Josh Benner

Tag: Review

  • “Come Sunday” revolves around pastor sliding into heresy, denying doctrine of hell

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    “Come Sunday” is the true story of pastor Carlton Pearson (portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a pentecostal megachurch pastor in Tulsa.
    (spoiler alerts)
    In the beginning of the movie, you see Pearson’s concern for evangelism. He prays with a woman on a plane, he visits his uncle in prison to share the gospel.
    But after seeing footage on the news and hearing about genocide in Rwanda, Pearson is thrown into crisis when he considers the eternal destiny of those people.
    Pearson struggles to come to terms with the possibility of people unreached by the gospel and spending eternity in hell.
    The following Sunday, Pearson preaches a message at church where he says that he knows that all of those people were saved pointing to the love of God.
    In the movie, a mentor for Pearson was famed pentecostal leader, and university founder, Oral Roberts (played by Martin Sheen). Roberts and other friends try to convince Pearson to recant his teachings.
    But Pearson doubles down and continues to renounce the doctrine of hell.
    People in the church oppose Pearson. In reality, the church shrank by thousands of people who disagreed with Pearson’s theology as he became a universalist.
    The movie depicts Peterson meeting with Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops. In reality, the bishops declared Pearson as heretic in 2004.
    I feel like the movie paints this as being a witch hunt. The make Pearson seem to be a sympathetic figure. But in reality, it was the bishops confronting a pastor who was no longer preaching the Bible. They had no other choice. To undermine the doctrine of hell is to undermine the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
    Hell was the penalty of sin. Because our sin was that great. And we could do nothing on our own to pay for our sins. Jesus did on the cross. He lived a perfect light.
    The idea that a loving God could not allow heaven is a popular one among many in our society.
    But we don’t create reality. Hell’s existence is not based on if we want it to exist or not. A person can choose to believe it doesn’t exist. But to argue that the Bible affirms universalism and that everyone is saved, regardless of if they have faith, contradicts the Bible. Faith is the means of right standing with God.
    Pearson’s “gospel” appears to be the belief that Jesus actually covered the sins of everyone, regardless of if they believe in him or not.
    In the gospel, we do see the love of God. But we also see the justice of God. There was a price to be paid for sin, and Jesus paid that price.
    No one in the Bible says more about hell than Jesus.
    Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me” (John 14:26).
    To be saved is to be regenerated (born again). Being born again is necessary (John 3:7). When a person is born again, they are given the Holy Spirit.
    “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
    I understand it’s a difficult subject. but instead of trying to justify unbiblical teachings. for anyone who cares for the word of God, we must also trust in the goodness and justice of God.
    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

  • The science of timing and how to maximize your day

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    I’m finishing up the new book “When: the scientific secrets of perfect timing” by Daniel H. Pink. Pink writes on management and behavioral science.
    Everyone knows that timing is everything. But we don’t know much about timing itself. Our lives are a never-ending stream of “when” decisions: when to start a business, schedule a class, get serious about a person. Yet we make those decisions based on intuition and guesswork.
    Timing, it’s often assumed, is an art. In When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Pink shows that timing is really a science.
    This book was helpful for me. Since getting married last year, I’ve spent a lot of time evaluating my schedule and how I utilize time.
    How do we maximize our time?
    We all have times of the day that are more optimal for us to get work done. From “When” and numerous other books I’ve read on the subject, it is essential for people who work in fields that take a lot of mental energy to allow their minds time to recharge.
    To some, that might seem lazy.
    But it’s really just human nature. We have a finite amount of physical and mental energy.
    Pink talks in the book about how it used to be a badge of honor for people who worked long hours and sacrificed sleep to work. But how, often times, the quality of the work struggles when people do that.
    We aren’t robots who can just devote endless hours to accomplishing tasks.
    What is more likely to happen is that our minds start to wander and drift and we have time that is spent pretending to work, or looking like we’re working but actually accomplishing very little. In reality, people spend a lot of time socializing, texting, playing on their phones, looking online.
    In one study (not mentioned in this book), 1,989 British office workers were found to spend just less than three hours a day actually working.
    This is a reality of what happens.
    So my interest is in maximizing efficiency in that.
    And that’s where I found “When” helpful, because part of what this book did was analyze the rhythms of the day. It’s important to structure the day where we are working on what’s important at our optimal times of productivity.
    Many (not all) adults are able to hit the ground running in the morning. As the morning goes on, closer to lunch time, that mental productivity can wane. In the middle of the afternoon, around 2:30, our productivity hits another low.
    For many people, we hit a rut approximately seven hours after waking up.
     And the peaks and valleys of the day have real consequences. Citing numerous studies, in the late morning and mid-afternoon lulls, there is a statistical increase in medical errors during surgery; people who are up for parole have a higher chance of being denied; test scores go down for students.
    So with this knowledge and applying it to life, it might be a waste of prime mental real estate to start the day off by doing a relatively mindless task like checking emails.
    The book also talks of the importance of rest. But not just any rest but productive rest. Pink argues that checking text messages on a break can actually be counterproductive. We do many things that aren’t productive but which also aren’t conducive to rest and recharging. And perhaps the lack of rest also perpetuates the problem of a lack of productivity.
    Work hard, play hard.
    I thought the book was well-written, well researched, practical. I’d recommend it.
    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

     

  • “Living Biblically” series an opportunity for conversations about faith

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    Last night, CBS premiered its new show “Living Biblically” about a man who’s life is suddenly thrown into a crisis when his best friend dies and his wife finds out she’s pregnant.

