Posts

Posted on

Kitty Heaven and the Challenge of Faith

By Amy Spiegel

Recently the kids and I found a stray kitten along the side of the road. When I say kitten, I mean tiny fur-ball-with-tail, fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand size kitten. While this description may conjure up adorable calendar-worthy pictures in your head, this kitten was—how shall I put it—repulsive. Let’s just say she had eye “issues.” Still, eye infection or no, we couldn’t leave her, so we took her home with us. Since Jim is an animal lover, much more in practice than I am in theory, she settled in to await adoption. (The first order of business was clearing up the eye goo which increased her curb-appeal ten-fold.) We were soon the family to be avoided as the rumor circulated that we were desperately trying to give away a kitten.

 

Unfortunately, Bootster (admittedly a less than stellar name lovingly bestowed by Sam) didn’t last long enough to know that she was unwanted. One morning a few days after she arrived, Bailey woke us to say that Bootster was dying. Jim and I hurried downstairs to discover the kitten in obvious pain and quickly fading. Jim and Bailey took her to the vet where she was “put to sleep” (a phrase surely created to terrify children into never closing their eyes again). Each of the kids reacted in their own way—Bailey crying, Sam acting as if nothing were the matter, Maggie immediately going to draw a picture for Bootster, and Andrew standing poking at the body and saying “booboo?”

 

But later in the day things got really interesting. We were holding graveside services for our little furry friend when I suddenly realized that Maggie and Andrew (four and two respectively) had no idea what we were doing. As far as they knew, we were getting ready to bury Bootster alive. I had sudden visions of them trying this out on one another and gently tried to guide them away before Jim threw on the first pile of dirt. Alas, I was too late and Andrew threw his hands up in outrage as he watched Daddy “being mean” to kitty. I tried to explain but as the words were coming from my mouth I realized the absurdity of what I was trying to convince him of. Had it been one of my own would I have so glibly said “Child X (I can’t even bring myself to insert one of their names) is in a better place? He/she is with Jesus and waiting for us in heaven.” Heck no! I would have been right there along side Andrew, throwing my hands up in protest to heaven and begging for him/her to be spared.

 

As Maggie began to chime in, probing about the process by which we enter paradise, I realized how hypocritical we are with our kids when we try to whitewash death. Or maybe I am not so much a hypocrite but rather one who is greatly lacking in faith. It’s easy to believe that kitty is better off. After all she was a bit smelly and, frankly, a pain in the rear to take care of. But would I be willing to put my money where my mouth is when it comes to those I love, who are a bit smelly as well and often a pain in the rear but who are also the center of my small world? I pondered these things while I watched the kids play at Taylor Lake that afternoon, marveling at how quickly they seemed to recover. I sit here now, calling up each of their dear faces, half paralyzed in fear at the thought of them being taken from me. My conclusion? God knows how small I am and how very limited is my thinking. He doesn’t ask me to understand His ways, only to take His hand as I walk away from the graveside of my expectations, hopes, and dreams and trust that Daddy isn’t really being mean after all.

 

Posted on

On Judging Others

By Jim Spiegel

 
Perhaps the most frequently quoted words of Jesus are found in Matthew 7:1:  “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”  It seems that even people who have never read the Bible at least know this verse.  The reason, of course, is that it is a useful retort to anyone who ventures to make a moral judgment about a person or situation.  But is Jesus’ point here that all moral judgments are inappropriate?  Let us take a look at the context:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? …  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matt. 7:1-5)

 

Notice that Jesus is not saying that it always wrong to judge.  For one thing, this would itself be hypocritical, since it is a moral judgment on his part!  Secondly, as we see in his elaboration and illustration, Jesus’ real point is not the act of judging per se but rather how one judges.  He is condemning the use of an unjust standard that unfairly favors oneself.  And he is warning us that whatever standard we apply to others will be applied to us (a system, by the way, which we ask God to employ each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer:  “…forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”).

 

Biblically speaking, there are two kinds of judgment; one is bad and the other is good.  There is judgment in the sense of prideful condemnation, where we regard someone else as beyond redemption and maintain a false sense of our own moral superiority.  This is the kind of moral judgment that Jesus addresses in the above passage and in other passages in which he harshly critiques the Pharisees for their hypocrisy.  For example, consider the “six woes” Jesus pronounces upon them in Luke 11.  While I would not recommend pronouncing woes on people, this does suggest that there is a proper sense of moral judgment.

