God and Carpeting: The Theology of Woody Allen Details Written by David M. of the group “Jews for Jesus”

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God and Carpeting: The Theology of Woody Allen Details Written by David M. of the group “Jews for Jesus”

Woody Allen about meaning and truth of life on Earth

Dick & Woody get semi-metaphysical

Woody Allen interview 1971 PART 2/4

Woody Allen interview 1971 PART 1/4

 

God and Carpeting: The Theology of Woody Allen
Details Written by David M.

A red-haired boy sits next to his mother in the psychiatrist’s office. She is describing her son’s problems and expressing her disappointment in him. Why is he always depressed? Why can’t he be like other boys his age? The doctor turns to the boy and asks why he is depressed. In a hopeless daze the boy replies, The universe is expanding, and if the universe is everything…and if it’s expanding…someday it will break apart and that’s the end of everything…what’s the point?”

His mother leans over, slaps the kid and scolds: “What is that your business!”

This scene from Annie Hall typifies Woody Allen’s quest for understanding! Allen touches on various topics and themes in all his cinematic works, but three subjects continually resurface: the existence of God, the fear of death and the nature of morality. These are all Jewish questions or at least theological issues. Woody Allen is a seeker who wants answers to the Ultimate Questions. His movie characters differ, yet they are all, in some way, asking these questions he wants answered. They are all “Woody Allens” wrestling with the same issues. He explains:

Maybe it’s because I’m depressed so often that I’m drawn to writers like Kafka, Dostoevski and to a filmmaker like Bergman. I think I have all the symptoms and problems that their characters are occupied with: an obsession with death, an obsession with God or the lack of God, the question of why we are here. Almost all of my work is autobiographical—exaggerated but true.1

But Woody Allen does not allow himself to dwell too long on these universal problems. The mother’s response to her red-haired son’s angst is typical of the comedic lid the filmmaker presses over his depressing outlook to close the issue. True, Woody Allen has made his mark by asking big questions. But it is the absence of satisfactory answers to those questions that causes much of the angst—and humor—we see on the screen. Off screen we see little difference.

Allen’s (authorized) biography, published in 1991, sheds some light on his life and times. Woody Allen, whose given name was Allan Konigsberg, was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Allen describes his Jewish family and neighborhood as being from “the heart of the old world, their values are God and carpeting.”2 While he did not embrace the religion of his youth, his Jewishness is ever present in his characters, plots and dialogue. Jewish thought is intrinsic to his life and work.

One can see this in the 1977 film Annie Hall, where Allen’s character, Alvy, is put in contrast to his Midwestern, gentile girlfriend. In one scene he is visiting Annie’s parents. Her grandmother stares at him, picturing him as a stereotypical Chasidic Jew with side locks, black hat and a long coat. The screen splits as Alvy imagines his family on the right and hers on the left. Her parents ask what his parents will be doing for “the holidays”:
“We fast, to atone for our sins,” his mother explains.

Annie’s mother is confused. “What sins? I don’t understand.”

Alvy’s father responds with a shrug: “To tell you the truth, neither do we.”

Nothing worth knowing can be understood by the mind.3

Allen suggests that the greatest thinkers in history died knowing no more than he does now. He often uses humor to poke fun at pretentious intellectuals who spout textbook answers. In another Annie Hall scene Alvy is standing in line at a movie theater. The man behind him is trying to impress his date. Alvy is annoyed, and when the man begins commenting on pop philosopher Marshall McLuhan, Alvy turns and informs him that he knows nothing about McLuhan. To prove his point, he escorts McLuhan himself into the scene. The philosopher deftly puts the object of Alvy/Allen’s scorn (a Columbia University professor of TV, media and film) in his place. Alvy steps out of character and, as Woody Allen, he looks into the camera and sighs: “Boy, if life were only like this.…”

Allen’s films do not merely expose and poke fun at pseudo-intellectuals; they point out that no school of human thought can provide ultimate solutions. Allen’s lack of faith in the world’s systems generates some great one-liners:
He tells how he was caught cheating on a college metaphysics exam: “I was looking into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.”4

He also pokes fun at existentialism, commenting on a course he took in the subject: “I didn’t know any of the answers so I left it all blank. I got a hundred.”5

His first wife studied philosophy in college: “She used to prove that I didn’t exist.”6

Psychology also figures into Allen’s scripts—many of his characters are seeing a therapist.

In Sleeper, Allen’s character wakes up 200 years in the future, where he quickly discovers that the future holds the same old problems as ever. Lamenting the wasted years, he remarks:

“My analyst was a strict Freudian. If I had been going all this time I’d probably almost be cured by now.”7

In another film he describes the unproductive nature of his own therapy:

“My analyst got so frustrated he put in a salad bar.”8

So much for faith in therapy! And when it comes to science, Allen asks and answers the questions, “Can a human soul be glimpsed through a microscope? Maybe—but you’d definitely need one of those very good ones with two eyepieces.”9

The political process as a means of change is also shrugged off:

“Have you ever taken a serious political stand on anything?” he is asked.
“Sure,” he responds, “for twenty-four hours once I refused to eat grapes.”10

And, finally, it is the questions of the human soul—its mortality and morality—that seem really to preoccupy the filmmaker.

I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.11

In his early writings fear of death provided a great platform for a punch line:

“It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”12
“It is impossible to experience one’s own death objectively and still carry a tune.”13

“Death is one of the few things that can be done as easily lying down.”14

“What is it about death that bothers me so much? Probably the hours.”15

Allen’s concern for his own mortality is ever present in his writings as well as his filmmaking. In one short story he dreams he is Socrates in ancient Greece, about to be executed for crimes against the state. His friend tries to calm his fear.

Friend: “What about all that talk about death being the same as sleep?”
Woody: “Yes, but the difference is that when you’re dead and somebody yells, ‘Everybody up, it’s morning,’ it’s very hard to find your slippers.”16

The absurdity of Allen’s humor helps to cushion the seriousness of the subject. Could it be that his comments are so clever and funny that the laughter drowns out the genuine note of anxiety over those issues? In his later films Allen began dealing with death more realistically:
In Hannah and Her Sisters his character Mickey Sacks is tested for a serious medical problem. He agonizes over the possible results only to learn they are negative. Mickey is elated—he leaves the office literally jumping for joy. Yet the next scene shows him depressed again. He realizes that the encouraging test results are but a postponement of death which is still inevitable. In despair, he attempts suicide. Failing that, he goes to a movie theater. The Marx Brothers’ film Duck Soup, an old favorite of his, is playing. The film provides a temporary escape; it even cheers him. His immediate answer to depression is that one should enjoy life while one can. However, that answer apparently did not satisfy Woody Allen, the writer, as Hannah and Her Sisters is one of the few films in which Allen provides a happy ending. Later films raise the same concerns—and usually conclude on a less optimistic note.
To you I’m an atheist, to God I’m the loyal opposition.17

Allen’s fear of death is inextricably linked to his uncertainty about the existence of God. He ponders in an early essay:

“Did matter begin with an explosion or by the word of God? And if by the latter, could He not have begun it just two weeks earlier to take advantage of some of the warmer weather?”18

Again, glibness is his antidote to grappling with the hard questions. The eternal is brought down to the level of the earthly, and therefore minimized.

Yet, Allen never fully embraces the position of atheist. Once, when asked if he believed in God, he replied with a typical Allenesque formula:

“I’m what you’d call a teleological, existential atheist—I believe that there’s an intelligence to the universe, with the exception of certain parts of New Jersey.”19

He ponders spiritual matters, but a punch line always yanks the focus to the sublime, then to the ridiculous. Other examples include:

“I keep wondering if there is an afterlife, and if there is, will they be able to break a twenty?”20
“There is no question that there is an unseen world. The problem is, how far is it from Midtown and how late is it open?”21

Woody Allen is, in the words of his biographer, “a reluctant [he hopes there is a God] but pessimistic [he doubts there is] agnostic who wishes he had been born with religious faith [not to be confused with sectarian belief] and who believes that even if God is absent, it is important to lead an honest and responsible life.”22

Never kill a man, especially if it means taking his life.23

The existence of God is an issue which would not only answer the questions of death and an afterlife, but also the problem of how we ought to live now. Two of Allen’s films which best deal with this issue were made 14 years apart: the 1975 cinematic spoof on the Napoleonic wars and Russian novels, Love and Death, and the 1989 critically acclaimed piece, Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Love and Death was the last of his all-out, zany comedies and the beginning of his on-screen grappling with issues of God and morality. In it Allen plays the part of Boris who denies the existence of God but would truly like to have real faith.

“If I could only see a miracle,” Boris argues, “a burning bush, the seas part.…Uncle Sasha pick up a check.” Or, “If only God would give me some sign. If He would just speak to me once, anything, one sentence, two words. If He would just cough.”

Boris is often debating with his wife Sonia on these important issues of life:

Boris: What if there is no God?…What if we’re just a bunch of absurd people who are running around with no rhyme or reason?
Sonia: But if there is no God, then life has no meaning. Why go on living? Why not just commit suicide?

Boris: Well, let’s not get hysterical! I could be wrong. I’d hate to blow my brains out and then read in the papers they found something!

Later in the film Boris attempts to assassinate Napoleon. Standing over the French emperor, he prepares to shoot. But his conscience (not to mention his cowardice) prevents him from pulling the trigger. His previous philosophical ramblings come to a halt when the rubber meets the road. Boris concludes that murder is morally wrong. There are universal standards and there is even a reason to act morally.

The film ends with Boris being executed for a crime he did not commit. Could it be that Woody Allen was punishing his own character for believing, even momentarily, that there are indeed moral standards and even accountability?

After all, the logical conclusion in following such a path would be to acknowledge the existence of God. Keeping his own role of skeptic intact, Allen gives the plot a twist. In the jail cell his character is visited by “an angel of God” who promises Boris that he will be released. Since the angel’s word proves to be false, Boris again has a reason to be cynical. But in his final scene he speaks optimistically (after all, this is a comedy),

“Death is not really an end; think of it as an effective way to cut down on your expenses.”

As always, Allen’s one-liners are successful in reducing or obscuring the seriousness of the subject matter.

In Crimes and Misdemeanors Woody Allen tackles the issue of morality on a much more serious level. Wealthy ophthalmologist Judah Rosenthal has been having an extramarital affair for two years. When he attempts to end his illicit relationship, his mistress threatens to tell his wife. When backed into an impossible corner and offered an easy way out, Judah finds himself thinking the unthinkable.

Judah’s moral confusion is presented against a backdrop of the religion of his youth. Though he has long since rejected the Jewish religion, he is continually confronted with memories that activate his conscience. He remembers the words of his childhood rabbi:
“The eyes of God are on us always.”

Judah later speaks with another rabbi, a contemporary of his. The rabbi remarks on their contrasting worldviews:

“You see it [the world] as harsh and empty of values and pitiless. And I couldn’t go on living if I didn’t feel with all my heart a moral structure with real meaning and forgiveness and some kind of higher power and a reason to live. Otherwise there is no basis to know how to live.”

These words are ultimately pushed aside, as Judah succumbs to the simple solution of hiring a hit-man to murder his demanding lady in waiting. After the crime, Judah experiences gut-wrenching guilt. Judah Rosenthal finds the case for morality so strong that after the murder he blurts out:
“Without God, life is a cesspool!”

His conscience pushes him to great despair as, again, he examines the situation from a past vantage point. He envisions a Passover seder from his childhood. The conversation becomes a family debate over the importance of the celebration. Some of the relatives don’t believe in God and consider the ritual a foolish waste of time. The head of the extended family stoutly defends his faith, saying, “If necessary, I will always choose God over truth.”

Perhaps this is why Judah rejected his religion—he could not see faith as anything other than some sort of noble delusion for those who refuse to accept life’s ugly truths. As Judah continues to dwell on his crime, he has another vision in which his rabbi friend challenges him with the question: “You don’t think God sees?”

“God is a luxury I can’t afford,” Judah replies. There is a final ring to the statement as Judah decides to put the entire incident behind him.

Judah almost turns himself in; however, the price is too high and so he chooses denial, the most common escape. “In reality,” he says in the last scene, “we rationalize, we deny or else we couldn’t go on living.”

Another character, Professor Levy, speaks on morality in one of the film’s subplots. Levy is an aging philosopher much admired by the character played by Woody Allen, a filmmaker. The filmmaker is planning a documentary based on Levy’s life, and we first see the professor on videotape, discussing the paradox of the ancient Israelites:

“They created a God who cares but who also demands that you behave morally. This God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, who is beloved to him.…After 5,000 years we have not succeeded to create a really and entirely loving image of God.”

Levy eventually commits suicide. Despite his great learning, his final note discloses nothing more than the obvious: “I’ve gone out the window.”

Professor Levy’s suicide leaves Allen’s character stunned. Still, his humor ameliorates the situation as the filmmaker protests,

“When I grew up in Brooklyn, nobody committed suicide; everyone was too unhappy.”

The final comment on Levy’s suicide is a surprising departure from Allen’s security blanket of humor:

“No matter how elaborate a philosophical system you work out, in the end it’s gotta be incomplete.”

Remember, all of the dialogue is written by Woody Allen. Though his own character supplies comic relief to this dark film, his conclusions are just as bleak. Everyone is guilty of something whether it’s considered a crime or a misdemeanor.

Yet, Allen’s theological questions rarely address the nature of that guilt. The word “sin” is reserved for the grossest offenses—the ones that make the evening news—or would, if they were discovered. Judah Rosenthal’s crime is easily recognizable as sin, while various other infidelities and compromises are mere misdemeanors.

Sin against God is not something Allen appears to take seriously in any of his films. When evangelist Billy Graham was a guest on one of Allen’s 1960s television specials, the comedian was asked (not by Graham) to name his greatest sin. He responded:

“I once had impure thoughts about Art Linkletter.”24

However, when he distances himself from the personal nature of sin and looks to crimes or sins against humanity, Allen speaks with a passion.

In Hannah and Her Sisters the viewer is introduced to the character of Frederick, an angry, isolated artist who is disgusted with the conditions of the world. Of Auschwitz, Frederick remarks to his girlfriend:

“The real question is: ‘Given what people are, why doesn’t it happen more often?’ Of course, it does, in subtler forms.…”

In Allen’s theology, all have fallen short to a greater or lesser degree, but ironically, his view of human imperfection never appears in the same discussion as his thoughts about God.

He does admit to being disconnected with the universe:

“I am two with nature.”25

But he doesn’t mention a connection with a personal God because he doesn’t see a correlation between human failures and the question of connectedness to God.

While Allen is a unique thinker, he seems to be pedestrian when it comes to wrestling with problems of immorality and even inhumanity. While he calls the existence of God into question, he does not deal with our responsibility in acknowledging God if he does exist.

It is simple to analyze sin on a human level. The more people get hurt, the bigger the sin. But the biblical perspective is quite different: Any and all sin causes separation from God. One cannot view such a cosmic separation as large or small based on degrees of sin. Ironically, one of Allen’s short stories underscores the foolishness of comparison degrees of sin:

“Astronomers talk of an inhabited planet named Quelm, so distant from earth that a man traveling at the speed of light would take six million years to get there, although they are planning a new express route that will cut two hours off the trip.”26

The biblical perspective of separation from God is similar. Having “better morals” than the drug pusher, the rapist or the ax murderer makes a big difference—in our society. We should all strive to be the best people we can be, if only to improve the overall quality of life. But in terms of a relationship with God, doing the best one can is like being two hours closer to Quelm. God is so removed from any unrighteousness that the difference between “a little unrighteous” and a lot is irrelevant.

The question his films and essays never ask is: Could being alienated from God be the root cause of our alienation from one another…and even our alienation from our own selves?

“It’s hard to get your heart and your head to agree in life. In my case they’re not even friendly.”27

Woody Allen has a unique way of expressing the uneasy terms on which many people find their heads and their hearts. Perhaps that is why he has received 14 Academy Award nominations. Allen will shoot a scene as many as twenty times, hoping to capture the actors and scenery perfectly. His biographer says “he doesn’t like to go to the next thing until what he’s working on is perfect—a process that guarantees self-defeat.”28

Is filmmaking Woody Allen’s escape from the world at large? His biographer notes, “He assigns himself mental tasks throughout the day with the intent that not a moment will pass without his mind being occupied and therefore insulated from the dilemma of eschatology.”29

It is a continual process—writing takes his mind off of the ultimate questions, yet the characters he creates are always obsessed with those very same questions. Allen determines their fate, occasionally handing out a happy ending. And he seems painfully aware that he will have little to say about the ending of his own script.

There is much to be appreciated and enjoyed in Woody Allen’s humor, but it also seems as if he uses jokes to avoid taking the possibility of God’s existence very seriously. Maybe Woody Allen is afraid to find that God doesn’t exist, or on the other hand maybe he’s afraid to find that he does. In either case, he seems to need to add a comic edge to questions about God to prove that he is not wholehearted in his hope for answers.
Will Woody Allen tackle the problem of his own halfhearted search for God in a serious way in some future film or essay? Maybe, but if the Bible can be believed, it’s an issue that God has already dealt with. The prophet Jeremiah quotes the Creator as saying: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer. 29:13)

Endnotes
1.Eric Lax, Woody Allen, (New York: Knopf Publishing, 1991), p. 179.
2.Ibid., p. 166.
3. Manhattan, 1979.
4.Lax, p. 141.
5. Stardust Memories, 1980.
6.Lax, p. 150.
7. Sleeper, 1973.
8. Hannah and Her Sisters, 1986.
9.Woody Allen, “My Speech to the Graduates,” Side Effects, (New York: Random House Publ., 1980), p. 82.
10. Sleeper.
11.Lax, p. 183.
12.Woody Allen, “Death (A Play),” Without Feathers, (New York: Random House Publ., 1975), p. 106.
13.Woody Allen, “My Philosophy,” Getting Even, (New York: Warner Books, 1971), p. 25.
14.Allen, “Early Essays,” Without Feathers, p. 108.
15.Allen, “Selections From the Allen Notebook,” Without Feathers, p. 10.
16.Allen, “My Apology,” Side Effects, p. 54.
17.Stardust Memories.
18.Allen, “My Speech to the Graduates,” Side Effects, p. 82.
19.Sleeper.
20.Allen, “Selections From the Allen Notebook,” Without Feathers, p. 8.
21.Allen, “Examining Psychic Phenomena,” Without Feathers, p. 11.
22.Lax, p. 41.
23. Love and Death, 1975.
24.Lax, p. 132.
25.Ibid., p. 39.
26.Allen, “Fabulous Tales and Mythical Beasts,” Without Feathers, p. 194.
27. Crimes and Misdemeanors, 1989.
28.Lax, p. 322.
29.Ibid., p. 183.

Dick & Woody talk about food & health

Woody Allen vs William Buckley – FUNNY

Dick & Woody discuss particle physics

This is not my list:

 

10

Small Time Crooks (2000) trailer

Small Time Crooks 10

9

7
Zelig
1983

Zelig

6

Sleeper
1973

Sleeper (1973) – Trailer

Take the Money and Run
1969

WOODY ALLEN TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN CELLO MARCHING BAND SCENE

Bananas
1971
Bananas (1971) – Trailer

2

Play it Again, Sam
1972

Play It Again, Sam trailer

1

Annie Hall
1977

Annie Hall – Movie Trailer

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(Part 22, Silvia Beach and the Shakespeare and Company Bookstore) June 30, 2011 – 12:58 am

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(Part 15, Luis Bunuel) June 23, 2011 – 5:37 am

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January 5, 2015 – 5:12 am Categories: Woody Allen | Post a comment

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Spirituality and Pop Music - from Tori Amos to Lauryn Hill spacer Spirituality and Pop Music – from Tori Amos to Lauryn Hill
BY: David John Seel, Jr.
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Spirituality is hip and was omnipresent in pop music in 1998. From pop to hip-hop, Sanskrit to Scripture, popular culture displayed a renewed spiritual consciousness. At the year’s Video Music Awards, Madonna, the former Material Girl, performed “Shanti/Ashtangi,” a Sanskrit sloka off her award-winning album, Ray of Light. At the Grammy Awards, Lauryn Hill accepted the award for “Album of the Year” by reading a passage from Psalm 40, and adding “Know that God is great and he conquers all.”And the growth in spiritual interest is hardly limited to the universe of music. One could also point to the popularity of the angel-to-the-rescue dramas on TV, the apocalyptic blockbusters in theaters, and the bestsellers on the soul in bookstores. Some cultural analysts have even suggested that the 1990s may well be remembered in the publishing world as “the decade of the soul.”Is this simply a fad—a shallow fashion statement like wearing a crucifix or Tibetan mala beads? A reader responds in the April 1999 issue of Spin, “This current emphasis on spirituality is just another confirmation of the state of emptiness we all feel at times. But for a chic guru to flaunt it like the newest Tamagotchi is pretty pathetic.” And you too may want to explain this away to a crass commercialism of matters best left in private.Nevertheless, spirituality is going platinum in the music world and it may well portend to a deeper longing in the contemporary consciousness. It is to this possibility that my comments are addressed.

