This month, I joined two podcasts, The Commentarians and Changed My Mind. Going into the weekend, some of you might enjoy listening to them.
The Commentarians: The Frighteners
The first is The Commentarians Podcast to discuss the spiritual concepts presented through a biblical worldview by the 1996 film The Frighteners.
Produced by The Raven Creek Social Club, The Commentarians provides a commentary track to various movies, much like a “director’s commentary.” You can watch the movie while listening, or just listen to the track as a stand-alone podcast.
One of the regular hosts, Emily Dixon, asked if I’d like to join her on the show. She invited me to pick a film related in some way to the Halloween season.
After some contemplation, I suggested The Frighteners, a film by Peter Jackson starring Michael J. Fox as a man who, after a near death experience, can see spirits. He conspires with some ghosts to con people into hiring him to do spiritual house cleansings. It’s an odd mix of comedy/horror with an amazing amount of ground-breaking special effects that still hold up well today.
A few years later, Peter Jackson went on to direct and produce The Lord of the Rings films.
In the podcast, we discuss why I started this website, the ability some people have to see spirits and other spiritual things, and the biblical view of ghosts and other spiritual beings.
We also talked about Second Temple literature’s discussions of Enoch, the Watchers of Genesis 6, how the Law of Moses was given to protect against the transgression of the Watchers, how the Law fails and condemns humans, and the gospel’s solution to defeat spiritual darkness.
Believe it or not, these themes are all presented in The Frighteners.
We also talk about the biblical role of women in redemption history with comparisons to how women are portrayed in this movie. It was really a wide-ranging discussion!
Beneath the camp of The Frighteners, there’s a powerful story.
The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere, but you can check out the 20 minute introduction on their website here. The actual episode is here.
Changed My Mind: From Doubter to Believer
The second podcast I joined, also from Ravenscreek is Changed My Mind.
It’s an podcast that’s not necessarily for a Christian audience, and I discuss my journey regarding my belief in ghosts. Believe it or not, it’s the Bible that convinced me regarding how to think about ghosts. Here’s that interview.
Check out this post on that. Also, for an evangelical scholar’s thoughts, see this post by Dr. Heiser “A Biblical View of Ghosts”, part 2, and part 3.
You also might enjoy this podcast on Greco-Roman Ghost Stories and the Gospels, or if you prefer reading to listening, the transcript.
Leave a Reply