Man of Steel (2013) Review

Rebooting a film franchise is always divisive, however this bold reinterpretation of Superman’s origin may qualify as one of the most controversial in cinema history. Big, brashly violent, and unabashedly emotional this is definitely not the Christopher Reeve’s superhero that so many have fond memories of. Instead it is a science fiction story about what it would be like to be a perpetual stranger in a strange land while trying to find your own unique identity.

See the title above? You won’t see that until the movie ends. Nothing is allowed to get in the way of this freight train of a story that hurtles through the two and half hours the movie runs. Contained within is a densely packed journey of discovery alternating with loss combined with all the repercussions of finding out alien life exists and may not be friendly.

Don’t expect much comic relief in this very serious take on the first comic book superhero. It stands in stark contrast to the relatively cheery 1970’s Superman film series.

Like Richard Donner’s classic from 1978, the movie begins on the dying world of Krypton somewhere far off in space. Hans Zimmer’s masterful soundtrack thrums away before giving way to a heartbeat of a baby being born. Amidst the decay of a spent people, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and his wife Lara (Ayelet Zurer) have done something not allowed in hundreds of years: they have had a baby by natural childbirth rather than artificial engineering.

General Conference

I know it is October because it is time for General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints again. It used to be that Halloween candy displays would alert me to the year waning, however they showed up early last month.

The second talk of the first session that just wrapped up is going to be hard to top. “Which way do you face?” was the question asked and challenges those faithful to Christ’s teachings to stand by them in the face of increasingly hostile peer pressure. If the last two General Conferences could be characterized as being defenses of Christian standards, the tone of the first session feels a bit more feisty.

Another thing that caught my personal attention was the first time a speaker used his native language rather than English to deliver a sermon. My complaint is a minor one: I wished it had been subtitled on the English stream rather than verbally translated. This was done for ease of comprehension, but I like to hear the inflections of the speaker.

Also of interest is the new Church move to embrace social media more completely. Now they have set up a way to easily share to Twitter, Facebook, Google +, and other services along with a page showing messages that have gone out. While not a fan of the Web 2.0, I can see the younger folks using this a lot.

I wish I was feeling a little more alert while watching the stream for the cold weather has made rest difficult and pain high. Thankfully, I will be able to download the talks later and listen to them as many times as I want to gain further insights into the Gospel. As President Uchtdorf said in the conclusion of the session, “the process of gathering spiritual light is the quest of a lifetime.”

Not only do I love his talks, I’ve grown to love that man.

As always, General Conference is open to everyone to see, not just members. Check out the October sessions here.

Easter 2014

Easter arrived here with storms and gloom preparing the way for Palm Sunday. The weather wrought pain throughout my body making a restful night impossible. So no church today. Is it any wonder that I feel some sympathy, perhaps even empathy for Jesus Christ today?

The hurt doesn’t even begin to match what He went through, yet it does focus my thoughts on the events that happened nearly two thousand years ago in a less clinical way than usual. There has been a running thread of sympathy for Satan in popular culture ranging from Milton’s Paradise Lost to the Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil. Where is the sympathy for Jesus, I wonder?

For all its inaccuracy, gore and blood fetishism, The Passion of the Christ did attempt just that ten years ago and became a phenomenon as a result. But that was a unique occurrence that came out of an independent movement outside of the media mainstream and is not likely to be repeated. The chosen few who rule the culture have no interest in morals, commandments, and redemption. Religion is something to me mocked and suppressed at all turns now.

Getting back to Easter, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an interesting page up on the meaning of Easter. I like how it is presented and think it well represents the fundamental rule of missionary work, which is to keep things uncomplicated, accurate, and loving. You won’t find fire and brimstone there for Christ’s mission was one of salvation, not damnation.

The live chat questions from that page are something I’d like to answer in this post, since they are rather good queries.

Not Missing the Mark

The following is a talk (sermon) I gave at church last Sunday. I can safely say this had to be the most unorthodox inspiration I’ve ever received for speaking on a spiritual matter.

In talks or lessons you may have heard about looking beyond the mark. Moses once held aloft a metal staff for the Israelite's to look upon and be healed. Many expected something flashier and looked for something amazing behind it. That failure to exercise simple faith cost them dearly.

