Checking the Gate Podcast

Checking the Gate Podcast

By Robert Wright-Stasko and Mike PattiTV & FilmReligion & SpiritualityTV ReviewsFilm Reviews
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Checking the Gate Podcast episodes

  • Episode 42: Star Wars: The Mythology

    Star Wars is built from the many myths and religious themes that run through human history. George Lucas said he "Tried to tell an old story in an new way." In this month's episode, we examine just how Lucas pulled upon the work of his friend and mentor Joseph Campbell, the world's leading expert in the study of myth. We talk about how the myths of old informed the two trilogies, and speculate about how mythology and religion may (or may not) inform The Force Awakens.

    Next time we are going to give you our review of Episode VII. Until then, may the Force be with you.
    47 min
  • Episode 41: Left Behind

    Hello, and welcome to the (once again) monthly CTG Podcast.  This month’s offering is the Christian reboot

    of Left Behind (2014) starring
    Nicholas Cage.  In TV Corner we watch the
    Amazon original series “Hand of God.” Well, we watched part of it.  One episode was quite enough.  Also, remember almost exactly a year ago when
    I recorded a rant essay imploring you to not go to see the movie we are
    reviewing this month.  Mike and I have
    bravely jumped on the grenade; we watched it so you don’t have to.  But it’s fun to listen to us argue about who
    hates it more. Here’s some of the things we refer to along the way.

     

    Christian Movies at the Box Office - Box Office Mojo

    The 20 Best End-of-the-World Movies :: Blogs :: List of the Day :: Paste

    Is Religion the New Fad in Hollywood?

    Three Reasons Not to See the Christ-ploitation Film Left Behind

    Christian eschatology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Left Behind (2014) - IMDb

    Hand of God (TV Series 2014– ) - IMDb

    You will want to tune in for the next few months.  In anticipation of what is predicted to be

    the biggest release of the year (decade? all time?), we are going to do a whole
    series on the religious aspects of Star
    Wars. The next three episodes, which will be our own Star Wars trilogy,
    will first focus on the mythological aspects of Star Wars informed by the work
    of Joseph Campbell.  The December episode
    will look at the effects that Star Wars has had on religious beliefs in the
    world. Finally, we will give our review of the new film Star Wars: The Force Awakens in January.  So until next time, may the force be with
    you!

    1 hr 3 min
  • Episode Forty: Calvary

    Hello faithful listeners! Sexual

    abuse in the church is a serious issue which continues to persist. There are no
    easy resolutions.  Even so, it seems as
    if the church is slow to satisfactorily work towards ending these despicable
    crimes, slow in punishing those who perpetrate them, and also in preventing
    them from happening in the future.  This
    month’s film, Calvary, shines a light
    into the dark heart of this problem.  While
    this movie focuses on a negative event that the Catholic Church is dealing with
    right now, our TV Corner looks at the positive aspects of a prominent Catholic
    family on the CBS procedural show “Blue Bloods”

    Next month, we look at the film we

    told you not to watch, Left Behind (2014)
    starring Nicholas Cage. And in TV Corner we will examine the new Amazon
    series “Hand of God.” After that, we are going to close out the year with a
    three episode series covering the religious and mythological aspects of The Star Wars Saga, culminating with a
    review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It
    will be our Star Wars trilogy, if you will.

    Finally, a quick note about the

    sporadic nature of our podcast in the last year.  Mike and I had various health issues and
    family tragedies hinder us; I (Robert) had to have eye surgery to correct a
    detached retina this summer.  We are both
    feeling fit and eager to get back on schedule and will endeavor to stay on
    target going into 2016. Blessings!

    1 hr 11 min
  • Fellow Christians—Please Burn Your Protest Signs! A response to SDCC protesting

    By Robert Wright-Stasko

    San Diego Comic Con 2015 is right

    around the corner.  I am expecting that
    this year, just like the last several years, there will be some Christians with
    poorly thought out slogans slapped onto protest signs, with big bullhorns
    causing brouhaha for comic book fans, cosplayers, and anyone else at the
    convention trying to have an enjoyable week. 
    I question these protesters; is this the most effective way to get your
    message across? More to the point, is cosplaying and other such activities even
    worth protesting? This blog post will answer these questions. In the process, I
    suggest that we, as Christians, can learn from cosplayers how we can live out
    some important illustrations in the Bible that will help us follow Jesus Christ
    more effectively, and therefore, become more Christ-like ourselves. But first,
    let’s look at some of the protests that have already happened at SDCC.

    A History of Protest

    The first major protest (in terms

    of press coverage) was at the 2010 SDCC. 
    The Westboro Baptist Church had sent just a few people, but they did
    quadruple duty holding as many as four signs each.[1] All of these had the
    standard, hatemongering slogans that Fred Phelps’ church usually employs at US
    soldiers’ funerals like, “God hates you,” “God hates fags,” and other
    deplorable sayings. They stated that their main objection was that being a
    comic book fan was akin to idolatry,[2] but all those other hate issues
    got muddled up into their message as well. According to several accounts,[3] these protesters were
    severely outnumbered by the many comic fans who came prepared with their own
    signs which they hastily cobbled together (I don’t blame them for their
    hurriedness, their main concern was probably getting their costumes ready in
    time to stand in line all day for Hall H). 
    Some were actually pretty clever, like “Galactus is Nigh” and “God Hates
    Jedi” brandished by a Star Trek cosplayer. Depending on which account you read,
    the reaction was either good natured with a few exceptions or pretty
    heated. 

