Olympics have begun. the faked fireworks and lip-syncing in the opening ceremonies and the alleged underage gold medal gymnastics team are just a couple of the examples.
testified of this on the national radio talk show with "Mancow" Muller. Every indication, he said, points to the fact that China is using the Olympics as a political show with Mr. Muller later pointing to the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. Over two million people still live in the labor camps, Fu says. [4]
team that was started by a small group of believers a month earlier with the help the international Christian organization Operation Mobilization, received an official letter stamped by the Chinese government requesting them to build a temporary school in Meishan city for 420 middle school students. Praise God! [7]Praise God. Within a short two weeks 83% of the total building project fund was received from friends in the US, Singapore and a third came from the brothers and sisters in China. A contract was signed with the building materials supplier who gave us a 20%-discount despite rising prices (due to high demand and teir receiving many huge government contracts). Next, the LORD led us to a professional construction who volunteered to manage the entire project for us from beginning to end - FREE of charge! [7]
The
Off on a rather obscure part of the wooded
A Brief History
Fraught with protest from every side, Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis finally realized their dream in May of 2007. After choosing Kentucky because of its relatively close proximity to two-thirds of America's population, the museum took seven years -- and $25 million dollars of private money -- to build after the imaginations of Ken Ham and so many others were finally put in concrete form. As Ham told a local radio show host, he wanted "something using
cutting-edge technology, something as good as what the secular world could do, so Christians could have something first class and professional that helps people understand that science actually confirms the Bible's history." [1]
On
Numerous protests were held involving the museum over the course of its construction. The media especially was harsh leading up to the opening, practically ridiculing the museum in many of its articles. Whether the protests were on site, in the media, or by other mediums (such as the
banner that was flown overhead on opening day reading, "Defcon says, 'Thou shalt not lie.'"), Ken Ham and AiG never ceased to fight on for what they believed in. Even amidst the ridicule and the sound of honking horns from approving motorists of the protests outside, the truth won the day. [1]
Did Ken Ham accomplish his dream? Did it live up to the hype? Was it worth a 10 hour drive to see it? It most certainly was.
Highlights of the Museum
The adventure for the museum goer starts right as soon as one walks in the door, with the long lines to sign in and buy tickets for certain events scheduled for the day. After that obstacle is hurdled, however, one embarks on an awe inspiring journey into another world, starting right after a green screen picture (see the two to the right. I'm in the back row/middle wearing the red Rebelution shirt).
This new world contains many different things to see and do whether it be the recline-and-watch Stargazers Planetarium, the special effects theater (complete with water squirting devices in the seat backs in front of you), or outside in the botannical gardens and petting zoo surrounded by waterfalls, exotic plants, and rope bridges. Once one does all this -- gathers loads of information from shows, displays of fossils, and other treasures; takes a leisurely stroll through the gardens; and/or takes a break with a snack by the lake -- one can just about think he has done all he can do.
Oh, but that's not the half of it! There is still hours of exhibits to go through. That's the best part!
The pièce de résistance of the museum's exhibits, is the Walk Through Biblical History. Knowledge seekers are taken on a journey through the Seven C's of History: Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, and Consummation. Tourists are first introduced to the two points of view: creation and evolution. Then important questions are raised in sections about human suffering and corruption, pictures crossing the line to graphic at times. The museum goer is then taken through section after section of Biblical history and ultimately how it answers those questions that we as human beings have: "Where did I come from?" "Is there meaning to it all?" "Where did suffering come from?" "How can it be fixed?" Patrons get a view of the Garden of Eden, a life-sized replica of a portion of Noah's ark, and many other things along the way (including a rather creepy animatronic Methuselah that talks).
The wonders of God's creation are at the fingertips of patrons in the museum in the Walk Through Biblical History, various theaters, and other exhibits scattered around the museum grounds such as the Dinosaur Den, an exhibit devoted solely to dinosaurs -- and not from "millions of years."
