Everything including the kitchen sink... but with special attention paid to board games, Jesus Christ, my family, being a "professional" (and I use that word loosely) Christian, and the random firing of the 10% of the synapses I'm currently using.
I'm a sucker for zoo-themed games (as you've seen and will see) - which is funny, as I don't particularly like animals. Anyway, maybe it's the theme that makes this perfect information game work for me.
Tips & Tricks:
Understanding how each piece works is key to making good choices.
Like many two-player abstracts, you have to decide which battles are worth fighting over... and which battles you can lose in order to win elsewhere.
Extras
I enjoy how the odd theme "works" for explaining the game... and how quickly it plays.
The name (and game) are French... and no, I can't pronounce it. (It means "Funny Zebras" and is actually the name of a French film comedy about bank robbers.) When I tried to order it from Levalet (which is not pronounced "lev - el - et", by the way), the nice gentleman from Montreal repressed a snort at my butchered attempt at saying Drôles de Zèbres.
a simple system of simultaneous movement programming combined with gorgeous pre-painted minis... and it's Star Wars, for crying out loud!
Tips & Tricks:
This is NOT a cheap game system to get involved with... but if you're patient, you can sometimes find X-Wing minis for sale.
Yes, there is a lot of luck involved... but superior movement planning & winning the "bluffing" game helps you win the game.
I like scenarios with objectives better than straight out "kill or be killed" scenarios - wish there were more 'official' scenarios. How about a scenario book, Fantasy Flight?!
Extras
It's not specifically about X-Wing, but I did write what I consider to be a helpful rumination on "toolkit" game systems.
This isn't exactly a review - it's more of a "hey, I playtested this game and it's awesome" kind of love-fest. I am not paid by Tasty Minstrel Games, I have received no swag and/or sample product, and I spent my own hard-earned dough on inkjet ink to mock up the prototype to play. Not only do I not have any dog in this fight, I don't even own a dog. Well, that's not entirely true. I want to see Tasty Minstrel succeed, because I enjoy a good number of the games they are creating and publishing. I want Seth Jaffee (the designer) to design more games. And I want a copy of this game that doesn't consist of my hastily printed-on-inkjet slips of paper shoved into low-quality sleeves with foreign-language Magic: The Gathering cards as backing. The last of those desires is taken care of, as Eminent Domain: Microcosm is fully funded - all any of us have to do is plunk down our $10 and set our clock radio for the spring of 2015. You have until Friday night (October 17, 2014) to join in and get not only this splendid little 34 card game but some nifty extra cards for Eminent Domain, Dungeon Roll & the upcoming Eminent Domain: Battlecruisers. So, with that introduction taken care of and way too much discussion about hypothetical dogs & Korean M:tG cards, let's move on to the question and answer portion of this blog post.
Is this just a shrunken version of Eminent Domain? No. I'm a huge fan of Eminent Domain (and I'm enjoying playtesting the upcoming Exotica expansion)... but this is not Eminent Domain: the Dice Game. (Yes, I know it's a card game... what I'm suggesting is that Microcosm is emphatically not just a simplified version of the original game, created to cash in on the brand.)
10 minutes? Really?!
Not on your first play or two - but those won't be longer than 15-20 minutes. Once you know how the game works, 10 minutes is very realistic.
Only 34 cards? Really? Yes, really. Players begin with no cards in their hands and draft a card each turn, then either:
play a card from their hand, OR
pick up all of their played cards and put them back in their hand
Each of the cards has multiple functions:
the action you take when playing the card
an icon that affects the power of your actions (most cards)
instructions on how you will score influence (victory points) at the end of the game
With that few cards, doesn't the game get "old" quickly?
Absolutely not. There are multiple ways to build your influence over the galaxy, even with the short playing time & limited number of turns. Tactics can be affected by what cards are available to draft - or what planets your opponent has colonized or conquered.
