Rock Star by Nickelback

Rock Star by Nickelback
I recently listened to the song “Rock Star” by the Canadian band Nickelback. The single comes off of their very successful album All the Right Reasons, released in 2005. The song speaks of the desires to have everything a rock star has; from “a bathroom I can play baseball in” to “a king-sized tub big enough for ten plus me,” he is willing to do anything and everything, including cutting his hair and changing his name to achieve the life of a rock star.
This song certainly seeks to further the ideas of the empire. The goal of human life is to be rich and famous. You need to have all there is to have, from fifteen cars and a load of drugs, to playboy bunnies and limitless credit cards. The life of the rock star is exalted to the point of being the best way to live one’s life. There is no such thing as sin; you should simply do whatever you want to please yourself. We don’t need to be redeemed from anything; we just need to be wealthy. This philosophy certainly goes hand in hand with that of the empire. This life is self-gratifying, but also seductive. It does not tell you the dangers of living such a life. Pleasing yourself comes first, and they could care less about pleasing others.
As I did a little research about this song, an interesting question came up. Is this song a satire? Is Chad Kroeger, the lead singer, criticizing the lusts and desires of his own profession? I certainly don’t think so. He was once on the show MTV Cribs flaunting his wealth; why then would he satirize himself when he sings of “a brand new house on an episode of Cribs”? And the band certainly has lived the life of the rich and famous, so why make fun of them? Even if it was a satire, I don’t think the majority of the American public would understand it. I certainly wouldn’t think of the song in that way. Most Americans would think of this song not as satire but as a kind of truth. Existentialism is all that matters; if you aren’t squeezing every drop out of life you are not truly living. These rock stars certainly are living the life; why shouldn’t you?
Overall, this is kind of a sad song. It is sad that young boys and girls will listen to this and think this self-gratifying philosophy is the path for them. All that this song does is advocate greed, materialism, and lust. This song glorifies the life of the rock star, but that is not where true happiness originates. Only through a relationship with Jesus Christ will we be truly happy. After our hearts and minds have been transformed, we can live a life of service unto others, caring for the needs of the poor and lifting up the downtrodden.

Ada Bible Service

Today I went to Ada Bible, which is located in Ada Michigan. It is considered a "Mega" church with over 6,000 members and 5 services -1 on saturday and 2 on sunday at the cascade campus and 2 at the North Campus all preaching the same thing. The sermon saturday at the cascade campus is recorded and replayed at the 2 services at the North Campus. The church got so big that it had to make a saturday service and just this summer open another campus on the north side of town. The most unique thing about Ada Bible is that at each service at the Cascade campus you can either watch the whole sermon and music "live" or go to a video venue. 

The concept of watching a sermon on a video may seem odd, and it seems odd to me, but it has become more acceptable in this day and age of television. We can sit in front of a television screen for hours on end, so a sermon at church is nothing new. I don't think that this concept could have been pulled off years ago, but it is now more acceptable.

Today I went to the cascade campus at 11 o'clock with some of my 2nd Bolt friends and we went to the "live" viewing. The idea of watching the sermon on a video screen did not appeal to us.

The sermon was very interesting to all of us. The sermon was on Proverbs and all of its "wisdom advice." We looked at 5 verses that talked about how to work. The sermon did not talk about anything "religious" or "spiritual" but rather that we should all work hard. Each verse that we looked at seemed like they could have been spoken to us by our parents or grandparents and did not seem appropriate at church. It also talked about managing our finances which is nearly irrelevant to all of us who give all of our money to Calvin anyways.

At the lunch table we all started talking about why they would give a sermon about working hard. Yes, everyone can use a sermon about working harder and we can all work harder, but is that really something that should be preached? Not only that, but it is a 4 week series on it. After much discussion we weren't sure if Ada Bible was conforming to the empire and giving advice that the people want to hear, or if it is part of the kingdom because it is in the bible.

Ada Bible does a lot of things right, but it is changing the standard for all Christians, giving sermons in mass numbers and losing the "church" aspect. It seems that community is lost at Ada Bible, but I don't know how they would fix it.

