Exodus God's and Kings: Movie Review

Rated PG [Canada] and PG-13 [MPAA] for violence, including battle sequences and intense images; directed by Ridley Scott; stars Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Isaac Andrews, John Turturro, Ben Mendelsohn, Ben Kingsley, Maria Valverde; run time: 150 minutes.) Wrestling with God and Scripture By Ted Giese Darren Aronofsky’s “Noah” (2013) was an opinionated film chock full of dark, cryptic, extra-biblical mysticism and environmentalist concerns often feeling like propaganda for something. Ridley Scott’s “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” on the whole, is a much different film. His sword-and-sandal epic is surprisingly restrained, subdued and filled with a genuine wrestling with the biblical story of Moses. It is a reflection of Scott as a recovering atheist who is agnostically struggling with materialism and the possibility of the Divine. Christian Bale portrays Moses in the new Ridley Scott film, “Exodus: Gods and Kings.” Christian Bale portrays Moses in the new Ridley Scott film, “Exodus: Gods and Kings.” At first blush, the film seems to rest on the razor’s edge of mystery and coincidence; however, in the end, God wins. The key challenge presented by the film rests in the adage, “He cannot see the forest for the trees.” In Scott’s case, it appears he’s had a good glimpse of the “forest,” but it’s often the biblical details — the “trees” in the Exodus account — that suffer. Details “Exodus: Gods and Kings” provides no sweeping prologue. Rather, it opts to jump into the story of Moses (Christian Bale) as a grown man clearly instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, mighty in his words and deeds (Acts 7:22). He is an Egyptian general beloved by the Pharaoh Seti (John Turturro), and he is the close confidant of the Pharaoh’s son, Ramses (Joel Edgerton). Even though Moses is not one of Pharaoh’s sons, Seti treats him as one and even privately favors Moses over Ramses, who he sees as poorly suited for leadership. Early in the film, before the Battle of Kadesh, Seti gives both men a sword with their names engraved on them, giving Moses’ sword to Ramses and Ramses’ sword to Moses, charging them to look after each other. The relationship between the two men becomes one of the major driving forces in the unfolding narrative as the director tells his story of God rescuing the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery. Scott’s foreshadowing in the first act of the film employs dramatic irony to great effect, thoughtfully setting up the tragic future demise of the brotherly relationship between Moses and Ramses. Details, details When screenwriters sit down to pen a movie about Moses and the Exodus, this brotherly relationship is an oft-repeated Hollywood theme. While it’s found in popular adaptations like Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” (1956) and DreamWorks’ “The Prince of Egypt” (1998), it’s really a speculative invention. Scripture doesn’t name Moses’ adoptive Egyptian mother or her father, the Pharaoh. Nor does it name the Pharaoh to whom Moses eventually returns some 40 years after his flight to Midian. In fact, Scripture is silent both as to Moses’ family situation while growing up in Egypt and what impact it had, if any, on his returning to Egypt. Scott, like other filmmakers before him, includes this for dramatic purposes, but scripturally speaking it is a theme not explored in the Bible. However, the Book of Genesis does record other brotherly conflicts — Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers — which makes it a recurring biblical theme. In other moments, “Exodus: Gods and Kings” seems to import biblical themes and character traits for dramatic effect. For example, Scott’s depiction of Moses contains echoes of Abraham (Gen. 18:22-33) and of Jacob, particularly in their personal wrestling with God in times of trial and danger. At one point, a corrupt Egyptian official (Ben Mendelsohn) complains about the Hebrew slaves, saying that even their name is combative. He notes that Israel means “he who fights with God,” to which Moses responds, “No, it means to wrestle with God.” This thread ties Scott’s Moses back to the patriarch Jacob, whose name God changed to “Israel” after Jacob literally wrestled with Him (Gen. 32:22-32). Details, details, details Moses, while instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, is shown as “areligious” — a man who knows about the religious beliefs of the Egyptians and of the Hebrew slaves, whom he’s destined to save, but who doesn’t believe in any of them. Rather, Moses values the modern virtue of “believing in yourself.” This changes after he suffers an accident on the side of a mountain while shepherding a flock of sheep. In the accident, Moses acquires a head injury and, from that point, he sees a messenger of God in the form of a young shepherd boy (Isaac Andrews). It’s important to remember that Scripture doesn’t attribute Moses’ relationship with God to a head injury! Is there a burning bush in Scott’s film? Yes, but Scott’s Moses receives no staff from God with which to work wonders, and no clear direction of exactly what he is expected to do upon returning to Egypt. The burning-bush scene, a seminal scene in the movie, contains the largest number of departures from the biblical narrative. The burning-bush encounter in DreamWorks’ “The Prince of Egypt” has a higher degree of biblical fidelity, while still allowing for some rather successful artistic interpretation of the text. Some viewers may mistake the mysterious shepherd boy for God, but Scott envisions him as a messenger intended to be a sort of angel God uses to speak directly to Moses and whom Moses alone can see. Moses’ relationship to this messenger begins in fear, moves to antagonism, and eventually appears to be one of camaraderie. This eventually affable relationship may draw to mind Exodus 33:1, which says, “The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend,” or Abraham’s interaction with the Lord at the beginning of Genesis, Chapter 18. This approach to Moses’ relationship with God through a mediating angel also may explain some of Christian Bales’ comments about the character of Moses he plays. Prior to the film’s release, Bale said, “I think [Moses] was