The sights were really too many describe. However, starting in the lobby and the huge welcome room dotted with animatronic dinosaurs playing alongside children (we were both created on the sixth day you know), there is one thing that stands out above all the rest: Scripture. Even after being taken hundreds of light years away in the planetarium and experiencing a show in the special effects theater (I never got used to getting water sprayed in my face in the scenes from the Flood), one of the biggest things that stood out is the Scripture at every turn.
The Importance of It All
Yes. Scripture is everywhere. It's on the walls, it's on the bags for the book store, it's in the exhibits, and even on the water bottles for sale. Scientists have vilified the museum for participating in religious indoctrination, for deliberately misinforming children, and a for being a complete joke as a scientific museum. I would argue differently. This museum is about science. It's about history. However, the first few chapters of Genesis, let alone the rest of Biblical history, make no sense without the Gospel. All of history centers around Christ -- and so does the museum, ultimately.
I was greatly encouraged by the enormous importance the museum gave to giving the whole picture. They held nothing back, knowing the criticism that would come from it. The museum portrays a pure, unwatered down view of Biblical history. The final section of the walk through is The Last Adam Theater, showing a powerful presentation of the last three C's: Christ, Cross, and Consummation. It was the most uplifting thing about the whole museum. They were unafraid to give the Gospel in its full truth and potency.
This is extremely important for unbelievers and will undoubtedly be used by Holy Spirit in the coming years. However, it is also important for believers. To sit in the planetarium and be transported light years through the galaxies and see the huge scope of it all -- and then to walk through and see God at work through history and see His love for His creation: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (Psalm 8:4). To see the vast scope of it all has put a new perspective to virtually every time I look around and look up at the stars at night.
Conclusion
Yes, the Creation Museum has undergone all kinds of ridicule, criticism, and all out attack over the years. The Cincinnati Post made it known that they are afraid the museum will hurt Cincinnati's marketability to businesses, others implying that the museum would hurt the city's hard earned reputation as an educated community. However, the museum has also been a great blessing. The press hasn't been all bad, even in the liberal media (the New York Times article is actually pretty good, given the author's worldview). The museum is an uplifting place for Christians in an age where Christ is scoffed.
In short, the Creation Museum for Christians is a place to strengthen one's faith and exercise one's mind. And for non-Christians, it is perhaps a place to ask questions and explore new ways of thinking.
Yes. Ken Ham accomplished his dream -- and he pulled it off on a grand, God-honoring scale.
Sources cited and read while writing:
[1] http://citybeat.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A139674
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/arts/24crea.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14122311/
Wed Jun 18,
The girl had taken her father to Quebec Superior Court after he refused to allow her to go on a school trip for chatting on websites he tried to block, and then posting "inappropriate" pictures of herself online using a friend's computer.
The father's lawyer Kim Beaudoin said the disciplinary measures were for the girl's "own protection" and is appealing the ruling.
"She's a child," Beaudoin told AFP. "At her age, children test their limits and it's up to their parents to set boundaries."
"I started an appeal of the decision today to reestablish parental authority, and to ensure that this case doesn't set a precedent," she said. Otherwise, said Beaudoin, "parents are going to be walking on egg shells from now on."
"I think most children respect their parents and would never go so far as to take them to court, but it's clear that some would and we have to ask ourselves how far this will go."
According to court documents, the girl's Internet transgression was just the latest in a string of broken house rules. Even so, Justice Suzanne Tessier found her punishment too severe.
Beaudoin noted the girl used a court-appointed lawyer in her parents' 10-year custody dispute to launch her landmark case against dear old dad.
Take a look at the world for a moment. What bothers you about it?
In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.~Philippians 4:6,7
God is in control of this messed up world.
Filmmaker Andrew Stanton says his latest film isn't about the environment or obesity. It's about relationships | Megan Basham
With its first feature-length film in 1995, Toy Story, Pixar changed the face of children's entertainment in Hollywood. Its innovative 3-D computer animation not only looked different, it told stories with a depth and humor that appealed to adults almost as much as kids.
As the second animator hired by the studio, Andrew Stanton has been a constant force in shaping the creative direction of the studio's productions. He has done so to amazing success. Finding Nemo, which Stanton wrote and directed, stands as the highest-grossing G-rated film of all time. Of the top 10 films in that category, Stanton, now vice-president of Pixar's creative division, was writer, director, or producer on five.