The Beat of the Heart
Music has a unique place within youth culture. Even more than fashion or entertainment choices, music is the identity trademark of teens. Historian Garry Wills once wrote, “Show me your leader and you have bared your soul.” Likewise, show me your CD collection and you have bared your soul. Tell me what music you most identify with, what posters hang in your dorm room, and you say a lot about the state of your heart. Whether you listen to pop, electronica, metal, Ska, grunge, Goth, hip-hop, country, Phish or the women of Lilith Fair, your choice says something about who you are. For example, if I were to tell you that my nineteen-year-old son who attends Colby College in Maine listens to Phish and my fifteen-year-old son who attends a boarding school in New York listens to Ska, then you would be able to place them in a particular social group within any college or prep school.

Music, then, is the beat of the heart and explores the most basic questions of identity: “Where do I find security?” and “How do I find significance?” Put differently, teens long to “find a home” and to “make a name” for themselves. In the parlance of hip-hop, identity is about “finding blood” and “getting big.” The New York Times Magazine editor Charles McGrath, commenting on a photo essay of American teens, observes, “The really powerful feeling here, the emotion animating almost all these pictures in one way or another, is not so much physical desire as simply the wish to connect: to belong, to fit in. It may not be too much to say that all these kids are looking for surrogate families, for people who will take them in and accept them without question, and what’s fascinating is how much the process is reduced to symbols and uniforms.”

“Will you be there for me?” is the central religious question for youth today, writes Tom Beaudoin, author of Virtual Faith: The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X. At its most basic, it is a relational rather than a philosophical question. It is personal rather than abstract. It is a question born of broken relationships, laced with realism, poignant with need. It unmasks the fear of abandonment as well as the loss of meaning. It is the cry for an embrace, the passion for intimacy, the longing for fidelity at the deepest levels of the heart. It is the longing for a love that will not leave in the morning light. Augustine, reflecting on his youth, admits in his Confessions that “The single desire that dominated my search for delight was simply to love and to be loved.” It is the desire expressed in Madonna’s 1998 song “Drowned World/Substitute for Love:” “I traveled round the world / Looking for a home / I found myself in crowded rooms / Feeling so alone.” The song ends, “My substitute for love / This is my religion.” Music is an experience that often speaks in a language more profound than words. Here we find expressed the soul’s longings and loves that we don’t often dare to express ourselves.

Spirituality is an important theme within pop music and music is an important vehicle through which teenage identity is expressed. We will look now at three frequent themes expressed through pop spirituality: a crisis of meaning, a critique of Christianity, and a celebration of paganism. This analysis will not examine explicitly gospel or Christian music, even though I am well aware of the popularity of such groups as Jars of Clay and DC Talk as well as artists such as Kirk Franklin. What is of particular interest to me is how spirituality is being expressed musically in venues where it is most unlikely.

Pop Spirituality Unplugged
1. Crisis of Meaning
In the summer of 1996, Rolling Stone magazine declared that the “Hot Mood” of 90s youth was confusion. In the article, Will Dana referred to a line in Yeats’ poem, “The Second Coming:” “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.” Of contemporary youth culture, he wrote, “We used to think the center couldn’t hold. All of a sudden, there doesn’t seem to be a center at all.” Contemporary music does not simply speak of the loss of meaning, but the loss of the possibility of meaning. Michael Stipes of the rock group R.E.M. sings, “I can’t taste it / I’m tired and naked / I don’t know what I’m hungry for / I don’t know what I want anymore.” Or Smashing Pumpkin’s lead singer Billy Corgan’s shout “God is empty / just like me,” from the song “Zero.” Sheryl Crow asks, “If it makes you happy / Then why the hell are you so sad?” Grunge band, Creed’s My Own Prison album, asks pointedly, “What’s this life for?”

R.E.M. – Bittersweet Me (Video)

Uploaded on Oct 26, 2009

© 2007 WMG
Bittersweet Me (Video)

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Zero-Smashing Pumpkins

Published on Feb 24, 2013

A video for my uni project on the negative side of technology, i focused on weaponry and war, nuclear war in particular. I used clips released by the American government during the Cold War to inform the public (and on the whole) mislead them, by suggesting procedures they could carry out to ensure their safety. Of course in a nuclear war situation, they would make little difference! I used the fantastic Zero by Smashing Pumpkins as the soundtrack.

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Creed – What’s This Life For (Video 2009)

Uploaded on Dec 2, 2009

Music video by Creed performing What’s This Life For. (C) 2009 Wind-up Records, LLC

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Reality doesn’t leave many options. Most of the time our answer is simply whatever is fun—follow Jimmy Buffett’s “parrot-heads” to “Margaritaville.” Sometimes our answer is the freedom to have and do whatever we want, a freedom that comes with wealth and power—follow hip-hop’s Master P to the land of No Limit. On rarer occasions, we might think of helping out someone else—realizing with Jewel that the “ugly girl,” “faggot,” and “Jew” are all just “pieces of you.” Education for most people is just a means of delayed gratification for wealth, power, and pleasure. The getting of wisdom, it seems, inspires few songs. And that leaves spirituality. When everything else seems like a wild goose chase, when the diversions seem like dead-ends, some may stop and ask the deeper questions of the heart. There are many songs that explore these cul-de-sacs of meaning-when all our life’s aspirations seem out of synch with our life’s actualities.

Stuck in an abusive relationship, Tori Amos asks on her 1991 album, Little Earthquakes, “Why do we crucify ourselves / Every day I crucify myself / Nothing I do is good enough for you / Crucify myself every day / And my HEART is sick of being in chains.” Jewel explained on her 1998 album, Spirit, “When you’re standing in deep water / And you’re bailing yourself out with a straw / And when you’re drowning in deep water / And you wake up making love to a wall / Well it’s these little times that help to remind / It’s nothing without love.” But “Is love possible in a world like this?” Amos asks whether love is only a series of one-night stands where sex substitutes for intimacy. Is there more than sex? Can you hold what I hold dear? Will you be there for me?

Songs about sex, love, and relationships are essentially spiritual explorations about the meaning of life at heart-level. Listen to Tori Amos’ song “Leather,” to the poignancy of her questions. There is nothing theoretical or abstract about the fear, loneliness, and finally despair exposed in her music.

Tori Amos Leather

Uploaded on Jan 7, 2007

Tori Amos, Leather

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“Leather”
Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes (1991)

Look I’m standing naked before you
Don’t you want more than my sex
I can scream as loud as your last one
But I can’t claim innocence

Oh god could it be the weather
Oh god why am I here
If love isn’t forever
And it’s NOT THE WEATHER
Hand me my leather

I could just pretend that you love me
The night would lose all sense of fear
But why do I need you to love me
When you can’t hold what I hold dear

I almost ran over an angel
He had a nice big fat cigar
“IN A SENSE” he said
“You’re alone here
So if you jump you best jump far”…

The angel’s spiritual counsel is that you are, in fact, alone here, and so if you want a solution, you’d best jump far. Many are following Tori Amos’ lead by abandoning traditional religious answers for newer forms of spirituality. But in route, a few cheap shots at one’s upbringing are standard fare. This is the second theme of pop spirituality—a critique of Christianity.

2. Critique of Christianity
Tori Amos was born the daughter of a North Carolina Methodist minister. She long since abandoned Christianity for a mythical, pagan, fairy world. Amos is the “Anne Rice of rock,” or as another observer put it, “a moon child for lost souls and misfits.” Her hostility toward Christianity—in part explainable to her experience of rape—is legendary. (Listen to her song, “Me and a Gun,” on Little Earthquakes.) Rolling Stone’s Steven Daly says of Amos, “The woman has few peers in the God-baiting stakes. Compared with the Amos oeuvre, Madonna’s blasphemous stunts look positively devout; and when this little minister’s daughter starts exorcising the ‘shame’ of her ‘Victorian Christian’ upbringing, she makes soi-disant Satanist Marilyn Manson seem cartoonish and ineffectual.”

“Yes, I do have a mission,” Amos says bluntly, “To expose the dark side of Christianity.” Of her song, “God,” on the 1996 album, Boys For Pele, she comments, “Why don’t people want to hear about God getting a blow job? I thought those born-again Christians would love that.”

Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls is also a preacher’s kid. In her 1989 song, “Closer To Fine,” she proclaims her liberation from moral absolutes, “The less I seek my source for some definitive / The closer I am to fine.” On R.E.M.’s 1991 Out of Time album, Michael Stipes sings about “Losing My Religion.” Alanis Morisette, on her 1995 Jagged Little Pill album, takes aim at her Catholic upbringing in her song, “Forgiven:” “We all had delusions in our heads / We all had our minds made up for us / We had to believe in something / So we did.”

Pop spirituality is largely spirituality without God, if God is understood as the transcendent God of the Bible. Sarah McLachlan in her 1997 cover of XTC’s song “Dear God,” sings a cosmic “Dear John” letter blaming God for all the evil and disease in the world. Listen to her musical testimony to the rejection of God.

Sarah McLachlan Dear God

Uploaded on Dec 19, 2010

Heartwrenching cover of the XTC song…a commentary on the authenticity of the traditional portrayal of the universal construction which shockingly retains its creationist ideologies. To question is to illuminate.

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“Dear God”
Sarah McLachlan, Sampler (1997)

Dear God,
Hope you got the letter down here.
I don’t mean a big reduction in the price of beer
But all the people that you made in your image,
See them starving on their feet
‘Cause they don’t get enough to eat
From God
I can’t believe in you.

Dear God,
Sorry to disturb you, but
I feel that I should be heard loud and clear.
We all need a big reduction in the amount of tears
And all the people that you made in your image,
See them fighting in the street
‘Cause they can’t make opinions meet
About God,
I can’t believe in you.

Did you make disease, and the diamond blue?
Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the devil, too?!

Dear God,
Don’t know if you notice, but…
Your name is on a lot of quotes in this book,
Us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look,
And all the people that you made in your image,
Still believing that junk is true
Well I know it ain’t, and so do you

Dear God,
I can’t believe in…
I don’t believe in…

I won’t believe in heaven and hell.
No saints, no sinners, no devil as well.
No pearly gates, no thorny crown.
You’re always letting us humans down.
The wars you bring, the babes you drown.
And it’s the same the whole world ‘round.
The hurt I see helps to compound
That Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Is just somebody’s unholy hoax
And if you’re up there you’d perceive
That my heart’s here upon my sleeve.
If there’s one thing I don’t believe in….

It’s you…
Dear God.

There are many people who may still use “god-talk,” but in more and more cases the meaning has changed. The immanent gods of Nature are replacing the historic transcendent Creator God of Christianity. This is the third trend in pop spirituality: the celebration of paganism.

3. Celebration of Paganism
With a few notable exceptions, God is largely dead in pop spirituality. Instead we are offered a design-it-yourself, cafeteria approach to religion that is non-institutional, individualist, subjective, and syncretistic. The cover of July-August 1998 UTNE Reader reads, “Designer God: In a mix-and-match world, why not create your own religion?” Pop spirituality is infused with an eclectic array of Eastern and neopagan spiritualities. “Contemporary American spirituality is largely a cut-and-paste affair,” writes Spin’s Erik Davis, “perfectly in tune with today’s musical mixology.”

The central characteristic of contemporary spirituality is an “inner pluralism.” All of the world religions are found in a single psyche. Traditional boundaries between religion dissolve and individuals hold multiple citizenship in a number of separate faiths with no complete allegiance to any. Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow recently interviewed a 26-year-old disabilities counselor for a study on American spirituality. She described her religious preference as “Methodist-Taoist-Native American-Quaker-Russian Orthodox-Buddhist-Jew.” Spirituality today is a divine deli where consumers of meaning pick and choose among increasingly exotic pagan alternatives. Art historian Camille Paglia argues that “Popular culture is an eruption of paganism… Judeo-Christianity never defeated paganism but rather drove it underground, from which it constantly erupts in all kinds of ways.”

The rebirth of paganism is a return to varieties of pantheism, the worship of nature. Pantheism, C.S. Lewis observed, is “humanity’s natural religion.” Here one doesn’t get “saved,” one gets “connected.” Pagan wisdom consists in the attempt to understand how our lives are to be properly placed and perceived within the forces of Nature. The aim is to open one’s heart to these unseen realities. “Consumed with how much you get,” Madonna chides, “you’re frozen when your heart is not open.” Pop spirituality combines personal autonomy with cosmic meaning. “You hold the key,” Madonna explains. Everyone follows their own road as they follow the signs of their heart. Listen to Madonna’s techno-influenced “Sky Fits Heaven” on the 1998 Grammy Pop Album of the Year, Ray of Light.

Madonna – 07. Sky Fits Heaven

Uploaded on Apr 27, 2011

Sky Fits Heaven
Madonna
Ray Of Light [1998]

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“Sky Fits Heaven”
Madonna, Ray of Light (1998)

Sky fits heaven so fly it
That’s what the prophet said to me
Child fits mother so hold your baby tight
That’s what my future could see

Fate fits karma so use it
That’s what the wise man said to me
Love fits virtue so hold on to the light
That’s what our future will be

Traveling down this road
Watching the signs as I go
I think I’ll follow the sun
Isn’t everyone just

Traveling down their own road
Watching the signs as they go
I think I’ll follow my heart
It’s a very good place to start

Traveling down my own road
Watching the signs as they go
Traveling down my own road
Watching the signs as I go
Traveling, traveling
Watching the signs as I go

Hand fits giving so do it
That’s what the Gospel said to me
Life fits living so let your judgments go
That’s how our future should be

Traveling down this road
Watching the signs as I go
Think I’ll follow the sun
Isn’t everyone just

Traveling down their own road
Watching the signs as they go
Think I’ll follow my heart
It’s a very good place to start

Traveling down my own road
Watching the signs as they go

Just in case anyone misses her religious direction, “Sky Fits Heaven” flows seamlessly into the next song, Madonna’s Sanskrit version of a Hindu prayer.

Examined more closely, however, theoretical pantheism quickly degenerates into practical “metheism.” The worship of nature becomes the worship of one’s own nature, even the spiritualizing of one’s instincts, bordering on autoeroticism.

Neale Donald Walsch’s book series Conversations With God is a multi-year run-away best seller. What is it that makes these books so popular? Walsch’s central argument is simply that God is me. Listen to these excerpts: “Blessed are the Self-centered, for they shall know God… The highest good is that which produces the highest good for you… A thing is only right or wrong because you say it is. A thing is not right or wrong intrinsically… So be ready, kind soul. For you will be vilified and spat upon…from the moment you accept and adopt your holy cause—the realization of Self.”

G. K. Chesterton was right to warn, “That Jones shall worship the god within him turns out ultimately to mean that Jones shall worship Jones.” Again Spin’s Erik Davis observes of the current music scene, “Mystical options such as yoga and pop cabala offer direct access to deeper essence, without the pesky moral codes of conventional religion. Unfortunately, this search can easily degenerate into another American cult of the self, a cult that already enshrines celebrities as the closest thing mortals come to being realized beings.” Likewise, Princeton theologian Thomas Molnar concludes, “A good case can be made for the proposition that what attracts members of a weakened Christian civilization to Oriental creeds and occult doctrines is not Buddhism, the Tantra, the Tao, the Zen, Brahmanism, or shamanism. Much more important, is the presence in each of these new religions…of the hope of self-divination.”

This is consumer spirituality well suited for the celebrity limelight and lifestyle. Paganism is spirituality attuned to the postmodern zeitgeist; for in the end, it celebrates self and sex. Whenever meaning is sought in Nature its practice takes a predictable course—and it has been this way from the beginning of time: a personal deity offers a personal morality reinforced by a personal power, which ends in the worship of the person and their passions. Paganism always ends in that which is violent and orgiastic. Chesterton again observes, “A man loves Nature in the morning for her innocence and amiability, and at nightfall, if he is loving her still, it is for her darkness and her cruelty.” Paganism is a theology of hubris and hedonism.

Pop spirituality, then, quickly becomes the highest form of self-worship—the divination of ego, the spiritualizing of desire. This is religion adapted to therapeutic consumerism: cosmic meaning without personal morality, self-affirmation without self-constraint. Jewel, whose debut 1995 album Pieces of You sold over 10 million copies, asks, “Who will save your soul, if you won’t save your own?” Who’s my savior in pop spirituality? In the final analysis, I am. God is me and what I want is god.

The Miseducation of Spirituality Lite
But the story doesn’t end here. Enter Lauryn Hill. In her truly remarkable debut solo hip-hop album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, she raises the stakes on pop spirituality lite. Here is a 23-year-old with spiritual unction. “There is always a spiritual war, but there’s a battle for the souls of black folk, and just folk in general, and the music has a lot to do with it,” she says. In interviews, Hill unequivocally describes herself as Christian (tinged with Rastafarian influences). Locating her prophetic message within the Christian narrative gives her words an unusual gravity and grace. Life is lived not for personal freedom, but personal responsibility. One’s choices are made before the face of God. In her song, “Final Hour,” she challenges the avarice of hip-hop: “You could get the money / You could get the power / But keep your eyes on the final hour.” In “Superstar,” Hill warns that no one—not even hip-hop superstars—can live above spiritual laws: “Now tell me your philosophy / On exactly what an artist should be / Should they be someone with prosperity / And no concept of reality? / Now who you know without any flaws / That lives above the spiritual laws / And does anything they feel just because / There’s always someone there who’ll applaud.”

The significance of Lauryn Hill’s accomplishments—10 Grammy Award nominations, 5 Grammy Awards (more than any other artist in history), a triple-platinum album—cannot be appreciated without understanding hip-hop. Mall America has become hip-hop. Hip-hop is pop style. No other musical genre has as much influence today in youth culture than rap. “Hip-hop is the rock of today,” boasts MC Jean Wyclef. “It is the folk music of this generation,” says Beck. Music critic Nelson George writes, “Now we know that rap music, and hip-hop style as a whole, has utterly broken through from its ghetto roots to assert a lasting influence on American clothing, magazine publication, television, language, sexuality, and social policy as well as its obvious presence in records and movies.” In 1998, for the first time ever, rap out-sold what previously had been America’s top-selling format, country music. White kids purchase more than 70% of hip-hop albums. There is an increasing influence of white rap artist such as the Beastie Boys, Everlast, and the artist Eminen, (a.k.a. Marshall Mathers) a white 19-year-old rapper from Detroit backed by Dr. Dre.

Nor is hip-hop known for its positive message. “Hip-hop is the rebellious voice of youth. It’s what people want to hear,” explains MC Jay-Z in Time’s cover story, “Hip-Hop Nation.” “Kids don’t want to be like Mike anymore. Their heroes are rappers,” claims MC Sean (Puffy) Combs. The central tenets of hip-hop are rebellion, aggression, and materialism. It is pop culture’s answer to commodified rebellion. “Hip-hop is perhaps the only art form that celebrates capitalism openly…. Rappers make money without remorse,” writes Time’s Christopher Farley. Hip-hop is hoppin’, writes Nelson George, because “materialism replaced spirituality as the definer of life’s worth…. A voracious appetite for ‘goods,’ not good.”

