Between the Trees » just a thought…

Why Should The Devil Have All the Good Video Games?

Eric — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:10:14 +0000

I’m sorry for the dearth of posting, but seminary is crazy right now. That said, I had to make a quick comment.

There is a video game called Guitar Praise, which for those not in the know is Guitar Hero for church kids. One of the reviews on the site starts “We are not conformed to the world.”

So by making a (mediocre) rip-off of a successful video game, white-washing it Christian so that your kids can (spend hours pretending to) play guitar with tobyMac instead of Guns ‘n’ Roses, and then marketing it (for substantially more than the secular version), we’re being a radically Christian influence on the culture.

Uh-huh.

Victories My Grandparents Never Dreamed Of

Eric — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:35:21 +0000

Has anyone else noticed the twinge of pride and triumph you get from finally getting through all the unread mail in your e-mail inbox? Or sorting through and ignoring all of the group and event invitations you allowed to pile up on facebook?

My first impulse is to think that perhaps it signals just how much technology has left me in perpetual bondage to others’ demands.

1 MAN + 1 WOMAN = (?)

Eric — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:59:51 +0000

If Christian politics should defend the fact that “MARRIAGE: 1 Man + 1 Woman = 4 Ever” (as the friendly bumper stickers I see tell me), it’s strange that we only concern ourselves with the first half of the equation. If we want to defend the biblical definition of marriage with the constitution, shouldn’t we make divorce illegal except on biblical grounds?

Funny how the blind spots work to our advantage.

Complimentarian Donatism

Eric — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:43:38 +0000

Here’s a thought I want to open up for discussion:

If we believe that ordination means something, and that we should respect those others have appointed as elders, this should apply even when we wouldn’t ordain them in our church. We all recognize this when it comes to some issues, like our doctrines of the church or sacraments. However, what about when this applies to doctrinal differences over gender? I might be a complimentarian, but if a woman is ordained as a minister by a church, don’t I owe her the same respect I would an ordained male? Are we guilty of complimentarian Donatism?

Bumper Sticky Situations

Eric — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:54:00 +0000

If you dedicate the entire back of your SUV to an oversized “hang up and drive” bumper sticker, it kind of looks bad when you almost swerve into me while talking on your cell phone.

An Art of Imitation

Eric — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:24:52 +0000

“In the New Testament the art of life itself is an art of imitation: can we, believing this, believe that literature, which must derive from real life, is to aim at being ‘creative’, ‘original’ and ’spontaneous’? ‘Originality’ in the New Testament is quite plainly the prerogative of God alone…The duty and happiness of every other being is placed in being derivative, in reflecting like a mirror…If I have read the New Testament aright, it leaves no room for ‘creativeness’ even in a modified or metaphorical sense. Our whole destiny seems to lie in the opposite direction, in being as little as possible ourselves, in acquiring a fragrance that is not our own but borrowed, in becoming clean mirrors filled with the image of a face that is not ours…[T]he highest good of a creature must be creaturely - that is, derivative or reflective - good.”

-C.S. Lewis

I know a lot of you who read the blog are interested in the arts; what do you guys think of this quote by Lewis?

Nice, Decent Christian Men

Eric — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:05:15 +0000

Fun fact: if you look up “Christian” on dictionary.com, the fifth definion is this:

5. decent; respectable

Does this make anyone else uncomfortable? Are we really supposed to be the people with a “decent” gospel and “respectable” lives? What happened to 1 Corinthians 1:19-29? And when definition #6 could easily be rephrased as “nice”, I don’t see it being all that much more attractive. Reminds me of how my grandpa would inevitably describe politicians (usually about 3 months before some scandal or affair hit the media) as “nice, decent Christian men.”

Passing the Baton

Eric — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:51:07 +0000

If Jesus has justified me… why is my first reaction when I sin to try to justify myself?

Missing the Ocean

Eric — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:14:33 +0000

For any given text in Scripture, it might be saying something different than someone thinks. It might be saying something different than an entire theological tradition thinks. It might even be saying something different than anyone in the recorded history of the church thinks…

But it’s saying something, and if your interpretation rests on what others wrongly thought rather than what the text says, you’ve missed the ship, the pier and probably the whole ocean.