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Culture God Movie Reviews Observations Politics

The Golden Compass – Yawwwwnnnn…

I was bored and nothing else was showing. I know, I know. I should not have thrown any money at this movie because it is a movie that is supposed to be about killing God. I saw the previews and I thought, “How can this be about killing God?” I hadn’t read this information on Snopes – click here to read it.  The first move isn’t about killing God, but there are all these kids with “Demons” which are these little animals that follow them around and talk, like a kindred spirit. This was disturbing because when have we ever thought of demons as being friendly little kindred spirits? Demons have always been associated with Hell and none of them have ever been sweet bunny rabbits that talk.

One thing about this first movie is that it just isn’t all that appealing. There are a lot of weird things, like “the Gobless” or “the Gobblers?” who are stealing kids and trying to separate them from their demons. Being separated from your demon puts you in a state of “Indecision”. I just didn’t get it.

With a little tweaking this movie could have been another Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings, except there isn’t anything redeeming about this movie. The little girl is sassy and rebellious, Nicole Kidman, while beautiful is frigid and frightening and while there was a part of me that wanted to like the movie and believe that all this information written about it was just a bunch of hype, but it’s not. 

When I was younger my parents were fond of saying things like, “That is just a tool of the Devil”. I used to roll my eyes at them, they seemed so backward and like such Bible thumpers sometimes. Now that I am older I see it so clearly now. This movie, certain television shows and even some music is nothing more than a clever way to desensitize people to the truth.

I’m an optimistic person by nature. I see the good in people and in the world, but lately, I see more and more of the bad. So much sin is just accepted and sometimes even applauded.  Standing up for what is moral and right is now dangerous. If you want to be ridiculed, just take a stand for morality and truth. There is a world of people out there who laugh at the idea of God and absolutes. For those people I fear that they live in fairytale land where there is no evil, no God, no right and wrong. Culture and government decide what is and isn’t morale.  For their sakes I hope they open up their eyes. Take a look at the world around them, Google a few choice words on the internet and see the seedy underbelly of this world that is supposedly making progress.  Race and gender and sexuality no longer seem to be hot buttons, instead, what I see as the greater issue is tolerance and indifference. Like STD’s we treat the symptons, we spend millions on a cure instead of elminating the root of the problem.

I like to believe that the world is still filled with hope and love and that for a while longer these virtues will continue to shine bright in an ever-darkening world.

Merry Christmas.

Categories
Design God

What am I doing?

If you wonder why my posts haven’t been as frequent it is because I am extremely busy. I know, I know, it’s the same old played out song that you are tired of hearing from me, but wait, this is busy on a whole nother level.

As you know I just bought a house and this weekend I am painting the interior of that house, but what you might not know is that I started a new business. I recently registered eddierenz.com and I do creative and technical consulting. What that really boils down to is in house computer support, small business networking and computer support, web design, wedding, birthday, anniversary, funeral slideshows/DVD’s and digital photo journals and archiving. Whew. What a mouthful. What is more is that I have a business partner in the works who is wonderfully connected and is great with public relations.  Our main focus right now is the digital photo archiving.

Why digital photo archiving? Because everyone has old photos that are stored in the attic, on a shelf, in a closet and who really wants to flip through scads of dusty scrapbooks and albums? What is more, if you want to create your own slideshow wouldn’t it be nice if all your old photos were already scanned and categorized and stored digitally? What about storing them online and then creating a webspace for family and friends to catalogue all of their photos and that way everyone can share and see without the hassle of having to drive to grandma’s house in Tinbuctu in order to see pictures of your great grandparents.

Also, when it comes time to do a funeral slideshow no one wants to deal with the issue at the time of the funeral, so why not do one before? It sounds morbid, but in reality it is just a nice addition to your will. Music – check. Casket – check. Slideshow – check. It’s not a service you would normally think about, but there are scads of terminally ill people who would probably like to put together something for their families to remember them by. That is what this business is all about.

I’m actually doing a huge photo project right now that is archiving over 1500 photos, a slideshow, and a destination presentation. Then I have another client that wants me to do all of their wedding photos and honeymoon postcards and memorabilia. We also scan and save old documents, articles and anything else that you would like to preserve in case of flooding or fire.

So the new house will be painted tomorrow and then I have to go to IKEA to furnish my office with some simple desks and chairs. I already got a business phone, cards, website, and next week I am going to open a business account. It’s really hard to believe that things are coming together so nicely. God keeps blessing me and blessing me.

So if you are interested in any of the above services, let me know. The website www.eddierenz.com is still under construction, but there is a services page with some of the stuff that I’ve done in the past – one of my favorite online photo journals is Nikki and Jeremy Johnson’s Wedding – www.postednote.com/wedding.htm

Categories
God

The Way I See It…

The Way I See It #247

Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure.

–Bill Scheel
Starbucks Customer from London, Ontario. He describes himself as a “modern day nobody.”

Apparently Mr. Scheel has never really been in a crisis where he felt hopeless. Where mere human strength and perserverance weren’t enough. Perhaps he’s never had a child with Cancer or been caught up in depression or a debilitating addiction. I feel sorry for Bill and others like him who have never been broken to the point that they had to cry out to something greater than themselves.

Everyday I see things in this world that make God real to me. I challenge those people who don’t believe in God to prove that he doesn’t exist, because from my vantage point, everything is screaming out that he does.