• “The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at what moment God shall permit him. They [the souls] belong to him [the devil]; he has their souls in possession, and under his dominion.“
• “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours.“
• The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God’s mere will, that holds it back.

I’m not denying the underlying truth of what Edwards says. Indeed nothing sinful can enter into the presence of God; God hates sin and requires repentance. God will exercise his judgment towards the unrepentant and God will be righteous for so doing. What I am denying, however, is the extent to which Edwards takes that truth and what he ignores in doing so. Hear the word of the Lord:

• “The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression . . . .”
• “Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord . . . . “
• “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.”
• “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in his anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.”
• “But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.”
• “When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, help me up . . . .”
• “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”
• “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever . . . .”
• “The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy . . . .”

The problem is not quite so easily solved, however, because as a qualifier to about half of the previously quoted verses (most from the Psalms), it adds “to those who keep thy commandments,” or something of that nature. Enter Edwards’ Calvinist theology, particularly the “L” of tulip, or “limited atonement.” Such a sermon as Edwards’ follows naturally from Calvinism; anything a man does, from breathing and blinking to singing and encouraging a friend, is sinful and hateful to God if the man is not regenerate. It is God’s “common grace” that prevents a man from being in essence a devil; after all, Satan already has possession of all souls except God’s elect and if God chose to withhold his “common grace,” they would become ghastly, beastly demons, unrecognizable as the men God created them to be, living out to the most unimaginable extent their sinful nature.

A more biblical view is that it is God’s LOVE, and not “common grace” (I couldn’t find that phrase in any English translation of the Bible, at least not on biblegateway.com) that upholds man in this sense. Out of love, God provided redemption for man in the form of the Law firstly and in the form of the Man, our Savior Jesus Christ finally. Out of love for sinners Christ has compassion on them and forgives them. Out of love, he desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:4) Therefore, he preserves men from death and hell out of his love and his desire that they repent and come to know the truth.

Though men deserve death, in no way does God take pleasure when men die. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” (Ezekiel 33:11) He desires that men live! He desires that they come to know Christ! He is not dangling us over a pit of fire with a devilish (pun intended) smile on his face, as if saying, “Ha ha ha, they will soon get what they deserve.” He does not abhor us. We are not abominable in his sight. If God abhorred sinners (not just sin, but sinners) he would never give them the opportunity to repent; he would merely obliterate them from the face of the planet. This is indeed what Calvinism would have us believe: God creates men who will never even have the possibility to believe on him (because he has not elected them); he brings them forth merely to be pleased at destroying them. Yet this is not true. Precisely because he loves men, he desires that they repent and will ALWAYS show mercy if they turn from their evil and desire to sin no more.

Calvinism is repulsive precisely because it necessarily paints this picture of God, a spiteful judge who has damned the majority of humanity before they were created. To believe TULIP is to believe double predestination. Why would God even bother to create those who could never do anything but hate him and merit his own hate and abhorrence? God in a mother’s womb knits together men after his own image and likeness (marred by sin), brings them to life, and sustains them every second with love so that they may repent and turn to him. If they do not, he is righteous in carrying out his judgment and casting them into hell. Calvinism asks us to believe a contradiction: God condemns men for that sin which they had no choice but to commit, yet he is good. The Bible asks us to believe a paradox: God is completely sovereign, and yet we participate in real, effectual choices, either to obey God or to disobey God.

“Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” –Collect for Ash Wednesday, BCP 1928

natum de Maria Virgine:

Vere passum,

immolatum in cruce pro homine:

Cujus latus perforatum,

Unda fluxit sanguine:

Esto nobis praegustatum

in mortis examine.

O Jesu dulcis, O Jesus pie

O Jesu Fili Mariae

miserere mei.

Amen.

—

 Hail, true Body,

born of Virgin Mary,

Who truly suffered,

was sacrificed on the cross for mankind:

Whose side was pierced,

whence flowed water and blood:

Be for us a foretaste

during our final examining.

O Jesu sweet, O Jesu pure,

O Jesu Son of Mary,

have mercy upon me.

Amen. 

. . . doesn’t mean it will go away!

And in fact when it is not addressed. . .