likely schizophrenic.” While it certainly sounds as though Bale is speaking of his character’s motivations from a purely materialistic modern viewpoint, filmgoers will want to ask, “What does the film, on the whole, end up saying?” Viewed as a whole, it becomes apparent the events unfolding in the film can’t be explained by one man’s delusion. For example, Scott depicts the ninth plague (darkness) and the 10th plague (death of the Egyptian first-born and sparing the Israelite first-born) as events with no naturalistic explanation. Details, details, details, details When Moses returns to Egypt and Pharaoh refuses to let the Hebrew slaves go, all 10 plagues are shown in vivid detail. However, while he wrestles with how to depict this, Scott often provides an initial materialist explanation: The blood in the Nile begins with an onslaught of crocodiles, which the Egyptians blame for setting off a chain reaction of terrible plagues. That said, what is clear is that the Nile River, which the Egyptians worship as a source of life, becomes, by the hand of the Hebrew God, a fountain of death to the embarrassment of Pharaoh and his advisers and the “gods” they serve, who are proven to be mere idols. Scripturally speaking, the Egyptian magicians recognize “the finger of God” at work (Ex. 8:18-19), while in the film they, and the rest of Pharaoh’s advisers, remain in denial. A careful look at this part of the film provides this insight: Scott has made the plagues into a series of events in which God works through means. There is real blood in the water, real flies, frogs and boils. None of it is “spiritualized,” and by the end of the plagues, it’s clear God is in command of it all. In fact, when Moses first returns, Scott has him trying to rescue the people by guerrilla warfare echoing the sentiments of Acts 7, where Scripture says Moses “supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand” (Acts 7:25). In Scott’s film, Moses learns this lesson alongside the people: Their rescue would ultimately come from the hand of God, not by human ingenuity, persuasion or unguided, random-naturalistic coincidence. If viewers want to look for discrepancies with Scripture, the list goes on and on. For instance, Moses doesn’t spend 40 years away from Egypt, and Moses’ wife, Zipporah (Maria Valverde), and their son, Gershom, don’t accompany him back to Egypt. As a result, Moses doesn’t appear to be 80 years old when he returns. To identify the Pharaoh as Ramses II, Scott places the narrative on the backdrop of the 13th century B.C., which conflicts with the traditional date of the 15th century B.C., an earlier date arrived at by internal biblical evidence. What are Christians to make of this film? The film is essentially Ridley Scott’s character study of Moses — a man moving reluctantly from being areligious to becoming a man of faith. In the film’s first act, Joshua’s father, Nun (Ben Kingsley), asks Moses, “Do you believe in coincidence?,” to which Moses answers, “As much as I believe in anything else.” Nun replies, “I don’t believe in coincidence.” God in Scott’s film is initially rationalized away as a powerful and compelling delusion. However, at the film’s apex, the death of the Egyptian first-born, Scott presents God as a divine being completely outside Moses, something beyond what Moses could conjure up in his mind as the result of a head injury. In one of the film’s most powerful moments, both Ramses and Moses recognize there was no coincidence in the fact that none of the Israelite children died in the last plague, and God was diligently rescuing Israel, His “first-born son,” out of slavery (Ex. 4:21-23). In spite of all the film’s adjustments to the biblical account, the fact that Scott so powerfully and faithfully depicts this crucial part of the scriptural narrative can be applauded. It is also telling of his personal move from outspoken atheism to open agnosticism. To put the best construction on the film and its production, Scott seems to be “a bruised reed” by the banks of the Nile River, and while the film doesn’t burn with the light of a pillar of fire by night (Ex. 13:21), the “faintly burning wick” (Is. 42:3) of hope Scott presents requires some thoughtful consideration by Christian viewers, who may want to think about the people in their own lives who are precariously beginning to seek God where He may be found. In this case, in making “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” Scott grasped hold of the Lord and wrestled with Him. Pray this wrestling match will be as successful for Scott as it was for the Old Testament patriarch Jacob. In an interview with Variety, Scott said, “I always try to place myself in the position of the central character, and try to come at it from my own logic.” Moses, like Jacob, “wrestled” with God, and it appears Scott in making this film has made a genuine attempt to “walk a mile” in their sandals. In the end, with its many deviations from Scripture, Scott’s “Exodus: Gods and Kings” can’t be recommended as a “devotional” film. It is, however, a superior film to Aronofsky’s “Noah” and may serve as fertile ground for conversing with others about the nature of faith, God and redemption. If the plan is to sit down together as a family to watch a movie about the Exodus, the best bets may still be DreamWorks’ “The Prince of Egypt” or Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments.” Be warned, however: These films also take liberty with the Scriptural text and likewise indulge in creative licence. For a true encounter with Moses and God’s liberation of the children of Israel from their slavery in Egypt, read the biblical book of Exodus; the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 7; and Hebrews, Chapter 11. As always, when watching any of these films, it is recommended to go back to read again what Scripture teaches and not take what the film presents as “gospel truth” regardless how beloved the film may be personally or by the culture at-large. The Rev. Ted Giese is associate pastor of Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada; a contributor to “Reformation Rush Hour” on KFUO-AM Radio, The Canadian Lutheran and Reporter; and movie reviewer for the “Issues, Etc.” radio program. Follow Giese on Twitter: @RevTedGiese. Posted Dec. 19, 2014

