quote:

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The cell phone, says William Edgar, is a telling metaphor for our time. On any given day, one can see dozens of people walking down a street in New York City talking to others by means of a cell phone. These people are all busy, in motion, and connected —but they are not interacting with those with whom they share the same physical space. Dr. Edgar argues that entertainment itself can be differentiated from the entertainment industry, which is a manifestation of an over-paced society that no longer asks the question Why. Borrowing a phrase from sociologist Peter Berger, Dr. Edgar says that entertainment can be a “signal of transcendence.” It can be a respite from the often-insignificant busyness of life, it can be a “shock of recognition” that causes us to ponder important and meaningful questions, and it can point us toward our Creator.

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I'm going to listen to it a couple of more times I think, but I thought I would post it here to see what you all thought.

You can download the 42 meg MP3 here.

What if we could make our games give a better conversation with eternity?

At about 25 minutes into it, he starts talking about "true entertainment" (vs. simple amusement).

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited February 20, 2006).]

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All Your Base Are Belong To Us!!! chown -r us ./base

``After three days without programming, life becomes meaningless.'' -- Tao of Programming Book 2

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In the stock market, you must buy high and sell low...Wait! That's not right!
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Yes, I can be intelligent at times!!

Joy is missing in our lives because we're too caught up in work and techno clutter.

Rest and entertainment, games and sports, laughter, socializing, good memories, music, giving, helping others, even good food can all bring us little 'bits of joy' which are small glimpses of the kind of joy we'll have bunches of in Heaven. Basically we need to -stop and smell the roses. God sees these little tastes of joy as good because his ultimate plan for us is aboundant joy.

I didn't like the term he uses 'signals of transcendence', its too lofty, it seemed a strange way to complicate his message. It was a positive message though.

Its also nice to know Christians can still speak in public forums at Universities, too

Just, I'll have to wait a bit to hear his speech. I'm sloggin' by on dial-up.

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1 Corinthians 15:58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

New Living Translation

It's a pastor talking about how Jesus is King over the Arts. He wasn't addressing games in particular, and you can argue as to how much video games can be art, but still, I find a lot of his comments useful in thinking about games.

Anyway, his discussion on "what is Christian art" is quite good, and applies not just to artists, but makes one also think about "what is a Christian video game?" It's common to think that a Christian video game must be one that is out to convert people, or it must have a moral lesson to teach people. I used to think this way, but I am becoming more of the opinion that this is not the "job" or the primary purpose of games, at least not directly. Leave that to God's Spirit, and let's be Christians, growing in our love for and obedience to Christ, and if we're called to do so in the meantime, making great, quality games.

EDIT: by the way, the download is ~12.2 MB

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it's pronounced "tonics"

[This message has been edited by tonnyx (edited March 16, 2006).]