1) Orange Street isn’t on Bradley University’s campus, nor is there off-campus housing located on Orange Street (that I know of). How does the Bradley University Police Department have jurisdiction in front of my house?

2) Was this situation really resolved in a professional way by the Bradley University Police Department? Couldn’t they have prevented this from escalating? Better yet, was this really the best problem to focus on at this time?

3) Am I really required by law to carry identification on me at all times? Do I need a license to ride a bike?

I’ll grant that #2 is mostly rhetorical, but I’m serious about the other questions. In particular, I’d like to know the answer to question #1. What are the limits of the Bradley University Police Department’s jurisdiction? Can anyone answer this question for me?

My reply: Christians are supposed to be the salt of the earth, right? That’s salt as a preservative, which prevents rotting. In other words, we’re supposed to be around corruption. It’s part of our job.

“Both GenCon and polyamory are poor attempts to replace true covenant community. I blame Thomas Chalmers and George Grant. #notatgencon”

So, yeah, this is an example of what happens when you try to compress a train of thought into a tweet. So I’d best unpack this, eh?

Over the past few weeks, the Ben-Ezra family has been spending time with a couple other families in our church, discussing a recorded lecture series by George Grant on the life and work of Thomas Chalmers; specifically, his work in planting churches with a vibrant covenant community. I was unable to listen to the final lecture with the group, because Hope was being fussy. However, I was informed by one of my elders that I really needed to listen to it. So, while I was working on Friday, I was listening to the final lecture and the following Q&A period. During that time, Dr. Grant made an off-hand comment that I found to be fascinating. He said that one source of the stress found in marriages is the expectation that each spouse will be able to fill all the needs of the other person.

And that’s when I flashed to both GenCon and polyamory.

I’ve had occasion to see discussions about the motives and goals of polyamory. The running theme of these discussions is summarized well by a quote from an article in Newsweek entitled “Only You. And You. And You.”: “Everyone in a relationship wrestles at some point with an eternal question: can one person really satisfy every need?”

(In a weird intersection between GenCon and polyamory, I point to the Jeepform Under My Skin, which is an attempt to address precisely these issues.)

Polyamory isn’t really about sex. It’s about loneliness.

And so is GenCon.

Check out this promo text from this year’s website:

Gen Con Indy is the original, longest running, best attended, gaming convention in the world. For over 40 years, Gen Con Indy has been setting the trend and breaking records. Last year, more than 28,000 unique attendees experienced Gen Con Indy. The biggest complaint we hear is that there is simply too much to do, see, and experience. Get lost in a phantasm of art exhibits. Stare at jaw-dropping costumes, or better yet, wear one of your own. Meet the movers and the shakers in the gaming industry. Check out the newest games and get a sneak peek at the latest editions.

And, of course, play your heart out with fellow enthusiasts in a community that understands your passion. What you’ll experience at Gen Con Indy is nothing short of IT. You know, whatever “It” is for you? This is IT! Get ready to get there.

The emphasis is mine, of course.

I visited GenCon 2002 for one day, which was the last year GenCon was in Milwaukee. More recently, I was at GenCon 2007 and 2008 in Indianapolis. If you’re at all into hobby gaming, it’s an incredible experience. The entire city is prepared to take your money…I mean, welcome you to downtown Indy. Everywhere you go, you see gamers, oohing and aahing over new books or games. You see cosplayers in costume, dressed like Darth Vader, Solid Snake, Master Chief, or other geek-related characters. There’s this crazy buzz in the air and this sense of recognition as you pass a fellow geek.

Because, more than any other place, GenCon is where you can be a gamer and be normal.

Let’s face it: hobby gaming is an outsider’s activity. The vast majority of gamers are socially ostracized by the mainstream. (For now, we’ll set aside whether or not this is just.) To be a gamer is to be a nerd, looked down on by “normal” people, laughed at in the media, or rejected by friends.

Except at GenCon.

At GenCon you are normal. At GenCon, stormtroopers wander the streets and no one blinks. Boffer duels break out in hallways, and people stop to enjoy the show, not wonder at the crazies with the padded swords.

More than anything else, I believe that GenCon is selling acceptance.