    Since that year, you can search the

    internet to find articles where other conservative Christian groups try to get
    in on the game.  It seems to be a
    different group each year.[4]  In 2013, an atheist named Brian organized his
    own protest, with signs as fancy as the conservatives’ were.  But Brian makes a good point when he says,
    “Atheists don’t show up a churches and try to convince people that their story
    is nothing more than a story.”[5] Still that did not
    dissuade other protesters from showing up last year to the 2014 SDCC, yelling
    at people for not only idolatry, but slinging sexist and homophobic slurs out
    into the crowd.[6]

    But Bleeding Cool News did do a

    well-balanced report on two protesters at the 2014 SDCC who were not so
    polarized, and both seemed to be saying things that were not antagonistic. Joe
    Gaona was there not to protest, but to try to spread the Gospel.  Shannon Dove was there to spread awareness for
    an LGBTQ rights advocates group called Canvass for a Cause.  Both were Christian.[7]  Yet, because of the tactics used (mainly
    signs and bullhorns) I seriously doubt that any kind of mutual understanding,
    or even a simple understanding of the opposing viewpoint, was reached.

    A Personal Note on Protesting

    While the main focus here is on the

    effectiveness of protesting, something has to be said about the underlying
    issue at the heart of these protests, and it is the gay rights issue. As you
    can see from the history of the SDCC protests, it tends to surface no matter
    what the protesters might actually be trying to say. The Christian church in
    America is right now polarized over this matter. Many church denominations have
    split up or formed new denominations because people cannot agree.  This isn’t the first time the church has
    splintered over disagreements.  In
    America, the issue of slavery caused many fractures in the 1800’s,[8] as well as speaking in
    tongues (the God gifted ability to speak in another language).[9]  But the last time an issue caused this kind
    of protest was the abortion debate.  This
    is still a hot topic, but not as much as it was a few decades ago.[10] 

    I recently graduated from a Christian

    university, and I would commute once a week to attend my classes there while I
    was a student.  Every now and again, on
    my drive into school, I would spy one or two, sometimes half a dozen people
    with protest signs in front of the Planned Parenthood across the street from
    the main campus.  I didn’t think much of
    it, until I started pondering, “Why did Planned Parenthood decide to set up
    shop across the street from a Christian
    school?”  Please understand, the
    university taught very good theology that was grounded in Scripture without
    adding conservative or fundamentalist dogma to it. It gave me very practical
    insights into demonstrating the love of Christ in a real way while doing
    ministry for his church.  It even held a
    seminar where two prominent gay Christian theologians debated the issue of gay
    marriage in the church. This is a Christ centered, yet forward thinking school.
     

    But that question still ate away at

    me.  In its student code of conduct, the
    university states that sexual activity is solely reserved for marriage. While
    this is certainly an ideal, it is more often now days not the reality. I
    started to imagine a young woman and young man from a church background,
    starting classes at this school, then meeting one another and falling in
    love.  They give in to that love and find
    out a baby is on the way. Then to avoid anger or embarrassment from their
    conservative families or even expulsion from the school, they decide to visit
    the Planned Parenthood across the street. 
    I imagined that they would sneak in the back entrance while their
    parents were busy toting protest signs and yelling at cars on the street
    through their bullhorn. Instead of seeking love and forgiveness, knowing they would
    probably find none, the students compound their guilt by aborting their unborn
    child.  Whether or not you agree with
    abortion or condemn it, the fact remains that it is hard to live with the pain
    of loss and regret, always thinking “what if?” 
    This is when I first started thinking, “There must be a better way.”

    Whether the issue is abortion, gay

    rights, or dressing up like a superhero, the proper way of disagreeing or
    debating is not with signs and bullhorns. 
    The sign serves as a barrier between the protester and the people who
    are being protested against.  The
    bullhorn magnifies what the protester is saying while drowning out the response
    of everyone else.  It is in effect
    saying, “I don’t care what you have to say, I am here to tell you that you are wrong.”  As I said earlier, it doesn’t matter if you
    are actually saying something reasonable, once you don the posture of a
    protester, the non-verbal communication trumps any verbal communication.  And because of the first example that was given
    at the SDCC by the Westborough Baptists, all that is communicated then is hate.

    An Alternative to Protesting

    So what is the better way? How do

    we communicate the truth of Jesus if signs and bullhorns produce the opposite
    result of that which we are seeking? Our prime example should be that of
    Jesus.  Matthew 4:17 tells us that after
    Jesus temptation in the wilderness and his return to Galilee, that “From that
    time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’”
    Most of us get the mental image (probably from too many bad Jesus movies) that
    he is standing on the corner or walking down the street, shouting this randomly
    to passing onlookers. I don’t think this is the case.  In context of the whole chapter, Matthew
    seems to be giving us a summary of Jesus overall message in this verse.  In movie terms, you could say this verse sets
    up the second act, letting us know what is going to happen.  Immediately after verse 4:17, we see Jesus
    talking to Peter and Andrew, asking them to follow him.  Then verse 23 says, “Jesus went throughout
    Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching
    the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the
    people.” 

