Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- changing and choosing good

Director: J. J. Abrams, 2015 (PG-13)

Ten years after the end of the first trilogy (episodes 1-3) and the "birth" of Darth Vader, a new Star Wars film emerges: The Force Awakens. It has been 38 years since the first Star Wars movie was released and changed Hollywood history.  I remember seeing that film as a boy in England and was thrilled beyond words. Thirty-two years on from the end of original trilogy (Return of the Jedi), this new movie is set 30 years on from that storyline.

I won't reveal any spoilers here. Having just seen it, I knew little going in and that made for some fun surprises. I will say that this film was as good as the first movie. In fact, there are a lot of parallels between the two movies. To say more would be to say too much.

With JJ Abrams at the helm, the franchise has seen a successful reboot (just as he did for Star Trek in 2009). The Force Awakens moves away from the glitter of cgi to the grittiness of reality. The props, the vehicles, the spaceships all feel used, dirty. The characters also feel true to the original.

This film, like the first (episode 4), uses unknown actors. Daisy Ridler in her first American film plays Rey, the female protagonist. A scavenger, she is eking out a barren existence on the desert planet Jakku. John Bodega, best known for his role as Moses in Attack the Block, plays FN-2187, a starship trooper. The film centers on these two characters.

At the start of the film FN-2187 is sent with a platoon of other troopers to a planet in search of something that Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) wants. Dressed in black and with a Vader-like mask, Ren is the Darth Vader of this trilogy bowing only to the Supreme Ruler. When he orders the platoon to commit mass murder, FN-2187 has qualms of conscience and refuses. He chooses against the First Order, the new evil empire ruling the universe. Only when he escapes is he given a new name, Finn. And when he meets Rey on Jakku a classic Star Wars chemistry develops. Finn is running from the First Order but is not a rebel fighter like he tells her. He wants to hide in the outer orbits. She wants to fight. Eventually, he finds strength to once more do the right thing.

One of the themes of this film is that people get second chances to do the right thing. Finn, though raised to be a First Order warrior, recognizes when acts are evil and chooses to do the right thing. In life, we all face choices of right and wrong. Even if we choose wrong, we still have later opportunities to choose again. Indeed, the ultimate choice is for the kingdom. In doing so, we are born again (Jn. 3:3). We might face this choice and ignore it, but we will get the chance later. We cannot run away from this choice.

Later in the movie, one character faces an enemy and has a tough choice to make, saying: "I'm being torn apart. I want to be free of this pain. I know what I have to do but I don't know if I have the strength to do it." This is so reminiscent of the apostle Paul, himself a person who had transitioned from the Roman empire to the Christian rebels. He said in a biographical letter, "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing" (Rom. 7: 18-19). His internal struggle is universal. We all face this. Only in Jesus can we find victory to subvert sin and do good. It is the choice we face daily.

Some have made much of the fact that the protagonists are respectively female and black. But that is to read too much political correctness into this film. The rebellion is inclusive, not worrying about skin color or gender. This is true of the new rebellion under Jesus. Once more, Paul said: "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). Underneath we find the same humanity facing the same choices.

This is the Star Wars for a new generation. It's a terrific thrill ride of a film. The force has indeed awakened. And I really don't have a bad feeling about this trilogy.

Copyright ©2015, Martin Baggs

Turkey Films 2015 -- the real turkeys

With this fifth edition of Turkey Films I felt I needed to go back to literal basics with this Thanksgiving game my family play each year. The rules are unchanged. I put the word “turkey” into a movie title to come up with a turkey film that makes us laugh and gets us into the holiday spirit. But this year these films are real turkey turkeys. They are the films that show up at the very bottom of my list of rated reviewed movies. They are horrible and warrant the moniker of turkey films.


1. The Monument Turkeys
2. He Died with a Turkey in his Hand
3. He was a Quiet Turkey
4. Eraturkey
5. Lonesome Turkey
6. The Turkey Countess
7. The Spiderwick Turkeys
8. Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Turkey
9. The Wendell Turkey Story
10. Last Chacnce Turkey

Enjoy this list. What are your turkey turkeys? Go, gobble up a few and list them for your family. Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy time with your family and friends this holiday and through the Christmas season.

Music Review: "Adore (Christmas Songs of Worship)" -- Chris Tomlin

Four words came to mind at my first two or three listenings to Chris Tomlin’s new Christmas album: slow, acoustic, meditative and melancholy. Many of the 11 songs are new Tomlin originals, mostly arranged and performed simply with acoustic guitar and piano.

The album starts with a new worship song: “He shall reign forevermore.” This is classic Tomlin, a worship anthem that we’ll be singing in church for years to come. But from there the tempo slows down and we get three or four slower songs. “Adore” is almost melancholic. “Midnight Clear (Love Song” takes the traditional carol and imbues it with a new arrangement. I like that Tomlin took the lyric, “It came up on a midnight clear, that glorious song of old” and adds to it with the “melody breaks through the silence” to become “the love song of God.” This has extended that Christmas classic in a powerful way. “Noel,” though, is the weakest song on this album and is not the carol of old.

The middle portion of the album starts with a hymn rather than a Christmas song. “Hymn of Joy” is Beethoven;s “Joyful, joyful we adore thee” and is simply a worship song with a an additional chorus. I am not sure why this shows up here. The next two songs are traditional carols, “Silent Night” and “What Child is This”. The former has a new arrangement and ends with a reading of Isaiah 9, while the latter is powerful in its simplicity.

