Words of Truth

This is a story I heard as a kid.  At the time I thought it was funny, mostly because at the end of the story the emperor willingly marched down the road completely naked. If you aren’t familiar with the story, it’s short, and you can read it here.

The basic story is this: the Emperor really liked clothes.  I mean a lot. He hired these two guys who said they made clothes so fine that people who were stupid or unfit for office couldn’t see them.  After they spend lots of time “weaving” the new clothes (which don’t exist), the emperor walks down the street wearing nothing at all.  Since the emperor didn’t want people to think he was stupid OR unfit for office, he said he could see the clothes.  The townspeople didn’t want to be seen as stupid, so they said they could see them as well.  And so it went until a little boy called out, “But he hasn’t got anything on!”  And then the townspeople finally admitted to themselves that it was a sham.  But the emperor kept acting like he was fully clothed.

I’ve talked to people like this recently.  They refuse to see the truth even when they are beaten over the head with it.  The whole idea that men are able to become women (or vice versa) is more ridiculous than a naked man claiming to be fully clothed.  People who claim that “animals are people too”.  i could go on.  The list of insane positions that otherwise intelligent people hold to is getting longer and longer.

But the only change to the story in modern times is this:  instead of the truth being revealed and accepted by all but a few, the person who announces the lie is ostracized and mocked.    If HCA were alive today, his story would end with the boy being shipped off to a boarding school to teach him the virtues of invisible clothes.

In the comic book “Civil War: The Amazing Spider Man #13 (2007),” Captain America said the following, “Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — “No, YOU move.” ”

Until I die, as long as I have breath in me to proclaim the truth to those who would hear it spoken, I’m going to keep shouting it as loud as I can:  He hasn’t got anything on!

Saw Captain America Civil War again tonight. In case you’re a geek like me, I’m firmly on Team Cap. And here’s why. Obviously this post contains spoilers for the movie, so if you haven’t seen it yet and plan on it, don’t read any more here until you do. Fair warning.

So our heroes split up into two groups. Team Cap has Cap, Falcon, Ant-Man, Bucky, Hawkeye, and Scarlet Witch. Team Iron Man has Iron Man, War Machine, Vision, Black Panther, Spiderman, and Black Widow (kind of). The most important difference I can see between the two groups is their motivation.

Tony: At first he is motivated by guilt to take action based on regret for his former actions, not examining whether his current actions are morally correct. Then he is motivated by his own ego, and finally he is motivated by revenge at the end of the movie, attacking Cap and Bucky for no reason other than that he is angry.

War Machine: he is following orders from the general. When discussing the accords, he states they should sign it because the whole world wants them to, not because it’s the right thing to do. He mentions later on in the movie (while rehabbing) that he thinks they made the right decision, but not why it was “right.”

Vision: he follows orders without critical thinking. Everything is black and white with him, with no nuances.

Black Panther: revenge.

Spiderman: he fights with Tony because he’s impressed by Tony. He never asks WHY they are fighting. In the comics Spidey is actually very much against the registration act (which is what the Sokovia Accords are based on).

Black Widow: she is really on the fence, and isn’t really on either side.

And then we have Team Cap.
Captain America: his motivation at the beginning is that he wants to have the freedom to continue to follow his conscience and do what he feels is right. He makes a statement about “If we sign, what happens if we need to go somewhere and they say we can’t, or if we shouldn’t go somewhere and they tell us to?” Later on his motivation is to keep his friend from being killed, which is a moral choice to protect the innocent (aka “brainwashed”). And then finally he travels to Siberia to fight to protect the world from super soldiers (he thinks).

Bucky: he fights for self-preservation. He also fights to protect his friend Steve, and travels to Siberia with Steve to protect the world.

Hawkeye: He retires rather than sign a document he can’t obey, and then he joins the fight when asked by Steve (not ordered) to rescue Scarlet Witch, to whom he owes a debt due to her brother sacrificing himself to save Hawkeye in Ultron.

Ant-Man: He also believes what he is doing is right, but there’s not much to reveal his motivation.

Falcon: He agrees with Steve at every point, and follows his moral compass, not because Steve says it, but because it’s right.

Scarlet Witch: She acts to protect her friends, and she even acts against her budding love interest (Vision) when she feels it is right.

Generally speaking, Team Cap makes decisions and takes actions based on their moral compass, their friendships, and relationships. Whereas Team Iron Man makes decisions and takes actions based on vengeance or orders they have received and are obeying without question.

The accords were written in order to keep these heroes from taking action that the world disagrees with. The conclusion I came to is that the people who NEED the accord to help guide their moral decision making process are the very people that signed it because of their lack of morals. These are the people who operate from revenge. The people who didn’t sign the accords are those who have strong morals and don’t actually NEED the accord.

Of course, by the end of the movie the sides realign so that Black Panther and Black Widow switch over to Team Cap, leaving Iron Man with Vision (who he created), a crippled War Machine (wearing a suit he created), and his protege Spiderman.

And this is why I am on Team Cap: not because it’s popular, not because it’s easy, but because Steve stands for what is right. One of my favorite quotes from the comics is mentioned by Sharon Carter in the movie:

“Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — “No, YOU move.”

