Religious faith in videogames

[dsheinem]

The Bible encourages believers to have a knowledge-based faith, built upon sound biblical doctrine. Thoughts otherwise are simply misinterpretations or lack of understanding of doctrine (which is usually the case with shock-value/low substance atheist lit like Dawkins).

Even though he comes off as somewhat of a prick, I'm familiar enough with Dawkins' work to want to defend him here.

Shock value aside (he's not that shocking, really), he essentially is arguing for people to leave behind superstitious explanations for how the world works and instead base their knowledge on, well, our actual knowledge of the world (as gained through science). "Knowledge-based faith built upon biblical doctrine" causes too many people to hold on to creationism, miracle healing, and the like. Surely you are not advocating this?

[MrPopo]

Contrary to common misperception, Christianity is not about blind faith or belief without evidence. We are encouraged analyze and put everything to the test!
-"Test everything. Hold on to the good". (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
-"The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge." (Proverbs 18:15)
-"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD (Isaiah 1:18)36

The Bible encourages believers to have a knowledge-based faith, built upon sound biblical doctrine. Thoughts otherwise are simply misinterpretations or lack of understanding of doctrine (which is usually the case with shock-value/low substance atheist lit like Dawkins).

Your confusing the Bible with Christianity. It's a common mistake.

No, actually I'm providing some verses that I thought someone had asked for.

Explain what you mean though. How have you arrived at your conclusion of what Christianity is to you, ME, or even the majority of Christians or non-Christians?

I'll preface this by saying I was raised Jewish, not Christian. From my experience with people who really identify themselves as Christian, as opposed to those who were raised going to church, those who identify as Christians do not go by everything that's in the Bible. Christianity is an instutition designed to provide guidance and comfort to people and uses the Bible as a source of inspiration for its views. But as far as I've seen no one actually follows everything in the Bible. One church is against homosexuality and another accepts it (both of the same denomination sometimes), and both can find support in the Bible depending on where you look.

The Bible encourages believers to have a knowledge-based faith, built upon sound biblical doctrine.

Contradiction of terms. To have faith means that there isn't knowledge to back up your feeling.

[neilwron]

One church is against homosexuality and another accepts it (both of the same denomination sometimes), and both can find support in the Bible depending on where you look.

One thing I'll never get is how people can give so much credence to a book that contradicts itself.

[Inazuma]

I'm a Christian, so I really have some serious moral conflicts when playing games that have religion [especially Christianity] placed in a noticeably negative light. For example, I just was trying out Bayonetta, and I really, REALLY didn't feel comfortable playing it. What should I do if a game contradicts, and maybe even insults my beliefs? Worse, what if the game is actually very well-made, and otherwise enjoyable to play? Now, I don't want to be one of those people who makes a big fuss about a game just because of its' content, but this has been bothering me for a very long time, and I honestly don't know how to deal with it. Should I just not play the games, and possibly miss out on a good game, or should I just always regard it as total fiction? Or, is rationalization of the obvious just as bad as playing it at all? I want to play the SMT series, I want to play Grandia 2, and I want to play Bayonetta. But, I don't feel like it's right for me to do so. I want some other people's input on this; what should I do? Do I know they're bad games, and I'm just looking for an excuse, or am I just over-thinking a work of fiction?

That doesn't make sense. Either you are a Christian with a perfect, problem free life, or you aren't. You can't have it both ways.

Let me explain. Christians can pray to God and he will answer their prayers. So... whenever a problem comes up (or better yet, before that), you simply pray to God to have a perfect life in every way possible. So if you happen to play a game that is not perfection to you, a quick prayer would fix that right up. And while you are enjoying that perfect game, if you get hungry, instead of taking a break to eat a sandwich, you can pray to God to modify your body so you don't require food to survive. Great, isn't it?

*disclaimer*
I don't actually believe in religion. I am a smart, rational person who is able to tell the difference between reality and fairy tales. When I get sick, instead of asking God to cure me, I visit a doctor.