Hip-hop is the most image-driven part of pop music and has spawned a revolution in fashion. By 1996, Tommy Hilfiger had become the leading apparel company traded on the New York Stock Exchange largely due to its embrace of hip-hop. Finally, hip-hop promotes an in-your-face aggressive attitude toward others. Hip-hop rules the world of youth culture for a reason. It reflects what kids are thinking, an uncaring attitude about rules or responsibility.

Not so Lauryn Hill. She is on a mission to change the world for the good. Change will come, she argues, from the inside out. “How you gon’ win / When you ain’t right within?” she asks in her hot single, “Doo Wop That Thing.” Hers is a message of hope and optimism like Jewel. But unlike Jewel, her confidence is in a God who is more than a New Age dream or a neopagan natural force. She sings of our responsibility to plant the seeds of change. Hill does not have a Polyannaish faith in faith, but a realistic confidence that everything is in God’s hands. It is because she is adjacent to the King that she fears no human being and believes that after winter comes the spring. Here is “Everything Is Everything,” where Hill addresses the hopelessness of urban youth and the possibility that their dreams will one day find their place.

Lauryn Hill – Everything Is Everything

Uploaded on Jun 23, 2010

Music video by Lauryn Hill performing Everything Is Everything. (C) 1998 Sony BMG Music Entertainment

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“Everything Is Everything”
Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)

Everything is everything
What is meant to be, will be
After winter, must come spring
Change, it comes eventually

I wrote these words for everyone
Who struggles in their youth
Who won’t accept deception
Instead of what is truth
It seems we lose the game
Before we even start to play
Who made these rules? We’re so confused
Easily led astray
Let me tell ya that
I philosophy
Possibly speak tongues
Beat drums, Abyssinian, street Baptist
Rap this in fine linen
From the beginning

My practice extending across the atlas
I begat this
Flippin’ in the ghetto on a dirty mattress
You can’t match this rapper/actress
More powerful than two Cleopatras
Bomb graffiti on the tomb of Nefertiti
MCs ain’t ready to take it to the Serengeti
My rhymes is heavy like the mind of Sister Betty
L. Boogie spars with stars and constellations
Then came down for a little conversation
Adjacent to the king, fear no human being
Roll with cherubims to Nassau Coliseum
Now hear this mixture
Where hip hop meets scripture
Develop a negative into a positive picture

Sometimes it seems
We’ll touch that dream
But things come slow or not at all
And the ones on top, won’t make it stop
So convinced that they might fall
Let’s love ourselves then we can’t fail
To make a better situation
Tomorrow, our seed will grow
All we need is dedication

Lauryn Hill portrays a traditional spiritual search in the most unlikely of musical forms. A point not lost on Hill herself. Accepting the Grammy she beamed, “Wow, ya know what, this is amazing. I thank you God. Thank you Father, so much. This is crazy ‘cause this is hip-hop music.” Hill is larger than life, because unlike Amos, McLachlan, Madonna, and Jewel her spiritual resources are finally outside herself.

Pop Spirituality Assessed
We began with the question what is pop spirituality? And I’ve explored three dominant themes. Its depiction of the crisis of meaning; its conscious critique of Christianity; and its celebration of paganism. I have also suggested that Lauryn Hill stands alone in the music world today speaking like the Old Testament prophetess Deborah. But more important than what is pop spirituality, is the more personal question, what does it say about us?

The popularity of pop spirituality says that many are stopping the distractions long enough to ask the deeper questions of life. In this way, this trend in pop music is a significant spiritual accomplishment. Here is an honest look at the deeper longings of the heart. Here is a critique of the unreflective life. Here is an admission of the vanity of fame, fashion, and fortune. We all live cluttered lives. Pop spirituality challenges the distractions that fill our hours and indifference that fill our hearts with the honest seeker’s question: “There must be something more?” “Hell is not populated mainly by passionate rebels,” writes philosopher Peter Kreeft, “but by nice, bland, indifferent, respectable people who simply never gave a damn.” For the Mod Squad soundtrack, Lauryn Hill wrote these lyrics: “There ain’t no excuse / ‘Cause in every situation man chooses / His own plate / His own fate / His own date at redemption / And only fools and babies get exemptions / In the hereafter school / See, we all stay for detention / And, uh, did I mention / It’s either ascension or descension / No third dimension / So pay attention.”

Paganism may offer spirituality without morality, a religion that celebrates self and sex. But even paganism—with all its talk of fairies and spirits—puts to the lie the arrogant materialism that rules out the inner realities of the soul. C. S. Lewis observed, “Christians and pagans had much more in common with each other than either has with a post-Christian. The gap between those who worship different gods is not so wide as that between those who worship and those who do not.” The discerning question is not “whether spirits,” but “which spirits.” In pop spirituality there is the recognition that we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience. The spiritual is our highest and natural environment: life lived at its fullest. As Augustine concluded after years of hard partying and intellectual seeking, “You have formed us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” Pop spirituality is the outer voice of this inner search.

Celtic scholar John O’Donohue has written a new book entitled, Eternal Echoes: Exploring Our Yearning to Belong. Our heart’s longings to belong are, in fact, eternal echoes. O’Donohue said recently, “Maybe divinity is actually that secret tissue which links everything that is—matter, spirit, future, past, possibility, fact, question, quest. Maybe the divine is the great belonging.” The Apostle John says, “Perfect love drives out fear.” It is for this love that we long.

This is beautifully captured in Jewel’s song, “Absence of Fear.” Listen to her haunting lyrics and music and ask yourself this question: For what are you wanting and waiting?

“Absence of Fear”
Jewel, Spirit (1998)

Inside my skin there is this space
It twists and turns
It bleeds and aches
Inside my heart there’s an empty room
It’s waiting for lightning
It’s waiting for you

And I am wanting
And I am needing you here

Inside the absence of fear

Muscle and sinew
Velvet and stone
This vessel is haunted
It creaks and moans
My bones call to you
In their separate skin
I make myself translucent
To let you in, for

I am wanting
And I am needing you here
Inside the absence of fear

There is this hunger
This restlessness inside of me
And it knows that you’re no stranger
You’re my gravity
My hands will adore you though all darkness aim
They will lay you out in moonlight
And reinvent your name

For I am wanting you
And I am needing you here
I need you near
Inside the absence of fear

image

Questions:
1. When Dr. Seel gave this address at Chatham Hall, he played the five songs, “Leather,” “Dear God,” “Sky Fits Heaven,” “Everything is Everything,” and “Absence of Fear” so the students could listen to them with him. We recommend that you do the same, especially if you meet with friends in a small group to discuss this article—something we also highly recommend. (If you are not familiar with this music, listen to each song more than once. It would also be wise to take the time to listen to some—or preferably all—of the rest of the songs on each album.) 2. “Spirituality in Pop Music” is an example of a Christian using pop music as a window of insight into our culture. How does Dr. Seel go about accomplishing this? To what extent are you developing skill in finding windows of insight into the surrounding culture? What plans should you make? 3. Because this was a talk given to a group of college students, it is also an example of how believers can use pop culture as a point of contact with non-Christians to prompt discussion about the Big Questions of life. (What Francis Schaeffer called pre-evangelism.) How does Dr. Seel go about accomplishing this? 4. To what extent are you developing skill in finding points of contact in the surrounding culture to prompt discussion with non-Christians? What plans should you make? 5. “Show me your CD collection,” Dr. Seel says, “and you have bared your soul. Tell me what music you most identify with, what posters hang in your dorm room, and you say a lot about the state of your heart.” What does your CD collection say about you? 6. Some Christians would raise questions—or serious objections—to purchasing, listening to, or displaying some (or all) of the albums Dr. Seel mentions. What might their questions / objections consist of? What passages of Scripture might they raise? How would you respond to their questions / objections? 7. To what extent is the Christian community prepared for the interest in spirituality which is occurring on post-modern culture? What reading (or listening) might you plan to do in order to better understand this cultural shift? If you are involved in either home-schooling or Christian schooling—especially with junior- or senior-high students—to what extent is that schooling preparing your children with the discernment skills Dr. Seel models in this article? To what extent is that schooling introducing your children to this cultural shift? To what extent is that schooling teaching your children to think Christianly about pop music so they can listen to it with discernment?

Source:
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about the author
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David John Seel, Jr.
John Seel is a cultural renewal entrepreneur, film producer, and educational reformer. He is a Senior Fellow at the Work Research Foundation and adjunct professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Kathryn, live in Cohasset, Massachusetts. He can be reached at djsjr@earthlink.net.

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Search Results for: ‘music monday francis schaeffer’

Francis Schaeffer’s wife Edith passes away on Easter weekend 2013 Part 23 (includes pro-life editorial cartoon)

May 21, 2013 – 12:43 am

The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story Pt.1 – Today’s Christian Videos The Francis and Edith Schaeffer Story – Part 3 of 3 Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ Mrs. Schaeffer became a missionary in Switzerland. Associated Press / April 4, […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer, Prolife | Edit | Comments (0)

“Music Monday” Chris Martin’s favorite song has a deep meaning

January 7, 2013 – 1:33 am

Uploaded by emimusic on Feb 28, 2009 Pre-VEVO play count: 22,581,204 Music video by The Verve performing Bitter Sweet Symphony. ________ At the 4.40 mark in the clip below Chris Martin identifies the best song ever written in his estimation: What does the song mean? Here is a thought off the internet: This song is […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Uncategorized | Edit | Comments (0)

Music Monday:Religion and Chris Martin part 4

September 24, 2012 – 6:40 am

Coldplay – In My Place (Live in Dallas) June 22 2012 Published on Jun 24, 2012 by maimiaa Coldplay performing at American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX Coldplay brought confetti, lights and thousands of fans to the American Airlines Center; see photos from their colorful show Photo Gallery News Sports Lifestyles Comments (0)   7/11 […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Music Monday:Religion and Chris Martin part 2

September 10, 2012 – 6:26 am

Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto/Hurts Like Heaven (Live) @ American Airlines Center Coldplay brought confetti, lights and thousands of fans to the American Airlines Center; see photos from their colorful show Photo Gallery News Sports Lifestyles   Comments (0)   2/11   Published on Jun 24, 2012 by Crwdickerson Coldplay Performing Mylo Xyloto/Hurts Like Heaven @ […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Nico’s sad story of drugs and her interaction with Jim Morrison

October 29, 2013 – 3:16 pm

Nico’s sad story of drugs and her interaction with Jim Morrison Nico – These Days The Doors (1991) – Movie Trailer / Best Parts The Doors Movie – Back Door Man/When The Music’s Over/Arrest of Jim Morrison Uploaded on Jul 30, 2009 A clip from “The Doors” movie with “Back Door Man”, “When The Music’s […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Pictures and Videos of Edie Sedgwick and the story of her losing battle against drugs and alcohol Part 2

August 12, 2013 – 5:56 am

Pictures and Videos of Edie Sedgwick and the story of her losing battle against drugs and alcohol Part 2 Drugs and alcohol have taken the life of many people and I have posted many times about their unfortunate deaths. Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Gary Thain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain, and Jim […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Pictures and Videos of Edie Sedgwick and the story of her losing battle against drugs and alcohol Part 1

August 9, 2013 – 7:57 am

Pictures and Videos of Edie Sedgwick and the story of her losing battle against drugs and alcohol Part 1 Factory Girl – The Real Edie Uploaded on Aug 30, 2011 Friends and family of Edie Sedgwick discuss what the factory girl was really like, and the battles and relationships she went through _____________ Edie Sedgwick Excerpt […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Actress from movie SAVANNAH SMILES lived from 1975 to 1997 and lost a battle to drugs

July 27, 2013 – 12:03 am

I really enjoyed the movie “Savannah Smiles” last night and afterwards I looked up what happened to Bridgette Andersen and where she is today. IMDB notes: Bridgette Andersen was born on July 11, 1975 to Frank Glass and Teresa Andersen in Inglewood, California and grew up in Malibu. She always considered it good luck to […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Tim Todd’s amazing story of deliverance from drugs

July 5, 2013 – 1:36 am

Today I heard Tim Todd’s testimony about drugs. Related posts: Whitney Houston dead at 48, long history of drugs and alcohol February 11, 2012 – 8:31 pm Sad news about Whitney Houston’s death tonight. I have included some earlier posts about drugs and alcohol and rock stars. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Whitney Houston, who ruled as […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

The most popular posts concerning Rock and Rollers and Drugs on www.thedailyhatch.org

June 10, 2013 – 12:48 am

I have written about the “27 Club” several times in the past and I have got a lot of hits in the last 30 days on these blog posts below that deal with Rock and Rollers and drugs. Keith Richards’ wife is a bible believing christian Pete de Freitas of Echo and the Bunnymen is a […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , | Edit | Comments (0)

Whitney Houston dead at 48, long history of drugs and alcohol

February 11, 2012 – 8:31 pm

Sad news about Whitney Houston’s death tonight. I have included some earlier posts about drugs and alcohol and rock stars. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Whitney Houston, who ruled as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Aaron Douglas played for Vols and Bama before dying because of drugs jh39

October 21, 2011 – 12:46 pm

Aaron Douglas played for Vols and Bama before dying because of drugs jh39 Aaron Douglas was a lineman for Alabama and I have already written about another Bama lineman by the name of Barrett Jones who was a teammate of Aaron’s. Here are the two links below: Barrett Jones of Alabama Crimson Tide (Part 1 […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , , | Edit | Comments (0)

Dave Hope and Kerry Livgren of Kansas: Their story of deliverance from drugs jh16c

September 8, 2011 – 7:52 am

The recent events in Little Rock concerning KARK TV’s top weatherman Brett Cummins and his experience of drinking alcohol and snorting coke has left a lot of people asking questions. Since the evening ended in the tragic death of one of Brett’s friends, Dexter Williams, many questions have centered on the use of illegal drugs. […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Edit | Comments (0)

Brett Cummins turns to drugs instead of God jh15c

September 7, 2011 – 9:51 am

Brett Cummins has risen to be the top tv weatherman in the evening at KARK News 4. However, something is missing in his life. (I wish Brett would just take the time to read the story by Marvin A. McMickle | Senior Pastor, Antioch Baptist Church, Cleveland, Ohio at the end of this post). I […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , , | Edit | Comments (6)

January 5, 2015 – 12:16 am Categories: Current Events, Francis Schaeffer | Post a comment

“Schaeffer Sunday” Taking on Ark Times Bloggers on the “Absurdity of Life without God!!” Part 15 (Robert Lewis of Men’s Fraternity suggested too many are focused on things that will pass away and not on making an eternal difference in others lives)

The Bible and Science (Part 03)

There Is A Difference Between Absolute and Objective Moral Values

Published on Dec 6, 2012

For more resources visit: http://www.reasonablefaith.org

The Bethinking National Apologetics Day Conference: “Countering the New Atheism” took place during the UK Reasonable Faith Tour in October 2011. Christian academics William Lane Craig, John Lennox, Peter J Williams and Gary Habermas lead 600 people in training on how to defend and proclaim the credibility of Christianity against the growing tide of secularism and New Atheist popular thought in western society.

In this session, William Lane Craig delivers his critique of Richard Dawkins’ objections to arguments for the existence of God, followed by questions and answers from the audience. In this clip, Dr Craig addresses a question about objective moral values and distinguishes them from absolute moral values.

Dr. Francis Schaeffer – The Biblical Flow of Truth & History (part 2)

Francis Schaeffer pictured below:

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Life without God in the picture is absurdity!!!. That was the view of King Solomon when he wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes 3000 years ago and it is the view of many of the modern philosophers today. Modern man has tried to come up with a lasting meaning for life without God in the picture (life under the sun), but it is not possible. Without the infinite-personal God of the Bible to reveal moral absolutes then man is left to embrace moral relativism. In a time plus chance universe man is reduced to a machine and can not find a place for values such as love. Both of Francis Schaeffer’s film series have tackled these subjects and he shows how this is reflected in the arts.

Here are some posts I have done on the series “HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE? : Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 10 “Final Choices” , episode 9 “The Age of Personal Peace and Affluence”, episode 8 “The Age of Fragmentation”, episode 7 “The Age of Non-Reason” , episode 6 “The Scientific Age” ,  episode 5 “The Revolutionary Age” , episode 4 “The Reformation”,  episode 3 “The Renaissance”, episode 2 “The Middle Ages,”, and  episode 1 “The Roman Age,” .

In the film series “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE?” the arguments are presented  against abortion (Episode 1),  infanticide (Episode 2),   euthenasia (Episode 3), and then there is a discussion of the Christian versus Humanist worldview concerning the issue of “the basis for human dignity” in Episode 4 and then in the last episode a close look at the truth claims of the Bible.

I have discussed many subjects with my liberal friends over at the Ark Times Blog in the past and I have taken them on now on the subject of the absurdity of life without God in the picture. Most of my responses included quotes from William Lane Craig’s book THE ABSURDITY OF LIFE WITHOUT GOD.  Here is the result of one of those encounters from June of 2013:

DeathByInches asserted, “You are doomed to die Saline, get used to it.”

It is funny that you said that last night I was at church and heard Ecclesiastes 7:2 read,
“It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.”

Robert Lewis the founder of “Men’s Fraternity” quoted this verse last night at Fellowship Bible Church in a meeting I attended. He noted that many people spend so much time on their careers that it is very interesting that usually the things mentioned at their funerals have very little to do with how much they accomplished in their careers but what impact they had on close friends and family members. Lewis suggested that many are out of balance today because they are focused on things that will pass away and not on making an eternal difference in others lives.

I THINK THAT ROBERT LEWIS IS RIGHT ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF MAKING AN ETERNAL IMPACT, BUT IF YOU, DEATHBYINCHES, ARE RIGHT ABOUT DEATH BEING THE ABSOLUTE END THEN WHO CARES HOW WE ACT IN THIS LIFE.

On this subject William Lane Craig noted:

If life ends at the grave, then it makes no difference whether one has lived as a Stalin or as a saint. Since one’s destiny is ultimately unrelated to one’s behavior, you may as well just live as you please. As Dostoyevsky put it: “If there is no immortality, then all things are permitted.” On this basis, a writer like Ayn Rand is absolutely correct to praise the virtues of selfishness. Live totally for self; no one holds you accountable! Indeed, it would be foolish to do anything else, for life is too short to jeopardize it by acting out of anything but pure self-interest. Sacrifice for another person would be stupid. Kai Nielsen, an atheist philosopher who attempts to defend the viability of ethics without God, in the end admits,

We have not been able to show that reason requires the moral point of view, or that all really rational persons, unhoodwinked by myth or ideology, need not be individual egoists or classical amoralists. Reason doesn’t decide here. The picture I have painted for you is not a pleasant one. Reflection on it depresses me…. Pure practical reason, even with a good knowledge of the facts, will not take you to morality.8

But the problem becomes even worse. For, regardless of immortality, if there is no God, then any basis for objective standards of right and wrong seems to have evaporated. All we are confronted with is, in Jean-Paul Sartre’s words, the bare, valueless fact of existence. Moral values are either just expressions of personal taste or the by-products of socio-biological evolution and conditioning. In the words of one humanist philosopher, “The moral principles that govern our behavior are rooted in habit and custom, feeling and fashion.”9 In a world without God, who is to say which actions are right and which are wrong? Who is to judge that the values of Adolf Hitler are inferior to those of a saint? The concept of morality loses all meaning in a universe without God. As one contemporary atheistic ethicist points out, “To say that something is wrong because … it is forbidden by God, is … perfectly understandable to anyone who believes in a law-giving God. But to say that something is wrong … even though no God exists to forbid it, is not understandable….” “The concept of moral obligation [is] unintelligible apart from the idea of God. The words remain but their meaning is gone.”10 In a world without a divine lawgiver, there can be no objective right and wrong, only our culturally and personally relative, subjective judgments. This means that it is impossible to condemn war, oppression, or crime as evil. Nor can one praise brotherhood, equality, and love as good. For in a universe without God, good and evil do not exist—there is only the bare valueless fact of existence, and there is no one to say that you are right and I am wrong.

