Category Archive: Jaime Nava

God Mode

By Jaime Nava –

Growing up playing games on a PC, you learn certain tricks. Some games have console commands you usually access by hitting the “~” key (called a tilde, if you didn’t know). If you’re savvy enough, you can use these console commands in single-player games to give yourself all kinds of goodies. You can add millions of gold to your stash. You can give yourself that item you needed to get past the hurdle in the game. One thing I recall doing in my younger days is playing in god mode. What does this mean? It means that you never get hurt and never run out of resources. You are invincible. You become godlike.

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Sacrament-Shaped Hole

By Jaime Nava –

For the forgiveness of sins: that’s why we Lutherans have the Sacraments. We’re not talking man-made ordinances, either, like we’re accused of. Peter twice says that Baptism saves us (Acts 2:38, 1 Peter 3:21). Paul says that we are buried with Christ in Baptism and will also have His resurrection (Romans 6:4-7). He says that Baptism is now circumcision (you know, the thing babies didn’t choose at eight days old), not of the flesh but of the heart, not by man but by Christ Himself (Colossians 2:11-12). Confession and Absolution is also clear in the Bible. Whatever those men placed into the Pastoral Office forgive or don’t forgive has the same effect in heaven (John 20:21-23). This means you can expect to hear that you are forgiven the moment you confess your sins. We are also taught that we have koinonia in the cup we drink and bread we partake of in the Lord’s Supper. We have the forgiveness of sins, as Jesus said (Matthew 26:26-28). So let’s be clear. God gives tangible things that provide forgiveness that is felt, tasted, heard and not some floating mystical holy “maybeness” of emotion.

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Christian, Go!

By Jaime Nava –

Is our time outbid by yet one more thing? If you haven’t seen anything about Pokémon Go, then you’re not reading this article, because you live in a gopher hole. It’s literally everywhere. We’ve already had two articles about it on our own Jagged Word. Here’s another one. This game is consuming hours of people’s lives. It’s been involved in a collision with a police vehicle. People are finding dead bodies (and here) playing this game. Two idiots fell off a cliff dashing to find a pretend being. I’m sure you’ve seen all these things in your feeds. It’s flippin’ everywhere.

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Playing Nice 2016

By Jaime Nava –

Voting on mustaches and hearing weirdos compare the benefit of a resolution to a bag of bacon might seem like a waste of time to some people. It’s not. I didn’t expect to laugh so hard from the convention floor this week. Coming to tears with laughter reveals something about our church body. Although we’re doing serious work, we’re not taking ourselves too seriously. I think it’s a reflection of knowing we’re sinners who are forgiven, and that’s pretty cool.

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Vote or Shut Up

By Jaime Nava –

There’s a lot of voting going on this year. For Missouri-Synod members at the Convention, we’ll be voting on a multitude, even a plethora, of resolutions and positions. I’m on my way there now. The deacon thing is sure to be a hot topic. So is that constitutional thing I got all the propaganda about from that megachurch near the Purple Palace. I’m sure every convention has its hot topic. Let’s not forget the circus, err, election coming up for the United States (as if you could). We’ve got Donald Drumpf posing as a Republican, kinda like Gov. Arnold did here in KAH-LEE-FORRR-NYAA. Then you’ve got Hillary, who didn’t get in trouble because she’s basically not an ordinary citizen, I guess? There’re some others, sure, but overall, it looks to be a loser of an election and a loser Supreme Court nomination term, as well. Great.

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Culture’s Large Catechism

By Jaime Nava –

According to this 2011 report, 0.2 to 0.3 percent of Americans consider themselves transgender. As percentages go, that’s not a big number. Our country loves to lift up the strong minority for the sake of some cause or another. Since gay marriage has passed, folks are now clamoring to support a new and shiny minority. I’m not saying that transgender people don’t face their issues. These are people who feel what is tangible isn’t really real. Anorexics feel the same way, too. They have their struggles and need support as anyone who feels that their body isn’t their reality. Interestingly, many feminists are finding issues with the transgender movement, as well.

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Post-Seminary Vicarage

By Jaime Nava –

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years. This quote, attributed to Mark Twain by many, sums me up so completely. In high school, I thought I had things nailed down. In undergrad, I found it difficult to think that I could learn any more than I already had. Even in my beginning years of seminary, I felt like I had a pretty good handle on knowing. This satirical article could have been me.

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Dare to Compare

By Jaime Nava –

A pastor friend posted on Facebook that a religion’s beliefs are in line with their founder. So someone calling themselves a Buddhist will follow Gautama Buddha and his teachings. Christians find themselves following Christ. Do Muslims follow the teachings of Muhammed, and do those teachings contain the violence we have seen from recent attacks? Fort Hood saw the deaths of 13 when a psychiatrist proclaimed “Allah Akbar” in 2009. The Boston Marathon was attacked by religiously motivated Chechen Muslims, killing 3 and maiming or injuring another 264 in 2013. San Bernardino suffered the deaths of 14 and another 17 injured at the end of 2015. Now we have Orlando with 49 dead and 53 injured. Are these people claiming to follow the teachings of the Koran, or are they on the fringe?

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Sim Universe?

By Jaime Nava –

Imagine your life was created as a test. All the decisions you made were a part of a grand scheme put together by an intelligent designer. Each fork in the road you chose would have consequences written in. In the end, everything was tallied and inspected almost like a lab rat in a maze. Sounds like some twisted religion doesn’t it? Or what if your life was a game instead. The decisions you make are one cog in a giant machine that is churning out hilarity or sadness, not for you, but for someone who is playing this colossal game with you as a character inside. The world would be a giant sandbox that you were allowed to thrive or starve in. Sounds possibly more cruel than the lab rat’s existence.

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Blessed Earth

By Jaime Nava –

My wife is waddling around with our second child in her womb. She is in full glow. It boggles me to consider how amazing it is to have a human being growing in inside another. Yet, it happens every day. It is common. There are those who would carelessly destroy such a gift. There are those who would profit on the same death. Yet, as little as some consider that tender life and despite how common it is, it retains all the mystery of God sustaining the human race.

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