[Dead Space] Eternal Life

Mutated foes and dark themes dominate this week’s series on Dead Space. Grab your plasma cutter and come along as we discuss sin, religious cults, and those things that make us afraid. Last time we looked into this crazy cult-like religion called Unitology. In this post we’re continuing to discuss Romans 6:23 while looking more closely at the central part of Unitology- the Marker.

If Unitology is a prime example of bad religion, then the Marker is the physical symbol and embodiment of that religion. The Unitologists believe that the Marker will provide triumph over death and act as a key to the afterlife. If its secrets are unlocked, then access to heaven will be open, supposedly. But this is an erroneous view of how the world works. Trying to make salvation happen for ourselves yields a very bad result because our sin will always outweigh any good that we do. At the most basic level, we can all relate to this. How hard is it to break habits? How many times have we made the same mistake over and over? Is it possible to truly fix those mistakes?

The Marker acts as a representation of this sin problem we all have. Much like the Marker, sin can work its way in us and through us in two ways. The first way is through an external influence such as a tempting situation or direct influence from a demonic force. But secondly, those influences are only effective because of the other way sin can work, through the existing weaknesses we have as humans.

Pictured: Ruiner of everything.

The external origin of sin comes through temptation. This may be something inadvertent happening around us or it could be a more deliberate and sinister force at work. The Marker (appropriately colored red in the above picture) can be likened demonic forces. Ok, “demonic” has indeed shown up twice now, but yes, the assertion is that Satan and demons are real. They, like the Marker, can act as an outside stimulus that instigates sinful behavior. The Marker used visions of loved ones to encourage people along a path that would ultimately lead to their destruction.

Dead Space’ narrative would not have happened on it’s own, but was caused by the existence of the Marker. Additionally, the Marker provided for Isaac and other characters a false sense of reality in order to encourage people to do it’s will. Likewise, Satan and demons can provide opportunities for sin that would not have existed otherwise. It was through Satan’s presence and influence in the Garden of Eden that allowed him to put distorted ideas into the heads of Adam and Eve. He convinced them that they could be like God, or even better than Him.

These distortions led to our downfall and now our very nature is inclined towards trusting ourselves over God. The pattern of relying on our own efforts to achieve success or redemption is engrained into our very being. The Marker points to this fact in that it is even vaguely shaped like a human DNA strand. It is also revealed that the Marker emits a signal that interacts with the human brain. In fact, the symbols engraved on the Marker are decoded and found to correspond with the human genetic code. This all point to the fact that the Marker does not do it’s work alone, but through speaking to something already broken inside of us.

Sin’s ability to work on us from the outside in is only possible because we are already subject to the distortion of Satan’s lies in the Garden. Our very being is prone to twisted and sinful behavior. Paul describes his struggle with sin and says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” The Marker promises to transform our bodies into ones that can live eternally, but our bodies are only capable of destruction and death. This is apparent even in the physical frailty of our bodies. If you haven’t experienced this yet, just wait a few years and you’ll see how quickly your body’s functions tend to go downhill on the way to the grave.

These bodies will not last forever because of the degrading effects of sin. However, our bodies were originally intended to be much better. When Jesus returns from death, he exhibits what we were meant to be and what it will be like to have a redeemed body. We will no longer experience death or sickness. We may even gain some superpowers on top of that! There are a few times where Jesus instantly leaves or shows up out of nowhere, presumably through transportation or by walking through walls. Then there’s that whole rising from death thing, which included busting out of layers and layers of funeral wrapping through sheer strength. And of course we can’t forget the power he demonstrated upon his dramatic exit from earth: flying.

In conclusion, the Marker is able to violently rewrite the human genome for evil purposes, but Jesus is able to remake our bodies from being sinful to being perfect, as God originally intended. Jesus effectively dismembers our sinful nature just like Issac Clarke dismembers the Necromorphs. Through this new body that Jesus provides we have access to eternal life, which is the gift of God as promised in Romans 6:23.

Questions:

When have you felt as though your body was frail or betraying you?

In what ways does sin distort your thinking?

What is in your life that prevents you from experiencing eternal life?

The story continues next time as we look at how these themes are expanded upon in Dead Space 2.

The Wage for Sin is [Dead Space]

Mutated foes and dark themes dominate this week’s series on Dead Space. Grab your plasma cutter and come along as we discuss sin, religious cults, and those things that make us afraid. This post is about Dead Space’s iconic and creepy enemies, the Necromorphs.

Nothing seems to go right in space. It seems the majority of fictional explorations into space end very badly. The story tends to be that the human characters can’t handle the vast blackness, there’s some horrible mechanical failure, or we stumble upon some horrific alien creature that seems to have come directly from our nightmares.

Our hero Isaace Clarke discovers the remains of a horrible incident which has killed and mutilated an entire mining colony. The miners accidentally unearthed a strange artifact called the Marker which is somehow connected to the presence of the horrifying creatures infesting the colony. These monsters are the Necromorphs, a truly disturbing set of enemies that raise the tension and horror level of the entire game.

"Hi, my name is Jim. I will be visiting you in your dreams tonight."

