The name of the movie is The Unborn. It is a horror film starring Gary Oldham who plays a “spiritual advisor to a young girl who is tormented by the soul of her unborn twin brother.”
Did you catch that?
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If we were able to somehow calibrate our time’s equivalent to a moral Dow Jones Industrial average, I wonder if 2008 would have fared any better than the financial markets. Indeed it was easier for me to recall many discouraging trends and headlines than encouraging, from a culturally conservative, Christian perspective.
Be that as it may, I have put together this list of the good and the bad. Perhaps as you make your New Year’s resolutions, you could ponder this question as well:
Concerning Trends
- The Shack was a runaway bestseller
- Yoga became more widely available–in churches at that
- Millions of pro-life Christians supported Barack Obama
- Emergent church spokesman, Rob Bell and Brian McLaren, became much more influential
- Numerous pro-life initiatives went down at the ballot box (in South Dakota and other key states)
- The so-called gospel of Judas gained headlines and caused confusion
- And perhaps most disturbing of all, Christianity Today published a movie review of Sex and the City (a fairly favorable one at that)
Encouraging Trends
- Millions of people worldwide accepted the Gospel, with key gains in China, Africa and other parts of the world.
- Rick Warren represented evangelical Christians well at a presidential forum at Saddleback Church.
- The Bible was the number one best selling book–yet again.
- The Chronicles of Narnia books and movie outdid The Golden Compass.
Finally, it was also amid the backdrop of 2008 that this very blog, Pilgrim’s Progress, was founded. We appreciate you reading our thoughts and offering yours. Here’s praying for a good 2009.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.
Proverbs 31:8 (NIV)
My criteria include:
a) focus on the Christ Child and all His coming means;
b) whether it has stood the test of time (i.e. newer songs have the burden of proof; and
c) musical quality (though I realize many older hymns were later put to other tunes).
But first, honorable mentions include: Hallelujah! Chorus (I was recently told this was actually part of the Easter, not Christmas, portion of Handel’s Messiah); O Come All Ye Faithful, and Mary Did You Know?
The top five are:
5. What Child Is This? (I love the composer’s answer to his own question)
4. Away in a Manger (Children love this song and for good reason)
3. Silent Night (Is there any more serene song that this?)
2. O Holy Night (enough said)
10. A Christmas Story (so many classic lines)
9. Frosty the Snowman (brings happiness even thinking about it)
8. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (lovin’ the song)
7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon, not the Jim Carey)
6. Miracle on 34th Street (the black and white version, of course)
5. Ernest Saves Christmas (admit it, you like this one too)
I just read a message from Mike Huckabee. I hope you will read it as well and will be encouraged.
From World Magazine’s blog:
“Beliefnet recently interviewed Rick Warren and asked, among other things, if gay marriage or divorce was a bigger threat to the family. Warren, who supported Proposition 8, said it was a no-brainer: ‘Divorce. There’s no doubt about it.’”
This may surprise some of our readership, but I think Warren is absolutely right.
In the past, I have referred to Father Jonathan’s news blog on Fox News website. He has posed another intriguing penning.
In his “Letter to a Frazzled America,” he asked readers to post responses to three questions. Read the rest of this entry »
The indispensable Christian journal, Touchstone, has an interesting new piece entitled “Morality Ploys,” underscoring the pro-life setbacks in 2008. It begins:
If 2008 is remembered as the year of the “bailout,” when the federal government spent billions to rescue the nation’s financial system, it should also be recalled for another kind of bailout—Christians with impeccably pro-life records who suddenly abandoned what they declared to be a sinking ship.
Read the rest here, if you can take it.
Update: Touchstone mag just really lost me. They, in the same issue as the piece above, published a column that lauded the Harry Potter books. Even worse, it praised the phenomenon they’ve created. I probably still need to blog about my antipathy for those works, but suffice it to say, I think everyone should stick with the Chronicles of Narnia.
A bizarre AP story shows that some “divorcees share houses divided amid foreclosure fears.” The story tells of a “Denver couple [who] divorced after six years of marriage but have been forced to live together for months because they can’t sell their place or afford to set up separate households in this slumping economy.”
Setting aside moral and spiritual implications, wouldn’t it have been easier to stay together and work things out? Read the rest here.
If you’re tired of ESPN’s one-sided analysis of the Big XII South title controversy, my good friend and fellow-blogger, Keith Rogers, makes an excellent case for OU over Texas.
I bought this for my wife for Christmas. Why ruin the surprise with this blog entry? Because we already opened her gift and watched it. (Does that make it “our” gift?)
We can’t decide if Prince Caspian is better than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but they are both simply superb and are must-sees. The action in Caspian is slightly better, but it’s hard to beat the original’s storyline.
Here was my mini-movie review, published last May.
Note: About the title to this entry, I just got used to saying “available on DVD” instead of VHS, and now they invent Blu-ray to confuse this Luddite. Go figure.