&;quot;Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants.” The post Biden Calls Japan “Xenophobic” for Not Having Open Borders appeared first on Frontpage Mag.

Among 18-29-year-olds‚ 1 in 5 have a somewhat favorable view of China. The post Is TikTok Why 18-Year-Olds are More Pro-China&;#63; appeared first on Frontpage Mag.

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It involves setting aside our preconceived notions and intellectual barriers‚ allowing ourselves to be enveloped by the mystery and majesty of God’s presence.

The key is not to allow a person’s actions to rob us of our worth for then we forget to look up for God’s grace.

When Hamas terrorists brutally attacked‚ raped‚ murdered‚ and kidnapped scores of Jewish people in Israel on October 7‚ one would think the brazen atrocity would galvanize the world in defense of Jews‚ a religious group that’s been persistently persecuted globally for thousands of years. But the opposite has occurred. Recent scenes from around the world have shown just how deeply entrenched antisemitic hate still is‚ even in “cosmopolitan” Western cities like London‚ Paris‚ and New York. Anti-Jewish fervor has especially exploded on elite college campuses‚ with a 700 percent year-over-year increase in antisemitic incidents on campuses since October 7. It’s disturbing to watch protestors at Ivy League schools kick Jewish students in the stomach and yell‚ “Kill yourself”—or tell others‚ “Go back to Poland&;#33;” But even if it’s on the rise currently‚ anti-Jewish sentiment predates October 7. Recently released FBI data shows that in 2022‚ more than half of all religion-based hate crimes in the U.S. were driven by anti-Jewish bias. As Christians‚ we condemn racial and ethnic hate of every kind. But given our faith’s origins in Judaism and the significant moral‚ theological‚ and historical overlaps we share with the Jewish people‚ we should feel acute pain when they’re dehumanized and threatened. As a way to better know the Jewish story—not just its traumas but also its joys—I’ve curated a list of movies that depict aspects of Jewish identity and experience. As always with a list like this‚ not every film will be appropriate for every viewer‚ so please exercise discernment and check out content guides. But by watching and sharing films like these‚ we can actively push back against the currents of dehumanization and erasure that threaten Jews everywhere. Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) Released just a few years after the world’s eyes were opened to the horrors of the Holocaust and the ugly outcomes of antisemitism‚ Elia Kazan’s brave drama was met with controversy but became a box office hit and won the Academy Award for best picture and best director. The black-and-white film stars Gregory Peck as a journalist assigned to write a feature story on pervasive antisemitism in New York City. In his research for the story‚ Peck’s character poses as a Jew and experiences prejudice firsthand. The film shows the subtle ways antisemitism is expressed—not just from outright bigots but also from “nice people” and liberal sophisticates who tout their tolerance. Not rated. Available to rent. Exodus (1960) Directed by Otto Preminger and starring Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint (with a screenplay by famously blacklisted Dalton Trumbo)‚ Exodus depicts the founding of the State of Israel in the years following World War II. Based on the 1958 Leon Uris historical novel of the same name‚ Preminger’s epic film is a commitment to watch; at three and half hours‚ it’s arguably overlong. But it’s a fascinating chronicle of the historical origins of the Jewish state—a triumph for the Jewish people that came shockingly soon after its greatest tragedy (the Holocaust). Not rated. Watch for free on Tubi. Fiddler on the Roof (1971) This classic movie musical is a bit dated and unabashedly cheesy at times. But the Norman Jewison–directed classic remains a joyful cinematic celebration of Jewish culture half a century after it was made. The recurring image and metaphor of the fiddler on the roof is memorable and effective‚ capturing the fragile place of Jewish existence in the world. As central protagonist Tevye (memorably played by Israeli actor Topol) puts it‚ describing his Jewish village in Eastern Europe‚ “Every one of us is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant‚ simple tune without breaking his neck.” Rated G. Watch on Prime Video.  School Ties (1992) Mostly remembered as a film featuring some of the earliest roles of future stars Brendan Fraser‚ Matt Damon‚ and Ben Affleck‚ School Ties feels timely again as an exploration of campus antisemitism. Set in an elite New England prep school in the 1950s‚ the film centers on David Greene (Fraser)‚ a student-athlete who becomes popular on campus as the football team’s star quarterback. Yet when his Jewish ethnicity is revealed‚ Greene faces ugly prejudice and abuse. His experience no doubt resonates with many Jews worldwide‚ even today. Rated PG-13. Available to rent. Schindler’s List (1993) Many powerful Holocaust films came before and after Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List‚ but none seem quite as definitive‚ haunting‚ and memorable. Shot in black-and-white (with one devastating exception)‚ the film won seven Oscars‚ including best picture. It follows the true story of a German businessman (Schindler‚ played by Liam Neeson) who rescues thousands of Polish Jews during the Holocaust. In supporting roles‚ Ben Kingsley and Ralph Fiennes deliver indelible‚ career-defining performances. Rated R. Watch on Prime Video.  