Wonderful Matters

I recently came across this piece about renowned pastor Tim Keller announcing that we really shouldn't be so mean. Jesus wasn't mean, so we shouldn't either. The piece does a terrific job of calling out Keller for his misunderstanding of Scripture and Who Jesus Is. The rampaging leftist hegemony is all about ruthless enforcement of its "anti-mean" mandates. No meanness in that at all. Coca-Cola was shredded a new aye-hole itself for insisting people be "less white," which to them means "less arrogant" (you mean unlike the arrogance of your assumptions about others' own personal sentiments about race?), "less certain" (you mean unlike the certainty that what you're telling us right now is true and not totally bat-shit crazy?) and "less defensive" (you mean unlike your ferocious defense of these racialist principles you are shoving in our faces now?) Indeed Tim Keller is faced with the exact same logical predicament. ...

There are two motion pictures that have half-hour long conclusions that I have seen dozens of times. I don't watch or even remember much of the regular bulk of those films because they are far too crushingly depressing, but that is some of why those particular segments are so transcendently transformative. The films are The Shawshank Redemption  and The Book of Eli . Not going to get into Shawshank  right now, and if you know the film and know the substance of that last half-hour or so, you know. You may be like me with tears flowing from my soul as Red settles into his seat for that bus ride to the border. Same thing with The Book of Eli . When that brand new makeshift printing press on Alcatraz Island is printing up those pages, my soul just streams those tears. But again, it isn't just the divinely powerful redemptive quality of the story, it is the contrast to the pure evil. In and around the completion of Eli's mission there at the end, we see Carnegie consummating his...

The very first Rick and Morty episode I saw was one that I'd seen had received some notoriety as one of the best of all the episodes so far. It was called "Total Rickall," and its acclaim is indeed well-deserved. Rick comes into the dining room and is met at the table by his family who are sharing fond memories with Uncle Steve. After a moment Rick takes out a blaster weapon of some kind and blows away Uncle Steve. Everyone is horrified. Turns out "Uncle Steve" is really just an alien capable of not only making itself look like someone familiar but implanting memories in your brain about that someone in order for you to believe you've been delightfully acquainted with them for quite some time. Through the episode we see many of these creatures appear in the home of Rick's family and carry on as devoted family members and friends, but because of the implanted memories it is hopelessly impossible to distinguish who is who. It is an outstanding premise and...