 

This proper sense of judgment is moral discernment.  This is a kind of judgment which, in fact, Jesus commands us to display (cf. Lk. 7:43; Jn. 7:24).  This is also the sort of judgment that Paul makes when he recommends excommunication of the immoral man in the Corinthian church.  There Paul actually says, “I have already passed judgment on the one who did this” (1 Cor. 5:3).  Therefore, unless we dare to accuse Paul of sin here (not to mention Jesus himself in Luke 11 and elsewhere), we must recognize the appropriateness of morally judging people, so long as it does not involve prideful condemnation or an unfairly applied standard.

 

Also, it is crucial to keep in mind the purpose of good moral judgments.  In the 1 Corinthians 5 passage Paul does not regard guilty man as unredeemable but rather he asserts the wrongness of his actions in hopes that he will repent.  Similarly, the judgments of Jesus, as harsh as they are at times, are always aimed at prompting repentance.  Proper Christian judgment always has a view to redemption rather than to cynically writing off people as unredeemable.  May God help us to know the difference and live accordingly!

 

Posted on

Oreos, Cool Whip, and the Modern Romance Movie

By Amy Spiegel

Lately I feel like I might know how the cavemen felt, watching all the dinosaurs die off. Something that has always been around begins to fade into memory with only bones and fossils to remind us that it ever existed. I am speaking, of course, of the dying genre of romantic comedy. Most films purported to be of this sort are conspicuously lacking in either romance or comedy. Casual sex? Yes, by the truck loads. Humor involving casual sex? Indeed. But when it comes to the I-can’t-believe-he-just-did-that-for-her romance or the oh-crap-I-just-wet-my-pants-because-I’m-laughing-so-hard humor, well, not so much.

My first clue that the species might be endangered was Down with Love. Watching this movie felt a bit like seeing your grandmother in her underwear or hearing your pious Uncle Fred tell a dirty joke, and not a very funny one at that. Still I held out hope that this was an aberration, but after being burned again and again, I had begun to seriously doubt that the strongest were surviving. (All you have to do is sit through Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall to see that Darwin obviously did not know film.)

There are those who would say that the death of the romantic comedy is hardly a loss, but I beg to differ. When my life is a bit dreary or just downright depressing, a little Jane Austen BBC-style can go a long way in lifting my spirits. There are those who would call this escapism and I will fully admit this is a danger to be avoided. But a well crafted romance can inspire, encourage, and even reprimand us for taking for granted one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind—romantic love. Our views of love are reflected, shaped, and then reflected back again by the powerful force of a good love story.

A few weekends ago, I watched two films back to back—Once and Broken English. One of these left me in awe of its simplicity and beauty. The other was like the third Oreo—it feels so good going down but the more the think about it, the more you regret having swallowed it. I think these two films make a great study in contrasts. Old school love is supposed to inspire us and make us better people, whereas the new school says if you sleep with enough people eventually you might luck out and find someone you can spend at least the next three months with. (Is my bias showing?)

On the surface, Once might seem far from the classic love story. It’s a bit darker, a bit sadder and the two main characters never actually “fall in love,” which in modern love story language translates “they never sleep together.” What they do is bring out the best in one another, challenge one another, and leave each others’ lives a little better off. They never show any physical affection for one another (they never even articulate their feelings) because to do so wouldn’t be in the best interest of either one of them, and they know this. They are tempted, but they refrain and in the end leave their friendship untarnished by regret. One of the biggest flaws in modern romance movies is that they tend to be peopled by characters whom you either don’t understand or really don’t care for. I can’t count the number of films I have seen where I am supposed to be rooting for the main characters, who are misunderstood, insecure, immature, etc. I wouldn’t let these people walk my dog, let alone date my daughter (granted, she is only four, but you get the idea).

