Field of Dreams

In chapter 4, Night Talk, we find Ray and Annie discussing the highly illogical proposition that is to be the focus for the rest of the film.  Ray struggles with the man he is becoming and is driven by the dread that accompanies it.  Rather than pushed to be who he was created to be, Ray is motivated by reactionary forces instead.  We as believers should be given pause to analyze our own way in pursuit of a call and be cautious that it's the call that proceeds our way, rather than the run from what we'd rather not be.

Ephesians 2:9-10

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁹ Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]

¹⁰ For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), ^[a]recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

In chapter 22, To Grant a Wish, we find Ray once again, this time with Doc Graham of Chisholm, Minnesota.  While Ray tries to imply that Doc has incurred a great tragedy by not being able to achieve his dream of having an at bat in his major league baseball career, Doc argues that he has lived a fulfilled and blessed life with no regrets.  This dialogue points to the contrasting differences between dreams, reality and responsibility.  It also goes a ways to illustrate how we miss the present, often due to varying reasons.  

John 3:36
And he who believes in (has faith in, clings to, relies on) the Son has (now possesses) eternal life. But whoever disobeys (is unbelieving toward, refuses to trust in, disregards, is not subject to) the Son will never see (experience) life, but [instead] the wrath of God abides on him. [God’s displeasure remains on him; His indignation hangs over him continually.]

In chapter 33, "...He will Come", we find that Ray's journey has come full circle and that he realizes what his mission has been all along.  However illogical, Ray's trip has brought him to a place of reconciliation with his father.  Ironically, the run from his father has brought him the thing that he unknowingly wanted all along, relationship.  Often times our own running parallels that of Ray's in that they point us to the thing we all long and desire for.  

2 Corinthians 5:18
But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him].

Life Outside the Faith Ghetto

At the dramatic and comedic conclusion of the first Austin Powers movie, Dr. Evil defines the cultural shifts that occurred while the International Man of Mystery was sleeping through a few decades. “Isn’t it ironic that the very things that you stand for—free love, swinging, parties—are all now in the ’90s considered to be evil? … Face it, freedom failed.” Austin offers a snappy comeback, “No man, freedom didn’t fail. Right now, we’ve got freedom and responsibility. It’s a very groovy time.”

---

This story originally appeared in issue 14 of RELEVANT.


by Craig Detweiler

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What Austin Powers finds groovy, many Christians find frustrating. When it comes to the movies we watch or the music we listen to, we’d rather not have so much freedom. Wouldn’t it be easier if God drew sharper lines around what was acceptable in his sight? Why did Jesus complicate things by saying that our problems were more internal than external? Paul asks us to assume responsibility for our cultural diet. For some of us, it is easiest to simply turn off or never even buy a TV. But I’ve always been a culture vulture, devouring whatever is being served. Neither choice reflects the groovy combination of freedom and responsibility advocated by Austin Powers and exemplified in Paul’s letters to the Galatians and the Corinthians. 

To the uptight Galatians, Paul emphasized freedom and joy, but to the swinging Corinthians, he stressed responsibility and sexual restraint. Dr. Paul offers completely different prescriptions to cure their communal needs. For those crippled by guilt, Paul proposes a party to celebrate forgiveness. For those doing a bit too much partying, Paul suggests a glimpse of adulthood, learning to just say “no.” But what happens if we fail to understand what ails us as Christians? The prescriptive truth of the Bible could actually be the wrong medicine. Christians already trying too hard to be perfect may indulge in a double dose of Corinthians’ list of don’ts. Party people may take the freedom offered to Galatians as a license to chill even further. Without an accurate assessment of our situation, even the truth of the Bible can be blinding. Cultural discernment (and Christian maturity) begins with a merging of descriptive and prescriptive truth. 

DESCRIPTIVE VS. PRESCRIPTIVE 

The artistic community deals primarily with descriptive truth. Artists attempt to hold up a mirror, to reveal the human condition as is, quirks and all. While music, literature and film can inspire us describing the depths of our depravity. Haunting and enduring art raises all the right questions and challenges audience to search for answers. 

