Webcomics Monday: Scenes From A Multiverse and the Existence of God
Scenes From A Multiverse is a webcomic that can go anywhere and everywhere. Absurd and unique universes are playgrounds waiting to be frolicked in. Which provides the author, Jon Rosenberg, plenty of room to play with ideas. Which also provides him plenty of opportunities to look at things such as religion. The genius of the setup is that he can explore the inconsistencies and fallacies that he sees in religion, without actually looking at a particular religion. Sure, we know he’s making comments about Christianity and other faiths, but he does it in a way that brings us to question our logic, not just assume he’s having a go. I don’t always agree with Rosenberg. And I don’t always agree with his logic. But I appreciate being given the opportunity to think through my beliefs and examine the logic behind them.
Religion of File Sharing
Dune 2 was a computer game figuratively grabbed me by the shirt and slapped me in the face, forcing me to give it the attention it was due. To me, this game was the grand-daddy of real-time-strategy games. Without Dune 2, we may not have had classic games like Commander and Conquer or Starcraft. But the thing is, while I played Dune 2 obsessively, I never bought a copy of it. And while all my friends were also enjoying the game, I don’t think any of them had paid for it either. There was just a bundle of 3.25″ floppy disks, bound together with a rubber band, that was passed around. When it came to getting passed the copyright protection, you just had to keep restarting the game until you knew the answer to the question. It was the same with music – dubbed cassette tapes changing hands like it was no big deal. When I look back at it, we had no idea what we were doing was illegal. We had no idea we were pirates. It’s just what you did. But was it a religious experience?
Recently in Sweden, a new church has been given official status. The Church of Kopimism is based around the idea that information wants to be free and is in fact holy. That information becomes more valuable through the act of sharing. Therefore sharing information is of religious significance to members of the church. The perceive any attempts to stop them from sharing information as a form of persecution. Is this a legitimate faith system, or just an elaborate excuse for piracy?
Looking Forward – Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
It’s no secret that I’m a big comic book fan. I’m also a fan of movies. So you’d think that if you combine those two things, it would automatically result in me shelling out the money for a movie ticket to any and all “based on a comic book” movie released. Well, no. I’m not going to see your movie just because you licensed a character from Marvel comics. You have to give me something worth seeing.
Which is why I’m torn about Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
2 Ways To Live App
Last year I bought myself a smart phone and a tablet computer. I’d been holding out for a while but finally caved in. I didn’t think I’d really need either. Now it feels like I can’t live without them. Me and my stupid addiction to technology. One of the things I love about my devices are the apps – computer programs that do all kinds of weird and wonderful things that you download from the store and are accessible at the touch of a button. I’ve got apps for games, social network, email, photos and more. But there’s one app that I’ve wanted since day one. And it has eluded me.
Until now.
This week, the 2 Ways to Live app was launched.
Parable of the Sower Game
This term at our senior youth group, we’re looking at the parables in the Gospel of Luke. We kicked off with the Parable of the Sower from Luke 8:4-15. To get the youth members in the right frame of mind (as well as to burn off a bit of energy) we played a game based on the parable. It’s a variation on “Rob The Nest”. It might be a game that you might want to play with your youth as well.
Sermon – John 5:31-47 – Giving Evidence
Our current sermon series at St Luke’s is titled “Conflict and the King”, looking at John 5-8. John 5:31-47 takes a look at three testimonies that Jesus points to as evidence for who he is and what he has come to do.
Preached at St Luke’s, Liverpool on Sunday 12/02/2012
What Should I Do?
Here on Pop Culture Christ, I have the ability to see what people are typing into search engines like Google that get them sent to this site. All kinds of weird and wonderful search phrases come up. In the last week I’ve had people searching for Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Ghost Rider, and Paintball. I even had someone looking for “Scripture for job interview”, which has me pretty curious. One search phrase that had me feeling all warm and gooey inside was someone searching for the best font size to use when preaching from an iPad. Just goes to show that the internet is a great place for sharing.
Amongst all the different searches, there’s one kind of search that is constant. It goes along the lines of “Can a Christian do X” or “Should a Christian do Y”. Here are some examples from the last week: “Can a Christian listen to heavy metal music?” or “Should Christians go see Wicked The Musical?” or “Can a Christian play Skyrim?” Now, regardless of what you think the answer to those questions might be, I think there’s a greater issue behind these questions.
And it’s about Christian freedom.
Pop Culture Christ 
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