Playing God

Andrea and I watched “The Gospel of John” this weekend. Overall, it wasn’t too bad Henry Ian Cusick does a good job most of the time as Jesus, but his performance wasn’t without problems. At some times, when delivering some of Jesus’ lines, he acted wild eyed and crazy, which wasn’t true to the character of the Gospel. I thought he brought appropriate emotion, inflection, and charisma to Christ’s role most of the time and helped bring the Gospel to life.

Andrea didn’t buy him as Christ, and I have to admit that unlike watching Jim Cavizel could be believed as Jesus, and you forgot it was an actor on screen, not so with Cusick. Cusick’s skin was too perfect, and he really looked too good physically in my opinion. The movie also suffered from the Bible version (the utterly forgetable Good News Version)  and there were some visual suggestions of something more with Mary Magdalene.

Overall, the movie was good and had some stories brought to screen such as the healing of the blind man in John 9 and it was just what we needed after a stressful week.

However, to me it opens my mind to a far greater topic, I’ve been giving some thought to. The role of Christ (or God) is perhaps the hardest part to play in cinema. Why? Because there is so much expectation tied up in that role. One thing is certain, you won’t please everyone.

The versions of Jesus that come to mind include: The Passion of the Christ, Greatest Story Ever Told, King of Kings, Jesus of Nazareth Mini-Series, The Miracle Worker (Claymation), The Visual Bible (Matthew), The Jesus Movie, The Revolutionary (TBN’s Version),  The Living Christ Miniseries (from the 1950s), and the Color of the Cross.

Now, one could add to the list such as the movie, Judas, Jesus Christ Superstar, and the Last Temptation of Christ. These films will never be quite popular with Christians as the Jesus portrayed isn’t the real Christ.

 However, for the others, one has to say that with the exception of Cavizel most movie Christs rarely meet most people’s expectations. Reading reviews on Amazon, it seems everyone has one (or two) Jesus movies they really don’t like and one or two they love.

For me, I personally thought the Revolutionary was an awful adaptation of the Gospel story. The others have been at least okay.

The ones that I think are the best are the Passion of the Christ. The Miracle Maker did a good job telling the gospel story. While many have ripped, “The Greatest Story Ever Told” for the dubious casting of John Wayne as the Centurion at the Cross, other casting choices were great like Telly Sevallas as Pilate, Charlton Heston as the best John the Baptist ever, and the music. The music was what made the movie so compelling. I also enjoyed the “Living Christ” mini-series. Often derided by those looking only at traditional guidelines, the series was poweful on many levels. Perhaps, its greatest triumph was the scene where the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray.

But, of course many will disagree. If you play Christ in film, you can expect your work to be summarily critiqued and evaluated, and often to have the harshest barbs fired in your direction. Perhaps, it’s because in the end, try as we might, we can’t replicate Christ as all he is on the screen, which will make even the best performances unsatisfactory.

The Ten Misquoted Commandments

Doug Van Curen, Vice-President of the Idaho Humanist Society greatly twists the Ten Commandments in a recent letter to the Editor:

Adrian Arp’s Letter (June 7) suggests our society is being systematically destroyed by compromising moral absolutes like the Ten Commandments. This makes me wonder if he has actually read the book of Exodus. The first commandment requires that you worship only the Judeo-Christian God. Punishment for not? Death by stoning. How does this fit in with freedom of religion?

And the commandment says:

“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”

Nothing about stoning. Now, who hasn’t read Exodus?  Van Curren continues:

The second prohibits the making of idols and decries punishment for four generations of an entire family for the misdeeds of one person.

And the commandment says:

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, the LORD thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.”

Here God is the one who is making the punishment, not the government, and it should be mentioned that the curse and punishment is broken should one turn to God as explained in Ezekiel 18:14-19:

“Now, lo, if he beget a son who seeth all his father’s sins which he hath done, and considereth and doeth not the like, who hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbor’s wife, neither hath oppressed any, hath not withheld the pledge, neither hath despoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry and hath covered the naked with a garment; who hath taken off his hand from the poor, who hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed My judgments, hath walked in My statutes — he shall not die for the iniquity of his father: he shall surely live.

As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, despoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.

“Yet say ye, `Why? Doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all My statutes and hath done them, he shall surely live.”

So, moving on to Commandment #3:

The third, death to those who use their deity’s name wrong.

The real commandment says:

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

No mention of stoning. Then we move on to #4:

The fourth mandates that everyone who works on the Sabbath be stoned to death.

