Category Archives: Current Events

Where does liberalism lead? Look at Norway and you will see them letting mass murderers out in a few years!!!

July 24, 2011 – 10:16 am

In Norway we read of Breivik and what he did at age 32 by killing those people in Norway and now we find out that this socialist country in Europe knows better than us and is letting mass murderers out in just a few years. 

Take a look at this story below: 

Norway | Anders Behring Breivik | 21 Years in Prison 

The alleged mass murderer who killed nearly 100 people in Norway on Friday may be facing just 21 years in prison if convicted. Norway does not have the death penalty.

Oslo police chief of staff Roger Andresen told the San Francisco Chronicle that the maximum prison term suspected killer Anders Behring Breivik could face is 21 years under Norwegian law.

Two law professors at the University of Oslo confirmed Andresen’s assessment.

“21 years in prison is the maximum,” Professor Per Ole Johansen told The Daily Caller.

“The max punishment may — theoretically — be increased, but not for crimes which are already committed,” he said, when asked whether it was possible for the punishment to be increased considering the scale of this specific mass crime.

“[I]f the prisoner behaves, he or she will probably be released several years earlier,” Professor Nils Christie told TheDC while also confirming that 21 years is the maximum penalty in Norway.

Christie, however, said it is theoretically possible for the perpetrator to be held in prison longer than 21 years, though it almost never happens.

“If, however, the person is seen as a particular danger to society, the person might receive a sentence that authorize prison authorities to keep him or her even longer when the 21 years are coming close to the end,” he added. “This wish must again be brought up for a court. As far as I know, such a situation nearly never appear.”

Police are labeling the attacks as acts of terrorism, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Breivik, 32, is suspected of being behind attacks Friday that killed at least 94 people and injured many others. A car bombing in the Norwegian capital of Oslo killed at least seven and a shooting spree at a youth camp on the island of Utoya outside of Oslo killed at minimum 87, many of whom were teenagers.

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I am a Christian and because of that I firmly believe that capital punishment is clearly taught in the Bible. Below is an article that makes this clear. Also I do believe it is a deterrent. Greg Koukl rightly noted, “I was listening a couple of years ago to KABC and talk show host Michael Jackson. He was making the point that capital punishment never works. And of course, he’s thinking of it as a deterrent. My response is, capital punishment works every time. Every time it’s used, the prisoner dies.”

Also I agree with Koukl that in the case of the Oklahoma City Bombing the murderer deserved to die. The same should be said about this case in Norway!!!

Reasons for Capital Punishment

  

Gregory Koukl

There’s a reason both the Old and the New Testaments promote capital punishment. That reason was applicable then and still applies today.divider

Apparently, Jesse Jackson made some comments on “Meet the Press” this morning referring to the possibility of capital punishment for Timothy McVeigh. He said, allegedly, that executing McVeigh would just be a trophy that the people of Oklahoma City would like to get in their trophy case to make them feel better.Jackson should have been ashamed of his comment. To refer the punishment of a man who is a convicted killer of 168 citizens of Oklahoma City by those who are deeply interested in justice as simply a quest for trophies is an insult to every person who lost a loved one in that explosion. It’s an absolute insult, and it should be an insult to every clear-thinking American.

Capital punishment is not about getting trophies in any trophy case, any more than life imprisonment is about putting man in a cage as a trophy in a human zoo. It’s about justice. What the people in Oklahoma City want– and all Americans who are in favor of capital punishment for a man who violently snuffed out the lives of 168 people– is not a trophy. They want justice.

I’m actually stunned, to be honest with you, that there are so many Christians who oppose capital punishment on biblical grounds. It ought to be clear to anyone familiar with the biblical record that God is not against capital punishment. It was His idea. He started it.

Go back to Genesis 9:6 and you’ll find this: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.”

You see, the crime of murder is not principally based on the idea that you robbed a person of his life. That confuses the Fifth Commandment with the Seventh Commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.” It’s wrong to take someone else’s possessions, including his life.

No, murder is not a crime of theft, but of destruction. We have destroyed the life of one made in the image of God . God says such a crime deserves the most extreme punishment. You take a life, you surrender your own life.

By the way, read through the Old Testament and you’ll find 21 different offenses that called for the death penalty. Only three include an actual or potential capital offense by our current definition. Six are for religious offenses, ten are for various moral issues, and two relate to ceremonial issues.

So if you’re going to call anybody frivolous about using capital punishment, you can start with God. God instituted it for a wide range of offenses, not just murder. But it included murder, and would certainly be justified, in God’s eyes, for someone who murdered 168 people.

I’m not suggesting we reinstate capital punishment for the offenses of the Old Testament or even that capital punishment is obligatory. I am saying that it’s a moral alternative that is, at least in principle, totally approved by God.

Some feel that even though capital punishment was approved in the Old Testament, the New Testament has changed all of that. I will tell you why that is not a good way to argue. They say Jesus, or some teaching in the New Testament, has somehow changed that. My response is, “Where?”

Actually, capital punishment is strongly assumed in the New Testament. In Romans 13, Paul argues that governing authorities are set there by God. He says, “If you do what is evil, be afraid, for the government does not bear the sword for nothing, for it is minister of God and avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.” God ordains the governing authorities, and those governing authorities have a God-ordained responsibility to execute justice with the sword.

Peter says in 1 Peter 2:13-14 that these authorities were sent by God for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do right.

People say, “Well capital punishment is just revenge.” My response is they’re right in a sense. It is revenge. In fact, it’s just revenge. It’s God’s vengeance based on justice, executed through the machinery of government that God ordained.

Paul uses the word “sword” here. I don’t think he had in mind paddling people with the broad side of the sword. No, capital punishment is in view here as a proper tool government would use to express the vengeance of God in a just fashion against gratuitous evil. That’s the biblical teaching.

What about Jesus? Some say Jesus’ ethic of love and forgiveness requires us to end the death penalty. This was the appeal Mother Theresa made when Robert Alton Harris was facing the gas chamber here in California. She appealed to the governor saying Jesus would forgive.

With no disrespect towards Mother Theresa, I think her comments were mistaken because her view simply proves too much. What should be done instead with capital criminals? Should we put them in prison for the rest of their lives? But Jesus would forgive. Should we put them in prison for ten years? But Jesus would forgive. Should we put a murderer in prison for one day? But Jesus would forgive.

You see, if this argument works it becomes justification for the abolishment of any kind of punishment whatsoever. This argument proves too much.

Further, that Jesus would forgive is a different issue from whether the governmentshould forgive. God can forgive evil. That doesn’t mean the government should forgive it in terms of its exercise of justice.

In fact, Jesus never challenged the validity of the death penalty when He had perfect opportunity to do so. Even in John 8, with the woman caught in adultery, he never challenged the death penalty itself. He didn’t enforce it under what seemed to be an unjust situation because all the witnesses fled. Remember, Jesus said, “Is there no one here to condemn you? Then neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” The Law required witnesses to convict someone.

Jesus did not speak against the death penalty here. It was required by law. Jesus upheld the law. He just realized there was a nasty situation of injustice that was going on and so He found some other way to get around it.

And when Jesus was on the cross He asked God to forgive, not Caesar. He never suggested that capital punishment was inappropriate.

I think that we have to argue for the coherence and consistency of both Testaments on this issue. The question is not, “Was Jesus right or was Moses right?” The question is trying to find a way to bring them all together. Clearly, there was no abrogation of capital punishment in the New Testament.

In fact, if you recall Paul in the book of Acts (25:11) made this appeal for his life: “If then I am a wrongdoer, and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.” Paul didn’t take exception with capital punishment, even for himself. His point was that he wasn’t guilty, not that capital punishment was wrong.

Which, by the way, brings us to another point that Mr. Jackson raised this morning on TV. He said Jesus was crucified. Jesus died at capital punishment. To which I respond, “So? What follows from that is…what? The significance of that is…what?” The answer is: nothing. The issue regarding Jesus was not capital punishment, but his innocence. In Acts 2, Peter condemns the act of handing over the innocentJesus to godless executioners.

Now, God’s mercy is always available in God’s court. But man’s court is another matter, ladies and gentlemen. It is governed by different biblical responsibilities. So one can’t say that capital punishment is patently immoral on biblical grounds. It just isn’t. There’s a good reason why. It has to do with something I explained very carefully to the man who interviewed me for US New and World Report on this very issue.

Capital punishment is important. The Bible–Old and New Testament–is for it, not against it. There is nothing in the New Testament that would give us any reason to think otherwise. In fact, it presumes capital punishment in many places.

I was listening a couple of years ago to KABC and talk show host Michael Jackson. He was making the point that capital punishment never works. And of course, he’s thinking of it as a deterrent.

My response is, capital punishment works every time. Every time it’s used, the prisoner dies.

You see, the reason for capital punishment is obviously not to rehabilitate somebody. The deterrent may be a secondary factor. But that isn’t why we use capital punishment. We use capital punishment to punishsomeone (pardon me for stating the obvious).

You see, all of this relates to your view of what human beings are. If human beings are machines determined either by genetics or by environment, then what do you do when a machine goes bad? You fix it. And if you can’t fix it, you throw it away. That’s the basis behind the rehabilitation idea. And of course, the throwaway mentality we see in a lot of other ethical areas.

however, if you think that human beings are personal creatures capable of choosing and, therefore, have moral responsibilities–when they do good we praise them, (which everybody wants), and when they do bad we punish them–then punishment makes sense. Punishment of all kinds. Even capital punishment.

Human beings are moral creatures who either deserve praise or blame depending on the circumstances–when they choose well, we praise them and when they violate a serious moral mandate, we punish them. (When we praise and blame, by the way, in both cases we’re expressing respect for the dignity of man in virtue of the fact that human beings are made in the image of God and have the capability of choosing.)