My oldest son & I have played 6+ games of this... and the scores are getting tighter each time. We're learning how to sabotage the other player by drafting to steal points, as well as making strategic "reloading" turns at the right time. Each game is more exciting rather than less... and the playing time has tightened up as well.
How do I order this and be as cool as you are, Mark?
it's shuffleboard... with dice - and as simple (and silly) as that sounds, the stairstep design of the board (and the curved edges) make for a really great game
Tips & Tricks:
You can play this with more than 4 players if you add extra sets of colored dice. (Six is probably the maximum number that works - but we've tried it with 8!)
We play 4 rounds, with the order of players changing each round... the player with the lowest score goes last.
Use the dice of other players as "backstops" for your dice - especially when you're shooting for the tiny 4x platforms.
Extras
I haven't written much about Tumblin' Dice... except to brag about how I found my near-mint copy in a thrift store in Fresno, CA for $5.
out of print (but pretty easy to find a copy on BGG)
Why It's On The List
a dice game with opportunities to manage your risks... and a really neat movement mechanic that makes for some great board play... and a nicely done theme
Tips & Tricks:
If you can pull it off, always have a coin so you can get in on tavern runs.
Don't forget you can pay a coin to skip your turn!
Extra sailors are the key to winning - don't pass them up & don't set other players up to get them easily.
Extras
Rum & Pirates is my favorite Stefan Feld game... which is funny, because for most hardcore gamers, it's the one they like the least.
If you've got five players who are not prone to downtime, it's a great game. Otherwise, stick to 3-4 players on this one.
Clever game of reading the minds of the other players - with some nifty gamer-y elements to the card play.
Tips & Tricks:
It's best with 4-5 players... the expansion for 6 players (found in the Treasure Chest from Rio Grande) is functional but not as much fun.
The easiest rule to forget is the ability to buy vials when you brew a potion - there's an entire strategy based on collecting vials that can work.
Extras
I've never written anything substantial about Witch's Brew... except to say that I thought it should have been the Golden Geek Card Game of the Year instead of Dominion back in 2009.
It's been a while since "The Kitchen Sink" appeared here on the blog... the place where I share various bits of stuff that really aren't big enough to deserve their own posts. You may now proceed to ignore and/or enjoy this as needed.
coulson lives Just finished watching the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on DVD - and I loved it. It took a while to ramp up - but once it did, it combined sly humor, comic book references, great action sequences & Whedon-esque twists & turns. I particularly like how events in the Marvel films (Thor: The Dark World & Captain America: The Winter Soldier) play an important role in the storyline of the series. I've DVR'd the first few episodes of the second season and look forward to watching them this weekend. I'm also looking forward to seeing the Agent Carter series on the way this spring.
dominion In the very first Kitchen Sink post in September of 2013, I told you guys that I had reached 1000 plays of the long-defunct Dominion iPhone app. I noted:
(There's an official one now through Goko, but I haven't bothered with it.) I don't even own a copy of Dominion (it's low on my list of "deck-building games I like" - sorry, Dale)... but this app manages to run a 2 player game in about 5 minutes, making it perfect for standing in line/waiting around time-killing.
Well, it's October of 2014 - a little over a year later - and I've made it to 2000 plays. The AI is pitiful - I've managed 1,451 wins (72.55%).
quote of the week "When a king forgets who he is, he looks for himself in the rubble of conquered cities. He is haunted by a bottomless pit in his soul, and he will pour the blood of nations into it until the pit swallows the man himself." (Andrew Peterson, North! or Be Eaten)
a low-bid construction card game - you need to underbid the competition and keep your workers "on the job"... it's a refreshing twist on standard auction game mechanics
Tips & Tricks:
This game is occasionally dismissed as "blind bidding." Let's be clear here, people - if you're paying attention, this is NOT blind bidding. Sheesh.
Extras
The designer, Franz-Benno Delonge, created another much-loved city-building game - Big City (which will show up much later in my Top 100 list).
I also need to say "thank you" once again to Joe Huber who introduced this game to me.
