God | Two Handed Warriors

Connecting to God in Hollywood

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Soul-Nourishing Practices in a Soul-Deadening World “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” -Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 11:29) by Gary David Stratton, PhD As I write this, I am watching my 14-year-old daughter, Micaiah, take a riding [...]

Casablanca and the Four Levels of Worldview: Why Everyone Meets at Rick’s

Sunday, February 26, 2012

. Here’s Looking At You, Kid Casablanca — MOVIECLIPS.com .. . Casablanca, 1942 Academy Award-winner for Best Picture (originally entitled, Everyone Meets at Rick’s), provides a clear example of how character (both cinematic and moral) is “constructed” from the ground up. Our unexamined presuppositions about reality form a worldview that guides our life in ways [...]

It’s a Wonderful Life and the Courage to Live (and Create Art) Idealistically

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Few of us will ever get an invitation to an early screening of our life’s work like George did. Yet we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. To be a two handed warrior is to live for that heavenly red carpet affair, not its pale imitation at the Kodak theatre.

Capra’s Tale of a Depressed Idealist: It’s a Wonderful Life, Part 2

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) provides a wonderful expression of the complicated interplay between modern Physicalism and Idealism as life-interpreting stories in the life of its main character, George Bailey.

It’s a Wonderful Worldview: Frank Capra’s Theistic Masterpiece, by Gary David Stratton

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais’s atheism joke and his holiday message in the Wall Street Journal, “Why I’m An Atheist,” provide a perfect backdrop for examining one of Hollywood's most famous attempts to defend Theism–It’s a Wonderful Life.

Funnyman Tim Allen: Serious About God, by Alice Gomstyn & Elizabeth Vargas

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Elizabeth Vargas’ Interview Reveals the Surprising Role of Faith in Tim’s Journey “Whoever built me, this is too much, too weird that it happened by accident.” -Tim Allen Tim Allen’s wildly successful run on “Home Improvement” set up the former prison inmate for superstar status in the industry. Tim leveraged his lead in one the highest rated [...]

God’s Cure for a Very Bad Day, by Sue Stratton

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Part three of a three part series: What’s in a Name? The Presence of God! It was a Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very bad day. That’s what it was because after school my mom took us all to the dentist, and Dr. Fields found a cavity just in me. “Come back next week and I’ll [...]

Fear, Shame, Hiding, and Blame: God and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Sue Stratton

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Part two of a three part series: What’s in a Name? The Presence of God! I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink [...]

Why my Christian education has troubled me, by Mike Friesen

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Not everything that claims to be ‘Christian’ education is actually Christlike Mike Friesen is one of my favorite former students, 20-something bloggers, and friends. He asked me to respond to his blog post yesterday (5/2). It fit so remarkably with the meetings I was in last week that I asked him if I could repost [...]

Cheating God? Students who believe in a forgiving deity more prone to academic dishonesty

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The down side of grace? Tell Your Students That if They Cheat, God Will Smite Them by Don Troop in The Chronicle of Higher Education Is God: A) punitive, angry, and vengeful? B) warm, loving, and forgiving? OK, folks, pencils down. Now, if you chose B, you probably cheated your way through college. Two psychology researchers [...]