Is God A Coward?!?
After a headline like the one above, an appropriate response might be, "And a Merry Christmas to YOU (me), too!!!"
I wasn't going to write a blog today or next Wednesday because of the holidays, but a paid for advertisement on the front page of today's Los Angeles Daily News and a Christmas joke sent by one of this blog's readers made me decide to write a short blog today, no blog next Wednesday and back to business as usual on January 6th.
The headline I wrote above, "Is God A Coward?" is the word for word headline in the paid advertisement on the front page of today's L.A. Daily News. And here comes what was written under that headline; "Suppose......There was this really bad guy holding a gun on both you and your kid with no way to escape. He then tells you that he intends to shoot and kill only one of you, either you or your kid, with the choice being yours entirely. What would you do?
In a blink, most parents would scream, 'Kill ME, kill ME, not my KID!!!'
So why didn't our Heavenly Father die for our sins himself, but rather allowed his son, Jesus, to die for us instead?
In a blink, the Father would have eagerly died for our sins, rather than permit his obedient Son to be killed on the cross for us. The reason he didn't is that our redemption REQUIRED the absolute ultimate sacrifice for our sins, which gets no greater than a parent watching their child be murdered, all the while with unlimited power to stop it.
COWARD? Hardly. HERO? Totally.
'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'
John 3:16
Merry Christmas, G.R."
I have no idea who this G.R. person is. Underneath the G.R., is this email address; toyvention@gmail.com
Now let's examine G.R.'s premise. Giving up our kid as opposed to giving up ourselves would be considered to be HEROIC? Yeah, I know there's a religious hook to that premise, buuuut...
With all due respect to "believer" G.R. and all other believers, I don't think that would be the heroic move at all. I'd be saving my KID!
All that we know about John 3:16 is that it's in a book. A book requiring faith when it comes to believing what's written because there's no actual proof. Muslims buy into what they're told is in a book, too. About a whole bunch of virgins waiting for them if they choose to die for "the cause". Faith. And maybe what's in THEIR book is true, TOO!
THOUGHTS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS? scottstjames@sbcglobal.net
I told you this would be a short blog...
Views and thoughts about two new films are next and I'll close with a Christmas joke.
Tuesday, I saw the new James Cameron film, "Avatar". This is Cameron's first film since "Titanic".
"Avatar" is almost three hours long, but it had my attention the whole way. A couple of "bad-ass" characters almost steal this film. Colonel Miles Quartich, who is played by, Stephen Lang and the baddest big bird in the world, ridden by the hero of this film, is a bird that gives a new definition for the word, "ferocious".
We are told that it cost a lot of money to make this film and you can certainly how the money was spent and you can see the great effort that was put into making this film.
But "Titanic", it AIN'T!
I believe that "Avatar" is worth the price of a ticket, but "Avatar" is not a film I would have interest in watching twice.
Today, I saw the film, "Up In The Air".
I don't know anyone who doesn't like George Clooney because he is a humanitarian, seems to be a great guy and a guy most people would enjoy being in the company of, but is he a bona fide movie "star", or is he a movie "personality"?
Big difference in the two terms.
I LOVED Clooney in the film "Out of Sight" and I especially loved the sexual chemistry between Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. "Out of Sight" came out in 1998. I don't think Clooney has had chemistry like that with a woman in a movie SINCE 1998. UNTIL "Up In The Air" and the sexual chemistry Clooney has with Vera Farmiga and good chemistry of a different kind, with Anna Kendrick.
"Up In The Air", directed terrifically by Jason Reitman, is a film for adults because it's about adult issues. Like the pain of losing your job and in two cases, the pain of losing what may have been the loves of their lives. Pop quiz: Do you remember the love of YOUR life? If you're lucky, you married her or him or are still dating him or her. But there's a good chance you're dating or married to someone else.
Anyway, in "Up In The Air", we feel the pain others are feeling when they lose their jobs and we feel the lost dignity that often goes with the taking away of our jobs. And in "Up In The Air", that loss of job, coupled with loss of dignity, is brilliantly portrayed by actor Steve Eastin who happens to be a friend of mine and who is also one of Los Angeles' finest acting teachers.
