On A Negativity Fast

I am on a negativity fast. I highly recommend it. When I feel the hands of the devil compressing against my heart, when I feel myself under attack, I consciously try to avoid negativity in music, in television, and in my life. There is nothing wrong with exploring negativity from time to time. The world is not all rainbows and noodle salad. To close oneself off from suffering and horror is to deny the Cross. But neither is the world 'nothing but' a veil of suffering. Creation is good and the wonders of God are to be found within it. Sometimes it is time to just rest in those wonders. Sometimes the joy of the Resurrection must drown out the horror of the Cross. My negativity fasts are how I do this. I don't listen to any music that doesn't have a purely positive message. I only watch movies and films in which good triumphs over evil. And I watch little to no news.

A negativity fast...I highly recommend it.

A Shared Sentiment With MavPhil

http://maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher/2014/07/a-philosophy-of-boredom.html

I share this sentiment with William Vallicella. I all but defeated boredom years ago. I really don't understand it in this day and age. 

People sometimes seem to get perturbed or doubtful when I say this. But it is the truth. Boredom is at most a passing thought or feeling, that passes away just as easily. It is hard to explain how or why this happened, but it certainly has something to do with contemplative practice. It took years of meditating to get to the point where I was able to genuinely have adventures of the mind, where I could just take off and go places beyond thought or reason. It was also a long time before meditation helped with my depression or anxiety. And it was nearly a decade before I saw real results with my sleep disorders. But only a couple of years into regular meditative practice, I just stopped getting bored.

I don't know why meditation helped kill boredom. It isn't like I meditate to get away from boredom. The best way to describe this situation is to say I've trained my self to choose not to be bored. I figure this isn't all that radical. After all, Buddhists claim to be able ot use meditation to get rid of desire altogether, and I have little reason to doubt their claim. I personally have no desire to get rid of desire (lol), but I do see benefit in lowering one's need to be entertained. I just choose to be satisfied with those cultural products I have.

Nor is it like I don't need entertainment to do this. I love media and entertainment, as anyone who reads my blog or knows me should know very well indeed. It is more like meditation helped me lower my needs so what I have is enough. 

This shows one very good use for Buddhist approaches to life. Buddhist methodology need not be used to get rid of all attachment or desire, but simply to help one be thankful and be able to enjoy what one has. And this more modest goal is in line with Christian ethics, I think.

In the end, boredom is transmuted simply into a motivation to read or meditate, or watch a movie I haven't seen in a while. I feel nothing akin to what I once knew to be boredom. In its place I now know thankfulness.

 

Reflections On Film Scenes- Lord of the Rings 1

There is so much said in just a few lines here. The reflection on the nature of sin: 'he hates and loves the ring, has he hates and loves himself.' The reflection on judgment, and pity. On intuition, and the meaning of life. "All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us." I'd put this towards the top of a list of greatest film scenes ever, and it is definitely one of the most Christological ever. The fact that both Gandalf and Frodo play Christ-figures in the film (as I pointed out in a recent post), makes the reflection on judgment and sin all that more poignant.

"It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing." Baromir represents humanity in general, at the mercy of the power of sin. Indeed sin is a small thing. Yet it afflicts us with fear and doubt and temptation. The look on Baromir's face here. The fear and doubt coupled by an almost aching longing. Baromir's entire character is summed up in that longing stare at the ring.

The hope and trust in Frodo by Gandalf here is what really stands out. Gandalf trusts in the power of vulnerability, the power of vulnerability to destroy coercive power, to destroy sin, and yet the power of evil cannot detect the greater power that resides within vulnerability itself. God was able to trick the devil because the devil knew nothing about the true power of God. "That we should try to destroy the ring has not entered their darkest dreams." The very idea that power would be put aside is beyond the ken of evil. And this ignorance is the key to evil's undoing.

The great King returns. He leaves nothing for himself, but gives fully for the good of others. Here Aragorn embodies his own Christ imagery. He is the one who can unite humanity, and he is the one who can forgive the sins of those in a kind of purgatory (can there be any doubt that the entire sub story of the men in the mountain hearkens back to classic Christianity, especially the Catholicism of Tolkien?) There are many more scenes I will be doing from LOTR over the next few weeks. There is just so much there. It is not for no reason that I created a Bible study based on the films.

