Shoulder Pain

Shoulder Pain

A Tale of Foolish Bravery and Unseen Heroics

By: Ian M. McNear

Today was like any other day; young Derek Jordan age 20 was walking to his next class, he was a junior who attended his state university for a year and a half, after transferring from a tech school. Derek worked out three times a week, is an Economics major and for the most part he kept to himself and didn’t get himself into or involve himself with others trouble. Also he enjoyed learning the skill of throwing knives, of which he kept one on his person at all times. As for his faith, he stopped professing Christianity at the start of university life. God didn’t care what he did, and he didn’t care what God did. They had a mutual understanding.

However, I have lied to you.

Video Games are Art: Part 1

Interactive entertainment, these words describe the media that is video games. Since their birth video games have been scrutinized for their enthralling and addicting tendencies. How something that has come up in recent debate is this; are video games art? This has inspired much debate in the public realm. “They can’t be art, they are pure entertainment.” Or “They can’t be art, it’s a business.” I fall on the side of Video Games are Art. Instead of a write an entire paper on the matter I am splitting it up into points. The first reason video games are art, is because of the Writing.

No matter what you say, no one can deny that Novels and Stories are considered an Art. These works of fiction or non-fiction are highly respected in the community as works, and sometimes Great Works. Not many people argue that authors such as C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were not Artists in their day. What about current New York Times bestseller authors, they are hailed as great artists, and they deserve such rights.

Indeed the very definition of an Artist has multiple meanings. One of them being; “A person whose work shows exceptional creative ability or skill: You are an artist in the kitchen.” Another being; “One, such as a painter, sculptor, or writer, who is able by virtue of imagination and talent or skill to create works of aesthetic value, especially in the fine arts.” By this very definition, all manner of people, of various religions and cultures can be considered artists.

Another reason is that they are artists. Every video game, big or small, has a storyline. The story that the Protagonist will follow as they blast or cut their way through the hordes of bad guys the game can throw at you. Sometimes the story isn’t very good. However, some of the best games have incredible stories in their own self.

The Assassins Creed Saga is one of those, without spoiling anything. Its Sci-Fi driven take of an endless war between two warring factions is one of intriguing and well written. After four games, we have seen the story developed to a point that not many novels have.

The Uncharted series is probably the staple video games with excellent stories. The Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider esque storyline follows Nathan Drake through his many adventures. This series is one of the most highly exclaimed series’s of all time. With the 2^nd game in the series winning over 50 game of the year awards.

Other games have adopted a more streamlined experience just to better tell a story. Mass Effect is another highly acclaimed game series, with a fiction as developed as Star-Trek.

All over, especially in today’s video game market, video game storylines are getting better and better, and you cannot deny that the writers are nothing short of artists.

Lying for God

Such is a controversial topic. Lying for God? How can such a thing even be thought about? If lying is evil then how can we as Christians say that it is right to lie for God? Lying in general is wrong isn’t it?

In Exodus, one of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shall not bear false witness against they neighbor.” This is lying, bearing false witness. So how can I make such a bold statement and say that we can “Lie for God.” Well it has come up in my life, a truth that I must discover.

In Joshua: 2, Joshua sends out the two spies to scout Jericho, they come upon the house of the prostitute Rahab. Now Jericho had heard of the spies coming and they were afraid of Israel because of what they had done to the tribes across the Jordan River. They had heard of the spies being in Rahabs house and when they came unto the house looking for them Rahab hid the men and proceeded to spin a tale of deceit to throw the men off.

So ok, obviously Rahab did the wrong thing by lying. 

Hebrews 11:31 “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.”

James 2:25 “Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent [them] out another way?”

With these verses I took a step back. So yes she lied, but she is now in what we call “The Hall of Faith” because of her faith to God, and by works she proved that faith, in protecting the spies. So what now? Was Rahab wrong for lying, or were her lies for God a good thing. This came up in a Bible study and the group I was with said that it was completely wrong to lie in any circumstance. That Rahab should have told the soldiers they were there, and prayed that God would give deliverance. 