    Jesus is not some crazed street

    preacher like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Stephen
    King’s The Stand. Here is a man engaging with individuals, teaching in
    appropriate places, and doing so with the power and authority to back up his
    words through miraculous healing. 
    Therefore, if Jesus is our prime example we should be more like him,
    forming relationships with people instead rallying against them, teaching the
    good news one on one rather than blaring it through a bullhorn.

    So if our goal is being more like

    Jesus, how do we achieve that end?  What
    is the process we should take to be like Jesus? The answer, which both
    Christian theologians and Bible both agree, is through cosplay. “Hold on a
    minute,” you may be saying.  “What do
    mean, the Bible says we should cosplay in order to be more like Jesus?”  Well, C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton, two
    prominent Christian theologians, as well as the apostle Paul attest to this. There
    are very practical lessons for Christians to learn through the physical and
    spiritual act of cosplay.  By engaging
    our imaginations, and making a little bit of fantasy a reality, we can learn
    how to make Christ’s love a reality as well.

    Christ-like Cosplay

    Even though the term “cosplay” may

    be a recent invention, C.S. Lewis spends a whole chapter entitled “Let’s
    Pretend” of his book Mere Christianity
    encouraging us to do just that.  He
    starts off by asking the reader to think deeply about a simple prayer
    Christians use, which begins “Our Father.” 
    With those two simple words, we put ourselves in the place of his son,
    essentially cosplaying as a child of God.

    Now, the

    moment you realise ‘Here I am, dressing up as Christ,’ it is extremely likely
    that you will see at once some way in which at that very moment the pretence
    could be made less of a pretence and more of a reality. You will find several
    things going on in your mind which would not be going on there if you were
    really a son of God. Well, stop them. Or you may realise that, instead of
    saying your prayers, you ought to be downstairs writing a letter, or helping
    your wife to wash-up. Well, go and do it. You see what is happening. The Christ
    Himself, the Son of God who is man (just like you) and God (just like His
    Father) is actually at your side and is already at that moment beginning to
    turn your pretence into a reality.[11] 

    We see here the process that happens when we dress up

    as Christ.  Anyone who has cosplayed
    understands this process very well. 
    Lewis, of course, is talking about a spiritual costuming, but when we
    cosplay physically, much of the same process happens.

                It

    has to be said that cosplay is a serious endeavor, way beyond a simple hobby
    like building models or collecting coins and seriously more intense than merely
    putting on a store bought costume for Halloween. A conjunction of the words
    “costume player,” cosplay is a noun,
    describing the activity of assuming the costume and personality of a
    character.  The word is also a verb, as
    in “Do you cosplay?” The cosplayer takes great pride in manufacturing and
    assembling their own costume. Of course, for more intricate builds, like the
    Stormtroopers in the 501st group, expert cosplayers handcraft
    special elements to help with other’s costumes. 
    In the many sci-fi, comic book, and movie conventions that happen all
    around the world, cosplay contests are judged based not only on the accuracy of
    the costume, but in the ability of the cosplayer to inhabit the character that
    they are dressing up as.

                For

    example, in 2013 my kids and I attended the Akron Comicon.  My oldest and youngest boys dressed up like 

    playable characters from the video game Team Fortress 2. I helped them shop for

    the elements they needed at various second hand shops and dollar stores.  At the same time I was putting the finishing
    touches on my 4th Doctor outfit from the seminal sci-fi show, Doctor Who.  Fans of the show will recognize that
    this regeneration of the Doctor had a very long and distinctively colored
    scarf, which took my sister three years to knit together for me. At the
    convention, I put on the Doctor, much in the same way that Lewis says we should
    put on Christ. I adopted his voice and mannerisms as much as I could, even
    offering people real, imported Jelly Babies. 
    In a way, I really became a little more like him.

                Going

    through this process, cosplaying as the Doctor, really helped me to cosplay as
    Jesus.  Because I have seen every episode
    of Doctor Who (yes, all 813!) I was able to really imagine myself as the
    Doctor. I imagined what it would be like to be the cleverest being in the room,
    to travel through time and space defeating evil with dry wit and a toothy
    smile.  I thought of the story “The
    Genesis of the Daleks” where he had the chance to wipe out the greatest evil in
    the universe by touching two wires together, but refusing because it was not
    his place to play God. “What about all of the races that ended their fighting
    and joined together as allies to fight a common foe?” he asked himself.  That’s a kind of person I want to be.