The Hardest Truth

I believe that Love and Truth are one. That Love is the ultimate truth of the universe. Yet I know that this belief stands on uncertain grounds. It is perhaps the biggest risk I take with myself as a person. I can pretend to no certainty on this issue. One of the hardest things to face is the possibility that I live in a universe where Love and Truth are in conflict with one another.

Faced with the choice, which choice would I make? Which do I value more: Love or Truth? What I want to say is that I value Truth over Love. This seems the braver thing, the harder thing. I want to be able to say of myself that Truth matters more to me than Love. But if I'm pressed. If I'm forced to be honest with myself, I have to admit that I love Love more than I love Truth.

This is a scary thing because it admittedly make me more prone to self-deception. Yet my pretense to putting truth first is just that: a lie. I need love. I need to be able to connect with people on the deepest level, without having that love undercut by misery and fear. I need other people. I am not self-sufficient, complete unto myself. My attachments are what make me human. As much as I admire Buddhism, I cannot walk down that road. I must love the world so much that the loss of any part of it should destroy me. Yet how can I live with the certainty of being destroyed? For certainly loss must come.

But to admit that I value love above truth is not to deny that truth is of great value. Truth matters, and matters much. I want the truth. I do not want to be deceived. I do not want to deceive myself. I cannot survive in this world void the sentiment expressed by Lorenzo Albacete in the link below. It is a must-needs of my heart and mind that Love and Truth are ultimately One. No one argued better from this need than Miguel De Unamuno (THE TRAGIC SENSE OF LIFE), though Albacete's GOD AT THE RITZ is not too far off, and is far more accessible.

http://meaningoflife.tv/video.php?speaker=albacete&topic=death

The Purpose of Life

I disagree that the purpose of life is not to be happy. It is not ONLY to be happy. And the rest of the quote is true. But I do believe that the purpose of life is to be happy, in part. Or rather happiness is one of the purposes of life. This is from the catechism at the back of the Episcopal Prayer Book (which is awesome, by the way): "the world belongs to its creator; and...we are called to *ENJOY* it and to *CARE FOR IT* in accordance with God's purposes." (emphasis added)

Accountability

The Bible is full of stories, and lessons that either implicitly or explicitly emphasize the importance of accountability in relationships. One of the things that gets lost in adolescence is just such an accountability. Finding one's way back to it, or making sure one never fully loses it, is a hard struggle. But it is a fruitful one.

When a parent has struggles with one of their children, whether it is just an unwillingness to follow rules or something more serious like a drug problem, I always tell them they'll know things have genuinely changed when the child comes back to them and thanks them for the limits they set on their behavior. A child may have to come back home for some reason as an adult. The parent then reasserts their rights to lay down rules. The child of the parent resists those rules and it creates endless tension. The turning point is when the child becomes thankful for the rules themselves.

I have been off of drugs for over a decade. But if someone I am in a relationship with came to me today and demanded a drug test, I'd submit to one and gladly. I WANT people to check up on me. I want to be held accountable to people. The truth is, though, that we live in a society where accountability is held as a low value. Loyalty trumps accountability in our world. In fact, it seems normal to us to be defensive if people try to monitor our behavior or if we are questioned or criticized.

This, to me, is perhaps the most important moral role God plays in my life. I feel accountability as a fundamental reality, woven into the very fabric of my being. I feel accountable for all that I do and am. At least I feel that way most of the time.

But, again, this seems alien to so many people today. We don't seek out accountable relationships and we don't expect much accountability in our leaders. Maybe it was always like this. I'm not trying to put on a kind of 'in the good old days' act. I don't know directly what life was like before. What I do know is that, today, I see many people doing all they can to create webs of relationships that do not have accountability. This, to me, is part of the reason marriage is eroding as an institution. It seems to me that part of the point of getting married is to create a relationship with someone who can look at you and say "nuh-uh, you ain't all that and a bag of chips...you better check yourself." In other words, it is a way of creating a process of accountability.

Accountability. It seems the only place they are teaching it any more is AA.

Christ Images In Pop Culture

The image of Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected, is a powerful one. And it has influenced western culture in ways we can't begin to imagine. I am attracted to characters, story lines, and images that reflect the Gospel, as I find them to be incredibly useful teaching tools, and helpful in explaining why the Gospels are revelatory of God and truth. Here is a small sampling of some of my favorites (that I can call up at the top of my head).