Two of my good buddies on Twitter, Josh Edwards (@BGjosh) and Grant Rodiek (@HyperboleGrant), both recently wrote blog posts on the ten games they want to play more.
In a fit of stunning originality, I am
doing the same thing
and giving it the same title
Look at me, going boldly where no gamer has gone before. (Ha.)
If I had written this post a month ago, Heroscape would have been Numero Uno on the list... but my wonderful wife recently allowed the purchase of extra shelving & storage to bring the metric ton of pre-painted minis & terrain out of storage and into the light of day. (Note: when I say "metric ton", I am only slightly exaggerating; when I say "light of day", I mean "light of the game room".)
Before we dig into the list, though, I need to let you know who I game with on a regular basis... since that has a big impact on which games I get to play.
My regular gaming buddies are my 13 year old son (Braeden) who is a gamer in his own right... and my 9 year old son (Collin) who enjoys games but enjoys creating them even more.
Every two weeks or so, I get together with some long-time friends that I turned into gamers years ago
So, here are the 10 games on the top of my "wish I could get them to the table more and/or more often". (It's no surprise, of course, that all of them are on my top 100 board games list.)
#10: Prophecy - This is basically Talisman done right. Vlaada "I Am A Game Design Genius" Chvatl worked his magic on the roll'n'move + interact with a card fantasy adventure genre and came up with this very recently republished gem.
And while Braeden & I love the game, it's long enough that it doesn't hit the table. (That's especially true when you add in the Dragon Realm expansion - and I'm guessing the recently reprinted Water Realm expansion will only make it worse.)
#9: Innovation- Both of my boys have now tired of this wonderful card/tableau manipulation game... Braeden flat out refuses to play and Collin likes it but keeps begging off. Which is too bad, as I find it intriguing and always enjoyable. I don't particularly like it with 4 players (unless played partnership) and five, in the words of Monty Python, is "right out" - so it doesn't end up getting pulled out at game nights.
It has another problem (you call it a bug, I call it a feature): there's a certain level of randomness inherent in the game system that can be particularly irritating to some. I love it - the wild card combinations and opportunities for clever play make the swings of fortune bearable.
I really like the first expansion set, though it does add some wrinkles that are tough for new players. The second expansion set has some interesting ideas but I haven't had enough chances to play it (note: why it's on this list, for cryin' out loud!) to firm up my opinion.
#8: Big City - You would think that my Minecraft & Lego-obsessed sons would find the idea of a game where you build something with cool plastic pieces to be irresistible... but they don't.
Big City is best with 2-3 players (and pretty random with 4-5 players), so it's only likely to come out with the boys or when I have one person over to play games.
#7: Web of Power - "Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three"... and my younger son is JUST old enough to grok the tricks & twists of this incredible game. (Yes, I do have the 2 player "variant" pieces created by the designer - but you need to know/understand the game in order to play with the variant.)
#6: A Brief History of the World - While it is briefer than the Hasbro/Avalon Hill version of History of the World (and much briefer than the AH version of the same game), it's still not a filler game - a 6 player game usually takes us about 3-3.5 hours.
I still think this is the best version of the game to play - higher level of control coupled with streamlined gameplay - now if I can just get some more chances to play it!
#5: Bohnanza - There is nothing quite like this classic Euro card game of trading & bean planting/harvesting... and that means it can be a hard sell to get to the table with newbies ("bean planting?!?").
It also really needs 4+ players (best with 5 or 6)... and when that happens, other games tend to end up getting played - Ca$h'n'Gun$, Dice Town, Family Business, 7 Wonders - all good games but the beans get no love.
#4: Ausgebremst - This re-imagining of the classic Ave Caesar as a Formula 1 road-racing game is a personal favorite - but it really needs 4+ drivers to make it work. (The boys actually like this one - but I do not plan on having more kids to bump up my game group to the appropriate numbers.)
