Are you being who you claim to be?

The last study I looked at said in 2008, 78% of Americans claim to be Christians. This might sound like a good number to the average reader. You might think that the American church is doing it’s job well. I mean with 3 out of every 4 people in the nation claiming to be Christians, something great has to be happening in our nation. But, if you look around, I don’t think you’ll see evidence of what people are claiming.

Let’s look at the word Christian for a moment. It has a root word (Christ) and a suffix (-ian). The root word is easy to define. Christ refers to a Jewish rabbi born over 2000 years ago. There are claims he lived a perfect and sinless life and therefore was a perfect sacrifice for us sinners. The suffix –ian has a few definition according to wiktionary.org. When used with a noun it is defined as: One from, belonging to, relating to, or like. So the simplest definition of the word Christian is “like Christ”. I’m just not seeing it. I don’t see very many people living their lives like Christ lived his.

Do you agree? Maybe we shouldn’t focus on the word Christian as much as we focus on the religion which most people claim. Christianity is the religion of the 78% of Americans that claim to be Christians. We already broke down most of the word Christianity. We just added the suffix (-ity) to the word that means “like Christ”. The suffix –ity is defined as “state or quality of being…..”. So now we have people who claim to be adhering to a religion which means “state or quality of being like Christ”. Do most practitioners of Christianity look like they live in a state or have qualities of being like Christ? I’m just not seeing it.

What would it look like if we did? We would have 78% of Americans standing up for the oppressed, reaching out to those in need, striving to be holy, and discipling others to be like Christ. Jesus did all these things all while being challenged by the religious leaders of his time. If we claim to be like him, we should be doing the same type of things. He also cared for the sick, reached out to the outcast, prayed for those that hated him, and loved the “unlovable”. I’m not seeing many of these qualities of Jesus’ life being emulated in the people who claim to be Christians. So are you being who you claim to be? If you claim to be a Christian, are you living like Christ?

We would be in such a better place if people would just be who they claim to be.

Jesus serving others

Jesus caring for the poor and the sick

Jesus Loving the Unlovable

Top 10 in 2010 (movies)

Top 10 in 2010

I must admit that I didn’t see every film released in 2010, nor did I see all the films I intended to see. So it's hard for me to do a Top 10, but I can do my top 10 favorites that I did watch. But first here is a list of the films I intended to see, but for some reason didn’t:

1. 127 Hours

2. Barney’s Version

3. Blue Valentine

4. The Company Men

5. Due Date

6. Easy A

7. Gulliver’s Travels

8. Hereafter

9. Little Fockers

10. Love and Other Drugs

11. MegaMind

12. Morning Glory

13. The Next 3 Days

14. Rabbit Hole

15. Skyline

16. Tangled

17. The Tourist

18. Unstoppable

19. Waiting for Superman

If you have seen any of these films, I would love to have your feedback on which are must-watch and which can be passed over.

So I missed 19 films I intended to see, but I did have the opportunity to watch 56 other films. Some I intended to watch and some just kind of snuck up on me. I understand that you and I might have a different view on many of these, but this is my list and not yours. You are more than welcome to leave feedback and tear my rankings apart or agree with them, but these are my rankings and I doubt your opinion will change how much I appreciated and/or enjoyed the films ranked. Here we go:

Honorable mentions: Toy Story 3 , True Grit , Shutter Island, Secretariat

10. Green Zone:

This was one of the movies that caught me by surprise. I had little expectations about this film, but late found out that I should have seen this in the theater. It’s a great story that might make you mad at our nation and the way we handled the WMD’s in the Iraqi war. Go see it, not many people did, it earned a little over $35 million in the US boxoffice.

9. Remember Me:

Another film that caught me by surprise. This was a second movie of the day on one of my days off. Most of the time I go to watch one and if I’m free I might choose another one or two to watch. Again, this should’ve been my first pick of the day. I don’t want to ruin the ending for you, but look for an unexpected cry at the end of this emotional drama about a dysfunctional family. Sometimes tragedy rips a family apart and sometimes another tragedy brings them back together. Again, go see it, this film grossed $19 million domestically.

8. The Social Network:

With all the acclaim this film has gotten, you might ask why is this not higher on the list? I enjoyed this film a lot, I mean it is number 8 on my list, but it was slow and more of a documentary of a good story. With all that being said, the acclaim is merited. The typing scenes were even made cool and meaningful. This film grossed $96 million here in the states.

7. Tron: Legacy:

I need to watch this again, because my only experience with this film was in IMAX with a group of 40 high school students on New Year’s Eve at Midnight. I had little interest in seeing this film, but my students picked it and so we went. I was blown away by the art direction and the cinematography. The story was smart, maybe too smart at times, and really meaningful. I loved having students come up to me afterwards excited about recognizing gospel elements in this film. Grossed $166 million domestically.

6. Inception:

I wasn’t as blown away by the ending as most of the people who talk about his film. But I was blown away by the idea and the way Christopher Nolan brought the idea to screen. The film has a great cast and some scenes that might blow your mind. $292 million.

5. How to Train Your Dragon:

My favorite animated film of the year. Many people pick Toy Story 3 and I can see why, but this film has everything I look for. Great story filled with action, drama, love, conflict and resolution, underdogs and dragons. I absolutely loved everything about this film. $217 in US box office.

4. It’s Kind of a Funny Story:

You might not believe me, but this was one of my most anticipated films of 2010. Something about the first time I saw the trailer go me hooked. This is a such a great story of people helping people and such a challenge to live a life that is more than just meeting other’s expectations. I doubt you saw this one, but I hope you do. It made $6.3 million in the US. But it just got released on DVD, so go rent it. $6 million.

3. The King’s Speech:

The top 3 on my list are almost interchangeable. I doubt many of you argue with this one because of it’s 12 acadamy award nominations. I can’t believe how much I loved this film as it was 2 hours of speech therapy with the climax of the film being a speech delivered by Colin Firth in a room filled with curtains and Geoffrey Rush. But you pull for the king the whole film and I was elated that he pulled it off. Sorry for the spoiler. Go see it, Geoffrey Rush is the coolest guy I can think of and Colin Firth is a spitting image of Bob Stoops in this film. $72 million.

2. The Town:

After watching this film, I thought it had number one wrapped up and that was in September. And it did, until finally saw The Fighter. Even then it was hard for me to put this number 2 on the list. It had to be good because I normally can’t stand Ben Affleck, and not only did he star in this film, but he directed it as well. But he, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall and Blake Lively made bank robbing cool again. Definitely my favorite bank robbery film since Point Break. I was actually pulling for the bank robbers in this one. $92 million

1. The Fighter:

Wow! Like I said above, I didn’t want this to jump ahead of The Town, but this story was awesome. I normally stay away from boxing films, but this one caught way too much acclaim to skip out on. And the cast of Wahlberg, Bale, Adams, and Leo was also too much to miss. If you like drama, action, love, heartache, crime, drugs, redemption, and triumph……you will love this film. I don’t think it will beat out The King’s Speech in the Best Picture category, but it was my favorite of the year. $78 million

There you have it; my top 10. Rip it apart, embrace it…..It doesn’t matter, because it’s mine and not yours.