“The Bible says true marriages can be entered disobediently, while other forms of disobedience do not result in a marriage at all, but rather in perversions. There is a difference between a disobedient marriage, and a disobedience which pretends to be a marriage” (Her Hand in Marriage, p. 35).
Plot Dragging a Little? Add Explosions!
“However, we find in drama today, and for my purpose specifically in film, two significant changes that were somewhat rare in our culture fifty years ago. First, the ethics of the hero’s action is now morally relativistic. And second, spectacle, or what Aristotle called ‘scenic effects,’ has upstaged all other dramatic elements” (Arthur Hunt, The …
The Great Eye Machines
“The visual element of romanticism is highly significant because it would later find its way into the great eye machines of the twentieth century—cinema and television. It would also lay the foundation for existentialism, the forerunner of postmodernism” (Arthur Hunt, The Vanishing Word, p. 120).
Echoed Disrespect
“The disrespect that children have for their fathers in this area [courtship] is really just an echo of the disrespect that fathers have of their own office” (Her Hand in Marriage, pp. 31-32).
The Word vs. Special Effects
“While the Renaissance careened after the image, the Reformation became a predominately word-based movement . . . the real religious fervor and intellectual power pulled to the north, so that England, Scandinavia, and Germany became the realm of the word, and the south returned to spectacle” (Arthur Hunt, The Vanishing Word, p. 78).
What Is Marriage?
“A common error among Christians holds that if the sexual act is completed, then the couple are married ‘in God’s sight.’ Many destructive complications occur in contemporary culture because we have adopted the idea that people can be married in God’s sight without being married. It is hard to say where this idea originated, but …
Sounds, Sights, and Usually Some Skin
“Images have a way of evoking an emotional response. Pictures have a way of pushing rational discourse—linear logic—into the background. The chief aim of television is to sell products and entertain audiences. Television seeks emotional gratification. As a visual medium, television programming is designed to be amusing. Substance gives way to sounds and sights. Hard …
Oxymoronic Adultery
“No double standard exists in God’s law. If a woman were an adulteress she could be executed for it, and if a man were an adulterer he could be executed for it. So the double standard on the part of Christ’s adversaries here is evident. They catch a woman committing adultery all by herself, and …
Romance No Foundation
“Romance is believed to be ‘the thing’ which ties a marriage together, and it is further thought that young people understand the dynamics of romance far better than their elders. Now the emotional attraction and attachment we have for one another is a gift from God. But romance has the same function as the curtains …
Why Essentialism is Essential
“The first major point in our look at the roots of postmodernism is the rejection of essentialism, which takes several forms in different postmodern thinkers. In general, essentialism is the idea that things have real qualities, independent of our knowing them” (Millard Erickson, The Postmodern World, p. 36).