Itsara

Last time, I mentioned Mike Guglielmucci’s big lie. Our pastor made a great point about it this week, though. It’s so easy for us to condemn those who sin in big ways like this, especially when we ourselves never have. The thing is, it is not our place to condemn. It is certainly our job to point out sin and call for repentance, and as a church I think we’re really good at that. What we’re not any good at is accepting those who repent after something like this. We don’t know how forgive someone we can no longer trust, but Jesus didn’t give us any options to not forgive.

Lest we think there might be exceptions for extreme cases, look at King David - a supreme pillar of faith, mentioned as such throughout the Bible, beginning to end. Yet the man lusted after another man’s wife, abused his position as king to sleep with her, lied to her husband, and then killed him when he was too upright to accept the lie. That’s not the only thing he did, but it’s easily among the worst - not to mention worse than what most of us, or our modern fallen priests and pastors, have ever done.

God punished him for it, yet he also used it for good. He didn’t kill David or Bathsheba. He didn’t remove David from kingship or the blessing of the Messiah via his lineage. He even allowed Bathsheba’s second son to become, not just the next king, but the richest and wisest king who ever lived. If that doesn’t say that God still loves the guy, then I don’t know what does.

And that’s the problem - we don’t love. We’re really good at rules and rewards and punishments and marketing and manipulating and judging and condemning, but we suck at forgiveness. In order to forgive someone, you have to love them. In my own struggles with this, I’ve learned that it is possible to love someone you don’t completely trust. In this job, I have to punish-yet-love every single day. If I don’t love, then the punishments only serve to drive my kids further away - they do more harm than good. At the same time I know better than to leave money lying around, you know?

So with Mike G, and other pastors like him who have made big mistakes, we need to give them room for repentance and, when they do, forgive and love as if nothing happened to breach the relationship.

Though I would ask for a second opinion if he says he’s dying again.

At the church we go to, I learned this great song about faith in the midst of terrible struggles. It’s called “Healer”, and it’s a fairly major Hillsong hit. Here’s an excerpt:

I believe you’re my healer.
I believe you are all I need.
I believe you’re my portion.
I believe you’re more than enough for me.
Jesus, you’re all I need.

Nothing is impossible for you.
You hold my world in your hands.

I was even more blown away when I found out that the song was written by a guy who had terminal cancer. Now that’s some amazing faith!

Then I found out he made the whole thing up.

Why would someone do this? Money? Fame? And why would a worship leader do this? I wonder if he thought people would forget about the song, or maybe he could say “I’m healed!” after a while and throw a big party. I bet he didn’t think it would get as big as it did, but who knows?

I don’t understand people like this. People who live a lie. I can understand lying to hide sins, though it takes a bold (or cowardly) man to do it for a long time, but an intentional lie? In my mind it falls into the same category as atheist theologians, or students who go to seminary because it’s a good career path. It’s like they’re missing the point. Our pastor likes to tell the story of the conference he spoke at where over 300 pastors gave their lives to Christ for the first time. That’s just sad.

And it’s a good song. Can we still worship with it? Does the heart of the writer taint the song? I don’t think so. Some of my greatest worship experiences have been with “Bring Me to Life“, despite what Evanescence says about the song’s meaning. What matters is the heart of the worshiper, not the songmaker. Unfortunately, the Lie is all I can think of now when I hear the song. Maybe one day I’ll forget about it, but for the now the song is tainted in my own heart.

What’s worse, I can’t get it out of my head.

My brother got himself in the paper. San Diego Union Tribune: http://www.signonsandiego.com/entertainment/street/2008/05/street_people_from_guns_in_ira.html.

As some of you have no doubt heard, there was a military coup in Thailand last night.

That sounds scarier than it is. Nobody got hurt (so far as I know), no shots were fired. Guns were just held that said, “We’re in charge now.”

That also sounds worse than it is. They didn’t take control because they’re mean and power hungry (though the fear is that they will become that). They took control because they, and many other people, really didn’t like the current Prime Minister (Thaksin) and had no other way to get him out.

But you don’t need me to be your news source. There are other, more qualified channels for that. Here are some articles I found informative: Thailand’s king gives blessing to coup and Q&A: Thailand’s coup impact.

But don’t worry about us. We’re fine. We’re all fine here, now. Thank you. How are you?

Normally I wouldn’t bother you with geek news, but this is important. Two years ago, I made a wildly fanciful birthday list. It was noted that I might be disappointed by my demands, but today I discovered that demand #2 is about to come true. Behold! This September: Original Unaltered Trilogy on DVD!

In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie and, as bonus material, the theatrical edition of the film. That means you’ll be able to enjoy Star Wars as it first appeared in 1977, Empire in 1980, and Jedi in 1983.

