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Dear Johnston: Your request for eighty dollars I do not think it best to comply with now. At the various times when I have helped you a little you have said to me, "We can get along very well now"; but in a very short time I find you in the same difficulty again. Now, this can only happen by some defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I think I know. You are not lazy, and still you are an idler. I doubt whether, since I saw you, you have done a good whole day's work in any one day. You do not very much dislike to work, and still you do not work much, merely because it does not seem to you that you could get much for it. This habit of uselessly wasting time is the whole difficulty; it is vastly important to you, and still more so to your children, that you should break the habit. It is more important to them, because they have longer to live, and can keep out of an idle habit before they are in it, easier than they can get out after they are in. FULL POST

This is the conclusion of a series of posts on "The Bible Series" To start at the beginning of the series, click here.

The Good-

• Part 9-"Passion"-This hour depicted Christ's passion and His resurrection. I actually thought this was portrayed remarkably well. Parts of this were pretty much word-for-word out of the Bible, while other parts took some liberties from the sacred text. I thought Jesus' interview with Pilate was especially well-done. I was pleased that they included the scene with Pilate's wife, in which she told her husband that she had had a dream about Jesus, and warned her husband not to have anything to do with His death. It's an interesting biblical detail that most are unaware of. My wife and I were especially moved by the scene with Simone of Cyrene, the man who was chosen to carry Christ's cross. Now, we don't know exactly how all this happened, as only Luke tells this story. The other gospels speak of Jesus carrying his own cross, so scholars extrapolate that Jesus must have fallen down while carrying the cross and Simone was ordered to pick it up at that point. What was moving to us in "The Bible" version is that they had Simone helping Jesus carry his cross, so that Jesus and Simone finished walking the Via Delorosa together. I never thought of that possibility, but it could have indeed happened that way. I also was moved by the way that they showed Jesus being beaten every step of the way. I think that they showed "The Passion" about as realistically as they could have and still been fit to show on television. The actual torture of Christ must have been far worse. The resurrection scene was told more or less as the Book of John portrays it, which is mostly from Mary Magdalene's perspective. Although somewhat truncated, they did a good job of showing Jesus' varying appearances after His resurrection.
• Part 10 - "Courage"- The final of hour of "The Bible" (which was actually only about 45 minutes as "The Passion" section ran a little over an hour) was about the rest of the New Testament. I enjoyed the portrayal of Paul's conversion, brief as it was. I enjoyed the portrayal of Paul, showing the change in this great Jewish intellect from persecutor to preacher (although it was rather annoying that they called him Paul of Tarsus when his pre-conversion name was actually Saul). I also appreciated how they showed what happened to each of the apostles, yet explaining that this was according to church tradition rather than actually from the Bible.

FULL POST

Last week, I reviewed Parts 5 and 6 of "The Bible". Click here to read that review or here for my review of Parts 1-4.

 The Good

• Part 7-This hour encapsulates the bulk of Jesus' three-and-a-half year ministry from it's inception until right before Holy Week. On a broad note, I really like the way that Jesus is portrayed by Diogo Morgado. He does a admirable job portraying Jesus as a man who is warm and inviting, revolutionary in his teachings, and utterly opposed to the religious rulers of His day. In the opening scene of this hour, they set up the vivid contrast between the Pharisees, who were the predominate religious sect of the time and who advocated for a strict adherence to the law as a method of national salvation, and Jesus, who would preach the revolutionary concept of following God according to the spirit of the law rather than the letter. Jesus healing of the paralytic man (you can read the gospel account here.), incenses the Pharisees and exposes their cheap view of God for what it is. I also really like the way they portray the calling of Mathew, the tax collector. In this scene Jesus tells the story of the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (you can read Luke's version here) as an illustration of God's love for those who follow the spirit of the law rather than the letter, then calls Matthew to follow Him. Although these two incidents are told at different points in the scripture, I thought it did no harm to meld them together, and actually made an effective point.
• Part 8-This hour tells the story of Passion Week up until Jesus' farcical trial held before Caiaphas. I would mention here that "The Bible" series makes several extra-biblical but helpful references to give context to Jesus' ministry, including in it's portrayal of Pontius Pilate. Josephus tells the story of the Aqueduct riots (you can read his account here.), which is recounted in this episode. This detail really helps us see Pilate for the bloodthirsty man that he we. My wife and I both enjoyed the Last Supper scene. It was moving to see Christ grab a piece of unleavened bread, tear it and share it with His disciples, then, as they are eating it, to say, "This is my body..." I also loved the effective way that they told the story of Christ at Gethsemane, as they juxtaposed Jesus' agonizing prayer in the garden with Caiaphas and the other priests' rote but heartless evening prayers. Finally, the trial before Caiaphas is hard to watch, yet well-done, setting us up for the agony of Good Friday.
  

