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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:  "The Soundtrackers Group"  "Blogging Circle of Friends " "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" "JAFBG" "Take up Your Cross" Thanks for stopping by!  |
Write about an extreme or silly sport. If none inspire you, make up the rules for your own game. The game that this blog prompt immediately made me think of is Calvinball, the made-up game that Calvin from the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes invented, which only has one rule; that the game can't be played the same way twice. In the comic, the game uses a variety of sports equipment, including: croquet mallets and wickets, volleyballs, badminton birdies, tennis racquets, footballs, soccer balls, cones, masks, buckets, and - of course - water balloons. Throughout the comic strip it's implied that Calvin invented the game when he got bored with traditional, organized sports... and many of his and Hobbes' games eventually evolve (or devolve, depending on how you look at it) into Calvinball. Calvin & Hobbes is probably one of my Top 10 literary influences from my childhood. I have the entire collection in a two-volume hardcover boxed set, and I go back and re-read it every couple of years. It's such a perfect distillation of the experience of being a kid and, even if some of us aren't as wild as Calvin, I think everyone can relate to his observations of what childhood (and adulthood) is like, and many of us can identify with his rampant imagination getting him into trouble at school, at home with his parents, etc. One of my favorite Calvinball strips was when Rosalyn, Calvin's babysitter, eventually agrees to play in a bid to get him to go to bed... and then completely capitalizes on the fact that you make up the rules as you go along and uses it to dominate the game. Calvin even exclaims, "She picked up the nuances of this game fast!" which is such a perfect observation for a kid who has a limitless imagination, but is playing with an older teenager who knows how to use logic and strategy to her advantage in an effort to get him to go to bed.  |
Write about putting together the pieces of puzzles. I love puzzles of all kinds. Jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, sudoku, riddles, cryptograms, word searches, mazes, board games, trivia... I enjoy them all. I think it's because I love problem solving in general; looking at a situation and trying to figure out the correct solution. When I was younger, we would take road trips from Northern California to Montana, which was a two-day drive. I remember my parents would buy me one of those big workbooks full of hundreds of crossword puzzles and word searches (the kind you can buy at the grocery store), and I would just plug away at them for the entire drive (when I wasn't reading a book). My love for puzzles also kind of followed me into my other interests and my career as well. Doing credits for film and television is similarly trying to put all the pieces in the right places, and resolve conflicts between what people want and what we can actually do. I love games like Dungeons & Dragons which are exercises in problem solving... and I love running Dungeons & Dragons games even more than playing in them, which is also an exercise is creative storytelling and problem solving (since you're reacting to unpredictable choices of the players). Of all the puzzles out there, I think my favorite are probably logic puzzles. Especially things like escape rooms, where you have to figure out a bunch of clues and put them together to solve a larger puzzle with a bigger picture. I've never actually done an escape room before, partly because I don't really know anyone else who's excited about them like I am, and partly because solving puzzles under the pressure of a timer kind of takes some of the fun away for me. I like to take my time and think through things; not feel like there's a time pressure to finish. Real life has enough activities where you're pressured to complete activities while you're on a clock.  |
"Take up Your Cross" | Write about the unforgivable sin. Do you believe there is one? Why? What's it about?I'm going to start with a caveat and say that I don't know this answer for sure. I kind of wish more Christians would start responses to questions like this, because answering this definitively on behalf of God is, in itself a sin. The Bible is full of passages like Matthew 7 and Romans 2, which make it quite clear that it's not our job to judge the sin of others: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." -- Matthew 7:1-2 (NIV) You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? -- Romans 2:1-4 (NIV) In light of that, I suppose my answer to the question of "Is there an unforgivable sin?" is that I don't know; you'd probably have to take that up with God. That said, I have a hunch here, which is really just my own opinion based on my limited personal experience. My theory is that the only unforgivable sins are the ones that we refuse to repent for. In the words of Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And if that's a given, we're all in trouble unless what the Bible says about God's love and grace is true. But in order to receive that, we have to be willing to truly repent of those sins. If we can't do that, I don't see any forgiveness coming our way. All of the rest of it? That's up to God. I can't tell you whether the very bad thing you've done is something you can be forgiven for; I'm