                Jesus

    Christ is also the kind of person I want to be. 
    He suffered a similar dilemma in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He prayed to his Father knowing that he would
    be betrayed by a close friend, arrested, then physically and mentally abused,
    and at last to be tortured to death while spiritually suffering the wrath of
    God for the sins of all humanity. 
    Matthew 26:39 says, “He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My
    Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will,
    but as you will.’”  He faced a more awful
    choice than the Doctor, to save a whole race at a tremendous personal cost or
    to let them be destroyed by their own devices. 
    As much as I admire the Doctor, I love Jesus for the choice he made, to
    follow his Father’s will and save us all!

    Salvation is in the Comic Books

                I can

    identify with the Doctor and I can identify with Jesus because I am familiar
    with their stories.  I mentioned earlier
    that I have seen every single episode of Doctor
    Who. Much like reading the entire Bible, this is no small feat.  The Bible is best read in small bits, every
    day a little more, in order to ponder and internalize the wisdom, commands,
    stories, and lessons it offers to us. 
    Then, one can go back and maybe read a whole book in one sitting to
    gather the context and reach a greater understanding. In the same way, I took
    in Doctor Who a little at a time.  Over the course of nearly two and a half
    years I watched one 25 minute episode per day, about 5 or 6 days a week.  Even the lost episodes, I caught the
    excellent Loose Cannon reconstructions on YouTube.

                Now, I can hear some people chiding

    me already: “You call yourself a Christian? You should be reading your Bible every
    day instead of spending so much of your time on that nonsense!”  I whole heartedly disagree, at least with the
    last part of that statement.  I do read
    my Bible every day, but I watch science fiction too.  Understanding the mythology and continuity of
    stories like Doctor Who, Star Trek,
    and Star Wars actually helps me
    understand the Bible better.  G.K
    Chesterton explains this in his book Orthodoxy.

                Orthodoxy

    is Chesterton’s follow-up to Heretics,
    a book which criticizes the philosophies of the day which run contrary to Christian
    faith.  Much like Lewis’ Mere Christianity, Orthodoxy is an
    apologetic work defending Christian theology. Chesterton’s take on it is “an
    explanation, not of whether the Christian Faith can be believed, but of how he
    personally has come to believe it.”[12] He begins his chapter
    called, “The Ethics of Elfland” by recalling how old men would tell him as a
    child to get his head out of the clouds and deal with reality. Chesterton
    claims these men are all liars! For fairy tales and similar stories help us to
    understand the workings of our social world better than a dry recording of
    political events can give us. “It is quite easy to see why a legend is treated,
    and ought to be treated, more respectfully than a book of history. The legend
    is generally made by the majority of people in the village, who are sane. The
    book is generally written by the one man in the village who is mad.”[13]

                He goes on to decry the men of

    strict science who try to find ultimate meaning in simple cause and effect.

    But

    the scientific men do muddle their heads, until they imagine a necessary mental
    connection between an apple leaving the tree and an apple reaching the ground.
    They do really talk as if they had found not only a set of marvellous facts,
    but a truth connecting those facts. They do talk as if the connection of two
    strange things physically connected them philosophically. They feel that
    because one incomprehensible thing constantly follows another incomprehensible
    thing the two together somehow make up a comprehensible thing. Two black
    riddles make a white answer.[14] 

    I feel that Fundamental Christianity has fallen into

    this trap as well, reading the Bible as a simple stream of facts as one would
    read information out of a newspaper. 
    They miss out on the poetry, the fables (which we call parables in the
    Bible) and the fantastic stories which tell us an underlying truth about God’s
    personality or about ours.[15]  These things become events which happened at
    another place in another time to somebody else. All that is left are God’s commands,
    which either you follow or you don’t. And if you don’t follow every single one,
    someone is going to let you know, shouting at you as you walk down the street
    in your Superman costume.

                We

    miss out on the deep truths God wishes to teach us in the Bible if we forget
    how to read stories in a critical and literary fashion. Chesterton is keenly
    aware of this fact.  His own
    understanding of the world was helped, and not hindered, by reading fairy
    tales, myths, and legends. “In the fairy tale an incomprehensible happiness
    rests upon an incomprehensible condition. A box is opened, and all evils fly
    out. A word is forgotten, and cities perish. A lamp is lit, and love flies
    away. A flower is plucked, and human lives are forfeited. An apple is eaten,
    and the hope of God is gone.”[16]

    Being Super Can Help You Be Holy

    It can easily be said that there are modern myths, the

    fairy tales of our time are written in the comic books, and the legends of the
    21st century are played out on the silver screen.  Understanding these science fiction tales and
    fantasy stories help us get a grip on the reality we have to face every
    day.  That person walking down the street
    to SDCC in the Superman costume knows full well of how Superman died (then came
    back to life!) fighting Doomsday in an effort to save his beloved
    Metropolis.  The fan in the Spiderman
    costume knows of the sacrifice Spidey had to make, trying to save both his
    girlfriend and a street car full of people as the Green Goblin dropped them
    both off of a bridge. The man in the Iron Man armor knows how Tony Stark found
    that selfless core in his being to save New York by guiding a bomb through a
    space-time portal at the end of the first Avengers
    movie.

