Join the Resistance!

Article by Cameron Spink

5. Shutter Island

Thrillers dominated this year and this was the most suspenseful of the lot. This movie really touches on the human spirit and what it can endure or forget. Not dissimilar to Inception but this is probably DiCarpio's career-defining performance.

4. The Town

For some reason Ben Affleck makes a better director than he does actor and this movie really shows his abilities as he paints a bleak world of drugs, robberies and death and yet there is a great amount of hope that spurs this story on. After all, we are not defined by our surroundings and our past but what we decide to do moment by moment.

3. How To Train Your Dragon

Animated movies seem to have a better strike rate than others of being really good movies. Having said that How To Train Your Dragon is one out of the box and a very family-friendly movie and deserves all of its $493.2 million that it brought in at the box office. It has an underlying message of acceptance to those who are different to us and was simply the movie that can lay claims to being the most fun.

2. Animal Kingdom

This Australian gem was released to critical acclaim. The story roughly follows what actually happened in the late 1980s in the Melbourne gangland scene and is beautifully directed by David Michôd. While the trailer may have come across as corny this movie reaches great heights and breaks the convention of having the climax in the latter part of the movie.

1. Inception

Inception is a movie of the finest quality. Not only does it have stunning cinematography, an epic score, emotional character development and an intriguing storyline but it mixes all these ingredients into a movie that stands alone in the thriller genre. One can't help being awed by the majesty of each world unfolding in high definition.

Article by Cameron Spink

It could only happen in America. Leon Walker is facing jail after accessing his wife's emails to confirm she was having an affair. The Prosecution have decided to bring privacy charges against him.

The world is clearly upside down when you see something like this. This is a very disappointing example of the secular world not getting the idea of the purpose of the institution of marriage. When one is married they share everything with their spouse because they are "one flesh" (Mark 10:9). This is what God created perfect marriage as.

Unfortunately this has been distorted we get to the point where one man is facing five years jail for accessing his wife's account. However, it is not he who has acted with the least integrity. By all accounts his wife is guilty of the affair he was trying to confirm. Now biblically an affair is the only way someone can divorce their spouse (Matthew 19:9) so Leon would have every grounds to leave her. But, the law and indeed the Prosecution are only concerned with Leon's actions.

This is a dangerous trend where the onus is reversed from the party which has committed the infidelity to the party who has found out. Let us hope the judge who receives this case has some sense and throws the charges out.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/husband-faces-jail-for-reading-wifes-email/story-e6frfro0-1225977747382

Article by Cameron Spink

It is not particularly stunning to think that a test has confirmed what God originally intended between man and woman but when it is printed in a mainstream tabloid like The Age this can be counted as a victory.

The Age has reported on an American study that questioned 2000 married couples about when they started having sex and how it correlated to stability in their marriage.

The results of waiting are pretty comprehensive and include:

• 22% greater stability
• 20% greater relationship satisfaction
• 12% better communication
• 15% improved "sexual quality"

If a couple wait until later in their relationship but not until marriage then these effects are only about half as powerful and for those who make sex a priority early their relationship is likely to be "underdeveloped".

If more tests prove this (which they will) substantial pressure can be put on our state governments about their abhorrent advertising that increased sexual activity is a perfectly reasonable decision. As this study shows it is in a young adult's interests to abstain until marriage. However, the right to choose comes before common sense in the Victorian government's advice.

Click here to go to The Age article.

Article by Cameron Spink

Steve Kryger, on The Punch today, raised the issue of whether we have any existence in the afterlife. Of course, he got shouted down in the comment section by atheists.

You see most militant atheists make three fundamental mistakes. Firstly, they believe that the concept of "faith" is one that is diametrically oppositional to evidence. That people rely on faith when they have no evidence. However, this is a claim that holds no merit. Anyone looking rationally at the claims of Christianity versus the claims of atheism would see that there are valid points.

If both sides have compelling evidence then it does not help the argument by name calling and saying Christians are "irrational" or "completely faith-based without facts". In fact if one were interested in the persuasion of Christ just invest in books like I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist or visit William Lane Craig's website.

The Ashes, Cricket and Christ

Article by Bill Muehlenberg

"With the English now here battling Australia to retain the Ashes, it is worth looking at how this evolved, and how one remarkable cricketer became an even more amazing Christian missionary. I refer of course to C.T. Studd, the famous English athlete and follower of Christ.

Charles Thomas Studd was born into a wealthy English family in 1860. Along with his two brothers, he attended Eton, where all three excelled at cricket. They played for the Eton XI, and C.T. captained the team in his last year. He then went to Trinity College, Cambridge.

Christmas seems to polarize people. For some it is a cheerful time filled with the joy of family reunions as well as presents and other wonderful things. However, for many Christmas is a time of loneliness and despair. When it is reinforced to an individual that they remain unloved and their lives remain inconsequential.

Christmas is also a very busy and stressful time. Meals need to be cooked, presents need to be bought and relatives need to be hugged. So it shouldn't be any surprise when the real meaning of Christmas becomes buried underneath a myriad of anxieties and commitments.

For many the real meaning of Christmas is hard to pick. You see, secularists have claimed the holiday period for themselves. Coca-Cola have commercialised Christmas by inventing a red fat man who appeals to their target audience. And there are Yule pagan traditions which pre-date the evolution of Christianity. Indeed, there is no real evidence pointing to Jesus being born on the 25th December.

But despite all this adoptions that Christmas has picked up over the years the truth still remains. On Christmas we celebrate the revival of the human species. We not only turn to Christ as a baby but we, as Christians, can look ahead and rejoice in the wonderful works that Jesus performed. The greatest of which was to sacrifice himself for our salvation.