Nothing Else Matters

"If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen -- nothing else matters."

—Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006)

BioShocked

Lots of video game reviewers are touting the just-released FPS (first-person shooter) BioShock for game of the year honors for it’s trippy, original, eye-popping graphics and immersive underwater experience. Some of those reviewers are also commenting on how disturbing the game can be to play.

Wired Magazine’s Chris Kohler said this in his review (as quoted over at PluggedInOnline.com):

In my career as a gamer, I've racked up quite a virtual body count. And I've just taken down one more: Big Daddy, a hulking monster with a giant drill bit for an arm. I had to unload all my armor-piercing rounds into his body suit, and I barely escaped with my life. And now for my reward: a bioenhanced substance that will give me more superhuman powers. To claim it, all I've got to do is kill the thing the monster was protecting: a tiny little girl, known as a Little Sister, staring up at me with tear-filled eyes. Can I do it? Could you do it? She's not real. It's just a videogame. But that doesn't matter: I put her down and let her go free, forgoing my power upgrade so she can scamper away. It'll be that much harder to take down the next monster, but I feel better about myself.

As much as I admire his moral choice about not blasting away at an innocent-looking little girl, it raises all kinds of other questions for me about living by some kind of moral code in games like BioShock. If it “feels better” not to kill her, how about other unarmed humans in video games? How about intelligent alien/monster non-combatants? How about “bad” characters who have not (yet) attacked you? Does it make sense to draw those kinds of lines in the world of FPS games? Does a Christian worldview have any place when you suit up as a character in an unreal world?

I’m not much of a gamer these days, but it seems like a tricky issue to navigate. If you spend much time behind a control pad, I’d be curious to know what you think.

Avoid Silence!

Looking to tune out the voice of God this weekend? Want to make sure to avoid any real thinking about what it means to follow Jesus and all of the painful implications of that choice? Hoping to overcome nagging spiritual conviction or possible nudgings to draw nearer to God? C.S. Lewis offers this advice (from the book Christian Reflections):

Avoid silence, avoid solitude, avoid any train of thought that leads off the beaten track. Concentrate on money, sex, status, health and (above all) on your own grievances. Keep the radio on. Live in a crowd. Use plenty of sedation. If you must read books, select them very carefully. But you'd be safer to stick to the papers. You'll find the advertisements helpful; especially those with a sexy or a snobbish appeal.

I'm sure if Lewis were alive today, he'd endorse TV, iPods, and the Internet as excellent sources of mental noise to keep your heart from being exposed by the quiet.

Google Heavens

As we all know, Google now runs the entire Internets. And I, for one, am happy to have them in charge. One reason is that groovy little download called Google Earth, with which you can travel the globe from the comfort of your swivel chair. I've lost hours "flying" to familiar spots and out of the way places and wishing I could really travel so easily.

But I blog today of the latest Earth feature. If you haven't yet used the program to travel into space, you're missing out. With the click of a button, you can turn from wherever you're staring down on the planet and look up, instead, into the heavens. There, you'll find the moon, planets, and all the constellations and distant stars. You can fly around the known galaxy and gather helpful info from the Hubble Showcase. Extremely cool.

It reminded me that David's electronically unenhanced view of the cosmos inspired him to shout out in Psalm 19:1-4:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

Wonder what David would have thought of Google Heavens. Wonder how may Google Earth users find themselves thinking about the glory of God.

Weird: Teens Like Families

It's always a little funny to me the way news stories sound surprised when new data comes out suggesting that teens actually like their parents and don't mind spending time with them. I guess you're all supposed to be angry, parent-hating, animal-sacrificing, crime-perpetrating "disaffected youth."

Here's an AP story reporting on the "surprising" results of a new survey of 1,280 13-24 year olds conducted by the AP and MTV about what makes kidsthesedays really happy.

So you're between the ages of 13 and 24. What makes you happy? A worried, weary parent might imagine the answer to sound something like this: Sex, drugs, a little rock 'n' roll. Maybe some cash, or at least the car keys. Turns out the real answer is quite different. Spending time with family was the top answer to that open-ended question.

And here's a stunning news quote from an actual teen to back up this groundbreaking intel:

"They're my foundation," says Kristiana St. John, 17, a high-school student from Queens in New York. "My mom tells me that even if I do something stupid, she's still going to love me no matter what. Just knowing that makes me feel very happy and blessed."

I know that most teens do conflict with their parents sometimes. But I don't think even journalists should be so shocked that God's design for the family as a practical and emotional support system actually works to make people feel happy -- that having older people who make it their job in life to take care of you and protect you and even sometimes have fun with you would be something you don't like because they're also the boss of you for a while. Yes, teens are capable of being rational, caring human beings.

