I still think the final duel started off as an inside joke. I can see the story meeting right now...

"Hey, I've got an idea! Lets have a lightsaber fight in a forest! No one has ever done that before!'

I've been busy and haven't been on the internet much recently. I just happened to check my twitter feed right now and caught this. My prayers truly go out to Mike and his family. I hear this kind of news and it seems unreal. Though I've never met Mike, I feel like I know him. I respect him as much as we disagree.

Mike, when you eventually read this, know that my love and care for you and your soul far out ways whatever we could disagree on. I'm so sorry this has happened to you. You don't deserve it. You have so many amazing friends that are showing their true friendship right now. If you ever need me to be anything more than that light saber pastor guy you argue with on the internet, just let me know and I'll help however I can. But it looks like you are being well cared for.

God bless you and I'm praying for you.

Not to get too political, but I wonder if the shooter was a fan of the movie "God Bless America" or "The East"

A lot of people like to argue that talk radio hosts should watch what they say and/or suggest because they have a lot of influence over weak minded people. I wonder if the same argument will be made about some film makers.

And no matter what the shooters motivation or frustration, what he did was absolutely sick.

My wife and I actually got someone to pick up our kids from school tomorrow and they are staying the night at my moms house so we can come down to LA for this. So if anyone knows the actual start time and location, I'd appreciate a heads up :-)

It will be an adventure whatever happens.

How does one get in? I've listened to the two podcasts so far about it and do I understand it correctly that you just have to get in line? I've never been and am very interested in showing up but I have a video to shoot Thursday morning until around 2:00. I'm curious to know if arriving in LA around 4ish would even land me a spot or would it be too late already.

I've been listening to several episodes recently while driving and working. Today, while listening to the "Few Good Men" commentary, I heard several of you mention your experience with having to wear uniforms in school and I suddenly noticed a pattern. Some of the most vocal anti-religion people who have posted on this thread are people who have grown up in church, specifically the Catholic Church, and/or went to catholic school as kids. I wonder if there is a pattern to be drawn.

There was a famous quote by a guy named Brennon Manning:

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

I know it's simplistic in nature and ignores the scientific aspect of proving God. But I think there's some truth to it in that, usually, the strongest anti-theists are usually people who had bad experiences with the church. My atheist friend grew up in the Catholic Church and even taught history at a catholic school before he lost his faith.

Just something I observed while driving in my car today listening to my favorite podcast.

Oh and happy new year everyone! I'm going to a party at a friends house and won't be posting here til next year (har har) have a great evening!

I'm going to assume that you are being funny here, but just in case you misunderstood, I didn't say Muslims are mythical, I'm saying the specific Muslim who has the same story as me is mythical until they join in our conversation and share their story. Until then that person is simply a figment of your imagination conjured up in order to attempt to nullify my story. Similarly, I can easily say that there are atheists who lie and falsify evidence that contradicts their beliefs but until I produce them for you they are simply figments of my imagination.

Oh, I totally see that after the fact. There are so many Christians who claim God did something after it's all over and ignoring the things or excusing the things that didn't happen. I can see that in my own life. I try not to immediately jump to those conclusions. But I'm talking about the rare times when I know what I heard and I act out on it and claim it publicly before there's any conclusion. Those times don't happen often, but when they'd do, I've never been let down. And I saw that life lived before my own eyes through my father. He knew my wife and I were pregnant before we told anyone, he told my mom. He knew our child was going to be a boy before he was born and told my father in law. Both of those things he heard from God were used as confirmations for something else that eventually came to pass. I've seen this life lived before me and I've lived it myself. You're right, you don't have to believe I'm lying, but to just assume I'm wrong or delusional is intellectually dishonest. Like I said, your mind is made up so you don't even have to listen or consider what I'm saying, you can just ignore it.

First off, I never said that all the good is from God and all the bad is from me. Like you said, shit happens to everyone. Even the bible says that. Matthew 5:45. What I'm trying to tell you is that the ratio of things turning out the way God said it would, when I claimed it before the results, is indeed very high in my life. And was high in the life of my father. This is what I have lived. This is why I'm passionate about this. No one can take that from me. And a really want to share it.

I suppose if your stance is only based upon what you have reasoned then it's logical to consider that a new argument could change it. However, my stance is not only based on what I've reasoned, but also what I've lived and experienced. And in life, experience usually trumps reason. You can think, and reason, and calculate all you want, but in the end the real world is what you experience. If I'm faced with two differing viewpoints on how to raise children, and one is from a 22 year old childless grad student with a degree in child developement and the other is a couple who has three well adjusted and successful adult children, I'll listen to the latter before I give credence to the former because their experience has been proven. The grad student only has theories. I know what has happened in my life. I combine that experience with my reason to achieve my belief. And I'm afraid that cannot be shaken.

My apologies. I was basing my statement off of conversations with my atheist friend, Marshall. He has told me that it pretty much comes down to an acceptable level of evidence and his limit is what is provable scientifically. And even though that doesn't answer everything, it's the only place he feels he can reasonably start. I guess I should ask if you share the same stance.

I haven't ventured onto these forums in a while. I'm so sorry I missed this. Poor fireproof has been hangin' here by himself for the most part. I love these discussions. Usually I'm frustrated by the way most Christians argue about their beliefs, but kudos to fireproof. And for what it's worth, after reading this entire thread, I don't think Dorkman was coming off as hostile or vitriolic at all. I'm amazed at the civility of the discussion. This truly is a great online community. Again I apologize for not being here more often.