Related posts:

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 10 “Final Choices” (Schaeffer Sundays)

E P I S O D E 1 0   Dr. Francis Schaeffer – Episode X – Final Choices 27 min FINAL CHOICES I. Authoritarianism the Only Humanistic Social Option One man or an elite giving authoritative arbitrary absolutes. A. Society is sole absolute in absence of other absolutes. B. But society has to be […]

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 9 “The Age of Personal Peace and Affluence” (Schaeffer Sundays)

E P I S O D E 9 Dr. Francis Schaeffer – Episode IX – The Age of Personal Peace and Affluence 27 min T h e Age of Personal Peace and Afflunce I. By the Early 1960s People Were Bombarded From Every Side by Modern Man’s Humanistic Thought II. Modern Form of Humanistic Thought Leads […]

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 8 “The Age of Fragmentation” (Schaeffer Sundays)

E P I S O D E 8 Dr. Francis Schaeffer – Episode VIII – The Age of Fragmentation 27 min I saw this film series in 1979 and it had a major impact on me. T h e Age of FRAGMENTATION I. Art As a Vehicle Of Modern Thought A. Impressionism (Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, […]

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 7 “The Age of Non-Reason” (Schaeffer Sundays)

E P I S O D E 7 Dr. Francis Schaeffer – Episode VII – The Age of Non Reason I am thrilled to get this film series with you. I saw it first in 1979 and it had such a big impact on me. Today’s episode is where we see modern humanist man act […]

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 6 “The Scientific Age” (Schaeffer Sundays)

E P I S O D E 6 How Should We Then Live 6#1 Uploaded by NoMirrorHDDHrorriMoN on Oct 3, 2011 How Should We Then Live? Episode 6 of 12 ________ I am sharing with you a film series that I saw in 1979. In this film Francis Schaeffer asserted that was a shift in […]

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 5 “The Revolutionary Age” (Schaeffer Sundays)

E P I S O D E 5 How Should We Then Live? Episode 5: The Revolutionary Age I was impacted by this film series by Francis Schaeffer back in the 1970′s and I wanted to share it with you. Francis Schaeffer noted, “Reformation Did Not Bring Perfection. But gradually on basis of biblical teaching there […]

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 4 “The Reformation” (Schaeffer Sundays)

Dr. Francis Schaeffer – Episode IV – The Reformation 27 min I was impacted by this film series by Francis Schaeffer back in the 1970′s and I wanted to share it with you. Schaeffer makes three key points concerning the Reformation: “1. Erasmian Christian humanism rejected by Farel. 2. Bible gives needed answers not only as to […]

“Schaeffer Sundays” Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 3 “The Renaissance”

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 3 “The Renaissance” Francis Schaeffer: “How Should We Then Live?” (Episode 3) THE RENAISSANCE I was impacted by this film series by Francis Schaeffer back in the 1970′s and I wanted to share it with you. Schaeffer really shows why we have so […]

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 2 “The Middle Ages” (Schaeffer Sundays)

  Francis Schaeffer: “How Should We Then Live?” (Episode 2) THE MIDDLE AGES I was impacted by this film series by Francis Schaeffer back in the 1970′s and I wanted to share it with you. Schaeffer points out that during this time period unfortunately we have the “Church’s deviation from early church’s teaching in regard […]

Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 1 “The Roman Age” (Schaeffer Sundays)

Francis Schaeffer: “How Should We Then Live?” (Episode 1) THE ROMAN AGE   Today I am starting a series that really had a big impact on my life back in the 1970′s when I first saw it. There are ten parts and today is the first. Francis Schaeffer takes a look at Rome and why […]

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 5) TRUTH AND HISTORY

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 5) TRUTH AND HISTORY Published on Oct 7, 2012 by AdamMetropolis This crucial series is narrated by the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer and former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop. Today, choices are being made that undermine human rights at their most basic level. Practices once […]

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 4) THE BASIS FOR HUMAN DIGNITY

The opening song at the beginning of this episode is very insightful. Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 4) THE BASIS FOR HUMAN DIGNITY Published on Oct 7, 2012 by AdamMetropolis This crucial series is narrated by the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer and former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop. Today, choices […]

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 3) DEATH BY SOMEONE’S CHOICE

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 3) DEATH BY SOMEONE’S CHOICE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis This crucial series is narrated by the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer and former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop. Today, choices are being made that undermine human rights at their most basic level. Practices […]

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race?” (Episode 2) SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race?” (Episode 2) SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis This crucial series is narrated by the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer and former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop. Today, choices are being made that undermine human rights at their most basic level. Practices […]

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE

It is not possible to know where the pro-life evangelicals are coming from unless you look at the work of the person who inspired them the most. That person was Francis Schaeffer.  I do care about economic issues but the pro-life issue is the most important to me. Several years ago Adrian Rogers (past president of […]

Ecclesiastes, Purpose, Meaning, and the Necessity of God by Suiwen Liang (Quotes Will Durant, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, Stephen Jay Gould,Richard Dawkins, Jean-Paul Sartre,Bertrand Russell, Leo Tolstoy, Loren Eiseley,Aldous Huxley, G.K. Chesterton, Ravi Zacharias, and C.S. Lewis.)

Ecclesiastes 2-3 Published on Sep 19, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 16, 2012 | Derek Neider _____________________________ I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series on Ecclesiastes I hope to show how secular […]

Robert Leroe on Ecclesiastes (Mentions Thomas Aquinas, Princess Diana, Mother Teresa, King Solomon, King Rehoboam, Eugene Peterson, Chuck Swindoll, and John Newton.)

Ecclesiastes 1 Published on Sep 4, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 2, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _____________________ I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series on Ecclesiastes I hope to show how […]

Super Bowl, Black Eyed Peas, and the Meaning of Life and Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 8-10 | Still Searching After All These Years Published on Oct 9, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | October 7, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _______________________ Ecclesiastes 11-12 | Solomon Finds His Way Published on Oct 30, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | October 28, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

January 4, 2015 – 4:13 am Categories: Atheists Confronted, Biblical Archaeology, Francis Schaeffer | Comments (1)

“Sanctity of Life Saturday” Debating Kermit Gosnell Trial, Abortion and infanticide with Ark Times Bloggers Part 2

C. Everett Koop, 1980s.jpg
Surgeon General of the United States
In office
January 21, 1982 – October 1, 1989
President Ronald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
Francis Schaeffer
Francis Schaeffer.jpg

Founder of the L’Abri community
Born Francis August Schaeffer
January 30, 1912

Died May 15, 1984 (aged 72)

I truly believe that many of the problems we have today in the USA are due to the advancement of humanism in the last few decades in our society. Ronald Reagan appointed the evangelical Dr. C. Everett Koop to the position of Surgeon General in his administration. He partnered with Dr. Francis Schaeffer in making the video below. It is very valuable information for Christians to have.  Actually I have included a video below that includes comments from him on this subject.

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Francis Schaeffer Whatever Happened to the Human Race (Episode 1) ABORTION

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Francis Schaeffer “BASIS FOR HUMAN DIGNITY” Whatever…HTTHR

Dr. Francis schaeffer – The flow of Materialism(from Part 4 of Whatever happened to human race?)

Dr. Francis Schaeffer – The Biblical flow of Truth & History (intro)

Francis Schaeffer – The Biblical Flow of History & Truth (1)

Dr. Francis Schaeffer – The Biblical Flow of Truth & History (part 2)

I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control  and issues dealing with popular culture . This time around I have discussed morality with the Ark Times Bloggers and particularly the trial of the abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell and through that we discuss infanticide, abortion and even partial birth abortion. Here are some of my favorite past posts on the subject of Gosnell: ,Abby Johnson comments on Dr. Gosnell’s guilty verdict, Does President Obama care about Kermit Gosnell verdict?,  Dr. Gosnell Trial mostly ignored by media,  Kermit Gosnell is guilty of same crimes of abortion clinics are says Jennifer Mason,  Denny Burk: Is Dr. Gosnell the usual case or not?, Pro-life Groups thrilled with Kermit Gosnell guilty verdict,  Reactions to Dr. Gosnell guilty verdict from pro-life leaders,  Kermit Gosnell and Planned Parenthood supporting infanticide?, Owen Strachan on Dr. Gosnell Trial, Al Mohler on Kermit Gosnell’s abortion practice, Finally we get justice for Dr. Kermit Gosnell .

In July of 2013 I went back and forth with several bloggers from the Ark Times Blog concerning Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s abortion practice and his trial which had finished up in the middle of May:

Couldn’t be better wrote, “No, Saline, failure of the state of PA to monitor the doctors in their state, all of them, is the cause of how a Dr Giosnell gets by. That is a system failure by the state government of PA and had zero, nothing, naught, to do whether it was an abortion clinic or a foot surgeon or an ENT speciialist. Bad doctors are bad doctors, no matter what their speciality is. You won’t find one person on the blog who defends Gosnell.”

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Many of my relatives grew up in the Methodist Church and many of them have regretted the liberal direction the church has taken in the last few years. I enjoyed reading the words below of Matt O’Reilly on the recent statement of the United Methodist Church on the Gosnell verdict. Matt is the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Union Springs, Alabama, and an adjunct member of the faculties of New Testament at Wesley Biblical Seminary and Asbury Theological Seminary.

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The General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) has released a statement on the guilty verdict handed down earlier this week in the trial of Kermit Gosnell, who killed numerous newborns and at least one woman. I’m glad the statement from GBCS condemned the horrible crimes committed by the former abortion practitioner as reprehensible. They certainly were. I’m also very glad that the statement does not contradict our United Methodist Social Principles. There are, nevertheless, a variety of features that make the statement inadequate….The statement goes on to say that both supporters and opponents of abortion find Gosnell’s crimes reprehensible. This only is accurate to a degree. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE ACCURATE TO SAY THAT SOME ABORTION SUPPORTERS FIND GOSNELL’S CRIMES REPREHENSIBLE. A GROWING NUMBER OF ABORTION ADVOCATES ARE ALSO CALLING FOR THE LEGALIZATION OF INFANTICIDE. Ethicist Peter Singer has been saying this for years, and others are beginning to join him. The key example is the most recent edition of the Journal of Medical Ethics, which is devoted to debating infanticide and contains articles arguing both for and against the killing of newborns. I point to other examples of this trend in a recent piece for The United Methodist Reporter, and you can follow Michael Bird who is chronicling the “Infanticide Blitz”. This is a debate we are now having. Certainly not all supporters of abortion reject infanticide, but GBCS should not lead us to think that supporters of abortion are of one mind with regard to infanticide. Many abortion advocates find Gosnell’s crimes horrific, but the arguments that gave us constitutionally protected abortion are being applied to newborns in a growing number of diverse arenas. The folks at GBCS need to read the relevant journals and websites and do their homework rather more carefully in order to stay on top of this highly important issue.

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http://www.mattoreilly.net/2013/05/gbcsumc…

Related posts:

GBCSUMC on Gosnell: What’s abortion got to do with it? #UMC

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Kermit Gosnell and the irony of the coat hanger back alley argument

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

History’s Jury Is Out: Has Gosnell Rocked Our Conscience?

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Evangelical Blogger Lists Eight Reasons the Media Are Ignoring the Gosnell Murder Trial

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Cornerstone Executive Ashley Pratte on Gosnell Trial Verdict

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Dr. Gosnell Trial ignored for a while by mainstream media

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

ANALYSIS: Will the Kermit Gosnell verdict change the abortion debate?

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

What’s So Bad About Kermit Gosnell?

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Kermit Gosnell and the Gospel

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

VIDEO: Kermit Gosnell killings like ‘weeding your garden’

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Gosnell: The Silence is Deafening

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Five Thoughts on the Gosnell Conviction

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Implications of the Kermit Gosnell Verdict

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Godly comments on Dr. Kermit Gosnell

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Dr. Gosnell Trial has prompted closer look at Albuquerque abortion clinic

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Why won’t President Obama comment on Dr. Gosnell Trial?

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Dr. Alveda King reacts to guilty verdict of Kermit Gosnell

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ What a great article below: Dr. Alveda King: Guilty Gosnell Verdict May Spark More Justice for Women and Babies Contact: Eugene Vigil, King for America, 470-244-3302 PHILADELPHIA, May 13, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ […]

Kristen Hatten: Dr. Gosnell guilty verdict, but what about the rest?

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Lila Rose of Live Action comments on Kermit Gosnell guilty verdict

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ May 14, 2013 Murdered Thousands, Convicted for Three: The Kermit Gosnell Verdict By Drew Belsky Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/05/murdered_thousands_convicted_for_three_the_kermit_gosnell_verdict.html#ixzz2TMstLk1c Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on FacebookPhiladelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell was convicted […]

Gerard M. Nadal: Dr. Gosnell Guilty, but now what?

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Reince Priebus on Kermit Gosnell guilty verdict

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ A Verdict Doesn’t End the Gosnell Story By: Chairman Reince Priebus (Diary)  |  May 13th, 2013 at 03:27 PM  |  28 RESIZE: AAA The horrors that unfolded in the clinic of Dr. […]

Kirsten Powers of USA Today on Dr. Gosnell Trial

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Top 10 Revelations of Kermit Gosnell Trial

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ All-American Horror Story: Top 10 Kermit Gosnell Trial Revelations by Kristan Hawkins | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 4/12/13 3:38 PM Since so many in the media have failed/refused to report on […]

Denny Burk: We have to learn from Dr. Gosnell’s Crimes

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Tony Perkins on Kermit Gosnell Trial

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis _____________ Tony Perkins: Gosnell Trial – FOX News Published on May 13, 2013 Tony Perkins: Gosnell Trial – FOX News ________________ Hey Obama, Kermit Gosnell Is What a Real War on Women Looks Like […]

Ross Douthat of NY Times on Dr. Gosnell

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Family Research Council happy with Kermit Gosnell Guilty Verdict

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ___ _____________ Tony Perkins: Gosnell Trial – FOX News Published on May 13, 2013 Tony Perkins: Gosnell Trial – FOX News ________________ Family Research Council Praises Jury for Bringing Justice to Victims of Abortionist […]

Peter Jones on Infanticide and Dr. Gosnell

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Is Dr. Gosnell a “one-of-a-kind anomaly”?

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Kermit Gosnell and the Logic of “Pro-Choice”

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ _____________ Tony Perkins: Gosnell Trial – FOX News Published on May 13, 2013 Tony Perkins: Gosnell Trial – FOX News ________________ Kermit Gosnell and the Logic of “Pro-Choice” by  Matthew J. Franck within […]

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Do New York late term abortionists need more attention like Dr. Gosnell did?

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Dr. Gosnell Trial has prompted Texas authorities to take closer look a Houston abortionist

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Father Frank Pavone reacts to Kermit Gosnell guilty verdict

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ Fr. Pavone: Right to choose must yield to right to life STATEN ISLAND, NY — Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, had the following comment on the verdict in […]

NAF reacts to Dr. Gosnell guilty verdict

Many in the world today are taking a long look at the abortion industry because of the May 14, 2013 guilty verdict and life term penalty handed down by a jury (which included 9 out of 12 pro-choice jurors)  to Dr. Kermit Gosnell. During this time of reflection I wanted to put forth some of the […]

Hope for Kermit Gosnell’s repentance?

Francis Schaeffer: “Whatever Happened to the Human Race” (Episode 1) ABORTION OF THE HUMAN RACE Published on Oct 6, 2012 by AdamMetropolis ________________ The truth of abortion … the hope for Gosnell’s repentance A conviction in the murder trial of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell has boosted the efforts of pro-lifers to demonstrate what abortion really […]

The Selfishness of Chris Evert Part 5 (Includes videos and Pictures)

The Selfishness of Chris Evert Part 2 (Includes videos and Pictures) _________________________________ _____________________ _______________________ __________________________ Tennis – Wimbledon 1974 [ Official Film ] – 05/05 Published on May 1, 2012 John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Bjor Borg, Jimmy Connors, Cris Evert… ___________________ Jimmy Connors Reflects Published on May 13, 2013 Jimmy Connors visits “SportsCenter” to discuss his memoir, […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events, Francis Schaeffer, Prolife | Tagged , | Edit | Comments (0)

January 3, 2015 – 1:06 am Categories: Francis Schaeffer, Prolife | Post a comment

FRIEDMAN FRIDAY “How to Stay Free” in Milton Friedman’s FREE TO CHOOSE Part 7 of 7 “I believe that there is a strong enough component of freedom in our society that we will be able to preserve it, that we’re going to turn this trend back, that we are going to cut government down to size, we’re going to lay the ground work for a resurgence for a, a flowering, of that diversity which has been the real product of our free society”

In 1980 I read the book FREE TO CHOOSE by Milton Friedman and it really enlightened me a tremendous amount.  I suggest checking out these episodes and transcripts of Milton Friedman’s film series FREE TO CHOOSE: “The Failure of Socialism” and “The Anatomy of a Crisis” and “What is wrong with our schools?”  and “Created Equal”  and  From Cradle to Grave, and – Power of the Market.

In this episode “How to Stay Free” Friedman makes the statement “What we need is widespread public recognition that the central government should be limited to its basic functions: defending the nation against foreign enemies, preserving order at home, and mediating our disputes. We must come to recognize that voluntary cooperation through the market and in other ways is a far better way to solve our problems than turning them over to the government.”

Milton Friedman says this in the following episode:
I believe that there is a strong enough component of freedom in our society that we will be able to preserve it, that we’re going to turn this trend back, that we are going to cut government down to size, we’re going to lay the ground work for a resurgence for a, a flowering, of that diversity which has been the real product of our free society.
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Pt 7
Lawrence E. Spivak: Milton, how bad is the state of freedom in this country today?
Friedman: It’s a mixed bag. In some areas we have more freedom than we’ve ever had before. In some other areas our freedom has been drastically reduced. Our freedom to spend our own money as we want has been cut sharply. Our freedom to go into whatever occupation we want has been reduced sharply. Our freedom to have various businesses has been reduced sharply. And these restrictions in our economic freedoms have carried over to restrictions on the freedom with which we speak and we talk, the activities we carry on, our attitudes toward governmental officials and all the rest. In those areas, our freedoms have been very seriously restricted.
Lawrence E. Spivak: What about your yourself? You as an individual and we really have to do with, deal with millions of hundreds, two hundred million, two hundred twenty million individuals. What about you? What freedom do you think you’ve lost?
Friedman: Well, I have been a very fortunate individual. I always have…
Lawrence E. Spivak: That sounds like a cop out.
Friedman: No, it’s not a cop out because I’m going to add to it. I’ve always said about the only people who have effective freedom of speech these days in the United States are tenured professors at private universities who are on the verge of retirement or have retired. And that’s been my situation in these recent years. Consider the freedom of, for example, a professor of medicine at any one of our great institutions. He’s almost certainly having his research financed by the Federal Government. Don’t you suppose he’d think two or three times before he gave a lecture on the evils of socialized medicine? Or consider one of my colleagues at the University who happens to be getting grants of money from the National Science Foundation. Do you think he really feels free to speak out on the issue of whether government ought to be financing such research. Of course, you ought not to have freedom without costs. But the costs ought to be reasonable. They ought not to be disproportionate, there’s no businessmen in this country today who can speak out. Why is it, why is it that the businessmen today are so mealy-mouthed in what they say? There are very few of them who are willing to come out and say openly what they believe. Why?
Lawrence E. Spivak: About what?
Friedman: About anything. Take for example the recent attempts by President Carter to impose voluntary wage and price controls. There’s hardly a businessman in this country who doesn’t think it’s terrible. There are only about two or three businessmen who have had the courage to stand up and say something about that. But again, as I say, go to my academic colleagues. Many of them feel as I do that government is devoting altogether too much money. That there’s been altogether too much subsidization of state universities and colleges all along the line. Yet very few of them are willing to speak out.
Lawrence E. Spivak: What about the generation that doesn’t know what freedom is as you knew it, and therefore, doesn’t mind so much what has happened. Just takes for granted what he’s living under now.
Friedman: I think that’s a very real problem. I think we’re living on our inheritance. We have inherited a philosophy and a set of attitudes and they tend to be eroded. People get accustomed to what they know. There’s an enormous tear in the status quote and most people, most of the time, accept the circumstances that are around them. There’s a natural human drive for freedom which always expresses itself. But, its stronger or weaker and I think a great danger in continuing along the path that we’ve been going on is that we will lose still more of our inheritance, still more of our basic values of our basic beliefs in freedom and that we will have still less protest as more and more freedoms are taken away. The real value of freedom is that it provides diversity and diversity is in turn the real protection of freedom. People who like to live in small cities, can live in small cities. People who like the impersonality of the metropolis can live in a metropolis. We have loyalties to our churches, we have loyalties to our universities, to our schools, to our clubs, to our cities, to our states. It’s this diversity. That fact that there isn’t a monolithic conformity imposed on us, that is, the source of protection for our freedom and also the fruit of freedom. It’s because freedom protects diversity, allows, you will remember the phrase when Mao said he was going to allow a 100 flowers to bloom. But of course he didn’t. As soon as people spoke out and 100 flowers bloomed, he cut them off. But it’s the blooming of many flowers, the fact that you have all of these different expressions of people’s individuality and produces the great achievements of civilization and that provides the great hope a protection of our freedom.
Lawrence E. Spivak: Why are you saying that there are pockets of freedom still existing in the countries?
Friedman: As I said before, the picture’s a mixed bag. In certain respects we have more freedom than we’ve ever had, but in other respects we’ve had very much less freedom. Of course there are great pockets of freedom, this is predominantly still a free country. We must not confuse the trend with the situation. We have been moving away from freedom. Our freedom is in jeopardy but by no means has been completely destroyed. I believe that there is a strong enough component of freedom in our society that we will be able to preserve it, that we’re going to turn this trend back, that we are going to cut government down to size, we’re going to lay the ground work for a resurgence for a, a flowering, of that diversity which has been the real product of our free society.

