"Why do people choose the substitute over God himself? Probably the most important reason is that it obviates accountability to God. We can meet idols on our own terms because they are our own creations. They are safe, predictable, and controllable; they are, in Jeremiah's colorful language, the 'scarecrows in a cornfield' (10:5). They are portable and completely under the user's control. They offer nothing like the threat of a God who thunders from Sinai and whose providence in this world so often appears to us to be incomprehensible and dangerous . . . [People] need face only themselves. That is the appeal of idolatry."
- David F. Wells
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
I just heard of this - evidently there is an extremely low budget yet (by the looks of the trailer) good quality film coming out in May called The Hunt for Gollum. It's made by fans of the Lord of the Rings, for fans, and will be available online and for free. I think it's going to be about 45 minutes long.
For my fellow LOTR geeks: this film will recount Aragorn's hunt for Gollum that occurred between the Long Expected Party and the Shadow of the Past (events highly time-compressed in Peter Jackson's films).
Here's the trailer.
[H/T Challies]
Hmm.
This is a section of The Lord of the Rings that could be really interesting, in expansion. In many ways it's Tolkien's personal Guantanamo Bay--where Gandalf and Aragorn run short on time and have to "put the fear of fire into" Gollum.