The very fine actor, J.K. Simmons is also very effective as a guy who wonders if maybe all hope is lost for him until the Clooney character shows the Simmons character some "light" at the end of the dark tunnel Simmons has imagined for himself. Another one of many marvelous scenes in "Up In The Air", buuuuut, please don't get me wrong....
This is not just a "Woe is me!" film. Not at all. You'll laugh a lot, too. But when this film ends, if you don't find yourself lost in thought, you need to see the film again.
And yes, "Up In The Air" is a film I WANT to see again.
One final thought...George Clooney, welcome back! You're more than a movie "personality" again!
AND NOW, THE CHRISTMAS JOKE...
Blog reader and writing friend, Patrick Gallagher sent me a joke and I laughed out loud at this joke's punch line. I hope this has the same effect on you.
This is titled, "To God", and it goes like this.....
There was a man who worked for the Post Office whose job was to process all the mail that had illegible addresses.
One day, a letter came addressed in a shaky handwriting to God with no actual address. The postal worker thought he should open it to see what it was about.
The letter read:
Dear God,
I am an 83-year old widow, living on a very small pension.
Yesterday, someone stole my purse. It had $100 in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension payment.
This Friday is Christmas, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with, have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope. Can you please help me?
Sincerely, Edna.
The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers. Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few dollars.
By the time he made the rounds, he had collected $96, which they put into an envelope and sent to the woman.
The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of Edna and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends.
Christmas came and went.
A few days later, another letter came from the same old lady (Edna) to God.
All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened.
It read:
Dear God,
How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me?
Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift.
By the way, there was $4 missing.
I think it might have been those bastards at the post office.
Sincerely, Edna.
THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I respond to every email that is sent to this address. Don't write to the blog, because there's no way for me to know your email address so I won't be able to respond to you. All "anonymous" emails are ignored.
THE NEXT BLOG?
Wednesday (late afternoon or evening), January 6th.
MERRY AND HAPPY, EVERYONE!!!
2010 HAS to be a HELL of a lot better than 2009 has been!!!
DOESN'T it?!?
I wasn't going to write a blog today or next Wednesday because of the holidays, but a paid for advertisement on the front page of today's Los Angeles Daily News and a Christmas joke sent by one of this blog's readers made me decide to write a short blog today, no blog next Wednesday and back to business as usual on January 6th.
The headline I wrote above, "Is God A Coward?" is the word for word headline in the paid advertisement on the front page of today's L.A. Daily News. And here comes what was written under that headline; "Suppose......There was this really bad guy holding a gun on both you and your kid with no way to escape. He then tells you that he intends to shoot and kill only one of you, either you or your kid, with the choice being yours entirely. What would you do?
In a blink, most parents would scream, 'Kill ME, kill ME, not my KID!!!'
So why didn't our Heavenly Father die for our sins himself, but rather allowed his son, Jesus, to die for us instead?
In a blink, the Father would have eagerly died for our sins, rather than permit his obedient Son to be killed on the cross for us. The reason he didn't is that our redemption REQUIRED the absolute ultimate sacrifice for our sins, which gets no greater than a parent watching their child be murdered, all the while with unlimited power to stop it.
COWARD? Hardly. HERO? Totally.
'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'
John 3:16
Merry Christmas, G.R."
I have no idea who this G.R. person is. Underneath the G.R., is this email address; toyvention@gmail.com
Now let's examine G.R.'s premise. Giving up our kid as opposed to giving up ourselves would be considered to be HEROIC? Yeah, I know there's a religious hook to that premise, buuuut...
With all due respect to "believer" G.R. and all other believers, I don't think that would be the heroic move at all. I'd be saving my KID!
All that we know about John 3:16 is that it's in a book. A book requiring faith when it comes to believing what's written because there's no actual proof. Muslims buy into what they're told is in a book, too. About a whole bunch of virgins waiting for them if they choose to die for "the cause". Faith. And maybe what's in THEIR book is true, TOO!
THOUGHTS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS? scottstjames@sbcglobal.net
I told you this would be a short blog...
