I'd agree to an extent (his most recent book was apparently pretty bad, and resorted to some name calling). But as an intro to the general concepts, those two books are pretty good about giving you the ideas without bogging you down too much in the details.

I think if you go and look at the parts of Isiah they tend to quote in the NT, and then read further, the Messiah they mention promptly appears and dies. Messiah literally means 'Annotated One' which was a ritual that Kings went through. The reinterpretation that Messiah goes through is kinda neat, in its way, but…

Ehhh…. to my eyes it seems like an extended form of the negging that Pickup Artists do, trying to convince people that everything is our fault, when its really not. Its not a test of free will if a parent leaves a loaded gun out on a table and hires Charles Manson as a babysitter, its straight up negligence.

A pretty good analogy, even better if you imagined that happening in the middle of Syria.

I enjoyed it well enough, but I'm easily entertained, particularly with movies that have a setting other than the habits of NYC white people. The rough life of three Indian Muslims was a nice change of pace, even if it did have to operate on some weird "Fate decreed it thus" logic.

Ugh, Munich wasn't bad, but the sweaty Eric Bana sex just overwote any other memories I made of that film. Stupid sexy Flanders.

And, I'll happily point out that I loved it when I first saw it. Its just that I think it was rooted in the time it was made and the time I saw it.

As a Lutheran, I got the same general impression. But that's also because I was raised a 20th century American Lutheran. Martin Luther wrote some really virulent anti-Jewish screeds that weren't translated into English till the 70s.

Historically, the governor of Roman territories was the only one that could have people put to death. So it *had* to be Pilate that did it. (Who knows how Stephen really died, or if he existed at all).

And God, whose placement of the Tree of Knowledge and a talking snake made all of that possible. Or who set it up so that we evolved this way. Whichever you prefer.

Or from Thursday to Saturday, if you believe the Gospel of John.

Dual wielding swords says Elven Ranger to me. The Angels are Legolas-es. Which is also weird.

I get tired of Evangelicals considering themselves some sort of oppressed niche market when the number of Hollywood movies about Jesus is significantly more than the number of movies about other religions combined. The truth is that most of them won't be satisfied with anything less than all movies being about Jesus,…

We believe in *nothing*, Jesus!

Another reason why American Beauty has aged badly is that *everyone* is able to be the kid taping the trash now, since we all have camera and video on our phones. I remember being completely sucked into that movie in college, but now what seems deep is just the pretentiousness and immaturity of a kid that was born…

Yeah, there aren't too many places you can see a sketch about Travon Martin, for instance. All of the Obama sketches are pretty awesome too.

I'd have loved to see any situation where the transporters worked fine, and the Feds just beam enemy soldiers into space. Or, when boarding a enemy ship, completely turn out the lights, or just vent the air from compartments. No wonder they needed Khan to help them.

I don't recall being bored, but I do I remember one of my friends responses to it well. "Of all the people to focus on, they pick The Mask Guy!" I mean, really.

SPOILERS

Like all sketch shows, there are some odd, inexplicable bits. But the gem to shit ratio is pretty good, and the good stuff really sticks with you.