Joel Osteen Stretches It.

I had to scan in the cover for Joel Osteen’s Become a Better You today, the cover I had been using was from Amazon and was not the International Cover, so I had to actually handle a Joel Osteen book.

Now it’s easy to jest about dear old Joel, but other than seeing him on YouTube, I didn’t know if my views of him were valid or not, so given the opportunity, I figured I would read the start of his book, just to see If I could relate to his teachings.

The first page (I skipped the intro, so I started on page three) starts out great, with a quote from Frank Lloyd Wright, and setting up the whole premise of striving to do better.

Joel keeps the ball rolling – and me happy – by telling the sad fact that many people are living below their potential and not using their gifts an talents.

Then he says that God “wants every generation to be increasing in happiness, success, and significance.” (Emphasis mine)

I’m sure God wants us to be happy and successful doing His work, but I’m not sure about the significance part. Though, when you think about it, Billy Graham was a significant figure in American Christianity so we’ll let this one go.

Joel goes on to expand on this point however, and tells us that we should “always be reaching for new heights… in our finances, careers…” (Emphasis mine)

Now I shouldn’t be surprised that Joel is talking about money in his book, he is, after all, somewhat known for his prosperity teachings. But to bring it out one the first page really shows where the guy is coming from. Good on him for knowing his audience, but for me this only confirms my suspicions that Joel and I read the Bible differently.

$122

Today I bought home the most expensive book I own. $122 retail price. Of course I didn't pay for it work did. It's called Design Anarchy and you'll probably hear me raving about it later...

Jumping on the Tom Wright Bandwagon

It seems like everyone is reading Tom Wright (or his more academic alter ego NT Wright) these days, so I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon as see what all the fuss is about. My reading for this weekend - not that I'll be able to finish it all in one weekend - is Acts for Everyone (Part 1!).

If anyone wants to join me, I've got a slightly munted spare copy that you can have.

People named Frank are not eligible for this offer though...

A Contract With God

My love affair with Graphic Novels continues with the arrival of my newest purchase, A Contract With God.

"Eisner was not only ahead of his times; the present times are still catching up to him." - John Updike
A revolutionary novel, A Contract With God re-creates the neighborhood of Will Eisner's youth through a quartet of four interwoven stories. Expressing the joy, exuberance, tragedy, and drama of life on the mythical Dropsie Avenue of the Bronx, A Contract With God is a monumental achievement, a must in the library of any graphic novel fan.

Hhhmmm, the online blurb doesn't sound like much, but to be honest it was the cover concept that got me interested, a guy crying out to God, who apparently has broken a contract.

Oh, and I also got a Zombie Love Story called The Living and the Dead.

Yeah.

Jesus Loves Zombies

The Walking Dead Book 2 arrived last week, and I started reading it yesterday, when a major plot shift took place...

It seems that Jesus turned everyone into Zombies to honour the prayer of an ex-junkie.

Sweet.

Thank you Jesus.

How to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Send them Marmite.

That's right, Marmit can solve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Edward de Bono advised a Foreign Office committee in 2000 that the who conflcit might be due, in part, to low levels of zinc found in people who eat unleavened bread, a known side-effect of which is aggression. He suggested shipping out jars of Marmite to compensate.

Source: The Book Of General Ignorance.

Mass murder and respectability

Mass murder and respectability were not opposites, but were closely interwoven. So to see mass crime as the result of pathological states of mind seems just as implausible as assuming that the perpetrators had fallen victim to a collective split personality.
Page 43, Auschwitz: A History, by Sybille Steinbacher

Free Comic Book Day

I first heard about Free Comic Book Day, last year, a day to late. So this year I was prepared, I had the day organised and under the guise of going to the English Corner Shop and the Museum, I managed to sneak in a visit to Gotham Comics.

The deal was sweeter than I had anticipated - 1 free comic, and probably a dumb one was my expectation. But on arrival, I discovered that it was two free comics with another two for a gld coin donation to the hemophilia foundation.

Sweet.

What I got:

Choose Your Weapon Sampler: A manga sized comic sampler containing Archlord Vol1, Gyakushu! Vol 1, Phantom Vol 1, Utopia's Avenger Vol1 & Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy Vol 3.

Whiteout #1

The Umbrella Academy: Featuring The Murder Magician/Zero Killer

Conan: The Spear/Star Wars: Another Day, Another Siege!

Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero/The Lone Ranger

Supergirl: Origin Revealed!

I'd recommend you keep an eye on Gotham Comics towards the beginning or May next year so you can head along!

Hhhhhmmm, zombies

ani ma'amin

I believe in the sun even when it isn’t shining.
I believe in love even when I am alone.
I believe in God even when He is silent.

(Graffiti found in 1945 on the wall of a basement in Koln, Germany, where a Jewish believer is thought to have been hiding from the Gestapo.)

From the book God On Mute.

sub-merge

Through A Screen Darkly

I soon found that I could even learn something from the films of Woody Allen, Quentin Tarantino or that troublemaker Oliver Stone. I could gain insight by watching films from other countries, from pagan cultures where the characters didn't speak English.

Why did this surprise me? The psalms, the staple of my daily devotion time, had been composed by David, who as a king would murder, betray and fornicate, then write the psalms out of deep, heart-tugging confession. This deeply flawed individual was called a man after God's own heart.

Perhaps the wisdom of Sunday School and the wisdom of worldly art were not so seperate after all.

Jeffrey Overstreet
Through A Screen Darkly