    Lead character Chip Curry (Jay R. Ferguson) evaluates his life.

    He had tried to throw himself into his work as a movie reviewer. Although his office shows off worldly decadence. A coworker is having an affair. Chip’s boss is cold hearted and only cares about the bottom line.

    Chip goes to a bookstore in an attempt to find a self help book, but ends up coming across a Bible. “Do you believe in signs?” Chip asks the bookstore’s clerk.

    As a sort of project, Chip decides to entirely throw himself into living Biblically for the next nine months (premise based on the book “the year of living Biblically” by A.J. Jacobs).

    Chip’s wife who’s a physician and who has a focus on science is skeptical of the role of faith. But she tries to be supportive of her husband.

    Chip talks to a priest (and later a Rabbi) and seeks out their counsel as he tries to live Biblically.

    The pilot had a couple of humorous moments, but I also find comedies hard to judge based on their first episode.

    Some Christians will absolutely dislike this show. For instance, because of situations like a coworker having an affair (spoiler alert: after Chip throws a rock at the coworker, he evaluates his decisions and comes clean to his wife and later thanks Chip). But there will be people who find some of the subject matter crass. But those situations are also necessary in a series that revolves around a character trying to living Biblically in a culture where that’s countercultural.

    Executive producer Johnny Galecki (of Big Bang Theory and Roseanne fame) said that he wanted to do a comedy about religion. Galecki cites his own Catholic upbringing and has talked in interviews of how many who are involved with the production of the show are devout in their beliefs.

    In an interview with the Television Critics Associated Winter Press Tour, Galecki said, ““I think, hopefully, [people of faith] will find this show a cool take on what a lot of people base their entire lives around.”

    From other interviews Galecki has done, it seems that one of his goals is for people to be able to have honest conversations about religion. The show hasn’t set out to mock religion.

    Although it is a show about faith, it’s a man exploring faith. I don’t necessarily consider it to be a family show, but it’s a relevant show in that many are on spiritual journeys in society. The show is more of a cultural commentary. The vast majority of Americans believe in God. And through various situations of life, many face times where they truly begin to more seriously seek God out.

    As we see in the show, there are different sources of truth that people try to pursue. There are many sources of purpose to which people look.

    And then there’s Chip, who has thrown himself into Godly living. So many in our society are lukewarm to faith and seem to believe in a God who affirms whatever they want to do. Chip, on the other hand, is trying to truly live a Godly life. In that, there are times when he doesn’t understand but he follows.

    There are situations where he faces conflict about knowing what is Biblical but facing challenges to his newfound values. We see this when Chip and his wife run into the coworker who’s on a date and where Chip is conflicted about telling the truth vs playing along with his friend’s lie in order to avoid an uncomfortable situation).

    By the end of the episode, even secular characters are noticing positive aspects to the changes in Chip’s life (one says he might even need to start).

    What the show is trying to do is very difficult. Have a comedy about religion that appeals to a large audience. But for many in America, regardless of beliefs, I think that this show can achieve one of Galecki’s goals about being a thought provoking look into religious life in America.

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

  • Hostiles: not a place to learn history but a good parable of friendship

    “Set in 1892, Hostiles tells the story of a legendary Army Captain (Christian Bale), who after stern resistance, reluctantly agrees to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) and his family back to tribal lands. Making the harrowing and perilous journey from Fort Berringer, an isolated Army outpost in New Mexico, to the grasslands of Montana, the former rivals encounter a young widow (Rosamund Pike), whose family was murdered on the plains. Together, they must join forces to overcome the punishing landscape, hostile Comanche and vicious outliers that they encounter along the way.”
    –Rotten Tomatoes description 

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  • The Fault in our Stars: movie faithful to the book

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    When I first heard that the book “The Fault in our Stars” was about a girl with cancer, I thought that it was going to be a piece of schmaltzy garbage. When I picked up the book in February, I was immediately drawn in, reading it in two long sittings over the span of about 11 hours. Since that day, I had been eagerly awaiting the movie that was released last night.

    I won’t say anything that would potentially spoil the movie until the last paragraph. The theater was one of the fullest I’ve been to in a long time. I felt that this movie was as true to the book as any film adaptation I have ever seen. Shailene Woodley, who plays the book’s protagonist, Hazel Grace Lancaster, had the feel and spunk that you would expect from Hazel. Ansel Elgort plays Augustus Waters and even looks like how I pictured Gus, and was another perfect embodiment of the fictional character. In the book, a love story develops between Hazel and Augustus as they meet at a support group for teens with cancer. Woodley and Elgort had great chemistry on-screen, and the development of their relationship felt natural. (more…)