The theatre is losing it's luster

I am getting close to a year without darkening a movie theater. Shocking for a guy that is a movie geek like I am. Part of it is that I have a baby, and well, babies don't work well in theaters. Second, movies are just not what they used to be.

4 years ago, if you said that in ONE summer, an Ocean's Twelve sequel, a Fantastic Four sequel, Spidey 3, Shrek 3, a Transformers movie, and a Pixar movie were coming out, I would have been at opening night for 4 of those at least. I would have seen them and been pretty satisfied. But I don't know if I will see any of them in the theater. I didn't even mention Pirates 3.

Why? Several reasons:

1. Sequels are getting worse. Bottom line: it's nearly impossible to catch lightning in a bottle twice and thrice, but studios keep trying. Spidey 3 is so awful that even die hard fans I know told me to avoid it. The others I just don't care enough to drop $15 for me ans the wifey to see.

2. Visual effects don't matter as much as they used to. I'll take story over visuals any day now.

3. Netfix: watch 30 movies in a month for the price of 2 tickets. This is where quantity wins out. Plus, no one gets mad at home if the baby starts crying. I have almost 100 DVD's in my queue right now-- in other words, more to watch than I could in a year. Don't forget TV shows and online viewing.

4. Television is getting better. Battlestar Galactica. Heroes. Lost. Not to mention CSI, Scrubs, Monk, 24. I haven't even mentioned Rome. Heck, I left out alot of good TV.

The bottom line? I may be moving into a phase of life where movies just don't matter much to me anymore...and it's kind of comforting. Am I still a geek?

Emerging Wednesday- inerrancy, Amazing Grace, and choice sermons

A movie called Amazing Grace is coming out on the 23rd. It stars Ioan Gruffud as William Wilberforce, the British Parliament member who helped end slavery in the British Empire decades before America abolished it. Early reviews I have read are promising, and the trailer looks good. I intend to see it in theaters and support it. Oh, there's some connection the the song Amazing Grace as well, if you hadn't already figured that out. For those out there that want a total surprise, I won't say what the connection is.

Tagged onto the movie's release is a movement to have as many churches as possible sing Amazing Grace on Sunday, Feb. 18th. While there may some PR here to promote the movie, the website for this (http://www.amazinggracesunday.com) talks quite a bit about the resurgence of the slave trade in some parts of the world. I might just add our house church to the list....

While attending Lee University, one of my favorite chapel speakers was Rev. Joe Novenson, pastor of Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church near Chattanooga, TN. He is an amazing teacher that presented the gospel in a humble yet powerful way that still captures my spirit. I was pleased to discover that many of his recent sermons are available as mp3's on the church site for free. In a day where many pastors are charging $20-30 for sermon sets (something that REALLY bothers me when the price is exorbitant), it is refreshing to see someone of great anointing and talent willing to share it freely.

Now here's the one that'll get somebody mad- I am studying this whole topic of biblical inerrancy. Since I was raised in rather fundamentalist circles, believing in an inerrant text is kind of a given, so it was never discussed. I have been reading some excellent posts from internetmonk.com on the subject and am encouraged for one reason: you can still believe the bible is true even though it may not be inerrant. Most fundalmentalists will say that if the bible is not inerrant, then you:

1. Can't take the bible as true anymore.
2. You are claiming that God made mistakes, which he can't do.
3. You doubt the Spirit's ability to rightly inspire the authors of the text, or the authors' ability to hear it correctly.

In all areas of faith, Christians are always willing to concede that no matter how anointed a person is, or how much God uses them, they will still make mistakes and that's just part of the result of a perfect God communicating through an imperfect man. But when it comes to Scripture, that argument is completely dismissed and somehow that fraternity of bible authors managed to get everything correct down to the last punctuation mark. We always talk about how God can overcome our failing and still get his message across, but that doesn't apply to Scripture.

I'll be talking about this alot in the near future because I really want to understand both sides. I am starting with an intertmonk recommended series by Chris Tilling.