The Connection of Video Games to the History of Christian Salvation

Video game controller

 

With ‘Playing with God’, cultural theologian Frank G. Bosman wrote a sparkling argument not to shy away from games, like the free PC Games at junubgames.com, in a religious context, but to take them seriously as an expression of people in search of meaning. Eric van den Berg spoke to Bosman for Nieuw Wij about his latest book, which can also be used for catechesis or in lessons in religion or social studies.

Frank, games, and religion. That does not seem to me to be a self-evident friendship. Sex, swearing, and extreme violence, that doesn’t suit believing church people, does it?

“Yes, that’s what a lot of people think. With my book, I try to adjust that image. A while ago I read the story of an adolescent, a YouTube celebrity with the incomprehensible name 00WARTHERAPY00. He got an old game console from his father and together they played for many hours. His father died when he was six years old. For ten years he ignored his Xbox. Then he picked it up again and went to play his dad’s favorite racing game, RalliSport Challenge. And as he raced, he saw his father’s ghost looming. Literally, because this game projects the fastest racer to improve your fastest time. And now 00WARTHERAPY00 tried to catch up with his father for weeks. He succeeds, but he doesn’t let his father die again and saves him from a second, digital death. When I tell this story to fellow theologians or in parish halls, people start to look at games differently.”

You call yourself a “game theologian” in your book. Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?

“No. Because the two worlds don’t understand each other. Christians are full of prejudices, and theologians don’t understand that games should be objects of scientific study. That’s strange. There is a lot to analyze and address when you play and study games. That is what Moltmann tells us: theology must study all of life. Or when Paul Tillich, whose opinion I share, writes that in the theology of culture you have to trace the religious dimension. Games and religion thus become an extremely fascinating duo. A search for the Deus incognitus, the hidden God in our society. That’s what game theologians of the future are doing.”

You’re trying to build a bridge.

“I’ve been working professionally on games for about 10 years now. I give guest lectures to high school students about this. Funnily enough, not a little tilts their worldview after my story. Theology is not boring, because you get paid to play games in the boss’s time. Then they want to study theology. And in order not to dampen that enthusiasm, I’m not talking about hours of meetings and attending conferences.”

Do you get rich from playing these games?

“Ha ha ha. Well, I’m not sponsored if that’s what you mean. I didn’t get any compensation to discuss the games in my book. In fact, I buy all my games neatly myself.”

Should more clergy become game theologians now?

“Of course, you don’t have to. Let me give you another example. Often after lectures, I hear from real die-hard gamers: ‘I know Wolfenstein very well, but I have never seen this in it.’ Then I think it’s already successful. That is precisely why I am doing this. There are therefore possibilities to use games in catechesis. Whether that concerns reading groups, student associations, or study programs.”

Let’s go back to the extreme violence in games. That seems to me to be a reason for Christians to ignore games.

“I understand very well. In successful games like Half Life 2,’Father Grigori’ shoots his own parishioners. In other games, the blood splashes against your screen and you see severed heads and pierced chests. Especially in so-called shooter games, violence is abundantly present. Is that new to Christians? No. Read back to the Old Testament. Jeremiah, Judges. Plenty of texts with violence with the approval of the Most High. Ignoring games is ignoring your own Bible history.”

 

ALSO READ: Religious Practice’s Impact on Family

 

But still. Violence in games evokes violence outside of games. You can’t deny that.

“I would like to put that right. Of course, there are games that preach violence, racism, and porn. However, scientific research from the last eight years contradicts the link between games and violence. The reasoning is also often wrong in my opinion. When an American kid shoots his classmates, violent first-person shooter games are found during house searches. Then the conclusion is quick: you see, he played games. However, is that true? The detectives will also have found a lot of other non-violent material. I believe more that violent games can be an indicator of possible problem behavior, but not as a cause of a massacre.”

In your book, you point out many examples of religion in games. How do you explain that?

“I’m not sure if the creators of a game are aware of putting religion into their games. Some leave the interpretation to the players. Others will confirm arguments put forward to promote sales. Keep in mind that there is a tension between exegesis and eisegese, explanatory science, and inlay science. Most games balance the two. One game, like metro: Last Night, explains itself, while another, like Nier: Automata, resists a clear explanation.”

What do you think is a connecting factor of games, from a religious perspective?

“It is particularly fascinating that the Christian history of salvation can be found in video games. I find it very encouraging that ‘our’ Christian story retains a lot of appeals. Two seemingly far apart universes meet.”

If religion teachers want to start with games in the classroom… Where to start?

