Tag: Media reviews

Mural showing a contrast between justice with a masked figure and scales, and forgiveness with two hands clasped

The Hard Way of the Gospel

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“Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, ‘Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,’ says the Lord. But ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.'” (Romans 12:19-20 CSB – Read the chapter)

Everybody loves the idea of love. We love the good feelings we associate with it. We love the idea of doing good things for someone we really care about. We love having someone support us and express their concern for us. And that’s a good thing because those are good things. But real love, the love of Christ, is bigger than that. It is harder than that. Being committed to someone else’s good sometimes means doing the hard thing to help them get back on the track of that good even when they have drifted from that path. Sometimes it even means actively taking steps to stop them from doing evil. This requires commitment on the part of the one who is doing the loving; commitment to the point of sacrifice. After all, to express the ultimate love for us, Jesus sacrificed His own life on the cross so that we might live. Marvel’s most recent small screen offering, the second season of Daredevil: Born Again, puts all of this on display in a really powerful way. Let’s talk about it.

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Young woman sitting on exam table looking at ultrasound image in medical office

Digging in Deeper: Jeremiah 1:5

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“I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Medical dramas are a dime a dozen these days. It seems like there’s always a new one being premiered on one streaming service or network every single year. With so many of them in circulation, it’s hard for one to really rise above the rest to be the one everyone is watching. They all try to have the one thing that sets them apart. For instance, a few years ago, Good Doctor had a good five-season run. We watched most of it, but finally gave up just before the last season. Its catch was that the main character was autistic. Playing in the same vein, Doc, features a woman who lost five years of her memory after a car crash. We watched some of the first season, but lost interest after that. In the end, they’re really all the same. There’s never really a new approach. Until The Pitt. Let’s talk for a bit about what makes it different, what it gets right, and one thing it has gotten so very, profoundly wrong.

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Multigenerational family standing outdoors at sunset with glowing cross behind them

Digging in Deeper: 2 Corinthians 5:18

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“Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There are some movies that define a generation. For me, The Karate Kid was one of those movies. It had everything. Great action, a love story, a redemption arc, a fantastic soundtrack and score, and the acting was mostly pretty good. Oh, and like the name says, karate. Lots of karate. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen the first one. The second was always my favorite. The third one was even still good. So, when YouTube announced they were creating, and then Netflix picked up, a series rooted in the world of Karate Kid, but focusing on the bad guy dojo, Cobra Kai, I was intrigued. Eight years later, I finally got around to finishing the sixth and final season. I’ve been excited all week to talk about it. Let’s jump right in.

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Digging in Deeper: 1 John 1:5-10

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“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. If we say, ‘We have fellowship with him,’ and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus the Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, ‘We have no sin,’ we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say, ‘We have not sinned,’ we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The world is broken. People are broken. They do what’s wrong at least as often as they do what is right…sometimes more often. They are selfish. They do what they want and don’t think too much about how getting what they want will affect the people around them. And nobody seems to be able to do much about it. What if there was a way, though, to fix it? What if there was a way to make everybody do the right thing, to make them be decent people? What it be worth it? The second season of Amazon Prime’s, Fallout, ponders that very question. Let’s talk about it.

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Digging in Deeper: Genesis 2:24

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“This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Well, here we are at another Friday when I didn’t have any idea what I was going to write about as I finished the day and got into bed, but then just before going to sleep something dropped straight into my metaphorical lap that I just couldn’t avoid. One of the things that I tell my church as often as I can make it come up naturally is that being a follower of Jesus doesn’t mean completely disengaging from any media sources that are not fully supportive of the Christian worldview. Rather, it means engaging wisely and with their worldview radar on high alert so they can identify ideas that are contrary to the truth and consciously reject them. They should do this they are engaging with various media by themselves, of course, but they should be especially vigilant about doing it when engaging with their kids both so that they are teaching them what is correct, but also so they are teaching them how to engage critically and through the lens of the Christian worldview. Well, the most recent episode of Abbott Elementary that we watched last night gave me the opportunity to do just that. Let’s talk about it.

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