                All of these heroes have something

    in them that we admire. They are willing to die in order to save others. That
    is a trait that we as humans have always found to be noble.  Who, then, is nobler than Jesus Christ? He
    was willing to die for every single last one of us. This is a person we should
    dress up as, just like Lewis said we should. 
    But Lewis was not the first to suggest this.  Indeed, he says, “we begin to see what it is
    that the New Testament is always talking about. It talks about Christians
    `being born again’; it talks about them ‘putting on Christ’; about Christ
    ‘being formed in us’; about our coming to ‘have the mind of Christ’.”[17]

    Of the many verses that Lewis alludes to here, draw

    your attention to “putting on Christ” as in Romans 13:12b-14.  “Let us then lay aside the works of darkness
    and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in
    reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in
    quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no
    provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”[18] Lewis talked about us
    being like children of God when we say “Our Father,” he probably got the notion
    from reading Galatians 3:26-27. “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God,
    through faith.  For as many of you as
    were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”[19]  Paul further encourages such spiritual
    cosplay when he says in 1 Corinthians 11:1 to “Imitate me, just as I also
    imitate Christ.”[20]
    Paul is already in on the game.  More
    proof is in Colossians 3:12 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly
    loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and
    patience.”[21]
    These are some of the qualities of Jesus’ personality, which we acquire when
    his Holy Spirit lives in us, as related in Galatians 5:22-25.  Ephesians 5:1-2, Philippians 2:5, the list
    goes on. The Bible is very clear that we should imitate Jesus.

    Cosplay for Christ

                    So

    now we see that, for Christians, protesting is the very opposite thing that
    Christ has called us to do.  It is the
    most ineffective way to dialogue because it is one-sided communication, and the
    non-verbal posture of protesting is in its very nature combative and
    confrontational. Instead of fighting with cosplayers and other comic book fans
    at this year’s SDCC, Christians should burn their protest signs, throw their
    bullhorns on the bonfire, and join them. 
    Cosplaying as superheroes helps us to cosplay as our ultimate hero,
    Jesus Christ.  Reading, watching, and
    interacting with the stories of our favorite comic book, television, and movie
    characters is a worthy endeavor. It is an endeavor that helps us to read and
    understand the story of the Bible so we can understand God’s character, then
    our character changes to be more like his.

                And this is not an endeavor we do

    alone. Lewis concludes his take on cosplay by revealing that it is not only we
    who are doing the pretending.  If we try
    to be like Christ, putting our full faith and trust in Him, then God the Father
    pretends that we are Jesus as well. “God looks at you as if you were a little
    Christ: Christ stands beside you to turn you into one. I daresay this idea of a
    divine make-believe sounds rather strange at first. But, is it so strange
    really?”[22]
    In theological terms, this is the very definition of substitutionary atonement.
    I could write another ten pages explaining theological concept, or you cosplay
    as Christ and experience it for yourself.

      In

    the pictures of protest and counter-protest signs on the websites documenting
    all the furor of SDCC’s past, I noticed one photo of a man literally dressed
    like Jesus.[23]  His cosplay is excellent; he’s the Buddy
    Christ from Kevin Smith’s Dogma but he
    also looks like he stepped out of an Orthodox Church icon, halo and all.  He is pointing to a sign that says, “God loves
    everybody.”

    I think he gets it. 





    References

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    Anti-Defamation League. 2012. Anti-Abortion

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    Calhoun, Bob. 2010. Comic-Con report: Geeks vs.

    fundamentalist Christians. 07 23. Accessed 06 12, 2015.
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    Galactus - The Protesters At San Diego Comic Con. 07 26. Accessed 06 12,
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    http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/07/26/jesus-satan-godzilla-and-galactus-the-protesters-at-san-diego-comic-con/.

    Khoun, Andy. 2012. Galactus is Nigh: CHristians

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    Kim, Tony B. 2011. Westboro Baptist Church vs

    Comic Con. 06 20. Accessed 06 12, 2015.
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    Lewis, C.S. 2002. The Complete C.S. Lewis

    Signature Classics. New York, NY: Harper Collins.

    Lobe, Paul. 2013. Atheists protest at Comic Con.

    07 27. Accessed 06 12, 2015.
    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rockbeyondbelief/2013/07/27/atheists-protest-at-comic-con/.

    Pahl, Michael W. 2011. The Beginning and the End:

    Rereading Genesis's Stories and Revelation's Visions. Kindle Edition.
    Eugene, OR: Cascade Books.

     

     


    [1] Calhoun,

    Bob. 2010. Comic-Con report: Geeks vs.
    fundamentalist Christians. 07 23. Accessed 06 12, 2015.
    http://www.salon.com/2010/07/23/comic_con_christian_protesters_phelps_open2010/.

    [2] Goldman,

    Tom. 2010. Church Protesting San Diego
    Comic-Com for "Idol Worship". 07 10. Accessed 06 12, 2015.
    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.210831-Church-Protesting-San-Diego-Comic-Con-For-Idol-Worship.

    [3] Kim,

    Tony B. 2011. Westboro Baptist Church vs
    Comic Con. 06 20. Accessed 06 12, 2015. https://crazy4comiccon.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/westboro-baptist-church-vs-comic-con/.

