Avatar is now the highest grossing movie of all time at close to $1.9B worldwide. CNN.com recently posted an article titled: Audiences Experience “Avatar” Blues.  (http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html). The article sheds light on the deeper impacts of the blockbuster movie on some viewers, including depression and suicidal thoughts. To be honest, I too felt an emotional low when the movie ended. In the hours and days that followed however, I sensed a need to provide a thoughtful response to the diverse reactions that the movie going masses have had to Avatar. The following is a summary of those reflections. Continue Reading »

Tags: Avatar, Creation, Culture, Jake Sully, Jesus, Messiah, Pandora

What does Gospel in culture look like?  Generally speaking, in Western Culture the gospel is related to the defeat of guilt via forgiveness.  We speak in terms of having our slate wiped clean, being forgiven our sins and so on.  Certainly there is ample biblical support for that perspective.  Just look at the bed Tiger Woods has recently made for himself (pun intended). In Eastern Culture, however, the gospel is related to the defeat of shame via redemption.  Continue Reading »

Jesus uses wine as a metaphor for the gospel in Luke 6.  Why is it that one can only find perhaps a half dozen varieties of colas but literally thousands different kinds of wine?  It is because the flavour and aroma of wine comes from its environment:  the soil, wind, rain and so forth.  When a vine is planted one cannot predict the specific nature of its fruit until it is produced.  Likewise we cannot predict the specific expression of the gospel when planted until it produces fruit. Continue Reading »

Most recently, I was privileged to be part of a team to Niger that provided dental services in two villages. The United Nations recently ranked Niger as the worst place in the world to live (#182), according to it’s Human Development Index. That same Index ranked Canada as #4. For weeks before the trip, I kept asking the question: how do you prepare your mind, soul and body, to go from the #4 place in the world to live, all the way to #182, and then back to #4? The simple answer is, you don’t. Continue Reading »

You’ve been in this conversation before. You know the one…someone brings up the topic of religion and you feel compelled to pronounce how Jesus is the ‘only way’ to get what sits at the end story. The response is generally unanimous among those who aren’t Christians. A chorus of disagreement is followed by the shaking of heads on how absolute the statement is; that Jesus being the ‘only way’ is so narrow and closed-minded, and how such a statement has subsequently led to much religious strife in the world.

In actuality, however, the statement IS narrow and it CANNOT be understood within the parameters of informal conversation at a get together. Now, I’m not about to deny the uniqueness of Christ nor the reality of hell. But I do wonder: Do traditional evangelical approaches to explaining the good news of Jesus really come across as good news for its hearers? Continue Reading »

Where are Canadian people at now in terms of spirituality & the church?
Studies show that many people are…

-Fascinated by God
-Intrigued with spirituality (often willing to explore things) Continue Reading »

Tags: church, Culture