Biblical Perspectives on Making a Christian Computer Game
Two Bible passages top and tail every file in the source code to my Bible computer game, as a constant reminder to me of two very serious dangers one can fall into when attempting an ambitious project like mine. The first is Psalm 127:1-2:
“Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.”
It’s a reminder that I could gather the most skillful team in the whole world, come up with the most ingenious puzzle ideas and the wittiest dialogue ever to be found in a computer game, and yet if God was not behind it, it would all be for nothing. I need this reminder because one of my great spiritual battles relating to the project is the problem of pride – wanting people to think I’m amazing for making something incredible. Psalm 127 reminds me that every ounce of my talent, every idea that pops into my head – all the credit goes to God, because any success is ultimately down to him and him alone. That’s another reason why I’ve been keen to get as many other people in the church involved as possible – to make it obvious to myself that this is something bigger than me, and that it’s obviously a team effort.
The second quote is from Colossians 3:17:
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
This one reminds me of what my motivation should be – to bring glory to the name of Jesus. He is the reason this universe exists; were it not for him sustaining it by the power of his word, there would be no computers and no computer games. If my motivation is anything less than to magnify the glory of Christ – for example, to magnify the glory of Andy Geers – well that’s to entirely miss the point of everything, and the most dreadful idolatry.
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