R.S.V.P.

Here's a fun lesson in mythical creatures. When vampires were real, ie. not sparkly, the only way they could enter someones home was by being invited in. Typically they would trick the person into inviting them in. The person would need to verbally invite them in, and then the vampire could enter as he pleased; whatever mystical barrier that was in place was removed. This means two things to me, one is that all the annoying Twilight fans waiting for their sparkly vampire dreamboat to sneak into their room and take them away will be disappointed.

The second is that invitations have powerful meanings.

This idea came to me last week Thursday. I was supposed to meet some friends in the Dinning Commons to go see the Lion King in 3D. Side not for context, Thursday in the DC is also the meeting for Living Waters. Living Waters is a weekly gathering for spiritual renewal. It has sermons and testimonies, and then they move into the "wacky" Christian stuff, like healing and prophesying. I say wacky, meaning uncommon. I have never really seen this kind of things in action. Anyhow, back to my story. I got there and couldn't find them. It seemed like they were gone. I heard what was going on, and usually, I would duck out and go back to my dorm. However, my friend Jessica invited me to sit with her. I'm glad that she did. I listened and was interested by the speaker's talk about brokenness, and after, I sat in on a session of prophesying. I'm still curious about it, but a lot of it seemed very important to the person we were asking insight for.

I could (and probably will) get into an article about these spiritual gifts, but this update is just going to talk about invitation. Inviting someone in is a powerful thing. I would have left that Thursday if I hadn't had someone friendly invite me in. How strange is that? I didn't want to be in a Christian meeting without the presence of someone I consider a friend. Having a friend ask you to be there makes an experience that might have been uncomfortable originally, a time of comradery. Imagine if you were to go to a party on your own, it would be awkward, you might know people, but you would be their because you wanted to be, not because you were asked. If someone invites you, however, it sets you at ease, and gives you an anchor. The person who invited you is someone you can rely one, and from there branch out to others.

This whole thing really drives home a need that Christians should fulfill. If we invited more people more friends, to church or to our church gatherings, who knows what would happen. The benefits could be numerous. People may just feel awkward about going to a church or bible study on their own, and if someone invites them to join them, they feel included. What do we have to be afraid of? We aren't trying to drag them kicking and screaming to our churches, but bring them in as friends. I believe that if we invite them to join us, more will take up our offers. We don't always have to be the ones to change them, just the ones to show them where they can find answers. Invitations are powerful, and they can really help change someone's mind about a given situation.

Let's just not invite people to those snake handling services, that might not be a good idea.

Just something to chew on.

Yes, it is Your Fault

I've made it clear that I like video games. Nothing wrong with that, as far as I'm concerned. I am a healthy and mature adult who can make decisions on what I think is good for me, and what isn't. That doesn't meant I haven't made wrong decisions, I have, but I can usually make a smart one. Why I bring this up is (if you haven't guessed by now) because I have seen some serious issues revolving around the choices that individuals make, and that parents make in regards to the media.

When parents dodge responsibility, kids suffer.

I guess I should define what I'm talking about. These are parents who don't spend time with their kids. They use movies, TV, and video games as cheap babysitters so that they can do what they want. Parents don't pay attention to the rating or reviews. They just give in to whatever their children want so that they won't whine. These is especially prominent in video games.

I'm back on video games, mostly because its my specialty, but also because I think it is one of the more dangerous avenues for this. When I was growing up, my parents made sure I stuck to the rating system that was given. The ESRB might be run by a bunch of pretentious know-nothings, but they are out to watch out for the younger generations. They're ratings have at least some logic. With that, I wasn't allowed to play anything out of my age range. I don't know what it is, but parents seems so less likely to follow those ratings now. I play more mature games now, online as well. I have played M rated games with kids who couldn't be over twelve. The reason I think that games are a bit more of a problem than other mediums.

Games are inherently interactive. Often you start to feel like you're a part of the story. Immersion is a big point in games. What this means, is that actions and consequences affect you a little more when it's your actions and part of your story. Now, as you age, you can separate yourself from this more, but I feel that in the younger years, the actions and outcomes can shape your thoughts a bit more. The connection you have with the character you're controlling is often deeper than in a movie or show. There may be more influence there than others.