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Woody Allen’s recent films have done very well!!!

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Woody Allen’s recent films have done very well!!! Below Allen discusses them.

12 Questions for Woody Allen

Woody Allen: American Master

The reluctant auteur opens up

By | 07/30/14 11:13am

Woody Allen CREDIT: Emily Assiran/New York Observer

Would it kill you to know that Woody Allen is just like us? He’s got two teenage girls who listen to pop music on their iPhones. He’s always worried that something bad will happen to them. He exercises every morning but struggles to keep his weight up. (Okay. He’s not totally like us.)

He’s also 78 years old, has won four Academy Awards, has directed actors to six more wins (18 nominations), and has never missed a year releasing a film since 1977. This past weekend came No. 44, a comedy called Magic in the Moonlight. Whether it’s a hit or not doesn’t matter to him particularly, because it’s done, and there’s nothing he can do about it. He’s busy finishing No. 45 and thinking about No. 46. But so far, so good: in 17 theaters, Magictook in a very healthy $426,000.

His frequent collaborator, Marshall Brickman, co-author of such classic Allen films as Annie Hall and Manhattan Murder Mystery, tells me: “He secretes movies like honey. It’s an astonishing record. I don’t think anyone’s come close to it.”

Mr. Allen’s had some problems, but we all know about them. That’s not what this is about. Mr. Allen’s had a life since 1992, when he left Mia Farrow and subsequently married her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. It’s been 22 years. There must be something else to talk about.

There is: he’s still thinking about life and death, the end of the world, and why we’re all here. All the years with Ms. Farrow, Mr. Allen lived alone on the East Side of Central Park. He wasn’t domiciled until he married Soon-Yi and they started a family. When I meet him at his shambling, low-profile production office off of Fifth Avenue, it’s one of the first things to come up: are the big questions easier now?

“No, it only becomes more tragic,” Mr. Allen says. He’s dressed like, well, Woody Allen, compactly and neat in a button down shirt and chinos. His feathery gray hair is always a jolt because the Mr. Allen you have in your mind is Alvy Singer. But he’s really, pleasantly, the same as ever. He explains: “Because when you have more loved ones, that becomes their fate. I think these poor kids, they become aware of their mortality. When they become aware of it, it’s life changing and traumatic. I feel sorry for them, but the cold hard facts don’t change.”

How about his own vulnerability? “I worry not only about me. But that something bad won’t happen to three other people. That my wife won’t get run over, that my kids won’t die in a plane crash. I used to worry about just me and maybe one other person!”

The children are Bechet, who’s 15, and Manzie, 14. They’re adopted. Each is named for a famous jazz musician. When I met them this past spring at the opening of Mr. Allens’s Bullets Over Broadway premiere, they were incredibly normal teenage girls.  Does he like having two teenage girls in the house? “No! They’re a lot of work. When they hit the teenage years they become more difficult. They’re great before then, charming. But they hit the teenage years and they become like Bonnie Parker.”

Web_Woody_Allen_Philip_Burke

The girls and Soon-Yi have been with him most of the summer in Providence, Rhode Island, where Mr. Allen has been shooting his next film, a drama. As usual, there’s no title. But the key players are his new “it” girl, Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix and Parker Posey.

He’s clearly enamored of Mr. Phoenix: “He’s full of emotion and agony. If he says, ‘Pass the salt,’ it’s like the scene where Oedipus puts his eyes out.”

For years Mr. Allen worked with a close circle of actors who rotated through his movies, from Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts to Ms. Farrow, Julie Kavner, Caroline Aaron and Alan Alda. But then he started to branch out.

“I’ve been very lucky. I was thinking about this because [Elaine] Stritch died.” The Broadway legend and quintessential brassy New York broad starred in his 1987 drama, September. The two of them used to poke fun at each other: “We were at rehearsal shooting. She would come out in just her body stocking. People would say, ‘Go back inside!’ I would say, ‘No one wants to see you that way because we’re going to eat in a few minutes!’” Rim shot.  “Every time I saw her we used to kid each other.

“It reminded me that I’ve worked with all these great actresses—Meryl Streep and Maureen Stapleton and Judy Davis and Penelope Cruz and Diane Keaton and Geraldine Page, Gena Rowlands, and Gemma Jones, she was fantastic, now Eileen Atkins. I’ve worked with all the great women—Marion Cotillard.”

Among the men, one offbeat choice that worked was Owen Wilson, who played the lead in Midnight in Paris, Mr. Allen’s most successful movie ever. “He was completely wrong for it when I wrote it. I wrote the character as a New York Eastern intellectual. And we’re thinking who can do this? There’s no one available, no one right. Someone said what about Owen Wilson? I said, I always loved him, but he’s a surfer in Honolulu. He’s not an Eastern intellectual. And [casting director] Juliet Taylor said, rewrite it and send it to him.’”

I interrupt him at this point. “Wait a minute! Juliet can tell you to rewrite a script?” Ms. Taylor has been casting director on 39 of Mr. Allen’s projects in a row starting with Annie Hall and including his TV adaptation of Don’t Drink the Water and his segment of New York Stories.

He laughs. “She can suggest it. She can’t order me to do it. Yes, I’m very close with Juliet. I always run my scripts by her and she’s always giving me feedback.”

What if Mr. Wilson had turned it down?

“Then I would have a version rewritten for no reason. But to rewrite it wasn’t so hard. I just had to rewrite it as a Hollywood scriptwriter, a big success but it meant nothing to him, who went to Paris and regretted that he hadn’t stayed there.”

Woody Allen CREDIT: Emily Assiran/New York Observer

Midnight in Paris kicked off a succession of hits that no one, including Mr. Allen, would have expected at this point in his long career. To Rome with Love followed and did very well. Then Blue Jasmine, a drama that captured the zeitgeist of a society confused about money, possessions, wealth and sanity. Cate Blanchett won the Oscar for Best Actress. Mr. Allen says: “I thought when I was writing it if I could get Cate Blanchett I would be very lucky. There aren’t a lot of actresses who can go that deep. She can.”

Did he give her a lot of direction? “I gave her some direction. But to say you direct Cate Blanchett, she’s one of the great actresses in the world. She and Meryl Streep. There’s two or three, and she’s one of them. I thought it was like when I hired Anthony Hopkins. That I could just phone it in.”

His method of directing—or lack thereof—is always an issue. Both Colin Firth and Ms. Stone claim they were very much directed in Magic in the Moonlight. When I tell Mr. Allen that, he almost blushes. “Then I was tricking him! You’ve seen Colin like this. I have nothing really to direct with Colin. He is that elegant, handsome Englishman.

“He’s a very, very skillful actor. You can see it in The King’s Speech. Here he’s a charming leading man. There he’s the mumbling, stuttering king. He’s great in both of them. And she’s”—he indicates Ms. Stone—“a natural movie star. She’s a movie star. She’s beautiful,” he says, “in an interesting way.”

That brings us to Magic in the Moonlight. It’s set in 1928, when psychics were all the rage. Great magicians like Houdini were deployed to debunk them. That’s the character Mr. Firth plays. Emma Stone is the psychic. Eileen Atkins plays Mr. Firth’s aunt, and almost steals the movie in a scene where she persuades Mr. Firth that he’s in love with Ms. Stone. Magic turns up a lot in Woody Allen movies, starting with Kenneth Mars in Shadows and Fog. Mr. Allen played a magician in the under-appreciated Scoop with Scarlett Johansson. As a child, Mr. Allen was an amateur magician.

“I bought tricks and did them. I was interested in sleight of hand. I always read a lot about magic. I would do the tricks, put the cigarette in my mother’s silk handkerchief. It wouldn’t work. The guys who do it are constantly practicing. David Blaine, Ricky Jay. David Blaine told me he and a friend went to the card factory and had special decks of cards made with the perfect weight and thinness.”

Alas, despite magic being a big part of his films, Mr. Allen is realistic. “There’s no magic, unfortunately … And there are no psychics.”

Woody Allen CREDIT: Emily Assiran/New York Observer

As a stand-up comic in the mid-1960s, Mr. Allen could never have foretold that this would be his fate. But he always loved jazz, even then, playing the clarinet. Nowadays he does it with his band on Mondays at the Café Carlyle. There are big differences. Back then, Mr. Allen tells me, he carried at least 20 jazz LPs with him on the road as he made his way from Chicago to San Francisco to Detroit.

“I’d carry a lot of albums with me for variation. They were always New Orleans jazz, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet … When I got to a town, I’d buy a record player. When I was done, I’d leave it in St. Louis, or wherever … it was too heavy to carry a record player from town to town.”

Now, he actually carries an iPhone loaded with music. “My assistant programmed into the music thing 120 jazz tunes into it. Now when I go out of town, I put the earphones on and it’s great.”

The iPhone is only for music and/or making and taking calls. He doesn’t email or surf the web. Ms. Stone, he says, recently showed him how to text. “I’m so untechnical. I don’t have a word processor. I still have my typewriter, the Olympia portable.” When I mention clips of him on YouTube, he shrugs. He’s never seen it. His daughters, however, are appropriately tech savvy. He says, sounding like every other parent, “They’re on their phones obsessively. And their mother catches them at 12:30 at night. It drives her crazy.” What do they listen to? “Something called One Direction,” he pauses, thinking, “and Katy Perry, and Rihanna.” Does he ever listen? “They have earphones. It’s their music, their generation.”

He rarely wanders out of his comfort zone. And when he does, it’s not always successful. He was ambivalent about turning Bullets Over Broadway into a live stage show. Now it’s closing on August 24 after a disappointing 156 performances. “I thought, it will open, I’ll make money in my sleep!” Is there such a thing? “No, not for me … I’ll never understand why some shows have huge audiences.”

Mr. Allen says he’s always had trouble drawing a live audience. “Even when I was a comic, I’d be on the Johnny Carson show, I’d take over the Johnny Carson show, I’d host it and promote and promote. The next week I’d go to Vegas, and they’d start moving around the potted plants to make the room look smaller. And they’d move them in so it didn’t look so empty. I’ve never been a draw in my life, in any medium … my record album came out when Newhart, Shelley Berman, Cosby, Mort Sahl, Nichols and May [all had hits]. And I was a hot comic at the time. Very disappointing.”

The audience thing is not completely true. There was a time when the opening of a Woody Allen film was an event in New York. Fans lined up around the block to see the auteur’s films at the Coronet, Baronet and Beekman theaters in the late ’70s through the mid-’80s. It was a phenomenon.

“I was aware that in those theaters I did very well. Sometimes, my movies were only playing in those theaters. Then they went to Queens, Staten Island and did okay. By the time they got to Yuma and Tulsa, they weren’t doing so well.”

Woody Allen CREDIT: Emily Assiran/New York Observer

It was Mr. Allens’s halcyon era in New York—playing the clarinet at Michael’s Pub, eating at Elaine’s. “She was a loyal friend,” he says of the late restaurateur Elaine Kaufman. “There was a period when I had dinner there every single night for 10 years. I was loyal to her. I used her place for several movies. I used Elaine’s in Celebrity, Manhattan, always Elaine’s. And that was a home for a while.” When Kaufman celebrated her restaurant’s 45th year in 2008, Mr. Allen, wife Soon-Yi and daughter Bechet arrived on the button at 8 p.m. and stayed for hours, much to Kaufman’s delight.

Three years later, Kaufman and her eatery would be gone. And when Midnight in Paris screened in Cannes, people went wild. At the dinner in the Palais des Festivals following its official showing, I asked Mr. Allen if he’d known this would happen. I can still remember him saying, very meekly, “No, it was just an idea on a piece of paper …” He was shocked. There’s simply no way to calculate or manufacture a hit.

“It’s a complete surprise,” he says, if a film takes off. “And I live with it for a year. Right now I’m shooting a picture with Emma and Joaquin Phoenix. I see them every day, we shoot and reshoot, it’s agonizing work, we edit and do the music and the mix, you don’t know … I don’t know if people are going to say, ‘Are you kidding? This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.’”

When Midnight broke records, “I was pleasantly surprised. People were coming in abundance. All over the world. I didn’t think anyone would come to Blue Jasmine. I thought that kind of picture would not be popular. A serious picture is an uphill fight. Just like a serious play is a brutal fight on Broadway.”

He has not worked alone on the 44 films. Besides Ms. Taylor, his closest associates have been the cinematographers: Carlo Di Palma, Gordon Willis, Sven Nykvist—all now deceased—and more recently Darius Khondji. It hasn’t always been easy getting everyone on the same page.

Woody Allen CREDIT: Emily Assiran/New York Observer

Mr. Allen recalls: “Gordon Willis”—who shot seven of his films (Annie Hall, Manhattan, Zelig) as well as The Godfather trilogy—“worked very differently than I liked to work. But it was not that comfortable. I accommodated him. He was very detailed and meticulous. He’s very professional. He wanted to rehearse so he knew [what was going to happen].

“Carlo was a happy-go-lucky guy. Carlo was like me, he didn’t know what we were going to shoot until we got there. He was an artist, with a vision. But he didn’t know what he was doing. For Everyone Says I Love You, Carlo had lit everything on the other side of the Seine from Notre Dame—he used every light in Paris. Then you get Sven Nykvist, he’s fast, with no lights, and it’s beautiful. Carlo makes it beautiful with all the lights in Paris. Darius was such a dedicated artist for MIP he researched the filaments and street lights. I said, ‘It looks marginally different.’”

He worries that as a filmmaker, he hasn’t influenced anyone. Unlike Martin Scorsese, for example, Mr. Allen says he rarely reads about young directors getting their inspiration from him. Only one: Nora Ephron, who wrote When Harry Met Sally. “She said, ‘You always say no one’s influenced by you but what about me?’ But she’s the only one. And that movie probably did better than Annie Hall.” It’s ironic to him, too. “Annie Hall I think was the lowest earning Oscar winning.” Up til then it was.

As much as Annie Hall makes other people’s best of lists, it barely makes Mr. Allens’s list. When I ask him to name his favorites of his films, his first answer is: Purple Rose of Cairo. He says he likes about 12 of the 45 films, and continues: “Husbands and Wives, Midnight in Paris, Match Point, Zelig,” come out immediately. That’s five. Now what? He adds “Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Blue Jasmine, Broadway Danny Rose.” We’ve got eight. “Annie Hall?” I ask. “Yeahhhh.” Then he remembers the ones he wants: “Manhattan Murder Mystery, Bullets Over Broadway.” He makes no mention of popular favorites like Manhattan or Crimes and Misdemeanors or Hannah and Her Sisters.

Even though he is regularly nominated for Oscars, and he’s directed many actors to Oscars, Mr. Allen is a not member of the Academy and doesn’t vote a ballot. He’s only attended the Oscars once, in 2002, after 9/11, to promote New York. “I’m not a person who believes in awards. I don’t think it’s a right thing to give awards. I think they could say ‘These are our favorite films.’ Crash is better than Brokeback Mountain?”

Was it, I ask?

He replies: “I don’t know. I didn’t see them.”

He claims never to have watched a DVD screener. The only time he’s seen new movies has been from a print, in his small screening room. He did see Wolf of Wall Street. Argo is a vague memory. How about the Coen brothers? They’re sort of like young Woody Allens gone askew—quirky, Jewish, transplanted New Yorkers. Mr. Allen tells me he didn’t see Inside Llewyn Davis, which vaguely covered a time and place he knew—Greenwich Village, 1960. But he adds quickly, “I thought Fargo should have won the Academy Award and not The English Patient.”

Earlier this year, in an effort to derail Ms. Blanchett’s Oscar campaign, a couple of anonymous complaints turned up in the tabloids about Mr. Allen not using black actors. He’s horrified when I bring up the subject. We talk about the new generation of wonderful black actors like Viola Davis and wonder if they’ll ever be cast in a Woody Allen film. He doesn’t hesitate to respond: “Not unless I write a story that requires it. You don’t hire people based on race. You hire people based on who is correct for the part. The implication is that I’m deliberately not hiring black actors, which is stupid. I cast only what’s right for the part. Race, friendship means nothing to me except who is right for the part.”

Woody Allen CREDIT: Emily Assiran/New York ObserverI ask him why, by the way, Chris Rock appeared in Robert Weide’s PBS documentary about him last year? Are they friends?  “He loved my work. When I got married to Soon-Yi he bought me a wedding present,” Mr. Allen reports, surprised and grateful. “When I ran into him in Rome, we took him out for dinner.” He adds: “I’m friendly with Spike Lee. We don’t socialize, but I don’t socialize with anyone.” There’s a punchline: “I don’t have white friends either.”

He does have heroes, however. Mr. Allen is still obsessed with Bob Hope, for example. “I just finished reading this wonderful biography of Bob Hope, by Richard Zoglin. For me it’s a feast. Full of funny lines, quotes you can hear Hope saying them. I would love to make a Bob Hope movie, even an homage to Hope called Hope Springs Eternal, but I fear no one would see it. I’m always defending him to people.”

Modern comics don’t interest him much. He draws a blank when I ask about Jerry Seinfeld. “What I’ve seen of Seinfeld and Louie C.K. I’ve liked,” he says, but TV eludes him other than news and Knicks games. He says he can’t keep up with The New Yorker—“it comes so fast.” But when I mention Paul Rudnick and Andy Borowitz, that he knows. “I find those guys funny definitely.”

What’s a typical Woody Allen day like? He writes not long after he gets up. He uses a treadmill for exercise. “Exercise trumps diet,” he says. He can brag. “Someone just found my driver’s license from when I shot Take the Money and Run in San Francisco.” That’s 45 years ago. “I’m the same weight. I try and gain weight. I switched from wine to beer 10 or 15 years ago. I heard beer is a fattening drink. I have a couple of beers every day.”