. . . it becomes a bigger problem!!!

(I am thinking here of my marrying younger post a few days ago; I’ve had some negative feedback, “How can you be so frank about sexual matters!”)

Well, I’m so glad you’re interested in ministering to a lost and dying world! Do those sexually active teens who commit suicide matter nothing to you? Oh, they’re not Christians, so they must be worthless, and we shouldn’t associate with them.

NO.

“For you formed my inward parts;
You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”

Do those words, or do they not, apply to every single human being? The least of these are committing suicide and modern evangelicals with their puritanical sensibilities want me to shut up about sexual sin. I don’t think so!

“You prayed for me. Everyday. That may be the biggest change in these new days: Daddy is no longer praying for me.”

Is that true?
Will Bill Piper, now in heaven, never again pray for his son?

The reason I think this is that in our teenage years, our hormones rage and we experience certain emotions, and yet to remain physically and morally pure we must essentially deny them all — and the age at which we can satisfy them in a moral way (i.e., marriage) is being pushed back further everyday.

Those who decide they cannot wait learn the importance of marriage quicker than any others — sexually active teens, according to the Heritage foundation, are more likely to be depressed and commit suicide. The Christian finds this sad statistic unsurprising, for any activity when done outside of the bounds into which God placed it is hollow and offers only temporary pleasure. When the person who has been dipping into their natural reserves of emotional and physical health and trading it for sexual pleasure realizes that it is all at the end meaningless. . . . Well, that statistic doesn’t surprise me.

If we married younger, then, we would not have bottled-up sexual frustration which causes other kinds of frustration and rebellion.

Culturally, I must confess that it is the past few “screwed up” generations that have produced better art. (Someone once said that Prozac was the end of good poetry.)

What is the relationship here, between sexual promiscuity and good art?

If we corrected the problem of sexual frustration by marrying earlier, are there any means that we can take to prevent the decline of real, honest, vulnerable art?

Harry sat in thought for a moment, then asked, “So if all of his Horcruxes are destroyed, Voldemort could be killed?”

“Yes, I think so,” said Dumbledore. “Without his Horcruxes, Voldemort will be a mortal man with a maimed and diminished soul. Never forget, though, that while his soul may be damaged beyond repair, his brain and his magical powers remain intact. It will take uncommon skill and power to kill a wizard like Voldemort even without his Horcruxes.”

“But I haven’t got uncommon skill and power,” said Harry, before he could stop himself.

“Yes, you have,” said Dumbledore firmly. “You have a power that Voldemort has never had. You can — “

“I know!” said Harry impatiently. “I can love!” It was only with difficulty that he stopped himself adding, “Big deal!”

“Yes, Harry, you can love,” said Dumbledore, who looked as though he knew perfectly well what Harry had just refrained from saying. “Which, given everything that has happened to you, is a great and remarkable thing. You are still too young to understand how unusual you are, Harry.”

“So, when the prophecy says that I’ll have ‘power the Dark Lord knows not,’ it just means — love?” asked Harry, feeling a little let down.

“Yes — just love,” said Dumbledore. “But Harry, never forget that what the prophecy says is only significant because Voldemort made it so. I told you this at the end of last year. Voldemort singled you out as the person who would be most dangerous to him — and in doing so, he made you the person who would be most dangerous to him!”

“But it comes to the same — “

“No, it doesn’t!” said Dumbledore, sounding impatient now. Pointing at Harry with his black, withered hand, he said, “You are setting too much store by the prophecy!”

“But,” spluttered Harry, “but you said the prophecy means — “

“If Voldemort had never heard of the prophecy, would it have been fulfilled? Would it have meant anything? Of course not! Do you think every prophecy in the Hall of Prophecy has been fulfilled?”

“But,” said Harry, bewildered, “but last year, you said one of us would have to kill the other — “

“Harry, Harry, only because Voldemort made a grave error, and acted on Professor Trelawney’s words! If Voldemort had never murdered your father, would he have imparted in you a furious desire for revenge? Of course not! If he had not forced your mother to die for you, would he have given you a magical protection he could not penetrate? Of course not, Harry! Don’t you see? Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back! Voldemort is no different! Always he was on the lookout for the one who would challenge him. He heard the prophecy and he leapt into action, with the result that he not only handpicked the man most likely to finish him, he handed him uniquely deadly weapons!”

