Review: The Dark Knight Rises (contains spoilers)

Don't read this review if you don't want to learn specific details about the plot. You have been warned!

If the Dark Knight redefined the superhero genre then the Dark Knight Rises revolutionises it. This is comic book story telling on an unprecedented scale. The Dark Knight Rises is not just the third film in Christopher Nolan's reboot. This is the final chapter in Nolan's trilogy. A true trilogy is a rare thing nowadays - many movie franchises are protracted in order to generate as much income for Hollywood as they can. But The Dark Knight Rises truly ties together the threads woven in Batman Begins and the Dark Knight. The continuity with the previous two films is one of the strongest features of the Dark Knight Rises and one of its biggest triumphs. 

In Bane you have at last a villain with both a physical and theatrical presence on screen. Every scene Bane is in, like a gravitational pull, his presence is felt and you sense the fear eminating from each character as they tread with trepidation even at the sound of his name. Bane's voice, a point of contention when the prologue was released last year, is to Bane what the facial scars were to the Joker and gives his character added mystery and intrigue. There is something innately sinister about not being able to discern someone's real voice. Bane's distorted dialogue and monologue really helps to establish the uniqueness of the character, which was always going to be a hard act to follow after Heath Ledger's posthumously oscar winning performance as the maniacal Joker.

The supporting cast are an outstanding feature of this film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character John Blake, a precocious police officer turned detective brings a lot of emotional depth to the film as an honest citizen of Gotham who grew up in an Orphanage idolizing Bruce Wayne who he always suspected of being Batman due to his ability to empathise and understand the trauma and pain of losing his parents. Anne Hathaway's Catwoman is sexy and stylish, while her alias Selina Kyle is more vulnerable and conflicted. The chemistry between her and Batman is tantalizing and scintillating as each scene they are in is filled with sexual tension, mutual respect and a deep moral yearning to create a new life in which deception and violence play no part.

Undoubtedly though the star of this film is the Dark Knight himself Bruce Wayne/Batman. Ultimately this is a trilogy about Bruce Wayne, not Batman. The film starts eight years after the Dark Knight and Batman has gone into hiding having taken the blame for Harvey Dent's death and subsequently becoming villified by the Police. Bruce Wayne has become a recluse, keeping himself to the east wing of Wayne Manor heartbroken and bereaved of his lost love Rachel Dawes. His injuries have caught up with him and now he walks with a cane due to lack of cartillage in his knees. Only the theft of his mother's pearl necklace, and his finger prints from the safe in which they were locked, brings him out of Wayne Manor and back into society as he tracks down Catwoman. Over the course of the film Bruce learns to live and love again but he also learns the hard way about physical suffering combined with accute mental torture. Rashly, Batman challenges Bane to a dual but eight years away from crime fighting Batman is no match for the power and aggression of Bane and so succumbs to his latest adversary's remarkable strength (itself born not of a super serum but his own suffering). Literally a broken man, Bruce Wayne must recover and go through the same suffering Bane himself endured as a young man. 

The character progression of Bruce Wayne is awe-inspiring, this is a story in which Bruce Wayne must go on a journey of self-discovery. Rotting in a prison cell, somewhere in the far East Bruce Wayne must truly learn how to survive and regain the will to win and defeat Bane. When he finally returns to Gotham, which has been overrun by Bane and his henchmen and under the threat of nuclear annhilation, as Bane possesses and is in control of a nutron bomb converted from the core of a nuclear generator, created to give Gotham clean, renewable energy; Batman must confront Bane a second time while saving the city from certain exstinction.

This is a stylish, intelligent, dramatic and epic conclusion to the Dark Knight trilogy. The plot is full of emotion, the script is intelligently written with fantastic interplay between all of the lead characters; the action sequences are mesmerizing and the fight scenes are emotively choreographed and charged. The casting is superb and the acting second to none. I sincerely loved everything about this film and it surpassed even my expectations as a Batman fanatic.

New Evidence for the Historical reliability of the Gospels

This is a very interesting lecture given by Dr Peter Williams regarding new evidence to support the Historical reliability and historiocity of the 4 Canonical Gospels found in the New Testament. Dr Williams arguments are lucid and erudite. I was not familiar with some of this 'new' research and so found the study of correlations both inside and outside the Gospels to 1st Century Israeli names very fascinating. This lecture does not seek to completely discredit all skeptical theories about the fabrication of the Gospels, rather put forward a positive and logical argument for their reliabilty and plausibility. Note the lecture is roughly 53 minutes long.

