Cedars, April 27, 2006

Thursday, April 27, 2006 Viewpoints C EDARS So Long, For Now It has been my pleasure to write for Cedars this year. I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity. My hope is that the articles I have written have sparked some thought and challenged the status quo. Living in a Christian commu- nity (or any community, for that matter) can easily cause one to become narrow-mind- ed and inebriated with one’s own beliefs. If you only inter- act with people and ideas that are similar to your own, how do you expect not to become blinkered and biased? Though controversy and criticismhavearisenoversome of what Cedars has published this year, I do not consider that a bad thing. What greater way to stretch our minds and understand people better than hearing what they believe and think? Christ’s call to unity does not mean that we are all to be the same. If we were all the same, we wouldn’t need unity. Unity means we are sticking together despite our differences. Unity means we love each other, even if we disagree. And besides, same- ness is quite boring! In all of my writing this year I have tried to create upon the foundation of Love. Whether talking about theway in which we relate to nonbe- lievers or the pettiness we so often find ourselves drenched in, I wanted my words to be underscored by the two great- est commandments given by Jesus: Love God, and Love others. Recently I have been do- ing a lot of thinking about the controversy surrounding Cedars . And I asked myself, how should we respond to all the hype and criticism? Should we (those of us who contribute to the hype) feel guilty that some people are of- fended by our ideas? Should we stop the conversation just become some don’t like what’s being talked about? The conclusion I have come to for all these questions is a resounding, “NO!” Should we be shocked or upset that people, even those in the Christian community, don’t accept or appreciate ideas that may differ from their own? Imagine what would have happened if Je- sus would have backed down from his critics. What would the Gospel be if Jesus had de- cided that He didn’t want to offend the Pharisees? Would grace really mean anything if Jesus wasn’t willing to sit amongst the prostitutes and sinners? In fact, Jesus was so ex- treme in His teachings and ac- tions that even John the Bap- tist, the man whose whole life was ordained to make Jesus look better, began to doubt if Jesus was really the Messiah (Luke 7). Jesus wasn’t afraid of shattering traditions and breaking rules. He didn’t al- low institutional norms or religious leaders to prevent Him from doing His work. He unashamedly poured love and grace on the dirty and dis- gusting sinners of His day and harshly rebuked those who followed the rules and lived a seemingly righteous life. Though many Christians and churches may have taught you to believe that Christian- ity is about obeying a certain list of do’s and don’ts and fulfilling your religious obli- gations, that is not Christian- ity at all. That, my friend, is religious legalism. And that is what Jesus said was leading people straight to hell. Of course, Jesus had the advantage of being God’s son, which prevented Him from ever being wrong in His an- ger and offenses. We don’t necessarily have the same guarantee of correctness, but we do have the same Spirit as our guide and the same Father who loves us. And as children of God and followers of Jesus we have the authority to speak the truth, in love no doubt. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work for Ce- dars again next year. I am excited about the growth and change that will continue to come to the paper and to the university throughout the next year. But that will have to wait until fall. My hope and prayer is that your summer will be filled with knowing Him and living outside of the expected. May you truly experience the free- dom that Christ died to give you. May you have life more abundantly than you could ever imagine. For now, I bid you fare- well, with great anticipation of when we can meet again. Cedars is the student newspaper of Cedarville University. It exists to inform, encourage and inspire our campus community by providing information and opinions about the local, national and global communities in which we live. Cedars seeks to foster intellectual and cultural curiosity in our readership and play a complementary role in an academic community dedicated to promoting a biblical worldview. C edars Mission Statement Eternal Forces Gets Left Behind I was waiting for class to start when my ex-room- mate Zach lurched in and sat beside me. He started waving his hands. “It’s com- ing, Brandon,” he said, and handed me a press release for the new Left Behind video game. Zach, needless to say, knows a lot about video games. You see, Zach used to be a “hardcore” gamer before he became a Christian, playing hours of Final Fantasy XII without helping his mother with the chores, skipping youth group trips to hear the Newsboys so he could play Super Mario Party III. He now