2007 June | Ben Cotten

Archive for June, 2007

Evaluating Film as a Christian

I read an interesting post over at The Resurgence. Greg Wright is discussing how Christians should be evaluating films and wondering whether or not we have lost the plot (sorry… couldn’t resist the wordplay there). He brings up an interesting point.

Consider this graphic Hollywood plotline: A man travels to Las Vegas to retrieve his cheating wife. On the way back to Los Angeles, the two stop at a rundown motel in Death Valley. During the night, a mob of sexual degenerates surrounds their cabin, threatening to sodomize the man. Hoping to appease the bloodlust, the man throws his wife outsideÃ¢â‚¬â€and when morning comes, the mob has left nothing of her but a corpse. The man cuts up her body and sends pieces of it to his friendsÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ But that’s nothing compared to the bloodbath that follows.

This is actually a modern synopsis of Judges 20-21. And it would have been avoided by every good church-goer and reamed by Christian film critics. Yet there it is in our Holy Bible.

1786 days ago 0

Touching the Untouchables

We took a look this weekend at two events in the ministry of Jesus that show us how we are to treat the outcasts in our culture.

First there’s the woman with the issue of blood read from the account in Mark 5:25-34. Leviticus 15:19-28 tells us what the Law said about women who had this problem. Not only were they themselves unclean, but every thing and every person that they came into contact with was deemed unclean. Every place they sat, every thing they touched, every man they were with would be “infected”. This poor woman had spent all she had on doctors trying all manner of things to fix her. None had succeeded, and in fact scripture says that the “treatments” had only made things worse.

1789 days ago 0

My Wife is my Key to a Happy Marriage

June Cleaver As a celebration of my 9th wedding anniversary yesterday and as a sequel to my recent “Marriage Advice” post, I thought I would share with you my secret to my happy marriage.

Her name is Heather Cotten.

Here are ten reasons why I think she is the best woman God ever created. Seriously. EVER.

1793 days ago 0

Giving Our Kids Holy Ambition

It’s the day after Father’s day. I came across this short message from John Piper some time ago and saved it for today because it really challenged me as a father.

The world we live in is constantly telling our kids that they should have whatever they want. Not only that, but they should have it without cost. They are told that believing in themselves is the key to a good life, when in reality it’s belief in God that is the key. It’s not self esteem they need, but God esteem. As Christian parents, we often find ourselves competing with the world views of teachers, tv marketing, Barbie and Oprah.

1796 days ago 0

Worship with Fear and Friendship

There’s a line in one of my favorite Delirious songs that exclaims, “I’m staring in the face of the Miracle Maker.” It’s a song about the holiness of God and how He changes us to be more like Him in his holiness.

One of the things that I think the non-denominational/charismatic and emergent churches tend to forget is that God is holy. His holiness isn’t passive. By that I mean, God isn’t just without sin. His holiness demands that all other things be holy as well. It should frighten us a little bit that an all-powerful, all-knowing, sovereign God is essentially hunting down sin so He can kill it. This should concern us since we are sinners in our very nature!

1800 days ago 0