Overview:

1.       The Chinese Whispers analogy to discredit the 4 Gospels is flawed in many ways.

2.       New research over the last 10 years has found a strong correlation between the most common Jewish names in First Century Israel and those found in the 4 Gospels.

3.       The Gnostic Gospels use of the title ‘Christ’ rather than the name Jesus is an indication of later authorship and lack of connection to the events i.e. not eye witness reports but fabrications.

4.       Use of disambiguation (differentiating between people of the same name) in the 4 Gospels supports evidence that the Gospel writers were highly accurate in their narrative.

5.       Jesus’ teachings are very Jewish in nature, which would be audience specific – the early Church, which was more Gentile, did not use parables as a method of teaching. If the 4 Gospels were not based on reliable, eye witness data then they would have contained more Gentile literary and teaching devices to them.

6.       Obscure geographical locations are used in the 4 Gospels that only people with knowledge of the area/region would have known about. Compared to the Gnostic Gospels, which rarely mention any geographical locations (some not at all and others only the capital Jerusalem).

7.       Test of Botany – mention of specific fauna to particular areas supports the plausibility of the 4 Gospels being written based on eye-witness data.

What is Grace?

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13&14

If I had a pound for every time a non-believer made a judgement on what I as a Christian should do or think or say I would be a very rich man by now! Christian stereotypes abound across society, which range from the naïve to the downright offensive. We’re either gullible or foolish for believing in a God that is “not real”; the boring-no fun prudish and inhibited introverts or the ‘Bible bashing’ extremists who are dangerous and a threat to a tolerant society. Our misrepresentation is astonishing but the door swings both ways – it is not only our secular society that paints a distorted picture of us; there are some in the Church itself who are equally guilty of such uninformed misjudgements.

I heard it said once that all other of God’s characteristics we can comprehend because we have experience of them – love, justice, forgiveness, mercy etc. However, holiness is beyond our comprehension because as human beings we are not holy, nor can we experience holiness without first being reborn in the Spirit as we are spiritually dead in our sin. Thus our understanding of holiness is based on our interpretation of Scripture rather than personal experience. This has caused so much controversy throughout the ages and led to so much division in the Church.

Firstly let me defend that statement against those who may counter with the argument we can be sure of our interpretation of Scripture precisely because we now have the indwelling Holy Spirit – the Corinthians were perhaps the most charismatic church in the New Testament, moving in the myriad gifts of the Holy Spirit and yet Paul described them as ‘carnal’ because of their acceptance of sin within their congregation. So it is possible, paradoxically, to have the Holy Spirit at yet be ‘unspiritual’ in certain matters.

Returning to my point, what constitutes a holy and righteous living is a matter of delicate interpretation. This is evident in Paul’s teaching in Romans 14 about causing a brother or sister in Christ to stumble. A generation ago there were denominations that condemned dancing and going to the cinema and women were not meant to attend church with their heads uncovered. Historically the Puritans balked at the degeneration they saw in the moral fabric of society. Famously Oliver Cromwell who became Lord Protector after Charles I’s execution banned ball games on a Sunday and enforced that everyone fast on Christmas day! While many Christians today are well-meaning they can also fail to understand what grace truly means and how it works in practice.

Whether it is views on the death penalty, vegetarianism, animal rights, war, consumerism, alcohol, smoking, tattoos, heavy-metal, swearing there are many subjects and issues that are a grey area Biblically speaking and we as Christians must tread carefully before pronouncing judgement and falling into the trap of legalism and Pharisaicalism. Self-righteousness and pride are two of the most pervasive sins in the Church. Of course in many Christians, especially of the evangelical persuasion alarm bells ring whenever they believe they have detected licentiousness, particularly when it comes to ‘doctrine’. But there is a difference between licentiousness and grace.

Licentiousness is when one flies in the face of Scripture where there is clear instruction and doctrine such as homosexuality, adultery, greed, murder, lying, covetousness, idolatry etc. Pauls warns of such people in 1 Corinthians who he proclaims will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Particularly when it comes to sexual morality Christians are meant to be above reproach and therefore any justification used to condone such behaviour and lifestyles are wholly wrong. Similarly, idolatry is abominable because it is only by God’s grace and mercy that we are saved and therefore if our priority and first love is not for God, or if we believe there are other things or beings in this world that deserve our worship or time as much as God, we are acting offensively to the very Creator who has given us life.