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 Last week I reviewed "The Bible" Series-Parts 1-4. Click here to read the previous post.

 Explanatory note-I've noticed some of the reviews on this series call it a five part series because it shown in five two-hour episodes. For the purposes of these articles, I'm considering each hour as one part. In this case, the two-hour episode shown last Sunday contained parts 5 and 6.

 The Good

 Part 5 - Last week, I mentioned that I thought Part 4 was the most biblically accurate section of the series so far. I actually enjoyed Part 5 even more. Even though the events were compressed in places, I felt that this was also more accurate than the first few episodes. I loved the fact that they told the little-known but fascinating story of King Zedekiah, who would ignore Jeremiah's plea to return to God and would pay for it in a gruesome way. The scene in which his sons were killed in front of him and then his eyes gouged out by the Babylonian conquerer was hard to watch, but it's exactly what happened according to 2 Kings 25:7. I also enjoyed the Daniel section. Daniel is one of my favorite Bible characters, and I think the producers of "The Bible" made him the compelling figure that he actually was. Daniel is a fantastic model of integrity who held on to his Jewish beliefs even in the face of unimaginable pressure to conform to Babylonian ways. The Daniel in this series retained those admirable qualities. I really enjoyed the Fiery Furnace scene within the Daniel sequence. In this scene, three friends of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, stand tall in the midst of a sea of Babylonians who had bowed down to the king's idol. I just felt like cheering when I saw their courageous defiance! Then, when they are cast into the fire because of King Nebuchadnezzar's rage, a pre-incarnate Jesus is shown in the midst of them. At the conclusion of this scene, the threw Jewish heroes come out unscathed. While we don't know where Daniel was when the three men were thrown into the fiery furnace, I thought it was interesting to imagine that he could have been there and witnessed the whole thing. Later, I was especially moved by the Lion's Den section, when Daniel refused to pray in secret in order to avoid persecution, but would instead openly pray in defiance of the king's decree. The scene in which Daniel is saved from being a night-time snack for some hungry lions was really well-done. FULL POST

After having watched some clips and reading a few reviews, I was really looking forward to watching "The Bible" Series on The History Channel this month. I was really encouraged by some of the interviews that I had seen by it's creators, Mark Burnett and Roma Downey on their reverence for the Bible and their desire to tell the story of the holy scriptures in an authentic way. However, after having watched episodes 1-3, my opinion is decidedly mixed.

