Ask me what my favorite Pixar movie is, I'd say The Incredibles. Twist my nipples really, really hard and I'll tell you it's Ratatouille. Hey, I like food movies. But Ratatouille really is a grand film, and one of the reasons is the way it sets up, and knocks down, its opponents. I thought of … Continue reading Ratatouille: How to Write Good Opponents/Villains
This may be the most fun I've ever had writing. Last year I entered a four-round flash fiction contest and this story got me first place in my group of round one. Sadly, I came short in round three, so I did not win the contest overall, but I'm still darn proud of this story … Continue reading Flash Fiction–“Don’t Wrest With the Best”
I have never liked “Good Good Father.” It’s main chorus is juvenile and repetitive, and the second stanza of “And I’m loved by you, it’s who I am…” is a grammatical eyesore. Loved is WHAT you are, not who. Your name is not Loved By You. Child-friendly lyrics, simplistic melodies, and overabundance of “Oh” and … Continue reading An Open Apology to Christian Music I Used to Hate
Did you see the film God’s Not Dead 2? I didn’t, because I watch enough bad movies by accident, I don’t need to do it on purpose. It was widely panned as Right-Winged propaganda, and from the clips I’ve seen, yeah, that’s pretty true. But you want to know something weird? For a film that … Continue reading The ACTUAL Anti-Christian Conspiracy
Why do bad people do bad things? The easy answer is "They're bad people." Someone once posted a pie chart of the reasons for the American Civil War. The majority said, "Slavery." The other little slice? "Slavery." The person who posted it commented, "Just in case any of you [expletive deleted] still think the Civil … Continue reading Why Hatred is More Complex and Troubling Than We Realize
Why did God order all those people killed in the Bible? Why does he condemn people to Hell? Why did he let so-and-so die or such-and-such terrible thing happen? Even Christians like myself wrestle with these things. Unfortunately, giving a satisfactory answer (or rather, answers), would take ten books, four articles, and three Youtube videos. … Continue reading Why Does God Do Bad Things?
In case you haven't heard that word before, "Apologetics" is essentially a defense or explanation for your belief in God and/or his ways. If someone says, "God is dumb," and you say, "Nuh-uh," that's your apologetic. Not a good one, but still... Christians have been defending themselves for thousands of years now, as is instructed … Continue reading 5 Ways Christians Can Improve Their Apologetics
It's not enough to say there's a problem, as I and many others have. If anything's going to change, we have to offer advice and help, too. So today I'd like to offer an alternative to the one of the greatest dilemmas of Christian books and films: preachiness. Christians want to teach morals and lessons. … Continue reading How Christian Writers Can Teach Without Preaching
90% of everything is crap. That’s just nature; there is more attempt than skill, and even skill must be cultivated. So why do I complain that 90% of Christian art is crap? Because unlike the rest of the world, mainstream Christianity defends its crap. While this trend is thankfully changing, there are still a staggering … Continue reading Why Defending Bad Christian Art Shows Bad Theology
You know the story even if you haven’t read it. You probably said “Bah, Humbug” before you heard Scrooge grumble it. You know Scrooge as an adjective even if you don’t know the noun. It’s been adapted countless times, from stageplays to Hollywood, from historic accuracy to modern satire, from Muppets to mo-cap. A Christmas … Continue reading Why “A Christmas Carol” Still Works 175 Years Later.