Grace on the other hand is the reality of complete and utter trust in Jesus’ sacrifice for our salvation and righteousness. The Bible teaches that all our self-righteousness is but filthy rags to God. One of the things that offends non-believers the most about the Gospel is that ‘good’ people go to hell while vile and wicked people who are repentant go to heaven. And yet there are many in the church that fundamentally misunderstands grace. I’ve heard people quoting from Leviticus regarding Christians and tattoos, claiming that it is sinful when as Christians fulfilling the Law is not a requirement of our salvation. To begin with the Law in effect saved no-one as the Chief Priest each year would have to offer up animal sacrifices for the atonement of the nation of Israel; secondly the Day of Atonement and the Covenant God made with Moses on Mount Sinai has been superseded by the new Covenant made through Jesus Christ – as the book of Hebrews explains; and thirdly as Paul says in Romans as Christians we have died to the Law, for Christ is the fulfilment of the Law to do what the Law could not do, namely to make us righteous.

Again if you insist on keeping one part of the Law then you are required to keep all of it – including circumcision! But as the New Testament teaches circumcision of the flesh will not help us as we can be circumcised in the flesh but uncircumcised in the heart. If we remain uncircumcised in the heart then our physical circumcision is rendered null and void. Indeed Jesus said “whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in your heart” and again “anyone who calls his brother a fool is worthy of Hell”. It is not enough to remain faithful to your wife while being addicted to pornography; it is not enough to restrain from committing murder while harbouring anger and malice against someone. The greatest deception of self-righteousness is the lie that we can become good enough through our own efforts. We deceive ourselves by believing our intentions and motivations are honourable and God-pleasing but we allow ourselves to then become filled with pride. As Paul says he had more reason than any other to boast in his own righteousness but counted it all as nothing compared to gaining Christ.

What Jesus calls for is disciples who will pick up their cross and follow Him, denying their flesh and dying to their sinful nature that is in perpetual conflict with the Holy Spirit. We must identify ourselves with Christ’s crucifixion and walk by faith and trust that in Christ we have died to our sin and have arisen with Him in His resurrection. Paul describes Jesus as the first-fruit of the new creation. Our bodily resurrection will come on the Day of Judgement but in baptism and following Jesus we believe that the spiritual reality of the resurrection and the salvation into eternal life has already begun.

What is my point? I am driving at the fact that grace is the acceptance of our insignificance and inability to atone for our sin by our own means – even following the Law itself right down to the Letter. Grace is living in a new reality – the reality of the circumcision of the heart, the reality of the spirit of the Law; the reality of knowing the true heart of God for the lost, the vulnerable and the weak. James teaches that true religion is to care for the orphaned and the widow and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Isaiah teaches that true fasting is justice for the poor and the exploited. What does this mean in practice? It means we must be humble at all times. It means we must recognize our state of spiritual poverty and rest in God’s all-encompassing grace.

When we come across a grey area think which covenant are you living under? Where does your faith and trust lay? What is the state of your own heart before you pronounce judgement? This is not an excuse or ticket for some Christians to flaunt what they deem to be acceptable behaviour, which others take issue with. As I mentioned earlier, Paul teaches we should not cause our brothers or sisters to stumble. Getting drunk and justifying your actions on “well even Christ drunk wine” is sinful because the New Testament clearly teaches that drunkenness and debauchery are wrong and that we should be filled not with wine but the Spirit. Watching graphically sexual TV programmes with the excuse “I don’t condone that or do it myself” may cause another to stumble and is not honouring to the Lord whose standard of morality is much greater than that of the worlds’. Moreover, such programmes lead inevitably to temptation and temptation gives birth to sin and the wages of sin is death!

However, giving someone a hard time for smoking when the New Testament says nothing explicitly on it or condemning tattoos when again the New Testament is silent on the issue (although it makes its views on placing trust in the body i.e. circumcision very clear) is something which reveals a short coming in your own understanding of the covenantal relationship we have with God and the grace that comes through Jesus Christ. Thus a careful balance needs to be struck – on the one hand ‘mature’ Christians (for want of a better word) should be mindful of ‘weaker’ Christians seeking to edify their faith, while ‘weaker’ Christians or ‘immature’ Christians should seek to grow in spiritual maturity having a deeper grasp and understanding of the interpretation and application of Scripture and the true nature of Grace.

Album Review: P.O.D. Murdered Love

10 July 2012 18 years after their debut album, P.O.D. release their eighth studio album Murdered Love. Immediately the listener is assaulted with opener Eyez featuring none other than Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta. The song punches its way through the speakers with a musical verocity that is perfectly matched by the dark, apocalyptic lyrical content warning of the imminent coming of the end days. There is no respite as Eyez leads directly into title track Murdered Love, an absolute beast of a song; one which reverberates on every level - musically, artistically, lyrically and spiritually. It really is the jewel in the crown of the entire album and the best song the band have written in a decade.

