Sticks, Stones, and Spears

On Saturday evening, Tara and I went out with some friends for a dinner and a movie. First off, Culver City, CA is a fun and lively place. It is an example of how freakin' huge greater Los Angeles is. I realize this, but when you go to a part of "the city" you've never been before that is hustling and bustling with night life restaurants, movie theaters, parking garages, nice hotels, and a Trader Joes it is a little different than Oklahoma City, OK, or for that matter, most places not names NYC! But now back to the regularly scheduled blogging.

The movie we chose that night was "End of the Spear". Honestly, I had pretty low expectations. It wasn't like I was going to see LOTR or King Kong. I heard some decent reviews from my family back in OK, but other than that, I hadn't heard much. I did know that for a "Christian Movie" it did pretty well in the box office, even though it was a limited release.

For those of you who don't know, it is about a missionary family in Ecuador who is trying to make contact with an indigenous tribe in the jungles of that region. I won't go into it anymore as not to spoil it, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised. Again, this isn't a blockbuster by any stretch, but it was well done, had a good story, definitely made me think, and all in all was a decent use of my $10.50. (Yes that is what they cost out here on the left coast, EXTORTION!)

This post goes in line with a post from Rocky last week about crank, lap-top computers (http://norwasmeanttobe.blogspot.com/). The general notion I took from this film was about conflicting ways of life. The tribe in the jungle, was primitive, where as the missionaries weren't. This made me think about exactly how, both good and bad, societies are affected when they meet. In this case it was Western/North American Christianity, and a tribal, Southern American jungle way of life.

Believe me there are many topics for discussing that this movie brings up from Christian films, to "Go and preach the Gospel", but on a simpler note, probably one of the most memorable scenes was actually during the credits where an excerpt from the original documentary was shown as the words/names (that nobody other than relatives and friends read) scroll down the right side of the screen. The missionary was talking about bringing one of the tribal leaders to the U.S. later in life. He commented that the leader said to his family upon his return when asked how the missionaries survive because they don't have gardens, "They have large houses filled with food. You simply take what you want and go up to the front. You smile really big ...and the person at the front smiles back, then you get to go home with your food." At this point the missionary said, "Yes, but I gave her a card (credit card)", and the tribal leader said, "yes, but it didn't really matter because she gave it right back."

The point I make in this, (which relates to the computer thought, btw): Something as simple (to us) as buying food at a grocery store doesn't translate. I think of trying to explain cell phones to my great grandmother and her lack of comprehension because, "Where is the wire?" How does technology translate to 85% of this world? How does the Gospel translate to 85% of this world? I agree with Ryno in his comment to the laptop article, in that we should present it but not "force them to love it like a little brother with freckles." That is not our job, preaching is.

I would recommend the movie. It isn't a waste of time, and it is nice to actually see something that has Christian undertones holding its own against pop culture.