Category Archive: The Dual Wielder

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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Mashing Buttons

By Jaime Nava –

There was this game I remember playing on the SNES. It’s called “Out of This World.” The art in it was fun to watch, and the story was interesting. You were this guy that ended up on an alien world. Captured by aliens, you try to break free. There is no English spoken, as the game goes on, so the player is as clueless as the character being played. There’s this one scene where you end up in an alien tank. There’re no instructions. There’s no clue as to what you’re supposed to do, so you just try everything. You just mash down on the buttons hoping something will happen. The game expects that kind of reaction, and eventually you create enough havoc to save yourself. It’s cleverly done.

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Don’t Feed The Trolls

By Jaime Nava –

What Is An Internet Troll?

I remember sitting in a chatroom on AOL back in the day when AOL had chatrooms  (Do they still? I don’t know). The computer would make its loud dial up squeals and the wide world of chatrooms was at my fingertips. You could pick a username of any stripe. You could join a plethora of chatrooms. I recall one occasion where I joined the French speaking room. I didn’t know French (and still don’t). I remember grabbing a shampoo bottle from the bathroom with the directions for washing one’s hair. It was in French. So I typed out the directions in this French chat room. People found themselves rather unhappy at my intrusion. It fueled my delight. This, ladies and gentlemen, is an internet troll.

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The Church Will Suffer, and I’m Okay with That

By Jaime Nava –

The United States feels like it’s in a tail spin, at least to me. More than likely, I think the next president will be a goon. Subjective morality has become the local truth which is no truth at all without absolute truth. Socialism is the glimmer in the eye of so many millennials now. We’re setting ourselves up for the same wall that Germany and Russia ran into. First, we’ll try to be great one last time only to get kicked in the nuts as a nation. Next, we’ll sulk and blame the old ways for all the troubles. Following that will be a leader who promises to send us to greatness. He’ll do this with total control because the people want him to have it. With each and every step, the church will be relegated to a room, then a corner, then finally kicked out.

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