This brought into my mind the Jews of WW2 and the Christians that protected them for months and months. So are those Christians all wrong because they protected innocent lives? Some people would say so, however, if I were in that position I would lie every time. If it is a sin to lie for Christ, then I will take the lesser of the sin. I will lie to protect those innocent lives. Cause in my mind it’s better to be a liar then a murderer, which is what I call giving up those innocent. 

I have not come to a place in my research that I can answer the question of “Is lying for God right?” But as I pray and study His word I hope to find my answer.

Ian McNear

Deep South Men's Conference 2011 (Saturday)

I’ve made it safely back to Charleston, the conference was simply amazing. Saturday was even better, even if I didn’t enjoy one of the speakers as much as I thought I would. Despite this, worship was amazing, and teaching was excellent.

Worship was amazing, most of the groups that played for us were phenomenal, having a packed auditorium full of men singing “Our God” and “He loves us” was inspirational.

Teaching was even better in most cases; we heard the last 4 sessions and finished the book of Colossians.

Out of the three teachers Ken Graves was my favorite, he was inspirational and whenever he talked wisdom poured forth. His last session on Saturday was on Colossians 3:18-4:1. The title of the message was “Being Godly at Home and Work” and Graves taught a phenomenal lesson on this passage, about Women, Men, and Children, then finishing with servants and masters. It was an eye-opening time of conviction and understanding. Graves challenged us to be men of God, and then explained to us what being men really meant, including how we should treat our wives/future-wives. How God made us uniquely different, and he did so that we could be complete together. It was a beautiful thing.

Rob Salvato spoke on Colossians 2, talking about “Being Complete in Christ.” It was a beautiful message and Salvato drew on inspiration on his life involving his father’s transformation from an angry drunkard to an alcohol free man of God.

Out of the three Sandy Adams was my least favorite, he had some good things to say and talk about but some of it was lost with his style of delivery, and then there was this really awkward moment in the middle of his second session. Of which I will not talk about.

All in all the conference was amazing and inspiring. Ken Graves was the best speaker and has definitely made an impression on my life, as I seek to become a good man of God.

Thanks,

Ian McNear

Deep South Men's Conference 2011 (Friday Night)

Good Morning.

This weekend Calvary Chapel of Lexington is hosting its Deep South Men’s Conference. So at the time of this writing, I am sitting in Columbia in my brother’s apartment. Sessions 1 and 2 of the conference have been finished (out of 6) this Friday evening. The speakers at this conference include Rob Salvato, Sandy Adams, and Ken Graves. Both Graves and Salvato have already done the first of their 2 sessions. The book of this year’s conference is Colossians. The theme is, “Moving upward.”

I will just say that it’s been a treat this evening. The blessings of the Lord just poured down as a sanctuary of boisterous voices filled the air with music. Salvato was the first to speak and he did a message on Colossians 1:1-20.  He spent time discussing who God is, and what He has done for us, the reason for thanksgiving.

           

The more memorable moment was Graves’s session. Colossians 1:20-29. I was not expecting the huge, muscular, deep raspy voiced man that stood. Peeking out from under his short sleeve shirt was tattoo of the Cross.

What came next was simply amazing. Graves spent some time relating his family and several of his life stories, all of them with wonderful meaning.

Then he went on to talk about the Lords work, and His leadership, discussing in some detail the process of training to be mighty spiritual warriors for Christ. That training takes work, it takes discipline.

Moving on, he talked about Jesus Christ and why that the title Christ was important. Referring to a story with a UFC champion he met. Christ came down and endured the most horrible thing man can do to one another, crucifixion. Not just the physical but the spiritual sewage He had to endure to cleanse us, a wicked and lost generation. For we were the enemies of Christ in body and mind, but Christ came down and saved us. So we owe him the title of Jesus Christ, not simply Jesus.

I will update further after tomorrows sessions. Look forward to a couple posts about it.

Thank you and God Bless.

Ian McNear