With his latest film, WALL•E, about to hit theaters, the Christian filmmaker sat down with WORLD.
WORLD: Pixar has built a reputation not only for innovative visuals but for original storytelling with Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and others. How have you managed to maintain your integrity in a field that is famous for making lazy grabs at parents' wallets?
STANTON: When Toy Story came out the media was making such a big deal about the technology, but what we were really interested in was the story. At the time everybody thought that the only way you could do an animated movie was to make it a musical fairy tale. We set out to prove that animation is not a genre, it's a medium that can be anything it wants to be like any other movie.
And we've worked very hard to keep Pixar a director-driven studio where each of our films is conceived, inspired, and executed by a singular vision. I think that ensures it will be art first and a product second. It's a lot harder to make a good movie when you try to make a product first with a little bit of art in it.
WORLD: How does WALL•E represent your singular vision?
STANTON: Well, what really interested me was the idea of the most human thing in the universe being a machine because it has more interest in finding out what the point of living is than actual people. The greatest commandment Christ gives us is to love, but that's not always our priority. So I came up with this premise that could demonstrate what I was trying to say—that irrational love defeats the world's programming. You've got these two robots that are trying to go above their basest directives, literally their programming, to experience love.
With the human characters I wanted to show that our programming is the routines and habits that distract us to the point that we're not really making connections to the people next to us. We're not engaging in relationships, which are the point of living—relationship with God and relationship with other people.
WORLD: The depiction of humanity is pretty stark in this movie.
STANTON: Well, when I started outlining humanity in the story, I asked myself: What if everything you needed to survive—health care, food—was taken care of and you had nothing but a perpetual vacation to fill your time? What if the result of all that convenience was that all your relationships became indirect—nobody's reaching out to each other? A lot of people have suggested that I was making a comment on obesity. But that wasn't it, I was trying to make humanity big babies because there was no reason for them to grow up anymore.
WORLD: Now that you mention people misconstruing your intentions, how do you feel about reports that WALL•E is an environmental movie?
STANTON: People made this connection that I never saw coming with the environmental movement, and that's not what I was trying to do. I was just using the circumstances of people abandoning the Earth because it's filled with garbage as a way to tell my story.
I always knew that I wanted WALL•E to be digging through trash for two reasons: One, I wanted him to be the lowest on the totem pole. It's a janitorial job; it's the saddest, lowest status amongst his kind; and it just makes him that much more of a lonely guy. Two, trash is really visual. Even the littlest kid understands when there's stuff in the way and it needs to be picked up, so I didn't need to spend time explaining his job. And then I just reverse-engineered from there, "OK, if there's trash everywhere, how did it get there?"
WORLD: As someone who is completely freaked out by rats, I was amazed that in Ratatouille you managed to make rats lovable. Now, in WALL•E, you've done something even more amazing—you've made cockroaches loveable!
STANTON: [Laughing] Yeah, we [the animators] took that as a personal challenge. We said, let's not even design it cute—we'll make it look like a real cockroach and we'll still make it cute! I'm glad you think we succeeded.
[Separate Sidebar]
You have to hand it to Pixar. Since Woody and Buzz Lightyear first charmed audiences in Toy Story, the studio has consistently managed to create characters that are imaginative, intelligent, and hugely popular. Despite the vast sums its movies gross, Pixar has yet to give in to the temptation to churn out a quick copy of a past hit to turn an even quicker buck. Instead, from The Incredibles to Ratatouille, each of its productions feels like a carefully considered original. WALL•E, which hits theaters on June 27, is no exception.
In the last few years, animated movies have been characterized by a kind of hyper-wordplay with the most frenetic comedic actors filling the main roles (think Shrek, Happy Feet, or, most recently, Kung-Fu Panda). Director and screenwriter Andrew Stanton takes WALL•E in a completely different direction. Throughout the film, the last little robot on an abandoned Earth says no more than a handful of words (though he says those few many, many times). Instead, as a near-genius score plays in the background, WALL•E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) communicates almost entirely with facial expressions and movement.
