Paragon or Renegade?
If you ask a competitive gamer, I am a casual gamer who doesn’t spend that much time playing video games. If you ask other people who do not play games, I spend a lot of time playing video games (and not just the highly addictive, designed to be dopamine releasing mobile games that many people play like Best Fiends, Candy Crush, or Bejeweled). For me, video games are a hobby which I enjoy, but like so many aspects of my life, theology has this way of sneaking in so that I view the games I play through the lens of my beliefs. As such, I will offer up today and over the next few weeks, a few lessons I have learned about God from playing video games.
“I can’t pick the mean option, it’ll hurt the character’s feelings.” This is a sentiment expressed fairly frequently in online forums, memes, and comics about video games that offer choices in how you interact with other characters. For some games your dialogue choices mean nothing. There is no impact in what you choose to say or how you choose to say it. More frequently though games with dialogue where you have choices include some sort of system that keeps track of the things you say. A classic example of this is Mass Effect. In Mass Effect your dialogue choices actually open or close future options for the game depending on what you’ve said or not said to other characters. It also has this whole sub-plot about romancing your crewmates, but that is not what is important here. What is important is which path you choose to take. It is quite clear in this game that you are choosing either to be a paragon or a renegade. The two paths are named as such. There is a clear division between right and wrong in the game.
In our journey through life, if only the options were as clear cut as in the game with the option to go back and try again if we said all the wrong things. God gives us plenty of opportunity to choose to say the right things to someone, but we cannot always know if what we say will be the thing that someone wants to hear or will understand. Honesty is the best policy; scripture backs this up that telling each other the truth is a good thing. However, how we tell the truth can make a difference too. Our interactions with each other as humans and believers are rarely so simple as in a game and you cannot go back to a save file once something is out there. No rewind, no re-do. The words that you speak are permanent, right?
Something to consider here is that if we seek to forgive as often as we are forgiven, is it truly one opportunity to get it right? Or if we are in a community of believers, is there space to fail, at least a few times, in our attempts to communicate with each other? Scripture seems to indicate that we should forgive someone again and again. Does forgiving mean forgetting? In many cases, yes. In others, forgiveness requires a rebuilding of broken trust which requires not forgetting. It’s all very situational and the best choice may vary greatly depending on what your desired outcome is. In most circumstances if you can figure out a way to honor God or give God glory, there becomes a clear and evident choice. When picking one person over another, the path forward is much more narrow. If a situation is abusive, then forgiving does not mean sticking around to forgive again. If you are always the one choosing to compromise or sacrifice, is the relationship worth maintaining? God has plans for your prosperity, not your calamity. Jesus already saved the world, you don’t need to do it again. We can forgive without choosing to commit the sins that come when we do not hold someone accountable for their actions. Actions, words or deeds, have consequences in life just as much as in video games. The choices we make matter to God, to us, and to all around us.
Ergo, let’s look at a choice. Would you pick paragon or renegade if given the choice? The jokes online center around paragon forever or renegade for life. I find this to be telling in the expected outcomes of the two paths. If you are a paragon forever, you are remembered as being virtuous, good, and leaving a legacy that lasts far beyond yourself. You last forever. If you are a renegade for life, the story seems to stop when you die. Realistically, we know that the exact opposite is true with a few exceptions. Good people are not the ones listed in history books. It is those who massacre or lead nations to war or otherwise participate in violence and destruction that tend to make the pages of history books. Even looking at scripture, most Biblical heroes are not very saintly when you dig into their stories. Jonah gets mad at God, David sins frequently, and Abraham lets Pharoah have his way with Sarah… twice. Jesus is the exception to this, the true paragon of virtue that we are all trying to live up to with the help of the Holy Spirit. The paths of righteousness are so narrow that there is a singular extant exemplar of how to be good all the time. And! Just like a video game where you can look up a guide online or buy the fancy walkthrough book with bonus content and pull out posters, there is a guide book for how to live your real life on the paths of righteousness. How to pick paragon at every turn. How to be like Christ.
Each day we wake up with a choice. To be like Christ or not be like Christ. Which will you choose today? How will you embody the incarnate Christ who is the literal definition of redemption and mercy and grace? In what ways will you choose to love like Jesus loves? Life is no video game, but God still directs us down the paths of righteousness (the Way, the Truth, the Life).