Punishment may range from a parking ticket to death. What determines which punishment? An ancient principle called lex taliones , “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”–the point being that the punishment must fit the crime. If somebody steals a loaf of bread, we don’t whack their arm off.

By the same token, if somebody kills 168 people, we don’t just put him in a cage for the rest of his life. He took 168 human lives! He should be punished in a way that fits his crime. He should sacrifice his own life.

That’s the basic question: What is a human being? I think he’s a free moral agent. If he is, then we should praise him when he does well. But if he doesn’t, then he deserves to be punished, and the punishment should fit the crime.

 

This is a transcript of a commentary from the radio show“Stand to Reason,” with Gregory Koukl. It is made available to you at no charge through the faithful giving of those who support Stand to Reason. Reproduction permitted for non-commercial use only. ©1997 Gregory Koukl

For more information, contact Stand to Reason at 1438 East 33rd St., Signal Hill, CA 90755
(800) 2-REASON (562) 595-7333 www.str.org

Related post:

Max Brantley and Betsey Wright on Death Penalty

HALT:HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com (2 min Mike Huckabee on Death Penalty in Republican Primary) Max Brantley rightly noted that “no one has been executed in Arkansas since 2005″ (Death Penalty in Decline, Arkansas Times Blog, Dec 27, 2010). However, the debate is clearly not over. In the July 13, 2006 article “Waiting for Death” by Max Brantley and […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Capital Punishment | Comments (0)

Critical review of Woody Allen’s latest movie “Midnight in Paris”

July 24, 2011 – 5:56 am

I love the movie “Midnight in Paris.” However, here is a negative review below:

Woody Allen’s current film, “Midnight in Paris,” is his most enjoyable work in many years.  In it Allen captures his constant preoccupations — mortality, time travel, the coreless, nebbish protagonist — in a new and amusing way.  Still, it — like all of Allen’s work — falls short of great art.  Here are six reasons:

1.  The hero isn’t heroic.  Actually, Allen’s films have gotten worse in this regard — from his highly imaginative early works like Bananas and Take the Money and Run where, despite the films’ surrealistic anticness, the main character is engaged in an heroic struggle.  In “Paris,” Owen Wilson is engaged to a woman he dislikes from a family he disrespects.  That he needs to escape from their grasp is so self-evident from the start that there not only is no suspense to that effort, but viewers can’t respect the character who is stuck in this predicament.  Great art never mocks its own themes and characters.  Charlie Chaplin’s tramp, no matter how ridiculous he appears to be, is never less than heroic.

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2.  The supporting characters are unmotivated.  It is often fun to see the array of more or less talented acters Allen has assembled for a wide range of supporting — usually cameo — appearances, where they serve as props for the main character’s amusement and to fuel his ruminations on life and people.  But they are obviously not real human beings.  In “Paris,” the subsidiary characters are — even more than usual in Allen’s films — props and side shows.

3.  Allen’s self-conscious riffs about intellectuals get in the way.  Allen is a brilliantly talented man who didn’t graduate college and still hasn’t gotten over it.  He — and his protagonists — are preoccupied with “pseudo-intellectuals.”  But what is worse is that his own main character’s idea of displaying his intellectual chops is to outdo the pedants in pedantry — as though understanding and appreciating art were a matter of time-lining the artists’ mistresses and wives.  And, of course, the cameo appearances by the great artists of the twentieth century simply reinforce popular caricatures of each — in “Paris,” Allen’s preoccupation with Hemingway as his own antithesis takes up way too much time and energy.

4.  The hero can’t love.  Wilson, as the Allen stand-in, bests Hemingway in winning the love of his beautiful heroine.  But the film has no real love scenes — even Allen’s love goddess is a prop for the Allen stand-in character.  Compare this to Charlie Chaplin’s classic films — like “The Gold Rush,” “City Lights,” and “Modern Times.”  In the first two films, the Chaplin characters’ hearts are broken by their unrequited longing for the beautiful women whose regard they cannot hope to obtain.  In “Times,” Chaplin creates a remarkable partnership with the Paulette Goddard character with whom he walks down the road at the film’s end.  Many years ago, the New York Psychoanalytic Society staged a film festival in which the “The Gold Rush” was shown.  When the analyst who selected the film was questioned about his off-beat choice, he said: “When I was a youngster and I saw The Gold Rush, I laughed.  When I was an adult and I saw it, I cried.”

5.  You can’t summarize a great film in one sentence.  Ironically, Owen Wilson’s — and “Paris”‘s — concluding insight is the same as the point that the pedant pseudo-intellectual first makes on hearing the theme for Wilson’s novel — that being lost in nostalgia for an unrealizable past is simply an escape from living in the present.

6.  Allen’s cityscape montages.  The best thing about “Paris” — as was also true of “Manhattan” — are the cityscape montages of the two cities.  Allen really loves Paris and New York, in a way he seemingly does not love people (Owen Wilson’s love interest is the Paris of the 1920s), and viewing the snapshots is a tremendous pleasure.  Great directors like John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock also use iconic scenes — see Ford’s use of Monument Valley in “The Searchers” and Hitchcock’s use of Mount Rushmore in “North by Northwest.”  But they don’t include these to savor the scenery  — the scenes of which they are a part are intimately connected to the plot and the main characters’ lives and struggles.  That is, the films are integrated wholes.

I apologize in advance to Woody Allen fans.  It is great to have a contemporary director who is so seriously engaged in film-making and who tackles serious matters confronting society, the psyche, and the soul.  I admire his dedication and constant work.  I ony wish that Allen and his films could transcend their artistic limitations.

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

What happened in the two hours on the island for the campers in Norway?

July 24, 2011 – 4:04 am
Norway’s island survivors on 2-hour fight for life

SHAWN POGATCHNIK – 7/23/2011 8:43:42 PMBookmark and Share

 

When the blond man in the police uniform started firing his assault rifle, many of the youths couldn’t believe it was real. It had to be a sick prank. Something this crazy could never happen in quiet, sensible Norway.

 

 

 

Then terror flared in the eyes of friends with a better view: of teens and young adults crumpling to the ground, blood streaming from point-blank bullet wounds. Hundreds turned and ran to every corner of Utoya Island. They opted to cower silently or swim for their lives.

 

One day after a gunman posing as their protector killed at least 85 campers at a youth retreat for Norway’s ruling Labor Party, survivors and the local boatmen who helped save them recounted their two hours of horror, confusion and fear.

 

3:30 p.m.:

 

Three days into their annual summer camp, some 600 Labor Party youth activists from all over Norway hear the first, vague news of a bombing in the capital, Oslo, some 20 miles (30 kilometers) away. Far too distant to see billowing smoke or hear sirens. No way to tell how bad the explosion, just four minutes before, might be.

 

For some, a main concern is whether the camp will continue, and whether Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will still visit their lake-locked retreat that weekend.

 

4:30 p.m.:

 

As footage of destruction and news of deaths confirm the huge scale of the Oslo explosion, Utoya’s campers gather in worried huddles and talk quietly at tentsides, in the cafeteria, at fir-lined coves and the island’s tiny harbor. They touch foreheads while watching news on their smartphones. Those from Oslo call parents and siblings to confirm they’re all right.

 

“We consoled ourselves that we were safe on an island. No one knew that hell would break out with us too,” one Oslo Labor activist, Prableen Kaur, writes on her blog the next day.

 

5 p.m.:

 

Amid the coming and going of several small boats, a lone policeman arrives.

 

The officer _ armed, unusually, with two firearms visible on his hip and shoulder _ says he’s there to boost security. To ensure they’re safe.

 

Then, witnesses say, he raises his assault rifle and opens fire with bursts of automatic fire. His hunt of defenseless left-wing political activists has begun.

 

5:10 p.m.:

 

At the camp’s food hall, Jorgen Benone is still talking with friends about the Oslo attack as they “hear panic down by the water.”

 

“We were wondering: What’s happening? Is it some balloons exploding or is somebody kidding?” he says. “Then we started to understand that people actually had been shot. Chaos broke out everywhere, and everyone started to run.”

 

People at the camp report trying to call Norway’s emergency services but are told to keep off the line unless they’re calling about the Oslo bomb.

 

5:15 p.m.:

 

Witnesses say the gunman enters a village of tents, the residential heart of the weeklong retreat, and spots desperate individuals hoping he’ll spare them if they run back inside their homes. But the killer is seen working his way tent by tent, shooting many point-blank, one by one.

 

5:20 p.m.:

 

Kaur joins a group of panicked, confused campers. They are running from the approaching gunman, his “POLICE” moniker crystal-clear to see from even middle distance.

 

“My first thought was: Why are the police shooting at us? What the hell?” she writes.

 

More than a dozen crowd into a dark corner of a camp building, and all lie down on the floor. She cries quietly _ then sees her best friend from camp, a boy, through a window.

 

“I wondered if I should go out and bring him to me. I did not. I saw fear in his eyes,” she writes.

 

5:25 p.m.:

 

Kaur says a burst of gunfire extremely close to the building triggers panic and the entire group leaps out of a far window. Several suffer injuries, including a girl with a broken ankle, but the shooter doesn’t immediately pursue them. She takes new cover behind a low brick wall, telephones her mother on her cell phone, and sends a text to her father.

 

“Many were there,” she writes. “I prayed, prayed, prayed. I hope that God saw me.”

 

5:30 p.m.:

 

As the gunman picks off lone campers who run from their hiding spots as he draws near, many find themselves at the shoreline with only one apparent escape route _ the water.

 

Kaur says the gunman tries to draw out the hiders near the brick wall, shouting, “I’m from the police!” Campers shout back, “Prove it!” He shoots at those who move. She lies still, on top of the legs of a teenage girl covered in blood.

