We took the kids to see Bridge to Terebithia (link to FOTF Plugged In review) over the weekend. It was reasonably well done and (I’ve heard) was reasonably faithful to the book. The basic premise is of two outsider grade school kids, Jesse and Leslie, banding together to create an imaginary world where they are the king and queen. There are some very positive elements in the relationships and in the lessons that are learned, and when Leslie goes to church for the first time, she tells Jesse, “The whole Jesus thing is interesting. I think it’s beautiful.”
My concern, though, was the overall view of faith presented in the movie. God is either an angry deity “who damns people to hell for not believing in the Bible” or fluffy caricature “who would never send good people to hell.” It’s a binary thing – either He’s the ultimate angry judge or a pushover who asks nothing of you.
That night at AWANA we used the film to discuss the importance of worldviews. We discussed with the teens and preteens how movies, books and television often look at faith and God with a decidedly non-biblical view. It was gratifying to see some of the kids beginning to realize that not everyone has the same view and that it really is important to have a foundation.
If you’re a book-ist, check out Shelfari. It’s a cool virtual bookshelf/social network site on which you can display a listing of your favorite books. It’s similar to LibraryThing, but is a bit more user friendly than LT and is free, to boot. (HT: Obscurorant 2.0)
You have to love capitalism. All the global angst about perceived warming has created a hugely profitable market for “emissions offsets.” The laughable Kyoto Treaty created this scheme to penalize healthy economies for their presumed guilty environmental habits. Lately eco-loons have found that they too can assuage their guilty consciences for driving, eating red meat, or (ahem) flatulating. Breitbart has this piece:
Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) — Governments in rich nations are spending billions of dollars to buy a clearer conscience over climate change. Are they getting their money’s worth?
Enlightened individuals, those who stay awake at nights wondering what they can do to prevent the polar caps from melting, at least have a growing menu of choices.
Sydney-based Easy Being Green says it will mitigate your cat’s flatulent contribution to global warming for A$8 ($6). The same company could also make your granny “carbon-neutral” at A$10 a year, according to a report in the Australian newspaper last weekend.
Then there’s Carbon Planet Pty, another company cited in the article. If you are hopping on a short-haul flight between Sydney and Canberra, and feeling bad about the damage you are doing to the ecosystem, you can buy credits worth A$23, for which the Adelaide-based company will guarantee to keep 1 ton of carbon dioxide out of the air for 100 years.
By comparison, the governments that have undertaken to cut greenhouse emissions under the United Nations’ Kyoto Convention on Climate Change have chosen a tougher — and more expensive — route to guilt reduction.
Michael Wara, formerly of Stanford University’s Program in Energy and Sustainable Development and now a lawyer at Holland & Knight LLP in San Francisco, made that point in a much-publicized article in the science journal Nature this month.
Countries that must purchase emission credits to atone for their higher-than-mandated production of carbon dioxide are paying a tiny group of chemical manufacturers in China and India massive sums to reduce industrial gases and methane, which are rather inexpensive to capture and destroy, Wara says.
The improvement that can be obtained by spending just $31 million on incinerators could cost developed nations as much as 750 million euros ($986 million) through the elaborate trading mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, and even then only two-thirds of the problem would go away, Wara estimates.
I am just in the wrong business. I want to be an enviro-sin eater. I’ll make a fortune.
Here’s a terrific advertisement from Britain to counter the demented anti-Americanism endemic in Europe. This video was produced by Britain and America, whose motto is “Politics for Adults.” (HT: LGF)
When was the last time you sent a pizza to Israel? They deliver, you know. Here’s an update from Karen at PizzaIDF, which sends pizzas, burgers and goodies to Israeli Defense Force troops throughout Israel. Since the Purim holiday is coming up you can also special treats.
We have had the privilege for a number of a years of sending Pizza, Hot Soup, Burgers and other special food items to our serving soldiers on behalf of you and many other wonderful people. Thank you once again on their behalf for your support in the past.
Our soldiers are under a lot of pressure; thank G-d there are many successes. Terrorists are intercepted daily here in Israel; many arrests by the soldiers cannot even be reported. Terror has become number one on the international agenda — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Hizbollah, Hamas, al Qaeda and more. Although the political will may not always there, Israel’s soldiers have their work cut out for them.
Purim is traditionally the time to send food gifts to your friends. This year once again we have prepared special Mishloach Manot packages of treats for you to send to our wonderful soldiers. Tell these modern-day heroes how much you appreciate their sacrifice.
Send your Purim Mishloach Manot and other gifts from our website at www.PizzaIDF.org.
Your bit o’ culture for the day is The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio, painted in about 1601. From the Web Gallery of Art:
This picture seems to belong to the same group as the second St Matthew and the Angel and The Sacrifice of Isaac because the same model reappears as the apostle at the apex of this composition. Like the first St Matthew and the Angel this picture belonged to Vincenzo Giustiniani and then entered the Prussian royal collection. Fortunately it was kept in Potsdam and so it survived the last war intact. This is the most copied painting of Caravaggio, 22 copies from the 17th century are known.
This drama of disbelief seems to have touched Caravaggio personally. Few of his paintings are physically so shocking – his Thomas pushes curiosity to its limits before he will say, ‘My Lord and my God.’ The classical composition carefully unites the four heads in the quest for truth. Christ’s head is largely in shadow, as He is the person who is the least knowable. He also has a beauty that had not been evident in the Mattei paintings of His arrest and appearance at Emmaus.
Is it getting cooler in here? Anti-Strib picked up on some subtle change in the wording of the global whining debate.
Has anyone noticed the very subtle changes in the rhetoric yet? I’m talking about global warming. The loud and liberal arm of the “science community” has very subtly been replacing the term “global warming” with “climate change.” The liberal media is also climbing on board. The average person is not connecting the dots at this point. It is an opening for the “science community” to change their story, yet again.
A growing number of scientists are resurrecting the global cooling theory as we speak. Some are even speculating that by 2030, the earth will have cooled to 17th century levels, with no end in sight, and the earth in imminant danger unless we do something. I kid you not, folks.
I do not believe this B.S. We can’t predict the weather 7 days from now with any accuracy, let alone 30 years from now. Doesn’t that thought cross anybody’s mind?
The global warming hypothesis has failed every relevant experimental test. It lives on only in the dreams of anti-technologists and population reduction advocates.
Research data on climate change do not show that human use of hydrocarbons is harmful. To the contrary, there is good evidence that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is eviromentally helpful.
The door for global cooling alarmists has been reopened. That dead horse will rise again to haunt us in the coming years.
