WoW… that’s what I call commitment…
Posted by Peter | Filed under Faith, Games
(Apologies for the terrible pun… pain killers available at the nearest emergency exit)
I’ve just been watching a video of World of Warcraft players queuing for long hours to get what I assume is the latest add-on pack (I am utterly clueless about most stuff WoW-related!). Loads of folks were dressed-up in home-made costumes from game creatures, making it seem little like a comic convention (I guess many of the attendees will be the same), with one person says she’s been playing 6 hours a day, pretty much every day for a couple of years.
Now I’ve been a bit of a gamer at stages in my life… when I first discovered online multiplayer gaming, I was somewhat hooked for a while. However, 6 hours a day…? Every day…? Dressing up as warlocks and mages…?
I mean absolutely no disrespect to them… but it’s a level of commitment to a game that I just can’t identify with.
In saying that, chances are that if I wasn’t a Christian and didn’t have my church, I would probably find other stuff like WoW to fill the void. I probably spend at least 12 hours per week going out to Christian stuff, plus time I spend at home involved in it too (e.g. preparing teachings and so on), so I can hardly criticize.
One of the greatest gifts is free will… the choice to pursue life the way we want to (I begrudge it to no one). After all, if we didn’t have freedom of choice, we’d never appreciate all that’s good. 
Wii: Kids vs. Grownups!
Posted by Peter | Filed under Faith, Games
We had a fun-night in my church earlier, at which we ate plenty of good food, and more importantly, hooked up a Nintendo Wii to the big projector in our main hall. We played the Bowling game in “Wii Sports”, and what was interesting was the different ways in which people learned the controls.
The ages ranged from 4 to about 80, so we had a “grownups” round first, then a kids round. Most had never played a Wii before. The Bowling game is a little trickier than some of the others to master, because you have to hold a trigger button on the controller, swing it like a bowling ball, and then release the button during your swing as if you were releasing the ball. Physical assertiveness and timing are important to success.
The younger to middle-aged adults generally learned how to play gradually, and did moderately well, relying a lot on luck. Most of the ’senior’ adults though, to be honest, failed miserably. (No offence guys!). Most struggled to remember which button to press, and ended up pushing others at the same time (perhaps down to issues of dexterity and their first use of a totally alien device); nearly all took a long time to understand how a gesture with a controller bore any resemblance to bowling; they also struggled with complete dissociation between gesture and screen (much akin to the trials and tribulations of technophobes learning to use computer mice, I suppose!); and finally, coordinating the hold-and-release of a button with a physical gesture was impossible! Some released the button too late in the swing, and others simply didn’t release it at all. Some also mentally separated both parts of the action…. press-then-release the button, then swing, or vice versa. It was… ‘interesting’!
The really young children, on the other hand, had a wonderfully natural absorption of the entire concept. It took them a couple of attempts to figure out how to hold the controller (their small hands making it particularly difficult), but admist their ‘creative’ gestures, they absolutely thrashed the adults! Most of them don’t have games consoles at all, and yet their natural curiosity discovered and learned things like pushing the directional pad to alter the trajectory of the ball before the swing.
One child was the exception to the rule though. He understood what he was supposed to do quite quickly, but could not master the skill to the same level as the others. I surmise that his natural shyness resulted in reduced physical confidence, causing him to sub-consiously dampen his gestures in ways which adversely affected their effectiveness.
Anyway, it was a fun night, and we had plenty of laughs. It ended with a quick men vs. women round, in which the men beat the women 124 to 97!
What is your word worth?
Posted by Peter | Filed under Faith
I’m not talking about the Word (i.e. the Bible), but rather, your word. That is, when you say something, do you stick to it? Do you honour it? What is your word worth? Or to put it another way, does your “yes” actually mean “yes”? And does your “no” actually mean “no”? (James 5:12)
Read the rest of this entry »
Truth or Tolerance?
Posted by Peter | Filed under Faith
Sometimes it’s hard to walk the line between Truth and Tolerance. It is so important that we pursue the Truth in all things (Jesus being “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” - John 14:6). And yet, it is also important not to needlessly bring division where others don’t share our view, as the Bible also tells us to live peaceably with all men, as far as possible (Romans 12:18).
