Its a Wonderful Life is my favorite movie of all time. It is a Lane family tradition to watch this film every Christmas eve. It is a reminder to me that the material things in life, although nice, do not matter. What matters is what Jimmy Stewart says in the following quote.

“Today I’ve heard the filmed called “an American cultural phenomenon”. Well, maybe so, but it seems to me there is nothing phenomenal about the movie itself. It’s simply about an ordinary man who discovers that living each ordinary day honorably, with faith in God and selfless concern for others, can make for a truly wonderful life.”

To see the article that this quote came from click here.

What do you think?

I am the last person to say that I am a fan of President Obama, however, I must say that some parts of his Olso speech I really liked. Why did I like parts of it, It sounded some what like Ronald Reagan. While I don’t believe that Obama is anything like Ronald Reagan, parts of this speech sounded alot like what Reagan would have said. Parts of his speech show a dramatic change in attitude in regards to the United States Military conflict.

Below are some highlights of his speech that I liked.

“There will be times, when nations – acting individually or in concert – will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.”

“Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: the United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans.”

There are also parts of this speech that I disagreed with.

There were parts about expanding the power and influence of the United Nations which I am very much against. Other parts in the speech that I disagree with; however, there were parts of this speech that I liked, which is very rare and is why I decided to post a blog about it.

If you would like to read the whole speech, click here.

]]> http://www.johnmichaellane.com/?feed=rss2&p=446 http://www.johnmichaellane.com/?p=442 http://www.johnmichaellane.com/?p=442#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:21:32 +0000 John Lane http://www.johnmichaellane.com/?p=442

A couple months ago the House of Representatives censured one of its members, Joe Wilson,  for shouting “You Lie!” to President Obama during a speech he gave to both chambers of congress. Joe Wilson shouted “You Lie!” because the President claimed that Abortions ad Illegal aliens would not be covered in the healthcare bill. However, after the Senates vote to Table the Nelson Amendment yesterday, It appears that Rep. Joe WIlson was right.

The Nelson Amendment contained similar language as the Stupak Amendment in regards to banning insurance policies that covered abortions from receiving Federal Funding as well as prohibiting any “Public Option” that formed from covering abortions.

What the democrats and two republicans in Maine have a problem with me and the majority of Americans not wanting to spend tax dollars on abortions, I don’t know. All I know is that my hard earned money may now go to pay for something that is completely contrary to my religion and goes against the majority of American’s conscience.

WIth only 38% of people supporting this Healthcare bill and with 51% of Americans opposed to abortion, it seems to me that Congress is not doing the will of the people, one has to wonder if Congress would like to be re-elected in November.

If you would like to see how congress voted on this issue click here.

In Other news…Donny Deutsch is a moron…but thats another blog.

I have been doing alot of reading recently about the different ways pastors and churches use media in teaching. There is a phrase that I’m sure everyone has heard “The Medium changes, but the message stays the same”. There is another phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan that says “The Medium is the Message.”  I believe the statement by McLuhan is correct. I have been reading recently about a guy named Shane Hipps. Shane Hipps was an advertising executive for Porshe until he quit and became a pastor.

In an article in Collide Magazine, Shane Hipps talks about how in many ways the medium becomes and shapes the message. He gives the example of Light and Worship Centers. He states:

“If your church, as a structure, is built in the round, and all of the lights are always on in your worship service, you will create an experience of community in a way that you could never create if the lights were down and everyone was facing forward. That medium itself creates a more communal Christianity, whether you want it to or not—it just does.”

While it may be good to establish a more communal Christianity, it is important to realize the implications of this idea that the Medium shapes the message. Hipps gives another example about the use of imagery.

“Images will always win. Whatever I’m saying, if there’s an image on the screen, it will always win. It will always be more powerful. It will always hijack the imagination of the audience over what I say, and sometimes I do that very deliberately.”

Now, I haven’t reached a conclusion about the use of media in the church. The idea of  a communal Christianity is appealing to me; however, The idea of the worship center breading the communal Christianity rather than knowledge of the word of God is troubling to me. I also can’t say that images and video in the church are wrong; however, having images and video hijacking the imagination over to the point of view of a speaker is not appealing to me. It seems to me that it encourages a lack of thinking.

