To much of anything is usually a bad thing. Schultze talks about gaming and it's effects on Christians. I don't think there is anything wrong with gaming in and of itself. I begin to worry when people are playing these games for hours each day, especially children.

Several major learning techniques are used in gaming: repetition, first person experience, rewards, visual, sound, etc. When all of these techniques are used at the same time the person playing internalizes what they are doing in a very deep way. When children are exposed to this intense experience of learning it would be somewhat negligent to assume that they aren't affected. 

Every time a violent act occurs you cannot blame it on the media or gaming but the effects of gaming also cannot be ignored. Gaming has taken many people away from the outdoors and from being more active and creative. Gaming does increase motor skills but can also increase individualism. 

So, in my opinion gaming is not from the devil but it should also not be abused (overused).  

Cheryl Anne Casey asks in her article, Online Religion and Finding Faith on the Web, "Is cyberspace becoming the new - or the new - sacred space?" She points out that "cyberspace is frequently taken for granted as profane space, but it is indeed a sacred space as well, as can be noted not only in specific sites, but in the non-physical - and therefore potentially spiritual - properties of cyberspace when taken as a whole." I find it somewhat difficult to agree that the internet is a sacred place just because some of it's characteristics can be paralleled to spiritual things (it is bigger than ourselves like God is bigger than ourselves). I would rather look at it as that the Internet has taken the place of spiritual things rather than it saying it is sacred.

God is supposed to be first and foremost in our lives but often things take his place. Things that might take his place are money, power, and success but that does not make money sacred. The internet is another ones of those things that takes up a lot of our time (sometimes too much of our time) and that can often take the place of time spent with God. It is another filler in our already over-busy lives. 

Online Christianity or online religion creates a completely different environment for people to grow and learn. There is a security when dealing with online community because the people you are "fellowshipping" with do not actually know you. You can be completely open and share you fears, your addictions, your struggles and things you would not even tell your best friend because what is said in these communities stays in these communities (as long as one of the members doesn't do an investigation and come hunt you down). 

Online communities or churches are places where you can get stuff off your chest, where you don't have to fear what people think of you (if they don't like you, you can go to a different group or just change your username), and where you can be yourself or someone else completely. My question is if this is a good thing or not?

I think that there are good and bad things about online Christian groups. It is not that noble the way that online communities skirt around dealing with your problems with the people around you. It seems like the easy way out to just deal with life with your online community so when you are sick of being "Christian" or don't want to deal with that area of your life you can just sign off and go do something else. It makes me wonder if people will begin to lose the art of working together, of conquering challenges and of selflessness. 

These communities can be a positive thing because they create an environment where people can share who would otherwise not open up in other situations. These communities might be the only way that some people receive encouragement or the only place where they can actually be heard. 

I have never joined a group or online church but who knows, maybe I will someday and I might find it enjoyable. Truth be told, I have a hard enough time keeping up with my non-virtual community here at college and at church so I probably wouldn't last long in a group.

I have to admit...I found Matt Taibbi's article, Jesus Made Me Puke, quite interesting and amusing. I would agree with him when he talks about the "fakeness" of Christians. I get very annoyed with it myself and often feel quite uncomfortable around Christians. This might seem somewhat strange, since I am a Christian, but sometimes I just get so sick of Christians (have I said the word "Christian" enough for you yet?)

In an attempt to seem like we have it all together, Christians often put on a fake holiness that everyone seems to accept and believe even though we know it is not true. Then, when someone attempts to be real and to take off the I'm-so-Holy facade, they are condemned for being insensitive and inappropriate.

I have been to a church where I was prayed over to speak in tongues. They seriously would not let me go until some sort of sounds, that weren't English, came out of my mouth. I eventually just forced something out to get out of the very uncomfortable and awkward situation I was in. I came up for prayer because I was going through a difficult time and I left more confused and upset than before. Not exactly how I pictured Christians helping each other to be.