#3: Um Reifenbreite - The other classic race game that I own - an SdJ-winning team cycling game with goofy French art and impeccable game play. For some reason, it is like pulling teeth to get people to play this game - but they love it once they play. Braeden likes it but Collin has (so far) refused - he doesn't particularly like racing games. I need to bring it to a game night and recruit some gamers to join me on this one.
#2: Clash of Cultures - The newest entry to my collection on this list is here primarily because the playing time can be on the long-ish side: Braeden & I have managed to get our 2 player games down to about two & a half hours... and my one 3 player game (which was an epic nail-biter) clocked in at just under 4 hours.
Braeden has declared that he's waiting for the expansion (due to come out this fall around Essen) so he can field elephants. (Safety tip for those playing my eldest son: he WILL focus on increasing his military and you must be prepared for him to load up ships and circle your empire like a school of sharks.)
For me, this is the civ-building game I've been looking for... a dynamic tech-tree system that doesn't force you down a single pathway, a simple set of rules (with some exceptions) that nevertheless create a complex (but not complicated) set of decisions, and an evocative set of board pieces & miniatures.
#1: The Settlers of Catan - Yes, that's right. It's not a typo. The game that has become "cool" to hate on (in gamer circles) is the game I most miss getting to play. I love the base game as well as Cities & Knights, Settlers of the Stone Age, and even Struggle for Rome. But, because so many people have played this one into the ground, I don't get to play it much any more.
And that's sad.
My younger son loves the game - but since Braeden hates it with the passion of a thousand suns and Shari has vowed never to play it again, it's much tougher to play. (Collin & I play a lot of The Rivals for Catan... but it's not the same thing.) And my good friends are split on it - two of them love it and two of them have grown incredibly weary of losing to the two who love it.
hard to find in the U.S. but still available in Europe
Why It's On The List
while it was intended to be a celebration of the history of Adlungspiele (the company), it's a great tile-laying card game with some very tricky interactions with negative "currency"
Tips & Tricks:
As in many tile-laying games, it's important both to score big AND to keep yourself from setting up the next player to make an even bigger score.
Adlungland is especially good as a two-player games.
Extras
I haven't written anything about Adlungland... but my friend (and fantastic game designer) Joe Huber has written a review for Gamers Alliance.
It's been a couple of years since I made a list of my top 100 games... so it's time for me to update it. This time around, I've used a new process to rank the games:
Since I rate pretty every game/expansion I play on BGG (here's a link to my collection), I chose to download all of those games I rated 7 or better. That gave me a list of 1001 games & expansions.
After removing all of the expansions, I was left with 665 games.
I "shuffled" the games and began pitting one game against another...
"Which of these games do I want to play more?"
That created two piles:
like
not as much
I then shuffled the 'not as much' pile and pitted those games against each other, putting the positive response games into the 'like' pile and creating a new 'not so much' pile.
When finished, I once again shuffled the 'not so much' pile and ran the process one final time.
The games that ended up in the final 'not so much' are dropped from the system...
And then it starts all over again...
It took 15 runs through this system to narrow the list down to 100 games. From that point on, each round worked down to 2-3 games to be "dropped" - of course, they dropped into a position on my top 100 games list!
Here are the parameters:
Unlike previous top 100 lists, this DID include what I lovingly call "kid games". (If you're interested in kid games, my Kid Games 100 would be some great reading material.)
It's not the "best games ever made" - it's my list of the one hundred games I most enjoy playing right now.
With that said, there's a lot of flex in the list. Don't invest too much in any individual ranking - if I'd sorted the list on a different day, many of them could be in a different order.
You are welcome - no, encouraged! - to comment, kibitz and/or vehemently disagree... that's part of the fun! #100 will show up tomorrow!
While the weekly Car Talk Puzzler is not my favorite part of listening to Car Talk (that would be the hilarious driver instruction advice they give), they did inspire this "welcome back to blogging" post that you are now enjoying.
So, the Jackson family just returned from vacation - let's see if you can figure out where we went from the following three pictures! (Those who already know the answer should keep mum and let other people play the game.)
