Gaming For Eternity

HOW VIDEO GAMES HINT AT THE BIGGER STORY WE’RE MADE FOR

Why is it that when we play video games, we rarely feel the same anxieties that cause us to fear or procrastinate, to slack off at our jobs or blow off our homework? The answer seems obvious–one could say “video games don’t have real life consequences!” or “real life is just more boring!”  

Psychologists explain why video games are so addictive. Our brains seem to be wired for rewards, and when we play and overcome challenges in games, we get that sweet dopamine far sooner and more easily than we do when it comes to overcoming challenges in real life, with zero real risk.  

Games (video games or even non-video games like Dungeons & Dragons) offer a form of entertainment that is much more immersive and generally has a more enthralling effect than simply reading a fiction novel or bingeing a Netflix series. Games seem to engage our mind and senses in a way that is impossible with only music or only text or only visuals, precisely because video games are a meta-medium that strive to combine classical mediums into an overall immersive experience.  

But is this immersion element really that evil? To be clear, the Bible doesn’t condemn enjoyment or entertainment when put in its proper priority. So, are Christians allowed to enjoy playing these kinds of games? There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, it depends on you.  

LONGING FOR FREEDOM  

It seems like you could play eight straight hours of Minecraft and feel like barely any time has passed, while an eight-hour day of digging holes as a construction worker would leave us grateful when it’s finally over. When video games are simply brushed off as “a waste of time” or seen as a lesser medium of entertainment compared to something like classical music or old cinema, it misses the deeper desires that gaming reveals. The key to figuring out why that is is staring us right in the face: we’re longing for more, because we’re made for more, and we’re discovering a picture of that in video games.   

Most of us would say we’re normal, boring, mundane people. We’re not armor-clad dragon slayers or musclebound silent soldiers on a solo mission; we’re burger flippers and email jockeys, or real-life hole diggers. As such, when we felt the freedom we experienced when we made our first RPG character and stepped out into a brand-new fantasy world ready to be discovered, that freedom was real in some sense. Those moments in games feel like we were made for them. In some way, they give us a shortcut to satisfy the craving for risk and adventure we were made to experience, without the cost of actual risk and pain, or in a word: without the cost of a real adventure.  

There’s something about games in their immersive nature that seems to point to something in the world that isn’t but feels like it should be. Freedom is that something.  

THIS IS NOT A GAME  

God is relevant in this discussion when we realize video games show us that this longing for freedom points us to the reality of Jesus Christ, angels, demons, heaven, hell, and real dragons. The more video games, role playing, and fantasy media and stories that are created, the more it becomes obvious that this reality is deeply imprinted on our collective psyche. Throughout history, Christianity has given us a taste of true freedom that only Jesus’ return will finally conclude. Literature, songs, and now many modern video games have largely all been reflections of that reality we’re longing for. The stories they capture follow the same formula as the grand, true story of Jesus: we’re stuck in a hopeless, decaying society until a hero emerges to save the day. 

Here’s the good news, and it’s the hope that all Christians share: there’s a coming of a New Heaven and a New Earth where there’s limitless life without death, endless exploration, purpose and mission, infinite expression of creativity and beauty, and ultimately a world of fun work without painful toil, and best of all – knowing our Creator face to face as a friend and coworker. All the adventure, immersion, and all free from the fear of risk and brokenness. Gamers rejoice!  

This hope is made possible because despite a real dragon (Satan) deceiving and enslaving God’s creation, God truly loved His creation and the people He made to rule over it. Since God’s people are deceived into turning away from Him and loving their sin instead, they’re unable to stop sinning. If the story ended there, we would be doomed because God’s perfect justice means sin must be punished. But, to thwart the dragon, God built a contingency into His creation plan to act upon His other attribute of perfect mercy to save His people. He came as a man (Jesus) and lived among His creation, teaching the few around Him His ways.   

But not only that, His plan was ultimately to die at the hands of the people the dragon had deceived. In doing so, God would take the place of the people who turned away from him. He’d fulfill His attribute of perfect justice by paying the righteous penalty of sin Himself, for all people, for all time. This is to fulfill and reveal His attribute of perfect mercy. Why? So that God could redeem His creation by showing all people that He’s ultimately good, and that He could relate to them, having been in their shoes.   

As a result, some people would see that God’s plan all along was to create a free world with free people who would freely love God. Now those people can turn to follow God into a new life in His New Creation, without the dragon and its ultimately deceived lackeys. Right now, it’s the Christian’s job to make God’s plan known, so that those who hear can listen and find God, to be freed from the dragon’s snare.  

COUNTING THE COST  

Satan, the dragon, will ultimately lose in a final battle with God and will burn forever in a lake of fire prepared for him and those he succeeded in bringing down with him. But this isn’t Final Fantasy. It’s the Bible, and it’s real life. And the risk? For the Christian, i.e. the freed people–any loss or defeat is worked into victory by God, who continues to beat the dragon at his own game enacting perfect justice and perfect mercy every moment until He comes back for His people. There’s virtually zero risk when you’re assured that extra life. But without that, well, that’s game-over without any continues.  

Admittedly, that’s pretty daunting, especially since we’re talking about real life now. It’s understandable to want to flee from that stark reality by escaping into a video game where nothing can hurt you. Being a Christian is hard. Jesus promises blessing and reward for following Him, but not necessarily riches or career success in this game of life, here and now. Instead, as part of following Him, He promises persecution and potential loss of career, family, friends, and possessions. So, there’s real risk in the short term. But factor in the eternal term, and as the Apostle Paul puts it, “I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” That is, count the cost of entering this game.  

In the end, Jesus didn’t die so we could continue to be enslaved to the dragon’s lies. We know the beginning and end of this story, and if you’re a Christian then you have the equipment and the opportunity to go on the lifelong quest to advance God’s kingdom. That’s true freedom. God wants all people to get on His side, the winning side. He wants all people to know Him and His plan of creation, redemption, and new creation. Those of us that turned to follow Him into the new creation have this life to invite more people into this story. So, we could waste our days glued to a screen, longing for more, or we could take up our sword and take a risk for God, knowing that even when we fail, we don’t lose.