Even when he meets EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), and leaves Earth to follow her to a densely populated cruise ship in space, the film's reliance on physicality rather than on words doesn't change. At times, as the little trash compactor interacts with a delightful array of robots—each manifesting its own unique personality with whirrs and tilts—WALL•E plays like a new breed of silent film.
Another quintessential Pixar quality is how complex its themes tend to be compared to most kids' entertainment. Not many animated movies are told from the perspective of the parent, like Finding Nemo, rather than child. Nor have many championed achievement rather than fairness, like The Incredibles. And though on the surface WALL•E looks like it's selling the easiest, trendiest message going today—environmentalism—it's too smart for that.
True, the foundation for the story is that humanity has left the planet heaped in garbage. But far weightier themes—like how technology distances us from the wonder of creation and how that distance cripples us spiritually—play a bigger role. In fact, if Stanton criticizes people for anything, it's for worship of leisure. Because they live to be cared for rather than to care, the few human beings WALL•E meets have become, to use Stanton's words, giant babies—literally feeding on milk rather than solid food. In contrast, WALL•E, the meek little trash collector, accepts stewardship in a way that people have rejected. And because love springs from service, he comes to love the creatures that inhabit Earth. That's not an environmental message, it's a biblical one. —
| Home-schoolers threaten our cultural comfort by Sonny Scott 6/8/2008 9:39:01 AM |
You see them at the grocery, or in a discount store.
It's a big family by today’s standards - "just like stair steps," as the old folks say. Freshly scrubbed boys with neatly trimmed hair and girls with braids, in clean but unfashionable clothes follow mom through the store as she fills her no-frills shopping list.
There's no begging for gimcracks, no fretting, and no threats from mom. The older watch the younger, freeing mom to go peacefully about her task.
You are looking at some of the estimated 2 million children being home schooled in the
Home schooling parents are usually better educated than the norm, and are more likely to attend worship services. Their motives are many and varied. Some fear contagion from the anti-clericalism, coarse speech, suggestive behavior and hedonistic values that characterize secular schools. Others are concerned for their children’s safety. Some want their children to be challenged beyond the minimal competencies of the public schools. Concern for a theistic world view largely permeates the movement.
Indications are that home schooling is working well for the kids, and the parents are pleased with their choice, but the practice is coming under increasing suspicion, and even official attack, as in
Why do we hate (or at least distrust) these people so much?
Methinks American middle-class people are uncomfortable around the home schooled for the same reason the alcoholic is uneasy around the teetotaler.
Their very existence represents a rejection of our values, and an indictment of our lifestyles. Those families are willing to render unto Caesar the things that Caesar’s be, but they draw the line at their children. Those of us who have put our trust in the secular state (and effectively surrendered our children to it) recognize this act of defiance as a rejection of our values, and we reject them in return.
Just as the jealous Chaldeans schemed to bring the wrath of the king upon the Hebrew eunuchs, we are happy to sic the state’s bureaucrats on these “trouble makers.” Their implicit rejection of
Young families must make the decision: Will junior go to day care and day school, or will mom stay home and raise him? The rationalizations begin. "A family just can't make it on one income." (Our parents did.) "It just costs so much to raise a child nowadays." (Yeah, if you buy brand-name clothing, pre-prepared food, join every club and activity, and spend half the cost of a house on the daughter’s wedding, it does.) And so, the decision is made. We give up the bulk of our waking hours with our children, as well as the formation of their minds, philosophies, and attitudes, to strangers. We compensate by getting a boat to take them to the river, a van to carry them to Little League, a 2,800-square-foot house, an ATV, a zero-turn Cub Cadet, and a fund to finance a brand-name college education. And most significantly, we claim “our right” to pursue a career for our own
"self-fulfillment."
Deep down, however, we know that our generation has eaten its seed corn. We lack the discipline and the vision to deny ourselves in the hope of something enduring and worthy for our posterity. We are tired from working extra jobs, and the looming depression threatens our 401k’s. Credit cards are nearly maxed, and it costs a $100 to fuel the Suburban. Now the kid is raising hell again, demanding the latest Play Station as his price for doing his school work … and there goes that modest young woman in the home-made dress with her four bright-eyed, well-behaved home-schooled children in tow. Wouldn’t you just love to wipe that serene look right off her smug face?
