Giving Thanks

It is the day after Christmas. I am reminded again this morning about giving thanks. Oh yeah, giving thanks isn't just for Thanksgiving and before meals. A friend posted this G.K. Chesterton quote in her blog 2 weeks ago, but I happened to read it this AM. It hit me as timely as I realized once again, after yesterday, that there is juts so much to give thanks for.

You say grace before meals.
All right.
But I say grace before the play and the opera,
And grace before the concert and the pantomime,
And grace before I open a book,
And grace before sketching, painting,
Swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing;
And grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

G.K. Chesterton as cited in Frederick Buechner's Speak What We Feel (Not What We Ought To Say),

Demonic Peacekeepers????????

Sorry to disturb you readers again. I confess -- I've been perusing the pages of the Eternal Forces again (link in previous blog). I know it was bad of me -- I promise I will stop. Yes, I know, it is too vile, especially for this Blessed Season. Allow me one last observation, I promise this will be the last (at least for today?)... it is straight from the pages of Left Behind Games. These are the game's battle lines: The Tribulation Force verses the AntiChrist's Global Community Peacekeepers. Yup, you read that right..The Peacekeepers are the demonic AntiChrist's team. My heart is racing... my mind is spinning. Ok..I gotta check out here... before I go off the deep end....

Breath, Calm, Peace.....

Are These People Mentally Ill or What?

I am really disturbed. Nelley just raised my awareness of a new video game for the season..a "Christian" game where the bad guys are the Anti-Christ and non-believers, who are targets of "conversion" by the good guys -- the "Christians." It is called "Eternal Forces" and is inspired by the wonderfully theologically sound (ha!) book series Left Behind through "Left Behind Games", which is owned by Tyndale House Publishing. This btw is considered a family friendly game by Focus on the Family's Plugged In which raised some concerns but they concluded:

........ Eternal Forces is the kind of game that Mom and Dad can actually play with Junior—and use to raise some interesting questions along the way. Production company Left Behind Games is pushing it as an evangelism tool for teens, and I can see that, too. You certainly don't have to be an eschatologically minded seminarian to appreciate it.

Seminarians???? I would say most seminarians would be (or should be) appalled!

And oh yeah.... the Antichrist is a Romanian named Nicolae Carpathia, secretary-general of the United Nations and a People magazine "Sexiest Man Alive." And GET THIS BIGOTRY...... those with Muslims names cannot be on the good side ??!!

"Players can choose to join the Antichrist's team, but of course they can never win on Carpathia's side. The enemy team includes fictional rock stars and folks with Muslim-sounding names, while the righteous include gospel singers, missionaries, healers and medics. Every character comes with a life story.

When asked about the Arab and Muslim-sounding names, Frichner said the game does not endorse prejudice. But "Muslims are not believers in Jesus Christ" -- and thus can't be on Christ's side in the game.
"That is so obvious," he said."

WHAT ????????????????

If my description hasn't been enough to freak you out, you can see the complete article by the SF Chronicle

or find a more "balanced" perspective in the lovely review by FOF's "Plugged In."

Or if you are really ready for high blood pressure you can go directly to the horse's mouth at Left Behind Games. While you are there, leave them some constructive feedback by clicking on their Contact Us link... I did.

... if that's not enough for you, then you can rush out and buy it at many Walmarts.... what a surprise.

Personally, I think the game designers likely qualify for a mental illness diagnosis. I think I'll go now and read my DSM IV to see which ones apply.

and oh....I almost forgot...... May the Peace of the season fill your hearts.

Bethlehem Star - Advent is Here

Somehow it always springs upon me and catches me a bit off guard, the Advent season that is. I am usually recovering from Thanksgiving and beginning to think about Christmas and impending Winter when I realize that a few days of Advent have already passed me by. It also seems that each year I think, too late, that I wish I had done more to really enter into the season, to embrace the mystery of it, to experience the fullness and the peacefulness of it, in the midst of all the other, not so peaceful, aspects of the season. So, when friend of mine jotted down an Advent related URL for me, as we passed in Collective Copies, I decided to follow up on it. I have checked it out and hope to utilize the daily readings that have been so thoughtfully and creatively put together. I know others of you will enjoy it too. So, as you surf the web each day, I encourage you to take a few minutes each day to surf on over to the Bethlehem Star, click on the week, and as you read, may you enter into the experience of first century Bethlehem, hearing the very real challenges presented that first Advent and which remain very real to us still.

So Much for "W" & the Religious Right??

Heard this former senior presidential aide in the Bush administration was on 60 Minutes tonight talking about his new book. Sorry I missed it. Could it be that the blanket on their "king" sized bed the bed is unraveling???

It's Got Me Thinking....

Nelly turned me on to this Balkinization blog
Which in turn set me onto this book:
The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get It Back
and has me itching to read the article When Not Seeing is Believing based on a chapter of the book, in the current addition of Time

One quote from the blog, about the book, that has me thinking is:

Sullivan offers a compelling case for the proposition that the dichotomy between secularism and fundamentalism is radically false. And he bases this case in principles of conservatism – citing Montaigne, Burke and Oakeshott in the process. The claim to full and absolute knowledge implicit in all forms of fundamentalism rests on arrogant assumptions about the capacity of man to know and to understand God. In a sense it forgets the essential role of humility in religious experience.

In turn, this reminded me of Andrew Dole's talk at the DSC last year regarding faith being more consistent with hope than belief (sorry for the ridiculous condensation of Dr. Dole's great talk but that was the nutshell I stored in my mental index).

Ah, the air smells good when the brain is fired up....