by Brian Hobbs | Feb 4, 2016
I am not the biggest Jack Black fan in the world, but his Kung Fu Panda movies are good for a laugh for those seeking a movie safe for families. Here’s my take on the latest installment.
Plot Summary
Kung Fun Panda 3 tells of how the binge-eating, martial-arts learning Panda Bear “’Po’ must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to his home,” according to IMBD.
Positive Elements
There are at least a handful of memorable, laugh-out-loud moments in this movie. There is also one scene that was shown in the trailer that kids will enjoy quoting and enacting, when “Po” faces his nemesis. Most kids’ movies these days have plenty of bathroom and rude humor, yet this movie had less than typical. The movie, once again, spoke to the importance of courage, friendship, honor and family.
Negative Elements
One of my least favorite phrases (“What the…”) is used, along with a small handful of other off-color elements. There is violence, but it is in a cartoon, Kung Fu way. Eastern spiritual ideas are presented as realities.
Spiritual Content
There was a lot of spiritual content in this movie, especially for a cartoon. Spiritual does not necessarily mean good. This movie, set in China, focuses on false spiritual ideas like the Yin-Yang and the other spiritual realm. Christian parents would do well to talk to their kids about false Eastern religions and what the Bible actually teaches and is true about the afterlife.
Overall
Sequels are hard to do well, and Kung Fu Panda 3, while it is not a classic, did live up to the series and offers a few laughs. Be sure that kids watching it know the truth about our souls and what happens when we die, lest this movie shape their moral imagination in a pose that looks more like Kung Fu than the King of Kings, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rating: 2 stars (out of 4)
Photo credit: DreamWorks
by Brian Hobbs | Feb 1, 2016
The workplace often brings together people of various backgrounds, including ethnicity, race, gender, economic status and geography. Yet there is one factor that looms as large as any and that is generational.
By generational, I do not primarily mean what all the books on this subject mean, about the differences of attitudes of Baby Boomers, Gen X and Millennials. What I am speaking of here is what your non-work life looks like.
To be specific, when you clock out of work, are you going home to a full nest or empty nest? For some, a full nest looks like young children or teens. For others, it could be an ageing parent or family in your care. Whatever the case, there are things that full nesters can learn from empty nesters, and vice versa, including the following:
- Set ground rules for after hours
In the modern office setting, tools of technology including laptops and smartphones have greatly aided remote working opportunities. At the same time, they have become a tether to the workplace for the ordinary person. If you are an empty nest boss, for example, talk with your employees about what you expect from them after hours. If you send an email at 9 p.m. about routine, non-emergency work matters, do you expect a reply that same day or can it wait until the next day? By being clear about technology, it can improve communication and ease tension.
- Expect the unexpected
For people who are caretakers, whether parents or people caring for loved ones, the unexpected happens. This comes in the form of sickness. This comes in the form of sudden schedule changes. People who do not have others relying on them day to day sometimes forget how quickly a schedule can get turned upside by others. Those who do have others in their care should do their best to plan ahead and ease work interruptions, but when the unexpected happens, patience is key.
- Empty nesters have lives too
For full nesters, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking empty nesters have it easy. “They can just go home and watch TV or do whatever, whereas I come home to even more needs than I had at work,” someone might think. The fact is, all of us have obligations and lives. We volunteer, serve in our churches and communities and yes, need entertainment too. If you are a full nester, don’t assume empty nesters have it easy and don’t get envious. Be thankful that God has put this person in your life and learn what you can from them. If you are a so-called empty nester, be glad for that person who is raising kids or caring for a relative, and learn what you can from them.
The Bible serves as a reminder that God’s people come from all walks of life. Some of us have a lot of people in our direct care, while others have fewer. In the workplace, if we can take that into account, it will make us more patient, more effective and betters servants to the Lord. We’ll all be better together, by God’s grace.
by Brian Hobbs | Jan 28, 2016
If the recent Power Ball lottery craze showed one thing, it is that people want to get rich and get rich quick.
In fact, there are a lot of people promising instantaneous prosperity these days. Listen to the average politician running for office, and most of their appeals will be to improve the economy and your personal income. Flip through TV channels, and you will hear high flown promises from prosperity preachers of an affluent future for your life. Listen to sales pitches on TV, and you hear how “you too can become a millionaire overnight.”
This should come as no surprise. Our society is one in which we determines a person’s worth—their success or failure—solely on the money they have, on economics. In God’s economy, however, the poor have as much value as the rich (Prov. 22:2).
All of our obsession with material gain has come with a cost and brought forth some characteristic sins of luxury. If you stop to look at the sins gnawing away at society today—pornography, abortion, pride, prayerlessness and greed—each one of these is a symptom of a life corrupted by affluence.
C.S. Lewis once wrote, “One of the dangers of having a lot of money is that you may be quite satisfied with the kinds of happiness money can give and so fail to realize your need for God. If everything seems to come simply by signing checks, you may forget that you are at every moment totally dependent on God.”
Not only have we forgotten that we need God, we have forgotten that we need each other. In a farming society, parents rely on children and other family members to get the work done. In a modern, luxury-based culture, who needs kids? They are viewed as a burden, not a blessing.