Traditional New York food? He doesn’t like bagels! And deli? “I haven’t had a hot dog in at least 15 years. I’ve had a corned beef sandwich once every 25 years.”

His one vice?

“Chocolate malteds—I make them so brilliantly. It’ll kill you, though. You have to put in quite a bit of malt. More than you think. More is more than the traditional amount. If I make it for you, you will die. I make it with half and half, a certain amount of ice cream—vanilla ice cream—chocolate syrup—but you know, they kill you. I used to have two, three a day with impunity.” And his one health issue? “I had glaucoma in my right eye,” he says. What was it like, I asked this very funny man, a man whose work, whose life, has shaped New York sensibilities for more than four decades, to have had your cataracts fixed recently. “It’s like you moved out of Sweden.”

Roger Friedman has covered the entertainment industry for over 25 years and is the founder of Showbiz411.com.

Read more at http://observer.com/2014/07/woody-allen-american-master/#ixzz3Mp7vFZ88
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Links to articles on Antony Flew’s conversion from Atheism to Theism from March and April 2014 on www.thedailyhatch.org !!!!

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I have learned several things about atheists in the last 20 years while I have been corresponding with them. First, they know in their hearts that God exists and they can’t live as if God doesn’t exist, but they will still search in some way in their life for a greater meaning. Second, many atheists will take time out of their busy lives to examine the evidence that I present to them. Third, there is hope that they will change their views.

At the bottom of this post I have listed every post from March and April 2014 that is about Antony Flew, who was arguably the most famous atheist philosopher of the 20th century and his conversion from atheism to theism.

Let’s go over again a few points I made at the first of this post.  My first point is backed up by  Romans 1:18-19 (Amplified Bible) ” For God’s wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness REPRESS and HINDER the truth and make it inoperative. For that which is KNOWN about God is EVIDENT to them and MADE PLAIN IN THEIR INNER CONSCIOUSNESS, because God  has SHOWN IT TO THEM,”(emphasis mine). I have discussed this many times on my blog and even have interacted with many atheists from CSICOP in the past.

My second point is that many atheists will take the time to consider the evidence that I have presented to them and will respond. The late Adrian Rogers was my pastor at Bellevue Baptist when I grew up and I sent his sermon on evolution and another on the accuracy of the Bible to many atheists to listen to and many of them did. I also sent many of the arguments from Francis Schaeffer also.

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Adrian Rogers and his wife Joyce pictured above with former President George Bush at Union University in Tennessee.
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Many of these scholars have taken the time to respond back to me in the last 20 years and some of the names  included are  Ernest Mayr (1904-2005), George Wald (1906-1997), Carl Sagan (1934-1996),  Robert Shapiro (1935-2011), Nicolaas Bloembergen (1920-),  Brian Charlesworth (1945-),  Francisco J. Ayala (1934-) Elliott Sober (1948-), Kevin Padian (1951-), Matt Cartmill (1943-) , Milton Fingerman (1928-), John J. Shea (1969-), , Michael A. Crawford (1938-), (Paul Kurtz (1925-2012), Sol Gordon (1923-2008), Albert Ellis (1913-2007), Barbara Marie Tabler (1915-1996), Renate Vambery (1916-2005), Archie J. Bahm (1907-1996), Aron S “Gil” Martin ( 1910-1997), Matthew I. Spetter (1921-2012), H. J. Eysenck (1916-1997), Robert L. Erdmann (1929-2006), Mary Morain (1911-1999), Lloyd Morain (1917-2010),  Warren Allen Smith (1921-), Bette Chambers (1930-),  Gordon Stein (1941-1996) , Milton Friedman (1912-2006), John Hospers (1918-2011), and Michael Martin (1932-).
Third, there is hope that an atheist will reconsider his or her position after examining more evidence. Twenty years I had the opportunity to correspond with two individuals that were regarded as two of the most famous atheists of the 20th Century, Antony Flew and Carl Sagan.  I had read the books and seen the films of the Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer and he had discussed the works of both of these men. I sent both of these gentlemen philosophical arguments from Schaeffer in these letters and in the first letter I sent a cassette tape of my pastor’s sermon IS THE BIBLE TRUE? You may have noticed in the news a few years that Antony Flew actually became a theist in 2004 and remained one until his death in 2010. Carl Sagan remained a skeptic until his dying day in 1996.Antony Flew wrote me back several times and in the  June 1, 1994 letter he  commented, “Thank you for sending me the IS THE BIBLE TRUE? tape to which I have just listened with great interest and, I trust, profit.” I later sent him Adrian Rogers’ sermon on evolution too. 
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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Dr. Norman Geisler on even Atheists long for God…

 

John Paul Sarte –

“I need God…I reached out for religion, I longed for it, it was the remedy. Had it been denied me, I would have invented it myself.” (words, 102, 97).

“Atheism is a cruel, long-term business: I believe that I have gone through it to the end.” – Jean-Paul Sartre.

Before Sartre’s death he is recorded as saying,

“I do not feel that I am the product of chance, a speck of dust in the universe, but someone who was expected, prepared, prefigured. In short, a being whom only a Creator could put here” (National Review, 11 June, 1982, p. 677).
Sigmund Freud speaking of God admitted that

“It would be very nice indeed if there was a God.” There is “a sense of man’s insignificance or impotence in the face of the universe.”

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Friedrich Nietzsche –

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, the murderers, of all murderers, comfort ourselves?”

“I hold up before myself the images of Dante and Spinoza (believers), who were better at accepting the lot of solitude….My life now consists in the wish that it might be otherwise…And that somebody might make my ‘truths’ appear incredible to me…”

Thus Spake Zarathustra:

“Unknown one! Speak. What wilt thou, unknown-god?… Do come back With all thy tortures! To the last of all that are lonely, Oh, come back!…
“And the last flame of my heart Up it gloweth unto thee! Oh, come back, Mine unknown God, my pain! My last happiness!…”

David Hume—

“Most fortunately it happens, that since reason is incapable of dispelling these colds, nature herself suffices to that purpose, and cures me of this philosophical melancholy and delirium. I din, I play a game of backgammon, I converse, and am merry with my friends; and when after three or four hour’s amusement, I would return to these speculations, they appear so cold and strained and ridiculous, that I cannot find in my heart to enter into them any farther.”

Walter Kauffman, German American Philosopher,

“Religion is rooted in man’s aspirations to transcend himself…Whether he worships idols or strives to perfect himself, man is the god-intoxicated ape.”

Will Durant, an American writer, historian and philosopher was interviewed by the Chicago Sun-Times.

I survive morally because I was taught the moral code along with religion, while I have discarded the religion, which was Roman Catholicism. You and I are living on a shadow…because we are operating on the Christian ethical code which was given us, unfused with Christian faith…but what will happen with our children…? We are not giving them an ethics warmed up with Christian faith. They are living on the shadow of a shadow.”

Alber Camus

For anyone who is alone, without God and without a master, the weight of days is dreadful” (The Fall, 133).

“… Despite the fact that there is no God, at least the Church must be built” (The Rebel, 147).

Bertrand Russell

“Even when one feels nearest to other people, something in one seems obstinately to belong to God…–at least that is how I should express it if I thought there was a God. It is odd, isn’t it? I care passionately for this world and many things and people in it, and yet…what is it all?” There must be something more important one feels, though I don’t believe there is”

The British Humanist Magazine charged that Humanism is almost “clinically detached from life.” It recommends they develop a humanist Bible, a humanist hymnal, Ten Commandments for humanists, and even confessional practices! In addition,

“the use of hypnotic techniques–music and other psychological devices–during humanist services would give the audience that deep spiritual experience and they would emerge refreshed and inspired with their humanist faith…” (1964).

Jesus felt the sadness too:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37)

Thanks to Norman Geisler:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LVM3GQ41vk

thanks to:

Ken Probst

http://blogs.nazarene.org/kpprobst/tag/john-paul-sarte/

___________________

 

Links to articles on Antony Flew’s conversion from Atheism to Theism from March and April 2014 on http://www.thedailyhatch.org !!!!

Former atheist Antony Flew: “Although I was once sharply critical of the argument to design, I have since come to see that, when correctly formulated, this argument constitutes a persuasive case for the existence of God!”

April 29, 2014 – 1:02 am

Discussion (1 of 3): Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas Uploaded on Sep 22, 2010 A discussion with Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas. This was held at Westminster Chapel March, 2008 Debate – William Lane Craig vs Christopher Hitchens – Does God Exist? Uploaded on Jan 27, 2011 April 4, 2009 – Craig vs. […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Former atheist Antony Flew said, “I was particularly impressed with Gerry Schroeder’s point-by-point refutation of what I call the MONKEY THEOREM!”

April 21, 2014 – 1:49 am

____________ Discussion (1 of 3): Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas Uploaded on Sep 22, 2010 A discussion with Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas. This was held at Westminster Chapel March, 2008 Is Goodness Without God is Good Enough? William Lane Craig vs. Paul Kurtz Published on Jul 29, 2013 Date: October 24, 2001 […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged | Edit | Comments (0)

The argument from design led former atheist Antony Flew to assert: “I must say again that the journey to my discovery of the Divine has thus far been a pilgrimage of reason, and it has led me to accept the existence of a self-existent, immutable, immaterial, omnipotent, and omniscient Being!”

April 17, 2014 – 1:46 am

  ____________ Jesus’ Resurrection: Atheist, Antony Flew, and Theist, Gary Habermas, Dialogue Published on Apr 7, 2012 http://www.veritas.org/talks – Did Jesus die, was he buried, and what happened afterward? Join legendary atheist Antony Flew and Christian historian and apologist Gary Habermas in a discussion about the facts surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Join […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Former atheist Antony Flew pointed out that natural selection can’t explain the origin of first life and in every other case, information necessarily points to an intelligent source!

April 14, 2014 – 1:26 am

______________ Does God Exist? Thomas Warren vs. Antony Flew Published on Jan 2, 2014 Date: September 20-23, 1976 Location: North Texas State University Christian debater: Thomas B. Warren Atheist debater: Antony G.N. Flew For Thomas Warren: http://www.warrenapologeticscenter.org/ ______________________ Antony Flew and his conversion to theism Uploaded on Aug 12, 2011 Antony Flew, a well known spokesperson […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged | Edit | Comments (0)

Former Atheist Antony Flew noted that Evolutionists failed to show “Where did a living, self-reproducing organism come from in the first place?”

March 21, 2014 – 4:03 am

____   Does God Exist? Thomas Warren vs. Antony Flew Published on Jan 2, 2014 Date: September 20-23, 1976 Location: North Texas State University Christian debater: Thomas B. Warren Atheist debater: Antony G.N. Flew For Thomas Warren: http://www.warrenapologeticscenter.org/ ______________________ Antony Flew and his conversion to theism Uploaded on Aug 12, 2011 Antony Flew, a well known […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

(BP)–Antony Flew, a legendary British philosopher and atheist, has changed his mind about the existence of God in light of recent scientific evidence.Flew –

July 26, 2014 – 11:55 am

_____________ Famed atheist sees evidence for God, cites recent discoveries Antony Flew NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Antony Flew, a legendary British philosopher and atheist, has changed his mind about the existence of God in light of recent scientific evidence.Flew — a prolific author who has argued against the existence of God and the claims of Christianity for […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Uncategorized | Edit | Comments (0)

Antony Flew in his book THERE IS A GOD talks about his “notoriety” as an atheist! ( also 7 News : Web Extra: Ricky Gervais on God)

May 9, 2014 – 1:24 am

  7News : Web Extra: Ricky Gervais on God Published on Mar 23, 2014 He’s not shy about sharing his opinion with 5 million social media followers so Ricky Gervais was happy to clear a few things up for us too. __________________________________ Discussion (2 of 3): Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas Atheist Lawrence Krauss loses debate […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Atheists Confronted, Current Events | Tagged ,, , , | Edit | Comments (0)

Was Antony Flew the most prominent atheist of the 20th century?

April 25, 2014 – 1:59 am

_________ Antony Flew on God and Atheism Published on Feb 11, 2013 Lee Strobel interviews philosopher and scholar Antony Flew on his conversion from atheism to deism. Much of it has to do with intelligent design. Flew was considered one of the most influential and important thinker for atheism during his time before his death […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Why the world’s most famous atheist (Antony Flew) now believes in God by James A. Beverley

April 15, 2014 – 1:33 am

____________ Antony Flew on God and Atheism Published on Feb 11, 2013 Lee Strobel interviews philosopher and scholar Antony Flew on his conversion from atheism to deism. Much of it has to do with intelligent design. Flew was considered one of the most influential and important thinker for atheism during his time before his death […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged | Edit | Comments (0)

The Death of a (Former) Atheist — Antony Flew, 1923-2010 Antony Flew’s rejection of atheism is an encouragement, but his rejection of Christianity is a warning. Rejecting atheism is simply not enough, by Al Mohler

January 10, 2014 – 3:47 pm

Discussion (1 of 3): Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas Uploaded on Sep 22, 2010 A discussion with Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas. This was held at Westminster Chapel March, 2008 ______________________ Making Sense of Faith and Science Uploaded on May 16, 2008 Dr. H. Fritz Schaefer confronts the assertion that one cannot believe […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Tagged | Edit | Comments (0)

Guest Blogger Dan Meyer Writes on Antony Flew and Problem of Evil Posted: November 8, 2007 by Rick Hogaboam in Ethics, Philosophy, Theology

July 26, 2014 – 11:54 am

_______________ Guest Blogger Dan Meyer Writes on Antony Flew and Problem of Evil Posted: November 8, 2007 by Rick Hogaboam in Ethics, Philosophy, Theology Tags: antony flew, bart ehrman, evangelical, evil, karl barth, stanley fish 0 Antony Flew There are two articles in the NY Times this morning that make me sick. They are both about Antony Flew (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/magazine/04Flew-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin), the famous British philosopher who seems to have […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Uncategorized | Edit | Comments (0)

My correspondence with George Wald and Antony Flew!!!

May 12, 2014 – 1:14 am

During the 1990′s I actually made it a practice to write famous atheists and scientists that were mentioned by Adrian Rogers and Francis Schaeffer and challenge them with the evidence for the Bible’s historicity and the claims of the gospel. Usually I would send them a cassette tape of Adrian Rogers’ messages “6 reasons I know […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Tagged , | Edit | Comments (0)

Antony Flew tells what the book THERE IS A GOD is all about (Ricky Gervais talks about atheim on Piers Morgan Tonight)

May 8, 2014 – 1:07 am

Piers Morgan Tonight : CNN Official Interview: Ricky Gervais says atheism shouldn’t offend Uploaded on Jan 20, 2011 Ricky Gervais tells CNN’s Piers Morgan why he’s an atheist, and why his jokes about God shouldn’t offend believers. The Bible and Science (Part 01) __________________________________ Antony Flew tells what the book THERE IS A GOD: “How the world’s most […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , , , ,, | Edit | Comments (0)

Roy Abraham Varghese: New Atheists’ fall for fallacy of LOGICAL POSITIVISM (Richard Dawkins Interview Ricky Gervais About Atheism!)

May 7, 2014 – 1:11 am

Richard Dawkins Interview Ricky Gervais About Atheism! _________ Antony Flew – World’s Most Famous Atheist Accepts Existence of God Uploaded on Nov 28, 2008 Has Science Discovered God? A half-century ago, in 1955, Professor Antony Flew set the agenda for modern atheism with his Theology and Falsification, a paper presented in a debate with C.S. […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , , , , , | Edit |Comments (0)

Roy Abraham Varghese: New Atheists’ refuse to engage real issues on question of God’s existence (Ricky Gervais on Science and History with transcript)

May 6, 2014 – 1:59 am

  Ricky Gervais on Science and History (with transcript) Published on Apr 20, 2012 The comedian offers a preview of the stand-up routine, Science. Question: What do you make of smart people?Gervais:    Yeah.  I was talking to Karl Pilkington about Einstein.  And he went, “What was so great about him?”  I said, “Well, you know, he […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged ,, , , , , | Edit | Comments (0)

Roy Abraham Varghese: ANTONY FLEW, LOGICAL POSITIVISM, AND THE REBIRTH OF RATIONAL THEISM (Ricky Gervais video from office)

May 5, 2014 – 1:41 am

Discussion (3 of 3): Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas David Brent on Guitar – Free Love Freeway – The Office – BBC The Kalam Cosmological Argument (Scientific Evidence) (Henry Schaefer, PhD) Published on Jun 11, 2012 Scientist Dr. Henry “Fritz” Schaefer gives a lecture on the cosmological argument and shows how contemporary science backs […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Edit | Comments (0)

ANTONY FLEW’S SIGNIFICANCE IN THE HISTORY OF ATHEISM by Roy Abraham Varghese

May 2, 2014 – 1:38 am

________________ The Bible and Science (Part 01) Making Sense of Faith and Science Uploaded on May 16, 2008 Dr. H. Fritz Schaefer confronts the assertion that one cannot believe in God and be a credible scientist. He explains that the theistic world view of Bacon, Kepler, Pascal, Boyle, Newton, Faraday and Maxwell was instrumental in the […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , | Edit | Comments (0)

From 2005 article Charles Colson says of Antony Flew: “When he reads the first chapter of Genesis, Flew says he’s impressed that a book written thousands of years ago harmonizes with twenty-first-century science!” (Plus Ricky Gervais on Losing Religion)

May 1, 2014 – 12:28 am

_____________ Ricky Gervais – Losing Religion and Becoming An Atheist Uploaded on Jul 2, 2009 Ricky Gervais – Losing Religion and Becoming An Atheist _____________________ Chuck Colson wrote back in 2005 concerning Antony Flew:  When he reads the first chapter of Genesis, Flew says he’s impressed that a book written thousands of years ago harmonizes with […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , , | Edit | Comments (0)

Did Antony Flew include George Wald quote after listening to cassette tape I sent him in late 1990s?

April 30, 2014 – 1:53 am

____________ Does God Exist? Thomas Warren vs. Antony Flew Published on Jan 2, 2014 Date: September 20-23, 1976 Location: North Texas State University Christian debater: Thomas B. Warren Atheist debater: Antony G.N. Flew For Thomas Warren: http://www.warrenapologeticscenter.org/ ______________________ Antony Flew and his conversion to theism Uploaded on Aug 12, 2011 Antony Flew, a well known spokesperson […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Tagged , | Edit | Comments (0)

Antony Flew left atheism because of the way in which DNA seems to be a language that looks like “the work of intelligence!”

April 28, 2014 – 1:01 am

Antony Flew – World’s Most Famous Atheist Accepts Existence of God Uploaded on Nov 28, 2008 Has Science Discovered God? A half-century ago, in 1955, Professor Antony Flew set the agenda for modern atheism with his Theology and Falsification, a paper presented in a debate with C.S. Lewis. This work became the most widely reprinted […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

The primary reason Antony Flew has become a theist is that scientific evidence has convinced him that the origin of life required intelligent design!

April 24, 2014 – 1:57 am

_______________________ Robert Jastrow on God and the Big Bang Published on Jun 26, 2012 Henry “Fritz” Schaefer comments on a popular quote made by scientist Robert Jastrow. Jastrow (who Carl Sagan was too scared to debate) is an agnostic but believes that the Big Bang leaves room for the existence of God. ____________ Discussion (3 of […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Antony Flew, Thomas B. Warren,Wallace Matson, Richard Dawkins, William B. Provine, Francis Beckwith, and William Lane Craig on the Moral Argument for the Existence of God!

April 23, 2014 – 1:55 am

Making Sense of Faith and Science Uploaded on May 16, 2008 Dr. H. Fritz Schaefer confronts the assertion that one cannot believe in God and be a credible scientist. He explains that the theistic world view of Bacon, Kepler, Pascal, Boyle, Newton, Faraday and Maxwell was instrumental in the rise of modern science itself. Presented as […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Antony Flew’s defection from atheism was well thought out!!!!