[dlmvii]

I'm a Christian, so I really have some serious moral conflicts when playing games that have religion [especially Christianity] placed in a noticeably negative light. For example, I just was trying out Bayonetta, and I really, REALLY didn't feel comfortable playing it. What should I do if a game contradicts, and maybe even insults my beliefs? Worse, what if the game is actually very well-made, and otherwise enjoyable to play? Now, I don't want to be one of those people who makes a big fuss about a game just because of its' content, but this has been bothering me for a very long time, and I honestly don't know how to deal with it. Should I just not play the games, and possibly miss out on a good game, or should I just always regard it as total fiction? Or, is rationalization of the obvious just as bad as playing it at all? I want to play the SMT series, I want to play Grandia 2, and I want to play Bayonetta. But, I don't feel like it's right for me to do so. I want some other people's input on this; what should I do? Do I know they're bad games, and I'm just looking for an excuse, or am I just over-thinking a work of fiction?

That doesn't make sense. Either you are a Christian with a perfect, problem free life, or you aren't. You can't have it both ways.

Let me explain. Christians can pray to God and he will answer their prayers. So... whenever a problem comes up (or better yet, before that), you simply pray to God to have a perfect life in every way possible. So if you happen to play a game that is not perfection to you, a quick prayer would fix that right up. And while you are enjoying that perfect game, if you get hungry, instead of taking a break to eat a sandwich, you can pray to God to modify your body so you don't require food to survive. Great, isn't it?

*disclaimer*
I don't actually believe in religion. I am a smart, rational person who is able to tell the difference between reality and fairy tales. When I get sick, instead of asking God to cure me, I visit a doctor.

I follow the same set of non beliefs that you do. But nobody is going to listen to you if you are so abrasive. Though I know you and multiple others have had this conversation before.

@lisalover1
You can't get so defensive if something you see conflicts with beliefs that you have. Other people have different ways of looking at religion - if you think all opinions but those of christianity are wrong, then I guess you really shouldn't expose yourself to them. Plus, it's not like Bayonetta is trying to turn you over to the devil. It's just a game.

[kgcarini]

That doesn't make sense. Either you are a Christian with a perfect, problem free life, or you aren't. You can't have it both ways.

Let me explain. Christians can pray to God and he will answer their prayers. So... whenever a problem comes up (or better yet, before that), you simply pray to God to have a perfect life in every way possible. So if you happen to play a game that is not perfection to you, a quick prayer would fix that right up. And while you are enjoying that perfect game, if you get hungry, instead of taking a break to eat a sandwich, you can pray to God to modify your body so you don't require food to survive. Great, isn't it?

*disclaimer*
I don't actually believe in religion. I am a smart, rational person who is able to tell the difference between reality and fairy tales. When I get sick, instead of asking God to cure me, I visit a doctor.

*disclaimer*
I am a stupid, irrational person who is NOT able to tell the difference between reality and fairy tales. When I get sick, instead of visiting a doctor, I ask God to cure me.

*disclaimer**disclaimer*
I am a person that believes that there is more to life than me. I can tell the difference between reality and fairy tales. When I get sick, I visit a doctor AND pray for God to heal me and/or guide the doctor to use his God given ablities to heal me.

[Original_Name]

SMT: Strange Journey is very clearly a battle between the forces of God and the forces of Lucifer (and they call out God specifically). It'd be fun to see if they ever made a remake to SMT2, where you get to kill God.

That's not God, it's YHWH.

I thought it was hilarious that SMT2 had a disclaimer stating that likenesses to real world belief systems in the game were coincidental.

YHWH (Pronounced "Yah-weh") is the title of the God of Israel as worshipped by ancient Hebrews and Israelites - the God himself, YHWH, is actually the same deity as the Judeo-Christian deity we know today, only viewed from a slightly more "mordern" perspective.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahwism

...which makes it all the more hilarious that they would claim only a coincidental likeness to real-world belief systems.