I'll quote from the Old Testament's Book of Jacob, Chapter 4, verse 14:

But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.

I was asked to use What Thinks Christ of Me? By Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from the April 2012 General Conference for themes to use in this talk. He touches on many things ranging from the decay of society to the power of simple faith. Mostly it is about being a disciple of Christ.

So I went by inspiration that came to me after reading it again and it took me down a path I didn't expect. A sentence in that talk reads as follows:

Jesus’s call “Come, follow me”is not only for those prepared to compete in a spiritual Olympics.

I hope you will bear with me as I begin with an Olympic sporting event that appears to be a contradiction to that statement. There is a sport called the biathlon that is amongst the most challenging in the Winter Olympics.

Now I will invite all of you to use your imagination. Picture yourselves out in the countryside in gently rolling hills covered by white winter snow. It is a very pretty, very alluring world out there that glitters brightly in the sunlight as you cross country ski through. At first it is easy to keep your arms and legs moving, but after awhile the cold air begins to have a bite to it. Still feeling strong you keep moving forward with purpose, for you are in competition with many others to qualify for the Olympic Games.

Easter

A joyous Easter to all fellow believers and unbelievers alike!

I find Mark Chapter 16 to be fascinating for it shows how even the apostles were capable of disbelief in miracles. The first followers of Jesus to find he had risen again after being crucified and buried were not to be found among them. Instead, women were the first:

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

Shortly after that, Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene and when she told the eleven apostles they didn’t believe her. When two more encountered Jesus they weren’t believed either. It took the Savior showing up in person to convince them:

Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

For those who struggle with faith or think they have no faith it should be noted that the original apostles didn’t do so well in that department themselves. It is an understandable reaction to living in a harsh world and I’m sure they rationalized their disbelief quite well with perfect reasoning. Yet in the end they were wrong for Jesus lived and still does.

There are many good lessons in this account, but the one I’m dwelling on this Easter is how we can easily blind ourselves to the words of others. In a world filled with lies and the liars that tell them, there is a danger in trusting no one at all but ourselves. To a “doubting Thomas” such as myself, it is a needed message from time to time.

Another Night Before Christmas

It seems like last Christmas was only a little while ago, but I find myself contemplating the birth of Christ once again. For once I can say not a creature was stirring, but that’s only because the cats are sleeping. Since I am unable to get into the modern “holiday spirit”, I watched a movie rented from Netflix that I’ve been trying to get around to for about five years.

The Nativity Story turned out to be a wonderful film that only took a few liberties in recounting the story of Mary and Joseph leading up to the birth of the Savior. It was a very grounded and realistic account of living in those perilous times (have there ever been any other?) while showing the great faith those two special people had in God. We often speak of Mary, but it is Joseph whom I admire the most.

It was no small thing to accept and protect the pregnant virgin and the pressures must have been immense to deny her. That would have most likely resulted in her being stoned to death along with the unborn Jesus. Even with an angelic visitation to affirm the truthfulness of his wife, such peer pressures were great especially in the society of that time.

Another thing that struck me was how important John the Baptist’s birth was for Mary. The miraculous pregnancy of his mother, Elisabeth, had to have paved the way for the acceptance of what happened to Mary as well. Not only did he prepare the way for Christ with his ministry and teachings as an adult, his very birth may have ensured Mary’s survival.

And thus the greatest gift the world was ever given was safeguarded.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14

A merry Christmas to all, for the rain falls on all of us.

Godly Sorrow and Repentance

Several Sundays ago, I found myself pondering how to describe one of the major prerequisites to repenting. It is something that Paul mentioned in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 7, verses 7-10:

For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.

Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

It was while teaching that this came up and I described it as being a sincere desire to change and stop a sinful behavior versus the classic teenager’s line of “I’m sorry, okay?” There is a world of difference between the two attitudes, but I still felt my description to be lacking. So I went looking for more eloquent descriptions from others.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke about it in 2001 during a seminar:

Lehi taught this principle when He said the Savior’s atoning sacrifice was for “all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered” (2 Nephi 2:7). The truly repentant sinner who comes to Christ with a broken heart and a contrite spirit has been through a process of personal pain and suffering for sin. He or she understands the meaning of Alma’s statement that none but the truly penitent are saved. Alma the Younger certainly understood this. Read his accounts in Mosiah 27 and in Alma 36.