Murdered Love is the pinnacle of the band's creativity with dark, atmospheric riffs and a unique rhythmic metre used by Sonny as he executes rather than raps the lyrics. Lead single Lost in Forever takes the listener on a philosophical journey of contemplation and speculation as to what comes after this life and lifts the album melodically juxtaposing the heaviness and aggression of Eyez and Murdered Love. Indeed Murdered Love weaves a rich tapestry of musical tones and textures and synthesises nu-metal, hip-hop, hard rock, punk-rock and hardcore.

Some songs like Bad Boy and Panic and Run are almost playful and cheeky in their hip hop and punk-rock persuasions, while the latter transitions into a hardcore breakdown that is off. the. hook. I haven't head banged that hard in a long, long time! Hip-hop/Rock hybrid West Coast Rock Steady, featuring Sen Dog from Cypress Hill, is perhaps the most infectious and addictive song P.O.D. have written and is definitely on a par with fellow So-Cal salute Kaliforn-eye-a, albeit in a different sense.

Conversely, P.O.D. leaves their most controversial musical statement till last as 'I Am' puts a most definite exclamation mark upon the album! Musically I Am is reminiscent of the seminal sounds of platinum selling the Fundamental Elements of Southtown; but it is the lyrical content that really sets this song apart. The song is only featured on mainstream releases of the album due to the inclusion of the infamous F-bomb, something that has caused a scandal amongst Christian retailers. I Am cuts extremely close to the bone and addresses some very dark and poignant social issues that affect society at present - from pornography and drug abuse to self-harming and sex-trafficking.

The justification for the lyrics comes by way of the artistic licence used as Sonny writes from the perspective of a lost teenager, struggling to come to terms with life who is desperately seeking God. The song is in effect the heartfelt cry of the dark night of the soul - something everyone can relate to. Christians will argue over the legitimacy of the use of the F-bomb for years to come, however it is clear they are not the target audience. For me the lyrical and spiritual journey that is evident from the beginning to the end of the song puts it into context. The song finishes with light overcoming the darkness as Sonny quotes from Colossians 1:19-20 about the old passing away and all things being made new.

The collaborations throughout the album work perfectly to compliment the song rather than overshadow or steal the spotlight. The collaborations are more like cameo appearances than full blown collaborations and just give each song that added something special. The sound effects employed also help craft an incredibly rich and diverse soundscape: sound effects are used subtlely to enhance the songs and keep the listener coming back for more to fully assimilate and take in the full impact of the album. There are songs that need time to grow on you but again this is not a shallow and superficial musical experience. Every time you listen to Murdered Love you pick up something new - the lyrics resonate much more profoundly on a poetical and spiritual level. Murdered Love deeply satisfies and will be played for years to come by die-hard warriors as fervently as it was the day it was bought.

Highlights of the album include Murdered Love, West Coast Rock Steady, Babylon the Murderer, On Fire, Panic and Run and I Am. One of the things that makes Murdered Love such a seminal album is its uniqueness in the P.O.D. discography while at the same time sounding very familiar. Fans will recognize allusions and similarities to Brown, F.E.O.S., Satellite and even Snuff the Punk. This is not 'old skool' P.O.D. strictly speaking - this is very much the latest incarnation of the musical hydra that is Payable on Death.

What sets this album apart from P.O.D.'s last few releases is the urgency about the lyrics and music. There is an urgency about the album that makes it an incredibly significant and powerful listening experience. Murdered Love is not an album written purely to please long-time fans who hark back to yester year - Murdered Love was born from a state of moral and spiritual emergency. The music is so dynamic precisely because P.O.D. have arisen to reach the lost and reach into the depravity of this world. The aggression and heaviness that characterised P.O.D.'s first decade of music was the most natural vehicle and medium to communicate their message. In this respect this is a resurgent P.O.D., a P.O.D. that remembers the adrenaline that coursed through its veins as it played its unique style of rap-metal in local garages around San Diego and the passion it began with for heavy music.

A call to the faithful

"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:31

As I was reading my Bible this morning I felt compelled to look at the Old Testament. As a Christian it is easy to spend the majority of my time reading the New Testament - the Gospels and the Letters on how to live a godly, Christ-centred life. However, there would be no New Testament without the Old and there would be no messiah without the promise of one and the framework of the Law and the sacrificial system, which Jesus came to fulfil. 