The Prince of Egypt (1998) One of the best cinematic depictions of exodus‚ this animated musical epic artfully explores what’s arguably the defining moment in Jewish history. Featuring beautiful animation and straightforward‚ old-fashioned storytelling‚ the movie is an enjoyable celebration of Jewish history for kids and adults alike. Rated PG. Watch on Peacock. The Pianist (2002) Based on a 1946 memoir by Polish-Jewish pianist‚ composer‚ and Holocaust survivor WÅ‚adysÅ‚aw Szpilman‚ this harrowing drama is (in my view) second only to Schindler’s List in the canon of Holocaust films. Directed by Roman Polanski‚ The Pianist shows the stark evil of what was perpetuated against Jews‚ even as it finds hope in a narrative of survival‚ human dignity‚ and the beauty of grace. Rated R. Watch for free on Tubi. Defiance (2008) An inspiring tale of survival and resistance‚ Edward Zwick’s WWII film tells the story of the Bielski partisans. The inspiring film stars Daniel Craig‚ Liev Schreiber‚ Jamie Bell‚ and George MacKay as Polish Jewish brothers who outwit the Nazis in the forests of Belarus‚ ultimately gathering more than 1‚000 Jewish refugees who effectively evade—and bravely fight—the Nazis bent on their annihilation. From a historical period that’s often unbearably bleak‚ Defiance tells a rare tale of successful resistance. Rated R. Available to rent.  Ajami (2009) Cowritten and codirected by Scandar Copti (a Palestinian) and Yaron Shani (an Israeli Jew)‚ Ajami weaves intersecting storylines that unfold in and around the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa‚ in greater Tel Aviv. Major characters include Arabs‚ Jews‚ and Christians‚ and the film explores how their lives tragically intersect. Well received in Israel and elsewhere‚ the film was submitted by Israel for the best foreign language film Academy Award and was nominated. The harrowing drama is realistically shot with nonactors‚ alternates between Arabic and Hebrew languages‚ and gives viewers a compelling look at the tense realities of life on the ground in a combustible melting pot. Not rated. Available to rent. A Serious Man (2009) Many of the Coen brothers’ films can be seen through a lens of Judaism‚ but none are more directly Jewish than A Serious Man. After opening with a mysterious Yiddish folktale prologue‚ the film follows the life and trials of a Jewish-American family in 1960s Minnesota. Drawing heavily from the book of Job—a parallel that becomes especially obvious in the film’s final shot—A Serious Man is a moral fable that wrestles with man’s relationship with a God who sometimes feels distant or cruel. Rated R. Watch on Max. Unorthodox (2013) This independent documentary (not to be confused with the 2020 Netflix series) is a fascinating look inside modern Orthodox Judaism and the contemporary tension between secular rebellion or deconstruction and maintaining religious tradition. It follows three Jewish-American teenagers whose skeptical relationships to Judaism change when they go on a gap year program in Israel. Among other themes‚ the film shows the power of the community for shoring up tenuous faith. As in Christianity‚ so in Judaism: it’s hard to stay faithful when you’re surrounded by strong currents pulling you away from faith; it’s easier when you’re surrounded by fellow believers swimming together against the cultural tide. Rated TV-MA. Watch for free on Tubi. Son of Saul (2015) From Hungarian filmmaker L&;aacute;szl&;oacute; Nemes‚ this gripping‚ Auschwitz-set Holocaust drama deservedly won the Grand Prix at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The harrowing drama brings a new‚ visceral realism to the horrors of the Holocaust. By shooting in a claustrophobic 4:3 aspect ratio and putting the viewer relentlessly (sometimes dizzyingly) into the visual perspective of Saul (G&;eacute;za R&;ouml;hrig)‚ Nemes brings a powerful subjectivism and slice-of-life intimacy to a dauntingly large and disturbing subject matter. Rated R. Available to rent.  