President Kimball said, “Very frequently people think they have repented and are worthy of forgiveness when all they have done is to express sorrow or regret at the unfortunate happening.” 3

There is a big difference between the godly sorrow that worketh repentance (see 2 Corinthians 7:10), which involves personal suffering, and the easy and relatively painless sorrow for being caught, or the misplaced sorrow Mormon described as “the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin” (Mormon 2:13).

That’s great stuff, but Claudi V. Zimic’s 2007 General Conference talk All That We Can Do really jumped out for me personally and got to the core of what godly sorrow is about:

It is difficult to bear the sufferings that are inflicted upon us, but the real torment in life is to suffer the consequences of our own shortcomings and sins which we inflict upon ourselves.

There is only one way to rid ourselves of this suffering. It is by means of sincere repentance. I learned that if I could present unto the Lord a broken heart and a contrite spirit, feeling a godly sorrow for my sins, humbling myself, being repentant of my faults, He, through His miraculous atoning sacrifice, could erase those sins and remember them no more.

The Argentine poet José Hernández, in his famous book Martín Fierro, wrote:

A man loses a lot of things

and sometimes finds them again,

but it’s my duty to inform you,

and you’ll do well to remember it,

if once your sense of shame gets lost

it will never again be found.

If we don’t experience the godly sorrow that results from our sins or unrighteous actions, it will be impossible for us to remain on the way of outstanding people.

He brought up a word rarely used these days that has become so old fashioned and quaint a notion that it has lost much of its meaning. Of course I am writing about the word “shame.”

Over at Dictionary.com, the noun “shame” is defined as:

1. the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another: She was overcome with shame.
2. susceptibility to this feeling: to be without shame.
3. disgrace; ignominy: His actions brought shame upon his parents.
4. a fact or circumstance bringing disgrace or regret: The bankruptcy of the business was a shame. It was a shame you couldn't come with us.

It is the first definition that applies in this case.

Godly sorrow is shame, in my opinion. That pain felt that you have done wrong and know you have no valid excuse for it can feel like your soul is on fire and not in a good way. So if you feel that flame that is named shame, it is a warning that you need to change what you are doing. Spiritually speaking, that begins with repentance. It is a vital first step toward coming to Christ that must be made.

So that concludes my thoughts on godly sorrow on this Sabbath day, which I hope was a good one for you.

October 2012 General Conference Semi-Live Blog Final Edition

Time to see things through, though I am very sure this format does not work for me or the material covered. But that is what experiments are for, to find out if a theory works or does not. The General Conference has been good even if my blogging it has not.

Video streaming can be found here. I forgot that on the last post! If I only had a brain…

Sunday Afternoon Session

Robert D. Hales kicked things off with a talk about what it means to be a Christian and then explained what the doctrines of the Church are. It was a direct address to those who do not believe we are Christians. He gave the example of Peter and John leaving their nets to follow Christ to point out what we should be doing. Conversion can only come through the Savior and we are made new in Christ.

Again the story of Jesus speaking to Peter on the shore was repeated, but this time emphasizing “Feed my sheep.” Since topics are not assigned to speakers and left to inspiration from the Spirit, any time a specific part of a scripture is addressed more than once in a conference, I pay attention.

October 2012 General Conference Semi-Live Blog #2

After the fiasco last afternoon and evening, I am attempting things again. A brief nap of fifteen minutes turned into hours yesterday, so I missed all but the last talk of the afternoon session. A birthday party for the daughters of a friend meant I could not make it to the priesthood session too. Maybe I should have chosen next April’s general conference for this experiment.

So here goes again on a chilly, but sunny Sabbath morning.

Sunday Morning Session

President Henry B. Eyring opened with a quote from Joseph Smith wondering where God was while he was suffering in jail. Our feelings of separation from God will fade if we are more obedient and childlike. He explained that Jesus Christ always watches over us, even if we do not see Him or open ourselves to Him. There is a need to listen for direction from the Holy Ghost and try not to let our personal desires cloud our judgment. “The Lord’s delays often seem long…” A challenge was made to go to someone you have wronged and apologize, or did I mishear that?

