I actually believe them now, the Apocalypse is coming….

In case you didn’t know it, there is currently in production a Left Behind video game. I had heard a lot of hubbub about the game and its violence. But, I haven’t played the game, don’t know how violent it is, and I have an appreciation for a violent video game or two (as an act of confession) but, I can’t stop thinking about this game. I have been very fascinated about the whole Left Behind phenomenon over the past decade. Certainly sensationalist end times preachers, books, or theology is nothing new. There have been dooms day prophets, people with charts and graphs, and those in the church overly focused on the specific nature and date of the return of Christ pretty much since he left. You may remember Christ having to send angels to come and yell at the disciples minutes after they left, seems like they couldn’t think of anything better to do.

The return of Christ is immensely important. Theologically it is the culmination of everything about Christ’s work for us. It is the time of judgment, glorification, renewal of the earth and the full coming of the Kingdom of God. So please do not think that in anyway I don’t think it is important. It is vitally important to our faith. Without Christ’s return our story will never be complete.

That being said, why are so many Christians overly focused on the details and nature of Christ’s return? This video game is merely a piece of a vast multimedia empire that rules much of Evangelicalism. The video game seems ridiculous. Without playing it, I will wager a guess that it contains theology many in the church would find objectionable.  But guess what, I think that the makers of the game are on to something. (I am being serious, not sarcastic, thus my belief that if the makers of this game and I agree on something, Christ’s return must indeed be imminent)

If you read their website, they say that part of their hope with the game is that people will use their imaginations, and the game play to explore eternal questions. They say, “Others are concerned about the pre-trib religious doctrine believed by the Left Behind authors. Left Behind is not the Bible, it is a fictional story and accordingly, situations resulting from the stories’ post-apocalyptic time-frame are used to encourage gamers to think about matters of eternal significance, a topic largely ignored by modern games.” In theory, this practice of using all of our senses and our imagination to consider and meditate on the things of God is a wonderful idea. 

We have often lost some of the mystery and imagination that makes our faith beautiful. When you consider the mysteries of our faith, such as God creating everything ex nihilo, the flood, Balaam’s donkey talking to him, the sun standing still in the sky, Christ’s miracles, and the work of the Holy Spirit in the church, an active imagination is a wonderful tool of our faith. It can be a wonderful worshipful time to just sit and reflect and imagine God. Do you ever do that? Do you ever use all of your imaginative abilities to view a Biblical scene in your mind? I fear too many Christians in their appreciation for literally reading the Bible don’t spend time using their imaginations as a tool for understanding it.

So you know what, I am not going to slam the video game, at least until I play it or preview it and then I will probably slam it, but who knows. At least the producers are trying to make it clear to everyone that they know this game is based on a novel and not on the Bible. It just carries spiritual ideas. But, let’s follow the lead of these imaginative game makers and use all of our minds, including our imaginations to connect with our God. After all, there is probably a good chance that at some point we existed merely in God’s imagination. Maybe part of our uniqueness in being the imago dei is carrying such imaginative abilities to consider our creator. So get alone and use your imagination.