My Thoughts, My World-View

    Month: July 2020

    • The Chief Parable of Christ – A Parable of Reality and Hope

      The parable of the sower or soils is the first parable that is recorded for us in the Gospels – this is consistently recorded for us in Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospel. What makes it the “chief” or most important of them all is not just the chronological introduction of it but the fact that it is the first parable to be interpreted by the Lord Himself to the listeners. This parable is also important because of the context of its introduction – it is in the midst of Jesus’ ministry that seems to be at the apex (in terms of the crowd that followed Him). We see this in the following passages:

      That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach.
      (Matthew 13:1-2)

      Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.
      (Mark 4:1)

      And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable,
      (Luke 8:4)

      From Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospel Account

      One inference we can make based on this observation of the crowd and the parable’s prominence in the three gospels is this: the lesson(s) of this parable is absolutely important for the general populace – not just the close disciples of Christ (commonly known as the Twelve). This is one passage that can be used for both believers and non-believers alike. However, we must balance our application by paying attention to the fact that the interpretation of this parable was mainly given only to the close disciples of Christ in a private setting – not a public setting. Why the seeming discrepancy? Why is the parable preached publicly but the interpretation privately given?

      The Lord explicitly refers to Isaiah 6:9 in Matthew 13:13-15, Mark 4:11-12 and Luke 8:9-10 – this is not coincidence nor is this merely about the “purpose of all parables” as many bible translators and commentators would put forth. The Holy Spirit inspired this explanation to precede the interpretation of “this” parable – thus, the explanation tells us that believers would gain more, spiritually speaking, from the lessons given in this parable.

      We are not going to give a lengthy exposition of this parable – this is not the purpose of this post. There are many good sermons and commentaries that give detailed explanations along with applications on the parable. Rather, I would like to focus on an application that is not commonly drawn from this parable – for believers.

      The three soils, hard, stony and weedy are realities the type of hearts found among sinful men in this world – in all generations. There is no time where we find the world filled with soft, good soil that is brimming with spiritual fruitfulness. For the believer, this is a caution – that we who believe in Christ (the Gospel symbolised as seed sown on the ground) are in the minority. The caution is for us not to take this truth for granted – many are called, but few are chosen. God’s gracious dealings with believers is not a small thing – in the Grand Scheme of things, we are truly blessed – infinitely blessed compared to many who either are hard-hearted, half-hearted (stony ground) and worldly-hearted (corrupted by the worldly influences and circumstances). A first-time planter would be extremely happy that a quarter of his efforts actually bear fruit and did not perish! This should be our outlook – what wonder and joy in God saving a quarter out of eternal damnation, when the whole lot deserves to die and remain fruitless. God is able to save all – but there is the reality of sin and the needful condemnation and damnation of sinners. For God to just wipe off the effects of sins in one brief moment at the start of Man’s Fall in Adam is to ‘cheapen’ God’s justice. A king who forgives the wrongs of his own son who does vile things will be looked down – here is a king who knows no justice, trivialising wrongs. God is under NO obligation to us to clear any of our sins – the fact that He does forgive the few (in every generation) is already a great condescension and a show of His remarkable mercy on an undeserving people. To save for eternity, not just temporary, is a grace that has no words that can ever be described by our frail and finite minds.

      Secondly, the description of the fruit that is borne by the seed that fell on good soil is usually downplayed by preachers. I have been guilty of doing so many times before. But let us give it the right place in the hearts and minds of believers. The passage describes it this way:

      But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

      Mark 4:20 (ESV)

      The hope for believers is that their lives will see a supernatural increase in spiritual fruitfulness. The most “unbelievable” part of this parable would probably lie here. Many cannot believe that this can ever be true – their lives may have changed, but in accordance to this measure? Two fold increase is already a very unbelievable increase in agricultural terms. Two fold is equal to 200%. For it to be thirtyfold – we are looking at 3000% at a very minimum! Impossible is the word that keeps popping in my mind. For believers who have lived longer in this world – there are deeper challenges and troughs in their journey to the Celestial City. Sometimes, we are tempted to look at the promised increase and become depressed – because the reality is far from the expectation given. Is the Lord exaggerating? No. He is challenging us to see things in accordance to His eyes – to perceive and understand things through His mind, not ours. Thus, the disciples found themselves echoing our sentiments in other times as well – one such instance was in Matthew 19:25-26 – “When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”” This is faith. Believing that God is the God of impossibilities. That the very thing that we constantly despair about – our lack of humility, our secret sins, our constant weaknesses, our “life long behaviours” – can be changed. The change is not superficial or cosmetic – but lifelong – eternal! When we measure it in accordance to the effect and lasting impact it has on our soul – we can see that it far exceeds 200% or 3000%… this is an infinite percentile that does not lessen. This is a dimension that we need to refocus our spiritual, inner eyes on.