 

5:38 p.m.:

 

Police say an armed SWAT team is deployed from Oslo. They drive rather than take a helicopter, police say _ because the chopper would take too long to prepare for flight.

 

5:45 p.m.:

 

At another camp site on the mainland shore near Utoya Island, camp owner Brede Johbraaten has been listening to the sound of gunfire _ sometimes lone pops, other times staccato bursts _ waft across the humid evening air for more than half an hour.

 

But it’s only now that he discovers the horror unfolding some 800 meters (yards) of frigid water away.

 

The first survivors, among the strongest and luckiest, have swum the full distance. They aren’t wounded but say many of their campmates are dying in the water behind, some bleeding to death from bullet wounds, others cramping up and drowning.

 

Johbraaten, 59, and other campers rally several small craft to join a local flotilla converging on the island from several points, including another island to the north. They pluck both flailing swimmers and lifeless bodies from the surface.

 

“It was hard for some of these youngsters to swim a distance of 800 meters under these conditions,” Johbraaten said.

 

Amid the chaos, the arriving police SWAT team complains that no boats have remained on shore as they’d expected, compounding the delay.

 

6 p.m.:

 

Witnesses lying low behind rocks, aware that the “policeman” is really the threat, watch helplessly as four campers run to the officer for help _ and are each killed with shots to the head.

 

6:20 p.m.:

 

Police say the SWAT team finally reaches the island and fans out, still unaware of how many gunmen they’re trying to find.

 

Benone has remained behind the same boulder, trying not to move.

 

“I felt it was best not to sit quietly, not to run in the open because then he could see me. … I thought of all the people I love, and how I just wanted to go home.”

 

6:35 p.m.:

 

Police say they find the gunman and order him to lay down his weapons. He complies and is arrested.

 

Around this time, Kaur says she finally plucks up the courage to stand up _ and sees that she’s been lying on a lifeless teenage girl: “My guardian angel,” she calls her. She jumps into the water to join a group of campers clinging to a large innertube. A passing rescue boat throws them all life vests but is too full with other rescued campers and can’t collect them too.

 

7 p.m.:

 

The private rescue flotilla continues to circle the island in search of survivors. The boats come closer now that the shooting has stopped. Kaur is scooped from the water. But many campers fear leaving their hiding spots.

 

Benone sees several boats approaching but wonders if these rescuers might be killers, too, and hesitates.

 

“I didn’t know if I could trust them. I didn’t know who I could trust anymore,” he says. “But I started waving and jumped into the water. I was crying, that’s how happy I was. But I was so cold. Ice cold.”

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Amy Winehouse’s song rehab tells the story of her life, how Christ can fill that void

July 24, 2011 – 12:57 am

 

Drama: Members of the press and local residents watch as Winehouse's body is taken to the vanDrama: Members of the press and local residents watch as Winehouse’s body is taken to the van

I read this article in Christianity Today about Amy Winehouse a couple of years ago and it rings more true today than ever.

How to share your faith using Amy Winehouse‘s ‘Rehab’ 

by Jane Dratz, Guest ColumnistPosted: Monday, February 25, 2008, 10:14 (GMT)

In the midst of her success as a singer, Amy Winehouse was a tortured soul. Riding the crest of a highly successful album and recent winner of five Grammy awards, her music career stands in stark contrast to her personal challenges that get splashed across the headlines. Personal battles with drug and alcohol addiction, a husband in prison awaiting trail for assault and for attempted trial fixing, paint a picture of a life spiraling out of control.

Before Amy finally headed for rehab, her husband, Blake Fielder-Civic, acknowledged from prison that

“Every day I fear the prison chaplain is going to walk into my cell and break the news that Amy is dead [from a drug overdose].”

Fielder-Civic admitted that he and Winehouse were blowing $1000 a day on heroin and cocaine before he was arrested and put behind bars.

Fortunately Winehouse recently entered rehab, a definite positive first step toward pulling herself out of her downward spiral, even though ironically her biggest hit song is about refusing to go into rehab. Check out these lyrics in her song that recently won Record of the Year.

They tried to make me go to rehab
I said no, no, no.
Yes I been black, but when I come back
You won’t know, know, know.

I ain’t got the time
And if my daddy thinks I’m fine
He’s tried to make me go to rehab
I won’t go, go, go…

I don’t ever wanna drink again
I just, ooo, I just need a friend
Im not gonna spend 10 weeks
Have everyone think im on the mend

It’s not just my pride
It’s just til these tears have dried.

Can you hear the pain, hurt, defiance and desperation shouting through? Substance abuse or any form of self-harm, from cutting to harming, are symptoms of deeper problems. Self-harming behaviors reflect hurting individuals’ desperate efforts to fill the God-shaped hole every human has deep in the soul. When God isn’t invited in to fill that hole, many individuals try to fill the emptiness with other things…alcohol, drugs, sex, cutting, material things. The list is as varied as the hurts crying to be stifled.

In the end, the only real answer to filling the God-shaped hole in the human soul is GOD. Without Him in our lives we will bounce from one attempt to another to mask the hurt or pain that life will eventually dish out to us. But the Good News is that Jesus extends his offer of grace and love and rescue to all with His words:

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Do you have friends who are either dabbling in or trapped by addictive behaviors? Friends who need to experience the reality of God pouring Himself into their souls and filling their God-shaped hole? If you do, try prayfully using Amy Winehouse’s song Rehab as an opportunity to turn the conversation toward God-talk. Here are a few ideas to help you:

The lyrics to Amy Winehouse’s song Rehab communicate both pain and defiance. Which do you think comes through louder?

Have you ever been in a place were you identified with the lyrics to this song? Or do you know someone who’s in that place now?

Why do you think people sometimes find themselves struggling with substance abuse? Do you think it’s a symptom of a deeper problem? Listen and then share what you believe about God creating us with a God-shaped hole in our souls that only He can fill.

Find out if your friends are familiar with Jesus words in Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Explain what those words mean to you in your personal experience.

If you or a friend are struggling with self-harming behaviors, you need to know that God’s love and grace extend to the darkest places. You also need to be aware that many, many people have found that they need outside help and accountability in order to overcome addictive behaviors. It helps to know you’re not alone, so prayfully bring God’s light, love and truth to the darkness.

Jane Dratz works for Dare 2 Share Ministries in Arvada, Colo., a ministry committed to energizing and equipping teens to know, live, share and own their faith in Jesus. For more information on Dare 2 Share Ministries, please visit http://www.dare2share.org. Send feedback to jane@dare2share.org.

Contrast the life of Shawn McDonald:

Redemption Songs: The Music and the Journey of Shawn McDonald

By Jennifer E. Jones
CBN.com Producer

CBN.com – It’s easy for a guy to feel insecure sometimes. You wouldn’t know it by looking at his album sales and nationwide tours, but soft-spoken Shawn McDonald is not entirely comfortable in the spotlight. “I’m not a person who likes attention and likes being up in front of others. I’m kind of quiet,” he tells CBN.com

It’s an odd description for the Sparrow Records artist who recently released Live in Seattle, a concert album where he plays many of the hits from his debut record Simply Nothing. Strange indeed but nothing about this Oregon native’s life is typical. Shawn is a walking, breathing testimony of how far God is willing to go to rescue one of His own.

It’s been almost seven years since Shawn saw rock bottom. “I can’t communicate how crazy I was,” Shawn says. “Who I was then and who I am now is like night and day. You name the drug and I was selling it and doing it. I was a confused kid, and my confusion boiled up into bitterness and anger. My life had become a hard, closed shell. I was extremely rebellious, miserable, and lost.”

No one would have picked him to be successful at life, let alone at music. He didn’t sing or play an instrument. Raised by his grandparents, Shawn was constantly in and out of jail, and his extreme party lifestyle was driving him over the edge. At one point, police rang up nine felony charges against him for drug abuse. Although he’d tried to mix his deadly habits with the spirituality of Hinduism and Rastafarianism, like his idol Bob Marley, he realized that there had to be something more to life. With the help of his college roommate, Shawn found Christ.

“What God has done in my life is amazing,” he says.

In spite of his inability to play, Shawn always loved music. After getting saved, he found the easiest way to express his feelings for God was through song. “I was sitting in my room. I had this old, beat-up guitar that I would learn worship songs on – just in the quiet of my own house,” he recalls. “That’s where it started, and it was very simple — just chords. I never expected it to go anywhere else.”

Unbeknownst to him, those simple songs were the humble beginnings of Shawn’s remarkable music career. “It’s really fun and exciting,” he says. “It’s almost like you plant a seed. The seed sprouts, it begins to grow and out comes this bud. When you finish a song, it’s like that bud finally decides to bloom, and you see this beautiful flower. It doesn’t always happen that way but that’s the way I look at it. I think our goal is to make something bloom.”

Shawn still doesn’t consider himself a guitarist although his smooth urban-folk style of music would beg to differ. Shawn is among a growing genre of singer/songwriters (such as Paul Wright and Mat Kearney) who play hip-hop rhythms on guitars and sing with an honesty and vulnerability that’s almost uncomfortable. And yet, it’s a quality that’s clicking with fans.

“People never cease to amaze me. It blows me away when people come up and say, ‘God uses you to draw me closer to Him’ or ‘God saved me through one of your songs’. I hear that kind of stuff, and it’s crazy [to think] God’s at work and using me,” he says. “I’m just an average joe like everyone else. I’m just this kid that somehow, for some reason, God decided to instill some songs in.”

Today, Shawn is one of CCM Magazine‘s “Artists You Should Know”. With a solid debut that unleashed radio hits “Gravity” and “All I Need”, a brand new live album, and a new studio record slated to hit stores in the summer, Shawn is one “Sparrow” that’s flying high. However, staying grounded doesn’t seem to be a problem.

