Faith and Culture

For this Friday I have been planning a movie night for Together Under Grace (TUG), the university/career fellowship at Chinese Alliance Church. I had recently seen a movie that really impacted me called Changing Lanes. I felt it would be great to show, but had some hesitations. Some Christians are definitely sensitive to things like crudge language, violence and that sort of stuff in movies. The question arose - what sort of movie should be shown at church?

This drives to much deeper issues that I've been thinking about - how should Christians interact with culture? Should we shy away from things that some Christians deem as offensive?

Then the deeper issues get into what is art/music and what is it good for. Consider a movie, which is offensive to some, but helps the viewer grow or think in a new way. Is this worthwhile to watch?

I tend to be more liberal when it comes to these issues. I'm glad someone made Saving Private Ryan, showing some of the violence and horror of WWII. Mostly because I think the film did a good job of showing the human stories, and that really impacted me. I don't know, some movies like 8mm, which delves into pornographic sex and severe violence - well I didn't find that very beneficial at all (I recall viewers walking out on the movie in the theatre).

I think we need need to be on the forefront of engaging and influencing culture. This can't happen without interacting with modern culture, and rubbing shoulders with the world. However, this should never be at the expense of our personal devotion to God, nor the cost of causing our brother to stumble.

Any thoughts?

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How I roll

Its been a busy time (but good) time since I've been back. Its good just to catch up with people. Its strange - when I'm unemployed and not in school I'm remarkably productive. Lots more pet projects I'd like to get rolling as well.

My main two objectives right now are job hunting and finishing up work for my Biblical Exegesis course I did at the Schloss. In our day and age, job hunting seems to have boiled down to hours and hours spent in front of the computer, going through various websites and then making lists, and writing emails to each company. I have one good prospect coming up, we'll see if something comes of it.

I've been motivated to read more these days. I've really been craving fiction, just recently read Stephen Lawhead's Byzantium, then Harry Potter books 1 to 3, Joy Luck Club, some Grimm's Fairy Tales, and found myself a copy of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy at a used book store yesterday. Oh for those who are into books, check out this cool new service LibraryThing, which is sort of a social community site where you can enter your entire library of books, have wishlists, compare your library with others, etc. Its quite sweet, just enter the title, author, or ISBN, and it searches major sites (primarily Amazon) and then enters all the info for you. I tried entering a few books, its really easy. Check out the few books I have on my page so far here. I plan to use this as a list of books I've used/read, regardless of whether I own it or not. I've been looking for awhile for a nice way to keep track of books, and this looks like the ticket.

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Home

There and back again... got back Wednesday afternoon. "Sweet Home Alabama" has been stuck in my head. I can truly say Winnipeg is my home. Some former Winnipeggers have different sentiments (see the song One Great City! by The Weakerthans).

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Toronto

Well I arrived in Toronto Wednesday night, a rather tiring trip. It took me a bit over 21 hours from the time I left Ross' house in Oxford until I walked in the door of my sister's apartment. I should consider myself fortunate though, the day after I left, this happened, delaying/messing-up all flights from UK->North America. The bottom picture in that news article was the airport I flew out of (London Stansted).

Its been good for me to relax here. Cambridge was very busy and tiring. Oxford was great as I visited Ross. I quite like England, hehe birthed a new dream, albeit most likely a pipe dream. Oh, to have an EU passport... hehe.

Now I'm lounging around, had breakfast a couple hours ago, spent some time emailing/surfing, and now going to read some Harry Potter. Its not a glamorous life... but I'm okay with it :P I don't have any big plans for Toronto really, other than spending time with my sisters. Going to hit up a couple musems, also there's an international dragonboat festival I think we'll check out. Some friends here to see also, but generally it'll be pretty laid back I think. Jen also has a djembe, cello and cajon which I can entertain myself on :D

It'll be good to have this week to transition into going back home. Lots to reflect on, for my experiences at the Schloss, my time in Cambridge... and the job hunting and road ahead. Back in Winnipeg this Wednesday!

Oxford - Ross and I outside the famous Eagle and Child pub,
where JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis used to meet to discuss books/ideas.

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