Put your answer (guess) in the comments & I'll let you know the winner(s) later this week.
For the first few years, I made fun of people who watched Survivor... or any "reality" TV, for that matter. Then I watched a few episodes (of the now classic "Palau" season) and I was hooked. (Read my apology to those I made fun of at A Real Good Thing.) Over the years, I've been drawn into other race/competition shows:
The Amazing Race
Treasure Hunters (kind of National Treasure meets Amazing Race 3-member team show)
Expedition Impossible (3 member teams racing across the wilds of Morocco)
The Mole (the non-celebrity seasons, thank you)
Capture (hi-tech tag in a forest)
My most recent (and possibly favorite) entry into this genre is ABC's The Quest - which you should be watching. And, if you hustle over to ABC's website, you can watch Episode 1 & 2 tonight and Episode 3 & 4 tomorrow... just in time to watch the fifth & sixth episodes on Thursday. I don't quite know how to describe it:
it's a reality competition with no prize other than the honor of winning & defending the kingdom
it's not really a reality competition - because it's set in a fantasy world (and shot primarily in an Austrian castle)
the contestants (paladins) are immersed in that fantasy world - and whoever did the casting knocked it out of the park, as the paladins seem to have bought into enjoying the fantasy world & storyline
it's family-friendly... which can be a rare commodity in reality television
In short, just go watch it. And tell your friends about it. (We get the TV shows we deserve - if we watch garbage like Mud Lovin' Rednecks, they'll program more of that schlock. If we support wonderful stuff like The Quest, networks will pay attention.)
Heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever; a happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story. Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn
I'm known in the gaming hobby not just for my
love of "fluffy" games but also for my former "day job" as a
pastor - and so I get some very insightful questions about Christianity &
faith. Yesterday, you got to eavesdrop on a bit of conversation about
evangelicals & mainline churches, as well as how I believe we're supposed
to relate to non-Christians. Today, I want to share with you an exchange I
had with Mister Cranky (real name: Josh Adelson; home state: Pennsylvania) on
fear & religion.
Just a short note: it starts with a Mister Microphone
joke, which probably means that all of you under the age of 30 will be
scratching your heads... and some of the rest of you will wonder what I was
talking about - and I'm sorry, but it's in reference to a very geek-y gamer
thing and I won't waste three paragraphs trying to make sense of it for you.
Just trust me on this one.
For this new version of the post, I have managed to find a copy of the Mister Microphone ad... yes, it was the 70s.
===
In the words of the Mister Microphone ad,
"I'll be back for you later."
Mister
Cranky: My goodness, that's ominous. No wonder I've always been too afraid to
buy a Mister Microphone. Speaking of scary clerics, do you think that fear has
any place in the promulgation of one's faith? [Note:
"cleric" is another way of saying "minister" - used pretty
commonly by gamers because it's a player class in Dungeons & Dragons.]
In just a second, you're going to ask me
about fear. Here's what I fear: you, Mister Cranky, with a Mister Microphone in
hand.
You said: "Speaking of scary clerics, do
you think that fear has any place in the promulgation of one's faith?"
Well,
yes... but you know I'm going to qualify that statement, right?! :-)
Gavin
de Becker is a security consultant to the stars (who, frankly, spends way too
much time on entertainment TV shows to make me entirely comfortable if I was
one of his clients) who has also written a very good book entitled The
Gift of Fear. (No, I don't get
any royalties.) He ascribes our fear "instinct" to evolution (and
since it's a micro- rather than a macro- kind of deal, I won't argue with
him)... I'd attribute it to God. Either way, fear can serve a very useful
purpose - to
keep us out of danger.
Coercive
fear ("become a follower of ___________ or I'll punch your lights
out") is never OK... conversion by the sword was/is a dumb idea for
Muslims & Christians. OTOH, pretending that there isn't an element of fear in
the Christian faith would be the rough equivalent of going through the Bible
and cutting out passages you don't like. (The word "fear", btw,
appears over 300 times in the NIV translation of the Scriptures.) But I
think/believe that this is a healthy fear, similar to what de Becker talks
about - fear that serves a useful purpose.
