Geeks Under Grace: Romans 6:1-2

Romans 6
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

First of all let me say this: I don’t hate Geeks Under Grace. As a believer in Christ who also happens to be a nerd, I do appreciate the existence of a group that allows me to integrate these two interests of mine. However Geeks Under Grace has that pitfall typical of groups whose declared purpose is to bring people together. As seen in my “not polar opposites” series, declared Christians come in multiple flavors. Being a Christian group, those of the conservative slant tend to make up a fair number of the members. However, there are more than a few out spoken progressive believers in the group as well. I haven’t really gone out of my way to calculate the raw numbers numbers. Additionally, political topics tend to come up every once in a while. This isn’t new for Christian groups however, the efforts made to keep people “unified” are interesting to say the least.

As cliche as this sounds, there seems to be a bias in favor of those on the progressive side. It would seem that the more conservative or traditional members are more commonly reined in to avoid “bullying” the others. The progressive believers don’t really seem to require the protection as they make strong statements, yet they will shut down or change the subject when pressed “too far”. What’s interesting is this seems to effect most of the religious discussion in favor of the “geek” discourse. I haven’t seen this same moderation on the webpage for the group that I have seen for the Facebook page. The former does allow for more stronger differences of opinion. Despite this openness, however, the blog post also tends to have marginal “in name only” Christian themes. Such as praising Legend of Korra for the controversial ending or utilizing groups in the “M” rated Elder Scrolls V Skyrim (a favorite game of mine) as Christian example setters.

As I posted in the title of this post, geeks under grace seems to fit in to Paul’s message on grace in the book of Romans. The previous chapter was about how our salvation as Christians is through grace and faith alone and not by works. This sets up his introduction in Chapter 6. Paul rhetorically asks if we can continue to sin since God’s grace is what saves us. “By no means!” Both chapters state that we are dead to sin through the grace of God. As a result our lives are in Christ. A person living in Christ has no “use” or excuse for sin. Despite my complaints, and occasional Facebook deactivation, efforts are being made, perhaps subconsciously, in making the group more aware of it’s Christian roots. One of the members bravely used the group as an accountability outlet for his lust issues. Others have used the group for prayer requests, etc. Time will tell how much further this change will take place, but it’s obviously a step in the right direction.

Another lesser complaint I have in this group is that they constantly disparage Christian media. Much of that is actually justified, but some of it comes off as impulsive and  routine. Especially when they complain about the alleged lack of realism from the hypothetical film’s themes. Provide a positive example of a Christian film or at least provide an synopsis of what a good Christian movie should look like.