This all boils down to one thing. There is indeed such a thing as bad parenting. Parents that let their children play games that are violent, that contain language, or that have sexual references should realize that their neglect is a reason for kids turning so much of their attention to video games. Leaving them alone to play is not the best solution, play with them, talk to them about their games, have fun together. The n your could do other things together, movies, sports, and all kinds of other opportunities. Games don't absorb the lives of kids who have strong family ties and interests.

Let's make a pact to keep kids from becoming spoiled brats, shall we?

Just something to chew on.

(For some more on this topic, check out Extra Creditz on Penny-Arcade TV.
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/game-addiction-pt.1)

Loser by a Nose

Do you ever wonder about the stupid things we practice as kids? I don't mean underage drinking or trying to skateboard off our school, those are a given. I mean the stupid traditions we have, especially when it comes to making choices. How many of us have played rock, paper, scissors to decided who does what? Or have flipped a coin? And lord knows we've all done the nose-goes game. You know what bugs me? There is one place that these kind of last person is the loser games should not have a place.

Why does the "loser" pray?

This isn't a deep spiritual question, though I'm sure I could spin it as such. My question is simple. I know that we do this, my youth group has. No one wants to volunteer to pray, so someone starts this game, to the loser goes the responsibility of prayer. Oh no, someone has to talk to their loving God now. How embarrassing.Now the rest can sit back and not worry, pay little attention, and let someone else talk.

I realize that my analysis might be harsh, but I hope it gets my point across. Why are we so afraid to pray? I believe that this fear comes from two problematic mindsets. The first part is that we feel judged by others. I know that "public speaking" isn't a strong point for some people. But should that mean we can't pray in front of our friends? God isn't the one judging us, he knows we might trip over our words, and that we might not be able to articulate what we're trying to say. He's looking at the heart of our prayer. The fear we have comes from other Christians.

My other point is just that. Other Christians put such unreal expectations on prayer. There are so many people who would probably consider themselves "good" at prayer. They know all the things to say, all the right buzz words and fancy titles, flowery praises and stock Christian phrases (something I'll get into later.) The kind of people that leave a mini-sermon in their prayers, and that keep on talking, long after everyone else has nodded off in boredom. There is this proceeding mentality that we need to know exactly how to pray, especially if we're doing it out loud, or else we're bad Christians. These people, these wild expectations and unrealistic prayers are the reason so many people are reluctant to pray in public.

Let's be honest about what prayer is. At its bare bones, prayer is talking to God. It doesn't matter how, how well you speak, what words you use, how elegant your phrases are. All that matters is that you are talking to God, and they two of you converse. I know that I don't pray like so many "Super Christians" that I have known pray. I'll start a prayer with "Yeah God, its me..." because I feel that I can be the most honest and real with God. I think that this is something people need to do in their own lives. Cut through all the Christian crap that we heap onto the foundations our our beliefs. All that matters is having a sincere open prayer. If that comes from the elegant language, awesome, but if it comes from saying "God, today sucked," then let each of them be just as meaningful.

Seriously though, I've nodded off in some people's prayers before. Can we get a time limit on some of those? Please?

Just something to chew on.

Nazis, Russians, and Martians

I've been ranting about music a bit these past few posts, so I've decided to get back to ripping apart something that I love more, i.e. video games. My floor tends to bond a lot with First Person Shooters (FPS to those of you who don't have a degree in Kill/Death Ratios). We'll stay up late playing TeamFortress 2 or Borderlands, or some other time sink. We like these ridiculous games. I know for me, it's there style. This update is devoted to a FPS trend that annoys me.

Why are we always killing Nazis or Russians?

I never really got into Modern Warfare or Battlefield: Bad Company. These games strive for realism and, in my opinion, sacrifice lots of potential to do it. Many FPSes (FPSi?) revolve around one of two ideas. Either the Nazis are still causing trouble, as in most World War 2 games and Wolfenstein, or the Russians have invaded or attacked America, like in Modern Warefare 2. Both of these entities are super powers that have had massive impact on the world, and both of them have been in two many games. Did you know that the Metal of Honor series has been going on since 1999? It's literally been in production longer than the actual WW2.