I wrote a post about Redbox three years ago in which I said that Redbox was making an error in charging “new release” prices for non-new release movies.  If I can buy the movie at the discount bin at Wal-Mart for $5, I shouldn’t have to pay $5 to rent the movie for one day, right? So this is my observation on the current state of the home video market.

In the 1980’s and 90’s if you wanted to watch a movie at home, you had to go to Blockbuster Video (or another video store) and rent the physical copy to take home and use in whatever player you owned (mostly VHS and DVD).   Netflix started in 1998 as a direct-mail-to-home video service.  They charged a flat fee and you got home movies, including new releases.  In 2007 Netflix started offering streaming movies across an internet connection.   But this was still mostly older movies, and if you wanted new releases, you still had to go to Blockbuster (or have Netflix mail you the disc).

Enter Redbox, which passed up Blockbuster in 2007 as the #1 rental service for videos.  Their cheap service, with which you could rent a new release movie for around $1, was groundbreaking, in that you could return a video anywhere and you only ever paid $1 a day for the movie.  They quickly took over market share, and eventually started their streaming service that I referenced above.  Note:  a year after I wrote that post, they shut down the streaming service because “it was not as successful as we hoped it would be.”

But Redbox is still the go-to place to rent a DVD or Blu-ray disc.  For now.

Because there are now several ways to rent streaming videos of new release movies, and most of them still cost about $5 per movie.  But a new service has emerged called VidAngel, which is challenging that price.   If Redbox doesn’t lower their pricing and start streaming new release videos at lower prices, they may find themselves sitting next to Blockbuster on the bus to bankruptcy.

See, VidAngel works like this:  You buy a movie for $20.  Any movie.  You watch the movie, and then sell it back to them for $18.  Then that $18 sits as a credit on your account, waiting for the next time you want to rent a movie.  So the next time you rent, you get a new release streamed movie for only $2 (only $1 for standard definition).  That means that I can sit here at home and rent a new-release movie for basically the same price as it would cost for me to drive to a Redbox and rent the movie, but I don’t have to drive anywhere, and I don’t have to worry about returning the movie.  When the movie is over, I can just select “sell back.”    A bonus feature for me is that VidAngel was created in order to filter out things in the movie I don’t want to see or hear like swearing, nudity, pornography, etc.  But you don’t have to have those things filtered if that’s your deal.  You can have it just filter out the end credits, and the movie is exactly the same.

My point here is that if VidAngel can provide a streaming rental service of $1-2 per movie, some other company is going to figure out that they can do the same thing, and whoever figures that out is going to put Redbox out of business. Why rent a movie 2 miles away when you can rent the same movie for the same price without leaving your house?    If pizza delivery was the same price as carryout and was guaranteed in 30 minutes, nobody would ever carryout.

Wake up, Redbox.  Your time is running out.

One of my favorite phrases in the Bible is found in Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),” “But God.” That phrase follows the first three verses that talk about the dire circumstances we find ourselves in without God. “dead in trespasses and sins.” It says we served Satan, we served our own sinful desires, and were destined for God’s wrath.

But God….

God saw our condition and sent His Son Jesus Christ, God the Son, to earth to pay the penalty for our sin and redeem us.

My son’s name is Nathaniel. We named him that because it is a Hebrew name that means “Gift of God.” There are a few notable Nathans in the Bible, but one in particular has been in my mind today. This is the Nathan who was a son of David.

What do we know about David’s son, Nathan? We know that he was born in Jerusalem (after David captured that city and made it his capital). we know that he was King Solomon’s brother (likely older brother). We know that he is one of the sons of Bathsheba. And we know that he was a direct physical ancestor of Jesus Christ.

Why does this resonate with me today? Because I believe it is a perfect example of how God uses the mistakes we make, the sins we commit, and even though we had selfish motives, sinful desires, and wrong actions, God can take that situation and make something beautiful, somthing amazing from it.

There is no greater example of a good man failing in the Bible than that of David and Bathsheba. David was king. He was “a man after God’s own heart.” He had followed God faithfully for decades. And then one night he saw Bathsheba bathing, he lusted after her, and he sinned. it is not my intent here to cover the details of his sins. Suffice it to say that he committed adultery, lying, betrayal, murder, and he soiled God’s Name for over a year.

How do you recover from that? How do you pick up the pieces and continue to serve God? Sometimes it seems like we have too much sin, that there’s no way God could use us. We’re too dirty. We’re too far gone. But God saw David and Bathsheba. He was not surprised by their actions. He took the horrible sin that was committed by David there and did something great: he gave them sons. One of Bathsheba and David’s sons carried on the royal line and sat on the throne as the wisest king ever (not named Jesus, of course). And then there’s Nathan. God used Nathan, a son of Bathsheba and David, in the direct line of Christ.

As a matter of fact, if you look at the lineage of Christ in Matthew 1, you will find something interesting. There are only four women mentioned in the genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. Tamar played the part of a prostitute. Rahab and Ruth were not even Jewish (Rahab was a Caananite, and Ruth was from Moab). And then there’s Bathsheba, who needs no introduction. God can use broken people. He delights in using broken vessels that any human would simply pass over.  As a matter of fact, according to David’s psalm that he wrote after his sin with Bathsheba was made public, God delights in a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.

You may think your life is worthless. You may think your sin is unforgivable. You may think that there is no hope for you.

But God.