Thursday, August 2, 2007

The Unfinished Yard

"You're front yard looks nice" is what my mom said when she came over on Tuesday. If you've been to my house you'll know why I laughed out loud. My front yard is dirt, and extends straight to the dirt road with no break, which extends to the vacant lot which will for a long time be one of the last undeveloped properties in Rancho Belago. Considering I took some time to chop the weeds, pick up the trash, and rake over the gopher holes, I really appreciated some one noticing. This is not what today's post is about.

I don't go to the movies too much. I have yet to see Evan Almighty, Transformers, or The Simpsons Movie. Although I REALLY want to see all three! I usually only watch what Netflix sends and recently my wife has been updating the que. Recently I viewed "Stomp the Yard" and "the Unfinished Life". Hence the Title for today's post, I thought this sounded better than "Stomp the Life". Both of these movies dealt with forgiveness, both for others and for yourself. They dealt with this issue without even mentioning God. The first one, Stomp the Yard, (This movie is just like Drumline except with less white people and Stomping instead of Drumming, very predictable) takes a "It's not your fault...get over it" approach. I found myself yelling at the TV, "But it was his fault!" The Second, The Unfinished Life (a surprisingly well made movie, even though I thought it had huge anti-christian connotations) takes a "It is my fault...get over it" approach. The unfinished life was a much deeper movie and really dealt further with these issues but both films seemed so insufficient to me. Can real forgiveness happen apart from the redemptive work of the cross? I don't think so. Can anyone truly forgive themselves or others with out first receiving God's forgiveness? These two films certainly suggested this but like I said, it just felt empty.

Your thoughts?

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