“But — “

“Is it essential that you understand this!” said Dumbledore, standing up and striding about the room, his glittering robes swooshing in his wake; Harry had never seen him so agitated. “By attempting to kill you, Voldemort himself singled out the remarkable person who sits here in front of me, and gave him the tools for the job! It is Voldemort’s fault that you were able to see into his thoughts, his ambitions, that you even understand the snakelike language in which he gives orders, and yet, Harry, despite your privileged insight into Voldemort’s world (which, incidentally, is a gift any Death Eater would kill to have), you have never been seduced by the Dark Arts, never, even for a second, shown the slightest desire to become one of Voldemort’s followers!”

“Of course I haven’t!” said Harry indignantly. “He killed my mum and dad!”

“You are protected, in short, by your ability to love!” said Dumbledore loudly. “The only protection that can possibly work against the lure of power like Voldemort’s! In spite of all the temptation you have endured, all the suffering, you remain pure of heart, just as pure as you were at the age of eleven, when you stared into a mirror that reflected your heart’s desire, and it showed you only the way to thwart Lord Voldemort, and not immortality or riches. Harry, have you any idea how few wizards could have seen what you saw in that mirror? Voldemort should have known then what he was dealing with, but he did not!

“But he knows it now. You have flitted into Lord Voldemort’s mind without damage to yourself, but he cannot possess you without enduring mortal agony, as he discovered in the Ministry. I do not think he understands why, Harry, but then, he was in such a hurry to mutilate his own soul, he never paused to understand to the incomparable power of a soul that is untarnished and whole.”

“But sir,” said Harry, making valiant efforts not to sound argumentative, “it all comes down to the same thing, doesn’t it? I’ve got to try and kill him, or — “

“Got to?” said Dumbledore. “Of course you’ve got to! But not because of the prophecy! Because you, yourself, will never rest until you’ve tried! We both know it! Imagine, please, just for a moment, that you had never heard that prophecy! How would you feel about Voldemort now? Think!”

Harry watched Dumbledore striding up and down in front of him, and thought. He thought of his mother, his father, and Sirius. He thought of Cedric Diggory. He thought of all the terrible deeds he knew Lord Voldemort had done. A flame seemed to leap inside his chest, searing his throat.

“I’d want him finished,” said Harry quietly. “And I’d want to do it.”

“Of course you would!” cried Dumbledore. “You see, the prophecy does not mean you have to do anything! But the prophecy caused Lord Voldemort to mark you as his equal. . . In other words, you are free to choose your way, quite free to turn your back on the prophecy. But Voldemort continues to set store by the prophecy. He will continue to hunt you. . . which makes it certain, really, that — “

“That one of us is going to end up killing the other,” said Harry. “Yes.”

But he understood at last what Dumbledore had been trying to tell him. It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew — and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents — that there was all the difference in the world.

I recently overheard a friend’s mother assert, “How can you possibly be friends with them? You have nothing in common!” This particular friend of mine and I do not have an extraordinary amount of similar interests and often we find our worldviews (though they are both Christian) at — rather loud — odds.

Nonetheless, I have never been closer to another person on the earth than to this girl of whom I am speaking. We have shared everything; anything we may have missed is by chance and not purposeful. Late nights laughing so hard tears stream down our faces or crying until the sad situation is funny are hardly scarce. We fight hard, but we love each other despite that.

And how funny that is.

Maybe friendship is not about compatibility; opposites attract, after all, and this case is definitely not an exception to that rule. Perhaps friendship — like marriage to some extent — is ordained by God regardless of personal taste and indeed in spite of personal taste. I have much to learn from this friend and I hope that she will learn a thing or two from me, as well. Proverbs likens friendship to iron sharpening iron — hardly a pretty, feel-good metaphor.

In the end, friendship (and everything else in life) is about true love, a love that will overcome all obstacles and will stick even when it doesn’t feel good or it has been offended.