April 22, 2014 – 1:52 am

________ Discussion (2 of 3): Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas ______________ Atheist Lawrence Krauss loses debate to wiser Christian Published on Sep 13, 2013 http://www.reasonablefaith.org More of this here The Bible and Science (Part 02) The Kalam Cosmological Argument (Scientific Evidence) (Henry Schaefer, PhD) Published on Jun 11, 2012 Scientist Dr. Henry “Fritz” Schaefer gives a […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Did Antony Flew actually leave atheism or was it a hoax?

April 18, 2014 – 1:47 am

Antony Flew – World’s Most Famous Atheist Accepts Existence of God Uploaded on Nov 28, 2008 Has Science Discovered God? A half-century ago, in 1955, Professor Antony Flew set the agenda for modern atheism with his Theology and Falsification, a paper presented in a debate with C.S. Lewis. This work became the most widely reprinted […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , | Edit| Comments (0)

Antony Flew: 3 Factors from Science that point to God are Nature obeys laws, Intelligently organized purpose-beings and the existence of nature!!

April 16, 2014 – 1:41 am

__________________ Does God Exist?: William Lane Craig vs Antony Flew Uploaded on Dec 16, 2010 http://drcraigvideos.blogspot.com – William Lane Craig and Antony Flew met in 1998 on the 50th anniversary of the famous Copleston/Russell debate to discuss the question of God’s existence in a public debate. Unlike Richard Dawkins, Flew was one of the most respected […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged | Edit | Comments (0)

Answering my Humanist Friends concerning the Problem of Evil (Plus Atheist Ricky Gervais says he embraces the Golden Rule)

April 14, 2014 – 2:05 pm

Ricky Gervais: Christians Haven’t Got A Monopoly On Good Josh Wilson – Before The Morning (Official Music Video)   One of my favorite songs  is called “Before the Morning” and it is by  the Christian singer Josh Wilson. The lyrics start out: “Why do you have to feel the things that hurt you? If there’s a […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Atheists Confronted, Current Events, Francis Schaeffer,Woody Allen | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Edit | Comments (0)

DARWINISM RECONSIDERED article from 2005 quotes Antony Flew, Richard Dawkins, Jonathan Miller, and Phillip Johnson

April 11, 2014 – 1:10 am

______________ William Lane Craig versus Eddie Tabash Debate Uploaded on Feb 6, 2012 Secular Humanism versus Christianity, Lawyer versus Theologian. Evangelical Christian apologist William Lane Craig debates humanist atheist lawyer Eddie Tabash at Pepperdine University, February 8, 1999. Visithttp://www.Infidels.org and http://www.WilliamLaneCraig.com ________________ Antony Flew on God and Atheism Published on Feb 11, 2013 Lee Strobel […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Antony Flew interviewed by Benjamin Wiker and the two reasons Flew left atheism!!!

April 10, 2014 – 1:57 am

_______________________ Discussion (1 of 3): Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas Uploaded on Sep 22, 2010 A discussion with Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas. This was held at Westminster Chapel March, 2008 Debate – William Lane Craig vs Christopher Hitchens – Does God Exist? Uploaded on Jan 27, 2011 April 4, 2009 – Craig […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , | Edit |Comments (0)

Kyle Butt notes that Antony Flew left Atheism but fell short of making a profession of faith during his lifetime

April 9, 2014 – 1:59 am

_________________ Antony Flew – World’s Most Famous Atheist Accepts Existence of God Uploaded on Nov 28, 2008 Has Science Discovered God? A half-century ago, in 1955, Professor Antony Flew set the agenda for modern atheism with his Theology and Falsification, a paper presented in a debate with C.S. Lewis. This work became the most widely […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , | Edit | Comments (0)

Gary Habermas explains the reasons for Antony Flew’s change of mind

April 8, 2014 – 1:42 am

_____________   Antony Flew on God and Atheism Published on Feb 11, 2013 Lee Strobel interviews philosopher and scholar Antony Flew on his conversion from atheism to deism. Much of it has to do with intelligent design. Flew was considered one of the most influential and important thinker for atheism during his time before his […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Edit | Comments (0)

The finest article on Antony Flew’s long path from Atheism to Theism!!

April 7, 2014 – 1:32 am

___________________    This is the finest article yet I have read that traces Antony Flew’s long path from atheism to theism. How Anthony Flew – Flew to God Among the world’s atheists there was hardly any with the intellectual stature of Anthony Flew.  He was a contemporary with C.S. Lewis and has been a thorn in […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , ,, , , , , ,, , , | Edit | Comments (0)

Antony Flew incorrectly wrote that George Wald later abandoned atheism!!!

April 4, 2014 – 12:26 am

  Making Sense of Faith and Science Uploaded on May 16, 2008 Dr. H. Fritz Schaefer confronts the assertion that one cannot believe in God and be a credible scientist. He explains that the theistic world view of Bacon, Kepler, Pascal, Boyle, Newton, Faraday and Maxwell was instrumental in the rise of modern science itself. Presented […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers | Tagged , | Edit |Comments (0)

Antony Flew opened himself up to the possibility of accepting Christian teachings although never making a public profession of faith

April 3, 2014 – 12:19 am

Discussion (2 of 3): Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas ______________ Atheist Lawrence Krauss loses debate to wiser Christian Published on Sep 13, 2013 http://www.reasonablefaith.org More of this here The Bible and Science (Part 02) The Kalam Cosmological Argument (Scientific Evidence) (Henry Schaefer, PhD) Published on Jun 11, 2012 Scientist Dr. Henry “Fritz” Schaefer gives a lecture […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged | Edit | Comments (0)

Part of the reason Antony Flew left atheism can be found in this Paul Davies’ quote “Science can proceed only if the scientist adopts an essentially theological worldview!”

April 2, 2014 – 10:20 am

  Conversation with John Barrow Published on Jun 16, 2012 Templeton Prize 2006, Gifford Lectures 1988 British Academy, 1 June 2012 _______ Many Christians are involved in science and John D. Barrow is one of the leaders of science today. Here is his bio: John D Barrow John D. Barrow was born in London in […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , | Edit | Comments (0)

Antony Flew, “I was particularly impressed with Gerry Schroeder’s point-by-point refutation of what I call the MONKEY THEOREM” or the “the possibility of life arising by chance using the analogy of a multitude of monkeys banging away on computer keyboards and eventually ending up writing a Shakespearean sonnet!”

April 2, 2014 – 7:11 am

____________   Discussion (1 of 3): Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas Uploaded on Sep 22, 2010 A discussion with Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas. This was held at Westminster Chapel March, 2008 ___________   __________ Antony Flew, “I was particularly impressed with Gerry Schroeder’s point-by-point refutation of what I call the MONKEY […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , | Edit | Comments (0)

Although not converting, Charles Darwin like Antony Flew struggling until his dying accepting that the universe came about by chance!!!

April 2, 2014 – 1:38 am

________________ The Kalam Cosmological Argument (Scientific Evidence) (Henry Schaefer, PhD) Published on Jun 11, 2012 Scientist Dr. Henry “Fritz” Schaefer gives a lecture on the cosmological argument and shows how contemporary science backs it up. _________________________________ Charles Darwin wrote THE ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES  and it was published in  November of 1859, and at that time Darwin […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , , , , , , ,, , , , , , | Edit | Comments (0)

Antony Flew answers the criticisms of Richard Dawkins in 2008!!!

April 1, 2014 – 12:01 am

Intelligent Design: Is It Viable? William Lane Craig vs. Francisco J. Ayala Published on Nov 10, 2013 Date: November 5, 2009 Location: Indiana University Christian/Intelligent Design proponent debater: William Lane Craig Christian/Darwinist debater: Francisco J. Ayala For William Lane Craig: http://www.reasonablefaith.org/ For Francisco Ayala: http://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cf… To purchase this debate: http://apps.biola.edu/apologetics-sto… _______________________________ Antony Flew answers the criticisms of Richard Dawkins […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , | Edit| Comments (0)

Roy Abraham Varghese: Antony Flew’s paper THEOLOGY AND FALSIFICATION became most widely reprinted philosophical publication of last century!

March 31, 2014 – 7:13 am

_____________ Antony Flew on God and Atheism Published on Feb 11, 2013 Lee Strobel interviews philosopher and scholar Antony Flew on his conversion from atheism to deism. Much of it has to do with intelligent design. Flew was considered one of the most influential and important thinker for atheism during his time before his death […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , | Edit | Comments (0)

Remember the famous Warren v. Flew debate of 1976?

March 31, 2014 – 12:57 am

  __________________ Does God Exist? Thomas Warren vs. Antony Flew Published on Jan 2, 2014 Date: September 20-23, 1976 Location: North Texas State University Christian debater: Thomas B. Warren Atheist debater: Antony G.N. Flew For Thomas Warren: http://www.warrenapologeticscenter.org/_____________________ _ Antony Flew – World’s Most Famous Atheist Accepts Existence of God Uploaded on Nov 28, […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , | Edit |Comments (0)

ANTONY FLEW’S SIGNIFICANCE IN THE HISTORY OF ATHEISM by Roy Abraham Varghese

March 27, 2014 – 9:13 am

________________ ________ Antony Flew – World’s Most Famous Atheist Accepts Existence of God Uploaded on Nov 28, 2008 Has Science Discovered God? A half-century ago, in 1955, Professor Antony Flew set the agenda for modern atheism with his Theology and Falsification, a paper presented in a debate with C.S. Lewis. This work became the most […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , , | Edit | Comments (0)

Antony Flew did not make a public profession of faith in Christ but will his conversion from atheism to theism have an impact?

March 26, 2014 – 4:28 am

____________ Jesus’ Resurrection: Atheist, Antony Flew, and Theist, Gary Habermas, Dialogue Published on Apr 7, 2012 http://www.veritas.org/talks – Did Jesus die, was he buried, and what happened afterward? Join legendary atheist Antony Flew and Christian historian and apologist Gary Habermas in a discussion about the facts surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Join the […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged | Edit | Comments (0)

Concerning the book THERE IS A GOD Antony Flew stated, “This is my book and it represents my thinking!

March 25, 2014 – 5:10 am

_______ ________ Does God Exist?: William Lane Craig vs Antony Flew Uploaded on Dec 16, 2010 http://drcraigvideos.blogspot.com – William Lane Craig and Antony Flew met in 1998 on the 50th anniversary of the famous Copleston/Russell debate to discuss the question of God’s existence in a public debate. Unlike Richard Dawkins, Flew was one of the most […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged | Edit | Comments (0)

Bill Muehlenberg’s review of “There Is a God” By Antony Flew

March 24, 2014 – 4:14 am

_________________   Antony Flew on God and Atheism Published on Feb 11, 2013 Lee Strobel interviews philosopher and scholar Antony Flew on his conversion from atheism to deism. Much of it has to do with intelligent design. Flew was considered one of the most influential and important thinker for atheism during his time before his […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events, Francis Schaeffer | Edit |Comments (0)

Educated Scholars like Antony Flew can believe in God!!!

March 20, 2014 – 4:50 am

__________ Discussion (1 of 3): Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas Uploaded on Sep 22, 2010 A discussion with Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas. This was held at Westminster Chapel March, 2008 Debate – William Lane Craig vs Christopher Hitchens – Does God Exist? Uploaded on Jan 27, 2011 April 4, 2009 – Craig […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged | Edit | Comments (0)

Antony Flew rightly noted that Richard Dawkins’ “monkey theorem was a load of rubbish”

March 19, 2014 – 4:43 am

________   William Lane Craig versus Eddie Tabash Debate Uploaded on Feb 6, 2012 Secular Humanism versus Christianity, Lawyer versus Theologian. Evangelical Christian apologist William Lane Craig debates humanist atheist lawyer Eddie Tabash at Pepperdine University, February 8, 1999. Visit http://www.Infidels.org andhttp://www.WilliamLaneCraig.com ________________ Antony Flew on God and Atheism Published on Feb 11, 2013 Lee […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Tagged , | Edit| Comments (0)

Article from 2005 indicated Antony Flew abandoned atheism because of Law of Biogenesis!!!!

March 18, 2014 – 1:34 am

___________   Does God Exist? Thomas Warren vs. Antony Flew Published on Jan 2, 2014 Date: September 20-23, 1976 Location: North Texas State University Christian debater: Thomas B. Warren Atheist debater: Antony G.N. Flew For Thomas Warren: http://www.warrenapologeticscenter.org/ ______________________ Antony Flew and his conversion to theism Uploaded on Aug 12, 2011 Antony Flew, a well known […]

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The Christian influence on society is real and that is one of the reasons Antony Flew left Atheism!!!

March 14, 2014 – 6:26 am

_____________ Antony Flew on God and Atheism Published on Feb 11, 2013 Lee Strobel interviews philosopher and scholar Antony Flew on his conversion from atheism to deism. Much of it has to do with intelligent design. Flew was considered one of the most influential and important thinker for atheism during his time before his death […]

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Antony Flew, George Wald and David Noebel on the Origin of Life

March 14, 2014 – 1:55 am

___________ Does God Exist?: William Lane Craig vs Antony Flew Uploaded on Dec 16, 2010 http://drcraigvideos.blogspot.com – William Lane Craig and Antony Flew met in 1998 on the 50th anniversary of the famous Copleston/Russell debate to discuss the question of God’s existence in a public debate. Unlike Richard Dawkins, Flew was one of the most respected […]

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Atheists Confronted, Current Events, Francis Schaeffer | Edit| Comments (0)

The Fine Tuning Argument for the Existence of God from Antony Flew!

March 13, 2014 – 5:25 pm

___________ ________ Jesus’ Resurrection: Atheist, Antony Flew, and Theist, Gary Habermas, Dialogue Published on Apr 7, 2012http://www.veritas.org/talks – Did Jesus die, was he buried, and what happened afterward? Join legendary atheist Antony Flew and Christian historian and apologist Gary Habermas in a discussion about the facts surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Join […]

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Mark Oppenheimer of Time Magazine claims Antony Flew was convinced by PSEUDOSCIENCE that God exists!!! (includes Richard Dawkins Interview Ricky Gervais About Atheism!)

March 12, 2014 – 3:47 pm

___________ ________ Antony Flew – World’s Most Famous Atheist Accepts Existence of God Uploaded on Nov 28, 2008 Has Science Discovered God? A half-century ago, in 1955, Professor Antony Flew set the agenda for modern atheism with his Theology and Falsification, a paper presented in a debate with C.S. Lewis. This work became the most […]

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A review of “There is a God” by Antony Flew March 31, 2012 and the 5 reasons Flew changed his mind!!

March 11, 2014 – 4:59 pm

________ Antony Flew on God and Atheism Published on Feb 11, 2013 Lee Strobel interviews philosopher and scholar Antony Flew on his conversion from atheism to deism. Much of it has to do with intelligent design. Flew was considered one of the most influential and important thinker for atheism during his time before his death […]

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Review of Antony Flew Book: THERE IS A GOD Article by R.C. Sproul May 2008

February 10, 2014 – 11:14 am

Discussion (2 of 3): Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas ______________ Atheist Lawrence Krauss loses debate to wiser Christian Published on Sep 13, 2013 http://www.reasonablefaith.org More of this here The Bible and Science (Part 02) The Kalam Cosmological Argument (Scientific Evidence) (Henry Schaefer, PhD) Published on Jun 11, 2012 Scientist Dr. Henry “Fritz” Schaefer gives a lecture […]

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January 2, 2015 – 12:00 am Categories: Atheists Confronted | Comments (1)

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FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 40 Timothy Leary (Featured artist is Margaret Keane)

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A Christian Manifesto Francis Schaeffer

Published on Dec 18, 2012

A video important to today. The man was very wise in the ways of God. And of government. Hope you enjoy a good solis teaching from the past. The truth never gets old.

The Roots of the Emergent Church by Francis Schaeffer

How Should We then Live Episode 7 small (Age of Nonreason)

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Francis Schaeffer has written extensively on art and culture spanning the last 2000years and here are some posts I have done on this subject before : Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 10 “Final Choices” , episode 9 “The Age of Personal Peace and Affluence”, episode 8 “The Age of Fragmentation”, episode 7 “The Age of Non-Reason” , episode 6 “The Scientific Age” , episode 5 “The Revolutionary Age” ,  episode 4 “The Reformation”,  episode 3 “The Renaissance”, episode 2 “The Middle Ages,”, and  episode 1 “The Roman Age,” . My favorite episodes are number 7 and 8 since they deal with modern art and culture primarily.(Joe Carter rightly noted, “Schaeffer—who always claimed to be an evangelist and not aphilosopher—was often criticized for the way his work oversimplifiedintellectual history and philosophy.” To those critics I say take a chill pillbecause Schaeffer was introducing millions into the fields of art andculture!!!! !!! More people need to read his works and blog about thembecause they show how people’s worldviews affect their lives!

J.I.PACKER WROTE OF SCHAEFFER, “His communicative style was not that of acautious academic who labors for exhaustive coverage and dispassionate objectivity. It was rather that of an impassioned thinker who paints his vision of eternal truth in bold strokes and stark contrasts.Yet it is a fact that MANY YOUNG THINKERS AND ARTISTS…HAVE FOUND SCHAEFFER’S ANALYSES A LIFELINE TO SANITY WITHOUT WHICH THEY COULD NOT HAVE GONE ON LIVING.”

Francis Schaeffer’s works  are the basis for a large portion of my blog posts andthey have stood the test of time. In fact, many people would say that many of the things he wrote in the 1960’s  were right on  in the sense he saw where ourwestern society was heading and he knew that abortion, infanticide and youthenthansia were  moral boundaries we would be crossing  in the coming decadesbecause of humanism and these are the discussions we are having now!)

There is evidence that points to the fact that the Bible is historically true asSchaeffer pointed out in episode 5 of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE? There is a basis then for faith in Christ alone for our eternal hope. This linkshows how to do that.

Francis Schaeffer in Art and the Bible noted, “Many modern artists, it seems to me, have forgotten the value that art has in itself. Much modern art is far too intellectual to be great art. Many modern artists seem not to see the distinction between man and non-man, and it is a part of the lostness of modern man that they no longer see value in the work of art as a work of art.” 

Many modern artists are left in this point of desperation that Schaeffer points out and it reminds me of the despair that Solomon speaks of in Ecclesiastes.  Christian scholar Ravi Zacharias has noted, “The key to understanding the Book of Ecclesiastes is the term ‘under the sun.’ What that literally means is you lock God out of a closed system, and you are left with only this world of time plus chanceplus matter.” THIS IS EXACT POINT SCHAEFFER SAYS SECULAR ARTISTSARE PAINTING FROM TODAY BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED ARE A RESULTOF MINDLESS CHANCE.