Twilight: Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Empire?

Twilight is a novel that I thought I would never read because it never caught my eye at the bookstore. I didn’t even know what the story was about because I never read the summary, and I thought I wouldn’t like the book, but when I went back home for Christmas break I met my cousin and she told me to read it. She said it was a really good book. I knew there was a movie on Twilight, so I was a little curious why many people seemed to like Twilight, but that was all it was, curiosity. Curiosity wasn’t enough for me to go out and purchase the book. Later I was at the airport and I kept bothering my sister if I could go and buy a book at the bookstore near the food court. She agreed, so I went and looked around. I was searching for a book that would last for about five to six hours on the airplane ride; a book so fat and thick that it would last longer then the ride back to school. I didn’t find that book, so I just purchased a book that seemed a little bit interesting. But when I was about to leave the bookstore I saw Twilight: it was thick and fat and it might be interesting, so my sister and I returned the other book and bought Twilight. To my surprise it was a really good book, very interesting and hard to put down, but even though I thought it was interesting and a good book I kept having doubts whether this book was a good book. I had doubts on whether the book was written well, whether I liked the characters’ personalities, and whether it was promoting good values, but I shoved my doubts aside because then I had to question why I kept purchasing the author’s next book to the Twilight series. The conclusion I came to is this: I do like the idea of the story (except the part where it’s too focused on the romance), but not how it is written, I don’t really like how the characters are portrayed, and I don’t think Twilight promotes very good values. I believe this novel cries out for the empire and despite all of this I somehow end up liking this book.

Twilight is a love story where the main characters are Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. In this story evil is seen in the nature of the vampires. They are seen as monsters by the Quileute people of La Push because they hunt humans and drink their blood, but the Cullen’s are different they do not harm humans by drinking their blood instead they are more civilized and live among the humans which is not part of their nature. To live among the humans the Cullen’s drink the blood of animals. I see this as an attempt for redemption for what they are. The one who began this way of life was Carlisle because he became a vampire by accident and his father was an Anglican pastor due to this he felt guilty of what he became, so in the beginning he tried to destroy himself, but his many attempts of suicide did not work. Later he came to a realization that he doesn’t have to drink the blood of humans; this way he won’t harm them. This is his way of repenting for what he became. Carlisle also believes that vampires might have a soul and can go to heaven, but Edward doesn’t believe this; he thinks they will not be able to go to heaven. So the idea that vampires can go to heaven makes me think that redemption can be reached to people that seem completely evil and have no redeemable quality about them. This makes me think that everyone, even beings who are seen as too evil, can go to heaven if they believe in Jesus as our savior and believe in God.

In the novel, it is revealed that life in the empire is superficial and that life is about the individual. I say this because Bella and Edward seem like superficial characters because Bella is always preoccupied with Edward’s beauty and how he’s like a god, and Edward is very arrogant and flaunts his good qualities to Bella. She always thinks she is unworthy for him; this makes me think that the author thinks girls need to be physically beautiful and look like a model to be worthy of love. The novel gives off values of the empire; values that can be sold easily to the consumers such as beauty and idolatry. I think idolatry is a value the novel is supporting because Bella is making Edward into her idol; she mentions that she wants to become a vampire and doesn’t care what might happen to her soul if she can be with Edward forever. She cares more for Edward then her self spiritually. She cares more for him then going to heaven. Her heaven is being with Edward.

Twilight in a sense is a bad book for Christians because it teaches the values of the empire. The novel supports the empire instead of the Kingdom of God because it sells the ideas and desires of the empire. This novel is trying to capture our imaginations to read what the empire says is a good book. When I read the reviews on the back of the book it said things like “A New York Times Editor’s Choice” and “A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year,” but I think this is misleading because when I went to Amazon it had reviews with one star and not all the readers liked the book, but there were some who really liked the book and gave it five or four stars, but I think those people’s imaginations are still held captive by the empire. I am not certain if I like the book; I do seem to like parts of the story, but this makes me think that my imagination is held captive by the empire. If I read the novel a few years later again maybe I won’t like the novel, and then I will be free from the empire.