My favorite song on this album is “It’s Christmas” It begins with a jazzy up-beat rendering of “Away in a Manger” and migrates into pop with the chorus. Adding sax and drums, it ends with “Go Tell it on the Mountain.” This feels like Christmas, with joy and happiness. It  is something to sing about.

The album closes with three new songs by Tomlin: “A King like this,” “Bethlehem” and “A Christmas Alleluia”. The last song brings synthesizer music to the front as it leaves the listener with a meditative mood.

America’s worship leader has given us another Christmas album, once more live. However, I found myself wishing for more upbeat joyful songs like “It’s Christmas” or more traditional carols like “Hark the Herald Angels”, which he recorded on his earlier Christmas Album (“Glory in the Highest”.  I found myself returning to that earlier album, which I enjoyed more. This is not a failure in Tomlin’s resume, just not as good as his earlier albums. It was a little too slow for my yuletide sensitivities.

Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting / Flyby Promotions for providing a free copy of the CD in exchange for this honest review and post.

Book Review: The ESV Men’s Devotional Bible - a new bible aimed at helping men

The ESV Men’s Devotional Bible,  Crossway Books (2015)

I was invited to receive a free copy of this new devotional
bible and it came at the right time. I felt I needed a fresh perspective and God delivered. I have several bibles in my library, but have consistently used a particular one through each decade. My first one was a the NIV Study Bible in hardback, back in 1985. I used that for over a dozen years. In 1997, I receive a leather-bound copy of “The Experiencing God Study Bible” (NIV) as a Christmas gift. I’ve been using this for almost 20 years, and have had to recover it once. Now I am giving this ESV Men’s Devotional Bible a shot.

The purpose behind this new bible is to “strengthen and transform the hearts of men through the power of the Spirit-infused Word of God.” Of course, God’s Word has the power to do this, but this book is aimed specifically at men who are facing a relentless assault from the world, the flesh and the Devil in ways unseen or unheard of before. We are under constant attack and need all the help and tools we can get. To that end, this new bible will be a valued weapon in our arsenal.

I have not read the ESV before. I was introduced to Jesus through an NIV bible and have made this my translation of choice for thirty years. For a spell in seminary, I had to use the NASB, and found it a little more stilted and eventually came back to the NIV. The ESV, like the NASB, is a literal translation, seeking to capture the precise wording rather than a dynamic equivalent like the NIV, that seeks to translate thought-for-thought not word-for-word. It’s a different style. The editors have used the RSV as the starting point and claim their legacy from the KJV and ASV before RSV. From the early readings I have done, this version is a little stiffer than the NIV but perhaps a little easier than the NASB. Any new version takes us out of our comfort zone, but perhaps let’s us hear God’s Word with fresh ears. I am all for this.

Let’s move on to the book itself. The copy I got was a hardbound version, although there are leather options as well. This book is almost 1600 pages and is in a comfortable size to handle easily. It’s a black-letter edition, meaning that the words of Jesus are in black like the rest of the text. That is different from my earlier bibles. The text of the Bible is in an 8.5 point serif font, slightly different from the added devotionals which are sans serif. This is just a little smaller than the font in my current bible, making it just a little harder to read for older eyes like mine, but not too difficult that I turn away. The pages are thin, but that is to be expected for such a long book. I would not try highlighting verses with a highlighter as I would expect the ink to be visible from the other side of the page. But underlining with a ballpoint pen should be no problem. I have tended to write notes in my bible margins, but these margins are very tight and do not allow enough room for such notations. That is a pity.

The bible itself comes with three distinct features. First, as a devotional bible, there are the devotionals themselves. Written by a team of over 50 pastors and teachers under the editorial oversight of Dr. Sam Storms, there are 365 one-page devotionals that are gospel-centered and tied to particular scriptures. They are interspersed within the text of the books, with at least one devotional in each Biblical book. They reflect on the text and its contemporary meaning. Their primary intention is to be read in conjunction with the biblical text, and if you start from Genesis and read through to Revelation you’ll not only complete the Bible in a year, you’ll have 365 daily devotions to complement the text. Another way to approach them is to just read the devotional and accompany text, starting in Genesis. This way, they offer a framework for understanding the key theological themes in one year. Another way is to refer to the index of devotions at the back of the book, and select what resonates. I am personally choosing to use this Bible in my current reading program, which is a 1-year New Testament plan, and will read the devotionals as I come to them. I am joining them in progress, in other words.

The second feature are the book introductions. Each one is kept to one-page and focuses on the background, the key theme, and the book and a man’s heart. This is useful information and sets the tone for how it will be relevant for the male reader.

The final feature is the dictionary of key terms in the back. It’s not comprehensive, but at 15 pages it covers several hundred words and phrases that a causal reader might not understand.

My initial impressions on this bible are that it is a reasonable size (not too large to handle, nor too small to read), has good features (not too many that they overwhelm, yet enough that they serve their purpose), and a clear intention, to help men live stronger Christian lives. I am going to enjoy reading a new version and see how God uses this to encourage me in my walk with Jesus.

Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting / Flyby Promotions for providing a free copy of the book in exchange for this honest review and post.