Apparently it will only be available from September 12th to December 31st, but rest assured that my leftover Amazon money will be put to good use during that time. Now I’m just waiting for Spider-Man to meet up with Venom…

Some other things have happened that may distract, so here’s a brief summary of this discussion. A couple of weeks ago, there was a press release for a computer game based on the Left Behind series. We then began discussing why we need Christian games at all, where I brought up two possible reasons and explained why I didn’t really like either of them.

Then we talked about a third reason: to provide a wholesome alternative to secular media. I mentioned that this reason has two basic assumptions behind it: (1) we should be able to consume entertainment and (2) we can’t because we are Christian. I talked about how the second assumption wasn’t necessarily true. In cases of addiction or unquestionable sin, the second assumption applies, but otherwise “…everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”

What is and is not okay for Christians to consume is certainly debatable. It has been debated (often heatedly) for centuries. So for the sake of argument, let’s assume that nearly all of secular media is not okay for us to consume because we are Christians. If that is true, then we need to ask whether or not we should be able to consume entertainment in any case. Certainly God intended us to enjoy life here, right? I think that’s true, but I don’t think that we need a Christian version of everything in our attempt to enjoy what God has given us. (more…)

I found a couple of previews with more information on Eternal Forces. If this discussion of Christian media, especially games, has interested you at all, go ahead and check them out. There’s one at GameSpy and another at GameSpot. Here are some excerpts I found interesting:

From the GameSpy article:

Players aren’t competing to kill the enemy army — rather, they’re trying to save them, and each person killed represents a failure rather than a success. “We found that adhering closely to Biblical philosophies made the game more interesting rather than less,” Lyndon[, CEO of Left Behind Games,] said.

Peppered throughout the city, the player will come across scrolls, each marked with a Biblical verse…. In my demonstration, I watched an angel descend and take the scroll’s figurative Biblical quote (1 Corinthians 15:37 “When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.”) and translate that into a gift of money — which, all things considered, made him the coolest angel ever.

As for the violence in a game built from a Christian perspective, Lyndon doesn’t shy away from that either, pointing out that the Bible itself is quite a violent book. “The point of morality is that people have a choice in how they react to situations — and one of those choices is always going to be violence.”

From the GameSpot article:

The game will feature biblical facts between levels, accompanied by tracks from Christian rock groups…. Troy Lyndon, the CEO of Left Behind Games, told us that you can quickly skip over this by hitting the continue button, but they’re also putting in a button to learn more if you’re intrigued.

It’ll be interesting to see how well the game does when it ships…. Lyndon says that the company plans a grass-roots outreach to churches to generate buzz, similar to those used for Mel Gibson’s movie and last year’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Following up the press release for a new computer game based on the Left Behind series, and my post discussing possible reasons to develop Christian games (and why I can’t wholeheartedly support either of them), I want to talk about another possible reason.

3. To provide a wholesome alternative to the violence and morals present in secular media. (more…)

Last week I mentioned a press release for an upcoming Christian computer game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces. I expressed concern about the game being able to live up to its promise and to be accepted by the gaming community, but I think John’s comment (also the title of this post) gets to the heart of the matter.

I tried to think of potential reasons for Christian games, and what my problem is with them. I don’t say that because I’m trying to be mean, but I’ve never liked Christian commercialism and I think this topic is forcing me to really think about why. In this post, I’m just going to deal with the first two reasons for producing Christian games that came to mind. They are:

1. To reach non-Christian gamers with the gospel.
2. To help Christian gamers evangelize their non-Christian, gaming friends.

Let’s talk about these. (more…)

I don’t really follow gaming news anymore, except for what the guys on Penny Arcade choose to talk about. Today they mentioned this press release. It gave me pause.

When the RTS Rapture Comes Will You be LEFT BEHIND?

E3 is set to be the stage for the public premiere of LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces, the RTS based on the wildly popular LEFT BEHIND Christian book series that will break barriers and appeal to both the traditional gamer and the Christian market.

We’d like to schedule an appointment for you to meet with the developers and see a demo for the game that is poised to be the first break-out hit for Christian gaming.

Here are some more details about LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces:

- Conduct physical & spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world
- The first RTS where every unit has a unique identity; every character has a name and a back story, providing 1000’s of hours of interesting reading - People are the most important commodity: players must protect the lives of their warriors and recruit “neutral” and even “evil” units to their side
- Command your forces through battles across the most realistic depiction of New York City in any game
- Recover ancient scriptures and witness spectacular Angelic and Demonic activity as a direct consequence of your choices. Unlock inspirational content that makes players consider the larger concepts of good vs evil
- Control more than 30 unit types - from Prayer Warrior and Hellraiser to Spies, Special Forces and Battle Tanks
- Enjoy a robust single player experience across dozens of New York City maps in Story Mode - fighting in China Town, SoHo, Uptown and more
- Play multi-player games as Tribulation Forces or Global Community Peacekeepers

(more…)