is just the most puzzling thing. They act as though children acting out over such situations is just downright uncalled for. They act like parents, children and and everyone else involved are just supposed to just hand over their rights to their loved ones to a judge and jury as though it were the most natural thing in the world. People act like fathers,mothers and children who violate the mandates of such judges are just obviously unfit to be viewed in a positive light.

But frankly, I’m more frightened that people don’t see anything wrong with this. It is completely unnatural for parents and children to live apart. For days, weeks, months, years. I’m more likely to think a child needs counseling if he or she doesn’t freak out. And frankly, any man who pathetically sits by and lets his family be destroyed in such a manner is not a man in my book. And any woman who encourages such a travesty, well, frankly, she ought not be called a woman. Obviously the divorce is unnatural, and unhealthy. But the living situations that result… even worse! I don’t see how one might justify such a thing, much less defend it, or be confused when it doesn’t work. 

I don’t know. Maybe I’m nuts, but I hardly consider it possible for a non-abusive, well-meaning, capable, upstanding citizen, and respected parent to kidnap their child. How ridiculous. Are parents to be commended for abandoning their children now?

Finally!

I decided on the perfect “bedroom look. Yes, it’s from Walmart. No, I don’t care. It took me WAY too long to find it. 

Just for the record…

I feel like screaming.

20 Simple Rules for a Better Marriage

1. Make Your Spouse a Priority
2. Accept Differences
3. Listen Carefully
4. Compliment Daily
5. Work Together as a Team
6. Mind Your Manners
7. Watch Less TV
8. Find Time For Fun
9. Do the Little Things
10. Celebrate the Top 5 (Christmas, Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Mother/Fathers Day, Wedding Anniversary)
11. Think Positive
12. Fight Fair
13. Forgive
14. Welcome Each Other Home
15. Go to Bed At The Same Time
16. Develop Mutual Friends
17. Take a Date 
18. Make Love
19. Pray For Each Other
20. Treasure Your Spouse

-stolen from 20 Surprisingly Simple Rules and Tools for a Great Marriage by Steve Stephens

Now a stolen Plugged In article… heeheehee

Confusing Tolerance and Love

Respecting others and embracing the multiplicity of humankind is, at its roots, a virtue. It engenders racial harmony. It enables men and women to appreciate one another’s uniqueness. It even allows punk rockers and country music aficionados, Scream devotees and 102 Dalmatians fans to peacefully coexist. But that virtue can become a liability for teens unable to distinguish between diversityand perversity.

When Plugged In suggested to teens that a concert featuring an openly gay band spewing pro-homosexual lyrics isn’t exactly appropriate for Christian teens, we figured it wouldn’t generate much controversy. We were wrong.

Amid a flurry of PC buzzwords, reader Becky scolded, “There is nothing wrong with opening with a gay band. It’s great that they are open about their sexual preference. Being gay does not make them different in a bad way, or bad people. Maybe we need more gay bands to be open so then there won’t be as much homophobia. I think we need to keep an open mind and respect others’ preferences and style and even learn a little from them.”

A girl named Vickey stated, “I am really upset about your comment on homosexuality. You make it sound like it’s a horrible thing. I thought that if you believed in Christ, you were supposed to love your neighbor and not judge people.” Yet another parroted, “I think you should remember the verse about not judging others.”

Students of scripture realize that the same Jesus who said “Do not judge or you too will be judged” (Matt. 7:1) also commanded, “Stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgment” (John 7:24). In order to make a “right judgment,” believers mustjudge. The reason this can seem confusing is that there are two meanings of judge. One means to condemn, the other means to evaluate.

While we are forbidden to condemn (that’s God’s job alone), we are required to evaluate. Without “judging” in this context, we’d be unable to discern the difference between the atrocities committed by Adolph Hitler and the humanitarian efforts conducted by Mother Teresa. Or Jesus’ sacrificial death and Judas’ suicidal hanging. But somehow, teens have gotten the idea that loving someone means never evaluating or criticizing their actions.

Speaking the truth in love—now that’s real love. It’s how Christ dealt with the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). He forgave her and told her to leave her life of sin. He didn’t say, “I’m okay. You’re okay. It’s just an alternate lifestyle.” But many teens ignore God’s desire for us to lovingly confront sin. They instead pride themselves on being “open-minded,” “tolerant” and “respectful” of immorality. This raises the question, “How long will it take some youngsters to go from respecting sin to experimenting with it?”

