Sky Is Black: July 2008

Sunday, July 20, 2008

The Jesus I Never Knew - Philip Yancey

This book by Yancey covered quite a complete areas on the life of Jesus.
First part of this book is on who he was - from the birth, background, his profile and temptation he faced. Second part covered why he came to this world, which give a detailed coverage on beatitudes, his mission, Sermon on The Mount, the miracles, and his final week before crucification. The third part is what he left behind, which includes the different he made, and God's kingdom.
A must read for a closer look on the walk of Jesus from birth to his crucification.

*on temptation: By turning down three temptations, Jesus forfeited the three greatest powers at his disposal, "miracle, mystery & authority". By resisting Satan's temptation to override human freedom, the inquisitor maintains, Jesus made himself far too easy to reject. He surrendered his greatest advantage: the power to compel belief.

*on temptation: As I looked back on the three temptations(in the desert), I see that Satan proposed an enticing improvement. He tempted Jesus toward the good parts of human without being the bad: to savour the taste of bread without being subject to the fixed rules of hunger and of agriculture, to confront risk with no real danger, to enjoy fame & power without the prospect of painful rejection - in short, to wear a crown but not the cross. The temptation that Jesus resisted, many of us, his followers, still long for)

*God insist on focusing his power on the enemy of restraint, because no pyrotechnic display of omnipotence will adhere the response he desires. Although power can force obedience, only love can summon a response of love, which is the one thing God wants from us and the reason He created us. Why does God content himself with the slow, un-encouraging way of making righteousness grow rather than avenging it? That's how love is. Love has its own power, the only power ultimately capable of conquering the human heart.

*From Jesus I learn that, whatever activism I get involved in, it must not drive out love & humility, or otherwise I betray the kingdom of heaven.

*Jesus never met a disease he could not cure, a birth defect he could not reverse, a demon he could not exorcise. But he did meet skeptics he could not convince and sinners he could not convert. Forgiveness of sins requires an act of will on the receiver's part, and some who heard Jesus' strongest words about grace and forgiveness turned away unrepentant.

*Power, no matter how well intentioned, tends to cause suffering. Love, being vulnerable, absorbs it. In a point of convergence on a hill called Calvary, God renounced the one for the sake of the other.

*Jesus left few traces of himself on earth. He wrote no books or even pamphlets. A wanderer he left no home or even belongings that could be enshrined in a museum. He did not marry, settle down, and begin a dynasty. We would in fact, know nothing abut him except for the traces he left in human beings. That was his design. The law and the prophets has focus like a beam of light on the One who was to come, and now that light, as if hitting a prism, would fracture and shoot out in a human spectrum of waves & colours.

* A sign is not the same thing as proof; a sign is merely a marker for someone who is looking in the right direction.

*Jesus introduced profound changes in how we view God. Mainly, he brought God near. To Jews who knew a distant, ineffable God, Jesus brought the message that God cares for the grass of the field, feed the sparrows, numbers the hairs on a person's head. To Jews who dare not pronounced the Name, Jesus brought the shocking intimacy of the Aramaic word Abba. It was a familiar term of family affection, onomatopoeic like "Dada", the first word many children spoke. Before Jesus, no one would have thought of applying such a word to Yahweh, the sovereign Lord of the universe. After him, it became a standard term of address even in Greek-speaking congregations; imitating Jesus they borrowed the foreign word to express their own intimacy with the Father.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Edward Scissorhands

Added another movie by Tim Burton to our movie library. Like the movies by Burton, as his movies will bring you into another dimension when you are watching them.

The movie starts when Edward(Johnny Depp) who live in a darkness in a Gothic mansion, was found by an Avon saleswoman, Peg (Dianne Wiest), and invite him to stay at her house, after his creator, a scientist passed away.

Even though he is just a mere creation by a scientist, he is a real gentleman, with a kind and pure heart. His present in the neighborhood has brought joy to the people surrounding. I like the part where he go to all the neighbor's garden to turn their plants to different shapes, by using his scissor hands. He also provide a free hair cut using his marvelous skills. And the part where he create an ice sculpture of Kim, which creates an effect of snows in the garden.

While staying at Peg house, Edward also fell in love with Peg's daughter, Kim (Winona Rider). But they never ended up together, since he was misunderstood by the neighbours as a killer. Hence Kim has to lie to all the people that he was dead. And she don't want to live with him in the castle, since she don't want him to see her aging. (Edward won't aged, as he is not a real human. Yet it was a wonder that he have feeling, thanks to the scientist who taught him all the human emotion, manner before he passed away. He died before he gave Edward his new hands)

Thankful that Burton collaborate with Depp in this movie, as he was so impressed with Depp's performance that he go on to include the actor in many of his later films.

The 1990 film was nominated for an Academy Award at the 64th Academy Awards in the category of Best Makeup and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical for Johnny Depp, while Elfman's score was nominated for Grammy Award. In addition, the film won a BAFTA Award for Best Production Design, and was nominated in three other categories.In 2003, Entertainment Weekly ranked the film one of the most "tear-jerking";and was also ranked by a Channel 4 poll of the 100 greatest family films. (source: Wikipedia)