Frodo, Gandalf, and Aragorn from THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy- I wrote an entire Bible study focused on how these three characters reflect different aspects of Jesus Christ within the films. Each character has a dying and rising scene, and each in his own way rejects the temptation of the ring. When watching the film, these are the elements that let you know you are seeing a Christ image. Frodo is "The Least Who Is Greatest", who by his meekness and simplicity is the most resistant to the power of the ring. It is this meekness that makes him the only one capable of bearing it. Gandalf is "Christ The Miracle Worker", whose dying and rising scenes are most reminiscent of the Gospels. Aragorn is the "The True King", who reluctantly gives up his place as a common man to use his kingship to unite all of mankind. I could write entire blog posts about each character.

Luke From the STAR WARS trilogy- Luke doesn't really come into his own as a Christ figure until the end. Luke ultimately saves the universe not by his power, but by his willingness to give up power. It is his suffering and his humility that inspires his father to turn against the emperor. A man using self-sacrifice to turn evil's power against itself. Sound familiar?

Adam Warlock from MARVEL COMICS- Adam's early years were dominated by Christ imagery. In fact his first big adventure was a replaying out of the Gospels inspired by JESUS CHRIST: SUPERSTAR. This is a character that was literally crucified at one point in his life. But beyond the overt early stories, this character has been defined by being called by the universe to self-sacrifice. He dies and rises over and over again. Resurrection is literally one of his powers. It is not for not reason that he's playing the Jesus role in the LAST SUPPER art piece I've commissioned.

John Locke and Jack Shepherd from LOST- These characters formed two poles around which the entire show spun. John represented pure faith, and Jack pure reason. Yet in the end it was John's vision that won out, and was affirmed by the show's creators. And at various times, both men ended up playing a Christ role in the film. So powerful and overt was the imagery that the show literally put out it's own version of THE LAST SUPPER that had John playing the Jesus role.

Emma from ONCE UPON A TIME- While the first season of this television show was more Gnostic than Christian, there is enough overlap between those two movements that the first season of the show all but demanded that I make it into a Bible study. Which I did. At the center of it all is a child, sent away by her parents so she could be the savior of their world, by being the living embodiment of true love that she was meant to be. In the end, that is what really makes Emma a Christ image: the fact that she gains her powers from True Love.


Superman from DC COMICS- Superman's Christlikeness has been more or less pronounced at various times in his history. But in the films, at least, that image has dominated. The outline of the story is all but a pure Christ parable. A boy that has the power to save is sent by his father to earth, and hides as the meekest among us as he goes around and saves us from those cosmic forces that threaten our existence. The image was made all the more pronounced by his dying and rising to life again in the nineties. In the end Superman is the vision of a secular Christ, that embodies specifically American values. But it is the choice by Superman to limit himself, to respect human freedom and to live within the bounds of a love for humanity, that touches on a deeper and more classically Christian meaning.

Starbuck (Cara Thrace) From BATTLESTAR GALACTICA- Cara is an interesting figure, in that she never is fully comfortable with the vulnerability she seems called to by life. In her heart of hearts she knows that love is what she wants to be and what she is called to be, but she fears the vulnerability it brings with it. Yet Cara Thrace ends up dying and rising again. And after that she starts to fully give herself over to destiny and the call of God. She is the one who brings humanity to salvation, and within her is contained both a Moses and Jesus image.

Neo from THE MATRIX- This one has become so well-known and almost trite within Christian culture, that I was almost loathe to mention it. But the simple fact is that list like this one is incomplete without Neo, who is a deliberate Christ parable in the gnostic drama that is THE MATRIX.

Benjamin Sisko from STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE- Sisko played an overtly religious role throughout much of the series, though that role slowly become more and more pronounced as the show progressed. But it wasn't until the seventh season that real Christian overtones became apparent. We learned that Sisko was actually engineered by the cosmic gods known as The Prophets, and his mother conceived him under the influence of one of them. And the final episode included a full death and resurrection scene, with Benjamin clearing the way between the Prophets and the people of Bajor. It is all so very Revelation 12.

...So those are the ones I can think of just off the top of my head. I know there are many, many more. I invite you to list some of your favorites.