“Tolerance” and “love” are two very different things—a truth young people must grasp. We’re called to love all men in the name of Jesus, not ignore their debauchery in the name of diversity. Sin is a big deal to God. So much so that He allowed Jesus to die on a cruel Roman cross to rescue us from its grip. Glossing over evil—whether our own behavior or something the entertainment media has produced—is to say in essence, “What you did is really of little value to me. God, my view of sin is different from yours, and frankly I’m not that disturbed by it.” Though it is of utmost importance that young people learn to reach out in love toeveryone, it is equally vital that they not take this apathetic, tolerant approach to sin.

Movie Nights; for better or for worse

So, last night, Bruce made me watch Philadelphia, which, according to him, is a great movie. For anyone not aware, it’s about a gay lawyer who contracts AIDs. The partners at his law firm have no idea about his sexuality, nor his illness until they see a lesion on his forehead and identify it as AIDs-related. Subsequently, they frame him as “incompetent” and fire him as such. But he decides to fight. He hires a homophobic lawyer to take his case and what ensues is a heated court battle over disability rights with obvious undertones of gay issues. 

Frankly, I have a problem watching movies that don’t emphasize the positive. Emphasize what is good. I don’t want to focus on less than hopeful things, nor do I want to fill my mind with things that don’t keep me focused on God. That’s a small stand, I know, but frankly, I have a hard enough time keeping myself thinking about whether or not my actions are Godly without movies with no content.

That being said, I believe in pluggedinmag.com. Just about any movie I ever see, I let Focus on the Family filter it for me. Let me tell you why. Plugged In Magazine is not a Christian review site that merely states it’s opinion on entertainment, bashing what it doesn’t like, and praising all things CCM. As a matter of fact, it’s about as unbiased as possible. I know people of all sorts of faiths (and lack thereof) who hang onto Plugged In’s every word. The Bible says to guard your mind and Pluggedin is committed to equipping you to be able to do so. Basically, they send someone to go see every movie that comes out, at least by the day it comes out. That person breaks the movie into a Summary,  Positive Elements, Spiritual Content, Sexual Content, Violent Content, Drug and Alcohol Content, Other Negative Elements, and a Conclusion. The only time they give their opinion is in the conclusion, which, I’m aware, many people skip. But, basically, this enables viewers to know what they’re putting into their system before they do. Now, I have to admit; this has ruined a couple of movies for me. Secular reviews say “Best Movie Ever!” And then Plugged In says, “Maybe, artistically and technically, it is, but you’re going to have decide if it’s worth the moral cesspool they dump into your system. 

Sometimes, I blow Plugged In off and watch the movie anyway; I’m usually sorry. As a matter of fact, my first date with Bruce is a huge running joke between us, and living proof that if Plugged In says don’t do it, you probably oughta run in the opposite direction. These people are not 60-year-old Southern Baptist Ministers who think pop music is of the devil. These are culturally aware, 30-and-40-somethings who know that their body, mind and soul are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and that we’d better not thoughtlessly pour garbage into said places of residence.

Sadly, though (and here’s the downer) Bruce doesn’t get it. He’s annoyed that I was torn between loving and hating his movie last night, and he’s more than irritated that I shoot down a LOT of movies that he wants me to watch. Not because I don’t want to hang out with him or  enjoy the things he enjoys, but because I think that a lot of the content does little to nothing for my relationship with God. Or worse; does it damage. Bruce thinks its personal when I say “thats not a good movie.” He get’s all riled up with, “This movie won ______ award and so-and-so is in it, and…”  But that’s not what matters to me. Brokeback Mountain might be critically acclaimed, but frankly, the movie does NOTHING for my spiritual life, it is NOT encouraging to me as a person, and is completely irrelevant to who God’s called me to be. Therefor, it is my prerogative to find better entertainment. And MUCH better entertainment is out there. 

Hopefully God with help me find away to be even more attentive to what he would have me to watch (and not watch ) AND help me not offend Bruce. Grrrr. Frustrating.