Will Smith: Hot or Not?

"I AM LEGEND". Most of us saw the movie. Will Smith, only man left living in the world because he is somehow immune to a strange zombie virus that has... zombie-fied the human race. So he's got his dog and his guns and his will to find a cure and thats about it. It's a good movie, freaky freaky in some parts, and Will does a fine job.

SIDENOTE: I found the book "I Am Legend' by Richard Matheson and it is SO different and SO much better.

So who likes Will Smith? I do. He's a great actor and his movies are some of my favorite. Imagine for a second he's your bestest favoritist actor of all time. Imagining it? Okay... now imagine someone coming up to you and telling you Will Smith is a slime-ball, two-faced, no good sissy boy who's face should be limited to the radio? Would you get upset? Of course you would.

"Hey man, shut up! Will Smith is da bomb!"

"Nah, he's a loser!"

"You're a loser!"

Look familiar? It does to me, even if something like that never conspired out loud. So why do we get angry when people insult our favorite celebrities? It feels like a personal attack does it not? But guess what? It shouldn't feel that way. In fact, we'd better make sure we don't feel that way! Have you guys ever stopped to think about the person you're sticking up for? Do you know them at all? Their beliefs? How about what they contribute to society ESPECIALLY from a Christian standpoint? Just how instrumental are they in STOPPING the furthering of the kingdom?

Don't freak, i'm not anti-media or anti-having favorite actors, you know that, but here's an example:

A Will Smith "Rap" song: (yes, I put it in ""'s. you listen to some of his stuff and you'll see why.)

Ms. Holy Roller

This dedicated to an old friend of mine, Michelle
She a holy roller now, turned over a new leaf
Now e'rything old gon' burn

Ms. Holy Roller, new angel, got ya Bible out shoutin' and you're ringing a bell

mid-life, reborn, can't wait to tell, if I don't believe what you believe,

I'm going to hell...

I've been down with Jesus since Sunday school & Easter speeches

The Bible was survival, that's what my grandma would teach us

Since I was 5, I've been dying and trying to read it When I did I did, it redefined it

Now you was 34 when you found Jesus after your life fell to pieces

Wife two times, with two guys, now enlightened in speeches

Seemed to flow out your mouth with the hype of a preacher

Took your whole life to reach you, now I'm a trifling creature

Come on, if I die right this second, I reckon that God would simply check

into my life & times, dissecting my rhymes, he'll see how I've been leading his troops

You can't do dirt your whole life then say "oops'!

Now where was Jesus, when you life then you was cheatin', when you was deceiving me?

Where was Jesus when you greedy, your lawyers was bleeding me?

Where was Jesus when every weekend, a new man living with you?

Oh, wait he was with me, trying to keep me from killing you!

Now, where was Jesus when you was lying & you was betraying me?

When I was trying to make it, you was hatin' delayin' me, huh?

Where was Jesus when the ice was thrilling you,

Oh, he was he with me trying to keep me from killing you!

If I ain't know Jesus, ain't no telling where I would be

It's been nights I felt like feces; I needed to fight to release it

I'm in the limelight, it's hot & the heat is ceaseless,

Holding my tongue while little bums cut me to pieces

The only reason's cause I studied the life of Jesus &

Venting with my pen, intending to write & release it

But when an ex-friend would slight me or slam me with venom

I hate it, I can't stand it, damned, I really resent it

I always strive to be righteous, my version of God

The reason why I never write verses with curses inside

The reason I never purposely hurt persons,

I've applied many teaching of God,

Searching the reaches of God

Pondered the mysteries of why you be dissing me,

I adore you all I hope for you is freedom from misery

You made mistakes & blunders, you breaking from under

But yo, If I'm going to hell, it's making me wonder

The greatest atrocities ever committed on this planet have been in the

name of God

This country was founded by Puritans, for the expressed purpose of

oppression-free worship

Your attitude is the same arrogant, fearful fundamentalism that fueled the

hatred of the Crusades

& the attacks on 9/11.