Dead Space gives the player many opportunities for up-close-and-personal encounters with these Necromorphs. The game even kicks up the terror factor during some sequences by actually showing the process of a dead human corpse being turned into one of these distorted and deadly monstrosities. Couple that with today’s advanced graphics and the imagery is frighteningly clear. But beyond the visuals, Necromorphs, much like the Flood in Halo (and zombies in general), are so unsettling because they are a gruesome dis-figuration of what once was a person. They are terrifying on more levels than just their distorted and gruesome appearance.

Necromorphs remind us of the worst of ourselves. They are the embodiment of our faults and our darkest, most shameful parts. Dead Space strikes the deepest fears of  what we can become or even worse, what might already be inside of us. For all of us who have made a mistake, failed, or hurt someone they love, the Necromorphs provide a tangible image of our dark nature. The Bible calls this sin and it is the ultimate human problem. Sin penetrates our very being and dominates our every thought and behavior. Sin causes us to become as deformed and depraved spiritually as the Necromorphs are physically.

Just like in the game of Dead Space itself, our only response to sin by ourselves is survival. Even the game’s protagonist, Isaac Clarke, can’t completely get away from the horror since it pops up in every corner and continues to haunt his mind even after he escapes the colony. Ultimately, Dead Space presents no real solution to the Necromorph problem other than shooting and running away.

But Christians know differently, Jesus knew that the sin problem was beyond humanity to solve on its own. Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God knew that sin would wreak havoc on us, just like the Necromorph outbreak destroyed the Ishimura and that mining colony. In order for this to be solved, God provided the only solution which was to have his perfect son become like us and sacrifice himself. By this free gift, God provides a way for transformation. He is able to take us twisted, repulsive creatures and change us from Necromorphs into new people.

Questions:

If your sin and dark secrets were to take physical form, what would they look like?

Customize Yourself: Identity Crisis

This week we’re going topical again and looking at the growing phenomenon of customization in video games and how it relates to our identity. Today we’re seeking to understand this trend by looking at the first of two possible answers to one question: Why do we want to create a new identity?

We’re not satisfied with ourselves. When I made my Xbox Live avatar, I gave it more hair and a slightly thinner physique than what exists in reality. When you create a character in Mass Effect, does Shepard look exactly like you? Maybe there’s a lot of similarities…but perhaps you threw in a scar or two to add that “tough look.” Or maybe you went a completely different route and made Shepard the opposite gender and/or skin color. And then there’s the customization of abilities and skills. This is where video games really set themselves apart because they allow us to do far cooler things than would ever be possible with our own dumb non-magically/ technologically enhanced bodies.

This fixation on a world where we are able to be and do anything can become a real problem. For those who are extremely dissatisfied with themselves, the ability to live as someone else only fuels the addictive capabilities of an already-enticing virtual world. The Gerard Butler movie Gamer showed one example of what lengths people are willing to go to in order to obtain a different identity (or use that demand to provide an identity for someone else).

There are unfortunately many sad examples of what happens when the obsession with living out a different identity goes to the extreme. The one that stands out is the story of a Korean couple who neglected their three-month-old baby to play an online role playing game. While they were at their 12-hour gaming sessions at an internet cafe, their real-life baby starved to death. The horrible irony is that in their online game, they were using their characters to raise a virtual baby.

After reading a little more into the story you learn that their baby (the real one) was born prematurely and that neither of them had jobs. It’s hard to imagine how difficult it must be to take care of a premature baby without any income (which may or may not have itself been related to gaming habits), but that’s no excuse for their neglect. It does point to something telling about their motivations for pouring themselves into a video game…

They were seeking control. Their real lives were likely a wreck and they had an insane amount of stress that comes with raising a (prematurely born) child. Where they were powerless in real life, they were able to have control of things in an online game. The fact that their created identities had a virtual baby shows that they did indeed want a child, but they couldn’t handle the real-life responsibility of being parents.

That’s what video games offer- a better identity where you have more control. Are you a social outcast in real life? Online you can be a level 27 Dragonborne spellcaster and command the respect of an entire guild. Do you have difficulty managing money and keeping a job? You can fire up Fable and earn a living as a blacksmith and never get fired or lose money to mismanagement. Are you dissatisfied with your appearance and lifestyle? Go play The Sims to look like and do whatever you want.

There are people in the Bible who are no strangers to these feelings of self-dissatisfaction. One guy who was pretty dissatisfied with himself was the apostle Paul who wrote most of the New Testament. He uses a good chunk of one of his books to describe how he always manages to screw up no matter how hard he tries. At the end of this rant he exclaims, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” You thought everyone who wrote the Bible was perfect and morally superior? Not so. The Bible is clear that we are all under the control of sin because of our bodies of death.

Being dissatisfied with ourselves is sadly woven into the very fabric of our nature. All of humanity fell under the effects of sin and death because of Adam’s choice to disobey God in the garden at the beginning of time. Adam’s poor decision brought epic failure on God’s perfect creation…… but yet these fancy, shiny video games let us see and experience what it’s like to be what we want to be, without the frailty caused by sin and failure. Video games provide us with the opportunity to create an identity that is significantly more awesome than the pathetic, broken identities we have to look at in the mirror everyday.