      Can the Lord change our sinful nature – sanctify us in a real way – for eternity? Yes. Will the scope of the change be for every part of our lives on earth? No. For we still live in this fallen world. But the longer we live in this world, the more the Holy Spirit regenerates our being – preparing us for eternal glory at His coming or at our entering into that glory of His. This is the hope that the parable of the sower gives to us – especially those who are honest, real and seeking Jesus with all of our beings – weak, frail that may be. Amen.

    • Re-watching the Much-Maligned Joss Whedon’s Justice League (2017) – Part 1: An Introduction Before Honest Dissection of the Film

      An introduction to my post is needed to avoid any unnecessary “fire” that may come out of perceived bias against Snyder or Whedon. Sorry for the long, Puritanish-title (in other words, lengthy-worded title). The actual review is in the next article.

      Let me begin by stating that I am a firm supporter of Zack Snyder’s vision for the DCEU (DC Comics Expanded Universe) and his work (especially on Watchmen which I thought was a very good adaptation of the comic book). I totally supported the call for the Snyder Cut version of “Justice League” as I was initially quite disappointed with the theatrical release back in 2017. The hype and momentum built before its release threw fans off upon release. I knew after watching that version that “the dream” of an epic comic-book-like-experience was gone. Even without the voluminous articles written about the original plot that Snyder had (written from hardcore Snyder-Cut advocates), I knew that the darker plotline and vision served a good business decision – it provided good contrast and position away from Marvel’s “goofy” superhero cinema brand. Here is what old comic book fanboys who were now in their 20’s and above wanted – a reflection (somewhat) of the dark, gloom and doom reality of our real-world situation. Don’t get me wrong, I do like MCU as they have certain things done well – like the aesthetics and the ‘fun’ that they bring – see Iron Man, Captain America: Winter Soldier and Thor: Ragnarok are some of my favourites from the MCU.

      However, personally speaking, grim-gritty stories suit me better because they depict the dystopian future that seems to be creeping into our world day-by-day, not just in the West but throughout the world – as an aside, this common dystopian vision is captured very well and may have been inspired by Orwell’s 1984 (at least in spirit). Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy proved this point by positing the message that superheroes serve a purpose in shaping society – it is not merely with fist and brawn, the fight against the “forces of evil” continues with idealogy and sacrifices made by the masked heroes. Even the Superman movies, featuring the late great Christopher Reeves, and my favourite dark knight duology starring Michael Keaton had strong messages for darkening times. These are powerful stuff that the MCU does not seem to layer clearly into their movies. (Edit: Having said that, the MCU has something that the DCEU certainly lacks – besides the profits – serious attention to details; maintaining the small narratives and branches, even comedic plots. You can watch this for evidence of the mind-boggling, record-making ability in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb4eYDJpuao by “Heavy Spoilers”).

      It is with that backdrop that I assume that Zack is attempting, although at a larger scale. If there is something that I may challenge, it is that Zack started his vision a bit too slowly and carefully beginning with the “Man of Steel”. If you take the movie as a standalone, it earns its “mixed review” response! It is not hard to understand why many despised his interpretation of Jonathan Kent (Clark Kent’s adopted father played by Kevin Costner) – who insisted that Clark hide his superhuman ability and identity away from the public for safety reasons even in the face of Jonathan’s certain death. It just does not make sense when the very fabric of the Superman identity that we have come to know is that: he will save the day and do what is RIGHT!