not the one who's ultimately making that decision, and it would be hubris to assume that I can speak for the one who will. For myself, I find these kinds of questions interesting on an intellectual level because I like to ponder stuff ... but from a practical standpoint, I think our time on Earth is better spent focusing on repentance and amends for the sins we do commit. I have a feeling God is less concerned with keeping a list of absolutes, and more concerned about the state of our souls in the aftermath of the bad things that we do. "Take up Your Cross" | How should a Christian respond to someone who is in the LGBTQ community? Do you believe they can be Christian too?As it happens, I attended a conference recently with some other staff members from our church on this subject. It was super interesting, and addressed this question specifically. My takeaway from the conference, which sought to apply biblical principles to these issues, was that the initial answer to the question of "Can someone be both Christian and LGBTQ+" is it depends. Can someone who is LGBTQ+ believe in Jesus and try to follow the teaching of the Bible to the best of their ability? Yes. Can someone who is a Christian show love and compassion and support for someone who identifies as LGBTQ+? Certainly. I'd argue that Christians are called to do that for everyone regardless of their sexuality or gender identity. At the conference, they actually featured a number of guest speakers in different situations, including a couple of individuals who identified as gay, but also considered themselves strong Christians. The experience they shared was that they chose a life of celibacy and singleness, in order to uphold the Biblical standards of sexual activity being reserved for married couples, and marriages being between one man and one woman. And while the decision about whether that's an acceptable position is a question for pastors to answer, I thought it was an interesting interpretation because it does seem to reconcile two things at the same time... someone can identify as LGBTQ+ in one or more ways, and can also seek to live a traditional Christian life. For me personally, I'm not entirely sure that's the only option; I'm still trying to reconcile my understanding of what's required to lead a faithfully Christian life with many of the complex modern-day issues that simply were not contemplated at the time the Bible was written. I have a feeling it's not as black-and-white as some more traditional Christians make it out to be. Incidentally, one of the things that I found most interesting about the conference is that one of the speakers encouraged Christians to generally be more accepting of both celibacy and singleness. To paraphrase one of his points, "You can't be a Christian if you don't love and care for people. And you can't fundamentally love and care for the LGBTQ+ community if you constantly uphold the ideal of marrying the person of your dreams and having a family as the pinnacle of humanity while also turning around and telling some people they can't have that." His point was that we should normalize people who choose celibacy and singleness as a life choice, whether that's because they're LGBTQ+, devoted to their faith (like a traditional nun or priest), or subject to life's circumstances (divorced, widowed, etc.). Christians need to value everyone's experience and life choices, and anyone can be a Christian if they put the pursuit of a life with Jesus ahead of whatever sin they struggle with. The other thing I thought was interesting about the conference was that they challenged Christians to consider LGBTQ+ issues honestly by evaluating the same circumstances in the context of other "sin." For example, they asked the room of church pastors and staffers, "Would you allow an LGBTQ+ person to lead worship at your church?" And they got a whole bunch of, "Oh we could never do that. We're called to love LGBTQ+ people but putting one of them at the front of the worship band would imply we're okay with their lifestyle, blah blah blah..." But the organizers of the event would then follow up and say, "Okay, but how would you feel about a worship band leader who was sleeping with his girlfriend when they weren't married? Or a pastor who cheats on his taxes? Those are sins too, and if you're okay with them on your staff, why not someone who is struggling with LGBTQ+ issues?" That clearly made a lot of people in the room uncomfortable, and I think that was kind of the point. We shouldn't be in a position where we act like some sins are okay while others aren't. Ultimately, the question of how a Christian should respond to someone in the LGBTQ+ community is an open question, because LGBTQ+ individuals are not a monolith. It depends on who they are, what they're saying, and what they're doing. Christians should always be loving, kind, and compassionate. But there's probably a different response called for depending on whether we're talking about someone in the LGBTQ+ community who is actively seeking Jesus, or someone in the LGBTQ+ community who is actively and unrepentantly pursing a life of sin. And, spoiler alert, that's not just a differentiation that needs to be made among people in the LGBTQ+ community; that's a differentiation that needs to be made for everyone. As far as being Christian, anyone can be a Christian as long as they're pursuing a life with Jesus... and you certainly don't have to only be straight or cisgender to do that. |
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