For those of you who don’t know, GenCon 2009 was last weekend. I wasn’t there. This was a struggle for me at times. I mean, I had a list of good reasons why I wasn’t there. So, why was I disappointed?

Here’s why. At GenCon, I’m a game designer who helped in the early stages of the Forge indie game movement. I published one of the first American Jeepform games. I know the movers and shakers in the community. Moreover, my skills are valued. Last year, I helped construct the booth demos for two rookie designers, and my insight was appreciated.

I was missing that sense of acceptance. For me, it’s a bit more specialized than the average gamer. But yeah, that’s exactly what it was.

And it’s a trap.

Both polyamory and GenCon hold out a promise that they cannot fulfill, because both are founded on lies.

Polyamory tries to locate the solution to loneliness within the family. Oddly enough, it’s really just a variation of the problem the polyamorous are claiming to be addressing. The assumption is that we can pack enough people into a family to meet all our needs. But it doesn’t work. God created us to be monogamous, and violating His will through polyamory will end in tears. For example, polyamorous relationships often blow apart because of jealousy. Another quote from the Newsweek article explains this just a little:

The trio have had emotional moments. Scott had a hard time the first time he heard Larry called Terisa “sweetie” nine years ago. Larry was nervous when Terisa began semiseriously dating somebody outside the group. There are times when Scott has had to put up with hearing his girlfriend have sex with someone else in the home they share.

If someone were to talk like that to Crystal…well, let’s just say that they wouldn’t find the body. Ya know? And let’s not even get into that sexual openness, yeah?

GenCon tries to address the problem through sameness. “Look at all these gamers! You’re not alone! You’re normal!” But this fails for two reasons. First, GenCon eventually ends, and then you must return to “real life”. The GenCon high doesn’t last. Second, the gaming world isn’t remotely unified. Even if you look at the narrow slice I inhabit, there are constant debates over what it means to be a community. The flame wars, the nerd rage…. Yeah. Is that really the foundation of a solid community? I mean, what are we united around, anyways? Gaming? Really? What do boardgamers think of roleplayers? Or traditional RPGers about storygamers? Or storygamers about trad gamers, for that matter? Are they roleplaying games? Storygames? Something else?

Doesn’t seem like a very solid core for unity to me. And I’ve seen the explosions and the fallout that have resulted in this community, simply because one person didn’t like someone else’s game of choice.

Now, this is the point in this post where I’m supposed to point at the Church and say, “But this community is founded on something secure: Jesus Christ. And so all the answers are here. See? Covenant community.” And it’s true. A community founded on Jesus Christ is the only secure community.

But…really? If that’s so, then why are we still so lonely in the Church? Could it be that we’re not willing to pay the price to have community?

A community is more than just shared allegiance; it’s shared lives. And sharing lives is costly.

Consider this: both the groups I’ve mentioned have actually managed to form apparently stable communities. As an example, I could travel to Chicago, Los Angeles, or western Massachusetts and find a couch to crash on. How do I know this? Because I’ve seen others do it. And, to be fair, if some of the gamers I know happened to be in Peoria, I’d probably do the same for them. Shared games have led to shared lives.

Or what about the polyamours? They have radically altered their lives in order to pursue the sort of community that they think will satisfy them. This change in lifestyle has come with significant financial, emotional, and social risk. And yet, people continue to embrace this lifestyle, which leads to shared lives.

If we’re so hot for Christian community, then what are we willing to do to establish it? The goal isn’t to have everyone show up at the same place at the same time. The goal is to share our lives with each other, because we all share Jesus. But are we really sharing our lives?

Ask yourself: what are the barriers that are keeping you from sharing your life with the people in your church? Fear of rejection? Distance? A life that’s simply too busy?

Then ask yourself: what are you willing to do to overcome those barriers?

The gamers and polyamours are already hard at work. What are we prepared to do?

Addendum: as an example of this whole “shared lives” thing, let me tell you about my weekend.

This weekend has been a growing experience for me. Often, that equals “a really difficult time”, but not this time. Instead, I think that I have a clearer sense of who I am and who I need to be for the people around me. And that’s certainly not a bad use of time at all.