The Devil Wears Prada

Over the weekend I watched the Devil Wears Prada. This movie is about a girl that wants to be a journalist. She needs to do some other work before she can do this. Andrea (Anne Hathaway) gets offered a job to work for a very big clothing designer. At first she just doesn’t fit in to this new type of lifestyle, but soon she figures out ways to start fitting in. She changes her image, look, and some of her relationships.
After viewing the movie I think that this artifact is trying to display that in order to be happy or get where you want to get you need to do anything possible so that you can fit in. I think that it shows that the human purpose it to simply be able to make other people happy and do what you need to get far into this world. I think that a lot of people get so worked up over such petty little things. I have a lot of friends who just care about their clothes and the way that they look. Life has so much more to offer than stuff that only betters your image. We are created in the image of God, not in the image of designer clothes and mass amounts of makeup. Media, music and magazines have such a big influence on young girls of today. I know that in my case whenever I see a new beauty product or gorgeous model I try to improve my self-image.
There are some examples in this movie that prove that this is an empirical artifact. One example would be when image takes a turn for the worst. She begins to make the empire more important than her boyfriend. She begins seeing clothes as more than clothes but as fashion. She is also willing to do anything to make her way in the empire.

Shawshank Redemption

Over the weekend I had the chance to view the film, Shawshank Redemption. This is not the first time that I have seen it but it is one of those movies that contains so much that you pick up on different things each time. To be brief, this film is about a man named Andy Dufresne, who was wrongly convicted of killing his wife, and along with her another man. The consequences were two life sentences back to back. This movie follows his life through his time at prison and a brief period afterward, meeting some interesting people along the way.

It is easy to the empire being portrayed in movies that are based in a prison. In a large building filled with convicted criminals in which many develop a "me first" mentality in order to survive. The depictions of attack, and preying on new-comers as well as those who show any signs of weakness. The fact that sin has entered the world is not something that we can deny and we certainly have to have rules put in place that does attempt to limit acts of law breaking. The empire strikes the beliefs in many people in the prison environment that they have to be hard asses within the prison and have a self centered personality. 

This movie does with no doubt show the ideas that parallel the kingdom as well. As Andy carries on in his journey knocking off the years of his sentence, he runs into some interesting people. The fact that relationships develop within this story is a key thing that reflects the kingdom. A long time resident of the prison "Red" becomes Andy's closest pal. "Red" is one of the prisons inmates who gets different things from the "outside" and supplies them to the inmates in exchange for smokes. Red and Andy's relationship shows how they work together to learn from each other to survive in Shawshank. 

Two parts of this movies stuck out to me while I was watching. The first was the same clip that we ended up watching during our class early on. This was where Andy had the chance to play music into the speakers for all the inmates to listen to and enjoy. Although the music was played in Italian, there was a feeling of warmth and most definitely imagination. Each person had the chance to react to the music in there own way and take out of it what they wanted. To me this way of listening to music that was demonstrated in this film is one of the best ways to really appreciate music.

The second part was where Andy and Red were sitting down outside in the dirt, Andy wraps up a conversation by saying. "Get busy living, or get busy dying!" this line sticks out to me in this film is because of the practicality of it. To me this line is saying that it is our duty to go out in the world and make things happen. We can not just sit back and watch the world go by. As Christians, this is what the Kingdom requires of us. 