This isn’t entirely true of the second film, Broken English but it isn’t far off either. This movie definitely fits more in the modern love story mold. Desperately (and I mean desperately) lonely girl, seeks love and companionship, and looks for love in all the wrong places. Parker Posey’s performance as Nora is amazing. You genuinely like her, want to see her happy, and definitely wish that she were your friend (and your size) so that you could raid her wardrobe. (Side note: wardrobe. It used to be that the heroines were beautiful despite their poverty, sometimes even despite their outward appearance, e.g. Jane Eyre. Then we had great clothes and good character, e.g. anything Doris Day. Now it seems like we are supposed to like the main character solely based on her clothing choices. But I digress.) The major flaw of Broken English is that you are simply supposed to take the filmmakers’ word for it that Nora has grown and become content with her singleness (during a brief holiday in Paris while searching for her lost lover). Not only that but you are supposed to take on faith the fact that this man is good for her simply because he has a foreign accent, dances badly, and is sad to leave her. Some foundation for true love. When Nora agrees to stay and “see what happens” with Julian you feel a hollow sense of victory. It’s like Cool Whip; they may try to convince you it’s just like whipping cream, and for making Jell-O salad it will do. But deep down inside, you know it’s just a cheap imitation of the real thing.

Posted on

The Apologetics.com Interview

By Jim Spiegel

My interview with Apologetics.com on KKLA in the wee hours of Saturday morning (12-2 a.m. Pacific Time) went swimmingly.  I’ve done plenty of radio interviews, but these typically last 10-20 minutes, not two hours! Fortunately, I was armed with a stiff cup o’ tea and managed to get through it without losing my train of thought or falling asleep. You can read an edited version of the interview by clicking on the appropriate link in the column to your right. Or you can listen to a podcast of the interview by clicking here.

I want to thank the hosts of the Apologetics.com radio show, Rich Park and Steve Tsai, for having me as a guest on their program and for making the time fly by.  I had a great time!

Posted on

Radio Interview on KKLA

By Jim Spiegel

This is very late notice, but I will be interviewed tonight (or, rather, tomorrow morning) from 12:00-2:00 a.m. (Pacific Time) on KKLA (99.5 FM), which broadcasts from San Diego to Santa Barbara in California. The interview is for the Apologetics.com program which airs every week at this time. You can listen to the podcast here at the Apologetics.com website. The hosts will drill me with a lot of tough questions, many of which are discussed in my book, Gum, Geckos, and God, and many others which are not. Should be fun.

Posted on

Chip Dip, Tatoos, and the Generation Gap

By Amy Spiegel

In our small Indiana town, we have one grocery store. One of my goals upon arriving here was to win over the clerks of this store. In the six years we have lived here, we have gotten to know our neighbors, the librarian, even the post office employees and yet I have barely been able to induce an occasional smile from the vanguards of produce with whom I interact several times a week. Only a handful of employees work there and they seem to be divided into two distinct camps. If you frequent our grocery establishment during evening or weekends, there are one or two younger cashiers and a bus boy waiting to ring you up. While not what I would call “socially inclined,” they seem like veritable Chatty Cathies compared with the stone-faced entourage of the early morning and afternoon hours. I am sure that I have not helped my cause by often bringing all four kids, dirty- faced and loud, sometimes in our beleaguered wagon, sometimes on foot. (Once I brought in not only our own children but a miscellaneous collection of neighborhood kids as well. This resulted in our being “escorted” throughout the store by a suspicious cashier.)

A few days ago, everything changed. I had a hankering for potato chips and French onion dip and stopped in on my way home to grab the dip. As I approached the cash register I noticed one of the young cashiers showing off a large and obviously newly acquired tattoo on the back of her neck. As I rolled my eyes at the follies of youth, I noticed one of the frozen chosen casting a similar glance. We caught one another’s eye and smiled. Just like that, I was in! She rang up the chip dip, all warmth and friendliness and we exchanged some sentiment regarding the impulsive nature of the young. I realized as I was leaving the store I had firmly planted my flag in the older generation’s camp.

Living in a college setting, I have transitioned from hip younger wife with a pierced belly button and discreet tattoo herself (if you tell my daughter about either of these, I will flatly deny it) to big sister figure to “young” aunt. I know the day is coming when some foolhardy girl will dare to say I have been “like a mother” to her. It creates a strange sensation as time marches on (usually on your face and midsection) and yet a large percentage of the population seems to remain the same age. I would be lying if I said that there weren’t times when I wanted to strangle these flesh faced young beauties with my support pantyhose (okay maybe not strangle them but at least use the support hose as a handy blindfold for my husband on occasion). I rarely find myself truly envying their youth (though I would take their pre-stretch marked abs any day of the week). Turning 30 and putting the turbulence of my twenties behind me was one of the happiest milestones of my life. What I resent is the assumption that I resent them or, heaven help us, wish I could go back and relive those days. Why is it so hard for each generation to appreciate the other’s perspective?