Movies are great at capturing moods, feelings, the spirit of the times. The combination of clothes, style and slang makes Austin Powers a perfect time capsule. The jokes are funny, too. But Austin Powers falls slightly short as a guide for life. 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind does a great job of capturing the pain of breaking up. It reminds us why we throw away pictures of ex-boyfriends and -girl-friends in an effort to purge them from our memory. It also suggests that brain surgery might not be the most satisfying solution. Garden State also reveals truths about love, loss and the fragile human condition. It uses bands like The Shins to capture the angst of its youthful characters. But in no way is director Zach Braff suggesting that the answer to life resides in marching to the deepest cavern and shouting at the top of your lungs. (Although many viewers were undoubtedly tempted!) 

Great art describes life as we know it. But art that tries to tell us how to live, how to vote or what to do can come off as annoying propaganda. Fight Club offers a powerful description of how numbing consumer culture can be. The solution it proposes (beating each other to a bloody pulp) may not be the best strategy for escaping the corporate grind. Fight Club helps us get in touch with our feelings, but it doesn’t know what to do with them. Art raises questions. Religion offers answers. 

Artists must resist the temptation to preach. I admire the restraint demonstrated by directors like Richard Kelly. He purposely left aspects of Donnie Darko a mystery, allowing viewers to fill in the blanks. The rabid interest around his film arose from his commitment to descriptive rather than prescriptive truth. 

The faith community has been the primary repository of prescriptive truth. The Bible offers a prescription for many human ailments. It offers a prescription for how to overcome the two most troubling human conditions: sin and death. Pastors, ministers and missionaries offer valuable, concrete answers to life’s ultimate questions.

WHAT ABOUT THE WORD?

When it comes to cultural discernment, we often rightly bring a Bible along. But how are Christians to engage cultural artifacts like movies, music and TV? Do we hold up the word of God as a filter, blocking out every scene that does not contain a scriptural equivalent? Does a film’s value derive from its adherence to Colossians? Are the most important songs all spiritual allegories, how the love of God is like “a hurricane,” “a heat wave” or “oxygen”? Reading a film with the same glasses we’d bring to one of Paul’s letters is an injustice to both the film and the Bible.

Perhaps the distinction we pay to the various sections of Blockbuster Video could actually enhance our understanding of Scripture. We do not pick up Old School expecting an historical epic. We don’t grabBraveheart looking for laughs. So, why do we approach all books of the Bible with a single highlighter? The Psalms offer all kinds of catchy truths about the glory of God, but the book of Esther doesn’t even mention the Almighty. 1 John offers detailed instructions about how to live and what to do. The Book of Job offers an example of what not to do. Genres matter. The wisdom literature of Solomon describes things. The letters of Paul and Peter prescribe things. The key to cultural discernment is learning to recognize the difference between descriptive and prescriptive truth. 

When we consider what movies to rent, what songs to listen to, what television programs to watch, Paul’s challenge to the Philippian church often serves as the starting point for our discernment. “Whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

We question whether a particular artistic expression is noble, pure and lovely. What is often left out of that equation is Paul’s starting point in Philippians 4:8—“Whatever is true.” Far too often, the verse is misquoted or truncated to everything but Paul’s admonition to think about “whatever is true.”

God’s truth has been communicated across the centuries in words, in images, in deeds. Yet faithful wordsmiths and Christian image-makers have often found their deeds created controversy. Preachers have questioned artists. Artists have critiqued the Church. Both desperately need each other to understand the full breadth and depth of God’s truth.

We must affirm and embrace the Christian community’s profound artistic heritage. In stained-glass windows, illuminated manuscripts and towering cathedrals, the Church served as the primary patron of the arts. People of faith both commissioned and composed haunting requiems, glorious statues and poetic paintings. Artists and preachers exercise different gifts in a complementary mission. We must see the world as it is before we start trying to fix it. 