“It’s very humbling. Who am I to write something that someone else enjoys? How is it different from another? It’s random. I think it’s easy to want to take the credit for that [but] it’s a gift. It’s a miracle.”

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By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

A Christian response to Papa Roach’s song “The Last Resort” (Part 2)

July 24, 2011 – 12:20 am

Papa Roach – Last Resort (Censored Version)

This series of posts concerns the song “The Last Resort.”

Amy Winehouse died today and it was a tragic loss. That really troubled me that she did not seek spiritual help instead of turning to drugs and alcohol. This post today will give hope to those we feel like it is all hopeless. 

The band’s place in the pop music landscape was established with the release of their breakout single, “Last Resort,” which was quickly picked up by MTV and nominated for a “Best New Artist Video” award at the 2000 Video Music Awards. The song is a gut-wrenching first-person chronicle of hopelessness that’s gone so deep the singer is seriously contemplating suicide.   But the band is adamant about the fact that the song is about fighting to survive by overcoming depression, rather than allowing it to lead to suicide. “It’s not saying I can’t go on living. It’s saying I can’t go on living this way,” says Dick (Spin, 10/00).

I know there are some curse words in the following song. I have eliminated both times the curse word is used. I really think that there needs to be a response to the young people who are saying things like the words in this song Here are some of the words:

Do you even care if I die pleading, Would it be wrong, would it be right, If I took my life tonight, Chances are that I might, and I’m contimplating suicide, ‘Cause I’m losing my sight, losing my mind, Wish somebody would tell me I’m fine, Nothing’s alright, nothing is fine, I’m running and I’m crying, I never realized I was spread too thin, Till it was too late andI was empty within, Hungry, feeding on my chaos and living in sin, Downward spiral, where do i begin, It all started when i lost my mother, No love for myself and no love for another,Searching to find a love upon a higher level, finding nothing but QUESTIONS AND DEVILS, I can’t go on living this way, Cut my life into pieces, This is my last resort. 

My response to these words:”Do you even care if I die pleading, Would it be wrong, would it be right, If I took my life tonight, Chances are that I might, and I’m contimplating suicide” is that you should plead to someone who can do something about your situation and that is Christ!!!!

Below David Powlison asserts:

How do you get the living hope that God offers you in Jesus? By asking. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

Suicide operates in a world of death, despair, and aloneness. Jesus Christ creates a world of life, hope, and community. Ask God for help, and keep on asking. Don’t stop asking. You need Him to fill you every day with the hope of the resurrection.

Below is a portion of the article “Papa Roach—Infesting and reflecting youth culture by Walt Mueller.  

Papa Roach’s Music

In a day and age where the walls are crumbling between what had been a variety of distinctive popular music genres, Papa Roach is like many other chart-topping bands whose music combines sounds that were once distinct. Coby Dick’s raspy and throat-wrenching vocals join with music that incorporates sounds of rap, rock, thrash, funk and metal. Listeners familiar with popular music will hear the influence of Faith No More, the band Dick cites as one of his early favorites. Similar contemporary bands include Korn, Limp Bizkit, The Deftones and P.O.D. 

Reviewer Tim Kennedy of Spin describes the resulting sound as “an amalgam of below-the-belt guitar riffage, punk-rock urgency, and half-sung, half-rapped vocals (10/00). Rolling Stone’s Anthony Bozza says listening to Papa Roach is “like standing on a precipice—sustained tension and the threat of a tumble” (8/31/00). 

The sound combines with Dick’s lyrics in a powerful and emotional blend that addresses the reality of life for kids who have been burned over and over again. Tobin Esperance says, “We write about things that have happened to our singer, specifically, and friends around us. It’s real life stuff. We’re not writing about s___ that we don’t know about, like girls and cars and money … we only know real life bulls___ that happens” (nyrock.com). Coby Dick says of his autobiographical music, “I’m venting my emotions. It’s blunt” (Rolling Stone, 8/31/00). He says “Papa Roach, lyrically, is my counseling” (Billboard,6/10/00). 

Infest (2000)

Papa Roach released the album they now consider their first in April of 2000. The album quickly began to sell as a result of radio and MTV exposure, went gold after two months thanks to scoring with MTV’s Total Request Live audience, and had gone double platinum by September 2000.  

Papa Roach offers an introduction to their music, mission, message and intentions on the album’s title cut. After introducing himself to his listeners, Coby Dick informs them his “God-given talent is to rock all the nations.” In this, the band’s “first manifesto,” the group lays out their plan to “infest” the world and young minds (“wrap you in my thoughts”) with an angry musical message of anarchy and rebellion against a messed-up world that’s let them down: “We’re going to infest/We’re getting in your head/What is wrong with the world today/The government, media or your family.” Institutions and people are not to be trusted. In fact, “First they shackle your feet/Then they stand you in a line/Then they beat you like meat/Then they grab you by your mind … people are the problem today.” Dick admits the struggle so many young people feel: “the game of life is crazy.” Alone in this sea of brokenness and hopelessness, Dick asks, “Would you cry if I died today/I think it be better if you did not say.” 

The band’s place in the pop music landscape was established with the release of their breakout single, “Last Resort,” which was quickly picked up by MTV and nominated for a “Best New Artist Video” award at the 2000 Video Music Awards. The song is a gut-wrenching first-person chronicle of hopelessness that’s gone so deep the singer is seriously contemplating suicide. (See lyrics on page 7.) The fact that “Last Resort” is part of the mainstream pop music landscape indicates it is connecting with more and more kids who see it as an expression of their own inner struggles. For casual listeners, the song is very confusing. Listening to the song reveals the criticisms claiming the song promotes suicide could certainly be warranted. Kids who are riding the fence because of numerous other problems in their lives could interpret the song in a way that would give them permission to go over the edge, especially if they don’t know the story behind the song. But the band is adamant about the fact that the song is about fighting to survive by overcoming depression, rather than allowing it to lead to suicide. “It’s not saying I can’t go on living. It’s saying I can’t go on living this way,” says Dick (Spin, 10/00). He also says, “Last Resort” has “a positive edge to it, as far as like, ‘Don’t succumb to it. Keep yourself afloat.’ With these problems in your life, find a friend you can confide in” (Sonicnet.com). Based on the band’s resolve to survive like a roach, one would have to take them at their word. The song chronicles the suicide attempt of one of Coby Dick’s former roommates. After his “unsuccessful” attempt, the young man “turned to God” … Dick claims the attempt was what killed the rotting part of his roommate’s soul. The song has definitely connected. “We’ve gotten so many e-mails from people who tell us ‘Last Resort’ saved their lives,” says Dick. “It makes some people feel less alone” (Rolling Stone,8/31/00). 

The album’s third cut is equally powerful. Released as a single and put in heavy rotation on MTV, “Broken Home” (See lyrics) is an overt lyrical, sonic and visual cry from the heart of one whose young life has been shattered by family breakdown. Written by Dick about his feelings after his parents’ divorce, the song offers listeners an emotional window into the reality of kids beaten up by our current culture of divorce. Every parent considering divorce should sit and watch this video. It is powerful. 

“Dead Cell” has been called “a darkly sarcastic paean to Columbine kids the world over” (Alternative Press, 10/00). If that’s the case, the sarcasm is not easily heard. The dead cells are described as “born with no soul/lack of control/cut from the mold of the anti-social … sick in the head/living but dead.” Loud, angry and fast, the song could be interpreted by some who are young and angry as a call to arms: “I’m telling ya the kids are getting singled out/Let me hear the dead cells shout.” 

“Between Angels and Insects” is an insightful rant against American greed and materialism. Dick says he wrote the song to remind himself that the things the band’s success will bring are not the things that make one happy. The lyrics are powerful and excerpts could serve to spark discussion with teens about the false promises of materialism: “Diamond rings get you nothing/But a life-long lesson/And your pocketbook stressin’/You’re a slave to the system/Working jobs that you hate/For s___ that you don’t need/It’s too bad the world is based on greed/Step back and stop thinking ‘bout yourself … ‘cause everything is nothing/And emptiness is in everything … Possessions they are never gonna fill the void … the things you own, own you.” When discussing the message of the song Buckner says, “all the worldly things that people equate with happiness—do they necessarily make you happy? You can have Rolexes and diamond rings and cars and houses … but really the things that make you happy are peace of mind and passion in your life” (Alternative Press, 10/00). 

Relational selfishness and greed are the subject of “Blood Brothers,” a song offering powerful evidence of the depth of sin’s hold on humanity: “It’s our nature to destroy ourselves/It’s our nature to kill ourselves/It’s our nature to kill each other/It’s in our nature to kill, kill, kill.” The song speaks about allegiance in a world where you can’t trust anybody and you’ve got to watch your back. The lyrics leave one thinking the song could serve as an anthem for a street gang or other fringe subculture: “Blood brothers keep it real to the end.” 

Themes of severe relational breakdown and the resulting pain continue in “Revenge,” a song about a girl who was “abused with forks, knives and razorblades” and who finally left the man who abused her in fits of rage. Listeners who have been abused will identify with the song’s mention of the ever-present and visible emotional scars they so often feel: “Chaos is what she saw in the mirror/Scared of herself/And the power that was in her/It took over and weighed heavily on her shoulders/Militant insanity is now what controlled her.” The song indicates that she exacts revenge on him, although the method and outcome is unclear. 

Backstabbers are the subject of “Snakes,” an angry and threatening rant at those who betray friends. The song reflects the distrust so many kids feel because of the parade of letdowns they’ve experienced. The chorus asks, “Do you like how it feels to be bit in the neck by the snake that kills?/Do you know how it feels to be stabbed in the back then watch the blood spill?/I don’t like how it feels.” 