Again, I can’t say that media in the church is wrong, However, I would encourage those of you in the church to think carefully about the effects that media has on your church. We should not use images or media for the sake of using images or media. Let us approach the use of media very deliberately. Because as Marshall McLuhan says “The Medium is the Message.”

Anyway, these are just some thoughts. I don’t claim to be an expert in this area so I welcome any comments.

So, after watching all the conference championship games Saturday, I decided to read some news. While reading MarketWatch.com, I stumbled upon This article. If you don’t want to read the article, I’ll sum up what it said. Apparently Congress and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce is trying to force the BCS to institute a playoff system. Now, I have to say that I am VERY happy that congress is getting involved! Lets face it, the BCS has alot of problems, and what better way to fix a problem then to get Congress involved. After all, Congress has a track record for figuring out cost effective, efficient and well thought out solutions to problems. Below is a list of just some examples.

1. Social Security
2. Medicare
3. Medicaid
4. The Economy
5. Health Care
6. Illegal Emigration
7. Global Warming (We fixed it by changing its name to climate change)
8. The War in Iraq
9. The Economy
10. The War in Afghanistan
11. The National Debt
12. The National Deficit (Yes…they are two different things)
13. The Economy (Have I mentioned that one yet?)
14. Education
15. Voter Fraud
16. Ethics Reform
17. Tort Reform
18. The War on Drugs
19. and oh yeah…the Economy.

These are just a few things I can thing of.. With this track record, who wouldn’t want the government and congress involved in fixing the BCS’s problems. After all, having fixed all of the problems listed above Congress now has the time to fix this problem. I am all for this solution.

For those of you who would like to read more, either read the article above, or you can read the actual text of the bill here.

If you have any thoughts on this issue please comment below.

So, With this climate gate scandal it seems that this theory known as “Anthropological Global Warming” is finally starting to be seen as it is…bad science. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Climate Gate started when a hacker hacked into the email accounts of some of the most prominent scientists and researches that are making the case for AGW. In these emails, there are reports of scientists manipulating data and using “fuzzy math” to cover up evidence that directly refutes the AGW theory.

Now, congress and the current white house administration don’t seem to care about this. Instead of looking into what is going on with this, they are continuing to try and pass Cap and Trade, also known as Cap and Tax. It is absurd to me that this is happening. Imagine what would be happening if a conservative scientist was accused of using fuzzy science to say that Intelligent design is true. Congress and the President would be up in arms about it! But instead of calling for inquires and investigations to make sure the evidence they are basing their AGW claims is sound, Barbara Boxer is callig it “email theft”.

Anway, here is an article by in “The HIll” about the same subject.

So, today I flew in to Denver on my way to see my parents who live in Colorado. As the plane was circling the airport and preparing to land, I could see the mountains. They dominated my field of vision, then I looked down, and saw the tiny a city Denver. To me it was a profound reminder of how big God is and how small man is in comparison. I am amazed that people can look at the Mountains and not see that there is a God worthy to be praised. The following verse came to mind when I looked out the window of the plane.

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

-Luke 19:40

When I look at the mountains, I can definitely see the stones crying out.

Books

So, I have been reading alot about C.S. Lewis lately for some reason and I have stumbled upon another quote of his that I thought I would share. In light of all the work that I do with Artios Academies, I found this statement to be very true.

“Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.”

With man’s fallen nature, all knowledge and education we gain only goes so far as to make us a a more “clever devil”. Values and more importantly, a biblical worldview must be integrated in all knowledge that is taught. Without this firm foundation of a biblical worldview, education cannot equip a man of God for every good work.- 2nd Timothy 3:17.

“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.” - C.S. Lewis

To me, it seems that if we focus on God’s word and Truth rather than clever church models and man’s faith in his “Rethinking” things, we will discover that it is not man who makes God relevant to post-modern man, but rather, it is God that makes God relevant to the post-modern man. It has nothing to do with clever church models. If the Gospel is being preached, and the sole focus of the church is to glorify and know God, then God will use that attitude and example to open the post-modern mind to truth.

Let us just tell the truth, or as Paul puts it, “Preach the Word”. I believe if we do this and seek to understand the Gospel and the word of God , The Gospel will become relevant and original to the post-modern man on its own, because in today’s church culture, it will probably be the first time he has ever heard it.