A Quick Reflection on Gaming and God

I love playing RPG’s (Role Playing Games). For some reason RPG’s just haven’t gotten boring, despite the age old storyline.

I wonder what it would be like if there was a Christianity RPG out there. I know of infamously bad videogame titles (such as Noah’s Ark which is all too similar to Shining Force 1 and Doom), but theoretically, who wouldn’t want to play as Jesus slaying demonic forces, healing allies, and having an ultimate showdown with the Roman authorities…but wait, what about the cross? I’m sure there could be a cool showdown with hell fiends or something like that to attain the resurrection.

Is this how people actually see Jesus. In many atonement theories, Jesus triumphs over the devil or tricks the devil into losing. Is he the action hero who slays evil to unlock his destiny? Is this really who what we take atonement and the cross to mean? Jesus’ life and ministry go so much further than what happened between the cross and resurrection. The memory of Jesus pushes us to go further than that place too. Should we as Christians really linger at that point?

I don’t think Jesus should be important because of the theoretical place where he was between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Something about that time was important to be sure, because it allowed for the manifestation of the resurrected Christ to be present in the lives of his followers. But the atoning death in the sense that Jesus used it to beat up his enemies goes against his own words and ideas concerning how one should others. I don’t think there could really be an effective RPG Jesus with its usual storyline.

What if we redefined RPG from Role Playing Game to “Re-Presenting God”? Now we’re talking.

Until Next Friday!

P.S. Good luck and have fun to our magnificent Luther Bowl team!