Coby Dick chronicles his wrestling match with alcohol on “Binge,” a song that serves as a personal confession. “All I need is a bottle/And I don’t need no friends/Now wallow in my pain/I swallow as I pretend/To act like I’m happy when I drink till no end/I’m losing all my friends, I’m losing in the end … When I’m sober, life bores me/So I get drunk again.” The song is a heart cry about what drives the binge drinker, how he really feels inside and his desire to see it end. In the song’s final lines, Dick sings, “I wish things would change/Wish they’d rearrange.” 

“Never Enough” is another cry for help from a confused and tortured young soul that is deeply longing for redemption. “Life’s been sucked out of me/And this routine’s killing me … somebody put me out of my misery,” Dick sings. The song will resonate with kids who are lost, purposeless and without peace. The song’s conclusion is a loud cry for help: “I feel as if I’m running/Life will knock me down.” 

“Thrown Away” offers a view of life through the eyes of a kid struggling with ADD, something Coby Dick knows well as he watched his brother’s personal struggle with the disorder. “My heart is bleeding and the pain will not pass … I want to be thrown away … I am a mess, I’ve made a huge mess/I can’t control myself/I’m losing it, I’ve lost it/I’ve spilt all my marbles … sometimes I want to be thrown away.” 

The album concludes with an unlisted hidden cut called “Tightrope.” The track is stylistically unlike any other cuts on the album as it is done in reggae style. The lyrics are a confusing mix of thoughts where Dick calls his words “weapons in which I murder you.” The song offers a confession regarding the ethical dilemmas faced by kids in these confusing times: “there is a thin line between what’s good and what is evil/I will tiptoe down that line/But I feel unstable/My life is a circus and I’m tripping down the tightrope/There’s nothing left to save me now so I will not look down.”

Help for the Suicidal

God offers you true, living hope–not a false hope based on your death.
By David Powlison

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

It’s easy to see the risk factors for suicide—depression, suffering, disillusioning experiences, failure—but there are also ways to get your life back on track by building protective factors into your life. 

Ask for help

How do you get the living hope that God offers you in Jesus? By asking. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

Suicide operates in a world of death, despair, and aloneness. Jesus Christ creates a world of life, hope, and community. Ask God for help, and keep on asking. Don’t stop asking. You need Him to fill you every day with the hope of the resurrection.

At the same time you are asking God for help, tell other people about your struggle with hopelessness. God uses His people to bring life, light, and hope. Suicide, by definition, happens when someone is all alone. Getting in relationship with wise, caring people will protect you from despair and acting out of despair.

But what if you are bereaved and alone? If you know Jesus, you still have a family—His family is your family. Become part of a community of other Christians. Look for a church where Jesus is at the center of teaching and worship. Get in relationship with people who can help you, but don’t stop with getting help. Find people to love, serve, and give to. Even if your life has been stripped barren by lost relationships, God can and will fill your life with helpful and healing relationships.

Grow in godly life skills

Another protective factor is to grow in godly living. Many of the reasons for despair come from not living a godly, fruitful life. You need to learn the skills that make godly living possible. What are some of those skills?

    • Conflict resolution. Learn to problem-solve by entering into human difficulties and growing through them. (See Ask the Christian Counselor article, “Fighting the Right Way.”)
    • Seek and grant forgiveness. Hopeless thinking is often the result of guilt and bitterness.
    • Learn to give to others. Suicide is a selfish act. It’s a lie that others will be better off without you. Work to replace your faulty thinking with reaching out to others who are also struggling. Take what you have learned in this article and pass it on to at least one other person. Whatever hope God gives you, give to someone who is struggling with despair.     

Live for God 

When you live for God, you have genuine meaning in your life. This purpose is far bigger than your suffering, your failures, the death of your dreams, and the disillusionment of your hopes. Living by faith in God for His purposes will protect you from suicidal and despairing thoughts. God wants to use your personality, your skills, your life situation, and even your struggle with despair to bring hope to others. 

He has already prepared good works for you to do. Paul says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). As you step into the good works God has prepared for you—you will find that meaning, purpose, and joy.

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By Everette Hatcher III | Also posted in Adrian Rogers | Comments (0)

Heartbreaking story of Amy Winehouse

July 23, 2011 – 11:59 pm

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I am in the middle of a series on the Papa Roach song “Last Resort” which deals with suicide and then today I hear this sad story about Amy Winehouse.

Inside Amy Winehouse’s troubled life

With the news that British R&B star and tabloid target Amy Winehouse has died from as yet undisclosed causes, two things are clear: the music world lost one of its most passionately soulful voices, and this is a tragedy that has surprised no one. Winehouse’s struggles with drugs and alcohol were often in the public eye and even addressed in her own music, like her best-known hit “Rehab.”

Throughout her colorful, troubled life, Winehouse fought many demons: addiction, an eating disorder, and a particularly tumultuous love life. 

Her struggles to stay sober

Although she first broke through to international audiences with a song that found her saying “no, no, no” to her record company’s claims that she belonged in rehab, it didn’t take long for fans to realize she did have a problem with alcohol abuse, frequently appearing in what appeared to be a drunken state while onstage (one time she exited the stage to vomit) and during TV appearances. Hospitalizations, allegedly related to drug or drinking binges, were frequent. A leaked video of a woman alleged to be Winehouse smoking what appeared to be crack pipe and snorting cocaine caused a tabloid sensation and caused police to investigate the matter, though charges weren’t brought against her.

Winehouse was aware of her problems: while she initially resisted her record company’s attempt to put her in rehab, she willingly checked in to a center around that time. And in 2009, Winehouse’s father Mitch-who had frequently voiced his concerns over her healthto the media-said she had entered a program to deal with her drug addiction, but he admitted that there were “slight backward steps — not drug backward steps, more drink backward steps if you follow my drift.”

Her father wasn’t so coy about her addiction issues: he once told UK reporters that his daughter had lung damage from smoking crack cocaine and cigarettes and that her body was giving signs of what could lead to early stage emphysema.

Also in the smoking rotation was marijuana: in 2007, Winehouse and her then-husband were arrested in Norway and fined for marijuana possession.

Winehouse herself resisted confessional 60 Minutes-type interviews, but she didn’t exactly try to hide her history with drugs and alcohol either. When asked by Rolling Stone in 2006 what her worst vice was, she simply responded, “Mainly that I’m quite reckless and always throw caution to the wind.”

Her friend and fellow British bad girl singer Lily Allen once had this to say about her:

“I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don’t see that side.”

Health problems

Even before she gained the international celebrity that probably helped enable her addictions, Winehouse was open about other health problems, admitting to struggling with an eating disorder, self-cutting and depression on numerous occasions. Photos of an emaciated Winehouse were always popping up over the years, causing fans to worry she wasn’t taking good care of her fragile body-a fear once again publicly validated by her own father when he spoketo the media about her bulimia in 2007.

As for her cutting problems, Winehouse seemed to have moved past that as she grew up: However, during an interview with a reporter from Spin magazine, Winehouse inexplicably began carving her the name of her then-boyfriend (and future ex-husband) Blake Fielder-Civil into her stomach with a piece of glass.

Public Brawls

As with many of those who abuse alcohol, Winehouse had a tendency toward physical fighting. In 2008 she admitted to slapping a man in public and apologized for the common assault, receiving just a police warning. But a few months later, she descended into the audience tothrow a punch at a fan who had allegedly grabbed at her breasts.

Love Life

Similarly violent was Winehouse’s long-time flame Blake Fielder-Civil. It was breaking up with him that fueled much of her songwriting on her acclaimed Back to Black album, so it was a surprise to family and friends when she secretly married him in 2007. But married life hardly helped settle down her tumultuous life. Not long after tying the knot, the couple were photographed arm-in-arm, each of them bloodied and bruised amid reports that they had been fighting the night before. Winehouse defended her husband and said the wounds were self-inflicted, a claim that was met with public skepticism.

Fielder-Civil was jailed from July 2008 to February 2009 after pleading guilty to assaulting a bartender, among other charges. The two divorced not long after his release, with Winehouse claiming: “Our whole marriage was based on doing drugs.” Before Fielder-Civil initiated divorce proceedings, Winehouse had allegedly began dating a younger actor for a short period.

Family

Her father, who recently cancelled a jazz performance in New York of his own to fly back to London, has been expressing alarm and concern over his daughter’s well-being for years now, publicly referring to her heroin, cocaine and alcohol problems when Winehouse’s publicists remained mute. He even took issue with her smoking, saying in an interview with Sky News (via Access Hollywood) earlier this month: “She has got a serious health problem. My biggest fear is that she would die and she won’t die from an overdose, she will die from emphysema. We would be talking about a very slow and painful death, gasping for air.”

Recent Trouble

As recently as last month, however, Winehouse unwittingly revealed that all was not well. Video captured of her performing in Belgrade-at a show that was to launch her immediately cancelled European tour-showed her forgetting lyrics, stumbling around and being booed by disgruntled fans. Whether she was intoxicated or not, it was clear that Winehouse hadn’t released herself from the demons that plagued her. Hopefully now she has found some peace.

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By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

[RAW VIDEO] Terrorist attack on Oslo, Norway – July 22, 2011

July 23, 2011 – 11:49 am

[RAW VIDEO] Terrorist attack on Oslo, Norway – July 22, 2011

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Chuck Colson: True Christians renounce violence and promote human freedom

July 23, 2011 – 10:17 am
 
  • Smoke rises from the central area of Oslo Friday, July 22, 2011 after an explosion. Terrorism ravaged long-peaceful Norway on Friday when a bomb ripped open buildings including the prime minister's office and a man dressed as a police officer opened fire at a nearby island youth camp. (AP Photo/Scanpix, Jon Bredo Overaas) NORWAY OUT

    Smoke rises from the central area of Oslo Friday, July 22, 2011 after an explosion. …

Today there is a big debate caused by the tragic events in Norway where an extremist associated with a Christian group that opposed multiculturalism has killed over 90 people.