In other news, a survey of car owners reveals that they don't like paying higher prices for gasoline. Later, we report on a controversial new study that suggests eating lots of fatty foods and sugar, when combined with lack of exercise, can lead to obesity. Stay tuned . . .

Another Giant Movie?

The team (and church!) that brought us Facing the Giants is off and running on their next project, Fireproof. Created for a budget of around $100,000 by writer/director/star Alex Kendrick and others from Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, Facing the Giants has received huge praise and serious criticism from within the church.

Many believers just enjoyed the up-from-the-ashes story of a high school football coach who sells out to God and experiences overwhelming success in every possible aspect of his life. Some Christians bashed the film for suggesting (and not quietly) that God rewards commitment with new trucks, dramatic sports wins, and babies. You can see my take in our PW review.

To me, the biggest deal about this movie is how it proved that a group of Christians with a little money and a little talent and a story to tell can make a movie that will actually get distributed, seen, and generate enough money to do it again. I'm really interested to see what story Kendrick and co. bring to the screen this time around.

But it's tough for any independent filmmaker to repeat the box office (and DVD) success FTG enjoyed. I'm more interested in seeing films from other Christians and/or churches and/or YOU. Why wait for your break in the Hollywood system? If you have a passion to tell stories on film (or digital video), start now! Practice. Get better. Develop some scripts. Find talented people to join you.

If nothing else, Sherwood Baptist Church proved that it can be done. So why not jump in and make your own movie that reflects the truth of the Bible and the hope of heaven? If you want to make movies, what's stopping you?

College Profs Iffy on Evangelicals

Here's a World magazine article that breaks down the results of a not-surprising- but-still- kind-of-shocking survey of nearly 1300 faculty from 712 colleges and universities around the country. A whopping 53 percent of faculty members admitted to having unfavorable feelings toward evangelical Christians.

The survey may simply confirm what many people have already seen firsthand (including some of you). It's even more credible because it was conducted by a Jewish group seeking to track levels of academic anti-Semitism. The study's author found only 3 percent of faculty with unfavorable feelings toward Jews. Evangelicals lead the least-liked list, followed by Mormons (33%), Muslims (22%), and atheists (18%).

How do college professors respond to the survey results? They're not exactly appalled.

Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), told The Washington Post that the poll merely reflects "a political and cultural resistance, not a form of religious bias."

Hmmm. A better question might be how evangelical Christian students should respond to the idea that half of all secular college profs have unfavorable opinions of us. It's too easy to become angry, defensive, and eager to mix it up in theological/intellectual campus battles. (And even easier to get hammered by battle-tested unbelievers itching for a fight.) But it's no better to get scared and hide away from secular institutions because we know there's a bias toward a Christian worldview.

Our hope for Christian students landing on college campii around the country this fall would be that you

a) plant yourself deep in a support group of other believers (campus group, church, Christian Greek house, whatever) -- a safe place to honestly wrestle with big issues and prepare a reasonable defense when appropriate;

b) scatter the Galatians 5:22-23 fruit of the Spirit everywhere you go (you know, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) -- especially in classrooms and dormrooms where you're beliefs are belittled;

c) and then be ready to give a reasonable, respectful answer to everyone who asks, "How can you live with so much peace, confidence, and kindness when you know people are mocking what you believe?" (See 1 Peter 3:13-16.) The best evidence for our faith is the change it makes in our ability to love those who like us -- and those who don't.

And if you're heading off to college for the first time this fall, check out Mark's book for freshmen called, um, Freshman. It's all about learning to navigate campus life with wisdom -- and your Christian faith intact. You can get it here.

"So You Think You Can Dance?"

Great YouTube clip of outtakes from America's favorite dancing sensation.

Learn the Language

I just came across this great little book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer called Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. He makes the “light comes on” point that too many of us attempt to talk to God “from the heart” without learning to speak God’s language . . . from His Word.

“The child learns to speak because his father speaks to him. He learns the speech of his father. So we learn to speak to God because God has spoken to us and speaks to us. By means of the speech of the Father in heaven his children learn to speak with him. Repeating God’s own words after him, we begin to pray to him. We ought to speak to God and he wants to hear us, not in the false and confused speech of our heart, but in the clear and pure speech which God has spoken to us in Jesus Christ.”

E-mail Addiction

E-mail addiction may just be one of a larger pantheon of Internet-related addictions (hello, texters), but this story from an AOL survey still rings some bells. Among the findings:

Fifty-nine percent of people emailing from portable devices are checking email in bed while in their pajamas; 53% in the bathroom; 37% are checking email while they drive; and 12% admit to checking email in church.