    [4] Khoun, Andy. 2012. Galactus

    is Nigh: CHristians Protest Comic-Con Again [SDCC 2012]. 07 15. Accessed 06
    12, 2015.
    http://comicsalliance.com/galactus-is-nigh-christians-protest-comic-con-again-sdcc-2012/

    [5] Lobe, Paul. 2013. Atheists

    protest at Comic Con. 07 27. Accessed 06 12, 2015.
    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rockbeyondbelief/2013/07/27/atheists-protest-at-comic-con/.

    [6] Abraham, Zennie. 2014. Jesus Freaks Protest San Diego Comic Con Goers SDCC 2014. 08 02.

    Accessed 06 12, 2015.
    http://www.zennie62blog.com/2014/08/02/jesus-freaks-protest-san-diego-comic-con-goers/.

    [7] Johnston, Rich. 2014. Jesus, Satan, Godzilla And Galactus - The Protesters At San Diego Comic

    Con. 07 26. Accessed 06 12, 2015.
    http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/07/26/jesus-satan-godzilla-and-galactus-the-protesters-at-san-diego-comic-con/.

    [8] Corrigan,

    John, and Winthrop S. Hudson. 2004. Religion
    in America. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. Pgs.
    217-20.

    [9]

    Ibid., pgs. 355-60

    [10] Anti-Defamation

    League. 2012. Anti-Abortion Violence:
    America's Forgotten Terrorism. 09 04. Accessed 06 12, 2015.
    http://www.adl.org/combating-hate/domestic-extremism-terrorism/c/anti-abortion-violence-americas-forgotten-terrorism-

    [11]

    Lewis, C.S. 2002. The Complete C.S. Lewis
    Signature Classics. New York, NY: Harper Collins. Pg 152

    [12] Chesterton,

    G.K. (2009-12-15). The Chesterton Reader: 21 Works in One Volume (Unexpurgated
    Edition) (Halcyon Classics) (Kindle Locations 6728-6729). Halcyon Press Ltd..
    Kindle Edition.

    [13] Ibid.,

    Kindle Locations 7317-7318

    [14] Ibid.,

    Kindle Locations 7377-7381

    [15]

    For more on this, read The Beginning and the
    End by
    Micheal W.Pahl.

    [16]

    Chesterton, Kindle Locations 7446-7448

    [17]

    Lewis, Pg. 154.

    [18]

    New Revised Standard Version

    [19]

    English Standard Version

    [20]

    New King James Version

    [21]

    New International Version

    [22] Lewis,

    Pg. 155

    [23] Kim

    32 min
  • Episode 39: God's Not Dead
    We're Back! After a few months away, Mike and I are back and we are ready to rip into a riff worthy Christ-ploitation film, God's Not Dead. And in TV Corner, we attempt to delve into the reality show "Preachers of LA."  Well, as deep as you can get in a reality show.  Here are some websites to help you delve deeper into our discussion tangents, err, topics.  
    God's Not Dead (2014) - IMDb
    Plato's Cave Analogy - Theological Studies
    Hegelianism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Digital music revenue overtakes CD sales for the first time globally | The Verge
    Preachers of L.A. - | Oxygen
    Preachers of LA (TV Series 2013– ) - IMDb
    Amazon.com: Preachers of L.A., Season 2: Amazon Instant Video
    Next time, hopefully soon, we will be looking at some (better) films and TV shows that are critically acclaimed. Our movie is the drama Calvary  For TV Corner, we are viewing several select episodes of "Blue Bloods" on Netflix.  Possible choices are episodes 206 Black and Blue, 213 Leap of Faith, 307 Nightmares, and 314 Men in Black. Let's go already!
    52 min
  • Episode 39: God’s Not Dead
    We're Back! After a few months away, Mike and I are back and we are ready to rip into a riff worthy Christ-ploitation film, God's Not Dead. And in TV Corner, we attempt to delve into the reality show "Preachers of LA."  Well, as deep as you can get in a reality show.  Here are some websites to help you delve deeper into our discussion tangents, err, topics.  
    God's Not Dead (2014) - IMDb
    Plato's Cave Analogy - Theological Studies
    Hegelianism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Digital music revenue overtakes CD sales for the first time globally | The Verge
    Preachers of L.A. - | Oxygen
    Preachers of LA (TV Series 2013– ) - IMDb
    Amazon.com: Preachers of L.A., Season 2: Amazon Instant Video
    Next time, hopefully soon, we will be looking at some (better) films and TV shows that are critically acclaimed. Our movie is the drama Calvary  For TV Corner, we are viewing several select episodes of "Blue Bloods" on Netflix.  Possible choices are episodes 206 Black and Blue, 213 Leap of Faith, 307 Nightmares, and 314 Men in Black. Let's go already!
    52 min
  • Episode Thirty-Eight: Exodus: Gods and Kings
    Happy New Year! In December, Mike and I had the chance to see Exodus: Gods and Kings, and thought "Hey, we've done three episodes over Ridley Scott movies, how about one more?" Is it the next Gladiator or more like American Psycho? Listen to our review to find out.  In TV Corner we check out "The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible" at the suggestion of one of the friends of the podcast.
    ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ Banned in Egypt Because of ‘Historical Inaccuracies’
    Faith-Based ‘Exodus’ Crucified on Social Media for ‘Whitewashing’ Bible
    The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible Wikipedia
    Next time we will watch the faith based God's Not Dead and the reality show "Preachers of L.A." Until then...
    51 min
  • Episode Thirty Seven: Retro Episode-Oh God! and Highway to Heaven
    Season Greetings! We hope you are all well this Christmas Eve. This episode has been delayed not because of poor health of your hosts (which has happened in the past), but because of the failing health of the laptop used to produce this podcast.  The issues seem to have been resolved, and so you get this present from Mike and Robert so you can listen to us express our opinions as you are on your way to various worship services and family get-togethers.
    'Longmire' Lives, Fans Rejoice As Netflix Signs Season Four Return ...
    'Selfie' canceled by ABC | Inside TV | EW.com
    Has Clara Oswald got a future in Doctor Who?
    Oh, God! (1977) - IMDb
    Retro TV - Home 
    Highway to Heaven (TV Series 1984–1989) - IMDb
    On our next episode we will be tempting fate once again by reviewing the just released religious epic Exodus: Gods and Kings and the Hanna-Barbera children's series "The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible." We have already seen the movie which is currently in theaters, and the show is available on YouTube and DVD. As they say in the year 3001, Merry Xmas!
    52 min
  • Three Reasons Why You Should Not See the Christploitation Film "Left Behind"