Perhaps even one day I will stand scowling at a harried mother of four with a wagon full of dirty-faced kids. I hope not. But walking out of the store, I held my head high and felt like proclaiming to the world “Yes, I have just purchased chip dip which has approximately 5 grams of fat per serving. And yes, this dip will immediately settle in the nether regions of my thighs and take at least 4500 crunches to remove (like that’s going to happen). I may be 30ish, and I may weigh more than I care to admit at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, but I know better than to let some body-pierced goon come near my neck with a giant needle and ink that does not wash off with soap and water!”

Posted on

The Owl, the Ass, and the Blog Tour

By Jim Spiegel

Today’s stop on the Gum, Geckos, and God blog tour is At a Hen’s Pace. A review of the book is posted there as well. My thanks to Jeanne and the other bloggers participating in the tour! Its been a blast so far, especially since I can actually be on tour while doing projects around the house, which lately have included painting, building bunk beds, and pouring some concrete steps. Good times.

Also, below is the first response to our invitation to submit owl and ass drawings. It comes from an actual artist, Danny Wilson. You can see his work at Satellite Studio. Danny tells me it was a quick “30 second” sketch. Cool. I like how the two beasts look mutually suspicious—an accurate reflection of the relationship between wise and foolish people.

Owl and Ass by Danny Wilson
Owl and Ass by Danny Wilson
Posted on

Blog Tour for Gum, Geckos, and God

By Jim Spiegel

I am doing a blog tour for my book, Gum, Geckos, and God, and it begins TODAY. For the next two weeks, a dozen different bloggers will post my answers to their questions about my book, and they will share their own thoughts about it as well. The subjects and themes of the participating blogs range from theology and culture to homeschooling and family issues. But what all of the bloggers have in common is a Christian perspective and a thoughtful approach to faith and culture.

The blog tour schedule is below. I hope you’ll drop by and perhaps even join the conversation. For more information about Gum, Geckos, and God. See the “related website” link to the right.

  • July 21 Spunky Homeschool
  • July 22 Beauty from the Heart
  • July 23 At a Hen’s Pace
  • July 24 A Holy Experience
  • July 25 Family Voice
  • July 28 Ted Wins
  • July 29 In a Mirror Dimly
  • July 30 Oversight of Souls
  • July 31 Christians in Context
  • Aug. 1 The A-Team Blog
  • Aug. 4 Embarking
  • Aug. 5 Challies.com
    • Posted on

    The Owl and the Ass

    By Jim Spiegel

    Welcome to our blog.  No doubt you have noticed the images of the owl and the ass above.  These are not random, of course.  We chose them because (at least in popular consciousness) they represent “wisdom” and “folly,” respectively.  If we had gone with random, then we’d have chosen images that are more easily drawn, like an egg and a pyramid, or a square and a tree, or maybe just a smiley face.  But no….  We had to go with purposeful and symbolic, thus leaving us in the quandary of deciding how to find some good original renderings of an owl and an ass.  The images you see were drawn by me (Jim).  Obviously, I’m no artist, as the drawings are primitive and lack pizzazz.  We briefly considered commissioning a professional artist to produce the images for us but decided against this because, for one thing, we don’t have a lot of extra cash lying around to fund this endeavor.  Frankly, we’d rather spend what we do have on chai, CDs, and diapers.  Also, we figure that since this is a homespun operation, my unwieldy drawings will do, at least for now.

    However, in keeping with the interactive nature of this blog, we would like to invite you to send us your own original drawing(s)-whether a quick sketch or laboriously crafted painting-of an owl and/or an ass.  Make it comical or serious, minimalist or ornate.  Any style or mood will do.  Why?  Because this blog will be a thing of many moods-sometimes serious and (hopefully) sometimes funny.  You may submit your drawing(s) as an attachment to Jim at jmspiegel@taylor.edu.  There is no deadline.  We may or may not incorporate your drawing(s) into our blog nameplate, but if it’s interesting enough we’ll post it.  And we will give you credit for your work if we decide to use it.  But sorry-no cash remuneration.