College Prices up and up!

By KIMBERLY HEFLING AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Time to stock up on the ramen noodles. The average cost of attending college crept up again this year, the College Board said Thursday. The average sticker price, with room and board included, for undergraduate students attending a four-year college or university in their home state was $18,943. Out-of-state students at those schools paid, on average, $32,762. At two-year public schools, in-state students paid an average $11,052. The cost to attend a private, four-year nonprofit college: $42,419, on average, including housing and meal plan. For-profit schools cost about $15,230, but housing figures weren't available. Books and transportation costs can add more than $2,000 to the cost of attending college, and that rises even more for commuters. The highest rate of increase of 3.7 percent was among private, nonprofit colleges. And even though the increases across higher education outpaced inflation, the rates of increase were lower than those students saw five, 10 or 30 years ago, the College Board said. When adjusted for inflation, students are paying more than triple what students paid 30 years ago to attend a public, four-year institution and about 2.5 times more to attend a private nonprofit or two-year public one. "The price increases are actually quite moderate this year, but still, what people are paying, and this is before financial aid, is the accumulation of many years of price increases," said Sandy Baum, a co-author of the nonprofit College Board's annual college pricing report. "So, if the price goes up just a little bit this year, people aren't really going to breathe a sigh of relief because the price is already high from their perspective." Baum said during tough economic times, college costs tend to go up because public institutions receive less in state dollars and private ones see a decrease in endowments and in giving. Other contributing factors are wide ranging from the increasing costs of technology to health insurance for university employees. Only the wealthiest of Americans are seeing their incomes rise, so most students feel the tuition upticks more, Baum said. The number of full--time undergraduate students increased by 16 percent in the three years leading up to fall 2010 to 13.7 million, but then declined to 13 million in fall 2013. The number of students taking out student loans and the amount taken out, on average, by students has been declining, the College Board said. It said about 60 percent of students who earned a bachelor's degree in 2012-2013 from public or private, nonprofit schools from which they began their studies graduated with debt, borrowing an average of $27,300. The breakdown in pricing: -Sticker prices, on average, for in-state tuition and fees at public four-year schools increased to $9,139 this school year - a 2.9 percent increase over the 2013-2014 school year. The average out-of-state price tag was $22,958, an increase of 3.3 percent increase. Room and board was $9,804. -Public two-year schools had a $3,347 published price on average for tuition and fees- an increase of 3.3 percent. Room and board was $7,705. -Tuition and fees at private, nonprofit schools rose 3.7 percent to an average of $31,231. Room and board was $11,188. -For-profit schools saw a 1.3 percent increase in tuition and fees. Published prices don't necessarily reflect what students actually pay because they don't include grant dollars provided by institutions or government aid such as Pell Grants, the GI Bill and tax credits. This school year, full-time students received an average of about $6,110 in aid at public four-year schools, $5,090 at public two-year ones, and $18,870 at private colleges. The average in-state prices at four-year schools ranged from $4,646 in Wyoming to $14,712 in New Hampshire. For out-of-state students, the most affordable tuition of $9,910 was in South Dakota. On the other end, the most expensive was $34,331 in Vermont. _____ Online: College Board: http://www.collegeboard.org _____ Follow Kimberly Hefling on Twitter: http://twitter.com/khefling Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Just a thought on how great it would be to have helicopter parents and Church