Off- Topic: Comic Book Reviews For 7-23-2014 Pt 2

Archie Comics' AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE #6
I never thought I would've said this about an Archie comic, but this was one of the most frightening issues of any comic I've ever read. The turn these people are taking with Sabrina is even darker than what they've done with the Zombie Archie Crew. There must be something Lovecraftian in the air because they relied heavily on the Cthulu mythos here (as the current issue of Justice League Dark does). But the use of that mythos here is the best I've ever seen in a comic book. Books like GRIMM FAIRY TALES: ALICE IN WONDERLAND have used Lovecraft in various times to various degrees of success. But no comic book has ever captured the pure horror of Lovecraft's original books like Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa does here. And Franceso Francavilla's art also captures the spirit of those stories visually in an amazing way. What a horror comic! What pure brilliance! Thematically, of course, I found it all disturbing, but that was the point. Whatever my visceral reactions against maltheism represented in any form, I can't judge this issue as anything other than brilliant in terms of its execution.
Storyline: 5 Stars
Dialogue: 5 Stars
Pacing: 4 Stars
Art: 4.5 Stars
Overall: 5 Stars

Off-Topic: Comic Book Reviews For 7-23-2014 Pt 1

DC's BATMAN BEYOND UNIVERSE #12

This continues to be one of the best comic books DC has to offer. In fact, it is one of the best ongoing comic books any company is offering at all with superheroes at the center. This issue concludes the new Justice League (Ultimate/Beyond Universe) battle with the other-dimensional Justice Lords. The twists and turns here are just spectacular, and I have loved the storyline. From Zod II's confrontation with his newly-discovered parents to Terry McGinnis' experience with his alternate-universe counterpart, every thread works individually and it all comes together seamlessly. I am even becoming fonder of the art, which used to strike me as more fitting for an animated show than a comic book, and somehow lacked something. I still think some new directions in the art would be interesting, but the aesthetic of the book is growing on me. This is a must-have issue of a must-collect series.
Storyline: 4.5 Stars
Dialogue: 4 Stars
Pacing: 3.5 Stars
Art: 3.5 Stars
Overall: 4.5 Stars

DC's JUSTICE LEAGE: DARK #33
Finally, FINALLY we are getting a storyline focused on Deadman. And I, for one, love it. They are capturing Deadman's internal monologue and dialogical rhythms perfectly. There are some very interesting Cthulu-mythos elements used here in this issue, to great effect. The ending caught me off-guard, though they've done it in JLD before. The pacing is a little off, but nothing too terrible. The dialogue is solid, the storyline is awesome, and the artwork is fantastic as usual with this book.
Storyline: 4 Stars
Dialogue: 3.5 Stars
Pacing: 3 Stars
Art: 3.5 Stars
Overall: 3.5 Stars

DC's BATMAN '66 #13
Holy Moly this issue of this book took me in some new directions, directions I did not expect. Here the classic 1966 Caped Crusader takes on a new television show that seeks to present a 'darker, grittier Batman'. It is like the campier Batman is critiquing the realistic and darker versions of himself that have dominated at other times. The comedy worked as usual, but it was the commentary that I really liked. It showed that this book could do things beyond what I expected.
Storyline: 4.5 Stars
Dialogue: 4 Stars
Pacing: 3.5 Stars
Art: 3.5 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars

Marvel's DEADPOOL: DRACULA'S GAUNTLET
While comedy is always the center part of any Deadpool comic book, and it dominates here, we also actually get some genuine character development in Deadpool himself. Maybe this is nothing new, as I'm new to the character, but I enjoyed it here. The only sucky thing is that the expectation and tension in this book has been reduced by the most recent issue of THUNDERBOLTS which kind of gave away the ending. Marvel should've done something about that.
Storyline: 4 Stars
Dialogue: 4.5 Stars
Pacing: 3 Stars
Art: 3 Stars
Overall: 3.5 Stars

Art & The Book of Revelation

I have long wanted to get an artist to do some illustration work for me for the Bible study I wrote on the Book of Revelation. I do not feel the book is complete without it. For one, I really feel like I need to be able to refer to some visual at some points in the workbook. The Book of Revelation is about an encounter with a reality that is both alien and amazing, both terrifying and captivating in its wonder.

It is one of the frustrations of my life that I have little artistic talent. I've shown a modicum of success with dancing, and I love dancing in part because I get to be truly artistic. Yet when it comes to making music or drawing, I am all but handicapped. I suppose I could spend some time to learn these skills, but I am at such a deficit that I think the time it would take to get anywhere near proficiency would be gargantuan.