The Bible contains plenty of descriptive truths. Ecclesiastes describes how the wicked get promoted and the righteous get laid off. Song of Songs celebrates the joys of sex. Job chronicles what friends don’t want to hear during trying times. 

Movies, music and TV can offer prescriptive truth. The Beatles sang, “All You Need is Love.” The J.Geils Band sang, “Love Stinks.” At the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, a teen drama called Thumbsucker allows Keanu Reeves to satirize his heavy, philosophical reputation formed in films like The Matrix. As a New Age dentist, Reeves tells a young patient, “The only answer is there is no answer.” After two hours of cinematic searching, this comes as a fairly disappointing “truth.”

The Psalms offer a holistic approach to the truth. Artists may find themselves drawn to the plaintive, descriptive truths of Psalm 22—“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?” Pastors may concentrate upon the comforting, prescriptive truths of Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” A mature faith will affirm both the descriptive cries that Jesus adopted on the cross and the prescriptive promises of Psalm 23. Thank God for psalms of lament and psalms of joy, occasions for tears and occasions for triumph. 

WHOLE TRUTHS vs. HALF TRUTHS

We must bridge the perceived gap between the Church and the creative community, challenging and encouraging both to view and tell the whole truth—descriptive and prescriptive. The greatest error in recent faith-fueled art and filmmaking has been our tendency to tell half-truths. Christian artists and audiences have come to expect either a sanitized view of the human predicament or a picture of conversion that shortchanges the high cost of following Christ. Our products may be noble, pure, lovely and inoffensive, but if they are not true, then they have failed Paul’s most basic test.

Given these historical errors and oversights in both our biblical interpretation and our artistic engagement, we must support efforts to study and present a true, uncompromising picture of both the glory of God’s creation and the depths of human folly. Our inspiration and measuring stick will remain the Bible, God’s inspired, infallible and holy Word. We refuse to omit, edit or sanitize this Bible. As a parent of two small children, I understand why we want to skip over embarrassing passages of Scripture. We omit tales of fratricide, gang rape and onanism. We expect our faith-fueled artists to produce music and films suitable for family viewing. But as Mel Gibson so ably demonstrated in The Passion of the Christ, God’s story revealed in Scriptures may also deserve an R-rating. The Bible is full of profanity, sex and violence. We will never celebrate these aspects of the human condition. But as emerging Christian adults, we must study and depict the R-rated aspects of both the Bible and our world. Praise God that the Scriptures show that the sacred emerges even amidst the profane. 

We also take seriously Paul’s discussions with the Corinthian church about freedom and responsibility in relation to meat sacrificed to idols. As the early Church navigated the tension of “everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial,” we will continue to wrestle with tensions Austin Powers addressed. While we no longer deal with meat sacrificed to idols, we do argue about art, politics and American Idol. Paul offers a helpful, two-sided approach to seeking the good of others. Our art must never cause anyone to stumble in their burgeoning faith. In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul offers a strong warning: “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.” If Dr. Evil can’t handle freedom, then Austin Powers must act more responsibly around him. 

At the same time, Dr. Evil’s immaturity can’t be allowed to squelch Austin Powers’ unique gifts. We cannot allow Christians’ artistic freedom to be driven by the objections of the weak. Paul also warns in 1 Corinthians 10, “For why should my freedom be judged by another’s conscience?” We must affirm and negotiate the widely divergent artistic standards and cultural practices represented within the Christian community. We must lead with sensitivity, engaging in conversation, challenging our brothers and sisters to grow up in every way into the fullness of Christ. We will seek the good of the many, so that they (we? I!) may be saved.