Denial (2016) Based on a true story‚ this riveting courtroom drama follows a legal case in which Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt was sued for libel by infamous Holocaust denier David Irving. Featuring compelling central performances from Rachel Weisz as Lipstadt and the late Tom Wilkinson as the lawyer who defends her in court‚ Denial exposes the problem of attempted historical erasure and the fragility of “truth” in an age of online tribalism and reality distortion. At a time when many are already “erasing” or attempting to flip the script on the events of October 7‚ Denial is more relevant than ever. Rated PG-13. Watch on Max. The Fabelmans (2022) Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical family drama is about more than the director’s Jewish upbringing‚ but not less. The film shows how the iconic filmmaker’s moral imagination is deeply shaped by his religion‚ including his experiences as a boy of antisemitic bullying. It’s an enjoyable‚ poignant film that celebrates creativity‚ family‚ and Jewish identity. Rated PG-13. Watch on Paramount+. A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting (2022) This sobering documentary takes a look at the 2018 mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue‚ where 11 Jewish worshipers were slaughtered by an antisemitic gunman. The joy and enduring faithfulness of the Jewish community is noteworthy‚ even as they’re faced with lingering trauma and ongoing hate. It’s striking‚ for example‚ when one of the survivors comments on the antisemitic murderer‚ without excusing his actions‚ “I know he’s made in the image of God just like me. He’s a human being.” The Judeo-Christian value of human life’s inherent dignity shines in stark contrast with the cheapening of life displayed in senseless mass shootings. Rated TV-MA. Watch on Max. Golda (2023) Helen Mirren is characteristically great in this biopic of Israeli prime minister Golda Meir‚ which focuses on Meir’s leadership during the Yom Kippur War. The film is compelling not only as a chronicle of a pivotal military success in Israel’s history but also as a window into the fortitude‚ character‚ and compassion of the wartime leader. Liev Schreiber also shines as U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger. Rated PG-13. Watch on Paramount+. 

Christians live in metaphor. Every good and beautiful thing we inhabit in this life is but one way of grasping at God’s truth: marriage points to our ultimate union with Christ; childrearing to an experience of fatherly love; a delicious meal to a physical taste of goodness that points to the feast of our souls‚ Christ himself. Our temporal experience is both indicative of and antithetical to an eternal one that awaits us. To live in metaphor doesn’t mean we know how to read it. Perhaps we gloss over metaphors like Jesus being the “bread of life” (John 6:35) or the righteous man being a “tree planted by streams of water” (Ps. 1:3) as Christian truisms‚ thinking they’re beautiful flourishes in language—and that they generally make sense. But to gloss over the poetic mastery of metaphor in God’s Word is hardly to understand its depths or God’s. If our life is‚ as God intends‚ a metaphor for what’s to come‚ we have an eternal purpose not only in living but also in reading—and reading well. Joy Marie Clarkson’s You Are a Tree: And Other Metaphors to Nourish Life‚ Thought‚ and Prayer bestows on Christians a much-needed lesson in reading metaphor. At the heart of her luminous meditation on well-known (and therefore regularly overlooked) metaphors in the Bible is the implicit argument that Christians must attend to metaphors more closely. Clarkson guides us through a close reading of several metaphors—the individual as a tree‚ wisdom as light‚ love as sickness‚ and creation as birth‚ to name a few. She makes much of what seems to be little‚ seeking the profound in the mundane: that a tree has roots reminds us how “deep slow growth may be happening where we cannot see” (46). The nourishment the tree receives from its surrounding kin models the communal way of life on which our flourishing as human beings depends. To read biblical metaphors is to read the world or to “understand” it in the most literal sense‚ as she describes: to know the wonders we “stand under.” In You Are a Tree‚ to read is to behold; to learn is to worship. To Read Is to Behold Clarkson’s close reading of metaphors embraces sources beyond the Bible to help readers understand the Bible better. She opens a vast expanse of thought from philosophy‚ medieval devotion‚ pop culture‚ and literature. You Are a Tree is more than just an exegesis of biblical metaphors; it’s an education in Western thought. You Are a Tree is more than just an exegesis of biblical metaphors; it’s an education in Western thought. To bring in the ideas of extrabiblical writers who make the holy text’s timeless truths more accessible for common readers is nothing new. If anything‚ it’s an explanatory method we take for granted. While Scripture doesn’t need anything outside itself for teaching and training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16–17)‚ preachers often weave in secular illustrations—from movies or news articles—into the interpretation of a biblical idea to aid understanding. But how‚ specifically‚ does secular art serve God’s all-sufficient‚ authoritative Word&;#63; And how does the Bible view the purpose of secular thought&;#63; A key to her approach is recognizing that metaphors aren’t endlessly elastic. When we recognize their limits‚ she writes‚ “we are also forced to pay