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom
as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to
everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
1 Peter 2:16-17 (NIV)
Now, two caveats:
Fear is not the only and/or the main
motivator to follow God.
Trying to increase other's fear levels
in order to get them to knuckle under & cry a spiritual "Uncle"
misses the whole picture of God as portrayed in Scripture.
But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and
gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
Psalm 86:15 (NIV)
So,
the traveling evangelist who went church to church in the 1960's & '70's
wearing a special shirt that he could light on fire - then scream about
"this is what hell is like!" - is, let's just say, freakishly over
the top. OTOH, if I don't preach from the Bible about hell, I'm simply editing
out verses (a LOT of verses!) that make me uncomfortable.
Mister
Cranky: Very nicely answered, if I do rantlessly say so myself.
===
Notice something here - Josh (aka Mister
Cranky) wasn't offended by my use of Scripture or my belief in hell when it was
set in the context of an actual answer to
his question. Which is a nice
reminder that sharing the truth about Jesus doesn't have to devolve into an
argument... from either side! (Also note: part of the reason I get the freedom to write like this is
that I'm a contributing member of the online boardgaming community - I didn't
just show up & start spouting off about Christianity. People know me as an
avid gamer with both a sense of humor & solid moral principles... and then
as a spokesman for Jesus Christ.)
As well, the whole "fear &
faith" topic brings up another question for you to consider: how
well do you balance a legitimate fear of a holy God with the truth of His
compassion & graciousness? Be honest with yourself - which one of
those sound more like the God you
believe in?
Whichever side you're leaning toward, make
sure you take some time to ask God to give you a COMPLETE picture of who He
is... to expand your relationship with Him.
Quote
to Ponder
People outside of the church who aren't in
relationships with those inside the church might never hear the gospel or get
to see it lived out in someone's life. Instead,
they'll only get an impersonal tract that focuses on hell or see a
street evangelist who many times ends up making things worse. Sometimes when I
talk to pastors about this, someone will quote Romans 10:14 - "And how
will they hear without someone preaching to them?" - and tell me that
their job is to preach the gospel in their church.
But people who need to hear
the gospel most likely aren't going to church. On Sundays, they are sleeping
in, shopping at the flea market, going out to breakfast - they're anywhere but
a church meeting. I don't know why we think that if we have good preaching or
add a worship band or have coffee & candles that they will come. Those things
are all good, but people outside the church aren't looking for a church with
those things. They aren't looking for a church at all.
It is in the context of
relationships with missional Christians that they become inspired to come to
worship gatherings. But the sad part is so many outside the church don't have a
relationship with someone inside the church. I'm always amazed at how many
people outside the church say they don't
know any Christians personally. It's not that they would mind hanging out with
one if a true friendship was built, but the Christians they work with or attend
school with don't make themselves known to them or befriend them and spend all
of their social time with other Christians. And so we widen the chasm. Dan Kimball, They Like Jesus But Not The Church
Back in the day, this was the first of two posts in my church e-newsletter stemming from my "appearance" as Geek of the Week. I've spruced it up a bit for your reading enjoyment. (You can read Part II as well.)
Right around Christmas 2006, I was given the
opportunity to write & answer questions for folks from around the world at
the premier boardgaming website, BoardGameGeek.
(Of course, the honor has the unfortunate title of Geek of the Week. Oh, well.)
I talked about my favorite games, how I got thrown out of Disneyland as a
teenager, traded quips with folks, and generally had a very good time. (If
you'd like to read the whole conversation, you can check it out here.)
But I'm known in the gaming hobby not just
for my love of "fluffy" games but also for my former "day job" as
a pastor - and so I got some very insightful questions about Christianity &
faith. What follows is an extended exchange with Virre Annergård (from
Färgelanda, Sweden), David Seddon (from the East Midlands, United Kingdom) and
myself.