I just want to expound on a few things that I saw discussed in this thread.

First is the idea of faith. As some here have expressed, faith is based on evidence. I don't believe in blind faith. The bible doesn't teach blind faith. God doesn't expect blind faith. God expects faith in His nature based on His past actions in your life. Faith is based on experience. That is why so many times in the bible, God asked his followers to make altars after an event in their life. That altar was to act as a reminder of His faithfulness. In fact the word faithful means that someone has a track record that can be counted on. I have experiences with God, not just lessons from a book. I have miracle stories from my life that I personally have experienced. Not many, not everyday, but significant ones that I have lived through. I don't discuss faith in a purely academic level, I discuss faith based on my actual life experiences.

The bible, in Hebrews 11:1, defines faith as "the evidence of things hoped for" and "the convictions of things not seen." The bible also defines, in Romans 10:17 where faith comes from: "hearing by the word of God" The Greek word for "word" in that passage is "rhema" and it refers to a living, spoken word as opposed to something inscribed or written down. More importantly, it says that faith cannot simply be conjured up on your own. It must originate from God as a promise. You then hold onto that promise based on your experience with God in your life. I liken this process to a ticketed event. Let's say I go online and purchase a ticket to see The Hobbit at an IMAX theater in LA. (I live in Bakersfield so I can't just go to the box office and buy it). I'm emailed a confirmation that shows my seat number. An e-ticket if you will. That ticket guarantees my seat. I don't have my seat yet, but I have faith that the seat will be there for me after I drive two hours to get there. I couldn't just create that ticket on my own. It had to come from the theater. I can't just type up my own ticket then expect the theater to honor that seat. The legitimate ticket from the theater is the substance I hold on to that allows me to expect my seat until I'm actually sitting in it. So many Christians misunderstand this process, they've been taught wrong. They think that they can print up their own ticket and demand that God honor their wishes. At that point, their prayers are just that, wishful thinking.

Ultimately, faith in God starts with experience. And faith based on experience cannot be shaken. You cannot break my faith because it is not some sort of academic understanding based on what others have told me, it's based on what I have experienced, what I have lived through, what God has done for me personally. You can argue confirmation bias all you want, but I act out on things before the confirmation happens. I claim what will happen before it does. I've lived it enough to count on it.

My experience has shown the bible to be true to me. I act out how it says and things happen as it says it should. It is as consistent as I am with it. I'm not perfect, I make mistakes, I sin and miss what God is trying to tell me all the time. But when I'm tacking right, when I'm following His word as I should, I hear him clearly and the decisions I make produce the outcomes promised.

I'm living through something right now that started a year ago. At the time, I knew what God spoke to me, and it was to take a step of faith and begin a whole life change for me and my family. At the time, I was having semi-regular lunch meetings with an atheist friend of mine and I told him what I was about to do. He thought I was crazy. A year later and we are now meeting for coffee on a weekly basis and he is watching me as what I told him would happen is happening in front of his eyes.

My life is my testimony. It is the evidence of God working. It is my evidence of the validity of the bible.

I've more to say but this will be enough for this post. Love you all.

Well there were a few movies that I saw and liked as an adolescent that got me into movies in general but it wasn't until the first movie on my list here that I discovered that I wanted to tell stories and make movies.

1) Empire of the Sun (1987)
I saw this for the first time while on my first out of town trip without my parents or family. I was a freshman in high school and it was playing on the TV in the hotel room where we were staying while on a band trip to San Francisco in 1989, I was 13 at the time. This was the first movie where I understood the subtext and I recognized all the symbolism. The music, the camera movement, the lighting... everything made sense to me. I felt like I knew what the director was trying to do and why he chose those shots. After that, I started realizing the importance of blocking and moving the camera to help tell a story. It was then that I realized that I needed a jib and a dolly if I wanted to make my movies epic. It was the right movie at the right age for me.

2) Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
This is one that my dad rented one time because he liked cars. I was a sophomore or a junior at the time. I was blown away by it's style. What it did with camera movement and angles and setups was spectacular. The ingenious ways that it staged shots where people have conversations from different locations in the same frame blew my young mind. And it's use of music and song opened my eyes (or should I say ears) to the power songs can play in setting a mood and a style.

3) Jurassic Park (1993)
I was 18 at the time this came out. Now you have to understand something about my family to appreciate this movie's impact on my life. I have a handicapped/mentally retarded older sister. She has cerebral palsy and only has the mental capacity of a baby. Early in my life my parents had a bad experience at a movie theater when my sister wouldn't be quiet and someone shouted out to "shut that thing up." After that my family only went to drive in theaters so that my sisters noise wouldn't bother anyone else. Well, in the summer of 1993, while on vacation at the beach, I had read about this new dinosaur movie coming out that weekend by my favorite director. My brother and I convinced our parents to drop us off at the theater at the beach. It was one of the first times in years that I had even been in an indoor theater. We barely made it in time and were getting our seats when the lights went down. We had the only seats left in the theater, Front row all the way on the right. I had never fully experienced a summer blockbuster movie before that day. I saw that movie 5 times in the theater that summer. And thus began my insistence on seeing movies at an indoor theater. No more drive ins for me. (now i miss them for nostalgic reasons)