In a peaceful age of luxury, is it a surprise that manliness is viewed as optional and that homosexuality becomes fashionable? In an electronic media age, where so-called sexual gratification is a click away, is there any wonder people are substituting unfaithful lust with faithful love?
The British writer Edward Gibbon, in his classic book, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, tells of how the Ancient Romans traded republican liberty, under the balanced Roman Constitution, for the age of affluence under the Caesars.
Gibbon talks about how the Romans moved away from military service and civic responsibility toward a time in which they wanted to have one strong ruler and be left alone to be prosperous and entertained. All of the Romans wanted was “bread and circuses.” The late historian J. Rufus Fears points out that in the same way, Americans want cable TV and plenty of fast food restaurants.
As Christians, it is our job to help people see beyond the here and now and into eternity. Indeed, personal evangelism is all about getting a person above their day-to-day cares and to think about their eternal destiny. Only through Christ, do we have what we need to live our lives and be prepared for death.
No matter how prosperous a society is or is not, what matters most is the soul. While we do pray for a good economy, expanded opportunity and the benefits that wealth and luxuries bring to all classes, we recognize that these are not what matter most. We recognize that if we get the prosperity we pray for, it may be the thing that, in the end, holds us back from Him.
by Brian Hobbs | Jan 25, 2016
I remember it like it was yesterday. My business school professor told us about the power of compounding interest. He spoke about the stock market going up, on average, 10 percent a year and that yes, there would be ups and downs, but by the time we were in our 60s, we would all retire millionaires. His talk was met with indifference and disbelief from parts of the class, but most were abuzz with excitement about the bright future afforded them by these financial engines.
I don’t know where my classmates’ investment portfolios stand these many years later. But if you have been following the Dow Jones industrial average this week, or the status of your 401(k) retirement account, you probably have seen a big dip in investments in 2016. This has many, who were about to retire, panicking and others whose portfolios had been going up, up, up shaking their head.
While Christians are called to work hard, be wise about our money and to provide for our families (1 Tim. 5:8), we do look at finances differently than the world. Building off this, here are a few ideas and Bible verses to bolster our faith and focus us on Christ, instead of our 401(k).
GOD IS THE PRIORITY
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. – 1 Tim 6:17
RICHES ARE TEMPORARY
For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations. – Prov. 27:24
GOD PROVIDES
“Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” – Deut. 8:17-18
STORE UP TREASURES IN HEAVEN
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. – Matt. 6:19
DO NO COVET
And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” – Luke 12:15
LOVE GOD, NOT MONEY
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. – Matt 6:24
WEALTH CAN MAKE IT HARDER TO FOLLOW JESUS
And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. – Matt. 19:23
GOD LOVES THE POOR
Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will exact life for life. – Prov. 22:22-23
BE GENEROUS TO OTHERS
A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. – Prov. 11:25
DON’T TRUST IN MONEY
Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. – Prov. 11:28
In the end, God wants us to be responsible with every penny we earn, including the ones we invest. We cannot, however, lose sight of the fact that money is a means, not an end, to following His will for our lives here and in the hereafter.
by Brian Hobbs | Jan 14, 2016
This Sunday is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, in which we will recognize and celebrate the sanctity of human life, from womb to tomb. While Christians are in full agreement about the value of life at every stage, there is some disagreement about what to do with our bodies after death. Increasingly, people are choosing cremation over burial, for economic or other reasons.
What the best or preferred method for Christians–burial or cremation–therefore warrants careful discussion, and I want to propose that the discussion does matter. Before discussing it, allow me to list a few important ideas at the outset.
For some people, due to accident or disaster, such as fire, floods or being eaten by a shark–there was no choice what would happen to their body at death. This, though, is rare, and we fully know God can and will resurrect those people’s bodies.
Next, I also do not know of any Christian who thinks God cannot and will not resurrect people who are cremated. Also, everyone knows that even the best cared body will decay and disappear in part.
Lastly, each of us knows a godly person who chose to be cremated and was, and we firmly believe they will be resurrected at the last day because of Jesus Christ, and I, for one, would not pass judgment on their decision.
Given these understandings, I present two main statements why burial would be preferred over cremation for Christians, and then I turn the discussion to some thoughts from other important Christian thinkers and theologians.
- Burial is consistently seen as the biblical method
From Old Testament to New, from Leah to Lazarus, from Jacob to Jesus Himself, the Lord’s people were buried upon death. (There are, of course, just a few exceptions, but by and large, the Lord’s people in the Bible did not cremate their dead.)
This cannot be an accident, as many surrounding cultures cremated their dead. Could Lazarus still have come forth if he had been cremated? Yes of course, but every person among God’s people in the Bible buried their dead.
This is not just about what happens at death; it is also about the last days. Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29).
It has to be said that the Bible does not have a verse specifically condemning cremation, nor do the Scriptures shout from the rooftops on the subject. Instead, the Bible consistently and clearly shows God’s people—again and again—burying their dead. The late historian J. Rufus Fears notes that the obvious transition, when Ancient Rome trended away from paganism toward Christianity is proven in part by when Romans moved away from cremation toward burial. Burial, therefore, is a distinctly Christian choice.