http://www.wbay.com/story/27371230/2014/11/12/target-2-helicopter-parents-on-the-rise-in-youth-sports We've heard the stories and seen the video multiple times all over the country of parents getting into brawls with other parents, and even coaches, at their kids' sports events Just last month near Seattle at a junior league football game for nine and ten year olds, parents from opposite sides-- start arguing-- and then start of full on brawl. The stands emptied and the melee ensued. All the while a child was lying on the field with a broken arm. Target 2 dug into a new study done at St. Norbert College that shows parents behavior is hurting high school sports. We found it's leading more and more coaches to step away from the game It's an electric atmosphere only high school sports can create for student athletes around Wisconsin. But sometimes proud and passionate moms and dads cross the line. "Being in broadcasting all the years I was in broadcasting, and at several sporting events I witnessed a lot of things, I saw parents go after coaches, I remember being at one high school game where I saw a parent be ejected by a game official," said St. Norbert College Director of Media Relations Mike Counter. "I actually had some friends who actually just quit coaching because it was too much pressure and too much stress." To assist with his master's thesis on parental involvement in high school athletics, Counter turned to the Strategic Research Institute at St. Norbert College. Researchers say not only did the issue of helicopter parents become apparent, but it's a problem in all sports in schools big and small. "Small school districts with not large school systems, they're experiencing the same thing as those larger schools districts are with many more students and that was a bit of a surprise, we really though going in that might be more of a problem in some of the larger school districts," said St. Norbert College Strategic Research Institute Executive Director Dave Wegge. "How many times do we hear about the little league dad that runs out on the field and pounds this 17 year old umpire, or the soccer mom that misbehaves." said St. Norbert College Dean of Business and Economics Kevin Quinn. "It's nice to have some systematic study about things that we all know." Considered a leading expert on sports and society, Quinn says helicopter parenting has become a fact of life and goes beyond sports. "What we see here in sports is just a mirror reflection of what's happening everywhere else and it looks to me that coaches and AD's don't like it any more or less than anybody else who deals with children and their parents." said Quinn. "It's Dance Moms, it's Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and all this pageant stuff, I mean this is the same thing that's happening here." Counter says his research points to a couple of main reasons why helicopter parents are a growing problem. The first is unrealistic expectations. "There's so much media attention with athletics and sports and there's social media with twitter and facebook, you hear about the big plays, you see videos of high school athletes, there's so much out there, I think parents get excited and their son or daughter may get some press clippings and get some attention and I think they start seeing, hey maybe there's potential there, but actually when you look at the statistics and the data, there are 7 million high school athletes that participate, only 2-percent of those get full ride scholarships, 2-percent," said Counter. The study also found social media is fueling the fire as it allows upset parents to immediately fire off text messages or emails and then hide behind them.

Come join us for the Packer vs Eagles game at 3:25 on November 16th. Please bring $2.00 for pizza and $1.00 for soda from the machine! We will provide the snacks! Friends welcome to come! NYG kids will sell candy in the neighborhood at 3:00 p.m. to promote Thrivent caring communities.

Taste of Sem

January 18-20, 2014

 Taste of the Sem is an opportunity for high school men to spend a weekend at the Seminary to study theology, pray, worship, meet and talk with Seminary students and professors. Participants will spend time with one Seminary student at his field education congregation on Sunday morning and attend classes with him on Monday morning.

The event is designed to provide a sense of Seminary life for those who think God might be directing them toward the pastoral ministry. The main goals of Taste of the Sem are to help participants gain a better understanding of what we confess when we say, ”Faith alone, Scripture alone, Grace alone,” discover the significant historical impact of the Lutheran reformation on the church and world; and study the Scriptures with Seminary professors to find out why we believe in justification by grace through faith. Throughout the weekend, visitors can also participate in sports tournaments for volleyball, basketball, foosball, and ping-pong.