Now don’t get me wrong here, there are certainly many issues which are non-negotiable! Key issues of doctrine include things like one God in three persons, Jesus (being in very nature God) as the only way to heaven, and so on. These are the core parts of being a Christian.
I don’t want to diminish the truth, nor scripturally beat people over the head (even if I’m convinced they are wrong!). However, there are those difficult times when we must acknowledge differences in viewpoint. It is hard to do, and sometimes means our pride takes a hit, but it is God who reveals Truth, not us!
Honestly, I don’t have all the answers. I’m still learning. I still need God’s wisdom and grace in daily (even hourly) doses to get by! I think acknowledging that in all areas is the first step. Let’s see what happens next!
God’s voice, or the devil’s?
Posted by Peter | Filed under Faith
Just a brief pondering here… a question for you all to consider:
Whose voice do you know better: God’s, or the devil’s?
I think if the truth of the matter were revealed, we might be quite scared by it. For many people, the answer is neither, and for many others, the answer is definitely the devil’s. It’s not for lack of talking or power on God’s part though. It’s for lack of interest on ours.
Whatever ocuppies your thoughts, whatever your focus, or whatever you ‘meditate on’ (to use the Biblical terminology), is what you will be attuned to. Your heart will be soft to that, and hard to other things. If your focus is on the things of the world, even on seemingly banal and harmless things, then your heart will become hardened to God. You will be more attuned to the ‘natural’… that is, the corrupt things of this world. You will be less attuned to God.
I’m sure people will read this thinking “hearing God’s voice? What are you… schizophrenic?!”. To you, I ask what it is like to have sight? If I were blind since birth, and asked you to describe the sense of sight, what would you say? Could you say anything? Unlikely.
Hearing God’s voice (or the devil’s, for that matter) isn’t normally like hearing a sound in your ears (although for a few people it apparently is). Rather, it is a separate ’spiritual’ sense… a sense that you need to be made sensitive to. How do you do that? By immersing yourself in the things of God… read the Bible, pray, go to church, and wait quietly and patiently to hear Him. Filter out the junk of the world, and listen to the big guy upstairs. Go ahead. Talk back. He’s listening too.
Dunked for Jesus!
Posted by Peter | Filed under Faith
I’ve managed to be a full week late in writing this blog entry… but here goes at last.
One week ago today (27th January 2008) at around 8.15pm, I was finally baptised. Hurrah! 
I’ve been a Christian for as long as I can remember (having been brought up in a Christian family), but I never really thought about baptism until I joined Grace Church, as my faith was never really ‘my own’. That is, I was a Christian simply because I was a Christian, and not really because I longed for a personal relationship with God (which is what salvation is really for… y’know, aside from avoiding hell!)…
Preparing for Harvest - part 1
Posted by Peter | Filed under Faith
[My notes from session 1 of the mini-conference "Preparing for Harvest" at my church (Grace Church - Scotland)]
Context
Let’s begin with some context from Genesis 1:28:
- First thing God did to man was to bless him
- First thing God said to man was “be fruitful“
Even in the garden of Eden, Adam had a job to do: he was to tend the garden (Genesis 2:15). That was his purpose, but not his reason for existing. His reason for existing was to be in relationship with God. Today, our exact purposes may vary (we are not all called to be gardeners!), but we are all called to be fruitful in what we do, and we all have the same reason for living: that is to know God (see John 17:3).
Bible Teaching
Posted by Peter | Filed under Faith
I’m having plenty of ‘L’ plate experiences in my walk with the Lord lately, so I just thought I’d share some… hence the creation of this blog! (For anybody who doesn’t know, an ‘L’ plate is what learner drivers in the UK have to put on their car until they pass their driving test).
Anyways, Bible teaching is something I’ve been doing in some small capacities for around 3 years, but I’m still very very much a learner at it. My opportunity to really get my teeth into some teaching came a couple of weeks ago, when my Pastors went on holiday.