      But step back and consider the overall canvas that Zack was trying to paint on… and then you will see that this “quirk” was a carefully planted stroke to set the backdrop and context of this new DCEU for the audiences. In my opinion, Zack was attempting to show how fearful, sceptical and hope-less the people in that universe was, especially in dealing with things that are strange and alien – not unlike our present condition. This was a universe where people were likened to mindless sheep that were easily swayed by their prejudices and fears – at one time supporting, and at another time cursing the very person who had God-like ability. When the bomb was set off at the Congressional hearing (“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”), we are left with a despondent Superman, “Man of Steel” surviving the horrific scene and leaving without any words. Later, he tells Lois that he could not see the bomb – indirectly giving us (the audience) a glimpse of the pressure, the emotional turmoil that he was under, under the gaze and judgment of the people. Again, this was “world-building” on the part of Zack – but only if the audience was aware that pieces were being set up to complete a long and wide puzzle piece.

      Again, the director made it clear that in this universe, violence was the ‘common and quickest’ solution to conflicts – reflected in Superman’s agonising decision at the end of the “Man of Steel” and the long-drawn-out confrontation between Supes and Batman in the follow-up film. Many have argued that the “darkness” was a bit too drawn out. But consider this: light can truly shine in absolute darkness. I truly believe that the Justice League film was meant to be building up to a climax, just before the tide turns. Many things were going against Zack’s vision – chiefly, the audience: we are in a generation where the general populace is largely made up of consumers with micro-attention span. Consumers want to “feel” something immediately, minimal exposition and all this within a short/brief time frame. In some sense, this is correct – a bad film is not that bad if it was not 3 hours long. An average film becomes better with better editing and does not strain viewers’ patience. Remember, “The Phantom Menace” anyone? We are no longer in the days of “Avatar”, “Titanic” and the “Lord of the Rings” series.

      Secondly, such perception easily snakes itself into the upper echelon of movie corporations, and it is not far fetched to believe that upper-level business management personnel were not happy with the general reactions they were seeing from the critics and the general audiences. Audiences were more familiar with the tried-and-tested formula of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and were not as accepting of this ‘convoluted’ and ‘slow’ story-telling style. This led to studio-intervention – the higher-ups believed that action and pacing trumps story and drama. When I first re-watched Batman v Superman, I chose to watch the “extended version” also known as the “ultimate version” – and it made more sense than the shorter initial version. Time was given to flesh out the characters and the motivations. Although this was far from the pinnacle of modern movies, the story seemed stronger and viewers were left with the question: how much darker will it get when the bastion of hope, Superman, is literally 6 feet under? At this point, the first phase of Zack’s world-building was coming to an end – hints of the real enemy – of demons and mythical creatures are peppered throughout Batman v Superman – Lex Luthor was obviously on the side of this shadowy power. We have not yet glimpsed at the true enemy – only a willing servant who is bent on removing the world’s strongest defender. Sadly, the management at Warner Bros have also glimpsed a possible outcome if this course was not changed: in their minds – utter financial failure.

      Thirdly, Marvel Cinematic Universe was having a streak of successes – with the successful roll-out of Phase Two movies and the start of Phase Three movies – e.g. Captain America: Civil War was the great payoff for Phase One and Two’s string of carefully crafted movies. The pressure was on DCEU to respond in kind, and this “forced” the management to make a firm business decision which called for a strong course-correction/intervention. Sadly, it is this competition that drove them away from Zack’s vision which were actually financially sound (there were no real flops – even Suicide Squad was a financial success, although not doing well with critics). This is the point where Joss Whedon came into the project. The rumours of his involvement preceeded the tragedy that came into the Zack’s family later on – and there is really no need to rehash the story and timeline of it all. Other writers have done this and you can just do a quick search for them.

      Okay, after a lengthy introduction, why in the world am I writing a detailed dissection of Joss Whedon’s version of Justice League released in 2017? Mainly because we need to view the film with the right measurements. Just as the management misunderstood Zack’s movie by comparing it to MCU’s formula and style, we must be careful not to dismiss Joss’ version by comparing it with Zack’s vision. If we use proper measurements, which I will posit to you in the next article, I believe we can actually review “Justice League” in a balanced, objective manner – and can allow this movie to safely co-exist with the other movies in the current DCEU’s lineup. Anyway, I like analysing stuff… and found that it will be a challenge (a real challenge) to try to give an objective rating to this movie, even though I believe in Zack’s vision and am looking forward to the 2021 version! Perhaps others would also join me in giving Joss Whedon’s version another try. Perhaps 😛

    • The Sin of Indifference

      “Not listening – no, not listening” (Should have put a picture of Smeagol from Lord of the Rings)

      ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
      (Revelation 3:15-18)

      There are some Bible texts that are commonly abused by bible teachers, Christians, preachers and parents in general… and it is done to bring their intended point across – forcefully. One such is this text from the apostle John’s last written revelation committed to the church at his exile on Patmos.