In the article below Chuck Colson noted, “True Christians renounce violence and promote human freedom, which is why the major human-rights movements of the past centuries were inspired by and fueled by Christianity.” That is why I believe it is clear that the terrorist in Norway was not a true Christian. The Bible does not teach jihad.

Wars of Religion?

The ‘Economist’ Gets It Wrong

By Chuck Colson|Published Date: November 28, 2007

colson2As part of the Economist magazine’s coverage of religion’s role in the twenty-first century, a recent story covers the “new wars of religion.”

The magazine’s emphasis on religion represents a nearly 180-degree turn from the publication’s 1999 declaration that belief in God had “passed into history.” But while the magazine is looking in the right direction, it does not understand what it is seeing.

The graphic accompanying the story could not be less subtle: an arm reaching down from heaven holding a hand grenade. According to the story, “faith will unsettle politics everywhere this century; it will do so least when it is separated from the state.”

We are not even into the story, and there is already a problem: There is a world of difference between mixing faith with politics and the kind of violence suggested by the hand-grenade graphic.

Even if you think that faith and politics should be completely separate, it is absurd to equate—as theEconomist does—the actions of American Christians with those of al-Qaeda or the Muslim Brotherhood. The article unintentionally exposes this absurdity: The only mention in the article of a Christian resorting to political violence was the Gunpowder Plot of 1605! Even there, calling Guy Fawkes a “Catholic Jihadist” is a bit of a stretch—a desperate attempt to draw a moral equivalency where none exists.

That’s because it has been 400 years since Christians settled religious disputes with explosives. (No, Northern Ireland, you may be thinking, but that was political.) Yet Islamic, and even Hindu, uses of political violence make headlines nearly every day.

Clearly, this is the case in the two countries the magazine spotlights: Nigeria and India. In Nigeria, when Muslim-majority states in the North adopted sharia law, the Christians faced possible flogging and mutilation, as well as restrictions on practicing their faith.

The adoption of the sharia law was followed by attacks on Christian neighborhoods and businesses. While it is true that some Christians fought back, that does not change the fact that in almost all cases Muslims initiated the violence.

In India, Hindu nationalists use their political power to oppress Muslims and Christians. Two thousand Muslims were killed in anti-Muslim riots five years ago.

It is simply grotesque to compare Hindu nationalists, as the Economist does, to Focus on the Family and my friend Jim Dobson—almost as grotesque to lump Christian efforts at social reform with the imposition of sharia law.

The Economist is still looking through a lens distorted by secularism. Maybe we cannot blame it, because so much today in our politically correct culture tells us that all religions are alike: All that matters is that we worship God, and we worship the same god. When I criticize Muslims, I have often been attacked.

We need to lovingly make the case to our neighbors that all religions are not alike. True Christians renounce violence and promote human freedom, which is why the major human-rights movements of the past centuries were inspired by and fueled by Christianity.

We cannot expect our critics to get it right, but we can teach our secular friends. I have done this from time to time and watched their attitudes dramatically change. We have a great case—all we have to do is make it, and let people know that worldviews do matter.

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)

Do Christians or Muslims commit more acts of terror?

July 23, 2011 – 9:35 am

Smoke rises from the central area of Oslo Friday, July 22, 2011 after an explosion. Terrorism ravaged long-peaceful Norway on Friday when a bomb ripped open buildings including the prime minister's office and a man dressed as a police officer opened fire at a nearby island youth camp. (AP Photo/Scanpix, Jon Bredo Overaas) NORWAY OUT

Today the world has learned that yesterday’s tragic events in Norway where over 90 individuals were killed, was NOT THE ACT OF A MUSLIM AS EARLIER REPORTED.  Actually now it seems that this person may have been a member of an extremist Christian group that opposed multiculturalism. At least that is the information that we are getting now. This has prompted people on the Arkansas Times Blog to ask for Christian leaders to apologize. However, it is my view that Christianity is truly a religion of peace and that Islam does have a large element in their group that hold to principles of jihad. What is the results of the last few decades? Why not examine the list of terror acts? Here it is below taken from wikipedia.