If we are not allowed to worship God as groups & individuals free from

persecution, in respectful

Tolerance, there's only one outcome...

What is Will talking about? Unfortunately, the truth. He had an experience with a holier-than-thou hell-fire and brimstone preaching Christian and now he's telling the whole world. HE'S TELLING THE WHOLE WORLD. This is what Will Smith has contributed and the saddest part about it is that it's not his fault.

Will's not a bad guy. He's not a devil-worshiper, not a murderer, not a sex-singing drug-bringing money-flinging hip-hop dude. He's got a head on his shoulders that includes both ears. And this is what he's heard from us. He's labelled us the cause of so many problems and now he's not afraid to tell everyone who will listen. And you know what? Simply because he's Will Smith means that people are all ears. Everyone loves their celebrities. Everyone has their heroes, their idols, their favorite actors.

This isn't about not sticking up for the skills an actor has that someone else bashes. This is about understanding and realizing what kinds of messages these celebrities are sending out. To stick up for someone means to defend them, to protect them, to support their position and to resist their opponent. I looked it up.

This kind of thing is not a big deal in itself but this is also one of the lesser examples. You want something harsher? check this out. don't ask me what this song means. I haven't the slightest idea. All I know is it's exactly what I'm talking about. The message that celebrities are sending out into their spongie fans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdU3fKbbbu0&feature=related

It offends me. It'd better offend you too.

So... who's your favorite actor?

being me [or you]

Qualified. There's always someone telling you you're not qualified. It doesn't have to be words, mind you, it could be in the form of a rejection letter, a promotion gone to someone else, an "F" on a paper, or even a dirty look. I find myself sometimes looking at other people and saying,

"Sheesh... it's always someone else. It's never me. When's my shot? When can I [insert aspiration]?"

Then once you get over that bout of selfishness, another MEMEME giant rears it's ugly head.

"I could totally have done that. Hey! I could do that better! If only they had chosen me. If only that person wasn't constantly hogging the spotlight! Then maybe I'd get noticed."

I used to go through those two phases a lot, admit they were wrong to feel that way, and try and move on with my unnoticed, untapped life. But then I started to actually try and do the things I was convinced I could do better than [insert person] who had been hogging the spotlight-- and I fell flat on my face.

SHOCKER: I'm not as great as I thought I was.

So then you start to understand the rejection letter, the promotion that passed you by, the "F" you deserved, and why that person, once self-righteous now a "truth-seer", gave you a dirty look. A new bout starts to run through your head.

"Why am I here? What good will it do? There are so many more people qualified than me. Why would anyone want to hire me or work with me when they could have someone else?"

Man. A hard pill to swallow. Not qualified. Not good enough. And you know what hammers in a nice big nail? Can't get qualified unless you get experience which you won't get a chance to gain because you're not qualified.

If you think this is bad-- try this on for size. When you've got the call from God to go into full time ministry and you're not qualified for it, that means you're not good enough for God to use. BAM! Shot in the heart.

Who feels like this? Me. You. Everyone. Even the spotlight stealer and the dirty look giver. You know what else? You will probably have feelings like this forever. Some of us more than others. But guess what I've discovered? That's all they are! FEELINGS. Soft, fickle, and modifiable feelings. Since when does feeling dictate reality?

God would never create something not good enough for the purpose He created it for.

Our problem is is that when we're not in the very midst of that purpose we "feel" like it doesn't exist at all. Sometimes we have to wait. Sometimes, yes, we're not READY for that job/position/promotion, but that doesn't mean we're not good enough for it. Just because a plumber doesn't have his own tools yet doesn't mean he can't or won't ever fix pipes!

Our culture is saturated with NOW-HERE-MYWAY and we have no idea what not yet, not here, and not this way mean. It certainly took forever for it to sink into me and I still forget sometimes.

I guess all I have left to say is this: No one else is ever going to be qualified to be me and I'd better get on with it because I'm certainly never going to be qualified to be you.

