The Nintendo Gospel
I just thought I would share two slightly related things I have done lately:
On Sunday we had the "pilot service" for what will become the contempary service at the church. I did the children's sermon and I did it while playing the original Mario Bros. I talked about how at first I wasn't very good I died a lot (so I ran into a koopa), but I said that as I practiced and that I was persistent. I pointed out that with God it is the same way. He wants us to keep doing things that right even if we mess up. He wants us to be persitent at following him, and if we do then nothing will stop us from succeeding (and I said that I jumped on the flag pole to end the level).
Then today for the Youth group Newsletter I wrote this:
On Sunday we had the "pilot service" for what will become the contempary service at the church. I did the children's sermon and I did it while playing the original Mario Bros. I talked about how at first I wasn't very good I died a lot (so I ran into a koopa), but I said that as I practiced and that I was persistent. I pointed out that with God it is the same way. He wants us to keep doing things that right even if we mess up. He wants us to be persitent at following him, and if we do then nothing will stop us from succeeding (and I said that I jumped on the flag pole to end the level).
Then today for the Youth group Newsletter I wrote this:
Master Chief Could Be a Christian
Not since the original Mario Bros. has a game been as successful as Halo. I always try to find deeper meaning in everything I do and video games are no exception. In Halo, one of the enemies is known as the Flood. The Flood use little parasites to infect other beings and turn them into mindless monsters. Master Chief, the hero of Halo, is immune to this due to his special suit and shield. When his shield is up, the parasites just bounce off and explode. Believe it or not, this is what it is like to be a Christian. Ephesians 6:16 says “take up the shield of faith, with witch you can extinguish all of the arrows of the evil one.” Like the flood is always attacking Master Chief, the devil is always attacking Christians. Both Master Chief and Christians are protected by a shield. In the game, when Master Chief takes enough damage he temporarily has no shield. During this time he is vulnerable and can be taken out. Likewise, being a Christian is tough we truly are constantly under attack (even though we do not always realize it) and after enough attacks our shield of faith is weakened. In the game the best thing to do when the protective shield is lost is to get out of harms way and rest, waiting for the shield to recharge. Once again, this is exactly what we should do as a Christian, when the shots keep coming and our shield is taken down it is almost suicidal to keep pressing on. We need to instead retreat and be with God, by doing so we can be recharged and then we are able to go back out and face all of the flaming arrows that the devil shoots at us with the sword of the spirit (or assault rifle as the case may be) in hand.
Not since the original Mario Bros. has a game been as successful as Halo. I always try to find deeper meaning in everything I do and video games are no exception. In Halo, one of the enemies is known as the Flood. The Flood use little parasites to infect other beings and turn them into mindless monsters. Master Chief, the hero of Halo, is immune to this due to his special suit and shield. When his shield is up, the parasites just bounce off and explode. Believe it or not, this is what it is like to be a Christian. Ephesians 6:16 says “take up the shield of faith, with witch you can extinguish all of the arrows of the evil one.” Like the flood is always attacking Master Chief, the devil is always attacking Christians. Both Master Chief and Christians are protected by a shield. In the game, when Master Chief takes enough damage he temporarily has no shield. During this time he is vulnerable and can be taken out. Likewise, being a Christian is tough we truly are constantly under attack (even though we do not always realize it) and after enough attacks our shield of faith is weakened. In the game the best thing to do when the protective shield is lost is to get out of harms way and rest, waiting for the shield to recharge. Once again, this is exactly what we should do as a Christian, when the shots keep coming and our shield is taken down it is almost suicidal to keep pressing on. We need to instead retreat and be with God, by doing so we can be recharged and then we are able to go back out and face all of the flaming arrows that the devil shoots at us with the sword of the spirit (or assault rifle as the case may be) in hand.
posted by SeanXor at 8:05 PM
1 Comments:
I like that analogy :)
- Mary Whelan
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