closer attention to why the thing isn’t actually what we describe it to be. Metaphors are the fruit of attention‚ but they ought to also make us pay closer attention so we are not deceived or confused by them” (21). Clarkson’s interpretive method begins with a dissociation from biblical context: she extracts a metaphor from the Scripture‚ illuminates it through the lens of other thinkers‚ and then reintegrates and returns its meaning to its biblical site. On love as disease‚ she draws from Plato’s dialogue Phaedrus. Plato teaches that love‚ if wrested from pleasure and passion‚ brings one closer to ideal embodiments of material things (or the forms‚ in Plato’s terms). Clarkson interprets this secular text with an intellectually gracious and spiritually attuned eye. She writes‚ “There is something beautiful about the way love takes over; it is a madness‚ yes‚ a catching sickness. But it can draw us out of the safe circle of what we know” (109). The power of captivation in love can be redemptive because it can lead to death to self that makes room for new life. In her reading‚ Clarkson sees a shadow of God where the unbeliever merely sees the Good. Metaphor’s Origin This is the striving of metaphor: to grasp at something transcendent through the finitude of human language. Clarkson addresses this irony briefly at the outset of her book: “When we speak in metaphor‚ we are aware‚ on some level‚ that our words cannot contain the expansive and radiant nature of God‚ something that is less clear to us when we attempt to use ‘literal’ language” (29). She explains this paradox with parentheses that indicate this implicit negation: to say that God is (not) a rock is to acknowledge that a rock as a material thing embodies a characteristic of God‚ even though God isn’t at all a rock. The figure of metaphor‚ then‚ dually captures the transcendence of God and makes plain that transcendence to the mortal mind. God‚ after all‚ is the One from whom all metaphors flow. As Clarkson suggests‚ “all things are created from God and proceed from God” (29)—including the limited resources of language. Clarkson explains how metaphors point us to their origin‚ God himself: “Is God offering me a window into His excellencies by using a piece of His good creation [metaphor]&;#63;” (29). Secular explanations of metaphor‚ in other words‚ don’t result in mere secular ideas but in an echo of God. In bringing together the literary arts with biblical metaphor‚ You Are a Tree abounds with insights into both Christ and culture. So in asking the question “What does secular thought offer the authoritative Word of God&;#63;” we can say much and little. It gives us an enlarged vocabulary. It grants us a way of thinking beyond our own Christian worldview—a way of thinking the Bible calls us to embrace (1 Cor. 9:19–23). It helps us better understand cultural narratives. Metaphorical thinking humbles our minds through the expanse of creation it brings into view. And only through humility can we learn more about the world—and about God. Depths of Metaphor‚ Heights of God Clarkson probes the depths of various images—the “journey” of life‚ the “fortress” of safety‚ the “tree-ness” of God-given personhood—with deep and wide insights into what these metaphors mean. She concludes each chapter with a curation of art and literature in which to linger further and offers a brief commentary on each. Metaphorical thinking humbles our minds through the expanse of creation it brings into view. And only through humility can we learn more about the world—and about God. And yet‚ by showing us all the knowledge about God and his creation a single metaphor can hold‚ You Are a Tree whispers a greater truth: there’s much more to know about God. As vast and deep as a metaphor can be‚ it still offers only a glimpse‚ a sliver‚ of his image and his excellencies. Clarkson’s deep attention to biblical metaphors has profound implications for Christians and our study of the world—through literature and art. You Are a Tree calls us to tend to words and language in both a meditative and a rigorous manner‚ and in doing so‚ inspires us to care about the literary arts and to be concerned about their fading status in our larger world today. If God is a writer‚ then we must be faithful readers and advocates for human creativity. For literature and the arts have always belonged to God. He wrote them into existence.

In this microevent from TGC23‚ Megan Hill‚ Gavin Ortlund‚ and Winfree Brisley reflect on the challenges and blessings of growing up in ministry. They emphasize the importance of parents living by grace‚ finding their identity in Christ‚ and supporting their kids‚ as well as modeling fr their children wise decision-making and differentiating between reasonable and unreasonable expectations for pastors’ kids. They share the value of parents nurturing faith in children through family devotions and involving them in ministry while prioritizing their emotional and spiritual well-being. The panel also gives practical advice on handling criticism and prioritizing family in ministry.