The public disintegration of a television and film celebrity like Charlie Sheen is not only tragic and sad, but tragic and sad because it reflects the core sickness of an entertainment-saturated, celebrity-worshipping culture. Sheen is as much or more a Continue Reading
July 8, 2009
Michael Jackson, Fallen Heroes, and Our Days of Trouble
“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without Continue Reading
January 22, 2008
Irene Dunne, Entertainment, Neil Postman, and Living
When the late, great Neil Postman (1931-2003) wrote that we were Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) he spoke of a generation that we all know too well. Our money, our priorities, our talk, our time and thus our lives, are consumed with a Hollywood Continue Reading
April 13, 2007 2 Comments
A Theology of Jackie Gleason
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11.28 Jackie Gleason was not a Christian as far as I know. In fact, his reputation for sin may or may not been as big as Reginald Van Gleason III, one of his famous Continue Reading
March 30, 2007 Leave a Comment
Recents Books and What I am Reading Now
I just finished the following: I might still opt for With Malice Towards None, but this outstanding biography takes the reader into the moral and religious background of this American giant. The book has a decidedly more scholarly feel to it, but is Continue Reading
March 25, 2007 Leave a Comment
Neil Young and Celtic Woman
I just got two new CDs that are simply outstanding. The first is Neil Young Live at Massey Hall (2007). If you have never been to a concert in the early 1970s this is how it was, only better. Young was obviously "at home" for this Canadian gig. I Continue Reading
March 1, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Titanic Denial of James Cameron
Published in: From the Pastor’s Heart, a publication of The First Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee March 1, 2007 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And Continue Reading
February 27, 2007 Leave a Comment
Combat!
They say that if you remember the sixties you weren’t there. But on Tuesdays at 7:30, from 1962 to 1967, many remember the greatest World War II show of all: Combat! With Vic Morrow as Sgt. “Chip” Saunders and Rick Jason as Lt. Gil Hanley, this Continue Reading
February 23, 2007 Leave a Comment
Anna Nicole Smith and the Apostle Peter
The following is also published in "First Thoughts" ( go to http://www.1stpresbyterian.com and sign up for weekly devotionals) for Friday, February 23, 2007. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold Continue Reading
Neil Postman, Irene Dunne and the Right Use of Entertainment
When the late, great Neil Postman (1931-2003) wrote that we were Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) he spoke of a generation that we all know too well. Our money, our priorities, our talk, our time and thus our lives, are consumed with a Hollywood Continue Reading