Pilate's Wife

John Piper Poem

Very Interesting!

The Final Chapter

The Stargate Finale

While Stargate SG-1 draws to a close, mourning fans have a little room for hope.

MGM has given a green light for the show's creators to produce two direct-to-DVD movies based on SG-1. Executive producer Brad Wright let TV Guide in on the news this week.

"It's the climax of the Ori story line," Wright said of the first film. The movie will tie up the loose ends from the show's tenth season, which is expected to conclude its U.S. television run in June. The film will be written and directed by current SG-1 executive producer and show-runner Robert C. Cooper.

The studio is targetting a fall 2007 release for both projects -- just a few months after Stargate SG-1 ends its historic, 10-year run on cable television. It's entirely possible that the movies will also be aired on television -- something SCI FI commonly does with direct-to-DVD movies.

"They're not big-budget [films] by any definition, but for us it's pretty good," Wright said. "As we've proven over the years, just give us little more money and we can make pretty good television, or DVDs." (Executive producer Brad Wright, in an interview with TV Guide [story])
Filming will begin April 15, 2007, actor Michael Shanks told IGN.com.The storyline "has to do with wrapping up the Ori storyline, which is the storyline that has taken prominence for the last two years of the show. I don't know if [Cooper] is going to wrap it up completely or bring it to some conclusion for the sake of the fans and the franchise, to bring that epic struggle to a close."(Actor Michael Shanks, in an interview with IGN.com)

"We feel that we have an obligation to finish telling the story that we started telling," writer-director Robert C. Cooper said. "Right now, we know for sure that the main cast of Season Ten will be returning: Ben Browder, Michael Shanks, Chris Judge, Claudia Black, and Amanda Tapping. Beyond that, we are still working on it. I know that Brad's put a call into Richard Dean Anderson ['Jack O'Neill']. ... We're hopeful he'll make an appearance, whether he's in both [movies] or just one. We're not sure yet."

While all of this is interesting, it is only news on a subject which bears much more weight in my mind: the relevance of Stargate as a guidepost for searching souls...

From the zealot Ori occult, to the more passive belief system of the Ancients, spirituality and faith are essential to the plot of SG-1.

And while many groups are clearly misguided in their hopes for salvation of substantial faith, the show does serve several purposes:

1. It promotes longing. For followers of Christ, anything which enhances our longing to know him as he truly is, is welcomed. SG-1 takes the viewer out of his paradigm and places him in another belief system which, although different, may contain sometimes frightening similarities to religions of our world. It gives the viewer the sense that, while faith may be different around the globe, and even throughout the Universe, there is an essential bond in nearly every faith, whether admitted or not: that we have fallen and are in need of help.

Even though a particular faith may deny it, they have faith in something, precisely because they feel no faith in themselves. This serves to illustrate the knowledge of radical depravity.

2. The show reminds us, as Jack said in a first-season episode, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Through the constant exposure of false gods, we are not brought to denial of our own, but - rather - we are assured that he is the One True God. All of these imposters who enslave nations, these anti-christs who take human form and proclaim themselves gods, they are to be denied, withstood, and defied to the last breath.

If anything, Stargate encourages us not to bow to false gods. Not to give in to gods of flesh who set themselves up in power. How tempting it could be...just ask a Jaffa warrior. To see the god in flesh before you, arrayed in power, and seemingly invincible, while our God is unseen and mysterious.

But the show reminds us that seeing is not always believing. For this reason, Stargate continues to encourage Christianity to fight against the physical world assailing our senses and proclaiming itself as god. Lewis once said that thoughts 'and dreams are more real than the stuff we can get our hands on.'

I'll say with Teal'c, "Jaffa! Kree! I die free!"

The Calvin Quincentenary is an international, interdenominational, and interdisciplinary commemoration of the life and work of John Calvin (b. 1509), which left such an indelible impression on the modern world.

Climaxing with conferences in multiple locations in 2009, this celebration combines history, spirituality, and culture to recall appropriately the life and work of the Genevan Reformer...

READ MORE ON THIS ARTICLE...

