Geek Philosophers

The whisper of robes and the gentle scraping of sandals on marbled tiles announces the group’s arrival.  Four men enter, three locals escorting the fourth who is dressed in clothing given him in Berea.  The three send the foreigner forward to the middle of the Aeropagus. He steps forward, a prayer on his lips and the confidence of the Holy Spirit spurring him onward to the dais.  Around him, the faces of philosophers and theologians and politicians reflect a myriad of questions.  Some even recognize the stranger in their midst.

One leans to another, scorn a mural on his face.  “Who is this man?  Have we not seen him in the temple district preaching near the Agnostos Theos?”

“A babbler, like all the rest of his kind.  A Hebrew zealot, nothing more.” The other responds. He waves a hand in the newcomer’s direction dismissing him in his own mind.  But others in the gathering are curious.  He shrugs and calls down from his seat.  “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean?”

Another man in the amphitheater grins like a mountain cat, preparing all his vast arsenal of clawing logic and biting rhetoric.  At the first sign of weakness, he would pounce on this propagator of foreign gods and rip his backwater customs to shreds!

The foreign man, the Hebrew, stands boldly before them, every bit the posture of a wizened philosopher.  Among the gathering of Athenians and other foreigners who spent their time talking about the newest ideas of logic and thought, the name “Paul” is whispered like a quiet wind.

“People of Athens!  I see that in every way you are very religious.  For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription – ‘To an Unknown God’.  It seems to me that you are ignorant of the very thing you worship…”

A bristling of offense heats the crowd, the mountain cat’s grin broadens and he stands with a few of his brethren, ready to unleash a torrent of logic to cause this Hebrew to shrink in humiliation.  He raises a hand for silence, a gesture many in his section of seating knew meant to yield him the floor, but the mountain cat realizes quickly that it is not before his commanding presence the cacophony recedes.  No, it is the man standing on the dais below.  The Hebrew zealot… Somehow he is bringing the room to silence.  The mountain lion readies to leap into the silence, but finds he cannot speak.  Something stirs within his midsection commanding him to listen.

“This is what I am going to proclaim to you.” The Hebrew continues.  “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.  From one man he made all nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times and history and the boundaries of their lands…”

——————————————————-

Paul continues, calling upon the gathering of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers to cast aside their preconceptions and turn to Christ.  A difficult sale when it comes to the audience, right?  These Greeks have been living a life of self-fulfillment and building their confidence upon a foundation of enlightened thought.  Yet Paul had spent a good bit of time in Greece; ranging from Thessalonica to Athens.  Not to mention the influence of Greek culture that was ingrained in societies all along his missionary road.  Then through the perfect plan of God, his sandals found themselves before the “Agnostos Theos” – greek for the Unknown God.  All these years on the road, preaching the Good News, Paul was now in Athens, the center of Greek culture and thought.  The Word was going to be a hard sell to the general populace of the city who followed dozens of leading thinkers and philosophers and ready-made gods in order to find their fulfillment in life.

So Paul did what Paul always did, he listened to the Holy Spirit, he took into scope the road behind and he recognized the present where his feet were planted.  Paul recognized his audience.  He didn’t launch into a glowing preamble lauding the glory of empire or of history.  No, he focused on what drove the gears of Athens; logic and debate.

The above takes place in Acts 17.  A great testimony of preparation and recognizing one’s audience when evangelizing.  I’ve been involved over the past 20 years with assorted gaming groups.  Over that time I’ve come to a conclusion…one that some may not like but has to be stated; Gamers can be a pack of know-it-alls!!

Okay, okay, stop throwing dice and chips and salsa at my head.  I include myself in the above statement.  If we all take a deep breath and think on it, it’s kind of true, right?  In preparation for a game, perhaps a new character or a growing character, we can go to great lengths to learn more about the genre in which the character is playing.  This way we know the right language to toss into the mix, or we can respond to just how a dirk is meant for piercing and not for slashing…or maybe a Tommy-gun isn’t the best choice for an Investigator when faced with a flying polyp.  Then there’s the gobs of reading that goes along with those of the Geek culture. The information packed into our heads can be staggering!  Everytime I sit down and watch Jeopardy with my wife she keeps asking me how I know the stuff so frequently.  “I read it somewhere,” goes my normal reply, a little goblin of smugness doing backflips in recesses of my mind.

Being a know-it-all certainly isn’t true for all gamers, this I know.  Especially when I’m writing from the microcosm that is the RPG world.  I can console jockey from time to time, but more frequently would be an embarrassment to myself and to my good friend’s 6 year old by way of competition.  The point I’m making is know your road and know your audience!

God placed us into this culture not just to enjoy gaming, but to merge the choice we made in Christ with the people he put within our sphere.  Our road through “Greece” has prepared us uniquely for witnessing to what can be a very difficult crowd.  The folks around the table are friends, sometime family, and most likely Geek to the core.  A table of Geek Philosophers who may or may not be open to the Gospel. With Paul, he gave a great speech in the Areopagus, some ignored him, some listened.  Some even went so far as to pose questions and to delve deeper about Christ.

Whether you’ve read the Book of Acts before or not at all, I encourage you to dive into it with fresh eyes.  Look at it from the standpoints of the audiences to whom Paul and the others preached.  Look at Paul and Silas, thrown in prison (Acts 16: 16-34) but singing their hearts out for the praises of God.  It reached the jailor and then that man’s family in a powerful way.  He’d seen the misery most dwelt within while incarcerated, but these

Christians were different.  Their singing spoke to him.  Then the message to the Bereans, speaking to their inquisitive, bookish natures.  Then to the Athenian philosophers; appealing to logic and evidence.  You have an idol to an “unknown god”, why can’t it be God, the father and creator of all?  Even your own poets wrote of Him!

There’s a treasure trove of methods and tactics available to you in those pages.  Seek it out, study it and learn from the masters.  Know your audience!  Let the Holy Spirit help you recognize that your place as a Christian at that table is of utmost importance!

Until next time, brave sojourners!