    Okay, enough of that.  A few words of explanation are in order regarding just why owls and asses commonly represent the wise and the foolish.  As for owls, they are nocturnal and can function very well in the dark.  Also, they are far-sighted, able to spot prey from hundreds of feet away, while having poor vision for things up-close.  These traits are good metaphors for wisdom, as wise people can maintain their integrity even in the midst of moral “darkness.”  A wise person also demonstrates a keen eye for what lies beyond, while not being distracted by immediate concerns.  The linkage between owls and wisdom probably also has to do with the solemn or studious look of the bird.  At any rate, in the West owls are commonly associated with wisdom, even dating back to ancient Greece, where Athena, the goddess of wisdom, was frequently depicted as holding an owl.

    As for the ass or donkey, its scientific name is Equus asinus, from which we get the word “asinine.”  In ancient times, the ass was used to symbolize Dionysus, the Greek God of indulgence and excess.  And as we all know, fools are overindulgent and excessive.  Donkeys also have a reputation for being stubborn and unteachable.  This is not really accurate, but we’ll follow that folklore because, well, we need a good image for foolishness.  As with humans, in the animal kingdom it is sometimes difficult to distinguish stubbornness and stupidity from independence and single-mindedness.  But in most cases it is easy to tell the difference between the two, as the ways of the fool eventually come to ruin.

    Who is wise and who is foolish?  To summarize the biblical contrast between them, the wise person is prudent, teachable, self-controlled, and morally insightful, while the fool is reckless, stubborn, self-indulgent, and morally thick-headed.  For more details, see the book of Proverbs.

    The content of this blog will display the ways of the wise and foolish.  While we will seldom apply these tags to the ideas and people we discuss, we trust you’re wise enough to know which applies in each case.

    Posted on

    Snap Shots

    By Amy Spiegel

    Brief comments on film by Amy (unless otherwise noted).
    Some old, some new.  Domestic films and foreign too.

    Thumbs Up:

    Reds:  Such a great movie that it left me wondering “What did they put in Warren Beatty’s Kool-Aid to entice him to make “classics” like Dick Tracy and Bugsy?  I don’t agree with the politics per se but some of the political discussions are priceless.

    Expelled:  I liked that this movie didn’t take itself too seriously and found both the interviewees and the science fascinating. I never thought I would feel like standing up and applauding a bunch of biologists.  Take that, Richard Dawkins.

    Prince Caspian:  We had a countdown for this movie to be released in our house and were by no means disappointed. Sure, Susan wears a little too much eye liner and I thought the boys would crawl under their seats when she got a little smooch at the end, but for the most part it was true to the spirit of the book and provided great discussion for days to come.

    Thumbs Down:

    Knocked Up:  You aren’t going to believe me, but I actually suggested this one to my mom and dad based on someone else’s recommendation.  Oops. At times funny but ultimately sad in its message of half-hearted commitments and shallow view of love.  If I ever remember who told me it had a “positive family message,” they’ll be hearing from my lawyer.

    Juno:  I can see why this was so well received by the masses.  It has a distinct atmosphere a la Wes Anderson but about half way through it felt more like an Easter egg, pretty on the outside but hollow inside.  Full of witty repartee, ultimately I felt manipulated and unconvinced.  Great soundtrack though.

    The Last Samurai:  Besides the fact that Tom Cruise unfortunately appears throughout the whole film, often speaking Japanese, it was great.  Jim and I actually held a contest to see who could predict the most scenes and even then, the filmmakers exceeded our expectations.  Bad, bad, bad.

    Head Scratchers:

    There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men: Though I wanted to dismiss both of these as unsatisfying and just plain frustrating, I couldn’t get them off my mind which tells me there is probably more there than I can digest in one sitting.  Kind of like one of those combo meals from Denny’s.  I mean, seriously, does anyone need a slice of grilled honey ham, two bacon strips, two sausage links and two eggs, plus hash browns or grits and choice of bread?  Unlike Denny’s, however, Jim and I both plan to go back and revisit these two.