[Original_Name]

Pertaining more directly to the topic though, I can't think of many video games which directly tackle the issue of religion while still being a truly effective video gaming experience. What I mean by that is that while I consider JRPG's to be enjoyable to play, their nasty problem with linearity will make you wonder why you're playing a video game in the first place from time to time -- so the linear likes of Xenogears, Grandia 2, and Shin Megami Tensai (at least I assume - I've never played one) are out, whether they're fun and interesting or not.

The primary concern of video games as an aritistic medium is the effective utilization of video games' ability to accurately portray the illusion of choice (or, conversely, to take that choice away in order to make a point). So too is the dilemma with religion - do you choose to place your faith in it despite the lack of solid, unquestionable proof, or do you opt for the Socratic method of wisdom and put your soul at risk, so to speak?

I of course acknowledge that there are tomes of video games that I've yet to play (and even more that I simply will never play or may never even hear of), so I'm certain my data is lacking, but the only game I can think of which explores both religion and choice EFFECTIVELY is Black & White. Unfortunately, it explores the side of the religious coin that is not of actual human concern -- the choices and personality of the deity itself. Black & White explores what you as a human being would do in the shoes of a deity, which is an incredibly interesting and introspective experience, but not entirely relevant to the human dilemma of whether or not to have faith in something that your primary senses are not able to detect.

I remember when playing Morrowind I did the entire set of Religious Guild missions, and was surprised to find that no great tests of morality were brought forward. There was never a mission that commanded me to "Kill that guy because he's a threat to the church!" or anything of that nature, but I did run a few errands and go on happy pilgrimages and so forth. Also: does anyone remember if Seaman ever asked about religion? I remember he asked me a question about politics, and even delved rather deeply into philosophy when I told him that I didn't think he was real, but I can't recall if religion came up or not. It's been nearly a decade since I played it... I'm sure he would've had something interesting to say about it.

Anyway, can anyone think of a video game that effectively explores religious faith through offering choices on how to react to the subject?

[BoringSupreez]

SMT: Strange Journey is very clearly a battle between the forces of God and the forces of Lucifer (and they call out God specifically). It'd be fun to see if they ever made a remake to SMT2, where you get to kill God.

That's not God, it's YHWH.

I thought it was hilarious that SMT2 had a disclaimer stating that likenesses to real world belief systems in the game were coincidental.

YHWH (Pronounced "Yah-weh") is the title of the God of Israel as worshipped by ancient Hebrews and Israelites - the God himself, YHWH, is actually the same deity as the Judeo-Christian deity we know today, only viewed from a slightly more "mordern" perspective.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahwism

...which makes it all the more hilarious that they would claim only a coincidental likeness to real-world belief systems.

Calling God in the game YHWH and claiming the resemblance is coincidental is like making a game with an evil dictator with a Charlie Chaplin mustache named Hitler, and then claiming the resemblance is coincidental.

Also: does anyone remember if Seaman ever asked about religion? I remember he asked me a question about politics, and even delved rather deeply into philosophy when I told him that I didn't think he was real, but I can't recall if religion came up or not. It's been nearly a decade since I played it... I'm sure he would've had something interesting to say about it.

Anyway, can anyone think of a video game that effectively explores religious faith through offering choices on how to react to the subject?

That reminds me: I still haven't gotten around to buying that yet. Sounds good, I need to stop procrastinating.

[MrPopo]

SMT: Strange Journey is very clearly a battle between the forces of God and the forces of Lucifer (and they call out God specifically). It'd be fun to see if they ever made a remake to SMT2, where you get to kill God.

That's not God, it's YHWH.

I thought it was hilarious that SMT2 had a disclaimer stating that likenesses to real world belief systems in the game were coincidental.

YHWH (Pronounced "Yah-weh") is the title of the God of Israel as worshipped by ancient Hebrews and Israelites - the God himself, YHWH, is actually the same deity as the Judeo-Christian deity we know today, only viewed from a slightly more "mordern" perspective.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahwism

...which makes it all the more hilarious that they would claim only a coincidental likeness to real-world belief systems.

That's just boilerplate "we're not ACTUALLY talking about your religion" disclaimers.