    As most people do, I receive a lot of spam in my

    email.  One day, while attempting to
    clean out my inbox, I ran across this advertisement from New Release Tuesday, a
    Christian music website.  As soon as I
    saw this it made me very angry.  There is
    a lot a bad sentiment implied here; it is also misleading, and
    exploitative.  A little harsh, you say? I
    shall explain why I think this is an exploitative film and why you should not
    go see Left Behind with Nicolas Cage. First, I shall describe the bad
    sentiment behind this ad.

                There has

    been a long history of bad blood between Hollywood and conservative
    Christians.  Robert K. Johnston gives a
    very good account of this in his book Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film
    in Dialogue.  It begins, strangely
    enough, with Cecil B. DeMille.  Today,
    DeMille’s movie The Ten Commandments (1956) is generally held in high
    regard as the ultimate example of what a religious movie should be.  It details the life of Moses, from growing up
    in the Egyptian royal house to leading the Israelites triumphantly into the
    Promised Land.  It depicts God as a real
    entity and Moses coming to trust in the Lord after wrestling with Modern philosophical
    concerns about him.  ABC still broadcasts
    the film on television every Easter (or Passover, depending on your point of
    view), and has done so for so long it has become an unbreakable tradition.  Despite the fact that nearly the entire first
    half of the movie has no basis in the Biblical story, or that—in an opening
    sequence often deleted for time on television—DeMille comes out from behind the
    curtain to say this movie is an explicit metaphor of the Cold War,here and here), taking the
    book of Revelation at face value can lead one to get lost trying to find meaning
    in the dreamlike, apocalyptic imagery of the tome and lose the real meaning
    behind it. Left Behind is an example of this, using the end of the world
    as the McGuffin for an action movie instead of offering hope to those who
    follow Jesus that are facing insurmountable persecution.  A nice, short read which can help all people
    discover the long held, orthodox interpretation of both Genesis and Revelation
    is book The Beginning and the End by Michael W. Paul. 

                So whether

    you are hoping to see Left Behind because you are looking for a good
    action movie, or because you are looking for a faith based movie which displays
    orthodox Christian theology, then Left Behind will disappoint you on
    both accounts.  As New York film reviewer
    Susan Granger says, “Faith-driven audiences deserve better.”[13]

                Does this

    mean we should avoid all Christploitation movies because we deserve to see
    better? By all means, no! Not all of these movies are as terrible as Left
    Behind.  I personally liked God’s
    Not Dead.  Kevin Sorbo is compelling
    as the atheist philosophy professor who demands that his students likewise deny
    God’s existence.  The ensuing classroom
    debate harkens back to the drama in Inherit the Wind.  Even though the rest of the acting is
    wooden (sorry Dean Cain), and there are too many plot threads trying to prove
    too many preachy points, this movie is pretty good overall. 

                That does

    not mean that Christian moviegoers should blindly throw their money at terrible
    movies solely because they are faith based. 
    As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.  If we keep paying for garbage, the movie
    industry will keep serving up garbage.  But
    is Left Behind really that bad? 
    The ad above claims that Fandango fans gave it four stars, and the
    audience score on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 65% approval rating.  A closer examination of the reviews on both
    websites belies these apparently favorable indicators.  For every five-star rating with a simple “I
    liked it” review, there are several one-star diatribes describing every
    inferior aspect of the movie.   In the
    end, the answer to the question just posed is: yes, Left Behind really
    is that bad.