I understand the idea that fighting Nazis and Russians are great for war games. How else could you make a WW2 game without Nazis? See, my problem with FPSes now is that they all try to be war fantasies. Everyone seems to have this dream about being the hero of the war, personally ending Hitler's reign and ending the war. What I want to know is how uncreative are these game studios? There are only some many times we can go through the battle of Normandy, or drop in on D-Day. After a while it gets really dull.

One of my favorite FPSes is the Serious Sam series. Serious Sam is one of those mob shooters that spawns waves of enemies and lets you deal with them what whichever of the hundred guns you're allowed to carry at one time. In SS you get to shoot headless kamakazes, scorpion men with Gatling guns, and three story molten lava monsters that split into smaller versions. These games are ridiculous on so many levels, and that's what makes them fun. TeamFortress 2 is by far my favorite FPS, and with good reason. IT has charm and style that you don't see in most modern games. When I compare TF2 to Modern Warefare, I am amazed at how much faster and engaging the game play in TF2 is.

Realism, I believe, tacks away from the potential of games. No matter how good it looks, how indepth your gun mechanics are, how real the game seems, if the developer doesn't capitalize on its potential, then it can fail. Why is it that companies restrict themselves to war games that try to be real. I would love to see someone take the mechanics of Modern Warefare and put it into a game about a time-traveling Kight from King Arthur who shoots Aliens on some planet in the depths of space, with guns that shoot diamond peacocks. As long as the story and the mechanics fit together well, I believe that great games can be made from obscure ideas.

Essentially, however, FPSes are just point and click adventures. You point your gun, click, and move of in your adventure.

Just something to chew on.

Fifi the Freshman

Last Friday we had our influx of freshmen into Taylor. Swallow Robin has somewhere around twenty new faces getting used to our wacky home. I have come to notice an odd occurrence among the upperclassmen, something that I noticed when I was a freshman. It's actually rather annoying, I think; and it doesn't give our new friends their fair due.

Freshmen are not pets.

I guess the latest "in" thing is a freshman tote, like the ones you put a little dog in. It seems to me that many upperclassmen decide it is their sworn duty to guide these naive little children into the brave new world that is college. Heaven forbid that they have some time on their own to set themselves up comfortably and get into things at their own pace.

Essentially what I'm getting at is that so many times it seems like freshmen are treated like they are incredibly young. The way I hear some people talk about the freshmen is almost patronizing. Is it impossible for a freshman to find their own class? Or pick their own table at the DC? They're not as needy and dependent as some try and make them out to be. When I was a freshman, I wasn't allowed to sit by myself in at a meal. Someone would always come over to sit by me and talk at me. I believe there are days when we all want a quiet (as quiet as a cafeteria can be anyway) meal alone with our thoughts. Solitude is not a bad thing.

What amazes me about this mindset is that most of the freshmen aren't that young. We'll say that eighteen is a base age for them. Many sophomores are only a year older, if that. Some freshmen are non-traditional, like my roommates, who are twenty-two and twenty-three. Yet still people insist on treating them like they can't handle their own affairs. They're as mature as we were our first year, give or take (I realize that isn't always a positive thing). We had a group prayer over our dorm's freshmen, and it made me rather cynical (more so anyway). I can't judge the intent or the affect of the prayers, that isn't fair but I will say that the words I heard were more along the lines of "Let these poor ignorant children get it" than the "Let these men and women establish themselves in our community."

I've thought a bit about how I interact with freshmen, and I'm pretty proud about it. I feel like I've treated them as I treat everyone else in my dorm, regardless of age. In college, age matters much less than it did in high school. I can be just as solid friends with the senior who is twenty as I am with the freshman that is twenty-two. Age and grade don't amount to much, it's who they are as people that we need to pay more attention to. Being real, and treating them like equals is the best way, I believe, to help anyone adjust to a new situation in life.

It is, however, always Joe's fault.

Just something to chew on.