In April of each year, the victims of Wall Street fraudster Bernard Madoff will write out checks to pay for his upkeep.

They will do it every time they pay their taxes–so that means ordinary taxpayers, too, deserve to feel aggrieved about Madoff’s offenses.

Freedman is right to be outraged; this is indeed an injustice. However, his solution is simply attempting to apply duct tape to a sinking ocean liner. The problem is systemic, and its roots are found in our flawed penology. We punish thieves–and Madoff is simply a clever thief–by warehousing them in prisons. Instead, what if we were to apply the penology found in Scripture?

If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

(Exodus 22:1)

Restitution and punitive damages are the focus of a Biblical penology. The thief had to pay back what he stole, and then some. The thief didn’t owe “society”, which really means the government. Rather, he owed his victim.

If we were more concerned about addressing the wrong done to victims and less concerned about the harm done to the system, we would be able to make real progress towards doing justice in this nation. Until then, we will continue to have more and more desperate schemes like “pay-if-you-go”.

1) When I say that the rich have certain responsibilities, I mean that they have certain ethical responsibilities. This is different than saying that they have certain legal responsibilities. It is the responsibility of the government to protect people from each other by (say) enforcing contracts and the like. It is not the responsibility of the government to require that the rich be charitable. Confiscatory taxation to fund social programs is totally contrary to what I’m talking about.

2) When I say that the rich have certain responsibilities, I’m generally talking about anyone who can read this blog. Is this a generalization? You betcha. However, I’ve noticed that people have a tendency to avoid calling themselves rich.

Here’s an example. For the last couple of years, my GenCon demo for Dirty Secrets has featured various members of the independent roleplaying community, who have graciously agreed to appear in my demo. As a result, I’ve asked several people to “stat” themselves out in Dirty Secrets terms. This means writing down your age, sex, race, social class, and legal status, each chosen from a specific list. The options for “social class” are simply rich, middle class, and poor. Most people were very uncomfortable identifying their social class, even though they generally settled on “middle class”. And, to be fair, it’s an awkward question. How do you go about answering that one? I mean, what social class are you?

But when these discussions come up, it’s often human nature to push ourselves toward the median. I mean, I’m not living in a house with a dirt floor, but I’m not in a mansion, you know? So I must not be poor or rich, right?

Of course, these categories aren’t tight; rather, they form a spectrum that shifts from “dirt poor” to “poor” to “working class” to “middle class” to “upper middle class” to “rich” to “filthy rich” to “Vanderbilt”. And that’s not really a fair spectrum either.

So, when considering these issues, don’t think about the “poor”. Think about “those who are poorer than me”. Specifically, think about “my neighbors who are poorer than me”. Because, as G.K. Chesterton pointed out, Jesus didn’t say, “Love humanity”. He said, “Love your neighbor.”

I’m going to talk about privilege.

Wikipedia files this concept under “dominant privilege” and offers this definition:

“Dominant privilege is a sociological concept describing the unearned advantages enjoyed by members of the dominant culture.”

There’s also a link to a syllabus about privilege (PDF).

Now, I’ll wave the tattered remnants of my conservatism and say that I generally get irritated by discussions of privilege. I’ve seen my share of privilege discussions, and they often go like this:

Non-white non-male: Waah! My life is so hard because The Man keeps me down.
White male: Are you sure The Man is keeping you down?
Non-white non-male: Shut up! You have privilege and therefore are incapable of understanding me or having any wisdom at all!

Or like this:

White male: I have privilege, and now I have guilt! I am a terrible person and refuse to be consoled, because I am white and male. I abase myself for my genetics.

Yeah, these sorts of conversations irritate me. A lot. So much that I’d be tempted to pitch the whole concept.

Except that it’s kinda true.

I tend to focus on socio-economic privilege, so let’s talk about the rich and the poor.

I love the wisdom literature of the Bible. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes just lay it out there without apology, explaining life the way it is. And, not surprisingly, both books say a lot about the rich and poor. For example, Proverbs 10:15 says:

A rich man’s wealth is his strong city;
the poverty of the poor is their ruin.