Terrorist attacks

Estimate↓ Name↓ Country↓ City↓ Date↓
2,982 September 11 attacks United States New York City, The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia, Shanksville, Pennsylvania 2001
796 Yazidi communities bombings Iraq Qahtaniya and Adnaniyah 2007
422 Cinema Rex fire Iran Abadan 1978
334 Beslan school siege Russia Beslan 2004
329 Air India Flight 182 Atlantic Ocean, South of Ireland   1985
309 1983 Beirut barracks bombing Lebanon Beirut 1983
293 1999 Russian apartment bombings Russia Moscow 1999
270 Pan Am Flight 103 United Kingdom Lockerbie, Scotland 1988
257 1993 Mumbai bombings India Mumbai 1993
252 2001 Angola train attack Angola   2001
238 MV Dara Southwest Asia Persian Gulf 1961
237 1998 United States embassy bombings Kenya, Tanzania Nairobi, Dar es Salaam 1998
215 Sadr City bombings Iraq Sadr City 2006
209 Mumbai train bombings India Mumbai 2006
202 2002 Bali bombings Indonesia Bali 2002
198 April 18, 2007 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2007
191 March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings Spain Madrid 2004
178 Ashoura Massacre Iraq Kerbala and Baghdad 2004
175 2008 Mumbai attacks India Mumbai 2008
171 UTA Flight 772 Niger   1989
170 Moscow Theatre Siege Russia Moscow 2002
168 Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis Russia Kizlyar, Pervomayskoye and Sovetskoye 1996
168 Oklahoma City bombing United States Oklahoma City 1995
155 25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2009
152 2007 Tal Afar bombings and massacre Iraq Tal Afar 2007
150 St Nedelya Church assault Bulgaria Sofia 1925
148 Gyaneshwari Express train derailment India   2010
140 Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis Russia Budyonnovsk 1995
136 2007 Karachi bombing Pakistan Karachi 2007
135 February 3, 2007 Baghdad market bombing Iraq Baghdad 2007
133+ January 2011 Iraq suicide attacks Iraq   2011
130 Rafiganj train disaster India Rafiganj 2002
128 Xiamen Airlines Flight 8301 China Guangzhou 1990
127 8 December 2009 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2009
127 2005 Al Hillah bombing Iraq Al Hillah 2005
125 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 Indian Ocean   1996
120+ Mountain Meadows Massacre United States Utah 1857
120 2007 Al Hillah bombings Iraq Al Hillah 2007
117 28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing Pakistan Peshawar 2009
117 2004 Irbil bombings Iraq Irbil 2004
116 2004 SuperFerry 14 bombing Philippines   2004
114+ 10 May 2010 Iraq attacks Iraq Baghdad 2010
113+ 2 November 2010 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2010
112 2006 Digampathana bombing Sri Lanka Digampathana 2006
112 September 14, 2005 Baghdad bombing Iraq Baghdad 2005
112 Avianca Flight 203 Colombia   1989
112 Gulf Air Flight 771 United Arab Emirates Dubai 1983
110 10 October 2008 Orakzai bombing Pakistan Orakzai 2008
105 2010 Lakki Marwat suicide bombing Pakistan Lakki Marwat 2010
104 Mohmand Agency attack Pakistan Mohmand Agency 2010
102 First Tyre truck bombing attack Lebanon Tyre 1982
101 19 August 2009 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2009
100+ 10 May 2010 Iraq attacks Iraq   2010
100 2008 Kandahar bombing Afghanistan Kandahar 2008
98 May 2010 attacks on Ahmadi mosques in Lahore Pakistan Lahore 2010
98 1 February 2008 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2008
98 Musayyib fuel tanker bombing Iraq Musayyib 2005
91+ 2011 Norway attacks Norway Oslo and Utøya 2011
91 King David Hotel bombing Mandatory Palestine Jerusalem 1946
90 Central Bank Bombing Sri Lanka Colombo 1996
90 2005 Sharm el-Sheikh attacks Egypt Sharm el-Sheikh 2005
89 Russian airplane bombings Russia Moscow 2004
88 TWA Flight 841   Ionian Sea 1974
88 22 January 2007 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2007
86 AMIA Bombing Argentina Buenos Aires 1994
85 April 2010 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2010
85 Buratha Mosque bombing Iraq Baghdad 2006
85 Stazione Centrale bombing Italy Bologna 1980
83 2002 Grozny truck bombing Russia Grozny 2002
83 Imam Ali Mosque bombing Iraq Najaf 2003
81 2008 Assam bombings India Assam 2008
80 Jaipur bombings India Jaipur 2008
80 1985 Beirut car bombing Lebanon Beirut 1985
76 February 12, 2007 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2007
76 2010 Maoist attack in Dantewada India Dantewada, Chattisgarh 2010
75 2007 Baghlan sugar factory bombing Afghanistan Baghlan 2008
74 July 2010 Kampala attacks Uganda Kampala 2010
74 2005 Khanaqin bombings Iraq Khanaqin 2005
74 21 April 2004 Basra bombings Iraq Basra 2004
74 2004 Kufa shelling Iraq Kufa 2004
73+ September 2010 Quetta bombing Pakistan Quetta 2010
73 20 June 2009 Taza bombing Iraq Taza 2009
72+ March 2010 Lahore bombings Pakistan Lahore 2010
70+ July 2010 Baghdad attacks Iraq Baghdad 2010
70 2008 Wah bombing Pakistan Wah 2008
70 2007 Baghdad Mustansiriya University bombing Iraq Baghdad 2007
69+ 17 August 2010 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2010
69 24 June 2009 Baghdad bombing Iraq Baghdad 2009
68 6 March 2008 Baghdad bombing Iraq Baghdad 2008
68 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings India   2007
68 2004 Baqubah bombing Iraq Baqubah 2004
67 19 December 2004 Karbala and Najaf bombings Iraq Karbala 2004
66 2010 Darra Adam Khel mosque bombing Pakistan Darra Adam Khel 2010
63 Luxor massacre Egypt Luxor 1997
63 February 18, 2007 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2007
63 DAS Building bombing Colombia Bogotá 1989
63 Iraqi Airways Flight 163 Saudi Arabia Arar 1986
63 April 1983 US Embassy bombing Lebanon Beirut 1983
62 1999 Vladikavkaz bombing Russia Vladikavkaz 1999
62 July 1, 2006 Sadr City bombing Iraq Sadr City 2006
62 29 October 2005 Delhi bombings India Delhi 2005
62 24 June 2004 Mosul bombings Iraq Mosul 2004
60 2005 Amman bombings Jordan Amman 2005
60 EgyptAir Flight 648 Greece Athens 1985
60 Second Tyre truck bombing attack Lebanon Tyre 1983
59 2003 Znamenskoye suicide bombing Russia Znamenskoye 2003
58 2010 Baghdad church attack Iraq Baghdad 2010
58 6 April 2010 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2010
58 April 2010 Kohat bombings Pakistan Kohat 2010
58 2008 Indian embassy bombing in Kabul Afghanistan Kabul 2008
58 1948 Ben Yehuda Street bombing Mandatory Palestine Jerusalem 1948
57 Nishtar Park bombing Pakistan Karachi 2006
57 2003 Istanbul Bombings Turkey Istanbul 2003
56 2008 Ahmedabad bombings Pakistan Ahmedabad 2008
54 1 February 2010 Baghdad bombing Iraq Baghdad 2010
54 December 2009 Lahore attacks Pakistan Lahore 2009
54 Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing Pakistan Islamabad 2008
53+ 25 August 2010 Iraq bombings Iraq Kut 2010
52 7 July 2005 London bombings United Kingdom London 2005
52 2003 Mumbai bombings India Mumbai 2003
51 2009 African Union base bombings in Mogadishu Somalia Mogadishu 2009
51 17 June 2008 Baghdad bombing Iraq Baghdad 2008
50+ Dera Ghazi Khan bombings Pakistan Dera Ghazi Khan 2011
50+ December 2010 Mohmand Agency bombings Pakistan Mohmand Agency 2010
50 5 April 2010 Peshawar bombings Pakistan Peshawar 2010
50 July 2010 Lahore bombings Pakistan Lahore 2010
48 27 January 2011 Baghdad bombing Iraq Baghdad 2011
48 2009 Jamrud mosque bombing Pakistan Jamrud 2009
47 December 2010 Bajaur bombing Pakistan Khar 2010
47 14 September 2004 Baghdad bombing Iraq Baghdad 2004
47 2008 Parachinar bombing Pakistan Parachinar 2008
46 2003 Stavropol train bombing Russia Stavropol 2003
46 2003 Casablanca bombings Morocco Casablanca 2003
44 Kaspiysk bombing Russia Kaspiysk 2002
43+ 7 August 2010 Basra attacks Iraq Basra 2010
43 2009 Pishin bombing Iran Pishin 2009
43 2009 Karachi bombing Pakistan Karachi 2009
43 2008 Issers bombing Algeria Issers 2008
42 25 August 2007 Hyderabad bombings India Hyderabad 2007
42 April 4, 2010 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2010
42 February 2004 Moscow metro bombing Russia Moscow 2004
41 30 September 2004 Baghdad bombing Iraq Baghdad 2004
41 25 January 2010 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2010
41 December 11, 2007 Algiers bombings Algeria Algiers 2007
40+ 9 March 2011 Peshawar bombing Pakistan Peshawar 2011
40 Nadahan wedding bombing Afghanistan Kandahar Province 2010
40 2010 Moscow Metro bombings Russia Moscow 2010
39 May 2010 Mogadishu bombings Somalia Mogadishu 2010
38 Coastal Road massacre Israel Coastal Highway 1978
38 2010 Chabahar suicide bombing Iran Chabahar 2010
38 October 2009 Lahore attacks Pakistan Lahore 2009
38 December 2009 Rawalpindi attack Pakistan Rawalpindi 2009
38 2001 attack on Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly India Srinagar 2001
38 Wall Street bombing United States New York City 1920
37 2006 Malegaon blasts India   2006
36 2011 Domodedovo International Airport bombing Russia Moscow 2011
35+ 2010 Dantewada bus bombing India Dantewada 2010
35 September 2010 Lahore bombings Pakistan Lahore 2010
35 27 October 2003 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2003
35 November 2009 Rawalpindi bombing Pakistan Rawalpindi 2009
35 2009 Beledweyne bombing Somalia Beledweyne 2009
35 2009 Lahore bombing Pakistan Lahore 2009
35 September 2008 Peshawar bombing Pakistan Peshawar 2008
35 15 July 2008 Baquba bombings Iraq Baqubah 2008
35 Riyadh compound bombings Saudi Arabia Riyadh 2003
34 6 April 2009 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2009
34 Sinai bombings Egypt Taba, Nuweiba 2004
33 Akshardham Temple attack India Gandhinagar 2002
33 December 2009 Dera Ghazi Khan bombing Pakistan Dera Ghazi Khan 2009
33 3 March 2010 Baqubah bombings Iraq Baqubah 2010
33 11 April 2007 Algiers bombings Algeria Algiers 2007
33 Pan Am Flight 110 Italy   1973
33 1998 Coimbatore bombings India Coimbatore 1998
33 Dublin and Monaghan Bombings Ireland Dublin, Monaghan 1974
32 2009 African Union base bombings in Mogadishu Somalia Mogadishu 2009
32 Muna hotel attack Somalia Mogadishu 2010
32 28 September 2008 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2008
31+ 19 September 2010 Baghdad bombings Iraq Baghdad 2010
30 13 September 2008 Delhi bombings India Delhi 2008
30 February 2010 Khyber Mosque bombing Pakistan Khyber Agency 2010
30 Passover massacre Israel Netanya 2002
30 2007 Dellys bombing Algeria Dellys 2007
29 Attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires Argentina Buenos Aires 1992
29 Omagh Bombing Northern Ireland Omagh 1998
28 2003 Nasiriyah bombing Iraq Nasiriyah 2003
28 2009 Nevsky Express bombing Russia Bologoye 2009
28 2006 Varanasi bombings India Varanasi 2006
27+ 24 January 2011 Iraq bombings Iraq Baghdad 2011
27+ July 2010 Zahedan bombings Iran Zahedan 2010
27 1994 Baku Metro bombings Azerbaijan Baku 1994
26 First Jaffa Road bus bombing Israel Jerusalem 1996
25+ Assassination of Benazir Bhutto Pakistan Rawalpindi 2007
25+ February 2010 Karachi bombings Pakistan Karachi 2010
25 2009 Hotel Shamo bombing Somalia Mogadishu 2009
25 September 2007 bombings in Rawalpindi Pakistan Rawalpindi 2007
25 2009 Nazran bombing Russia Nazran 2009
25 19 April 2010 Peshawar bombing Pakistan Peshawar 2010
24 2011 Alexandria bombing Egypt Alexandria 2011
23 2009 Pakistan Army General Headquarters attack Pakistan Punjab 2009
23 2006 Dahab bombings Egypt Dahab 2006
23 Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing Israel Jerusalem 2003
22 Rizal Day bombings Philippines Metro Manila 2000
22 2004 Khobar massacre Saudi Arabia Khobar 2004
22 2007 Batna bombing Algeria Batna 2007
22 2004 Forward Operating Base Marez bombing Iraq Mosul 2004
22 Canal Hotel bombing Iraq Baghdad 2003
22 Dizengoff Street bus bombing Israel Tel Aviv 1994
22 Beit Lid massacre Israel   1995
21 Kosheh massacre Egypt Kosheh 2000
21 1987 Hipercor bombing Spain Barcelona 1987
21 Los Angeles Times bombing United States Los Angeles 1910
21 Birmingham pub bombings United Kingdom Birmingham 1974
21 Dolphinarium discotheque suicide bombing Israel Tel Aviv 2001
21 Maxim restaurant suicide bombing Israel Haifa 2003
20+ Pan Am Flight 73 Pakistan Karachi 1986
20 2011 Faisalabad bombing Pakistan Faisalabad 2011
20 2009 Zahedan explosion Iran Zahedan 2009
20 2011 Mumbai bombings India Mumbai 2011
19 Patt Junction Bus Bombing Isreal Jerusalem 2002
19 Rome and Vienna airport attacks Italy, Austria Rome, Vienna 1985
19 Khobar Towers bombing Saudi Arabia [[Khobar] 1996
19 USS Cole bombing Yemen Aden 2000
19 2003 Karbala bombings Iraq Karbala 2003
19 2008 American Embassy attack in Yemen Yemen Sana’a 2008
19 February 2010 Khyber bombing Pakistan Khyber 2010
18 Pakistan CID building attack Pakistan Karachi 2010
18 1985 El Descanso bombing Spain Madrid 1985
18 Christmas Eve 2000 Indonesia bombings Indonesia Jakarta, Pekanbaru, Medan, Bandung, Batam Island, Mojokerto, Mataram, andSukabumi]] 2000
18 2007 Zahedan bombings Iran Zahedan 2007
18 May 2010 Kabul bombing Afghanistan Kabul 2010
18 February 2010 Kabul attack Afghanistan Kabul 2010
17 2008 Istanbul bombings Turkey Istanbul 2008
17 Munich massacre Germany Munich 1972
17 2003 Jordanian embassy bombing in Baghdad Iraq Baghdad 2003
17 2009 Kabul Indian embassy attack Afghanistan Kabul 2009
17 2010 Pune bombing India Pune 2010
17 Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing Israel Haifa 2003
17 2010 Vladikavkaz bombing Russia Vladikavkaz 2010
16 2011 Marrakech bombing Morocco Marrakech 2011
16 2001 Bahawalpur church attack Pakistan Bahawalpur 2001
16 January 2010 Bajaur bombing Pakistan Bajaur 2010
16 2009 Lahore police academy attacks Pakistan Lahore 2009
15 2011 Imbaba church attacks Egypt Imbaba 2011
15 Matza restaurant suicide bombing Israel Haifa 2002
15 Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing Israel Jerusalem 2001
14 2011 Minsk Metro bombing Belarus Minsk 2011
14 Karkur junction suicide bombing Israel   2002
14 2008 Shiraz explosion Iran Shiraz 2008
13 1999 Istanbul bombings Turkey Istanbul 1999
13 2002 Karachi bus bombing Pakistan Karachi 2002
13 Fort Hood shooting United States Texas 2009
13 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway Japan Tokyo 1995
13 2006 Moscow market bombing Russia Moscow 2006
13 Dizengoff Center suicide bombing Israel Tel Aviv 1996
13 2008 Beni Amrane bombings Algeria Beni Amrane 2008
12+ 2010 Hakkâri bus attack Turkey Hakkâri Province 2010
12 October 2010 Abuja attacks Nigeria Abuja 2010
12 2001 Indian Parliament attack India New Delhi 2001
12 2002 US consulate bombing in Karachi Pakistan Karachi 2002
12 Remembrance Day bombing United Kingdom Enniskillen 1987
12 M62 coach bombing United Kingdom Yorkshire 1974
12 December 2009 Lower Dir mosque bombing Pakistan Lower Dir 2009
12 2010 Kizlyar bombings Russia Kizlyar 2010
12 2008 Vladikavkaz bombing Russia Vladikavkaz 2008
11 Nag Hammadi massacre Egypt Nag Hammadi 2010
11 2002 Zamboanga City bombings Philippines Zamboanga City 2002
11 1987 Zaragoza Barracks bombing Spain Zaragoza 1987
11 Deal barracks bombing United Kingdom Deal 1989
11 Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings United Kingdom London 1982
11 Café Moment bombing Israel Jerusalem 2002
11 Kiryat Menachem bus bombing Israel Jerusalem 2002
11 Jerusalem bus 19 suicide bombing Israel Jerusalem 2004
10 13 March 2003 Mumbai train bombing India Mumbai 2003
10 2007 attack on tourists in Yemen Yemen Mareb 2007
10 August 2004 Moscow metro bombing Russia Moscow 2004
10 2010 Badakhshan massacre Afghanistan Badakhshan Province 2010
10 February 2010 Lower Dir bombing Pakistan Lower Dir 2010
9 2007 Ankara bombing Turkey Ankara 2007
9 Camp Chapman attack Afghanistan Khost Province 2009
9 1991 Vic bombing Spain Vic 1991
8 2006 Central Mindanao bombings Philippines Central Mindanao 2006
8 July 2009 Mindanao bombings Philippines Mindanao 2009
8 2008 Danish embassy bombing in Islamabad Pakistan Islamabad 2008
8 1995 Paris Metro bombing France Paris 1995
8 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team Pakistan Lahore 2009
8 2010 Stavropol bomb blast Russia Stavropol 2010
8 2009 UN guest house attack in Kabul Afghanistan Kabul 2009
8 Mercaz HaRav massacre Israel Jerusalem 2008
7 1977 Moscow bombings Russia Moscow 1977
7 1972 Aldershot Bombing United Kingdom Aldershot 1972
6 April 2005 Cairo terrorist attacks Egypt Cario 2005
6 2010 Chechen Parliament attack Russia Grozny 2010
6 Batasang Pambansa bombing Philippines Quezon City 2007
6 2009 International Islamic University bombing Pakistan Islamabad 2009
6 Harrods bombing United Kingdom London 1983
6 2003 Red Square bombing Russia Moscow 2003
6 1993 World Trade Center bombing United States New York City 1993