And so I'm waiting for the right artist to do the right kind of work at the right price. You cannot really discuss the Book of Revelation without some art accompanying it. Or so I think now. I've never encountered a more visually stimulating literary work, and I really feel that to touch the divine reality underlying the Book requires both theological analysis and some kind of artistic interpretation. Yet every time I reach out to an artist to do this work they seem unable or unwilling. I usually make it clear that their religious affiliation isn't important for them to do the work for me, but generally speaking I think this is part of their concern. That and the pieces I want are just too challenging.

I guess patience is called for in all of this, but my friends can tell you that this is not one of my primary virtues. I am confident that God wants me to get this together, now. Looking back over my book on the subject, it is pretty good. I want to revisit the book and do some refinements and a few additions but overall I think this book is the best I've written. But it will be incomplete without the art.

Off-Topic: Review of SHAHRAZAD Volume 1

I recently finished the Big Dog Ink offering, Shahrazad Trade Paper Back Volume 1. I have to say it is simply fantastic. This is based on a figure from THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, a collection of stories I know very little about. But it includes some interesting additional fantasy, science fiction and steampunk elements that come together to create a visually stunning and captivating piece of art work.

The storytelling is very different from our average book or comic book. It utilizes a lot of piecemeal flash backs and flash forwards. This can be very dangerous with a comic book, even more than with film. And I would not have wanted to read this book in single issues because at the beginning it was hard to focus on the overall of what was happening. But over time the story became clearer. An immortal or near-immortal woman from ancient Arabia is fighting a Roman god and his various monstrous companions after a shipwreck of a pirate vessel on which she worked as first mate.

But the primary story is really a tool; a means to an end rather than an end in itself. This book's focus is on creative character development. It is like the various panels that flash forward and back are jigsaw puzzle pieces and the main story is the picture on the front of the puzzle box. As we read through the book, it all starts to fall into place and we realize who Shahrazad really is. This takes some risky and creative use of pacing, which is something a comic book writer has to be very careful with. It can lead to disaster, but here it all works out. This creative use of pacing is rare and I'm impressed by how well it is pulled off.

The dialogue is solid, too. While much of the writing is more monologue than dialogue, it really works here as it did in TIME LINCOLN. The story takes some twists and turns I didn't expect, too. But the real stand out in this book is the art. I mean the art in this trade paperback is simply off the hook. I haven't been this impressed with artwork since I picked up my first issue of LEGEND OF OZ: THE WICKED WEST (Big Dog Ink publishes that one too). The colors are almost hypnotic in their beauty, and the individual scenes just blew me away. All in all, this is a great comic from a great company and one you must check out.

Storyline: 4 Stars
Dialogue: 3.5 Stars
Pacing: 5 Stars
Art: 5 Stars
Overall: 4.5 Stars

Beyond Good and Evil?

This penultimate moment in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was so powerful. Gaius Baltar was a metaphor for the entirety of the human condition. God continually reaches out to him and he continually is brought down by lust, pride and anger. Yet God never stops, and never fully abandons him. Even when Gaius embraces the idea of One True God, he still makes so many mistakes along the way. Yet he has vision, he can see, he can see God and God working in the world. Here he lays it all out, and tells others of the full breadth of his vision.

I love, of course, his observation that he may be mad, yet that this does not disqualify his experiences as genuine. People may be quick to attribute religious experience to a kind of benevolent madness, but this explanation does not suffice to explain AWAY the experience. It may be that experiencing God requires just such a benevolent form of madness. I've long held this to be possibly true. In fact, I suspect it is true. It may be that for some people, the only way to see God, the only route to God, is through madness.

But is God really 'beyond good and evil?' He's certainly beyond political and religious conflicts. But beyond good and evil? I have long held that the great insight of the Jews was that God was found in the moral, in the good. Yet there is a sense in which God is 'beyond' these concepts, even while giving birth to them. I've suggested on this blog that what we call 'good' is simply the joy of God, or the alleviate of God's suffering, and that what we call 'evil' is just our description of the suffering of God. In the end, I've said, heaven and hell melt away before the shadow of the cross. In a real sense, so does 'good and evil'. 'Right', and 'wrong', these are human concepts, to be sure. But that doesn't mean they are not grounded in God's being, or rather in God's experience.

