The Dark Knight as a mirror?

First, this is not a movie for everyone.  Given the emotionally and psychologically dark nature of the film, I thought it should have been given an R rating.  There are no spoilers here, but be warned, if you see the movie, be prepared.

One way The Dark Knight serves as a mirror for us is to be compared with the current events of our day.  Batman can signify our government in its struggle to recognize justice, due course of law, the justification of the use of force, and the freedoms of the people balanced against an extreme threat.  The Joker represents the terrorist threat with its goal of anarchy and evil.

While this is an interesting angle, a more personal approach gives the movie an even greater impact.

Batman signifies everyman in our struggle to do the right thing regardless of personal cost.  The more personally compelling situations are experienced by many of the secondary characters in the movie.  They also represent us in this same light.  The Joker represents the forces of evil and their attempts to bring us down through personal hardship and threat to our own person or those we love.

If we place ourselves in the position of these characters, it is easy to wonder, what would I do or what would I have done in that situation?  Would I have chosen correctly?  What would have guided my decision?  Would I have chosen selfishly?

Regardless of if you hold this movie up as a mirror to current events or hold it up to take a look at yourself, it is a compelling, scary, and realistic commentary on the nature of humanity, the world, and the reality of evil.  It makes one glad to know “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

Steve J.

A Tolerance Test

An accusation that is repeatedly levied against Christians is that we want to force our beliefs on everyone else.  We are intolerant and narrow minded because we claim to know the truth and believe that others are wrong in some of their beliefs.  We even have the audacity to try and convince others that they should change their beliefs.

Some of this is true.  We do claim to know the truth and we do believe others are wrong in some of their beliefs.  How could it be otherwise?  If I believe A to be true and you believe A to be false, then one of us has to be wrong. 

Does this make us intolerant?  To see if we are intolerant, let’s evaluate the following statements.

1) I’m right, but I could be mistaken.
2) I’m right.
3) I’m right, you’re wrong.
4) I’m right, you’re wrong, and here’s why you should change your mind.
5) I’m right, you’re wrong, and you’re stupid.
6) I’m right, you’re wrong, change your mind or be killed. [1]

Rank each of these statements using the following scale.  A ten is the most intolerant rank and a zero means the statement is not intolerant at all.  Rank each statement independent of the others, that is, any statement could have the same ranking as any other statement.

Comments are welcome (and desired) to explain your rankings.

Steve J.

1 Adapted from Dacey, Austin. The Secular Conscience. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2008.

A Soldier as a Symbol of Christ

Jesus voluntarily came from a place of unimagined glory to live among us.  He came intentionally to serve and save an undeserving world.  He entered hostile territory knowing the risk.  A great many people hated Him.  Many of these were Jews, His own people.  He was misunderstood and unappreciated by many, but He served a higher purpose than public approval.  He willingly gave His life for all of these people, those who loved Him and even those who hated Him.

Many of the men and women who serve in the US military are examples of this type of sacrificial giving.  They voluntarily leave the comfort of their homes and families in this country to serve in places far away; places that are uncomfortable and very hostile.  The enemies they face in the arena of combat hate them, but a few of their own people, other Americans, hate them also.  They are sometimes misunderstood and unappreciated, but they serve a higher purpose than public approval.  They willingly risk their lives for those of us who love them dearly and even those who do not.

This analogy, like any other, is not perfect, but I believe it serves as a much needed reminder to all of us of two very important facts.  First, the men and women of our military deserve our thanks, respect, and honor for the great sacrifices they have given, are giving, and will give in the future.  Second, since so many of us have been or will be personally touched by the sacrifice of these brave men and women, it gives us a small taste of the magnitude of what Christ did for all of us on the Cross of Calvary.

Steve Jernigan

Serving the City as One

This is an invitation from Zach Best to help out West Mastin Lake Elementary School on April 19th.  This is a great opportunity to get your hands dirty for a good cause and share your witness.  I’ll be there with my gloves and yard tools.  The actual time to meet is 7:30 in the commons area on Saturday morning.  I hope to see you there too.

Steve J.

Howdy all -

I want to remind you that we have our Serving The City work day on Saturday April 19th. Our project will be landscaping/landscape clean-up at West Mastin Lake Elementary School (about 1/4 mile east of Jordan Lane/Hwy 53 on Mastin Lake Road). I met with the principal today and scoped out the job and there’s quite a bit more to do than I initially envisioned from just driving by. I will be putting together a task list over the next week that we can work from. Recommend we meet up at Mt. Zion in the Green Gym at 7:00 so we can get started by 8:00. Here’s a rough list of what we’ll be doing so you’ll have an idea of equipment needed (general yard tools):

- mowing, edging, weed eating, blowing off walks
- trimming hedges/trees
- digging out grass and replacing with beds/mulch
- weeding/sprucing up existing beds
- planting (few trees to lots of flowers)

The school has two interior court yards that that are fairly neglected. One has a few picnic tables, the other doesn’t. If anyone has a source for commercial grade picnic tables and we could afford a couple of them, that would be great. Would have to be assemble on-site. The only access to these court yards are individual 3-0 doors.

Thanks,
Zach Best

What small blessing has God given you lately?

What small blessing has God given you lately?  Usually, we thing of big things, like a cure for a terrible illness or some other large blessing.  God does provide these, but thankfully they do not come with great frequency for most of us since large problems are not that frequent.

