Tradegy & The Doctrine Providence
Sometimes the challenges of life seem to come in waves among those we know and love. Heart attacks, blood poison, miscarriages, sickness…suffering, illness, disease and death are a fact of life that no amount of medicine and good diet can protect us from.
Shamu Is A Heretic
By Pastor Duane Smets
A few weeks ago I was at Sea World for family day with my wife and daughter and we went to see the Shamu show. Walking into the stadium along with the masses you can feel the rush of excitement to see the giant killer whales perform their stunts in exchange for mouthfuls of fish. The whole thing is quite impressive. They have four huge LCD screens which rotate between separate video displays and various combinations of the four together to create one giant presentation. The music, video, trainers and an entourage of several killer whales, all together make up the dramatic production of the Shamu show, titled and themed “Believe.”
The “Believe” story is a heartwarming tale about a young boy with a dream and desire to do something no one thought possible, to become friends with killer whales. What’s most interesting about the story is it goes far beyond just a historical account of how this boy with a dream figured out how to tame killer whales when he grew up. Repeated over and over again is this imperative or the moral of the story…that we all just need to “believe” and then we can be and do whatever we want.
The message was pushed so hard in the show it made me feel uncomfortable. At first I wasn’t sure why until I thought about it a little deeper and realized that such an idea stands in sharp contrast to the message of the Bible concerning our lives. I know I’m poking a little fun in calling Shamu a heretic, but hear me out for a minute and consider the example of Isaiah and Jeremiah.
Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ (Part 1)
This is the first week of our fall sermon series, “Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ” dealing with Romans 12-16. Part 1, this week, is titled “All of Life is Worship” and works with Romans 12:1-2 and issues of Christian praxis, life through death, conformation and transformation, and God’s will for our lives. This sermon was originally preached September 7th, 2008 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