- Burial sends a better message
In Christianity, burial lays the body to rest until it will be resurrected. There is a direct correlation between the body that you have and the glorified body you will have in resurrection.
The Bible tells followers of Christ to be salt and light and faithful witnesses. In life and in death, we have an opportunity to tell the world about what we believe will happen in the Last Day. If we do not bury our dead, we can unwittingly send the signal that we do not care about the bodies God gave us in life nor in death. Care for the body through burial sends a better message.
Cremation is popular today, partly because it is convenience and cheaper. Many poor decisions–such as casual divorce–are done for these reasons. To follow Christ is neither convenient nor cheap.
Yes burial is expensive, but it also gives location for those left behind to grieve. If someone is cremated and has their ashes scattered at sea, the mourners have no physical location where to remember and grieve. Burial offers this consolation in a better way. If someone wishes to be buried but cannot afford it, this is an opportunity for the church to step in and assist.
/// What others are saying
“Who are you to talk about this topic?” someone might say. I’m just a Baptist blogger. There are others who bring more weight to this discussion.
Southern Baptist historian and theologian Timothy George, in his essay on the topic for Christianity Today, said, “As the catacombs in Rome attest, the early Christians insisted on burying their dead. Christian gravesites were called coemeteria (cemeteries), which literally means ‘sleeping places,’ reflecting belief in a future resurrection. Early liturgies for the dead included the reading of Scriptures, prayers, hymns, and almsgiving for the poor.
“Why were Christians so concerned about proper disposal of the body? Here are four reasons: (1) The body of every human was created by God, bore his image, and deserved to be treated with respect because of this. (2) The centrality of the Incarnation. When the Word became flesh, God uniquely hallowed human life and bodily existence forever. (3) The Holy Spirit indwelt the bodies of believers, making them vessels of honor. (4) As Jesus himself was buried and raised bodily from the dead, so Christians believed that their burial was a witness to the resurrection yet to come.”
Southern Baptist author and ethicist Dr. Russell Moore has some profound thoughts on why burial is what Christians do. In his essay, “The Godly Waste of Christian Burial,” Moore said, “Of all the issues of controversy among Christians, I find few more incendiary than whether or not we should, well, incinerate the bodies of our loved ones. I find that Christians become agitated, defensive, and personally insulted more quickly on the question of cremation than on almost any other contemporary question. And I find this odd. A Christian burial seems, in this culture, more and more nonsensical: a waste of money, a waste of otherwise usable land, a waste, perhaps, even of emotion, as we try to ‘hold on to the past’ and fail to ‘move through our grief and get on with life.’ But if someone had asked any previous generation of Christians or of pagans if cremation were a Christian act, the answer would have seemed obvious to them, whether they were believers or infidels: Christians bury their dead.”
It is not only contemporary Christian thinkers and theologians who have recognized burial as the better alternative, as Moore himself notes. All previous generations of Christians, by and large, have preferred burial over cremation until our own day. Is it possible that every previous generation was wrong and we are right? By choosing burial, we are humbly submitting to the wisdom of other Christians before us.
Moore also said, “Today, however, an anti-cremation stance is often ridiculed by Christians as, at best, Luddite and, at worst, carnal. When I counsel a family to reject the funeral director’s cremation option, I am often asked: ‘Can’t God raise a cremated Christian just as he can raise a decomposed buried Christian?’ The question is more complicated than whether God can reconstitute ashes. Of course he can. The question is whether we should put him in a position of having to do so in the first place.”
He concluded, “For Christians, burial is not the disposal of a thing. It is caring for a person. In burial, we’re reminded that the body is not a shell, a husk tossed aside by the ‘real’ person, the soul within. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6–8; Phil. 1:23), but the body that remains still belongs to someone, someone we love, someone who will reclaim it one day.”
Respected Bible teacher John MacArthur is not emphatic on the issue. While Dr. MacArthur admits, “However, burying the body was the standard practice among the Israelites in the Old Testament and Christians in the New,” he says, “The believer will one day receive a new body (1 Cor. 15:42-49; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Job 19:25-26), thus the state of what remains of the old body is unimportant.”
“Bible Answer Man” Hank Hanegraaff points out, though, that there is a “one to one correlation” between the body that is and the body we will have in the resurrection. In other words, the Body of Christ that lay in the tomb was not swapped out for a new one (recall Christ had wounds in His Hands and Feet), it was the same physical body, glorified.”
In a very careful analysis of the issue, Christian author and ethicist Norman L. Geisler said, “Whereas burial is an important practice and symbol in Scripture, cremation is a poor symbol of scriptural truth.”
/// Conclusion
In summary, while there is room for disagreement on the issue, and God can and will resurrect cremated Christians, burial is by far the more biblical and better choice for how to handle our dead.
Regardless of your personal view on the issue, we can all agree and rejoice in the fact that death is not the end, but resurrection life is awaiting all who are found in Christ. Thanks be to God!