I believe that the Cross's power is to resolve sin and to finally give us a ground for genuine meaning, without falling into a shallow moralism. What we do matters, because it affects God. But all descriptions of good and evil are themselves descriptions of the suffering or joy of God. God is crucified and resurrected each moment, based on our decisions. We call that 'good and evil', and there is some reason for that. But ultimately, the true reality is beyond that and is swallowed up in Love. For the God that chooses to suffer so that we can exist and be redeemed does so out of love. And yet that love is only made complete when we respond to it by incarnating God in our actions.

Ephemerality & Meaning

I've been seeing a lot recently about how the ephemeral is valuable and the eternal is not. This seems to me to be only a half truth. There is a sense in which the passing away of the moment makes me value it, and hold tightly to it. But to me this is more a gesture, a way of saying that the moment however seemingly ephemeral has a value that is eternal. Our valuing of what lasts is pretty obvious. We are obsessed with old buildings and great natural structures because they seem, next to us, all but immortal. Nobody seeks to make an impact in the world that DOESN'T last because such an impact would be MORE meaningful. Rather, we seek to influence history, to have an impact that endures, because we naturally assume the enduring is more meaningful.

Of course one only has to have a sense of the eternal and the relativity of time and space to realize that any impact that looks lasting is but a drop, a moment, compared to the scales of time we now understand. That may be one reason why Creationists reject science. Science deals in scales that make human life seem insignificant, and so challenges religion's claims to meaning in and through life.

Yet the sense that life is meaningful is so insistent that people have to try to lie to themselves about the less enduring being more meaningful. Yet this lie is not fully a lie. As I said, the passing of the moment is a part of the sense of meaning. Here, again, process thought seems to be the key to understanding our lives in the world. I live into the moment as something that is a gift to God. The moment is eternalized in the life of God. And so the passing of the moment matters, since once it is gone the opportunity to make that moment eternal is also gone. Yet it is meaningful only IF it is added to God's own personal stock of experience. The opportunity is something to be pursued because the OPPORTUNITY doesn't last forever. Yet whether the opportunity is taken depends on whether we have eternalized the moment.

Off-Topic: Comic Book Reviews For 7-16-2014

Marvel's DEADPOOL: DRACULA'S GAUNTLET #2
This second issue was not as funny nor as well executed as the first, yet I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Blade has come to interrupt Deadpool's quest to return Dracula's bride to him, as have several other supernatural beings. Deadpool's commentary on the supernatural is what really makes the comic book entertaining. Yet, the pacing in this issue was way off. Even in a comedic comic book, pacing matters. Overall, though, a good book.
Storyline: 3.5 Stars
Dialogue: 3.5 Stars
Pacing: 2.5 Stars
Art: 3 Stars
Overall: 3.5 Stars

Marvel's THUNDERBOLTS #28
I have to warn you not to read this comic until DEADPOOL: DRACULA'S GAUNTLET is done. Buy it and put it away until then. That is because it kind of ruins the ending of that other book. I'll not say more. But as an overall comic, this book is awesome. The Punisher really impresses in the way he handles the attempt on his life, and I love the way Deadpool talks about Elektra. There is a scene with The Leader meditating, too, that is out of sight. This is also the best treatment of Ghost Rider I've seen in a long time. I am loving this book.
Storyline: 4 Stars
Dialogue: 3.5 Stars
Pacing: 3.5 Stars
Art: 3.5 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars

Marvel's SILVER SURFER #4
Here Silver Surfer attempts to return his new companion home and is impeded by the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, and her desire to become a real friend to him. The scene where Surfer meets her family for dinner is surreal, and surreal has been the tone of this book from jump. I have to say I like that. The book drags a bit and there are some things that are a bit too over the top, but there is plenty of mystery here and I am excited about the overall direction of the book.
Storyline: 3.5 Stars
Dialogue: 3 Stars
Pacing: 3.5 Stars
Art: 3 Stars
Overall: 3.5 Stars

Dynamite's ARMY OF DARKNESS: ASH GETS HITCHED #1
As Ash prepares for his wedding, the consequences of a recent foul up on his part begin to mount (as is so often the case, he said magic words he shouldn't have). There are some very gory and frightening scenes in this issue, which is unusual for Dynamite's ASH offerings, which usually stick to the more comedic side. I like the pacing of the book and the storyline has me very interested, though the art leaves something to be desired
Storyline: 3.5 Stars
Dialogue: 3.5 Stars
Pacing: 4 Stars
Art: 2.5 Stars
Overall: 3.5 Stars