The Good:

• Part 1- I thought the idea of Noah in the ark recounting the story of creation was very effective. I also thought the scene with Abraham and the three angels was largely authentic. Also, I thought the scene of Abraham with the one Angel left behind, who many believe to be the pre-Incarnate Christ, was done well. In the movie, they intersperse Abraham's dialogue with the Angel with scenes from within Sodom. To me this was a creative way of telling the story.
• Part 2 - Probably the most Biblically-based part in this section was the story of the Passover. They told the story of how the Jews were to slaughter lambs and place the blood over the doorposts of their dwellings, thereby instituting the first Passover. This would protect them from the death angel as it passed by.
• Part 3 - I thought the scene with Joshua's encounter with the Commander of the Lord's Army interspersed with scenes from the fall of Jericho largely worked. Later, in the Samson section, the last scene in which Samson pulls down the temple around him was well-done. His mother finding him in the rubble, although not part of scripture, was moving.
• Part 4 - To me this was the best section so far. Most people don't know the story of King Saul. By and large, I thought this story was told well. Saul was a man whose started out well, but his pride and his unwillingness to obey God's commands became his downfall. I was pleasantly surprised at how this was summarized in the movie. Although the narrative was compressed, they authentically told of Saul's unwillingness to destroy the Amalekites and his subsequent removal as king. In the David section, I loved the fact that they included little-known details, including the taking of Jerusalem through the water tunnels. The story of David and Bathsheba was well done, including the scene in which Nathan confronts David and the resultant punishment for his behavior.
• Overall - The cinematography is great! The sets largely have an authentic feel and the use of the Moroccan landscape works well. They really did a first-class job in the special effects as well.

FULL POST

This is Part 3 of a series. To start at the beginning, click "Wayne Nall Jr" above

7. Great Marriages Have Partners Who Complement Not Compete-We live in an extremely competitive society here in the U.S. Whether in sports, the marketplace, or politics, people are encourage to compete at a high level. You've always got to outdo the other guy. While that may be fine in some arenas, when this competitive attitude leaches out into marriage relationships, it can be deadly. I've observed this spirit in some relationships, and its really sad to see. One partner always feels like he or she has to put down the other. As a result, the other partner has to come back with a zinger, a cutting remark, a disdainful look.

Our culture feeds into this dichotomy. TV Shows, movies, pop and country music, all revel in the classic put-down. When the wife really takes down the husband, that really brings out the laughs. But its a real marriage killer. Rather than compete, great marriages have spouses who complement each other. The dictionary states that the noun "complement" means to be a "thing that completes or brings to perfection." The verb "to complement" means to "add to something in a way that enhances or improves it." (Don't confuse this with "compliment"-although those are nice too!) I think both of these definitions say it well.

Although every marriage is a little different, in almost all cases there are areas where one partner is strong and the other is weaker. You see, the old adage about your marriage partner being "your other half" is really true! A great marriage is one that enhances the strengths of each partner and diminishes the weaknesses. In our case, there are so many examples, but here's one. My wife Kathy is a quick thinker. I kind of plod along. This is why she can beat me to answers when we watch Jeopardy on TV, but I can usually beat her at Scrabble, since it doesn't have a timer. (OK, so we're a little competitive!) In things that really count, I value her superior processing speed, which is one thing that makes her a great nurse and helps if we have some kind of family emergency. She tells me that my more methodical, slow way of evaluating a situation provides a balance to her (very occasional!) tendency to jump to conclusions.

8. Great Marriages Survive The Changing Seasons Of Life- When I hear someone say that my wife (or my husband) just isn't the same person I married, I think "so what?" In a way, none of us are really the same person we were ten, twenty, or thirty years ago that we are today. Circumstances in life certainly change quite often, and these have a tendency to change us in ways that we don't often realize. So you just have to adjust. This has happened multiple times in our marriage. Just this last year, Kathy completed nursing school. I've been so proud of her for being able to fulfill a latent dream that she had since she was a little girl. During her school years, we had to adapt to the demands of her working two part-time jobs while going to nursing school. Now that she has graduated, she is working as a hospital nurse several evenings a week, while I hold down my day job at the tire shop. We may go several days of barely seeing each other. To compensate, we use phone, email, and text to keep in touch. And I've tried to leave her a few little "tokens of love" when she comes in at night, which has meant a lot to her. Which brings me to my final thought...