I grew up in a small town church that I would often despise for its lack of professionalism and bubble mentality. But there are many things that I miss about my little church. I miss the realness. The music is not always that great. There are just ordinary people up there that make lots of mistakes, don't start together, get harmonies wrong and have messed up endings. Then after a song ends on somewhat of a terrible note, they apologize and move onto the next song, which usually goes a bit better. The pastor is a dairy farmer. He gets up and preaches in his black jeans, cowboy boots and knit sweater. Kids cry during the message and run in and out of the sanctuary. People are still showing up half way through church and no one cares. Depending on who's leading the service they might make a joke about it and everyone has a good laugh. These are all small town, simple living, down to earth people. I won't begin to try and convince you that there are no facades because there is, but you still can't help but see the realness of people through their facades in a little church like this. 

Maybe there is a lot more for me to learn from my small town church than I thought. So simple, so "unprofessional," so imperfect. Ya...I like that.

Showcase yourself

I use Facebook...Who doesn't? Although I don't spend as much time as some others I know who use up hours of time creepin' on this site. Facebook is a virtual community where people with same interests can come together, a place where you can keep in touch with friends and place to showcase yourself.

Possibly the most attractive feature of Facebook is the ability to make a page all about "you." People love to talk about themselves, to show pictures they have taken, to let people know their thoughts and ideas, and to have center stage. Facebook gives people this opportunity. People get to share everything they want about themselves and put effort into "everything about me."

This reflects our culture of individuality and self-centeredness. Facebook feeds the human desire to care mostly about oneself. As stated in the paper "The Benefits of Facebook 'Friends:' Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network," the online communities liberates people to form communities around shared interests instead of shared geography. The focus is on what interests "me" not about working together with people who might not have the exact same views or interests as "I" do.

This trend can be seen in the way that new media is going. Things like MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook all put the power in the hands of the individual. This can be a positive thing where people's voice's can be heard but it can also be negative in the sense that real, often difficult community is becoming a thing of the past. We are loosing the art of working together and helping our neighbor and gaining the ability to become specified and individualized.

Santa is an illusion?

 In "Sound Scans of the Urban Body: Cellphones, Eavesdropping and Ambient Music", the writer, John Shiga brought something new to my attention. Shiga talks about an artist, Rimbraud who scans the conversations of people, mixes it and makes it into a sort of abstract, ambient music. He draws a great deal of his material from phone call conversations. I listened to some of Rimbraud's work and it isn't really my cup of tea but it is interesting what he does. I actually found it quite stressful to listen to his "music" and was suddenly having the urge to poke my eyeball out. 

Even if you love his music and think he is an angel sent down to bless us all...He is still listening in on people's private lives! Just a little freaky. Come on, I like living every day in complete confidence that I do have my privacy when I want it and there's nothing that anyone can do about it. Privacy is my right as a Canadian...right?

On the one hand I want to scream at Rimbraud and then broadcast his most intimate, private conversations over the radio and on the other hand I think he's doing a good thing too. He is raising awareness that we really don’t have privacy. It is just an illusion. So once we realize that privacy is an illusion then it makes you wonder what else are we living out as reality that is actually just an illusion.

Maybe Santa Claus isn't real.

Nah. Just kidding. Bet I had you going there for a minute though.

The Best of Both Worlds

I'm tired of complaining. So lets take a different approach to Shultze today. In chapter 12 of his book "Understanding Evangelical Media" he talks about Christian theme parks and museums. Like everything else in this world there are good and bad sides of pretty much everything. Sure, some Christian theme parks or museums are corny and maybe over the top but there is good in them too. 

Probably if I was faced with the choice of Six Flags or a day at HLE (Holy Land Experience) I would choose Six Flags. But that doesn't mean I would never go to HLE. These them parks or museums would be a good place to take your kids where they can get a better picture of what bible times were like and a better understanding of some of the biblical stories. And heaven forbid, you could probably achieve some level of fun even if it is a Christian theme park. 

For the most part these museums and parks would not be that effective in reach the non - Christian world but would rather be focused to Christians. That is ok too. Not everything has to be evangelism focused. Maybe I want to enjoy a cheesy day with David and Goliath as I eat mannah and Silas' stew. What's so bad about that?

There is also room for improvement, as always, but lets leave that one for another day.