So I turned to the Prophets and chose to begin with Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 1 contains one of the most elaborate and vivid visions of the glory of the Lord in the whole of Scripture. Ezekiel sees a cloud with streaks of fire instead of lightning, at the centre of which is like gleaming metal. From out of the cloud fly "living creatures" whom have the appearance of a human but with four wings and four faces - that of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. Each living creature sparkled like burnished bronze. Above the living creatures Ezekiel saw an expanse and above the expanse a throne, upon which sat a figure like a man again with the appearance of shining metal and fire. 

As I reflected upon this bizarre imagery I began to ask what it meant. It is very easy to dismiss such a vision as mere fantasy, a figment of an overactive imagination; but as I meditated and then consulted my Study Bible notes the vision began to make sense. The living creatures are symbolic of God's sovereignty over creation - the 4 sides to them could represent the 4 corners of the earth in which God has sovereignty over; the four faces represent God's creation - man, animal (both wild and domestic) and bird. The fact that the living creatures could move in any direction without turning symbolises the fact that God's spirit covers the earth and goes where He pleases, as indeed it says they were led by the spirit and followed Him wherever He turned. Their colour and brightness represent being made holy by God as they came from the cloud, as Scripture says:

"for our ‘God is a consuming fire'." Hebrews 12:29

The figure upon the throne over the expanse is very reminiscent of Jesus' vision to John in the book of Revelation. The fact that similar, almost identical imagery is used in both the Old and New Testament for the glory of God should not surprise us. It is a common misconception that the God of the Old and New Testaments are different. The God who created the universe is the same God who made a covenant with Abraham and his offspring, who is the same God who exiled His people for breaking their covenant and who sent Jesus Christ to die for the sins of humanity. The same God who sent Jesus Christ to the earth to make the ultimate sacrifice is also the same God that will one day return in glory to judge the living and the dead! Jesus' second coming will herald not salvation but judgement:

"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. ‘He will rule them with an iron sceptre.’ He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

king of kings and lord of lords." 

Revelation 19:11-16

What does all this mean for Christians? It means we should not forget the terrifying glory of the Living God! Paul taught work out your salvation with fear and trembling. This I believe is an important message for the Church today. Jesus said the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Sadly this is as true today as it was when Jesus uttered it. There are millions if not billions of lives that are going to suffer the judgement of God and stand before His glory and tremble on that Day when Christ returns. 

Some may argue but it's all a matter of faith - it's something you believe and who am I to tell others what to believe? That is an excuse! It is an excuse to cover the fact that you are afraid - afraid of rejection, afraid of persecution and afraid of man. But Jesus says:

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28

Others will claim that it is much harder for people to become Christians today because of the advances in science and the increase in secularism and atheism. While it is true that the sciences as we understand them today and their discoveries were not yet in existence when the Bible was written, nevertheless there has always been resistence and objection to the Gospel. Paul's mission took him to Athens, epicentre of philosophy in the ancient world where he preached the resurrection much to the derision of the philosophers of his day, who rejected bodily resurrection in favour of dualism in which only the soul was immortal. Indeed Paul went on to teach in 1 Corinthians that God has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. Indeed if there were not people who scoffed at the idea of God then how could David say:

                                                        "The fool says in his heart,
                                                         There is no God.’
                                                         They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
                                                         there is no one who does good." 

                                                         Psalm 14:1 

Atheism is not a 19th century phenomenon and while the Enlightenment and Darwin's theory of Evolution have given atheism intellectual credence, nevertheless science does not instinctually lead to naturalism as many of the 'New Atheists' would claim. Science is by its very nature agnostic and neutral. How you interpret science is where atheism comes into play and there are many prominent, erudite Christian and theistic scientists such as Francis Collins, who led the Human Genome Project and currently serves as Director of the US National Institute of Health. Faith and reason, science and religion are not mutually exclusive of one another, despite the propaganda of the New Atheists.

Christians need a fresh revelation of the glory and majesty and holiness of God. Christians need to take to heart Jesus' declaration that the harvest is plentiful and awaiting the reaping. In short we must step out in faith again with a holy and reverent fear of God that is right and honouring to the Lord who is jealous for His holy name over the earth. Jesus died not just for the 'moral majority', the good or the 'not perfect but not evil either' kind. He died for humanity in all its depravity, wickness and evil. Jesus has the power to save everyone who comes to God through Him!