SACROSANCT: secure from violation, profanation, assault, or trespass GOSPEL: the good news of Jesus Christ, who rescues us from the wrath of God and secures for us the eternal favor of God
To celebrate the much anticipated opening of “The Dark Knight”, the sequel to Batman Begins, I am revisiting my very first post on Sacrosanct Gospel – “Batman Unmasked”. This article was first posted on March 12, 2008. I’m keeping the comments from the origninal post because I felt there were some pretty good responses. I would love to have you add a few more. Please understand in the article that I really am not ’slamming’ Batman. I am very sympathetic to my boyhood hero. I know him well. He is just like me. Well, not completely. He has considerably more money, he is better looking, and he is younger. Why is it that I age and he doesn’t?
I also want to make it widely known that my family and I already have our tickets to tonight’s midnight opening. We will be sitting with many other friends from our church, popcorn in hand, ready to be creeped out by the late Heath Ledger’s version of the Joker. Did I say Batman was my ‘boyhood’ hero? Oops I guess the Bat’s out of the Bag! Ha Ha hahahh haa (Insert Joker’s laugh here).
So without any further mildew, for your intellectual provocation, “Batman Unmasked”.
I love the Crispin’s Day Speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V. It gives me so much hope. Several years ago, after once again watching Kenneth Branagh’s version of the play, I memorized Crispin’s Day. Ever since, whenever I get depressed and start losing hope, I imagine Christ giving me this speech, reminding me of the day that is coming, when His Kingdom will reign visibly and gloriously upon the earth. How could I turn back? Just like Peter, I agree that Christ alone has the words of life. Where else could we go?
The setting of the Crispin’s Day Speech finds King Harry and his men in dire straits. In the long journey to meet the French on the fields of Agincourt, just before Harry delivers his address, he overhears his cousin, Westmoreland, wishing that the English army could be fortified with more troops from home. Not only were the English tired, hungry, and depleted from previous battles, but they were now facing a French opponent that outnumbered them 5 to 1. Henry responded to Westmoreland by spurning the idea that they needed more troops. In his address to the men, Henry appealed to his men’s sense of honor and loyalty, declaring that if any man wanted to leave, he would pay them to do so. He would not die in that man’s company that feared the fellowship of dying together with him.
In the same way, Christ also calls us to follow Him, to engage in a battle where the only thing we are promised is the glory and joy of fighting beside our Sovereign King; a King who will never leave us and never forsake us. Just like Henry’s men, may we respond to Jesus’ clarion call – ‘He who wishes to gain his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for the sake of Christ, will most assuredly find it.’
.
Apologies to all who disagree. I’m sure this list can be altered and improved upon, but this is a pretty good starting point. Understand that my criteria is not“the most enjoyable dude movies ever” but rather “the most profitable dude movies ever”. Put another way, these are what I feel are the top 25 movies that every dude should see. I of course put Braveheart as #1. Who could argue with that?
To celebrate the much anticipated opening of “The Dark Knight”, the sequel to Batman Begins, I am revisiting my very first post on Sacrosanct Gospel – “Batman Unmasked”. This article was first posted on March 12, 2008. I’m keeping the comments from the origninal post because I felt there were some pretty good responses. I would love to have you add a few more. Please understand in the article that I really am not ’slamming’ Batman. I am very sympathetic to my boyhood hero. I know him well. He is just like me. Well, not completely. He has considerably more money, he is better looking, and he is younger. Why is it that I age and he doesn’t?