In a related passage, Ecclesiastes 7:12 says:

For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

These passages lay out a simple fact: having money protects you. The rich have protection from the world, but the poor are exposed to additional suffering. Or, as my mother put it, having money makes life easier.

That’s privilege.

(Yes, I’m aware that the Bible is full of warnings about the deceitfulness of wealth. However, this is because wealth actually does bestow power, though not as much as the rich think.)

The conservative response to this fact tends to be something like this: “Sure, having money makes life easier. But, this is America. We all have an equal chance to get money. Those with money just did the work, while the poor just refused to work hard.” Really? Proverbs 22:7 says:

The rich rules over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

For all that we want to deny it, the poor are at the mercy of the rich. This is a fact of life. We are not all equal. Some are stronger than others, and that will not go away.

In other words, we will not be able to rid ourselves of privilege. This is simply true, and we need to stop lying to each other and ourselves about this.

So, what then?

If the rich are stronger than the poor, then the rich have a greater responsibility than the poor. The Biblical principle is that the strong care for the weak. As an example of this, Romans 15:1 says:

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Think about it like this. I’m a pretty big guy. It’s a rare occasion to meet someone who is taller than me. Over time, I’ve realized that this means that I need to be very careful when I move around people, especially children. If I’m not careful, I will knock someone over or step on someone. Because I’m bigger and stronger, I have a greater responsibility to consider the impact of my actions.

Privilege is often used to attempt silence the strong. That’s wrong, because it’s simply an attempt to attack the strong. Instead, the powerful should be reminded of their privilege in order to remind them of their responsibilities to those who are not privileged.

Of course, this goes side-by-side with the need to remind those who are not privileged that they should not envy those who are privileged. Rather, the strong should help the weak because it is their responsibility, and the weak should humble themselves to accept help from the strong.

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD,
and he will repay him for his deed. (Proverbs 19:17)

In light of all this, next time I’ll talk about an issue that’s been on my mind recently: gentrification.

See you then.

Life is a desert, and we are called to be the oasis to each other.

Of the various claims that Christianity makes, Easter celebrates the most insane: that a man who had been unjustly prosecuted, condemned, and then executed returned from death, never to die again.

Yep, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. A singular event in history, upon which the entirety of our religion stands or falls. It is the reason that we live and love and believe. If this truth is a lie, then, as the Apostle Paul writes, “We are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:19)

But Jesus was resurrected, and that makes all the difference.

I’ve been doing my media immersion as I begin design work on Major Crimes (the game formerly known as Dirty Cities). This game is specifically about using the crime story to address social issues. So I’ve been thinking a lot about the various social issues that plague us. We are victimized by our own corrupt institutions while the oppressed oppress each other. Injustice reigns in our cities, from the halls of power to the streets of our ghettos.

And yet, by His resurrection, Jesus triumphed over injustice. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced by corrupt authorities, and yet, God vindicated Him and demonstrated it to all by raising Jesus from the dead. And now, He has been given complete authority to extend the justice of God across the entire world. And that is exactly what He is doing.

So, as I look at the injustice and suffering in this world, I do not lose heart. I know that The Man is in charge, and He overcame all injustice once and for all. I know that He has ushered in the new era, in which He is busy tearing down all corrupt, wicked power structures and bringing a reign of true justice. And I know that He will not rest until everything is set aright.

And who can stop Him? Our most powerful threat is the ability to inflict pain and death. That is the threat in every domestic beating, every armed robbery, every military action. But He is beyond pain and death; He overcame them in His resurrection, and now they cannot touch Him. So He is beyond our ability to threaten and coerce.

An unkillable, unstoppable warrior of justice. Kinda makes Superman look like a pansy, ya know?

Happy Easter, everyone.

Welfare queens all over the news.

And, really, that’s what I want to talk about. The setup for Battlestar Galactica is simple: man created the Cylons, but they rebelled against him. So, not to belabor the point, that makes the Cylons the bad guys. (Now, I’m in Season One, so please no spoilers, especially because I wonder if this breakdown will be messed with later in the series.)

So, Cylons are the villains because they violently rebelled against their creators.

Therefore, why do we object to being painted as the villain in the real world? After all, we violently rebelled against our Creator. Right?