      Context: There are much in the letter that is stirring – but notice that it begins with God’s assessment on the churches that existed in those days. It would not be difficult to see that this is not merely intended for the 7 churches named in the second and third chapter of the letter – for numbers in the bible do convey meaning and is commonly symbolic. Rather, the 7 churches gave a good snapshot of what was happening in the churches throughout the known land (predominantly in Asia Minor, although many churches have been planted far off, in Europe and also in the South Asia). The assessment is not positive, as many were compromising with the truth or buckling from the insidious agents of the evil one. Few, like Philadelphia and Smyrna, were able to maintain purity of the Gospel, although they were suffering intensely under persecution. I believe in all generations, this snapshot given in the time of the apostle is true; the churches that maintain a vibrant, pure (undefiled) Gospel are usually located in obscure, dangerous territory, while churches that are outwardly prospering in a peaceful, economically thriving environment are usually compromising either in the doctrines, practices or spirit of the Gospel truth.

      It is within this context that the rebuke given by the Lord to the church of Laodicea needs to be properly considered. Before jumping into what does “hot, cold and lukewarm” means, we need to address the works that is attached to them (v.15a). Verse 17 gives us a good hint – if we were to paraphrase this verse, we may render it as “For you, who are lukewarm in your works, say “I am rich, I have prospered…” not realising that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.” (My addition in italics, and using the ESV translation). Thus, the works that displeases the Lord is hypocrisy that brings out a false view of them selves – they thought they were strong in material and spiritual things but were spiritually destitute in reality. The Lord’s counsel to them in v.18 is to adorn the spiritual benefits given graciously in the Gospel – if they would repent and believe (see also the much misquoted verse Revelation 3:20 – but I’ll save that for another day). The Lord hates hypocrisy – marked by self-righteousness that denies reality but adorns duplicity. We should equally hate it because at the root of it is the continual disbelief that there is anything wrong with us because we have ‘dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s’ of our man-made and man-enforced spiritual checklist. This is blindness that is harder than the crying sinner who is stuck in their predicament, never knowing true freedom. This is blindness that is deeper than the rejected man who lost everything and is now an outcast of society. This is blindness that is so deep that C. S. Lewis wrote in “The Last Battle” – “You see,” said Aslan, “they will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out. .“

      Lukewarm Works: Coming back to the temperature adjectives used – “hot and cold” are extreme states. You get to “feel” them – it is clear. Other preachers and bible teachers who are more experienced would add the historical context of the city’s usage of hot water and cold water. According to them, lukewarm water was tepid and not used for anything – unlike in our days. There is much truth – but remember, the works of Christian believers ought to be with “spirit” and “passion” – done out of a true, sincere conviction in mind and heart that there is real purpose in our actions, behaviour, decisions – the apostle Paul puts it as our “whole being/body” in Romans 12:1. Thus, the worse thing that a Christian believer can do is to offer “routine” – mindless sacrifice that is out of convenience, minimal, man-centred and ultimately, indifferent of the true purpose and Person behind it.

      Application: This is the great sin of our time – indifference. I do not care. It is not I do not care about this person or that: it is “I do not care what God thinks”. This indifference is hard to detect because it misdirects itself by our hawkish “differentiation” of the specks of other people’s wrongs; ignoring our own. No wonder the Lord uses a very ‘strong’ language in responding to such indifference from those who claim His name as their identity – “I will spit you out of my mouth“. God rejects them. More correctly, God ejects them from the comforts of His being and protection to the chaos of the world and the instability of Satan’s manipulation to bring about discipline and repentance in the lives of His beloved. This… this is something I have not heard enough from preachers who would really dissect the verse for all its worth. Why? I suspect, because we do not like discipline. We live in a world that is all about removing obstacles and not in going through discipline/correction.

      God knows how often our hearts may wander from Him and rest in the comforts of our disobedience – but that is why the words, strong words to the church in Laodicea is needful to us.

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