Again, the real 4th Commandment says:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Again, no stoning. Moving on to the 5th Commandment:

The fifth requires that children who misbehave be stoned to death.

The 5th Commandment says:

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

No stoning. Moving onto the 7th Commandment:

The seventh requires that adulterers be stoned to death.

The real 7th Commandment says:

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Of the 10th Commandment, Van Curen writes, “The tenth prohibits coveting (in America?).” That one he actually got right. The others totally incorrect.

While it’s true that many of the punishments are indicated elsewhere, it’s not those pre-New Testament punishments that really interest anyone, but rather the principles of the Ten Commandments in our hearts and lives. If we can honor God, rest, honor our parents, our marriage vows, and be people of honesty and integrity who are at peace with what God has given us without coveting someone else’s goods, then we’ve done well.

A Task Force for Idaho Families

The Idahoan lets us know about a new task force force ” to examine pro-family policies and come up with legislation that might be considered during the next session of the Idaho Legislature.” Good idea. One thing I was told during my campaign for the legislature is that it would be a good idea to have a family impact statement to explain how the bill impacts Idaho families, just like a fiscal impact statement is currently include.

A Task Force for Idaho Families

The Idahoan lets us know about a new task force force ” to examine pro-family policies and come up with legislation that might be considered during the next session of the Idaho Legislature.” Good idea. One thing I was told during my campaign for the legislature is that it would be a good idea to have a family impact statement to explain how the bill impacts Idaho families, just like a fiscal impact statement is currently include.

Biggio and the Big Hurt

Thursday, Craig Biggio and Frank Thomas stepped into history, Biggio got his 3000th hit and Thomas slammed his 500th Homer.

 First, on Biggio, let’s be clear, it couldn’t have happened to a better player.  In a baseball world where players switch teams frequently, Biggio stuck with Houston the whole way. He and fellow Houston superstar Jeff Bagwell took less money some years in order for the team to bring better talent in to Houston. He was a rarity and deserves plaudits, not only for his loyalty to Houston, but for his huge, monster career. It’s been something to watch over the years.

Then, there’s the big Hurt who hit 500. Thomas is not the type of team player that Craig Biggio is, but he’s hall worthy, most definitely. Now some folks question whether 500 is  a good standard given the Home Run inflation of the 1990s. I still think it, but that’s pretty well irrelevant with the Big Hurt.

Frank Thomas has 2 MVP’s, 4 Silver Sluggers, 5 All-Star Appearance, the 11th best On-Base/Slugging percentage of all time. In addition, Thomas has 1,617 RBIs and only one player had that many RBIs in his career without going to the Hall of Fame, Harold Baines (with 1628) but within three or four weeks, Thomas will be past Baines and then we can say that no one has that many RBIs without being a Hall of Famer.

In addition, there’s another angle to the story, Thomas is untainted by steroids:

Sure, Thomas is as big as a house, but he always has been, since his days playing tight end for Auburn. Now 39, he points to his career consistency as proof each of his 500 home runs is legit.

“Numbers don’t lie,” he said. “You can look at (me) from Day One in this league, all the way to now. What my years are, what my good years are, and the numbers are almost the exact same. That should tell everyone. There’s no fluctuation in anything in my career.”

Thomas has hit 35 or more home runs eight times, but never more than 43 — the third-lowest career high among the 21 players in the 500 club.

Now, if you really think steroids impact power numbers or baseball player performance in general (no one has given me proof on that) and Thomas didn’t take them, then you have to give him more credit because pitchers were taking steroids, just like hitters and to get to 500 fair and square, now that’s one great achievement.

I Think Not Phone

No, I’m not rushing out to buy an I-phone. The over-hyped device has some interesting promise, but there are two possible scenarios.

At worst, it’ll be another segway that’s got some novelty but doesn’t catch on. At best, in about three years I’ll get an offer from my current provider to get the I-phone or an equivalent for $19.95 and an agreement to extend the service agreeement two years.

 Update: Self-proclaimed Tech Nerd Mark Harris at Save the GOP confirms my suspicions about the over-priced Apple Gadget.

I Think Not Phone

No, I’m not rushing out to buy an I-phone. The over-hyped device has some interesting promise, but there are two possible scenarios.

At worst, it’ll be another segway that’s got some novelty but doesn’t catch on. At best, in about three years I’ll get an offer from my current provider to get the I-phone or an equivalent for $19.95 and an agreement to extend the service agreeement two years.

 Update: Self-proclaimed Tech Nerd Mark Harris at Save the GOP confirms my suspicions about the over-priced Apple Gadget.