Views and thoughts about two new films are next and I'll close with a Christmas joke.
Tuesday, I saw the new James Cameron film, "Avatar". This is Cameron's first film since "Titanic".
"Avatar" is almost three hours long, but it had my attention the whole way. A couple of "bad-ass" characters almost steal this film. Colonel Miles Quartich, who is played by, Stephen Lang and the baddest big bird in the world, ridden by the hero of this film, is a bird that gives a new definition for the word, "ferocious".
We are told that it cost a lot of money to make this film and you can certainly how the money was spent and you can see the great effort that was put into making this film.
But "Titanic", it AIN'T!
I believe that "Avatar" is worth the price of a ticket, but "Avatar" is not a film I would have interest in watching twice.
Today, I saw the film, "Up In The Air".
I don't know anyone who doesn't like George Clooney because he is a humanitarian, seems to be a great guy and a guy most people would enjoy being in the company of, but is he a bona fide movie "star", or is he a movie "personality"?
Big difference in the two terms.
I LOVED Clooney in the film "Out of Sight" and I especially loved the sexual chemistry between Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. "Out of Sight" came out in 1998. I don't think Clooney has had chemistry like that with a woman in a movie SINCE 1998. UNTIL "Up In The Air" and the sexual chemistry Clooney has with Vera Farmiga and good chemistry of a different kind, with Anna Kendrick.
"Up In The Air", directed terrifically by Jason Reitman, is a film for adults because it's about adult issues. Like the pain of losing your job and in two cases, the pain of losing what may have been the loves of their lives. Pop quiz: Do you remember the love of YOUR life? If you're lucky, you married her or him or are still dating him or her. But there's a good chance you're dating or married to someone else.
Anyway, in "Up In The Air", we feel the pain others are feeling when they lose their jobs and we feel the lost dignity that often goes with the taking away of our jobs. And in "Up In The Air", that loss of job, coupled with loss of dignity, is brilliantly portrayed by actor Steve Eastin who happens to be a friend of mine and who is also one of Los Angeles' finest acting teachers.
The very fine actor, J.K. Simmons is also very effective as a guy who wonders if maybe all hope is lost for him until the Clooney character shows the Simmons character some "light" at the end of the dark tunnel Simmons has imagined for himself. Another one of many marvelous scenes in "Up In The Air", buuuuut, please don't get me wrong....
This is not just a "Woe is me!" film. Not at all. You'll laugh a lot, too. But when this film ends, if you don't find yourself lost in thought, you need to see the film again.
And yes, "Up In The Air" is a film I WANT to see again.
One final thought...George Clooney, welcome back! You're more than a movie "personality" again!
AND NOW, THE CHRISTMAS JOKE...
Blog reader and writing friend, Patrick Gallagher sent me a joke and I laughed out loud at this joke's punch line. I hope this has the same effect on you.
This is titled, "To God", and it goes like this.....
There was a man who worked for the Post Office whose job was to process all the mail that had illegible addresses.
One day, a letter came addressed in a shaky handwriting to God with no actual address. The postal worker thought he should open it to see what it was about.
The letter read:
Dear God,
I am an 83-year old widow, living on a very small pension.
Yesterday, someone stole my purse. It had $100 in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension payment.
This Friday is Christmas, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with, have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope. Can you please help me?
Sincerely, Edna.
The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers. Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few dollars.
By the time he made the rounds, he had collected $96, which they put into an envelope and sent to the woman.
The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of Edna and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends.
Christmas came and went.
A few days later, another letter came from the same old lady (Edna) to God.
All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened.
It read:
Dear God,
How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me?
Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift.
By the way, there was $4 missing.
I think it might have been those bastards at the post office.
Sincerely, Edna.
THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I respond to every email that is sent to this address. Don't write to the blog, because there's no way for me to know your email address so I won't be able to respond to you. All "anonymous" emails are ignored.
THE NEXT BLOG?
Wednesday (late afternoon or evening), January 6th.
MERRY AND HAPPY, EVERYONE!!!
2010 HAS to be a HELL of a lot better than 2009 has been!!!
DOESN'T it?!?
posted by Scott St. James at 7:13 PM
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