The Book Is Better

Have you ever seen a movie that is based off of a book that you’ve read? Sometimes the movie version is pretty spot on and really good because of it. Other times something is lost in the translation from text to screen. And even other times the movie turns into a complete train wreck of the novel. When that happens, fans become irate. Even in the movies that do a pretty bang up job trying to stay true to the book, the diehard fans seem to throw a fit about the tiniest of changes. Take the “Lord of the Rings” movies. When the first one came out, I heard so many reviews from fans that ran the gauntlet. Some were super stoked and liked it better than the book, while others loved it but felt it didn’t hold up. But the die hards were livid. Why were they livid? Well, the biggest complaint I heard was because they left out a character that was a big part of the story. Personally, I don’t see what the big deal was because the character wasn’t essential to the plot and his presence in the book actually annoyed me quite a bit, but those people who were devoted to  the book had come to know and love every aspect of it and any deviation from that standard was completely unacceptable.

Now, while I thought this devotion to a work of fiction to be a little over bearing, I can’t help in retrospect to see how it applies to the very doctrine that so many are spoon fed today. Modern “Christianity” has become the “movie version” of the Bible.  Some teach things that are pretty spot on. While others are looser in their interpretation, and yet others have completely obliterated any resemblance of the original in their take. 

As believers, we have a responsibility to defend the integrity of the Book versus the cinema version as being the absolute. Truth be told, any congregation that exists will never be spot on with the original. We have to make sure we know how the Book is before we can draw a comparison.

  

I make it no secret that I am, and have always been a huge nerd when it comes to comic books. Well, a few years ago they made a movie about Wolverine. I hated that movie with a passion. To me, it seemed like they had an amazing amount of great resources that they could have pulled from to make an amazing movie based off of the source material and they just decided to ignore it and make a dumbed down version. The problem was, people loved it. Why? Because they had never read the years of back story that already existed in the comics. Real fans hated the movie, and people who were casual fans seemed to adore it, so much so that a sequel is coming this summer. ( I will be in line to not see it.) 

The point I want to make is, if you never read the original, what is sold to you looks pretty good. We HAVE GOT TO BE IN THE BOOK! There is no message more urgent than that. It works both ways, even a movie that did a great job translating the book, like “The Hunger Games”, still had to work its way around the narrative and certain changes had to be made to present it to the masses. While they did a good job, it still wasn’t as good as the book. But we have the Book and we can always return to it when we want the real, true to self, version.

Even the Word that we have available to us today can be a little watered down through years of translations and downright manipulation and conspiracy. Certain translations are like reading the “Cliffs Notes” version of the Gospels. We need to take every precaution that we can to try to read as closely as possible to the original. 

So really, I guess it’s not so bad to be that “over bearing nerd” who demands that the story stick to the original. We can all learn from everyone by sifting through the dirt to find the gold. And fellowship is always encouraged, but we have to know the source material or we will buy into any and all garbage that is thrown our way.

One love,

Albert C. Coble

I Would be the Worst Super Hero

When I was a child, and all throughout my adolescence, I would dream of being a super hero.

I loved them all. Superman, Batman, Spiderman, even Aquaman. I collected every comic, toy, and collectable I could get my hands on. And in the interest of being honest, things haven't changed all that much now that I'm in my thirties. I don't buy comics and toys all that much, but I have a nice collection of  Marvel and D.C. clothes... yes, even undies.  

It occurred to me rather recently, and better late than never, that one of the reasons I was so fascinated with all these amazing characters and their fantastic lives is because I wanted desperately to be someone else. Someone better than who I was and who was able to do something worth while in the lives of others. I make it no secret that I have always struggled with a lack of self esteem and a poor self image. But these stories and their characters held a chance for escape from the exclusion and the reality that the underdog doesn't always come out on top, in fact, he hardly ever does. 

Looking back it seems so odd to me that I wasted so much time wishing I could be someone else. That I tried so hard to find my identity in things that could never happen. When it turns out this whole time, I already had an identity waiting for me in the Most High YHVH.  I had spent so much time in make believe that I didn't even read to notice that the most fantastic tales were waiting for me in His word. That He had made me to be someone who, though a part of the greater body of believers, has my own place as an individual set apart for His greater purpose.

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you;
before you were born, I separated you for myself.
I have appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”

These words, found in Jeremiah 1:5, speak volumes.  The El of the universe had each and every one of us planned from the beginning. He made us all unique and with a special purpose to be used in unity with each and every member of the body.  We are, every single one of us, called to a greater calling inside His love.

“For you fashioned my inmost being,
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”-Psalm 139:13

The Psalmist here reiterates the words found in Jeremiah, and vice versa. We were all made with singular care. We aren’t just shoved out of an assembly line. We are all one of a kind. Made with the hand of The Master Craftsman.  The fact that I wasted so many years feeling left out and unimportant is really utterly ridiculous in light of all the words found in scripture.  Abba loves us all and has made us all in His image. Any feelings of worthlessness we may feel are not of Him. He wants every single one of us and has endowed us with the awesome power of His Ruach. 

We have the greatest things in store for us. The best is still yet to come. I feel it is only appropriate to leave you with this:

"...From him who has been given much, much will be demanded..."-Luke12:48b

One love,

Albert C. Coble.