“It is wise to start with quiet genres and watch a walkthrough. Then you look at the whole game through the eyes of experienced gamers. Games require a lot of time and preparation. You can also search YouTube for a game title plus ‘the movie’. Then you will see the storylines in games, which you can use for your exegesis. For example, about philosophical themes such as life and death, the afterlife, and the religious view thereof. Extremely exciting, and extremely necessary to build a bridge with young gamers: they can play the game, but the religious dimension makes it even more fascinating.”

Religious Practice’s Impact on Family

Religious participation would seem to cultivate an warm, authoritative, active, and expressive style of parenting in summary. Mom and dad who participate in religious services have a better connection to their children and are more involved in his\her children’s education.

 

 

 

 

Mother-Child Relationships

According to a 1999 study, mothers who considered religion to be particularly essential regarded their connection to their children considerably higher than mothers who didn’t consider religion to be very important. When mothers and their children abide to the same level of religious practice, their relationships improve. For example, when 18 – 24-year did attend religious services on the same regularity as their mothers, the mothers markedly improved connections with them many seasons back, indicating that the impacts of comparable religious practice last. Furthermore, irrespective of their level of religious practice prior to the child’s birth, mothers who’ve become more religious over the first eighteen years of their child’s life noted a better relationship with that kid.

 

Demographics in the United States

Adult women who attend religious services at least once a week are more likely to believe in significance of raising their kids, based on the General Social Study (1972-2006). According to the National Survey of Children’s Health, children who worship at least weekly have a better relationship with their parents than those who worship less frequently.

Why Parents Need an Apple Watch

Apple’s most essential product is a must-have for iPhone users due to its health and safety features. Parents can use the Apple Watch for hundreds of baby-rearing tasks every day. Even better, it’s something your infant won’t outgrow in a few months and will help you in ways unrelated to parenting. The Apple Watch’s top baby-parenting features, in no particular order: 

Hands-Free Always On

Apple Watches can’t accomplish much that iPhones can’t. The Watch’s wearability and ease of portability make all the difference. When you haven’t slept for days, your phone will go lost or buried under blankets or clothes. However, the Apple Watch’s ability to ping your lost iPhone is undoubtedly its best feature. 

With the Apple Watch on your wrist, you can leave your iPhone anywhere and still send and receive text messages, make and answer phone calls (even without a cellular plan if you’re on WiFi), and utilize Siri by raising your wrist and speaking—you don’t even need to say “Hey Siri” if you’re fast enough. Buy designer Apple Watch bands online that you can use anywhere you are with your baby. That’s better than using a smartphone, which you must dig out of your pocket, pick up from where you left it, and use with two hands, especially with today’s larger phones. When you have a kid, at least one of your hands will have poop and pee.

Screentime Role Model

Due to their brain development, newborns and young children should avoid screens. When babies’ brains spike at a few months old, the brightness from a screen in a dim room will distract them from feeding or resting. However, if your baby continuously sees you staring at your phone—an intriguing, bright, light-emitting gadget that you value—they will want it. Your kid will agree after seeing your phone’s bright, colorful, touch-responsive screen because you’ve modeled that cellphones are engaging.

Timers, Reminders, and Lists

Timekeeping becomes crucial after having a baby. If your baby spends too long without a nap, they will get overtired and upset since they don’t correlate being tired with the need to sleep, making it challenging to quiet them down to fall asleep. If you wait until your baby shows weariness—like rubbing their eyes, yawning, and looking into space—you may have missed the “sleep window” when they are comfortable and have not started battling their sleepiness with energy. That’s why you should start putting your baby down for sleep 90 minutes after they wake up from their last one. Apple Watch helps. “Hey Siri, set a timer for 90 minutes” or “remind me in 90 minutes that it’s naptime” to your Watch when your baby wakes up. Boom. Apple Watch remembers everything for you.

Fit For Your Family

Parents often acquire weight and not just pregnancy weight. When you wake up every two hours to feed and change diapers, barely leave the house, and may not have time or energy to food shop or make healthy meals, the pounds can quickly mount up. You won’t find more time soon. You may need to work again or rock, bounce, or carry a baby to sleep for hours. As newborns become older, they may need more playing and occupying. When they start rolling or crawling, you’ll have to be extra watchful to ensure they don’t knock into furniture, pull at electrical cords, or put unhealthy or harmful things in their mouths. All of this, plus home chores, can make working out difficult.

Since its launch, the Apple Watch has helped users meet their health goals and lose weight when other diets and workout routines fail. Through reminders, movement tracking, coaching, and digital “rewards,” the Apple Watch is better at keeping users accountable and consistent to break old, unhealthy habits and achieve a meaningful lifestyle change. At the same time, other fitness and weight loss programs focus only on the short term and rely on the user to provide all the motivation and do all the monitoring and self-reporting.