Strong in the Force
Faith & StarWars

The Force: Although not every religion teaches that there is a God, they do teach that there is more to life than just what we can see around us.
Similarly, central to Star Wars is the concept of The Force. This is a semi-personal dimension of the Universe which has purposes for humanity but also controls their actions. In Star Wars (SW) Obi Wan Kenobi teaches Luke about The Force:
Ben: The force is what give a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things it surrounds us and binds the galaxy together...
Luke: You mean it controls your actions?
Ben: Partially. But it also obeys your commands.
In Christianity, God is central to Christian belief as the Creator of the heavens and Universe. However, God is not an impersonal energy field but a personal Being. God interacts with us, and has plans reaching into Eternity. Although the world is at enmity with God because of evil, He is present within the world through the Holy Spirit (‘Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives you?’ (1 Corinthians 3:16).

The Dark Side of The Force: The Force in the SW saga has both a good and dark side. In this relational sense, it does not suggest that God himself is evil or dark, but that one may accept the ways of darkness, while professing to walk in the light, as some Sith are seen to do.
This is a reality, since the Bible tells us that there are many who will say, "...didn't I do wonderful things in the name of (Light)?" But that God will say, "I never knew you." This is a call to Christians to examine themselves and see if they are truly walking in the Light, and not deceived by the darkness.

Good verses evil: As with all the SW films TESB deals with the theme of good versus evil. In the gospels, Jesus speaks of this as a struggle between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the devil. In some respects, this is similar to how we allow the things of darkness to take over who we are meant to be as followers of the Way of Christ. In a similar way Luke confronts Darth Vader in ROTJ and challenges him to remember who he once was:
Luke: … you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father..
Vader: That name no longer has any meaning for me.
Luke: It is the name of your true self. You’ve only forgotten.

The conflict within: As far as TESB and all religions are concerned there is a conflict between good and evil in the universe. However, this conflict is also one that happens within people. In TESB Luke experiences this conflict when he enters the tree (‘a servant of evil’) on Dagobah as part of his Jedi training. Yoda tells him he does not need to take his weapons with him but Luke ignores this and comes face to face with a vision of Darth Vader which he fights. The recognition of the conflict between good and evil in a person comes when Luke cuts off Vader’s head and sees his own face behind the mask. This scene is clearly echoed in the next film (ROTJ) when Luke fights Vader in the presence of the Emperor and when he almost gives in to his hate and anger in order to defeat him. That Luke is Vader’s son also underlines the temptation he faces to turn towards the dark side. In the New Testament the Apostle Paul notes a similar conflict in himself when he writes, ‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do’ (Romans 7:15). In fact, just as in the SW films the Jedi are trained to control their emotions, so all religions teach that the way to overcome the desire to do evil is to focus on good so that evil (sin) may be removed from a person’s life (E.g. ‘Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.’ (James 4:7-8)).
In TESB Yoda teaches Luke about the ease at which a person can turn towards evil:
Luke: Is the dark side stronger?
Yoda: No, no. Easier, quicker, more seductive.
Luke: But how am I to know the good side from the bad?
Yoda: You will know. When you are at peace… calm… passive.
In TPM Yoda echoes the teaching concerning true peace, which Christ taught.
Yoda: Much fear I sense in him.
Anakin: What’s that got to do with anything?
Yoda: Everything! Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering.
In comparison, Jesus experienced temptations which were designed to turn him away from following his true destiny.
Like Jesus, follow the True Way of Light, and embrace the peace that comes with it!

Barge of the Dead

Star Trek & Faith

In The Original Series, an episode called "Bread and Circuses," found the crew visiting a parallel planet, where the Roman Empire never fell; there were televised gladitorial matches, coerced religion, and such like.

During the episode they learned of an underground group of sun worshippers, who were persecuted by the Roman government.

At the end of the episode, Uhura informs them that she's been listening to the planet's broadcasts and that the sun worshippers don't worship the sun in the sky; instead, they worship the Son of God, and the show closes with a direct picture of Christianity and the possibility that God is incarnated on other planets, and extends efficacious grace to races other than humanity.

There is also an episode "Barge of the Dead," that warns that we need to take the possibility of going to hell seriously.

In this episode, half-Klingon B'Elanna Torres has a near death experience, in which she is made to understand that, if she stays on her current path, she will go to hell (a Klingon-themed hell).

While there are many who would protest that this sort of imagery is nothing short of paganism, I would argue that these strong pictures and metaphores are just what is needed to "purify our imaginations," as Lewis liked to say.

Unless we begin to fill our fictional moments with the beauty of the Sun (Son), we will never love him in the reality of our hearts. When our fantasies, our dreams, and our idle musings become in some way, reflective of his glory, we will be that much closer to knowing him.

Conclusion: "Buy' ngop."

That's great news!

"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."

- C. S. Lewis