New to the Christian geek community

Hi everyone, my name is Jim and I'm a "seasoned" Christian geek at 46. I'm married to someone who, while I wouldn't describe her as a geek, nevertheless attended all four days of Comic Con with me for many years, mostly out of love, before it got way too crowded and expensive (imagine us sitting in a panel with me soaking in every word of a discussion about the Wold-Newton universe, and her sitting next to me reading a book). We also have a nine year old son, who may not be mine (he doesn't like superheroes). I recently discovered podcasts like Strangers & Aliens and it's pretty much through them that I've been introduced to this community. We attend Maranatha Chapel in San Diego and I've been thinking a lot about ministry to geeks and whether or not such a thing would make sense at our church. We teach preschoolers at the church on Wednesday nights and it's always fun when one of them comes in with a superhero t-shirt and I get to talk to them about those characters.

In my regular job I'm a software developer. Some of my biggest interests are intelligent movies and TV dramas, comic boots (although I'm not reading anything regularly these days, I used to have a pretty expensive weekly habit), collecting (Mego-style) action figures, fiction and non-fiction books, interesting role-playing/board/card games (thought I never get the opportunity to play) apologetics, worship guitar, and comparing and thinking about the worldview issues of all my favorite characters and literature in light of Biblical truth.

My favorite Sci-Fi and Fantasy books are Dune and LOTR, of course. And my favorite Christian SciFi book that I just read this year is "A Star Curiously Singing" by Kerry Nietz. Star Wars changed my life when I saw it as a 10 year old in 1977, but Jesus has changed it more since then. Amen.

Welcome to the forums, Jim!  

Hello and welcome!

and comparing and thinking about the worldview issues of all my favorite characters and literature in light of Biblical truth.

It always makes me happy when I see other people that look at the worldview of the media they are consuming, comparing it to the truth of the Bible!   I honestly don't think that happens enough.

DNArington wrote:I honestly don't think that happens enough.

I agree, and most of my notions about ministry to geeks are centered on this idea. When we run into Christians who are fascinated with and drawn into other worlds whether via gaming, movies or whatever, we should encourage them, while enjoying the God-given imaginations of the creators, to seriously examine the message and truth claims running under the surface of an otherwise fictional narrative. At my stage in life I can help but look at everything this way, but I'd love to see younger folks developing this habit.

jsweeney wrote:my favorite Christian SciFi book that I just read this year is "A Star Curiously Singing" by Kerry Nietz.  

Welcome Jim!

This is among my favorites as well!

Have you read the other books in the series? I'm planning to do so, but I have quite a stack of books "in progress" right now. When I buy a new book, I lack the discipline to wait until I've finished reading other books before starting it, so the stack grows. The only remedy is not to buy new books ;-)

So how do you get "geek cred"? Can I take a test? At my office they held a Jeopardy game that included a "sci fi" category. I ran the board. What were the two races of beings in the Time Machine? What was Spock's father's name? Childs play.

jsweeney wrote:So how do you get "geek cred"?  Can I take a test?  At my office they held a Jeopardy game that included a "sci fi" category.  I ran the board.  What were the two races of beings in the Time Machine?  What was Spock's father's name?  Childs play.

Figured this out a few months ago. You get it whenever someone clicks that "+" button next to your post. At least I think that's the only way.

And now you've got +2 geek cred!

jsweeney wrote:What were the two races of beings in the Time Machine?  What was Spock's father's name?  Childs play.

Morlocks and humdingers.
PapaSpock
Chucky

Oh wait, that last one wasn't a question, was it?

Thank you, sir! I'll be sure to click plus whenever someone impresses me with their knowledge of geeky minutia.

I'm not sure I can give a 1/2 + for "Morlocks"  

Welcome to the forums! I love seeing new faces here.

jsweeney wrote:Have you read the other books in the series?  I'm planning to do so, but I have quite a stack of books "in progress" right now.  When I buy a new book, I lack the discipline to wait until I've finished reading other books before starting it, so the stack grows.  The only remedy is not to buy new books  ;-)

Ironically, I'm about 50 pages away from completing the second book in the series... and the third is in the mail.

I think we must be kindred spirits, because I also have stacks of books and I purchase books faster than I can read them!

In fact I have a "personal" stack at home and (because I'm a pastor) and theology stack at my office.

It is a sickness to be sure... but I'm not interested in the remedy

Nathan James Norman wrote:
In fact I have a "personal" stack at home and (because I'm a pastor) and theology stack at my office.

It is a sickness to be sure... but I'm not interested in the remedy

If reading too much is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

Hey, Jim! I'm glad you're here. Star Wars and board/card are some of my favs, too. I got a kick out of your description of your dragging your wife to Comic Con. That's how my wife is often, but I try to not force her into *too* many things. Luckily my 10-yo son is turning into quite the geek as well, she he's the one I have been taking to cons instead.

@Nathan, I haven't really stopped buying books either, but as a software developer I've tried to heed the "Lean" principle of "limiting work in progress".  In the estimation of many, backlogs represent "waste"  

@WhiteBoy, I see the game "Ticket to Ride" in your recent plays and I heard this game mentioned recently in a podcast.  I've also seen the game for sale at the comic book store and wondered about it because my son has always really liked trains.  I haven't bought it because 1 - it's expensive, and 2 - I can't imagine what a engaging "train" board game would be like.  We used to take my son to Comic-Con on Sundays and with the entire dealer's room filled with genre toys, all he wanted to do was go to the toy store in nearby Seaport Village and pick out a toy train