August 17, 2009

  • God and Video Game Determinism

    Everyone knows I like to game.  RPGs (role playing games) are my favorites D&D among them.  But that's not the point of this post.  I've never played the Sims.  I've played other simulations such as Sim City, Sim Farm, Sim Ant, and Railroad Tycoon, but not the Sims, where you basically control people and simulate lives.  Since I've never played the game, I do not know the nuances, so experienced players will have to correct me if I am wrong.

    I've thought about this a bit and how it may or may not relate to God.  On the surface, there is a certain determinism.  You control the actions your characters and develop them through time.  You have an end goal in how you want your character to develop and move them appropriately.  The classical view of the omniscient God is somewhat similar.  There is a grand plan (though we fail to grasp it), and we are guided by God into decisions that ultimately bring us to our purpose in life because God is timeless.  God is able to see time all at once, and fashion a plan out of nothing (ex nihilo) if need be.  Beyond this, the similarities start to breakdown.  In the Sims, we indeed control everything, our characters bend to our will and do not develop contrary to our wishes.  Assuming that you believe in free-will, humans are able to make decisions contrary to will of God. 

    But do we really if there is a predetermined plan for us?  Yes we do make decisions and are genuinely offerred a different choice at each junture in a decision making moment.  But is our will really free if as Christians we are to conform our will to what God wants?  Is God a Master puppeteer that while allowing us to move along, ultimately holds the strings to our lives?  While most people would disagree that God acts as a Puppeteer, it doesn't miss the mark by much if the classical ominscent God holds.  In the Sims, we would be akin to a classical God, though I don't really think that God is all that interested when I go to the bathroom.  Curious though, is there anything that God programs as "automatic" processes, such as going to the bathroom that doesn't require God's attention???? 

    If the Christian God indeed has a plan for all of us, and not just some of us, then what purpose do non-Christians have?  Are they mere test subjects for Christians to act goodly toward (not to be be confused with godly)?  Is the good Muslim or good Hindu damned to hell because he or she does not believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior?  Hypothetically, let's say a Muslim does everything that Jesus tells him to do in the Bible, but does not believe Jesus to be divine (as Muslims do).  How is God's plan for this Muslim radically different than a Christian who does the same deeds, yet confesses Jesus as Lord and Savior?  Can one accept the good deeds done by non-Christians but then readily claim they go to hell?  Does the Bible contain all there is know about how to lead one's life, that it is absoulte?  If so, it would appear that Christians should have ALL the answers.  But do they?

    It has been argued that no....Christians do not have all the answers.
    http://www.chicagotemple.org/sermons/2009_8_02.php
    Furthermore, as the world changes, Christianity must also evolve.  The issue at stake, however, seems to be that Christianity doesn't want to evolve.  It remains too rooted in Original Sin, Atonement, and Judgement.  Orthodoxy (the right way to believe) reigns supreme as does Sola Scriptura and Sola Fida.  While understandabe since these concepts were a part of Christianity's Jewish heritage, are these traditional concepts the best that Christianity has to offer?    Vatican II would argue otherwise, as does the Good Samaratin.  I observe that we Christians sometimes get dangerously close to Pharaseeism (if that's a word).  Too often we follow the Letter of the Law and not the Spirit of the Law.  Christians trade what the Jews had in the Torah for the Bible.

    So, does God predetermine our fates, giving us a written Guide that if followed, automatically gives us salvation?  Is the Bible some type of "software" that runs our lives on autopilot without a need for God's attention?  What happens if there are I/O errors or corruptions in the code?  I would argue that no, our fates are not predetermined.  God gave us a mind to deal with I/O errors and corruptions in code, that the Holy Spirit, which Tertullian worked so hard to include in the Godhead, is immanant in ALL of us, giving us the ability to add human experience to our understanding of how God works in the world.

    Think about this.  If God were controlling us in video game-like fashion, why is God frustrated by our actions?