===
David: Do you see any
conflicts/tensions between evangelicals and more traditional Christians (of
whatever denomination)? If so, how do you personally deal with and feel about
that?
That's
a tough question... I assume by "evangelicals" you mean "those
who believe in the need for a personal decision to surrender your life to Jesus
Christ" instead of some kind of political affiliation. [I was wrong, btw -
David was asking about worship style issues... but that's a subject for another
day.]
If
that's true, then the tension between evangelicals and what commonly gets
called "mainline" churches is not about worship style or organization
but instead about theology - the prime question is the nature of Jesus Christ
& our relationship to Him.
A
blog I particularly like (GetReligion) has suggested over & over that the
following three questions could tell you a great deal about the theological
bias of religion reporters. I'd suggest that they would also help clarify the
tension you're observing:
(1) Are the biblical accounts of the
resurrection of Jesus accurate? Was this a real - even if mysterious - event in
real time? Did it really happen? (2) Is salvation found through Jesus Christ, alone? Is
Jesus the Way or a way? Thus, it was highly symbolic that the Episcopalians tabled
a resolution declaring the church's "unchanging commitment to Jesus Christ
as the Son of God, the only name by which any person may be saved" and
acknowledging "the solemn responsibility placed upon us to share Christ
with all persons when we hear His words, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the
Life. No one comes to the Father except through me' (John 14:6). . . ." (3) Is sex outside of the sacrament of marriage a sin?
The question is a matter of moral theology, not national policy. The controversial
word is sin.
My
answers, btw, are "yes", "yes" and "yes".
How
do I personally deal with that tension? I choose to work with pastors/churches
who disagree with those statements only as far as I can continue to express my
personal convictions. When I'm considering whether or not to be involved, the
explicit or implied pressure to "sit down & be quiet" is a
deciding factor in me walking away.
A
different question - one you didn't explore - is how do I deal with
non-Christians as individuals? Maybe someone will ask that. :-)
Virre: OK, how do you deal with
non-Christians as individuals?
Excellent question. :-)
When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate
with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn't talking about unbelievers who
indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You
would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are
not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual
sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or
cheats people. Don't even eat with such people. It isn't my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it
certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are
sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say,
"You must remove the evil person from among you."
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (NLT)
Shortened
down, the real problem for people who claim to be believers in Jesus is not how
they relate to non-Christians... it's how we relate to those who claim to
follow Jesus but then live something else.
The greatest single cause of atheism in the
world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips but deny Him
by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds
unbelievable.
Brennan Manning
As
long as folks who believe differently from me allow me the freedom to speak
about my faith & live it out, I'm a happy camper. It's my job to do the
same - to give others freedom to worship in ways that I think are wrong &
spiritually dangerous without interference.
BTW,
let's define "interference" - that means I don't physically or
emotionally intimidate or prevent people from doing what they want. That doesn't
mean I can't criticize, debate or point out the foibles of a religious system.
(Of course, any critique I offer should be seasoned with grace &
respectful.)
Use your heads as you live and work among
outsiders. Don't miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious
in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation,
not put them down, not cut them out.Colossians 4:5-6 (MSG)
Does
that make sense? Quote to Ponder
We are witnessing the emergence of a new
world... The phenomenon has been noted by many who tag the emerging culture as
post-Christian, pre-Christian, or postmodern. The point is, the world is profoundly different than
it was at the middle of the last century, and everybody knows it.
But knowing it and acting on it are two different things. So far, the North American church
largely has responded with heavy infusions of denial, believing the
culture will come to its senses and come back around to the church. Reggie McNeal, The Present
Future
Some thoughts on Kickstarter and some projects I've backed:
While I wish that both Dungeon Roll: Winter Heroes and Coin Age were on time, I do NOT begrudge the good folks at Tasty Minstrel Games taking copies fresh off the boat to sell at GenCon this week. GenCon is the largest gaming convention in the U.S. and as a publisher, it just makes sense. There are some whiny folks out there... and, in the words of Lloyd Dobbler: "You. Must. Chill!"