 9. Great Marriages "Keep The Fire Burning!"- When I was reading in Leviticus this morning (yes, there really are good things in Leviticus!), a verse really stood out to me that seems to fit here. Referring to the priestly duties of tending to the altar, it says "The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out,..." (Lev. 6:12). There are many ways to look at this, but one way that I see this is like a marriage altar. In fact, in most weddings, the couple say their vows at an "altar." In a sense, the "marriage fire" is stoked at that place. But, like any fire, if it's not tended to, it just naturally goes out! In ancient Israel, the priest had to stoke the altar fire every morning and every evening. No matter the weather. No matter how he felt. The fire still had to be stoked. The same goes for the "altar of marriage." No matter the season of life, the "marriage fire" has to be tended to. Oh, and by the way, the wife is the one with the thermometer! I can go along thinking that everything is great (I inherited the "clueless" gene from bygone generations of Nall men!), but somewhere along the line I find out from my wife that the gauge on our marriage is reading "Low Fuel." To change the metaphor slightly, I'm about to run our "marriage car" out of gas, and I had no clue! (Oh, here's something else I've found--the fuel that made the car run great yesterday is no good today. But it could take a whole post to explain this one. Maybe later!) So, when I get the "low fuel" sign (or hopefully before it gets that low), I have to find creative ways to stoke the fire. And this goes both ways. My wife has done a far better job than me to "keep the home fires burning." But I'm working on it! FULL POST

This is a continuation of a post from last week. Click here for Part 1 

4.  Great Marriages Study Each Other-You should be an expert on your spouse. If I'm going to please my spouse, I'm going to have to know her likes and dislikes, her strengths and weaknesses. One of the things that helped us early on in our marriage was a tape (remember tapes?) we heard of Dr. Gary Chapman on "The Five Love Languages." (If you'd like to know more about this, here's a link to his website: http://www.5lovelanguages.com/). We discovered that some of the difficulties in the early years of our marriage had to do with the way we expressed love to each other. I thought I was loving her in doing things that made me feel loved. She was trying to love me in ways that made her feel loved. Sometimes, this can go on for years with neither spouse really making a connection. One example from our marriage: I would love her with words of affirmation, as in telling her "I love you" often. This was a good thing. Couples should say this to each other often and we do this multiple times a day. However, what she was really needing was for me to SHOW HER that I loved her by listening to her, by spending quality time with her. Now, I thought I was listening to her, but I wasn't LISTENING to her! I was hearing what she had to say, but not really paying attention the way I needed to. And she didn't feel loved. In fact, she felt very unloved. My words of affirmation (my Love Language) were actually galling to her at times because I wasn't spending quality time (her Love Language) with her the way she needed. Believe me, this is something we're still working on! And by no means have I arrived. But I hope that I'm listening better than I used to. FULL POST

"...heirs together of the grace of life..." I Peter 3:7b

Last November 26, my wife Kathy and I celebrated 30 years of marriage. Looking back, that day in 1982 was a pretty unpretentious affair. Neither of our parents had much money and neither did we. The ladies from Mt. Paron Church in Fordyce, Arkansas helped decorate the church, a friend of the family made Kathy's dress, and I wore an old suit. One of the members of the church paid for the reception, which was held in the lunchroom next door. We had some friends who sang together make a tape for us of hymns, which we played as people came in, and they sang "Sweet, Sweet Spirit" a capella for the processional.

We had only known each other six months. We were so young! I was 18 and she was 21. We had met at my home in Dothan, Alabama, when her dad brought her and the rest of the family on a preaching trip back in May. I took my last exam in high school on a Thursday morning and met Kathy that afternoon. I won't say it was love at first sight, but it was pretty close! There was just something there between us from the very first. I don't know how we knew this, but at the end of that week she was in Alabama, we knew that we were supposed to be together. We were engaged at the end that week (although we kept it a secret for a month) and married six months later. Most people wouldn't look on this as a recipe for a successful marriage, but I can say that the results are in---it most definitely has worked out! FULL POST