Tag: Batman

Sunlight streaming through clouds onto rocky mountain peaks and valleys

All the Best Stories Get a Happy Ending

Leave a comment

“For the upright will inhabit the land, and those of integrity will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous ripped out of it.” (Proverbs 2:21-22 CSB – Read the chapter)

The best stories always have a happy ending. That’s not the same thing as saying every story has a happy ending, but the best ones always do. In the end, the good guys win. Perhaps even more importantly, in the end, the bad guys lose. We celebrate that in our stories because it doesn’t always or even often feel like it’s what happens in real life. Here, injustice feels like it wins the day more often than it doesn’t. Evil people thrive in spite of the best efforts of those who are trying to advance the cause of righteousness. Given that, a proverb like this one feels hard to believe. Let’s talk about what we should do with it, and why, in spite of appearances, it really is true.

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Timothy 1:1-2

2 Comments

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our savior and of Christ Jesus our hope: To Timothy, my true son in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Young people need old people. Sometimes they’re fully conscious of it. Sometimes they’re not, but the need is so pressing they are drawn to them anyway. More specifically, young men need older men and young women need older women. Young people need models and mentors they can look up to for wisdom and direction, for encouragement and even for correction at times. When they find someone like this with whom they connect, the bond that forms can be incredibly strong. A couple of weeks ago I wrote a mid-season review of the HBO-Max series, The Penguin, about the rise of the classic Batman villain. Since then, I’ve finished the series. I don’t often come back to a single season of a series more than once, but this one really stuck with me. Let’s talk about the church, being a mentor, and why The Penguin was both great and terrible.

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Philippians 3:17-20

Leave a comment

“Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us. For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross  of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory  is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things. Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Films and series about villains don’t typically do very well. There are a handful of exceptions to this, but not many. Sony’s attempting at creating their own Spiderverse (mostly) separate and apart from the MCU is a great example. They took a bunch of villains, removed the hero who gave them substance, and tried to sanitize them by making them complicated antiheroes. And most of them bombed. Badly. The Joker 2 is another good example. By all accounts it was unbelievably awful. A villain-based series from HBO Max, though, seems like it could be an exception. I’m only three episodes in, but the story is pretty good, if frustratingly depressing. Let’s talk about The Penguin.

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Daniel 9:4-5

1 Comment

“I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: Ah, Lord – the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands – we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from your commands and ordinances.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things I have encouraged you to do time and time again when it comes to the media content you consume, is to not watch it uncritically. I understand there are times you simply want to disengage and zone out in front of a screen, but media is intended to send a message. That’s why it exists. We absorb these messages whether we are conscious of that or not. For the sake of our souls, it is better if we engage with them aware of what we are consuming in the same way you don’t (or shouldn’t!) eat junk you can’t identify. If you are a follower of Jesus, this means you watch and read and listen with a Christian worldview lens in place. Well, this is not just something I preach. It’s something I practice. That’s why I do these reviews on Fridays. So today, I have another review for you. And because I’m a nerd, this one is another superhero show. This time we’re talking about HBO’s flagship superhero series, Titans. Let’s dig into it.

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Romans 7:24-25b

Leave a comment

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Sometimes when you set out to do something, you just don’t get it right the first time. That was the general reaction to the much-hyped Justice League movie when it hit theaters in 2017. DC Comics was desperately trying to achieve with their major characters what Marvel was accomplishing with theirs. By all accounts, they should have been successful. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are names easily as recognizable and arguably more famous than Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. Or at least, they were. But they came late to the party and rushed to get their parity product into the theaters. The result was largely panned even though they hired Joss Whedon, the creator of the original Avengers magic, to helm the ship after the original director, Zack Snyder stepped down following the tragic death of his daughter. And that should have been it. But in a remarkable twist, HBO decided to take a risk and give Snyder the chance to make the film he had planned from the beginning. The final product released yesterday…and is over 4 hours long. I’m most of the way through it, but here are some thoughts I’ve had along the way.

Read the rest…