                So if you

    are a Christian and a fan of the movies, do not feel compelled to fall into the
    old way of thinking, the “us versus them” attitude conservatives copped towards
    Hollywood for so much of the twentieth century. 
    Please do not drag your friends to Left Behind just to feed a
    desire to see more faith based movies in the theater.  Do your research, look at the reviews, and
    spend your money on quality.  If Left
    Behind fails to meet expectations (which I say it has, both in quality and financially)
    it does not mean the end of the world. The end of the world will come at a time
    no one expects and in a way no one can predict, just as Jesus said in Matthew 24.  In the meantime, Christploitation films are,
    for the foreseeable future, going to keep premiering at the cineplex.  Just because one falters, it will not
    dissuade any other movie producers from making money in the genre.  That is my prediction.

    Works Cited

    Bennett, Cory. "Christian films find fans at

    multiplex." Akron Beacon Journal 3 May 2012: F21-F22. Newspaper.

    Christian Movies at the Box Office. n.d. website. 27 Oct 2014. .

    Flesher, Paul V.M. and Robert Torry. Film &

    Religion: An Introduction. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2007.

    Johnston, Robert K. Reel Spirituality: Theology

    and Film in Dialogue. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006.

    Left Behind - Rotten Tomatoes. n.d. website. 27 Oct 2014.

    .

    Riley, Robin. Film, Faith, and Cultural Conflict:

    The Case of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. Westport, CT:
    Praeger Publishers, 2003.


    [1]

    Flesher, Paul V.M. and Robert Torry. Film & Religion: An Introduction.
    Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2007. Pg. 72

    [2]

    Johnston, Robert K. Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue.
    Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006. Pg. 44

    [3]

    Johnston , pg. 46

    [4]

    Johnston,  pg. 45

    [5]

    Riley, Robin. Film, Faith, and Cultural Conflict: The Case of Martin
    Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. Westport, CT: Praeger
    Publishers, 2003

    [6]

    http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=christian.htm

    [7]

    www.wikipedia.com

    [8]

    Bennett, Cory. "Christian films find fans at multiplex." Akron
    Beacon Journal 3 May 2012: F21-F22. Newspaper. Pg.  F21

    [9]

    http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=christian.htm

    [10] http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=christian.htm

    [11] Bennett, pg. F21

    [12] http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/left_behind_2014/?search=left%20b

    [13] http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/left_behind_2014/?search=left%20b

    22 min
  • Three Reasons Why You Should Not See the Christploitation Film “Left Behind”

    As most people do, I receive a lot of spam in my

    email.  One day, while attempting to
    clean out my inbox, I ran across this advertisement from New Release Tuesday, a
    Christian music website.  As soon as I
    saw this it made me very angry.  There is
    a lot a bad sentiment implied here; it is also misleading, and
    exploitative.  A little harsh, you say? I
    shall explain why I think this is an exploitative film and why you should not
    go see Left Behind with Nicolas Cage. First, I shall describe the bad
    sentiment behind this ad.



                There has

    been a long history of bad blood between Hollywood and conservative
    Christians.  Robert K. Johnston gives a
    very good account of this in his book Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film
    in Dialogue.  It begins, strangely
    enough, with Cecil B. DeMille.  Today,
    DeMille’s movie The Ten Commandments (1956) is generally held in high
    regard as the ultimate example of what a religious movie should be.  It details the life of Moses, from growing up
    in the Egyptian royal house to leading the Israelites triumphantly into the
    Promised Land.  It depicts God as a real
    entity and Moses coming to trust in the Lord after wrestling with Modern philosophical
    concerns about him.  ABC still broadcasts
    the film on television every Easter (or Passover, depending on your point of
    view), and has done so for so long it has become an unbreakable tradition.  Despite the fact that nearly the entire first
    half of the movie has no basis in the Biblical story, or that—in an opening
    sequence often deleted for time on television—DeMille comes out from behind the
    curtain to say this movie is an explicit metaphor of the Cold War,[1] the
    general opinion amongst Christians is that this classic movie is a highly accurate
    representation of the Genesis tale.  My
    pastor once told the story in one of his sermons how his parents, who were the
    conservative types that shunned all motion pictures, made the exception to see
    DeMille’s spectacle in the theater. 



                But what few

    people know is that this was DeMille’s second movie bearing the title The
    Ten Commandments.  In 1923, he
    produced a film with that moniker, but it was not a sword and sandal epic.  It was of the genre which he basically
    invented and was first famous, or more precisely, infamous. 



    Based

    on the rationalization that indiscretion could be presented on the screen as
    long as the sin was eventually corrected, his spectacles were little more than
    glorified melodramas that included an effective combination of debauchery and
    piety. They were, however, hits with the public. In The Ten Commandments
    (1923), which was produced for the then-astronomical figure of one-and-a-half
    million dollars, DeMille housed his portrayals of orgies within a larger moral
    framework of the giving of the Law (Johnston, 44).[2]



     



    It was objections to Demille’s graphic

    22 min

About Checking the Gate Podcast

From the publisher's feed

This is a show for those spiritual people who love film, and also those cinefiles feel that there is more to life than what we know. Each month, Robert and Mike will creativly evaluate a new film.