Is it any wonder we hate her so?
We tend to read about persecuted Christians around the world and feel sorry for them and pity them. Think about it though. If we really are all part of the body of Christ, these people are more our brothers and sisters than our own family.
[Please excuse the grammar problems if there are any. The copying and pasting was a trip. This is my research paper for my English class. I was very touched by it.]
Introduction
Christianity is growing in the world. Despite what it may seem to many in the Western
I. Background
Although there were Catholics in
From the 1920s onward, communism slowly rose in influence until Mao Zedong and
Despite the advances that were made for the communist agenda, Mao Zedong was not
The rest of the century saw the death of Mao Zedong and the reign Deng Xiaoping. Xiaoping attempted to paint over the mistakes made in the Cultural Revolution and sent misleading messages of “religious freedom” to the outside world. The Three-Self Patriotic Movement was back with just as many restrictions as before driving millions more to the house church movement. The highs and lows over the rest of the century ended in the 90s with a heightening of the persecution—wherein thousands of house churches were closed. Torture, forced sterilization, and labor camps were among the fears of 1990s Christians. Overall, the first 50 years of the communist government saw one out of every 22 Christians detained, hundreds of thousands sent to labor camps, and thousands others tortured or killed (History of Persecution in
After seeing a brief history of the persecution of Christians in
The other question presented was, “Why do they hate Christianity?” The reality may be that
Another measure taken by
TSPM’s traces its origins to before communism in 1892, as mentioned previously, when church leaders chose to move toward independence from Western missionaries. This principle was called the Three-Self Principle: self-supporting, self-leading, and self-propagating. In 1950, however, the communists took the name and made it political. The new Three-Self Movement, later changed to the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, was designed to keep the church loyal to the communist government. Under the Religious Affairs Bureau, TSPM and the church was directly subject to the government and any objection was swiftly punished (Hart; Grant; The
What was so wrong with TSPM that prompted the explosive growth of the house church movement? TSPM decides where and where not to have meetings—only Sunday services are allowed. Those under 18 cannot be brought, evangelized, or baptized and some pastors have to have their sermons screened by the government. These and other restrictions, with severe consequences for refusal, prompted different reactions from believers. Some joined TSPM and tried to cope with the restrictions while others abandoned TSPM’s often twisted doctrines and met among themselves. Today, the millions of Chinese Christians meet in house churches—a large reason for the persecution (Hart; Marshall 74; The Underground Church). These reasons still play a part in the lives of the present day sufferers.
II. The present day sufferers
In May 2007, the annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom stated, “The Chinese government continues to engage in systematic and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief (120).” In 2004, Hu Jintao came to power in
Just how big is the Chinese church? How many people actually worship apart from state churches in these so called “house churches?” The Chinese government officially says that there are 16 million Protestants and three million Catholics. These are only those in state approved “patriotic” churches, however. The actual total is probably closer to 130 million, according to a Chinese official’s closed door report. The forced secrecy of the house church movement makes
House Groups or
Today, if arrested for “illegal activity,” believers face a myriad of different punishments.
Many Christians only face fines or a few days to weeks in prison. However, apart from labor
Peter Xu Yongze, mentioned earlier as the founder of a large Christian movement, suffered
Ma Yuqin was another first hand witness of the methods of the Chinese. She bravely endured
III. The perseverance of the saints
The question must be asked: “How has the decades-long persecution affected believers?” It’s
Not all of these struggles are felt just by the house churches. Those in the state church,
However, although there are negative effects that come with persecution, for a Christian,
The personal effects also work together to grow the church as a whole. Recent estimates
With virtually everything except listening to a state-approved, Sunday morning message
The conclusion I wrote for my paper
When I, as the author, observe my research, I draw many things. It is important to note that
I also draw many things from the effects of the persecution on Christians. As a Christian
In my overall view of my findings, I see a group of Christians who do not have freedom—yet
The story of Chinese believers has a long history. The cause of the persecution: a two-faced