"Babylon is Fallin'" by Slightly Stoopid

I seriously love Slightly Stoopid! They are a reggae/punk/psychedelic band from Ocean Beach, CA. For the most part their music is a fusion of mellow surf rock with different influences. A lot of their music is inspired by the sounds of Bob Marley, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime, Dr. Dre, and Led Zeppelin. Many of their songs glorify smoking pot (which is bad) or scorn long lost love, but “Babylon is Fallin’” has a surprisingly spiritual message. This song is pretty much crying out on behalf of the Kingdom. It identifies how messed up the world has become (“everybody losing control/people use and abuse this world/and now they’re just taking a stroll/these times have changed”). In the second part of the song they claim that time will tell when all the wealth is gone and people have to start giving their love. They claim, however, that if you open your eyes to these problems you can end up in heaven. As Christians, we know that that’s not the way it works. Giving your love in the name of the Lord isn't a bad thing, but counting on that alone to get you into Heaven doesn't produce the desired outcome. The song ends with the band identifying that there is hope for us (“there is light at the end of the darkness/why don’t you come out and see…”). I think that this song has a good message (besides the fact that the band claims that Heaven is yours if you just open your eyes and give your love). This song recognizes the problems with this world: people taking without reciprocating, and the fakeness of wealth and power. It shows that there is hope beyond what we know now. This song condemns the falsity, “utopia,” and seduction of the Empire, and cries out for the victory, purpose, and change available in the Kingdom. Finding this song was definitely a pleasant surprise giving that this band is normally totally Empirical and stoned.

Once

The movie Once was a very inspiring and powerful movie. It shows the power of music over human emotions. It also deals very strongly with the subject of longing. This movie left me with a feeling of awe afterwards, causing me to stare into space and think about my own deep longings and love for music and life. 

The story of Once is based in Dublin, Ireland, and centers around a man who remains nameless the whole movie. He is a single man who lives with his father and works at the family Hoover Vacuum repair shop. However, he is also a very talented singer/songwriter who spends his off-time and nights on the streets of Dublin, playing the songs he has written on a guitar so old and worn that his pick has chipped away the face of the guitar, revealing the inside of the guitar's body. His songs are full of sadness, longing for a woman who has left, leaving him alone and wishing for the times of the past. One night, as he stands on the street, absolutely belting his heartfelt lyrics, a young woman walks up to him and stands and listens, and then puts 10 cents into his guitar case. This meager offering starts a conversation, after which it is agreed that the girl will bring her broken Hoover vacuum to his shop the next day. 

The story which follows is one of a growing friendship between the man and woman, who both remain nameless the whole movie. Their friendship is based around the man's guitar playing and the woman's piano playing. They both play songs full of longing for their lost loves. Their songs both ask what they've done wrong, what they could do better, and wish for the happier, brighter days gone by. 

The whole movie, as you watch, you begin to long for the happiness of these characters, and you feel elated when something good happens, and feel crushed when something bad happens. As each stage of the movie goes by, the characters sing songs that build on one another, and show their confusion, pain, and hope.

Finally, the man decides to travel to London to try and get his love back. This breaks the cycle of apathy he had been in. This shows the apathy of the empire. We get caught in our own apathy, wishing for things to be different, but never doing anything about it. When the man finally decides to do something about his apathy, he finds true happiness. The same goes for the woman. She contacts her estranged husband, and they finally begin to build their relationship.

This movie shows us how our longings can finally push us into action, and can then lead us into true change and redemption. The suffering that the two characters have gone through leads them into true change and action, allowing their lives to be better. This movie fills me with hope, and inspires me to break cycles of apathy, constantly wishing for things to be different, and to actually do something about it. I think this movie shows us, beautifully, the power of longing and the impact it can have in improving our lives.

The Office: Prince Family Paper

In the latest episode of The Office, Michael is sent on a mission to find out about a competitive paper firm.  On his mission he takes the ever corky Dwight.  As they are about to go into the other paper company, Michael goes on and on to the camera about business being "survival of the fittest" in which the big shark, eats the littler shark, and so on until the tiniest organism shark is eaten.  He sees business from a clearly empirical standpoint.  It is all competition and greed.  Part of your businesses purpose is to take down other businesses on the road to success.  

However, as Michael enters the office, he realizes that it is a very family oriented business.  They only people that work there are the owner, his wife, and his son.  They have a large client base, but are completely dependent on their companies success for their well being.  These people are very kind to Michael, offering him coffee, helping him fix his car, and telling him all about their business.  They trust Michael.  Eventually, the owner of the Prince Family Paper company gives Michael their entire list of top clients.  This is the best possible result that Michael could have hoped for, and his boss would be very pleased.  However, after getting to know the Prince family, Michael realizes that he doesn't want to give the list to his boss because he knows that it will hurt the Prince family's business.  