Running late is not the sole province of board game companies - I'm still semi-patiently waiting for the new CD ("Goliath") from Steve Taylor & the Perfect Foil. I will admit to being entertained by Steve's very humorous backer updates.
If anyone at Gamelyn Games is paying attention to this, my son & I would be happy to playtest/print-n-play review Tiny Epic Galaxies for y'all... because we've backed both of the previous Tiny Epic games after trying the print'n'play versions. (Here's my thoughts on Tiny Epic Kingdoms, which should be showing up in mailboxes across the world this fall.)
I think I'm most excited about Baseball Highlights 2045... I do so love Mike Fitzgerald's game designs.
This was originally written in 2006... and I was preaching through 1st Thessalonians verse by verse. (For those of you who care, it's called "expository preaching".) In the process, I "jumped" past a few verses - but felt like I needed to cover them in some way - and so this article/blog post was written.
Those
of you who've been following along with my message series on 1st Thessalonians
(Overloaded) may notice this week that I skipped some verses between last
week's message & this week. (Or you may not have noticed until I pointed it
out - oh well.)
Either
way, I want to take just a moment to comment on 1 Thessalonians 3:9-10:
How
we thank God for you! Because of you we have great joy in the presence of God.
Night & day we pray earnestly for you, asking God to let us see you again
to fill up anything that may be still missing in your faith. (New Living
Translation)
I
don't know about you guys, but there are some days when my faith feels like it's
missing something... or lacking something. Or, if I want to be bluntly
honest (and that's not a given, people), I feel like my faith is the 90 pound
weakling of faith. Other faiths come along & kick sand on it and takes the
good-looking girl away by flexing their faith muscles, while my faith lays
there on the beach towel, dreaming of whatever the faith equivalent of a
workout program might do.
So,
why doesn't Paul (or somebody like him, since the Apostle Paul's been dead
about 2000 years) show up and...
"supply what is lacking in [my]
faith"
(NIV)
"mend and make good whatever may
be imperfect and lacking in [my] faith" (Amplified)
And
then I have to dope slap myself - God has been sending me Paul (yep, even
though he's deader than a doornail) to me since I was old enough to read. All I
have to do is walk across the room and pick up a copy of the Bible. (If I'm
really desperate, I can check myself into a cheap motel & swipe the Gideon
Bible in the bedside stand.) Either way, I have access to 66 profoundly
spiritual books compiled into one easy-to-carry volume.
As
if that weren't enough, it's stunningly easy get "face-2-face" with a
diverse crew of people who walked with God, thanks to the magic of Guttenberg's
printing press. Everyone from the Bishop of Hippo (Augustine) to a guy who
worked in a monastery kitchen (Brother Lawrence) to a Oxford professor of
medieval literature (C.S. Lewis) can "walk with me" through their
writings.
Finally,
God did this crazy thing & created "the church" - not some monolithic
bureaucracy but instead local groups of people who'd surrendered their lives to
Him and were/are trying to live all of their lives in the light of God's grace
& love. Which means that there are ready-made crews of people who want to
do just what Paul talked about - "fill up anything that may still be
missing in [my] faith." I just have to go and get involved.
My
problem isn't a lack of options to grow & mature in my faith... it's a lack
of follow through to enjoy the stuff God is sending me by the truckload.
Quotes
of the Week
God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo
We
must know before we can love. In order to know God, we must often think of Him.
And when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our
heart will be with our treasure. . Brother
Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God
Though
our feelings come & go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our
sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its
determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at
whatever cost to Him.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
follower of Jesus, husband, father, "pastor", boardgamer, writer, Legomaniac, Disneyphile, voted most likely to have the same Christmas wish list at age 58 as he did at age 8