We are facing what I have known as a crisis for quite some time. Although the murder rate was down 2008 the incidence of illegal gun usage was up and there were people and cars shot at on a routine basis. (Gangs) with (their)/ it’s loose network of community terrorist associates, have taken it upon themselves to terrorize our communities and inner city. We must act and must act as a cohesive group to defeat the enemy that is fueling these (various factions). However we will not fight with the weapons known and respected in the streets:

2 Cor. 10:3-4~ “3-For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4-(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)”

It is my prayer that you will join me at a community pastoral meeting to address this urgent situation at which I will unveil information that is essential in assisting with our understanding of this enemy that we face. I also plan to unveil a community strategy that will involve you and your church in a proactive method of attack against this terrorist group. I am convinced that our inaction is fuel to the flames of the community terrorists who have staked claim to our schools and our streets. It must end and that end must begin with us and our churches. I do not believe that we can expect a government bailout to assist us with this one.

Please join me at 6:30 PM Thursday evening at Higher Dimensions Worship Ctr. at 2610 W. Nebraska Peoria, IL. (Pastor Bob Randle)

Please pass this urgent request on to associates and other pastors who may also be interested in taking strong action against this (these) community terrorist group(s). Thank you and God bless you greatly.

Emphasis mine.

I’m planning on attending this meeting, and I wanted to pass the word to others.

And frankly, I think it’s time for the city council to reconsider what exactly qualifies a neighborhood organization as the go-to people[] to speak for a neighborhood. For example, the RRRI allows renters to sit in on meetings, but doesn’t allow them to join and vote.I’m pretty sure that the many-long time renters who live in my building and in neighboring buildings have rights and are affected by the Methodist expansion too. Renters pay property taxes — it’s part of their rent.

But I was really surprised to see this from the comments:

But yeah… do any neighborhood associations really represent their neighborhoods? The utter lack of participation in support of these organizations is alarming. It’s a classic little red hen story… the poor hen making her bread and no one helps her. But they sure as hell complain when it something affects them in a way that matters to them. Here in the uplands only about a couple dozen people (out of 375 or so households) are involved in any tangible way with the neighborhood association. It is frustrating.

Emphasis mine.

That was really surprising to me. I’ve always had the impression that Uplands really had their act together in terms of organization and participation. If a solid association like Uplands only has a “couple dozen people” participating, then what about the less organized ones?

In light of all this, I have to ask: is the neighborhood association concept really the best way for the city to reach its citizens?

That’s…uh…a little crazy.

Ooh! Let’s go on!

This baby grows up to start a cult. He wanders around the countryside, homeless and poor, leeching from the poor saps who follow him. All the pastors are outraged at him, because he is teaching crazy things to their congregants, who are hanging on his every word.

Oh yeah, he claims that he is God.

Then, finally, the cult blows apart. One of his inner circle defects, letting the cops get their hands on him. He is embarrassed on national television and is then executed for his crimes.

Then the cult reforms and starts telling stories about how he came back from the dead. Oh, but you can’t see him now, because he went back to heaven.

Yeah, they still claim that he is God.

This is the craziest, stupidest, most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I mean, other religions are respectable, but this is really dumb.

Unless, of course, it’s true.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul writes:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

I love Jesus. I believe all those crazy things that He said. Make no mistake about it.

But part of embracing that means embracing the folly of the gospel. Christmas has become so full of sentimentality that we have lost track of the fundamental foolishness of the story that we tell. But, it is in that foolishness that the story gains its strength.

So, if you’re going to celebrate Christmas, then remember what you’re celebrating. It’s crazy! It’s ridiculous!

It’s glorious. Glorious and amazing.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

According to Professor Robert Greenberg of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Benedictine monks arranged these antiphons with a definite purpose. If one starts with the last title and takes the first letter of each one – Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia – the Latin words ero cras are formed, meaning, “Tomorrow, I will come.” Therefore, the Lord Jesus, whose coming we have prepared for in Advent and whom we have addressed in these seven Messianic titles, now speaks to us, “Tomorrow, I will come.”? So the “O Antiphons”? not only bring intensity to our Advent preparation, but bring it to a joyful conclusion.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:8-9)

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Amen.