What would the country look like if we (Christians) were in charge? If we had our way with everything what would it look like?

In an interview with The Minnesota Independent, Jeff Sharlet uses her association with the Assemblies of God to paint Sarah Palin as a militant Theocrat.

They actually don’t think they’re theocratic. And they have a way of getting out of that: Theocratic would be if I was a clergy person and sat down and studied the Bible and said, Okay, I’m going to pass this law because in my wisdom, I have seen this in the Bible.

That’s not what they do. They turn themselves over to the spirit. The movement she’s a part of is really holy ghost-powered. What they say is, they’re just being a vessel. A term that a wonky theologian might use is “theo-centric.”

I hope my man Barack Obama, as a man of faith, a man of prayer, would also listen to God. Does that make a person crazy or a theocrat? Does that mean that one has to be militant and intolerant?

Apparently the Assemblies of God is getting a lot of press off of Palin. From the way the A/G is portrayed I wonder if I’m in the same church? I happen to be an Assemblies of God pastor and a democrat supporting Obama. How does that fit the caricature painted in the media? Rich Tatum wrote an introduction to the Assemblies of God for Christianity Today to answer some of the media imprecations.

democrats.com show a video clip from Sarah Palin speaking at a Master’s Commission service. Master’s Commission is a discipleship program for college age kids to give hands on training for ministry. democrats.com then applies this quote:

If you read the Vision statement (under About), you'll see:

To see young men be men who are not afraid to lead and are violent in their pursuit of righteousness

What exactly does that mean? What kind of violence are the young men being trained and encouraged to engage in?

The website that they reference is not the Assemblies of God Master’s Commission but a different discipleship program from Christ Church Kirkland. They seem to have a very different theology. I hope that the wording in their vision statement is simply unfortunate.

Are voices like Sharlet and the “aggressive progressives” at democrats.com right? Is there much to fear?

Perhaps there is some temptation.

We would like things to line up with the Bible, wouldn’t we? The temptation is to make the laws of the land the same as the laws of God for living. To make the holy life the only legal life. The religious right is already advocating moral legislation like this. What would it look like taken to the extreme?

Last night Elaine and I watch V for Vendetta. Would the world in which the characters live be what we Christians would create? Would the Koran be banned, owning one a criminal offence? Would homosexuality be made illegal? Would homosexuals be rounded up, imprissioned or killed? What of Justice and Mercy?

Oh God, save us from our distorted view of righteousness. Your ways are higher than our ways, your thoughts are greater. Only you can rule in righteousness with out corruption. Help us, who are progressive, to love mercy even more than change. Help us, who are Chrisitains, to keep love before all else.

as 300 this movie is cartoonish
You shouldn’t look for any psychological or political or philosophical insight. See it as another Superman or Batman. With a difference. Unlike these supernatural heroes, V enjoys slitting the throats of his enemies( see the scene when he fights the cops). This modern hero is a bad one, fit for the generation of youngsters who like violent video games.
“My hair was cut. I was tortured. I was tortured” Lol
A rat refusing food. Lol. A perfect cartoon otherwise, but hey I passed long time ago the age when I enjoyed Superman style movies.

Natalie Portman’s horrible British accent took me right out of the film. Without her, it was an amazing film, but because of her, I can’t call it “worth consuming”.

The first time i saw this i was a bit confused about what was going on and wasn’t sure that i liked it. The second time around was much better, as has been the third, fourth, fifth. i can’t get this movie out of my skull now, with excellent quotes in it all around, humor mixed in, and depth that can’t be tapped in one viewing.

The past seven years of my life have been hard, but i don’t think i would trade them back for anything. i fully understand when Valerie says ”...for three years I had roses and apologized to no one.” To me this movie isn’t so much about being homosexual or of another race as it is about being free. The government in this movie is led by totalitarian Christians who are unyielding in their “faith”, their definition of right vs. wrong, which to me as a Christian myself is totally offensive and twisted. i don’t endorse homosexuality but i don’t think any government should be imprisoning those who are. i don’t think the color of one’s skin should be a reason to be beaten and killed. And i don’t think that i should be judged for my own individuality and love of the truth.

The idea of a nazi-esque London is scary, even moreso the idea that this type of government could happen here in the U.S. Here i think it would be run by the other side of the spectrum, the liberals, but either way it’s dangerous. All of these topics are sensitive, i know, but truth does not know any political boundaries, all parties are wrong on some issues some of the time, and i can’t help but be afraid that the country i love so much is slowly becoming something i cannot love and will eventually fear. “People shouldn’t be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people.” i can’t imagine blowing up the Capitol, the Supreme Court, or murdering key members of the government, but here in the U.S. the militia is vilified just as much as V.

Gun control is a scary thing to me, the idea that people in power want to take away my right to have a weapon, to protect myself in self defense, or join a militia and defend my country. But then these are rights that i am guaranteed in the Constitution and the government isn’t really the country (even thought that’s usually how we think of it)...

i am. My father, my mother, my brother, my sister, my neighbor, my classmate… we are America. How dare we let the government take away our money and throw it away on Social Security? How dare we let them keep our children dumb and brainwashed into who they want them to be How dare they even consider in their wildest of dreams that they are smarter or abler than we to provide for ourselves, to build our own future, to protect ourselves. “Our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us. But within that inch we are free.”

i have often felt as if every inch of me will perish, as if i am paralyzed by fear when i shouldn’t be. What Valerie says is right, that our integrity is all we have to hold onto, that love is what is most important of all. “I hope that the worlds turns, and that things get better,” but most of all i hope i can be strong enough to be who God wants me to be. The near future may be hard, harder than even i can imagine, but i would rather see this country fall than become corrupted like the government V brought his vendetta to. i think this movie is a good reminder of the danger we are all in and if we let it will empower us enough by reminding us that we can change the course of the future.

“V:as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose so let me simply add that it’s my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

I was sleepy and exceptionally distracted when I watched this. I liked what I saw, though. There were definitely moments of greatness. Maybe I should watch it again.

I watched this with Casey.

V_ is very well spoken, particularly in his use of words beginning wth, _v. I shan’t say anything about the subject matter as its interpreation will vary, and I’m not familiar with the original material (a comic I presume) but the plot has similarities to Ultraviolet (the 2006 movie, not the excellent 1998 British Vampire mini-series). I did find it a somewhat pertinent if excessive reminder of the times we’re in, although I was quite taken aback at its portayal of a potential future England. A brave and well executed role from Natalie Portman (although her accent burbled on occasion), and I enjoyed all the other cast members except Ben Miles who as I’m a big fan of Coupling just seemed out of place (he fitted Imagine Me & You perfectly though). The overall effect was of an English police drama within a fantasy sociological background. I found it very satisfying.

Incidentally there’s a cool mix of speeches and Bollywood samples over the credits which is Bkab by Ethan Stoller. I was also amused to see credits for Website Designer and Website Content Producer.

I expected better. I liked the plot and the premise of the movie, but the execution was more than poor. Maybe it’s better to read the book…

Clever, literary and with a good solid message. We see it happening more and more every day: Our freedoms being stripped one by one in the name of fear and terror. I’m not afraid of a terrorist nearly as much as I am of losing my rights.