This. Is. Ridiculous.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

I was researching retreat sites for this fall’s church retreat when I came across this bizarre image:

Now, apart from the obvious violation of copyright law, what is going on here? Am I supposed to be attracted to attending the conference which will make me more manly? The movie 300, as much as I like it for its entertainment value, is not exactly congruent with the goal of Christian conferences. It is a movie filled with graphic violence, sex, and primal definitions of manhood.

The line from the movie, “Tonight we dine in hell,” is referenced in the image. But it is altered to state “the cafeteria” instead of “hell.” As adept as I may be at identifying Christian symbols and allegories, I fail to see the cleverness of this reference. Are they referring to dining with God the King at the wedding banquet at the end of time? Is the speaker going to speak in a cafeteria? Is “cafeteria” a euphemism for “hell”?

At the bottom, the title of the movie is altered to “Gideon’s 300.” Ah, so this is the bibically correct reference. It alludes to Judges 7 where God chose 300 men to accompany Gideon to defeat the oppressive Midianites. Still, if you read the story, apart from the number of the soldiers, there are no other similarities. The men were chosen by God because they lapped the water scooped in their hands rather than bending down to drink. They did not actually kill anyone. They surrounded the enemy camp, blew trumpets, broke jars, and shouted “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Then the Midianites killed each other. No kicking people into round pits of death. No decapitations and dismemberments. Clothing (implied).

I don’t see anything about dining or eating in the passage.

Conclusion: This advertisement attracts attention with its shock value but is otherwise useless. I wouldn't want to be distracted by thinking about the movie 300 while I sit there listening to a sermon. I don’t really want to associate a bloody movie with one of the triumphant moments in the Bible. Then again, the Bible sometimes is bloody and violent. Maybe the gore of 300 contrasts usefully with Gideon’s bloodless victory. Maybe Larry Walkemeyer is a really good speaker. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to think this deeply about this ad at all.

3 Comments  | Tags: church, random

Sonai Retreat Slideshow

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

0 Comments  | Tags: memories, church, jars of clay

(Positive) Thoughts on Sonai Retreat

Monday, November 19, 2007

I’m realizing from feedback I’m getting that my last post is kinda depressing. I tend to be that way – pessimistic and dramatic. So, I’m going to force myself to think of the good things from retreat. (It’s a discipline with me. I think I was raised to be highly critical of myself and everything around me. Good for a law career, bad for life.)

People genuinely laughed and had fun with each other. This is important, because church and the Christian life should be fun. The best part was during Battle of the Sexes when the guys had to identify five women’s purses being displayed on the TV screen. I took a video of them trying to do it –

Sonai Guys Identifying Women’s Purses from Chanlee Sutoyo on Vimeo.

We also had a game where each team selected a representative to jump rope and everyone tried distracting them.

Jump Rope Game from Chanlee Sutoyo on Vimeo.

We got to see a side of each other that would not have been visible without the retreat setting. Some people showed themselves to be amazing servants, cooking lots of food, working hard to make the games challenging and fun, and creating stimulating discussions. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it, since the last Sonai retreat was 3 years ago. The different setting helped me get to know people in other ways during activities we don’t normally do together, such as playing board/card games, brainstorming quiz questions in a team, throwing eggs at each other, and going on a photo scavenger hunt. I learned so much about my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that it has opened up many avenues of future interactions and conversations. I’m very excited.

We apparently work well as a team. Planning the retreat was a whole-group effort, and everyone committed to their roles and executed them faithfully. I think we would awesome on a short term mission, community project, or some kind of group service.

Thank God for all of you. =)

0 Comments  | Tags: attempts at profundity, church, jars of clay