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The New Mysticism
What about the spread of Eastern religions and techniques within the West – things like TM, Yoga, the cults? We have moved beyond the counterculture of the sixties, but where to? These elements from the East no longer influence just the beat generation and the dropouts. Now they are fashionable for the middle classes as well. They are everywhere.
What has become important is not whether there is anything that causes an experience, but just the experience as such. What about modern theology in the churches? It is the same thing. Maybe the terminology is “Christian,” but the ideas are on the other side – experience is the important thing, not propositions about reality, about God, about salvation and all the rest. It does not matter if anything exists that has caused or conforms to the experience.
What about the sudden growth of interest in UFOs and UFOlogy? Even though not a scrap of evidence exists to support Erich von Däniken’s “scientific” theories about spacemen who visited earth in the distant past, millions of people have been taken with these assumptions. He has given his ideas an aura of scientific plausibility, plenty of technical jargon, photographs, and so forth, and because this is a “scientific age,” people are impressed. But the real evidence is unconvincing. Is there conscious life in other parts of the cosmos? We do not know. If there is, it would pose no problem for Christianity. Still, at this time there is no proof at all that this is the case. Why then do people accept it? We suggest it is part of the swing to the irrational.
People are hungry for something which will give them hope in life. They are tired of the empty platitudes that politicians and many theologians have made: endless exhortations to be good, to be good, to be good! They are also afraid. Things really do seem hopeless, even on the level of everyday life with its threats of a lower standard of living, of a growing authoritarianism, of famine and ecological disaster, of devastating war. And they are looking for any answer. So the UFOs are messengers of a friendly race from another planet. “Do not fear – the Force is with you!” – to borrow from a current science-fiction film. And so people believe it irrationally. If they used their minds, they would see no evidence for friendly people from outside. But the feeling of experience as they read about this or see it on a screen is enough. It does not matter whether there is any reality to it.
What about the growth of occultism, witchcraft, astrology? Is it simply economics that has put the signs of the zodiac in shops from one end of our society to the other? In part it is economics, but, once again, the real reason is deeper. People are looking for answers – answers they can experience.
What about those who take drugs as a means of “expanding their consciousness”? This, too, is in the same direction. Your mind is a hindrance to you: “Blow it”! As Timothy Leary put it in The Politics of Ecstasy (1968): “Our favorite concepts are standing in the way of a flood tide two billion years building up. The verbal dam is collapsing. Head for the hills or prepare your intellectual craft to flow with the current.” So we see again the rejection of the mind. The verbal dam, the concepts, the intellectual craft? These must be bypassed by the “new man.”
Wherever we look, this is what confronts us: irrational experience. We must be careful not to be bewildered by the surface differences between these movements. We are not saying they are all the same. Of course there are differences. The secular existentialists, for example, disagree with one another. Then, too, secular existentialists differ with religious existentialists; the former tend to be pessimistic, the latter optimistic. Some of the movements are serious and command our respect. Some are just bizarre. There are differences. Yet, all of them represent the new mysticism!
The problem with mysticism of this sort is, interestingly enough, the same problem we considered earlier in relation to all humanistic systems. Who is going to say what is right?
As soon as one removes the checking mechanism of the mind by which to measure things, everything can then be “right” and everything can also be “wrong.” Eventually, anything and everything can be allowed! Take a simple example from life: If you are asking for directions in a city, you first listen to the directions your guide is giving and then you set off. Let us say the directions are: “Take the first turn on the right, called Twenty-fourth Street; then the next turn of the left, called Kennedy Drive; and then keep going till you come to the park where you will see the concert hall just past a big lake on your right.” Armed with there directions, you go along – checking up on what you have been told: “Yes, there is Twenty-fourth Street. Yes, there is Kennedy Drive,” and so on.
In other words, you are not just told words; you are able to see if these words relate to the outside world, the world you have to operate in if you are going to get from A to B. This is where your mind is essential. You can check to see if the information you have been given is true or false.
Imagine, on the other hand, that someone said, in answer to your request for directions, “I don’t know where or what B is. It is impossible to talk about a `concert hall.’ What is a `concert hall’ anyway? We can only say of it that it is the `Unknowable.'” How completely ridiculous for you to be told, “Go any way – because this is the way”!
The trick in all these positions is to argue first of all that the End – Final Reality – cannot be spoken of (because it cannot be known by the mind) and yet to give the directions to find it. We should notice, however, that in this setting we can never ask questions ahead of time about the directions we receive. They are directions only for blindfolded experience, the blind “leap of faith.”
We cannot ask, “How will I know that it is truth or that it is the divine I am experiencing?” The answer is always, “There is no way you can be told, for it is an answer beyond language, beyond categories, but take this path [or that one, or another one] anyway.”
Thus, modern man is bombarded from all sides by devotees of this or that experience. The media only compound the problem. So does the commercialism of our highly technological societies. The danger of manipulation from these alone is overwhelming. In the absence of a clear standard, they are a force for the control of people’s minds and behavior that is beyond anything in history. In fact, there are no clear standards in Western society now; and where there is an appearance of standards, very often there is insufficient motivation to lean against the enormous pressures. And why? In part, at least, because there is an inadequate basis for knowledge and for morality.
When we add to this that modern man has become a “mystic,” we soon realize the seriousness of the situation. For in all these mystical solutions no one can finally say anything about right and wrong. The East has had this problem for thousands of years. In a pantheistic system, whatever pious statements may be made along the way, ultimately good and evil are equal in God, the impersonal God. So we hear Yun-Men, a Zen master, saying, “If you want to get the plain truth, be not concerned with right and wrong. Conflict between right and wrong is the sickness of the mind.”
Society can have no stability on this Eastern world-view or its present Western counterpart. It just does not work. And so one finds a gravitation toward some form of authoritarian government, an individual tyrant or group of tyrants who takes the reins of power and rule. And the freedoms, the sorts of freedoms we have enjoyed in the West, are lost.
We are, then, brought back to our starting point. The inhumanities and the growing loss of freedoms in the West are the result of a world-view which as no place for “people.” Modern humanistic materialism is an impersonal system. The East is no different. Both begin and end with impersonality.
We have looked at reasons for concluding not merely that these world-views are uncomfortable because they lead to inhumanity, but because they are false. They do not fit into what we know best about ourselves and our environment. Ours is a universe which contains real personality. Neither the universe nor this personality is illusory. We will turn now to the Bible’s claim to be the reliable source of information about the universe and mankind. But first, there are two very important introductory comments.

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Leary, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and others recording “Give Peace A Chance“.

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TIMOTHY LEARY – FOTOGALERIE

Tyto fotky by vám měly přiblížit nejen to jak Dr. Leary vypadal, ale také něco z jeho povahy. Jsou ale zatím jedinné, které jsem na internetu našel což je taky důvod jejich nekvality.

Timothy Leary Biography

Psychologist (1920–1996)
Timothy Leary was a noted Harvard lecturer and researcher who became an advocate for LSD and later an entertainment figure.

Synopsis

Born on October 22, 1920, in Springfield, Massachusetts, Timothy Leary forged a career as a noted psychology professor and researcher before becoming a major, highly controversial advocate of psychedelic drugs during the 1960s. He was imprisoned on marijuana charges, yet escaped only to be caught. He later worked in entertainment and cybernetics and published many books. He died on May 31, 1996.

Background and Early Career

Timothy Leary was born on October 22, 1920, in Springfield, Massachusetts, into an Irish-Catholic household. He went on to attend several schools before graduating from the University of Alabama in 1943 and earning a psychology doctorate in 1950 from the University of California at Berkeley.

Working there as an assistant professor until 1955, Leary also developed a groundbreaking monograph, published in 1957, which explored interpersonal relationships via a complex model system. Yet Leary and his two children suffered great personal loss during this time period, when his first wife committed suicide. He subsequently worked as the director of the Kaiser Foundation and then accepted a lecturing position at Harvard University in 1959.

Experiments With Drugs

After taking mushrooms while in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Leary conducted behavioral experiments with psilocybin, an active ingredient of the fungi that was allowed for use in research. He worked with colleagues Richard Alpert and Ralph Metzner, and Leary’s team and affiliated researchers used the drug in studies with seminary students, inmates and colleagues.

Leary started to use LSD in the early 1960s. After a scandal when the university discovered students were also using his supply, Leary was discharged in 1963. Becoming an advocate for the use of psychedelic drugs, Leary established the International Foundation for Internal Freedom along with Alpert. Leary later converted to Hinduism after the two established IFIF organizational headquarters in Millbrook, New York, with a rich funder’s support.

Criticized Media Figure

Leary, known for college lecturing, became a media icon with his much-quoted line, “Turn on, tune in, drop out.” He published his writings, abandoned controlled research methods, and hung out with a number of countercultural and entertainment figures.

Yet he faced criticism from various avenues for his role in exhorting youth to take LSD. Richard Nixon dubbed him “the most dangerous man in America,” and both other media personalities and medical professionals decried the palpable damage his message inflicted.

Arrest and Escape

After declaring his candidacy for governor of California in 1970, Leary was arrested on marijuana possession charges and received a decade-long jail sentence. He broke free from prison with outside help several months later and traveled abroad before being recaptured in Afghanistan in 1973. He was re-imprisoned and was ultimately released by state governmental decree in 1976.

Film, TV, Tech

Leary resumed lecturing and, during the ’80s, worked in a number of arts and entertainment jobs, including TV and film roles and stand-up comedy. He turned to tech-oriented pursuits as well, becoming a proponent of virtual-reality programs and helming the software companies Futique, Inc. and Telelctronics.

Leary learned in early 1995 that he had terminal cancer, and decided to document his progression toward death via his website, http://www.leary.com. He died on May 31, 1996, in Beverly Hills, California.

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MATT LEWIS

Rediscovering Francis Schaeffer and intellectual Evangelicalism

11:09 AM 04/30/2013

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MATT K. LEWIS
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    MATT K. LEWIS

    Matt K. Lewis is a senior contributor to The Daily Caller, and a contributing editor for The Week. He is a respected commentator on politics and cultural issues, and has been cited by major publications such as The Washington Post and The New York Times. Matt is from Myersville, MD and currently resides in Alexandria, VA. Follow Matt K. Lewis on Twitter <a>@mattklewis</a>.

Edith Schaeffer, writer and wife of famed Evangelical leader and theologian Francis Schaeffer, died the other week. If you haven’t read her New York Times obituary, it’s an interesting read that also serves to remind us of Francis. This is not to diminish from her many accomplishments. But in many ways, the two were partners. And to read of Edith is to remember Francis.

It was an amazing shared life, and one that conservative Christians might be shocked to (re)discover. For example, speaking of the “Swiss commune considered the theological birthplace of the American religious right” — which Edith essentially ran like a five-star hotel — theTimes notes:

“In the ’60s, when L’Abri’s guests included backpackers, hippies and even celebrities like Timothy Leary and Eric Clapton, Mrs. Schaeffer was known for maintaining a seamless five-star-hotel level of comfort for guests occupying L’Abri’s simple rooms, while Mr. Schaeffer delivered many of the lectures that became the basis of his most influential books, including “Escape From Reason” (1968) and “How Should We Then Live?” (1976).”

Francis died in 1984, and though he is still highly regarded, his fame pales in comparison to the Billy Grahams of the world. This makes some sense. While Graham was holding crusades and Oral Roberts was holding tent revivals or healing services, Schaeffer was holed up in a Swiss commune, giving lectures to hippie elites, writing books.

Unfortunately, in recent years, Schaeffer’s name popped up in Ryan Lizza’s controversial profile of Rep. Michele Bachmann. In the process of hitting Bachmann, Lizza captured a less-flattering snapshot of the latter part of Schaeffer’s life.

In fact, Schaeffer’s oeuvre consisted largely of a rejection of what we might consider to the the worst stereotypes of Evangelicalism. But that’s not the impression readers of Lizza’s New Yorker profile were left with. ”He went from being a sort of apolitical critic of culture,” explains Schaeffer author and Baylor University Professor Barry Hankins, “to being a sort of political culture warrior — before that term was even used.”

But most of Schaeffer’s career and life were about much more than that. Long before the era Lizza described, Schaeffer served to provide an intellectual heft to Protestant Christianity that was all too often lacking during latter part of the 20th century. “Fundamentalism certainly has a strong strain of anti-intellectualism, says Hankins, “but there’s also an intellectual wing of early 20th century fundamentalism. And Schaeffer was really a product of that particular wing.”

Schaeffer rejected the fundamentalist notion that Christians must separate from the world, instead, insisting that they be in this world, but not of this world. “Essentially he was arriving at a position that said fundamentalism…needs to be more concerned about taking a Gospel message into the culture,” Hankins said. In many ways, that was his legacy.

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#02 How Should We Then Live? (Promo Clip) Dr. Francis Schaeffer

10 Worldview and Truth

Two Minute Warning: How Then Should We Live?: Francis Schaeffer at 100

Francis Schaeffer “BASIS FOR HUMAN DIGNITY” Whatever…HTTHR

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Featured artist today is Margaret Keane:

Big Eyes Official Trailer #1 (2014) – Tim Burton, Amy Adams Movie HD

Kaitlin Goodey wrote the following:

Friday Feature – Margaret Keane

April 26, 2013

Margaret Keane

Today I thought I would share an artist that has a direct effect on my art work!  This wonderful painter has been an inspiration to me far before I actually new who she was!  From a young age I’ve loved thrift stores, garage sales, and antique stores.  You can find many prints or similar style paintings like Margaret Keane’s in those locations.  So I was exposed young to the beauty of big eyes.  Those big eyes have always pulled me in and tugged on my heart strings.  It’s as if the eyes speak to me.  Honestly I feel like a nut saying that, but the eye connection is so strong in some paintings its as close to a conversation as a painting can get for me! Margaret Keane Painting

So when I started sculpting my art dolls and my process started leading me in this big eye, unrealistic style, I decided to just go with it.  I really did try to sculpt realistic faces a few times but it usually just made them look even more alien like!  So I stopped fighting what I thought I had to make and embraced what was naturally happening!  That’s when I started researching other artists who use big eyes and really learnt about Keane’s history.

Margaret Keane Painting

I found it very interesting to know that her husband actually tried claiming he did the paintings!  I mean seriously what a poop!  So of course when they were getting a divorce in the best way ever she proved the paintings were really hers!  She painted out in the open right infront of the judge and everyone to show the work was really hers.  So when the husband was asked to do the same “I can’t I have a sore shoulder”.  Needless to say, she won the case and has continued to do HER work!

Margaret Keane Painting

As all artist progress and change through their life and career, Keane’s work has experienced shifts of change.  In her early career her characters or style were known as “Big Eyes”, “Sad eyes”, “Waifs” or simply known as “Keane”.  Many times a tear graced the characters cheek.  However, after the divorce Keane moved to Hawaii and while stylistically the same her paintings became brighter and a bit happier.  Then again later in life after joining a church her paintings became even a bit happier.  So when a tear graced a face, at that point it was of joy not sadness.

Margaret Keane Painting

Her work was highly criticised in the art world and yet they were some of the best selling art in the Western world in the early 60’s!  You may or may not like them yourselves, but there is no denying Keane’s influence on American pop culture!  A funny fact for me is that Tim Burton is a long time fan and collector of Keane’s work.  Going so far as to commission an art piece, and now working on a movie about her career and court battle with her ex-husband!  Although that movie has been talked about for a while, I’m still waiting patiently for something to actually happen with that!  I find it funny because I get so many people coming into the gallery saying “this is very Tim Burton like” or referencing him somehow.  Which I really don’t mind because I love his work, but in reality I didn’t even consiously think about his work when making mine!  I looked at a lot of Keane, Mark Ryden, and Katie Olivias for stylistic inspiration and a myriad of other art doll makers for technical know how.  So now seeing that our inspirations crossed paths is a funny little tidbit for me.

Margaret Keane Painting

Keane is now located in San Francisco where you can visit Keane Eyes Gallery and see her work first hand.  It is by appointment though so don’t be a dummy like me and think you can walk there and go right in.  Or you’ll end up peering through the windows like me!  Have you seen her work or similar work before?  Or have you seen how it has influenced pop culture at all?

DP/30: Big Eyes, Amy Adams

Margaret Keane, Painter Behind Tim Burton’s ‘Big Eyes’ | KQED Arts

Big Eyes (2014) Q&A with Amy Adams, Margaret Keane & The Writers

Behind the scenes of the real life “Big Eyes”

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January 1, 2015 – 4:14 am Categories: Francis Schaeffer | Post a comment

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WOODY WEDNESDAY Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Woody Allen’s 2015 Film September 26, 2014 · by William Miller

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Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Woody Allen’s 2015 Film

September 26, 2014 · by · in Actors, Everything You Always Wanted To Know, Films

In keeping with his decades old habit of a film a year, there will be a 2015 Film written and directed by Woody Allen. With production finished and Allen back at his regular Monday night jazz residency at the Carlyle, we figured it was time to wrap up everything we know about the upcoming film.

2015 film

What is it about?

Nothing has been officially confirmed, but we know from various comments the tone of the film and some of the characters.

The best we can determine is this is a serious drama with a murder at the centre. Set in a small town college, it stars a philosophy professor at a crisis in his life. In his life is a student and a relationship develops.

Who is in it?

There are two main stars – Joaquín Phoenix and Emma Stone, the latter in her second Allen film in a row.

Two other cast members have been officially announced – Jamie Blackley and Parker Posey. We don’t know the roles, however Blackley appears to be a fellow student.

IMDB lists additional cast of Ethan Phillips, Meredith Hagner, Tamara Hickney, Susan Parfour andGary Wilmes.

Woody Allen himself is not set to appear onscreen.

Where was it made?

The film was shot in many locations around Rhode Island. The towns of Newport and Providence provided the bulk of the locations. Beavertail National Park and Cranston was also used.

Salve Regina University and Brown University were major locations used, although it looks like it will be the one fictional Braylin College in the film.

With the many locations, we assume the film is actually set in one town and we don’t know if it will be a fictional town in the film.

Who made it?

Woody Allen has, of course, written and directed. Daring Khondji returns as cinematographer. None of the other crew has been confirmed.

Letty Aronson is back as a producer, as will Ronald L Chez.

It seems most likely the film will be distributed by Sony Pictures Classics in the US.

When is it out?

It’s a good bet that the film will be released in July 2015. It will keep with the successful schedule of Allen’s last few films.

It will roll out around the world in the months to follow.

When will we know more?

It is usual for Allen to keep his films under wraps til just weeks before release. There are exceptions –Magic In the Moonlight‘s title, some pics and a synopsis was released in October. The exception is if the film is selected as part of a film festival early next year.

The title will need to be locked in before the year is out, so hopefully we will have a name sooner rather than later.

You can read all our 2015 Film news stories.

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Charlie Strong is the right man for Texas but Coach Bielema’s Hogs sure whipped his Longhorns last night!!!!

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My son Wilson took this picture last night:

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Charlie Strong is the right man for Texas but Coach Bielema’s Hogs sure whipped his Longhorns last night!!!!

Arkansas Razorbacks 31, Texas Longhorns 7: Sooie Forever

By @doc_harper on Dec 30 2014, 12:29

This has to be the most satisfying 7-win season any Razorback fan is likely to experience.

The Texas Bowl wasn’t quite the shutout victory the program enjoyed against LSU and Ole Miss, but it might as well have been. The Hogs held Texas to just 59 total yards. And only two of those came on the ground (going back to the 2000 Cotton Bowl, Texas is -25 in total rushing yards between the two games). Until their last drive, it appeared Texas might have their lowest offensive output in program history. And that’s history history. 1910s no passing history. That drive ended with Henre Toliver’s interception that gave the Hogs the ball back for good.

The entire stat sheet is glorious. Arkansas didn’t commit any turnovers – the only fumble was recovered in the air by Hunter Henry which set up the team’s opening field goal. Tyrone Swoopes completed 13 passes, more than Brandon Allen did, but those passes gained only 57 yards. The Razorbacks had the ball for 41:10 and gained 191 yards on the ground. Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins both hit 1,100 yards for the season. Trey Flowers and Martrell Spaight, the Hogs two outstanding seniors on defense, both had great moments throughout the game. Demetrius Wilson had the best play of his career on the team’s first touchdown.

And that doesn’t even get into the individual player stats.

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Arkansas basically just sat on Texas in the third quarter. The Horns couldn’t do anything offensively. Arkansas had a couple of scoring opportunities but couldn’t convert. Jonathan Williams finally broke the goal line in the fourth quarter to make everyone relax.

Now the Hogs get to go into the offseason with all the momentum they could ask for. Hopefully they can capitalize on it during these last few weeks of the recruiting year and heading into spring practice. The team will likely get a lot of hype coming into 2015. They’ll be ranked somewhere and with good reason.

But that’s all for us to spend the next eight months talking about. Tonight, every fan should be extremely proud of this group. For all the struggles of the last few years, and staring at an offseason with an 0-20 tag right in the face, they created moments Razorback fans will remember forever. There will be at least 5 times as many people claiming to be on the field after beating LSU than actually were there. Rohan Gaines’ 100-yard pick-6 that sealed bowl eligibility in the rain against the best Ole Miss team in a couple of generations was amazing. And everybody who beat Texas instantly gets their names etched in Hog lore.

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