Alex Chediak | Archive

Archive - July, 2009

Clerical Leaders Defy Ayatollah on Iran Election

Michael Slackman and Nazila Fathi, writing for the NY Times, report:

An important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.

Read the whole thing.
Academy Award nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo (who played the heroic character Zahra in The Stoning of Soraya M., an outstanding film about a woman unjustly murdered in Iran via Sharia Law) shared her thoughts with me last week on the developments in Iran, comparing them to what she saw in 1979.

July 6, 2009 in Culture | Comment

Review of Feelings and Faith

JJ Sherwood, Pastor of Student Ministries at Five Points Community Church, writes a helpful and thorough review of Feelings and Faith: Cultivating Godly Emotions in the Christian Life by Brian Borgman. An excerpt:

The second half of the book looks at mortifying ungodly emotions (Part 3) and cultivating godly emotions (Part 4). The first half of the book was well worth the price of the book, and the second half was just as excellent, if not more so. In fact, I believe Borgman wrote the first half of the book so well, that the second half just fell into place and was easy to read, meditate on, convicting and helpful. So many books start well, finish well or don’t do too much well at all, but this book was biblically solid, theologically sound, and pastoral practical through and through. Ungodly emotions such as anger and anxiety, unforgiveness and fear are taken up in Part 3 with a view towards killing these ungodly emotions in the life of the believer. Part 4 two chapters on how Jesus is our pattern for cultivating godly emotions because he perfectly possessed and displayed “the full spectrum of human emotions, without any darkness” and we see in Him “the goodness of emotions and the godly pattern of emotions.” Part 4 is an extremely helpful section to close the book because it is thorougly Christ-centered in its focus and practical in its application. I especially benefited from chapters 17 and 18, The Emotions & Worship and The Emotions & Preaching.

I previously posted an interview with Brian Borgman as well as my endorsement of this excellent book.

July 6, 2009 in Practical Ministry, Theology | 1 Comment

The Path To 9-11: An Outstanding Docudrama

With a sick daughter and wife, and potty training reaching a critical, make-or-break juncture, we decide to forgo the traditional fireworks outing this weekend, put the kids to bed (too young to know what they are missing), and watch the uncut version of The Path To 9-11. If you recall, this 5-6 hour docudrama was aired on ABC over two nights (September 10 and 11, 2006) at the five year anniversary of the infamous 2001 terrorist attack. I was among the 28,000,000 people who saw it at the time, but my wife had missed it. Two weeks prior to its airing in 2006, Disney/ABC came under tremendous pressure from Democrats in Congress (notably Harry Reid and Charles Schumer) as well as President Clinton’s lawyers to cancel the movie or at least cut material. According to the writer and producer Cyrus Nowrasteh, a letter was sent to Disney/ABC threatening revocation of their station licenses if they didn’t pull or recut the miniseries. Disney CEO Bob Iger caved to pressure and cut three minutes out of the program. The material that I believe was cut (based on my conversation with Cyrus last week at the showing of The Stoning of Soraya M.) is in the YouTube clip below.

The entire docudrama is absolutely outstanding. Watch it if you can. Unfortunately, Disney/ABC have blocked all efforts to sell or rent DVDs of the film via Netflix, Blockbuster, etc. I have a few copies because a kind man named Jesse handed them to me last week at the The Stoning of Soraya M. event. If you live near us, perhaps you could borrow a copy. Leave a comment if you are interested.
Incidentally, the efforts to block the release of The Path To 9-11 have themselves become the subject of a documentary entitled Blocking the Path to 9-11. It can be ordered for $20 .
UPDATE: Cyrus Nowrasteh has now confirmed that the scene above was the scene that ABC deleted.

July 6, 2009 in Culture | 1 Comment

Honoring the USA

Ray Ortland Jr. gives five reasons why he honors the USA this Independence Day. Here is one of them:

The USA embodies, very imperfectly, a conviction that every one of us has God-given dignity: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”

July 4, 2009 in Culture | Comment

Top Commentaries For Every Book Of The Bible

Though not a substitute for Bible intake, good commentaries on books of the Bible are very helpful resources for grappling with the text, particularly its more difficult sections. Dr. Keith Mathison, author of several books including From Age to Age: The Unfolding of Biblical Eschatology has compiled a list of what he considers to be the top 5 commentaries of every book of the Bible. There are 66 books in the Bible, so that would be 330 commentaries. [If the average length of one of these commentaries is 250 pages, that would be 82,500 pages of commentary material. Wow.]
But don’t be overwhelmed. You don’t have to read every page of a commentary to find it a blessing. Though if you owned just a single commentary, and (along with the Bible) read 2 pages a day from it, you would complete the entire commentary in about 6-12 months (maybe less for a shorter book).

July 3, 2009 in Practical Ministry, Theology | Comment

Gov. Mark Sanford: A Tragic Spectacle

I agree with Dr. Albert Mohler regarding Gov. Sanford’s admission of adultery:

Governor Sanford may cite King David, and he may even suffer the illusion that his response is similar to that of Israel’s King. Nevertheless, the difference is clear. David’s adultery was mixed even with murder, but his own acknowledgment of sin came in a flood of contrition, remorse, broken heartedness, and humility. David acknowledged the reality of his sin, expressed his hatred of the sin, and became a model for us all of repentance. Governor Sanford, on the other hand, demonstrates the audacity to speak wistfully of his sin, longingly of his lover, and romantically of his descent into unfaithfulness.
Governor Sanford is no King David, and the people of South Carolina — as well as the watching world — now observe the sad spectacle of a man who, while admitting to wrongdoing, shows no genuine repentance. As the Christian church has long recognized, true repentance is reflected in the “detestation of sin.” This is a far cry from what we’ve heard from Governor Sanford.
If the governor is really serious about demonstrating character to his four sons, he should resign his office and give himself unreservedly to his wife and family. He must show his sons — and all who have eyes to see — how a man is led by the grace and mercy of God to hate his sin, rather than to love it.

Read the whole thing.

July 2, 2009 in Culture | Comment

Brief Review of The Stoning of Soraya M.

My wife and I were able to see The Stoning of Soraya M. last night. The movie was intense and disturbing, featuring a gripping plot line with fantastic acting, an excellent script, and great camera work. The character development of Soraya and Zahra was superb. The filming was done in Jordan and the movie is mostly in Farsi with English subtitles. It was incredibly realistic, and as the story line built to a crescendo the horror of the betrayal and human suffering were almost unbearable. The R rating is appropriate given the theme and the violence. This is the kind of movie that is worth seeing to be reminded that many, many real people in this world (particularly women) suffer tremendously due to the strictures of Sharia Law. In many cases, as in this movie, the defendant is completely innocent — indeed, is framed by evil men for the sake of dishonest gain.
The highlight for us was when we were exiting the theater it turned out that The World Affairs Council of Orange County was hosting an event that night. We had no idea about it. Anyway, lead actress and Academy Award nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo (who plays the heroic character Zahra) was there as was Navid Negahban (who plays the wicked husband Ali) along with the writer and director Cyrus Nowrasteh (who also wrote The Path To 9-11, an outstanding documentary aired on ABC in 2006 and viewed by twenty-eight million people). Tommy Papa, the managing director of the film, was also there. So we had a good time talking to them a bit, and we were even permitted to film a few brief video interviews, which I will be posting soon.
Go see this movie (here are the theater listings) as soon as you can. You will not regret it. It will powerfully move you. The film is worthy of our support. May it lead to the advance of liberty and equal rights in Iran and beyond.
Here’s a shot of me with Shohreh Aghdashloo: