4 Things Church Can Learn From Geeks
As the Church continues its slow and laborious downward-turned death spiral, geek culture continues to boom! After just a little thought, it’s not hard to see why.
For the sake of transparency, I have a true confessions to make: This minister dabbles in geek culture. “Dabble” may be an understatement. It’s more like I bathe in the geeky goodness of the culture — much like Harry Potter’s face in a pensieve. While there’s plenty to denounce about geek culture (like sexism, just to name one), there’s also plenty the Church can learn from it.
I won’t actually go as far as to say that there was a misquote in the Bible, and it should have read, “The geek shall inherit the Earth,” but maybe it’s something worth looking into? In that same tongue planted firmly in cheek kind of spirit, for your consideration, I give you “4 Things Church Can Learn From Geeks.”
1. Include. Don’t exclude.
Community matters and the more inclusive the community is the more resourceful and broader reaching it can be. Geeks get this intrinsically. The Church? Not so much. You are sometimes more likely to hear church folk quoting Jesus saying, “I am the way,” in order to exclude someone, than you are to hear them quote him saying, “Judge not,” in order to include them. We should take a cue from my geek brethren on this one.
2. Other paradigms make the world better not frightening.
Just try telling a “Vampire Diaries“ geek that vampires can eat human food. “Um, no they can’t.” Put them in conversation with a “Twilight“ fan and then they are all, “Yeah, I can totally get that.” Conversely, tell a Baptist that you can sprinkle water on the head for a baptism, and they’ll tell you “Um, no you can’t.” Put them into a conversation with a Presbyterian and then they are all, “You are so wrong.” Geeks get that their fandom matters more than the dogma — even though the dogma matters. Speaking of which…
3. Dogma is for guidance not final formation.
We church folk sometimes let the dogma get in the way of the destination. It’s so easy to get caught up in the rules and regulations to the point that they become the end all be all — even when they sometimes run counter to key teachings of Jesus. Geeks don’t. For them while the dogma is good and even life giving, when it is getting in the way of the bigger story or even the larger community, they have no problem getting a dogma transfusion. Time Lords never break the First Law of Time — except when they do.
4. Be obsessive — not obnoxious.
There’s nothing wrong with geeking out over something. It’s actually really, really good (and a lot of fun to boot), and in some ways church folk have been quite good at this. I mean, just ask a life-long church goer what it means to be “saved.” They will go on and on and on about Jesus and the crucifixion and sin and salvation and they won’t let up — even if you ask them to stop. You know, on second thought, don’t ask them about it. You see, there is a difference between obsessing over something and being obnoxious about it. No means no. Learn where the line is.
For the sake of transparency, I have a true confessions to make: This minister dabbles in geek culture. “Dabble” may be an understatement. It’s more like I bathe in the geeky goodness of the culture — much like Harry Potter’s face in a pensieve. While there’s plenty to denounce about geek culture (like sexism, just to name one), there’s also plenty the Church can learn from it.
I won’t actually go as far as to say that there was a misquote in the Bible, and it should have read, “The geek shall inherit the Earth,” but maybe it’s something worth looking into? In that same tongue planted firmly in cheek kind of spirit, for your consideration, I give you “4 Things Church Can Learn From Geeks.”
1. Include. Don’t exclude.
Community matters and the more inclusive the community is the more resourceful and broader reaching it can be. Geeks get this intrinsically. The Church? Not so much. You are sometimes more likely to hear church folk quoting Jesus saying, “I am the way,” in order to exclude someone, than you are to hear them quote him saying, “Judge not,” in order to include them. We should take a cue from my geek brethren on this one.
2. Other paradigms make the world better not frightening.
Just try telling a “Vampire Diaries“ geek that vampires can eat human food. “Um, no they can’t.” Put them in conversation with a “Twilight“ fan and then they are all, “Yeah, I can totally get that.” Conversely, tell a Baptist that you can sprinkle water on the head for a baptism, and they’ll tell you “Um, no you can’t.” Put them into a conversation with a Presbyterian and then they are all, “You are so wrong.” Geeks get that their fandom matters more than the dogma — even though the dogma matters. Speaking of which…
3. Dogma is for guidance not final formation.
We church folk sometimes let the dogma get in the way of the destination. It’s so easy to get caught up in the rules and regulations to the point that they become the end all be all — even when they sometimes run counter to key teachings of Jesus. Geeks don’t. For them while the dogma is good and even life giving, when it is getting in the way of the bigger story or even the larger community, they have no problem getting a dogma transfusion. Time Lords never break the First Law of Time — except when they do.
4. Be obsessive — not obnoxious.
There’s nothing wrong with geeking out over something. It’s actually really, really good (and a lot of fun to boot), and in some ways church folk have been quite good at this. I mean, just ask a life-long church goer what it means to be “saved.” They will go on and on and on about Jesus and the crucifixion and sin and salvation and they won’t let up — even if you ask them to stop. You know, on second thought, don’t ask them about it. You see, there is a difference between obsessing over something and being obnoxious about it. No means no. Learn where the line is.
by MARK SANDLIN
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