Rather than reducing the Bible or our world to a debate about body parts (or meat sacrificed to idols), we will instead focus upon Paul’s more important question of truth. Is the film realistic? Does the song reflect both the depravity and glory revealed in the Bible? Is the wisdom offered in a work of literature in harmony or conflict with the wisdom literature of the Old Testament? From the Garden of Eden to David’s adulterous affair with Bathsheba, from Jesus’ sin-filled genealogy to Peter’s denial of the Christ, we will challenge and encourage people of faith to tell the whole truth revealed in the Bible about foolish human decisions and the consequences of sin. We will both view and depict the world as we see it—fallen and full of death. We will also celebrate the power of Christ to redeem prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners—people like us. Thank God for the prescriptive truth—that even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

How grateful we are that our biblical foundation allows us to grapple with the greatest art, the best music, the most enduring films. We do not need to fear the whims and tides of changing tastes. We can encourage Christians to grow up into maturity, to develop the critical skills necessary to discern what is true, what is noble, what is right. What a prime opportunity to help the emerging generation hone their understanding of art and aesthetics, to identify the good, the bad and the ugly, to hear the voice of God arising in unexpected ways from unlikely sources.

Watch the Third Trailer for The Dark Knight Rises

As we reported yesterday, a new viral campaign was launched that would allow fans to unlock the third trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. Good job people—the trailer has now been unlocked.

Christopher Nolan has kept plot details ofThe Dark Knight Rises pretty close to the chest. Little has been revealed about the film besides the aliases of a few new characters including Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as Bane. The new trailer shows more of Bane’s destruction of Gotham City and new scenes of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character, John Blake.

Nolan has stated that The Dark Knight Rises will be his final film in the Batman world. But Warner Bros. have announced that they plan on rebooting Batman once again when Nolan is done with it.

Check out the newest trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, which comes out July 20, below.

America, Assemble!

Why The Avengers represent much more than colorful costumes.

by  Alex Wilgus

Marvel’s mega-blockbuster The Avengers releases today, and unless you were one of the superfans that caught the midnight showing (or one of the crazies who attended an all-day Marvel marathon), you haven’t seen it yet. On the face of it, it appears many buildings are going to be smashed, and several people are going to deck themselves out in some hilariously outlandish costumes. Is there really any more to say about it? After all, the most common admonishment when going to a summer blockbuster like this one is “turn your brain off.”

Never! Never, I say! In fact, it is all the more important to keep your thinking cap on tight while sitting through these colorful summer blockbusters, because with all those explosions and building smashing, it’s easy to miss the rich symbolism and thematic undertones, the deeper meaning and introspection The Avengers provides.

But wait, The Avengers is just another big, dumb action flick, right? It’s just trying to sell action figures and Burger King cups, right? There can’t be any deeper meaning to a movie about a group of testosterone-pumped super-guys (and one girl) smashing buildings in the name of justice, right? If only it were so simple. Movies are sermons, even the big, green building-smashing ones, and whether you like it or not, most of you reading this article will congregate in the sanctuary of the movie theater, popcorn in hand, to listen, taste and see.

So what should we be watching for? Nothing much beyond the obvious: The Avengers is about a group of people either gifted or cursed with tremendous powers who want the same thing (to save the world) but have vastly different ideas of how to do it. Sounds like ... America? Let’s look at the cast of characters and what they’re actually playing at:

1.  Captain America is Patriotism

He’s blond-haired, blue-eyed and literally wears the Stars and Stripes. There’s no more obvious representative of conservative America than this. He’s the literal embodiment of the Greatest Generation, a believer in simple truth, justice and down-home corn-fed traditionalism. He's “Am’rica” (omitting the overly educated second syllable). Morality’s not too hard for Cap, but his oversimplifications make it hard on everyone else who didn’t skip over the last 70 years.

2.  Iron Man is Corporate America

He’s Steve Jobs; brilliant, eccentric, arrogant and driven. He’s an individualist who built his empire with his own brain, and refuses to be controlled by any interests other than his own. His development of a conscience in the last two movies harks back to the high-powered philanthropy of Bill Gates and Bono, but like most high-profile do-gooders, he’s flawed, inconsistent and often unruly.

3.  The Hulk is Scary Science

Nuclear threat, artificial intelligence research, human cloning—all the paranoias of our modern age roll up into one green monster capable of doing serious damage to humankind, or protecting it from other threats. The scientific wonders of our age have the potential to change the world for good or ill, and it all depends on who’s in its way when it goes off.