These new ways to customize allow the opportunity to change our identities, but is it  really enough?

We’ll continue the discussion in the next post. Give us your reactions so far in the comments.

Halo 2: False Prophets and Pharisees

Today we wrap up Halo 2 by exploring the solution to the problem of these zealously religious prophets.

Overly religious characters like the prophets don’t just appear in fictional games. Jesus squared off against religious zealots in his time on earth. They were called Pharisees and they were obsessed with rules and making rules for the rules. They were blind and deluded and they denied Jesus as God despite him being right there among them. Ultimately their religiosity was responsible for Jesus’ death. Some great stories of Jesus versus the Pharisees can be found here, here, and here. He fiercely combated their doctrines of salvation by works.

True Christianity, however, is a life based on grace. Grace offers for free what we could not have on our own. We can never by any stretch of the imagination do enough good, go to enough church, help enough old ladies across the street, donate enough money, or activate enough ancient space super weapons to earn or merit God’s favor. Grace is a gift that can only be offered through Jesus.

Romans 5:8 says “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus’ sacrifice was given because we perpetually wallow in our sin with no way out on our own. An attempt to try to gain salvation for ourselves only leads to pride, self-righteousness and further problems. That is what the Prophets in Halo’s story illustrate. In their blind and deluded devotion to the pursuit of The Great Journey, they were actually pulling themselves and the entirety of existence towards destruction. That is the result of a works-based religious ideology.

We have a hard time with grace because it takes the work of salvation out of our hands and recognizes that God is in complete control. We don’t like being out of control of anything. Our tendency is to manage and organize our lives in order to make things happen for ourselves. It is actually a great relief to find that we don’t have to carry the burden of maintaining our own righteousness or earning our own salvation. There is no way that we could ever possibly be good enough for any significant length of time to warrant something as amazing as salvation and an eternal reward. If our salvation depended on the consistency of our behaviors or our ability to find some relic or collect some item, we would be completely hosed.

But God is just that awesome. He knows how lost we are and shows mercy by doing all the work of salvation. The work of Jesus is to make up for our shortcomings by taking our sins and giving us his righteousness. That is something that no Covenant prophet or Master Chief, or anything in else creation could accomplish. Christianity does not depend on what any one person or group can do through works, but what God does in spite of our pride and over reliance on rules and religion. Jesus is the only one who can step in and bring us along with him on his Great Journey.

Questions to think about:

What experiences have you had with crazy religious people and what did they believe?

How do you distinguish between Jesus and religion?

Was there ever a time in your life when you were sure of something you believed, but found out you were way off?

Sound off your reactions in the comments. Next week we’ll dive into the epic conclusion of the story in Halo 3.

Halo 2: (Don’t Stop) Believin’ in the Great Journey

The three Prophets, known as the Hierarchs, represent the religious intensity of the Covenant whom they lead and control. These characters are used to convey a certain viewpoint of religion and religious people.

The three Hierarchs are given names that ironically describe their roles and fates in addition to revealing the worldview being presented by this story. We’ve already met the Prophet of Regret. First, he attempted to invade Earth, a decision which he came to came to regret. He was followed by Master Chief to the Delta Halo who then regretfully tracked him down. I’m sure he was further filled with regret when Master Chief jumped on his floaty Professor X chair and punched the crap out of him…to death.

In the future, courtesy towards the disabled does not extend to aliens. (Source)

Later in the game, the Prophet of Mercy is attacked by a Flood form in the presence of the Prophet of Truth and his guards. They could have easily saved him from becoming one of the Flood, but Truth in his pride and ambition showed him no mercy.

The most telling, ironic, and hypocritical name is of the Prophet of Truth. He claims to be the all-knowing and powerful leader who will lead the Covenant on their mythic “Great Journey.” They believe that by activating the rings they will all be sent on to their idea of higher existence and godhood. As it turns out, one group’s Great Journey is another group’s galactic apocalypse. The Prophet of Truth’s religious claims about the Great Journey and the Halo rings turn out to be a bunch of lies based on myth and conjecture. Truth is actually a false prophet.

The Covenant represents religion in its most crazed form. However, there is a distinction that needs to be made between “Christianity” and “religion.” Many equate them as the same thing, and in the general sense of the word, Christianity is a religion. But “religion” can be understood in a different way. Religion believes that “if I do good things and follow the rules, I’ll be rewarded and go to [fill in the blank].”

The Prophets and the Covenant seek tangible forms of salvation- relics, locations, and weapons. They believe that by manipulating these things they will reach their desired goal- access to the Great Journey. That’s the lie that religion tells, that by our efforts and our goodness, we can somehow please God and make him love us enough to accept us. Even if we were somehow able to earn our salvation, it would make us full of pride and self-righteousness and bring us right back to square one. Our innate depravity is precisely why religion doesn’t work.

Now that the problems has been identified, we’ll talk about the solution in the next post. Check back Friday for the final part on Halo 2.