Love keeps no record of wrongs, but keeps on loving despite the mind screaming, “I have been wronged!”

Without this real, true love, friendship profiteth nothing.

The true appreciator, by contrast, listens actively. He finds or is introduced to an artist; he listens on tenterhooks, seeking out the good and the beautiful in a piece of music. When he finds it, this music — if it is deserving — becomes a part of who he is.

The objective nature of Good music is experienced subjectively and contributes uniquely to a person’s character and temperament.

Surrounding Christian and Satine are Christian’s friends, the Bohemians. Chief among these and most crucial to the story is Toulouse (John Leguizamo), a dwarf with a speech impediment who provides both comic relief and moving dramatic dialogue. Also featured is lying, weasling Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent), the pimp of the brothel and a sort of talent agent doubling as a father figure for Satine (that description is harsh, but by the end of the film, one feels deep sympathy for his position). And, of course, there is the main antagonist–the slimy, sleazy Duke, played brilliantly by Richard Roxburgh. Satine must first seduce and then appease him in order to secure and maintain funding for the Moulin Rouge–her eventual goal is to “fly away” from the Moulin Rouge and become a real actress.

The story is centered around a play (“Spectacular Spectacular”) that Christian is writing for the exciting refashioning of the Moulin Rouge as a theatre. Here the most powerful of allegories occurs: What unfolds in the play as Christian writes it throughout the film also comes to pass in the lives of the characters. The sharpest example is proclaimed off-camera by Zidler as Satine and Christian kiss passionately in the darkened corner: “First thing tomorrow, we’ll begin rehearsing Act Two: ‘The Lovers are Discovered!’” Just after that, the lovers’ entwined heads dip around the front of the curtain behind which they are hiding and Zidler notices them. The entire film plays out like this; it is emotionally exhausting but in the best of ways.

On a basic artistic level, the movie is brilliant. Baz Luhrmann directed; I haven’t seen any of his other films, but he is a master at what he does. For Luhrmann the film is a canvas, and as a painter uses color to create mood, so he uses light to evoke emotion, particularly in climactic scenes. An excellent example of this occurs in the pinnacle of scenes: The song, “El Tango de Roxanne.” Here, in a medley of song, the film slashes and melds together pieces of three dramatic stories: A sensual tango the Argentinian (one of the Bohemians) is enacting with a Moulin Rouge dancer and the entire stage cast which dramatizes the story of an unsuspecting man falling in love with a prostitute; the inner conflict of Christian as he struggles to support Satine in what she has to do while being consumed by jealousy; and the long put-off sexual rendezvous of Satine and the Duke. Christian walks, singing, out of the crowded Moulin Rouge and into the deserted village. Nearby the Duke is wooing Satine on the balcony of the Gothic tower; the separated lovers meet eyes. Christian’s face, which is already red with anger and passion, is illuminated by the red glow of the Moulin Rouge (moulin is the French word for windmill; the structure is decorated in red lights, unsurprisingly). The lighting on the balcony wraps Satine in a cool mist of blue, powerfully appropriate because she must completely suppress her true feelings and passively accept what is happening to her. As the camera flips between the two faces (she sings words of reassurance to her panicked lover), the difference becomes more pronounced and more powerful.

The general tone of the film, however, is–fittingly–that of a wild, reveling circus. Luhrmann’s use of lighting is comparable to movies directed by Tim Burton in that it is generally dark, but the colorful scenes are very colorful and wildly exaggerated, almost cartoonish. Indeed, one line so perfectly delivered by Broadbent as Harold Zidler is a loud, flamboyant exclamation of, “Everything’s going so well!” with that freakshow, circus feeling, punctuated by a weird little dance and Zidler’s clownish stage makeup–something he loses as the film progresses, which makes him more human and makes it easier for us to sympathize with him.

Another unique feature of Moulin Rouge! is its use of music. It combines a few original songs with many popular songs from artists like U2, Elton John, and Madonna, and modifies them (only slightly, actually) to fit the story. The juxtaposition is fascinating and is one of the best qualities of the film.

This, so far, is just the plot and technical aspects of the film. Stay tuned for my commentary on its moving, sweeping themes. And go rent–or buy!–the film!