Hermeneutics and Heresies

When I was a wee little lad of sixteen I actually ended up having an argument with my Grandmother about the personified Wisdom of Proverbs 8. It seemed to me that it was impossible for that passage to have referred to Christ for several reasons.

1) Christ was not yet incarnated, hence, how could Solomon be talking about Jesus?
2) The text only said Wisdom, and not anything else, so of course it couldn't be talking about Jesus!
3) Darn it, I was determined to show off my newly acquired hermeneutical snobbery after a good dose of Walt Russell.

Thank God that didn't last very long (I still need to tell my Grandmother that I agree with her now)! The second Person of the Trinity always existed and will always exist answering the first point. 2) Of course Solomon couldn't have mentioned Jesus, He was not yet incarnate! But it just goes to show that the doctrine of the Trinity is not a newly created "christian' idea, it is deeply rooted in the Old Testament and finds its clearest expression in the New. God is three Persons of one essence. 3) I am still at a loss as to how I should practice hermeneutics...and poor Mr. Russell who has to have me as a student! I should pull out "Playing with Fire" again! =D

Lord Jesus have mercy on us who unwittingly commit heresy! Guide us into all truth - your Truth. Amen.

Happy Hermeneutics!

If You've Never...

If you've never sat down for pizza with a Malaysian drug dealer...it's quite an experience. haha

In Which Tigger Goes to the Movies...

So I just got finished watching "The Brothers Bloom" and I must say, I haven't been that thoroughly entertained, bamboozled, made-to-think-I-knew-exactly-what-was-going-to-happen-and-then-having-the-rug-pulled-out-from-under-my-feet from a movie since "The Prestige".

One. Heck. Of. A. Movie.

The execution is not quite as clean as "The Prestige" and the tone is much different. It's a much more learned film and by that I mean that it has many many literary references and many many more layers, but as a consequence it does feel very muddy. I went in expecting something like "Ocean's 11" and I got blown out of the water. I had as much fun on this ride as I did in "Ocean's" but it was also as gripping as "the Prestige" and quirky and myth like as "Big Fish".

It's quirky, hilarious, fun, but also at the end it leaves you with this Agggghhhh feeling like a "What just happened!" Ahhhh!!!

There are so many good lines from the script. And so many unanswered questions.

The story is about two brothers: Stephen and Bloom. Bloom's real name isn't really Bloom, but his first name is so ridiculously embarrassing that he just goes by Bloom. The two of them grew up together bouncing from foster home to foster home and eventually became con men and have been at it for 25 years. (I tell the synopsis horribly, but you'll forgive me, this is Tigger's first review). Stephen writes the story's and Bloom acts them out conning their "marks" out of their money. But after so many years of it all, Bloom becomes disillusioned and quits. Stephen of course convinces him to do one last con and that begins the most fascinating series of situations I've seen in a very long while.

I haven't felt this excited about talking about a film with friends since "Big Fish" at Emmaus Forum!

There are references to Ulysses, The Odyssey, Hermann Melville, and a whole host of other fun stuff. The film wrestles a lot with the stories we tell to others and ourselves (myths I think is the word - maybe? [I say that intending the meanings a Torreyite might attach to that word]) and the line between reality and fiction.

For now, I feel like I need to process it a lot more before I can make a call on whether it is a Good film (Yes, that is a capital "G") but for now I think I can say it is a good film. ("Big Fish", by the way, was a good film, but it was not a Good film)

I was definitely surprised.

"That was the best card trick I've ever seen!"

Anywhoo, go watch it y'all it's worth it - plus, Adrien Brody's in it, and you can't go wrong with that!

If anyone watches it or has watched it, I'd love to discuss!

A-

P.S. I also watched Howl's Moving Castle, Gladiator, The Proposal, and The Blind Side within the past 48 hours...yeah, I went a little crazy =P

Don't worry I won't subject you to my reviews on those films, but I do have to say that I really really really liked Howl's moving Castle and would like to discuss that as well =]

Reflections on the Torah

So, this first semester in Torrey we read through the Pentateuch. And to quickly summarize my thoughts.

1) My whole conception of the first five books of the bible before this trip through the actual books was dominated by the Creation account (2 Chapters) and the ten commandments as stated in Exodus 20. I didn't even know that Balaam was in Numbers! I always thought he was in Kings!

2) I often wondered how people survived on just the OT for so many hundreds and even thousands of years. After reading through the first five books, I guess I could summarized it by saying, "Wow! There's SOOO much stuff in here!"

3) God in the OT is often stereotyped as mean, vindictive, judgmental, and harsh. Reading through the Five, I'm pretty much pat convinced that this stereotype is pretty false. The God of the OT is the same as the one of the NT.

4) Which brings me to my fourth observation, the Israelites are IDIOTS, but I'm sooo much like them. Case in point:

This thanksgiving weekend I was visiting my old elementary school and I passed by a tree. It wasn't any old tree, there was a plaque under it "September 11, 2001 - We will never forget". Flashback to when I was 9, I remember watching my teachers and my principal (at the time) planting that tree. I remember where I was during that day. But to be totally honest, I've forgotten much. The event, though huge and traumatic, has truly been pushed to the back of my mind. Could it not be the same with the parting of the Red Sea, or the Wonders of the Wilderness?

(Cummins is in the room right now and for about 5 minutes he convinced me that his skin was like superman's and he's never bled in his life. Darn. I'm gullible. =P) (We ended up talking till 2:00 am about Loving God rightly, the commandments, the Sabbath, faces, authenticity, personhood in Christ)

All in all, the Scriptures are beautiful, and in them is life. Christ is, after all, the Word.

A Declaration

Something I signed and I hope you will too:

http://manhattandeclaration.org

I don't think anyone likes this wishy-washy, insecure, overly-dramatic(though it doesn't feel like it, but it probably looks like it), worrying, worrying, worrying side of me. (Including me). "Be true to yourself." Bah Humbug.

Meta Torrey's Are Awesome!

It seems like when I enter the dialectical process with people, at the end of it, somehow, someway I come tumbling out loving the people I've gone through it with.

I realized yesterday why my closest and best friends are the by and large those whom I have dialogued deeply with.

It's because we see each other's souls in discussion, no more pretense, no presumption, it's a chance to look deeply at a thing outside ourselves and in so doing come to a greater love for each other.

Not that Philosophy's only merit is in bringing people to love one another, but for me, it is at least that.

Looking for the answer to life's big questions and then seeking to live them out.

When it's done right, people become authentic in a way that I just haven't been able to find anywhere else.

Here's to baring our souls so that Christ might somehow, someway conform us closer to His Image.

Good Day!