spends hours witnessing in online chatrooms, some- times using his Bonzi Buddy to ask the poi- gnant question, “If you were to die tonight, and stand before God, and he asked you why he should let you into his heaven, what would you say?” This awkward question, which never relates to the conversation at hand, has always been a stumper! So when Zach told me about this game, I needed to investigate. I found the website of Left Behind Games and entered. I had low expectations because I figured Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins had already reached rock bottom. After all, in a desperate attempt to add diversity to the Left Behind series, they introduced characters named Gustaf Zuckermandel Jr., Ming Toy, Chang Wong, and Abdullah Smith. They titled a book Soul Harvest . They wrote sentences like, “His rational, scientific mind fought his passion” in a book called Assassins . Yes, these were tragic moments in the history of humanity. But after looking at Left Behind Games, I realized I was wrong. La- Haye and Jenkins have not only reached rock bottom, but they’ve started digging. Eternal Forces is stranger than Redemption—the Christian card game that includes the villain Doeg the Edomite and the land of Goshen, and in which you try to save five souls. Zach has an almost-complete set, expect for the apostle Andrew. On its website, Left Behind Games ear- nestly tries to make Eternal Forces sound exciting, using less exclamation points than one might expect. “Wage a war of apocalyp- tic proportions” they proclaim, and “uncover the truth about the worldwide disappearances.” I would amend that last line to say, “uncover the truth about the worldwide disappearances, as if you don’t know already, you toolshed.” Like you’d play this game and not know about the Rapture. There are a few odd things about the game, but what really gets me is that you need to pray in it: “Conduct physical & spir- itual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world.” You also use others’ prayers: “Control more than 20 units types—from Prayer Warrior and Hellraiser to Spies, Spe- cial Forces, and Battle Tanks!” Prayer War- riors? In video games? When ending your prayers, just remember to click on “In Jesus’ name,” which super- powers your prayer. If you forget…well, goodbye to Rayford. A Hellraiser will probably eat him. The theologi- cal implications of such a game are staggering. For instance, I emailed Bible professor Dr. Hoffeditz to ask if playing Eternal Forces counted for daily devotions, or if it only counted if I was a Prayer Warrior, and he wrote back and said that in his six years of teaching he had never been asked a dumber question, and that if I contact him again, my Bible minor will be re- voked. I thought about emailing Dean Gibbs to ask if this counted as a weekly Spiritual Formation activity, but then, in a fit of bril- liance, decided not to. I want to graduate. The more I thought about it, the more odd Eternal Forces seemed. LaHaye and Jenkins are supporting a game in which God has become just another character. You manipulate Him by prayer. The hope of our faith—seeing Christ return—has become a lousy science-fiction plot; the carnage after the Rapture and the rise of Antichrist are more exciting than the promised return of our King. LaHaye and Jenkins turned Chris- tian apocalypticism into a moneymaking venture with their Left Behind series. But Left Behind Games is even worse. I hope it tanks. The opinions expressed herein are of the writers, but not necessarily those of Cedars, its staff, or of Cedarville University. www.CedarsOnline.com M ANAGING E DITOR Ryan Stalker A SSISTANT E DITOR Sara Eplin N EWS E DITOR Joe Dugan A & E E DITOR Josh Moody S PORTS E DITOR Jim Sawin V IEWPOINTS E DITOR Cameron Arch C OPY E DITORS Stacey Beaty Camille Morse P AGE D ESIGNER , W EBMASTER Benjamin Kouba P HOTOGRAPHY E DITOR Josh Wilcox P HOTOGRAPHER John Hudson B USINESS M ANAGER Dave Livingston A DVERTISING M ANAGER Justin Ely F ACULTY A DVISER Dr. Scott Calhoun S TAFF W RITERS Amanda Acker Bryce Bahler Meghan Bates Heidi Charlton Brandon Colas John Durkee Lyndie Grigorenko Elizabeth Korver Ryan Simmons Autumn West Nathan Washatka C ONTRIBUTORS Tammy Fitzgerald Seteve Fladda Melanie Frageorgia Michael “Kerry” Hand Joe Holecko Brittany Jackson Rob Marcello Whitney Miller Laura Ramey Richie Reeder Josh Saunders Ryan Short Bethany Sibbitt Ryan Simmons Mark Swan Aaron Sweigard Jaimie Teekell Andrea Walker Heather Wenzel 251 N. Main Street Cedarville, OH - 45314 937.766.4991 Fax: 937-766-3456 cedars@cedarville.edu Find out more about our staff & contact them via our web site, C EDARS All submissions are the property of Cedars and are subject to editing and/or revision. Year-long subscriptions are available to the public for $20 (U.S. Mail). Please make checks payable to Cedars. Visit CedarsOnline.com for more information. “ LaHaye and Jenkins have not only reached rock bottom, but they’ve started digging. C EDARS 10 | C EDARS · Brandon Colas · Staff Writer · Bryce Bahler · Staff Writer