Trying to type and listen does not work too well, I am finding.

Making Faith Godly

Making a challenge when teaching Sunday school has its consequences. This post is one due to the fact that I have to live up to the challenge I delivered to the men in my class to write about their faith this week. Diaries, journals, wives' diaries, letter, mother's diaries, blogs, or whatever it took were part of my request.

 

So here I am, writing about my faith. It is more rambling than I would like due to being written during a hectic day yesterday and a very tired day today.

 

Faith is the first critical step towards finding salvation through Christ. Yet there are different kinds of faith, from the material to the spiritual. Only the most paranoid have no faith, though I suppose they do have faith in the idea that the world is out to get them. Simply having a belief in something unseen (ref. Hebrews 11:1) is not religious in itself, as was pointed out by the class during a lesson I taught in Elders Quorum this past Sunday.

No, there is more to it than that. So I find myself contemplating my faith in God and whether or not it is a Godly faith.

 

Trust

A post in which I ramble about trust, lies, and forgiveness.

Inspired by a post by Hanny, I have been pondering the topic of trust for the past day. While he writes about his personal issues with trust, the decline of trust in our society is what has dominated my thinking. There have been two eras in my life where trust has disintegrated within our society with the first being the Watergate fallout. The second is harder for me to figure out when it started and for good reason. I will get back to that in a bit.

It would be good for me to write a disclaimer of sorts.

A year and half ago, I went through a pain therapy course involving meditation to relieve chronic pain. In order to join the course, I had to take the multiphasic personality test that professionals belief reveal all about you. According to it, I trust too easily.

Anybody who knows me in any kind of depth knows I do not trust people one whit. My favorite mental phrase is “I don’t trust them any further than I can shoot them.” Seriously, I am not joking. When I was very young, I was trusting. It was interactions with other humans that completely destroyed that. Betrayal is something I learned about early and repeatedly.

Running to God

As I write this, sacrament meeting will be starting shortly at the La Crosse Ward. Too ill to be there, I find myself missing it like I always do when my health acts up. This time it is not quite as bad, because of something that happened last night.

One of the things about being a real film buff is the desire to reacquaint oneself with films seen decades earlier, especially ones seen when young. The changes in perception and understanding can be very profound, I have discovered. In fact, one film I loved as a teen, Cool Hand Luke, I now despise greatly. Deciding to be an adult is a conscious decision in our society these days and making that choice changed a lot of things for me.

Back in the early 80s, a movie won best picture and became an unlikely hit. Focused on runners in the 1920s trying to medal for the United Kingdom, Chariots of Fire is most remembered for its amazing theme by Vangelis. I remembered seeing the movie a couple of years after release and having a favorable opinion of it, but that is about it.

For Easter

One of the lessons I have learned from the Savior is that at the heart of all good acts lies sacrifice. One must go beyond selfish wishes, or even the instinct of self preservation in order to do good. What a world we would have if everyone behaved that way, but alas, too many think of themselves above all others.

I am grateful for such a role model and messiah. Hopefully, I will continue learning at His feet and become a better man.

Merry Christmas

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. -- John 3:16

Is is the time of year we celebrate the birth of Christ, yet it seems that it has become more and more about an arbitrary holiday, one that is about reindeer, elves, eggnog, mistletoe, tree decorating, and frantic shopping for gifts (many to be returned) at the last moment. As I grow older, I care less and less about the trappings and more about faith, hope, and charity -- with a deep gratitude for forgiveness.

At the core, the celebrations should be about healing, the kind of healing that happens from forgiving others and hopefully being forgiven in turn. Whether it be with family, friends, co-workers, or complete strangers, we should be appreciating the good things we have and letting go of the hurts of the world. That is the only way that love can be felt and this holiday is one about the love of God for His children on Earth.

So while I don't feel the "Christmas spirit" this year (or the last few years), I am focusing on what really matters: family, friends, and faith. Those things run deeper than any amount of candy canes or presents can and aren't as easily forgotten.