Interpreting movies, the Bible, and someone staring at you.

A lot is revealed when you interpret. A lot can be lost too. I remember when I was a teenager serving as a dishwasher at a Christian family camp I inadvertently communicated to a girl that I was in love with her. I’m serious! It really was inadvertent! It was all in her interpretation… Here’s how it went:

Every evening there was a church service that we were required as staff to attend. I was sleep deprived seeing as every night my friends and I stayed up all hours talking, laughing, and horsing around. No word of a lie here: I averaged two hours of sleep per night for the entire week. So while the preacher droned on I was in a semi-vegetative state. My mind drifted off into outer space—unfortunately my body was not in space but my mind didn’t realize it. I was staring at a girl. A girl my age. Just staring at her. I didn’t know I was. As far as I knew I was in that wonderful place known as “my own little world.” All my life I’ve been told that’s where I am, but in reality I just visit there. Often. She and her friend giggled and whispered as several minutes went by with my glassy eyes aiming right at her like Chewie’s crossbow on a stormtrooper. When I “came to” I was embarrassed, to say the least. After the service I couldn’t convince her, nor her friend, that I “didn’t mean to” stare at her. They both interpreted my actions as a boy forlornly in love.

Usually when I hear the word interpretation being used, it’s in regards to either a movie or the Bible I’m sure it would be different if I worked in the criminal justice system or literature department of a university. 2001: A Space Odyssey is perhaps the king of all movies subject to multiple interpretations. Legendary director Stanley Kubrick purposely made it ambiguous, which is one of many reasons film critics and movie goers love it so much. Many are just plain confused, like Rock Hudson who walked out of the premiere exclaiming, “Would someone tell me what the #@$% this is about?” Good question Rock. That’s usually the question on our mind when we see something we don’t understand, especially when we were hoping to be fed something we do.

I would like to shift the metaphoric gears here (be it ever so slightly) and address a recent headline I’d read about interpretation. Perhaps you saw it too. It said that Rob Bell, a controversial Christian pastor, was “not faring well.” The subtitle was “Rob Bell believes the Bible is irrelevant.” I was shocked. I’d always admired Rob Bell, but maybe

he’d turned a corner I was unaware of. A corner I wasn’t willing to turn myself. So I read the article. Turns out Bell didn’t claim that at all. The author of the write-up was R.C. Sproul Jr. And he was ticked! Bell had appeared on Oprah supported gay marriage and, consequently, pissed all over his chips. His intensity rose considerably as he not only accused Bell of intentionally trying to lead other Christians astray, but also of being on his way to… you know… the firey pit that our loving Father plans to send all of us who support gay marriage. It’s what any loving father would do.

Well, Mr. Sproul’s subtitle lives up to the tone of his article, but evidently not to the direct quote to which he is writing about. He quotes Bell: “We’re moments away (from the Church accepting gay marriage). I think the culture is already there. And the church will continue to be more irrelevant when it quotes letters from 2000 years ago as their best defense.”

Bell didn’t say the Bible was irrelevant. He said that the church would be if it relied on only the certain passages in the Bible as its best defense. We Christians are chronically guilty of only discussing controversial topics with each other, and not engaging with people who don’t agree with us. We also like put up walls and claim the Bible as our

foundation for doing so. To take a stand against any group of people getting married one must not simply “blame” his/her Bible, Quran, or other religious holy writing. At both of my Christian alma maters I was taught that in order to believe something the Bible must be the primary consideration reason, experience and tradition/history. Sounds like good advice to me.

I believe in the Bible. Always have. It should be read. It should be talked about. It should be shared. It’s meaning should be discussed with everyone, not just with those who we think will agree with us. And our interpretation of it should be challenged often.

Congratulations 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is your week. Though I do apologize to you. I paid more attention to Rob Bell and RC Sproul Jr. than to you. To make it up to you, I will go to my back yard tomorrow and crush a pile of bones with one larger bone. Then I will try and figure out what that means.

And the Oscar goes to…

Best Actress:

Admittedly, Anne Bancroft’s role in is iconic, but I have to give this one to Claudia Cardinale. One of the things I loved about was the awesome characters and the perfectly selected cast for each one. Case in point: Claudia Cardinale.

Best Actor: Dustin Hoffman. The man. The myth. The legend.

Best Quote: MORTON: “Tell me, was it necessary that you kill all of them? I only told you to scare them.” FRANK: “People scare better when they’re dying.” ()

As for the interpretation of , I have some suggestions but you’ll have to buy me a coffee or Coke sometime and I’ll share them with you. I will admit though, my initial reaction after watching it was pretty close to Rock Hudson’s.