Netflix Pick of the Week: 2001: A Space Odyssey

My Netflix Pick of the Week is another classic.  I want to recommend this movie, not because I particularly enjoy this movie or because I think this is such a great movie, but simply because it is a classic.  Here is the Netflix description:

Stanley Kubrick's quiet masterpiece probes the mysteries of space and human destiny. While investigating the appearance of mysterious monoliths throughout the universe, astronauts David (Keir Dullea) and Frank (Gary Lockwood) battle their ship's intelligent computer, HAL-9000. This epic sci-fi drama based on Arthur C. Clarke's story "The Sentinel" was nominated for four Academy Awards and won for its stunning special effects.

The movie is rated G, so the whole family can watch it.  One warning though, the "bad stuff" in the movie is all of the evolutionary references.  If you watch it with your kids, it gives the option of opening up some dialogue on the topic.

If you are already a Netflix subsrciber, click here to watch the movie or to add it to your instant queue.

What's the difference?

I'm going to borrow someone else's words for a moment...

“Dad, what does it mean to be a man and not a woman?” or a daughter’s question, “Mom, what does it mean to be woman and not a man?” If you can only answer that question in terms of biology or in terms of pop-culture traits, this book is worth reading in full.

Most of the Christians that I know would answer these questions, as the quote states, "...in terms of biology or in terms of pop-culture traits..."  I might even say that for most Christians that I know personally, to answer these questions by going to the Bible, may not even enter their minds.


This is why I am going to share this resource with you.

The book that the quote is referring to is a book by John Piper titled, What's the Difference?: Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the Bible.  You can get the book on Amazon for a fairly inexpensive price, but you can also download a pdf version for free.  I downloaded it, then uploaded to Google Docs for later reading.

Click here to go to Amazon.com

Click here to download the free pdf version.

Sunday Afternoon Sketch

I used to draw all of the time.  Doodles, sketches, and even a couple of art classes.  Even as a young adult, I drew several pictures for my wife. Recently my youngest has been doing a lot of drawing, and doing very good at it.  Plus he loves it.  So I bought him a sketch book and some pencils over Christmas break.

 Watching him draw had stirred up some old passions in me as well, so I decided to purchase a second sketchbook and a second pack of pencils.  That was over Christmas break.

Yesterday I picked it up and decided to draw my oldest son as he played some video games on the laptop.  I call it...

He Wasn't With Us Yesterday

And the photo I took after I was done sketching...

I forgot his bracelets, he moved his leg, I didn't draw the lamp correctly, I skipped the TV and the cup on the coffee table, ...

I am a dead man already.

“I do not need to plead my own cause … I am a dead man already. My life is dead and hidden with Christ. It is your lives that in danger, you are dead in your sins. I will pray to God that after you have killed me, He will spare you from eternal destruction."

- Kefa Sempangi, facing 5 would be assassins in Idi Amin’s Uganda

[via Kingdom People]

A Considerable Speck (Microscopic)

by Robert Frost

A speck that would have been beneath my sight
On any but a paper sheet so white
Set off across what I had written there.
And I had idly poised my pen in air
To stop it with a period of ink,
When something strange about it made me think.
This was no dust speck by my breathing blown,
But unmistakably a living mite
With inclinations it could call its own.
It paused as with suspicion of my pen,
And then came racing wildly on again
To where my manuscript was not yet dry;
Then paused again and either drank or smelt --
With loathing, for again it turned to fly.
Plainly with an intelligence I dealt.
It seemed too tiny to have room for feet,
Yet must have had a set of them complete
To express how much it didn't want to die.
It ran with terror and with cunning crept.
It faltered: I could see it hesitate;
Then in the middle of the open sheet
Cower down in desperation to accept
Whatever I accorded it of fate.
I have none of the tenderer-than-thou
Collectivistic regimenting love
With which the modern world is being swept.
But this poor microscopic item now!
Since it was nothing I knew evil of
I let it lie there till I hope it slept. 

I have a mind myself and recognize
Mind when I meet with it in any guise.
No one can know how glad I am to find
On any sheet the least display of mind.

I really enjoyed this bit of Robert Frost.  I really feel a lot of the stuff he writes, but I definitely enjoyed this one.  Especially the last two lines of this poem.


The Poetry of Robert Frost
All eleven of his books-complete.
By Robert Frost
Edited by Edward Connery Lathem

Netflix Pick of the Week: Dragons or Dinosaurs

click to go to Netflix

I visited the Creation Museum for the first time yesterday, so my Netflix Pick of the Week is going to reflect the topics that are trending in twitter stream of my mind.  The pick this week is Dragons or Dinosaurs.  Here is the Netflix description:

Mythological representations of dragons appear in cultures worldwide, often resembling dinosaur species identified through their fossilized remains. Could this mean dragon legends are rooted in reality? This documentary seeks to find out. Interviews with researchers indicate that the existence of dinosaurs might actually help support the biblical story of creation and explain other mysteries of our cosmic origins.

I added this movie to my instant queue several months ago.  It sounded interesting, but I was never in the mood to watch this movie when I sat down to make my nightly viewing choices.  I eventually watched it during one of my bouts with illness over the winter months.  I was stuck in bed with only the Roku to entertain me, so I decided to go ahead and give this documentary a shot.  I'm going to tell you right now... I did not regret that choice.

This documentary was very well done.  It includes plenty of interviews, historical facts, and other relevant information that is demonstrated in a believable fashion. It seems that the dragon myth, which covers the globe in a countless number of different cultures is actually quite important.  Important enough to draw the attention of different evolutionary and atheistic proponents, who have attempted to give an answer for these origins of these myths.

I highly recommend this documentary.  Give it a shot.  If you watch it, add your thoughts here.

I just wanna be a sheep.

I just wanna be a sheep... 

baa... baa...

I just wanna be a sheep... 

baa... baa...

Pray the Lord my soul to keep...

I just wanna be a sheep.

(Image via 22 Words)