Is it wrong that it bothers me more that someone might be reading my e-mail in the bathroom than in church? If I know you, please don't read my e-mail in the bathroom. Does anyone know of any filters I can get to keep my e-mails from being readable in bathrooms?

So, anyway, any addicted e-mailers, texters, IMers, etcers in the room? Hands? (No need to raise them if you're reading this in the bathroom.) We're all here for you.

Offering a more serious (and more helpful) take on the issue of Christians and Internet abuse, Keith Plummer over at The Christian Mind offers some excellent insights and recommends an interesting-sounding book by Quentin Schultze called Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age.

Hello Bad Policeman!

Not sure what this says about me, but I love the idea of bad Thai cops being forced to wear "Hello Kitty" armbands as punishment. Here's the best quote from the AP story:

"Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor," said Pongpat, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.

Shame and guilt? I know that being all "macho" is a bigger deal in some countries than in others. Still, this kind of makes me feel bad about carrying my "Hello Kitty" lunch box to the office. Next someone's going to say I should give up my vintage Muppet Babies T-shirts.

Arcade Fire's Bible

If you've spent any time listening to the popular, not-so-indie-anymore band Arcade Fire, you've probably noticed a couple of things. First, their music is amazing, complex, and not much like anything else out there right now. Second, their lyrics and interviews reveal strong feelings about God, the Bible, and especially religion.

And while they get kind of pointed with their criticism of the church in culture, they remain cagey about ever saying too clearly (at least in what I've seen) what exactly they do believe about Christianity.

In the latest issue of Interview magazine, the band's Win Butler and interviewer Ryan Adams seem to be missing each other a bit in an exchange about the Bible's place in this culture:

RA: . . . the Bible's application may have been more relevant to the time in which it was written, and the Old Testament relevant to its time.

WB: Obviously the Bible is still relevant, or so may people wouldn't still believe in it. I think that's a pretty unique thing about it. But, at the same time, expecting somehow to relate it to the culture in which we live now does something pretty weird to the meaning of the text.

RA: Do you think we're a time when the Bible itself has been appropriated to sell a kind of mysticism in our culture, which is becoming less and less mystic?

WB: I'm just always suspicious when religion isn't countercultural. It seems the purpose of the Bible was to be countercultural -- even in the time it was written. . . .

RA: Win, you went to school to study Bible interpretation, right?

WB: Yeah, it was scriptural interpretation. There was a lot of that stuff about how over time people have gotten different meanings out of the same text.

Still not sure where Win Butler and co. would stand on the idea of the Bible being God's Word to mankind, but I love what he says about the Bible as counterculture. As the church, we sometimes seem to shout to the world, "See, the Bible can help you live a really successful life. It makes sense for you today. Don't be scared of us. We're not weird. Please add us to your myspace page!"

Meanwhile, the Bible clearly refers to people who believe in the Bible as "aliens and strangers" who will never be at home in this culture. Jesus' teaching suggested that those who follow Him most closely should expect someone NOT to like it. When the world becomes too comfortable with us, we need to start asking ourselves if we're not telling the whole story about human sinfulness and God's loving commitment to reconciliation through Jesus alone and how everything valued in this world is meaningless without Christ.

Beyond that, those living by the world's dominant philosophy -- "you must provide for, protect, and promote yourself at all costs" -- should eventually notice that we're beginning to live by Jesus' culture-defying philosophy of "making ourselves nothing" as we live in submission to God and each other. If not, maybe we should wonder if we're really countering our culture -- or missing something in the pages of our own Bibles.

Teacher Ruins Potter, Holiday

According to this news story, a teacher on her way out as headmistress of a British school "ruined" the final book in the HP series by reading from the last page as a special goodbye message. The children were not impressed.

Louie Swift, nine, said: "I don't know why she read it. She's not usually a spoilsport. She didn't even mention she had the book.

"She just picked it up and started reading it to us."

Jordan Ashton, ten, complained: "It has spoiled the book for me."

An 11-year-old boy said: "Lots of my friends complained about it. I put my hands over my ears and squeezed my eyes closed because I didn't want to know about it."

Next, she gave a demonstration on how to take candy away from babies and explained why it's just fine to talk loudly on your cell phone at the cinema. Okay, not really. All the kids and teachers admitted she's a fine lady who doesn't usually steal the joy of discovering the ending of the most-loved book series in the history of the world.

That didn't keep parents from being cranky about it. My favorite selfless quote comes from this mum who had plans for her "holiday:"

"It's appalling. My son was going to read a book instead of playing on his computer and I was going to have some peace and quiet. Now that's ruined. What was she thinking of?"