4.  Thor is Religion

Out of touch, magisterial, mythological and impractical would be good words to describe the secular perception of organized religion. Thor too is from another world, from a magical land in the sky with his own code of ethics and behavior. His concerns are often broader than the situation at hand. He does, however, claim to smite evil with a divine hammer.

5.  S.H.I.E.L.D. is the Government

Hawkeye, Black Widow, Nick Fury and all the other “expendable crewmen” are a fictionalized, representation of government agencies. They’re a system, who often find their procedures challenged by the inclusion of the exceptional people they employ.

Conspicuously absent from the lineup is the ‘everyman’. There is no 99% in Superheroland, a fact that is often cited by highbrow naysayers as proof of its escapism and irrelevance. But we ordinary folk are not absent from the picture. The truth is that most of us will be in the theater, watching our heroes under the same half-cocked eyebrow we wear when watching the news. Industry, government, older generations, the Church—they've all been eviscerated by healthy skepticism and a lively blogosphere. America has grown up and left its hero worship behind, both the comic book and real life kind.

But still we watch. Director Joss Whedon is no man out of time. He knows the age of unqualified optimism in which these heroes were born is long past, and that we are more comfortable with a tortured Dark Knight than a guy with Old Glory on his chest. But he is also smart enough to know that those glimmers of optimism have not faded completely from the American mind. So he has made a film that addresses our disillusionments with our institutions by imbuing their spirits into our heroes: they are often self-centered, unrealistic, rigid and sectionalist. Most of the film's tension comes from the question: Can they get along and work together? He then gives us the wham-bang finale of a unified America fighting as one. It's enough to make your hair stand on end.

And if you do find yourself caught up in the action, excited by Iron Man's technical skill, Cap's square-jawed determinedness, Thor's roguish crusade for good and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cool, steely effectiveness, then don't be embarrassed. Give a little fist-pump for America—because once in a while, particularly when faced with the most overwhelming problems, perhaps we can come together and be on the same team.

Alex Wilgus is a lay catechist at Logan Square Anglican Church in Chicago, IL.

Avengers, The (2012) | Review

Antiheroes Assemble!

Justin C. Martin

If you're a comic book movie fan as I am and have seen all the amazing trailers, then the most important question concerning Joss Whedon's The Avengers that may have entered your mind is: Is this the best comic book movie yet? To that I let you down with a "no." If you altered the question a bit and let it become: Is this the most entertaining comic book movie yet? I would certainly answer "yes!" It is a very fun film and I hope to watch it again.


As most are well aware, this movie infuses the stories of Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Helmsworth) with secret organization S.H.I.E.L.D. officers Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to take on Thor's evil and misguided adopted brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and an army of other-planetary creatures in a battle for Earth's people.


Notice I did not say "for Earth." Loki is evil and arrogant because he wants to rule the planet and he is also misguided in that he genuinely believes the people will be happier living this way, kneeling to him alone. He believes that he, in his almost god-like status, has a better vision for humankind. Captain America, the polite World War II veteran with values from another decade puts Loki (and Thor for that matter) in place best when he says, "There is only one God... and He certainly doesn't dress like that!"


Other than Captain America, this movie truly fits the title (instead of having one such as The Protectors) because most of these characters are almost antiheroes, carrying such baggage as vain conceit to staggering self-loathing. Between the god complexes and insecurities only a mother could bring comfort to, I see a film that paints a world in need of a savior, the real Savior. While this feeling never left me, the movie does take these epic protagonists, flaws and all, through character arcs that leave us with a better image of them as a team than they ever were alone.


What really makes this film unique is the fact that it is an origin story of a bunch of already-fleshed-out origin stories! This is the first film that I can think of which has created prior stand-alone prequel films with this scale of collaboration in mind. The movie anticipates that the world knows these characters because everyone has seen them on the big screen, so there are not many VH1 "Where Are They Now?"-style sequences involved. Instead we are thrust in the middle of an imminent danger and must just react in the best way we know how. With less pushback than I anticipated, the superheroes assemble to take on a force bigger than themselves. It is really through this process of learning to cooperate that these misfits truly become what we have always wanted them to be: heroes. This is sparked by the death of a character (to be left nameless here) whose blood can literally be seen on their hands (or at least a picture of their hands). If they had come together sooner rather than later they would not be one person short.


