Christian Research Journal Reads Episode 134: Comic Cons, Geek Culture and the Mission of Christ

This is Episode 134 of Christian Research Journal Reads. This is an audio version of the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL article, “Comic Cons, Geek Culture and the Mission of Christ” by Drew Dixon.  This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 40, number 06 (2017). https://www.equip.org/articles/comic-cons-geek-culture-and-the-mission-of-christ/


 It was accompanied by Postmodern Realities Episode 066: Comic Cons, Geek Culture, and the Mission of Christ.


This podcast presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. As the flagship publication of the Christian Research Institute, the Journal seeks to equip followers of Christ to think and to live Christianly—to exercise truth and experience life. Truth, especially essential Christian doctrine, forms the basis for how we live our lives in Christ. As the apostle Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”The Christian Research Journal enjoyed a print incarnation of almost 45 years. Now exclusively an online publication, the Journal consists of thousands of free articles. We hope that through these audio articles you are not only equipped to proclaim and defend your faith but that as a disciple you also draw closer to Christ in your walk with Him.  You can find the written version of each article that is an episode of Christian Research Journal Reads at the website of the Christian Research Institute, equip.org. All Christian Research Journal articles at equip.org are completely free and do not require a subscription and are not under a paywall.All episodes will be available at the following podcast platforms with more being added daily! You can help spread the word about this new podcast by giving us a rating and review from the other channels we are listed on and telling others!You can view off our Website at the at this link and off our Journal main page. 



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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is episode one hundred and thirty four of the
Christian Research Journal Reads Podcast Comic CON's Geek Culture and
the Mission of Christ by Drew Dixon. This article first
appeared in the Christian Research Journal, Volume forty, number six

(00:27):
in twenty seventeen. The Christian Research Journal Reads Podcast presents
audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. To read the
full text of this article and its documentation, please go
to equip dot org. That's e qu ip dot o

(00:52):
r G.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Comic Cons, Geek Culture and the Mission of Christ. This
article is by Drew Dixon and is read by an
automated voice. Every year, millions of devoted fans travel to
our nation's largest cities to play unreleased video in board games,
meet the stars of their favorite sci fi shows, and
attend panel discussions on fantasy worlds. Last year, one hundred

(01:17):
and fifty thousand people attended New York City Comic Con,
one hundred and thirty thousand people attended San Diego Comic Con,
and more than two hundred thousand people attended one of
the three Penny Arcade expos located in Seattle, Boston, and
San Antonio. These are just a small sampling. There are
literally hundreds of nerd or geek conventions, and these terms

(01:40):
are no longer petorative. About sixty five percent of American
households are home to someone who plays video games regularly.
Board game sales are rapidly rising in Kaffas, and bookstores
dedicated to tabletop gaming are springing up all over. Sci Fi, superhero,
and fantasy are among the most widely loved and successful

(02:01):
film genres, and yet the Church's default reaction to Greek
culture in recent history has ranged somewhere between guarded skepticism
and ignorance. As has been documented, evangelical preachers commonly assume
that video games are at best a waste of time
and that worst destructive to spiritual health. It has been documented, however,

(02:22):
that playing video games in moderation relieve stress, improves brain function,
and boosts creativity. While video games and Greek cultures certainly
contain their share of graphic violence, sexual objectification, and addictive qualities,
much good can be found in these mediums as well.
Nerd culture has a strong pension for celebrating heroism and

(02:43):
cultivating community. Its artifacts, like all other pieces of entertainment,
are created by people who are both marred by sin
and created in the image of God. Comic con are
filled with media that reflects simultaneously God's goodness, truth and beauty,
as well as humanity's sinful excesses. Our affection for goodness, truth,

(03:04):
and beauty should compel us to investigate geek culture with
careful discernment. However, the ultimate reason we should care about
comic cons is much simpler. I am convinced that, given
the opportunity, Jesus would attend many of the gaming and
nerd conventions across our country. The mission of Jesus. When
we talk about the mission of the church, it's important

(03:26):
to have a clear sense of jesus mission. According to Jesus,
he came to seek and save the lost Luke nineteen ten,
to preach Look for forty three, to serve and give
his life as a ransom for many, Mark ten forty five,
to cast fire on the earth, and to eat and
drink Luke seven thirty four. Does that last one surprise you?

(03:50):
In Look seven thirty four, Jesus said, the son of
Man has come eating and drinking. And you say, look
at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of
tax collectors and sinners. English Standard version Son of Man
is a title found in Daniel seven thirteen fourteen for
the promise Messiah who would reign over all people for

(04:12):
all eternity. Jesus is the rightful king of the world,
and part of his method of establishing his rule was
to eat and drink. In his book A Meal with Jesus,
tim Chester says Jesus spent his time eating and drinking.
A lot of his time, Jesus was sinless. He never
actually overindulged, and yet he ate and drank enough that

(04:34):
his enemy sought to make something of it. Biblical scholar
and author of Eating Your Way through Luke's Gospel, Robert J.
Kerris says, in the Gospels, Jesus is either going to
a meal, at a meal, coming from a meal, or
teaching about a meal. Most of his parables are about food.
He turns water into wine to prolong a dying party,

(04:55):
commands us to commemorate his death through a meal of
bread and wine, and one of his greatest parables, the
Parable of the Prodigal Son, ends with a glorious feast.
The religious leaders of Jesus day heavily criticized him for
his approach to meals. The disciples of John the Baptist
fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples

(05:16):
of the Pharisees. But yours eat and drink Luke five
thirty three, English Standard version. Jesus was not merely criticized
for the frequency of his meals, but also because of
the people in attendance, sinners and tax collectors Luke seven
thirty four. It's hard to overstate the radical nature of
jesus choice of dinner guests. Tax collectors were traders working

(05:39):
for Rome, Israel's oppressors. In the eyes of most Israelites,
they were God's enemies. Jesus ate with God's enemies. Table
fellowship in the first century was a ceremony richly symbolic
of friendship, intimacy, and unity. Meals were opportunities to make
lasting friendships, and Jesus did not waste his mens niels,

(06:00):
but filled them with missional purpose. He did this by
meeting lost people where they were at and eating with
them in their homes Mark two, fourteen seventeen, a massive
neglected mission field. Most Christians probably don't think of the
people at comic cons as their enemies, but when we
default to ignoring or looking derisively on geeks and geek culture.

(06:21):
Something is amiss. Chris Gwaltney, director of Gamma Church, a
non profit ministry dedicated to bridging the gap between the
Gospel and the gamer, believes were neglecting a massive mission
field at Comic CON's. You have a large concentration of
people who are not likely to ever visit your church
because as gamers and nerds, they don't feel welcome there.

(06:44):
Many have even been hurt by the church. Cheed Snyder
was one such person. Most of his life, he had
been told his hobbies were demonic. Chad and his wife
were going through a rough time in their marriage and
were talking about divorce. Chad's wife had recently come to
know cha r Oyst and was willing to work things out. Chad, however,

(07:05):
wanted nothing to do with God or Jesus. Around the
same time, he was wandering the chauffeur of Penny Arcade
East in Boston, Massachusetts, when he saw the game church booth.
Chad picked up a copy of Jesus for the Wind,
a book Gamma Church hands out that contains the Gospel
of John with some contextualized commentary for gamers, and began reading.

(07:26):
He assumed it was a joke until Walmey looked him
in the eye and said, Jesus loves you. Those words
stuck with Chad as he continued reading through Jesus for
the Wind. Chad soon gave his life to chaar Weist,
was baptized and began serving in his wife's local church.
Chad said, I truly believe I would not be where

(07:47):
I am if I hadn't walked up to the Game
Church booth. Chad has now served as a missionary with
Game Church at numerous conventions. Chad isn't the only person
who met caor Weist at a NERD convention. Each year,
Gamma Church raises up missionaries to attend thirteen to fourteen
conventions across the country. Each year, the missionaries pass out

(08:08):
more than thirty thousand Gamer Bibles and point thousands of
geeks to the hope that is found in Kroway Street.
Jamila Cameron and her husband were two such people who
stumbled on Gamma Church at C two e two Chicago
Comic and Entertainment Expo. Jamila grew up in a conservative
Muslim home. Like Chad. She initially thought Gamma Church was amusing,

(08:32):
but took a copy of Jesus for the Win Anyway.
A year later, Jamila was going through a difficult time
and had this overwhelming sense that she was worthless and
didn't mean anything to anyone. One night, she went down
to her basement to get some alcohol to self medicate,
and unexpectedly found Jesus for the Win on top of
one of many sealed moving boxes. She picked it up

(08:54):
instead of the alcohol and started reading. She soon began
to weep as she realized that she meant something to someone, Jesus.
This moment started her and her husband on their journey
toward Kierroy Street. They have both now been baptized and
serve in a local church. Jamila and her husband recently
attended C two e two as missionaries, where they pointed

(09:16):
countless people to Chao Way Street. Gama Church is not
the only Christian organization that attends geek culture events. It's
not uncommon to find professing Christians outside conventions condemning people
for their hobbies. Recently, at Dragon Con in Atlanta, one
Christian organization used megaphones to shout angrily at people arriving

(09:37):
for the event. They even stopped a mom and her
two kids to tell her that she was damning her
kids to hell by bringing them. That's saying mom. Wand
up at Game Church booth, quietly reading Jesus for the
when mall or kids played board games with Gameachurch missionaries.
Why conventions matter. Matt Warmbier, missions coordinator of Game a

(09:58):
Church said, at convey inventions, nerds can feel like they
aren't outsiders. It sounds silly to say this because there
are eighty thousand plus people at these events, But Jesus
went to the outcasts and the people that were looked
down upon in society. The convention they attend each year
is one of the few places they feel welcome. Christians
should go because we care about people and we should

(10:20):
engage culture. We need to be where the people are.
Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a drunk
because he was intentional about spending time with lost people
so that he might radically transform them. Gaming and nerd
conventions represent a tremendous opportunity to eat and drink with
sinners and tax collectors Luke, seven thirty four. But we

(10:42):
will be accused of associating too closely with people who
don't align with the cloistered values of many Christians. We
are a nation of geeks and gamers. It's time to
count the cost and prayerfully consider what we as Christians
are going to do about that.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Thank you for listening to another episode from the Christian
Research Journal Reads podcast, which provides audio articles of Christian
Research Journal articles. If you go to equip dot org,
you will find a brand new article for the Christian
Research Journal published weekly. In addition, please subscribe to our
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(11:22):
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(11:44):
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(12:06):
Research Journal articles. That's e q U I P dot
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