Ray Bradbury's Epiphany

Who all read Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury in high school? You know, the story about the book burners? (A movie called "Equillibrium" was based roughly on it. I highly recommend watching it. It has Christian Bale in it...)But anyways, I loved this book when we were "requested" to read it. I've read it multiple times. I can't say much about it for fear of spoiling it for you, but I will say that human emotion is only fully appreciated and grasped when it is gone.

One day while I was strolling down the aisles of OPEN BOOKS-- a tiny little second hand book shop a block away from school-- I saw RAY BRADBURY in big gold letters on the front of a book with a haunted house plastered on it's cover. Cool, was my reaction. If you know me, you know that I like monster stories and such, so I snatched it off the shelf and read the back. It turns out, "From the Dust Returned" was in fact a connective story about the family that inspired the ADDAMS FAMILY, which was developed by him and his buddy Charles Addams. Crazy huh? Bet you didn't know that.

So as I push through the artistically frayed pages and the over-gushified prose, I learn about One Thousand Times Great Grandmere (a 3000BC year-old mummy lady), Timothy (a Human child born to "unliving" parents and abandonded at the house), and all kinds of relatives with wings or webs or relocatable souls -- and even Rameses' royal undead cat. Weird, right?

Then, on page 117, when the "Oldest Darkest Undeadest Leader" of the house is explaining why they as creatures are in danger from the rest of the world, he tells us of the impending war. What impending war? OUR WAR. It blew my mind that Ray, someone who has no particular views on God whatsoever, could capture the post-modern effect on Christianity.

------

"War?" Timothy glanced up. "What war?" And then clapped his palm over his mouth and blushed. "Sorry."
"No need, boy. Listen, now, let me provide the history of the rising tide of disbelief. The Judeo-Christian world is a devastation. The burning bush of Moses will not fire. Christ, from the tomb, fears to come forth should he be unrecognized by doubting Thomas. The shadow of Allah melts at noon. So Christians and Muslims confront a world torn by many wars to finalize yet a larger. Moses did not walk down the mountain for he never walked up. Christ did not die for he was never born... Does the unholy or holy win? Ah, but look: the answer is neither none or what? Not only is Jesus lonely and Nazareth in ruins, but the populace at large believes in NOTHING. There is no room for either glorious or terrible. We are in danger too, trapped in the tomb with an uncrucified carpenter, blown away with the burning bush as the east's Black Cubicle cracks its mortar and falls. The world is at war."

------

Ray's words astound me. The way he says things! Have you ever had that experience where someone says something to you and you reply, " I never thought of it like that" or "I've never heard it said like that"? That's what this is!

"Christ did not die for he was never born..." Does he mean he literally believes that Jesus was never born? I don't think so. I think he means to say the world has made up their minds that he was never born so therefore his death and ressurection mean nothing to them.

It doesn't take John Piper or Jerry Jenkins (ha) to enlighten us theologically. In this case, it's someone who has been around for a while, who keeps his eyes open, and likes to write fanciful words. Hey, obviously right? You're reading what I'm writing...

What are your thoughts?

Who Are You Worshipping?

Project: to create a list of BEST AND WORST worship music within the last 10 years.

How do you even begin?

At first, you're thinking, "Well that's easy, I can think of quite a few songs that I don't like." But why don't you like them? They don't sound right to you? The lyrics make no sense? Are the lyrics wrong even? How about chord progression? Do you even know what chord progression means? Who are you to say a song is WORST? Someone out there likes it. At least the person who wrote it.

EXAMPLE:
Person #1 - "I'm don't like "Draw Me Close to You". It's too sappy! Too cheesy!"
Person #2 - "... but I like that song. It's pretty."

So how do you begin to define sucesses and failures withing the song writing community? Go to the root of the problem! WHAT IS WORSHIP MUSIC SUPPOSED TO BE AND DOES THIS SONG FIT THE BILL?