Here is the link: http://www.csl.edu/admissions/visit-us/visitation-events/taste-of-the-sem/

Contact Pastor Seabaugh for more information at tseabaugh@gslchurch.net

The Importance of Media Julianna Shults

Maybe you noticed, and maybe you didn't, that I took a small hiatus from blogging the last few months. Last fall I went back to school to work on a Master's degree, and combined with my already busy schedule at church, the intense workload became too overwhelming for me. I stopped reading the blogs, websites, magazines and news articles that keep me up to date on popular culture. Before I knew it, I felt completely out of touch. My youth were mentioning songs, events and stories I didn't know, to both their surprise and mine. As passionate as I am about the intersection of youth ministry, pop culture and media, there just did not seem to be the time in the day to proactively find the open doors for faith conversations or to consider in advance the best way to articulate godly perspectives of the world around them. I was responding to their prompting, but it felt delayed and incomplete. I considered that maybe it was time to take a more permanent break from writing about pop culture and youth ministry. Then in one of my last weeks of teaching contemporary issues in eighth grade Religion class, we were discussing the impact of music and media on our thoughts, hearts and values. I asked the class, "What is the purpose of movies, YouTube and TV?" One student quickly responded, "Mindless entertainment." The rest of the class nodded in approval. Internally, I did a facepalm. Had I taught them nothing? "So, music and media are just things to be used for fun? You don't think they have any messages or something they are trying to sell you?" I responded in the kind of tone that tells them they might need to rethink the answer. Their responses were quick in coming and they didn't change their minds. No, they were convinced that media and music was simple fun, mind-numbing amusement, something for their enjoyment and nothing more. No message, no value and nothing that could influence them. I took a different approach. "So what's your favorite band?" I asked. Silence. No one was willing to admit they listened to the likes of Nicki Minaj or Drake. One student offered up what seemed like a safe answer, Johnny Cash, with Michael Buble and Journey coming in shortly after. I waited a beat more and heard, "Smashing Pumpkins". "And you want me to believe that Smashing Pumpkins doesn't have a message in their music? You think their music is mindless, thoughtless entertainment? Because I think they would fervently disagree." Suddenly, they were singing a different tune. We spent time looking over lyrics from recent Top 40 hits and watched clips from YouTube and TV. For each piece we worked together to compare their messages to God's Word. What was true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable for us to think about as God commands in Philippians 4? Did the words we listened to over and over encourage us to follow God's law or did it belittle what God wants for us to strive for with the help of the Spirit? Did it encourage us to give and receive grace and forgiveness so freely given to us through Jesus' death on the cross? Slowly, they began to see the messages where once their minds had been numb, and to perceive the words of our culture that had slowly crowded out the Word, the cross and the Gospel. As I left the classroom, I was filled with a new enthusiasm for helping my teens navigate the complicated world around them in a God-pleasing way. In a world where everything is commercialized, designed for entertainment and split into 30-second sound bites, there can be no escaping the messages or the sly sales pitches of media. I may lose touch with what's new in our culture, but I can cling to the fact that God does not lose touch with me. God does not change and He does not go silent. He does not leave us on our own to navigate the complicated world with its competing messages, but rather He gives us Himself and His Word to help us navigate. Popular culture is something to be ignored only at our own peril, and we can only be grateful God continues to send His message of forgiveness and hope through Jesus. After a couple of months away from this blog, I am reminded anew of just how important it is to help our teens see the media-driven culture around them through the lenses of faith and the cross. If we don't, the messages and the values they pick up through exposure will take root and leave us with a much more difficult battle to fight. I hope that you, too, are encouraged as Christ works through us, strengthening and encouraging us, to help teens live and grow in faith fed by Scripture and not by Top 40 hits or reality TV. I hope that we can work together to be prepared, not waiting for them to come to us with questions, but with all the tools we need to walk alongside them with the Gospel through our world today.

Julianna Shults is a DCE currently serving in children and youth ministry at St. Paul Lutheran in Chicago. She has been a speaker at the 2007 National LCMS Youth Gathering, 2007 and 2011 National LEA Convocation as well as district Jr. and Sr. High gatherings. She drinks entirely too much coffee, only does her dishes when absolutelynecessary, knits, writes, and is unapologetically nerdy. You can find her on Facebook or Twitter @dutchnotgerman.

Youth poll results surface bright spots, concerns | LCMS News & Articles

Youth poll results surface bright spots, concerns | LCMS News & Articles