[edit]

By Everette Hatcher III | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

“Midnight in Paris” movie review

July 23, 2011 – 5:52 am

Hemingway talks about the fear of death in the latest Woody Allen film “Midnight in Paris.” This is one of Allen’s themes that visits often in his films.

This is the Golden Age; “Midnight in Paris” is effortlessly lovely

by Nick Christian, Editor-In-ChiefPDFPrint

Volume 16, Issue 34

June 14, 2010

The CNM Chronicle gives “Midnight in Paris” 4.3-of-5 stars

Woody Allen’s 45th directed film “Midnight in Paris” is aesthetically appealing, whimsical, and harkens a respect for the past in a world society that perpetually looks to the future.

“Midnight in Paris” (Which was writ­ten and directed by Allen) stars Owen Wilson as Gil Bender on vacation with his fiancée Inez, played by Rachel McAdams.

The movie begins with a series of shots of Paris land­marks, some in regular weather and some in rain, synched to change shots along with the upbeat in the score. Like other Allen movies, the first dialog is heard from Gil against the black title credits which progress to reveal Inez and Gil walking through Monet’s Garden in Giverny.

Throughout the early daylight scenes of “Midnight in Paris,” Gil and Inez walk through a series of landmarks. Gil, an American television writer working on his first novel, professes his love of the city of Paris, how the people operate and his desire to live, write there while Inez cannot wait to return stateside.

Gil and Inez are in Paris along with Inez’s parents John, played by Kurt Fuller, and Helen, played by Mimi Kennedy, who are in town on a business venture for John. Along the way Gil and Inez meet up with Inez’s Gil-termed “Pedantic” friend Paul played by Michael Sheen and Carol played by Nina Arianda.

Paul invites Gil and Inez along with he and Carol to tour Rodin’s museum where Paul proceeds to give a tour to an attentive Inez and Carol, and an unwilling Gil.

There is a shot in front of Rodin’s museum where the two women follow Paul with a rapt focus while Gil follows as if he becomes more uninterested and annoyed at Paul with each step he takes. It’s in a scene like this where Wilson shines play­ing the Allen surrogate role of Gil. While Wilson may not appear as cynical or sharp as Allen would in the role, there is a believ­able mocking quality to the way Wilson plays the character.

After a day of listening to Paul bemoan about the history of Paris and the various works of art that contribute to the city’s prestige, Gil excuses himself to walk around the city. Eventually Gil finds himself lost on the streets of Paris, and sits on a city street stairway in the Latin Quarter. As the clock strikes midnight a Duisenberg strolls up to where he is sitting and the inhabitants of the car invite him to come along.

After Gil gets out of the car, he finds himself in the 1920’s France world of Cole Porter (played by Yves Heck) music, late-night parties and stimulating conversa­tion. Eventually, he finds himself talking to Zelda (played by Alison Pill) and Scott Fitzgerald (played by Tom Hiddleston) and joining them in escaping the boring party in which they go to a bar where they meet up with Ernest Hemmingway (played by Corey Stroll).

Throughout the process Gil is entranced by each author or artist he meets. After asking Hemmingway to read his novel-in-progress, Hemmingway declines but prom­ises to bring him to the only person he trusts with his work, Gertrude Stein (played by Kathy Bates).

During the next day Gil tells Inez about his night and she devalues everything he says. Throughout the day the growing disconnect between Gil and Inez becomes more obvi­ous as they argue over where they should live after getting married.

The next night Hemmingway takes Gil to Stein where he is thrust into an argu­ment between her and Pablo Picasso about a painting. The painting was a portrait of a woman, Adriana (played by Marion Cotillard), whom Picasso had been seeing. Gil talks with Adrianna in the next room and they bond over a common bond, a love of the past.

There are many great performances in “Midnight in Paris,” the most notable being any with Hemmingway. Stroll plays an engag­ing Hemmingway who rivets all he talks to with poignant words and elegant phrases. Throughout the movie Hemmingway deliv­ers bits like “All Cowardice comes from not loving,” and “You will never write well if you fear dying.” But the best bit of Hemmingway in this movie is a conversa­tion between him and Adrianna at a party thrown by the Fitzgerald’s.

Hemmingway says to Adrianna, “Have you ever shot a charging lion?” Adriana responds no and Hemmingway responds with “would you like to?”

Bates is also brilliant as the poetess Stein. She is forceful and abrupt which allows her to motivate Wilson in his writing career.

Cotillard is, as Wilson describes, “Effortlessly Lovely.” The chemistry between Adrianna and Gil is enchanting and propels the movie forward.

Lastly, McAdams is abrasive as Inez which is most likely the point of her char­acter. She constantly puts down Gil which makes her character hard to care about.

The movie has been proclaimed in many critics reviews as a love note to Paris. While each image on screen is beautiful and filmed with the perfect amounts of light, weather and blocking, the content of the movie seems to be more focused on Allen’s post famous career.

Wilson plays a writer trying to find a living where he isn’t a corporate hand making things that are moronic and simplis­tic. He hates the fact he spends his life ridi­culed by pedantic people who have no clue what they are talking about and indoctrinate the naively willing.

What Allen is beckoning for through a love letter to Paris is a return to writ­ing or self-expression before the corporate takeover of the arts realm. In the words of Inez in an early scene, “Midnight in Paris” Is Allen willfully stating that he would give it all up just to struggle.

By Everette Hatcher III | Comments (0)