The Avengers entails many intense battle scenes but is also peppered with quality humor. In the case of a showdown between Hulk and Loki, you can actually see both at the same time! I felt like I was watching the grand finale of a fireworks display on the Fourth of July for a large portion of the movie. It provides a pretty good adrenaline rush and allows the inner-kid in us all to get a little excited and let our imaginations be massaged. Yet it also inspires us all to put aside our difference and work together.


The Avengers reminds us of a broken world filled with broken heroes who need to be a part of something more than our own egos and day-to-day ventures. To discover true heroics which have already saved and need not avenge, one must simply look up. Look past the towering green shoulders of The Hulk, past the lit-up Stark Tower and beyond even the skies from which Thor brings his thunder. See beyond a soldier with the name of but one country and discover a God who unites us all. Oh, and don't forget the popcorn.

What will THE AVENGERS teach us?

There are so many places an Avengers movie could go, and so many “lessons” for each character to learn, it will be fascinating to see the narrative arc director Joss Whedon and his crew will focus on for the upcoming movie. Not only do we have the return of Loki and all the messages of fathers and sons, jealousy and pride inherent in the Thor film, we’re bringing together characters who, as Robert Downey Junior’s Tony Stark puts it delicately, “don’t play well with others”. That is, with the exception of Captain America’s Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who is accustomed to a team from World War II. Perhaps that’s why the film’s two taglines are:

• “Some Assembly Required”

• “Every team needs a Captain”

If you’re not familiar with the narrative arcs inherent in the various players, be sure to read up on the films that have come before…

- 

James Harleman

Fight Club

In chapter 4, Nesting Instinct, we're introduced to our protagonist the nameless narrator.  We find him introspectively wondering what sort of dining set defines him as a person as his apartment unfolds before us by catalogue description and price.  Out of this very distorted view of assigning worth, we find the basis for our narrator's psychological disassociation with a cultural system of a value in things rather than one that stresses a more essentially necessary sense of spiritual fulfillment.

Philippians 3:7-9

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁷But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [^[a]one combined] loss for Christ's sake.

    ⁸Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One),

    ⁹And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law's demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.

In chapter 14, Paper Street, a fully expressed mental projection of Tyler Durden has become manifest and interacts with our narrator.  They share stories from childhood that give us insight as to how our narrator has come to be the person that he is.  This dialogue also serves to give descriptive perspective on our current society's problems of prolonged adolescence for a generation of men raised in light of absentee fathers.  

Psalm 68:4-6

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁴Sing to God, sing praises to His name, cast up a highway for Him Who rides through the deserts--His name is the Lord--be in high spirits and glory before Him!

    ⁵A father of the fatherless and a judge and protector of the widows is God in His holy habitation.

    ⁶God places the solitary in families and gives the desolate a home in which to dwell; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

In chapter 20, The Middle Children of History, Tyler correctly describes his congregation as one without place or purpose and that their Great War is one that is spiritual in nature.  Although his assessment may prove correct, his reaction to it does not.  This message should resonate within every believer and point to a more appropriate response.   

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

Amplified Bible (AMP)

  ³For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons.
    ⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,
    ⁵[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),
    ⁶Being in readiness to punish every [insubordinate for his] disobedience, when your own submission and obedience [as a church] are fully secured and complete.

In chapter 24, Human Sacrifice, Tyler coerces a convenience store worker to pursue that which he had originally begun to be what he truly wanted.  Upon further reflection, how many of us settle for lesser things than for what God had genuinely planted in our hearts?  How many of us lose heart and settle to be defined by what we have, do or are able to acquire rather than who He's called us to be?

Ephesians 4:1-3

Amplified Bible (AMP)

 ¹I THEREFORE, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God's service,    ²Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another.
    ³Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.