Here’s what I mean.  We just returned from a short vacation trip to Chattanooga.  We had no problems on the trip and returned home safely.  I stopped the van in the driveway to unload and when I went to crank it again, the battery had died.  Not just lost its charge, but one of the terminals had broken inside the battery.  God provided us a small blessing by taking care of us (and our battery) until we got home.

We need to stop and take a look at all the continual blessing God pours out on us each day.  It is truly remarkable when you think about it.  So, how has God blessed you in a small way lately?

 Steve J.

What have you read lately?

What is a book you have read, say in the past year, which really made an impact on you?  A book that took you some place unexpected or opened you up to things you hadn’t considered before.  Maybe this book took you where you expected, but in a deeper way than you had previously experienced.  Maybe you disagreed with the author, but were called to examine why.  Maybe it took your imagination for such a ride it was very hard to stop reading.

If you didn’t catch it, I’ll admit it, I’m a book junkie.  I believe books can engage us in ways that other media cannot.  Reading a book is a very active endeavor.  It requires your time, energy, and thought.  It requires that you give something of yourself in order to get something in return.  Often reading a book is the closest thing we can get to a personal discussion with the author. 

So, what book has made an impact on you in the last year?  I might want to read it

Steve Jernigan

How is a Christian to choose?

Suppose that you need the care of a doctor over a few years time and circumstances are such that you only have two choices: doctor A or doctor B.  Doctor A has a medical degree and training sufficient for the task, however the doctor’s ideas about how you should be cared for in the long term do not line up with what you believe to be in your best interest or those of your family.  On the plus side, doctor A does profess to be a Christian as you are.  Doctor B has a medical degree and superior training, compared with doctor A, to care for you in the long term.  Doctor B’s ideas about how you should be cared for in the long term closely match your own, but doctor B is not a Christian.

Your condition is such that you must choose a doctor.  If you do not choose, someone else will choose for you and you cannot be sure what their choice will be.

Who do you choose as your doctor?

Steve Jernigan

Class Mission Project

Our class has agreed to adopt the nurse at West Mastin Lake Elementary School as our mission project for this year. The nurse does not receive funding from the city school system to buy supplies to support the clinic at her school. The school is also located in a poor district, so fundraising by the PTA is limited. That is where our class comes in to help provide some of the things that she needs. Just recently, the missions committee at MZ purchased the items that she was in desperate need of and our class has agreed to resupply those items as needed. We are also looking at purchasing an oximeter to use with the asthma kids. This will enable the nurse to tell if a child is getting enough oxygen in their system while in distress due to asthma. A few additional things she needs are 2 wash cloths, 2 towels, 2 throw blankets and a nosebudd ice pack for stopping nosebleeds. If you can supply any of these items, please contact me.

As a Christmas gift to the nurse, we are collecting items just for her to place in a gift basket. These items can be coffees, teas, lotions, body wash, special candy… anything that would make her feel special. Turn your donations in to me by Sunday, December 16th, so we can deliver the basket before the holiday break.

Our church’s gifts to the nurse have already had an impact on her making her, as a believer, aware that God has her serving in her school for a reason. By giving to the nurse, God will use us and her to make an impact for Christ in our community through the children at West Mastin Lake Elementary School.

Kenya Jernigan

Christmas Party!

Sunday School Class Christmas Party
When?: Thursday, December 6th
Where?: Steve & Kenya Jernigan’s home
Time?: 6:30 pm
Food?: Bring your favorite finger foods — sweet or salty
Babysitting at MZ in the Preschool Building.
Babysitters: Bess & Wesley Jernigan
Cost: $2 per hour per child

We will be playing “Dirty Santa”. Each person should bring a gift costing $5 or less. It can be a gag gift or good gift. Remember, to buy ladies’ and men’s items to make the game more interesting.

RSVP – Please let us know if you are coming to the party and if you need babysitting. We would especially like to have a headcount for babysitting.  You may RSVP by sending us a comment, telling us in class, emailing us or giving us a call.

A pro-life dilemma posed by a pro-choice person

Given the following scenario, what would you do? You are at a fertility clinic when a fire breaks out. You can either save a petri disk with 100 fertilized eggs or a single infant child. Which do you save?

This is a scenario given by those who call themselves pro-choice and who consider fertilized eggs only potential humans. Their choice is an easy one. They would save the infant child. This is consistent with their world view that a fertilized egg is only a potential human and therefore an infant is more valuable. This scenario places the pro-life individual in a dilemma. If they say they will save the fertilized eggs in the petri dish, they appear cold and cruel in the eyes of the world. If they say they will save the infant child, they can be accused of valuing a single life over 100 others and therefore being inconsistent; in essence, hypocrites.

It is like the question posed by Groucho Marx; “Have you stopped beating your wife? Answer yes or no.” There is no way to answer this in the context given without looking bad. It is a clever question, but it tells us nothing about either person’s view of domestic abuse.

This type of approach is commonly used by both sides of the issue, whether pro-life or pro-choice. The emphasis is placed on emotions and each side attempts to make the other look bad. Very little effort is actually spent discussing the actual issue. In these cases, nothing is accomplished but a lot of loud noise and hurt feelings.

So, how should we answer this question? I would say that we are not under any obligation to provide an answer.

(2 Timothy 2:23) Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.

Paul’s advice is as good today as it was when he wrote Timothy. We should continue to engage others on issues that they wish to discuss, but we must be aware that the way we do it should bring glory to God.

Steve J.