In this part, Michael represents the kingdom.  "Live, and let live!"  he exclaims to Dwight, when Dwight insists that they should give the list to their boss.  Michael realizes in this moment that business is not solely about competition.  He realizes that business can be personal.  People's livelihoods are invested in their businesses, and when bigger corporations take them down, they are ruined.  Michael doesn't believe that competition should completely drive a company.  He recognizes the greed of this own company when he says "our sales our fine!  we dont need this clients!"  

However, Dwight is a representation of the empire in this episode.  Dwight is bound and determined that they must give the client list to their boss.  He says that it is the best thing for the company, and the Prince Family Paper company is weak and does not deserve to be in business.  After an epic chase around the office and a struggle for the list, Dwight eventually snatches the list from Michael, and forces his hand in calling their boss.  After Michael gives into the empirical values, Dwight comforts him by saying "guess who's stock just went up!"  to which Michael replies with "It bittersweet".  

This episode of The Office is a great example of the conflict between to empire and the kingdom.  It questions the way that the empire does business.  Big companies are notorious for taking small businesses clients and putting those companies out of business.  And they are driven by greed and competition, a perfect example of empirical values.  Unfortunately in this episode, and for much of the real business world, the empire wins.  

cosmopolitan

The other day I was in my friend’s room and decided to pick up one of her magazines. Her roommate is gone for second semester but the magazines are still mailed to her room. The magazine that I decided to pick up was cosmopolitan. However, I thought I would be reading this by myself, but instead two of my friends decided to sit beside me and we all looked at it together. Normally when I read a magazine I don't really read it. I flip through the pages looking at the pictures, and if something catches my eye, I might read it. If nothing does, there is always hope at the back of the magazine where people tell some of their most embarrassing moments. However, I decided to really look into this magazine. Some of the things in the magazine disgusted me. Whether it was the pictures or some of the topics that were in the magazine. Almost every page you flipped through was either implying sex, or outright talking about sex. I know that my parents do not allow me to receive magazines like that anymore because I have 3 brothers and also many people that come to my house, whether its friends or family members. My parents don't want those kinds of magazines lying around the house, and they do not approve of what they are implying.
The magazine cosmopolitan was clearly the empire works. I found nothing in that magazine that was implying the kingdom.

Greys Anatomy

This last Thursday I watch the show Grey’s Anatomy. This show always has multiple stories going on in one episode but I want to focus on just one. There was a man who was in prison for murdering five women. He was sentenced to the death penalty. About a week and a half before he was going to be executed, he was stabbed with a sharpened toothbrush. He was rushed to the hospital and had to be given full care. He had many complications and they had to do surgery on his brain to help swelling to go down. At this same time there was a young little boy who had many health issues. He was in need of a transplant or he would die. It was very sad because he was extremely young and had many loved ones that could not stand to see him go. Not only was the family extremely consumed by this whole ordeal but the staff was working around the clock to do everything in their power to save this boy. When this man found out about the young boy, he wanted to give his organs and die in the hospital rather than in the prison. Some of the staff agreed that it was a good idea because he was going to die in a week and this boy had is whole life ahead of him. But others thought it was wrong since they took an oath to give their best to save their patient’s life. To them it went against the rulebook. There was one person that had a little compassion for the man on death row and that was Meredith Grey, everyone else only gave him the care they had to and nothing more.
They came to the conclusion that they should all do what was best for their patient’s health and didn’t allow the man to die. The young boy ended up getting organs from another donor and lived. The man on death row did have to go back to be killed. When he walked into the room he could see all the angry family members of the people he had killed. Towards the back of the room he saw Meredith’s face which was the only friendly face in the entire crowd. She decided to show him compassion in a room full of hated.
Through out this entire show compassion was easy to find. Lots of the staff had compassion on the little boy, the woman who had to pull the plug on her husband had compassion on the little boy as well, and Meredith had compassion on the man who everyone gave up on. The empire would not ever give that man a second chance but those who know Christ know that we need to forgive and have compassion on everyone, even those who seem like a lost cause.