From My Book CONVERSATIONAL THEOLOGY: Evil As Cancer

"To help us understand this process, I will be using two metaphors as I explain my understanding of sin: one dealing with addiction and dealing with cancer. I think both metaphors are helpful to understand both the moral and metaphysical definitions of sin, which I think we can and should reconcile. Please remember, however, that while analogies are important when talking about revelatory truths, they become a problem when they are absolutized. At some point all analogies break down. We must always remember Ian Barbour's injunction that the map is not the territory, nor the model the thing it represents. Analogies are helpful as heuristic tools, but they make poor arguments. However problematic they may be, and however much we stand in danger of making them some end-all, be-all representation of the object of study, they play a role in almost all philosophical systems, and they still can be quite helpful as we move forward."...

"This all has dealt so far with human nature, but it is not just human nature that is in need of restoration, it is not just humans that aren't 'right'. I cannot help but see a lot of value in the lines of thought that emphasize an extreme metaphysical understanding of sin. The idea of a devil, or of sin as almost a demon, may seem outdated to some people, but I happen to think it is as pertinent or more pertinent than ever. Part of the problem with modern theologizing about sin is the attempt to psychologize the subject or to reduce it to simply a moral idea. I think this is to remove the greatest power the words of, say, Paul and John have to offer. It is just because the world as a whole seems 'not right' to us that Paul's entire metaphysical framework makes so much sense and is so attractive. The original reference to the 'snake' in the garden is a primitive version of this insight. Anyone who has experienced a child or even an animal suffering from cancer will realize that the natural order is also far removed from what we perceive to be God's Will for it. Evolution has further sharpened the issue, being as it is a stark illustration of the evils of the natural order. My 'it's not right' reaction definitely includes this wider cosmic context. My own struggle within myself, against my own sinfulness, also comes to me as something cosmic in scope. The quest to work in concert with God, and to overcome my own evil to do so, is experienced as a titanic struggle involving me in truly cosmic forces. This sense of a cosmic context for our moral struggle is one of the essential intuitions leading to God and I think we are hungry to regain an understanding that enlightens that experience.

In an attempt to couch my views in terms that can be fit into a modern cosmological framework, while retaining the idea of evil as a living and active force, I have often used the analogy of a cancerous tumor. I take evil to be a cosmic consequence of a universe possessed of freedom and misusing it. All of creation has some freedom, some self-creative power. Such power is grounded in God, in that God grants the power to creation, but what is done with the power is in the hands of individual entities themselves. I suggest cosmic sin is like a cosmic cancer, the result of a large number of 'cells' going haywire and refusing to act as they were intended, and acting instead in unison against God. This cancer is seen at every level of creation, and when it comes to us, it encourages us to become a part of it. If and when it succeeds to make us a part of it, it then incorporates us (or rather individual acts of our lives) into it's organized rebellion. Very likely it has a role in the corruption of our desire for maturation. In the same way that natural disasters and innocent suffering are evil but not malicious, this cancer is truly evil without being a sinner itself...it is rebellious and organized but not exactly conscious (though I'm open to that idea), and the addiction to it of so many of our fellow men as well as our shared reality is part of its enticing power...the ultimate 'peer pressure'. So, ultimately, I agree with Paul that 'sin' is prior to, and the cause of, much of the 'sinning' in the human condition.

But it is also important to note here is that cancer, while in some sense alive and acting in accordance with it's own self-organizing principles, is parasitic on the larger organism in a way more extreme than other types of diseases. The idea that the Devil was a fallen angel is perhaps one of the purest insights into the nature of cosmological evil. Only a being that has the potentiality of the divine in it has any power at all, all power ultimately derives from God's being. The devil is not another god over against The Lord, but rather a cancer that cannot survive except that the Lord has has created an essentially good (ordered, creative, beautiful) world full of life and complexity from which it can feed. God is so much bigger than sin, but sin is good at pretending it is more powerful than it is, just as cancer may give the illusion that it is the defining characteristic of the being to which it is attached. It is a lie, most of the person is good, and healthy, and what it should be. Evil can only operate in an ordered universe, a universe grounded in God. All power derives from God, but the use of power is in the hands of the created, such is the nature of Creative, Suffering Love."