The Bible offers a lot of information to take in. By the time you reach the end of the book, you’ve probably forgotten 75% of the detail from the beginning. This, of course, is not the fault of the message, but of the reader. As our attention spans get shorter, it’s becoming more and more difficult to contextualize the Bible as a whole.
Allow me to offer my thoughts on a possible study companion.
Every medium comes with its strengths and weaknesses, and video games are no different. I’d like to discuss how they could be great for Christians and everyone else.
- They’re fun. When a video game has nothing else to offer, this is what keeps bringing people back. We love video games, and the number of people that play them is increasing every year.
- Experience events “first hand”. There’s a big difference between being in a burning house and reading about a burning house in the newspaper. Instead of reading about Noah’s ark, the animals, and flood, you could now see the grand scale of the boat, witness all of the animals swarming into it, and watch as everything around you is annihilated by water. I would be willing to bet that many of us did not grasp the magnitude of this event just from reading about it. Video games can bring us one step closer to realizing how incredible this, and many other events in the Bible, really were.
- Context and connections can be emphasized. This is the biggest problem I’ve run into with reading a large amount of text. Even with references to past related verses, it’s difficult to see the big picture. By offering a “More Info” button whenever a reoccurring person or place is near, connections are immediately reinforced in the player’s mind. Imagine having a bank of information the size of Glo Bible‘s that you are unlocking as you work your way through the game. Now imagine having the ability to view it all sorted by time, topic, or location. Yeah, I think that would be pretty cool, too.
- Emotion is injected back into the text. My father once made the point that when we hear the Bible read, it often sounds quite a bit more bland than it actually is. One example of this would be in 1 Kings when an ecstatic Elijah mocks the prophets of Baal. I can just imagine him cracking up as he says, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!” Depending on who’s reading these lines, all of this emotion can quickly disappear.
- You don’t have to play the good guy. It’s no secret that the Word of God is meant to be shared with everyone. This is why it may almost be better to play the role of a conflicted soul. Imagine the game’s story is set during the time of Jesus. You’re an assassin, of course. The nature of your job causes you to travel a great deal. During your missions you here about this ‘Jesus’ character, and you’re even present for many of the key moments in his life story. Your final job lands you in Golgotha. You see the curtain tear, the earthquake, and the dead rise up. Wow, that’s intense!
A project this huge would require a lot of care, talent, and time. If it’s done right, we could have one of the most enriching, educational, and unifying experiences any of us have seen in quite some time. What do you think? Should this idea come to life or not?
The problem with this is that the Bible is not just a bunch of stories to learn and remember, because Christianity is not knowledge. Knowledge is a part of Christianity, but it that is not all Christianity is. Modern Evangelicalism doesn’t realize this. This is why you have pastors who go to great length to teach about some issue in a sermon, rather than preaching a sermon that may include some issue. Most evangelical sermons and church services as a whole have this attitude, that knowing the stories and learning the ways to apply it to your daily life is the most important thing. Rather than preaching Christ crucified. Or worse yet, they look for ways to make you experience the Bible subjectively, letting the experience and your interpretation of it dominate the objective reality of Scripture. (Ever since Ken Burns’ documentary on the Civil War, history has become subjective, such that there might not be historical fact, or even if there is, it doesn’t matter as much as the experience of people who lived it. True post modernism) Unfortunately this has infected Lutheran churches too. Knowing about Christ and what He did is different than having faith in what Christ has done.
http://biblia.com/bible/nkjv/Jas2.19
As far as your 5th point, emotion is injected back into the text…emotion is never really the point or what we look for in the Bible anyway. Now I think you can get a deeper appreciation from knowing the Bible more fully, for instance, as I take Greek and Hebrew, there are so many things that don’t come across in English. But to say that we can inject emotion in the text is a bit of a stretch. God’s Word works because it is the Word of God, not because of any emotional response we get. God’s Word by virtue of it being God’s Word, cannot work any better by a video game.
http://biblia.com/bible/nkjv/Heb4.12
http://biblia.com/bible/nkjv/Is55.11
http://biblia.com/bible/nkjv/Ro10.17
What we can do instead, is create things like this through our vocations. Through vocation, we live under the law and everything we would do or make would be by nature sinful, but since Christ has died and rose, he works through us so that we do good works for other people. Let’s do stuff for the good of other people, not because we are trying to help God out. I suggest we work against this post modern influence and create things that will actually represent the objective nature of God and His Word. See http://www.geneveith.com/ for talk on creativity, media, vocation, and religion.
Thanks for your input, Jeff! What you bring up in your second paragraph is key, as I believe a game like this would be almost entirely about gaining a deeper appreciation for the Word. I agree with you wholeheartedly about the fact that you don’t gain faith through an emotional response.
I’ll definitely check out that website, thanks!
i think a bible related video game would work.kids comprehend faster when they think they are having fun. it sounds like a good way toget the bible back into homes and lifestyles.
Been thinking more about the game idea, since my roommates are constantly playing games, and I think now that it can be a good teaching tool. I had forgotten about the Martin Luther video game (well, iPad game). I downloaded it a few months ago when it came out after the graphic novel, but I hadn’t opened it until a few days ago.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/echoes-of-the-hammer/id453591591?mt=8
If you were to seriously want to do a Bible video game, I think we could get CPH to fund it. They’ve got some good people working there, that 1, would enjoy making a game, and 2, I think could keep the game on focus.
Interesting! Do they really have that kind of talent available?
Not to make the game, but as they did with the app, they would go outside and contract a company to do it.
Very interesting, indeed. Thanks for the tip!