Avatar is Boring
We’re getting into the third week of January this week. Some of you will be half way through Exodus on in your Bible reading plan. Others, like me have just read about the transfiguration (Which caused me to ask, what is the nature of a vision?) God’s covenant with Abram, and we’re looking forward to some “greatest hits” next week like Psalm 23.
When it comes to establishing a regular Bible reading plan, some people say that it takes 90 days to form a habit. Others say that once you get into Leviticus in February the “slogging” gets tough, presumably because the content gets boring. This morning, I saw a short video from John Piper where he states (as only he can) that the Bible isn’t boring, Avatar is.
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January 18, 2010 - 1:48 pm
In that John Piper video, it seems to me that he just makes a lot of statements, and doesn’t try to validate any of those statements.
But then again it was only a five minute clip of probably a much larger sermon.
January 18, 2010 - 2:23 pm
Good point Brian. I think the guys at DG stuck this excerpt online because of it’s timely and funny Avatar reference: “And that’s not even in the manuscript.”
I imagine Piper might be preaching on being obedient to God’s call for us to live lives of humility and to be seen as Christians, from Philippians 6:12-18. Perhaps he was tying in 2Tim3:16-17, to tell us that the scriptures are sufficient for instructing us to be competent for this.
I think, maybe what might be throwing some viewers off (especially if they’re not familiar with Piper) is his “God is telling you today” rhetoric. He’s not one for speaking on behalf of the Lord much, except for what the Lord has spoken through the scriptures. So I imagine he’s got some texts in mind (that didn’t make it to this two-minute clip) to validate his invitation from God to spend time in the scriptures and be shaped by them.
Would that make sense?
January 29, 2010 - 5:29 pm
I actually found Leviticus really fascinating last time I read through it, for two reasons.
1) I spent a lot of the time wondering how much more accessible the information could be to people if the repetitive stuff was presented in charts and graphs, rather than prose. Is it just the content that’s important, or does it need to be presented as is?
2) I tried to look at all the laws in the bigger context of what God was (and is) up to. Many of the laws had obvious expiry dates as is (goring bulls don’t really apply to me today), which made me wonder, “Why would God give laws He knew would become obsolete?”.
January 29, 2010 - 10:35 pm
That first point you’re thiking about is really interesting (graphs vs lists.) My first reaction was, “I’d like to see the charts and graphs.” My second thought is that God gave us Leviticus in the form of the written word, so that’s probably a sufficient way (or perhaps even the best way) to communicate its contents to is.
January 30, 2010 - 5:52 pm
Ah, but then should we have paraphrased versions of the scripture, like the Message? And really, any English translation is not the way God gave it to us. It’s been translated, paraphrased, interpreted, etc. So what’s one more level to that, really?
January 30, 2010 - 8:23 pm
Avatar = best movie of all time