Worship music is from God, about God, and for God and his glory. That's it. Get all technical with me but that's what it boils down to. So why do we sing songs where every other word is the word "I"? Shouldn't it be "You"? I heard a song somewhere recently with this message: "My God is better than your god because my God does all these great things for ME in MY life." Those were not the exact words but you get the idea, don't you? What is that all about? One of my good friends described it as a "Neener Neener Neener" song. I couldn't agree more.

So if I don't like the words in songs these days, what should they be, you ask. Let me give you an example of BEST AND WORST, in my mind, now that I've thought it all out.

- Me Vs Him -

----------

ME

(Trading My Sorrows)

I'm Trading My Sorrows

I'm Trading My Shame

I'm Laying it Down for the Joy of the Lord

I'm Trading My Sickness

I'm Trading My Pain

I'm Laying it Down for the Joy of the Lord.

Yes Lord Yes Lord Yes Yes Lord

Yes Lord Yes Lord Yes Yes Lord

Yes Lord Yes Lord Yes Yes Lord

... amen?

----------

HIM

(Lord, You're Holy)

Wonderful, Glorious, Holy and Righteous.

Victorious, Conqueror, Triumphant and Mighty.

Healer, Deliverer, Shield and Defense,

Strong Tower and My Best Friend.

Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Soon Coming King,

Alpha, Omega, Lord of Everything...

Holy is Your Name.

I color coded it so you can see the difference. Red is me blue is GOD. Now which song do you thing pleases God more to hear? Or in other words, which song Praises God more? Now I'm sorry if you said "Trading My Sorrows" but I personally don't feel like worshipping myself instead of worshipping Him. Sound harsh? It should. This is IMPORTANT! We take this subject so lightly today!

"Oh, it doesn't matter... it's just a song! Stop being so picky/whiney/bossy/fussy..."

That's what I'll hear sometime. But hey, if someone took a verse of scripture and re-wrote it to the point of heresy would it bother you? (And just to take another quip at "Trading My Sorrows", what the WHAT is a chorus of YesLordYesLordYesYesLordYesYesLordLordYes supposed to mean?) >P

So the next time you're in chapel/church/worship night, and you're screaming the same four words (that have something to do with you) at the top of your lungs and the drums are getting louder and more and more exciting and your jumping and waving your hands and the band leader--sorry, worship leader, starts singing yet another octave higher, stop and take a look around. Who are you worshipping? Yourself? Your buddy up on stage wailing away on the guitar?

Once you understand what I mean, do something to change it.

Project: To not add to the worst worship music of the next 10 years.

But that's just my opinion...

Why Not?

So many people talk. They talk about this, they talk about that and who and what and why me-- but not many people listen. i don't listen. Do you listen? Can you think of a time where someone, friend or not, was telling you one of their opinions and you had to press your lips together from blurting out how stupid you thought they were? Dr. McDuffy, a teacher at Moody for those of you who don't know, says, "Stupid is being held hostage to your own opinion." Sure we all laugh and marvel at how profound he is but do we notice the countless times a day when we are held captive by our thoughts? "Nah, it doesn't happen to me..." we all say. Well it does. All the time. So much that we will take our favorite incarcerated word "stupid" and apply it to everything.

Has anyone else noticed that we've turned our entire world into a stupid, dirty place where stupid people do stupid things?

Has anyone noticed that living in a stupid world is upsetting?

What if we shut up for once and kept out stupid opinions to ourselves? After all, they are just opinions, and opinions are relative because we live in a post-modern world where everyone does what's right in their own eyes.

You know who's opinion isn't stupid? God's. What if we tried to have His opinion once and a while? How about all the time? Bet you can't do it. BET YOU CAN'T MAKE YOURSELF REMEMBER TO DO IT. You know why? Because you're stupid too, just like me.

You know what I'm going to do for the next three days? Try and withold the word STUPID. I'll try to never say it. THREE DAYS. Let's you and me do it. Let's give up ourselves and listen-- for once. Let me know how it goes.