bite sized: imperfect

Hey, welcome back to another bite sized episode of the Back Log Breakdown, where these bite sized episodes are episodes where we just kind of have one simple thought or idea. It's not going to be as beefy as a regular episode. It's just a little bite sized morsel, a little nugget for you. And so as I was thinking about what kind of a nugget that I want to produce an ear nugget for you, I was thinking about our last episode that we recorded was on horror video games. It was a genre study on horror. And one of the points that I had made was that horror, because it induces fear. Like, that's kind of the purpose of horror that we see, that sometimes that can be used as a warning, and so it can be beneficial to use horror in such a way that warns against certain things in the story. But I think one of the difficulties that I didn't address on the previous episode, particularly for Christians, is this idea that Paul puts forth in Philippians. I'd like to read Philippians, chapter, chapter four, verse eight. It's pretty common. If you've been in church for any amount of time, it says, finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Okay? And so the question is, how can you be focused on something? How can you enjoy something like horror if it doesn't fit into those categories? If Paul specifically commands, like, hey, think about things that are good and right and pure and lovely, you can't call horror scenarios good and right and pure and lovely. Right? So how do you kind of circle that square? How does that fit together? And once again, when it comes to horror, I'm not trying to change anyone's personally held convictions. Totally understand. If you don't like it, you don't like it. But I think this actually goes to something deeper, that when, you know, we talked about horror on the last episode, but for this little thought that I wanted to present, I think we see it in a number of different areas. In fact, I would argue that just about every area, everything that you look into, every story that you listen to, every kind of narrative or book that you read, is going to be imperfect in some way outside of scripture and God himself. Although we'll get to it in just a second. Scripture does present lots of stories that have imperfect characters and imperfect things that are going on inside of those stories. So as it pertains to horror, like I said, it's useful as a warning. And so that leads you into thinking about, okay, what is good and lovely and true and beautiful that this story kind of warns of. Don't go against those things, otherwise this could come about. It presents this warning. But what are some other parallels? And as I was thinking about this, to kind of broaden this theme, I was thinking about other video games that I've played, not necessarily in the horror genre, but other video games that I've played. And frankly, some of the most impactful experiences that I've had playing video games, engaging with video games, those experiences vividly depict things that I don't believe, things that I frankly would disagree with, things that I think the developer is saying in creating the game that I would say, actually, that's not true. I don't think what this beautiful depiction, what this game is saying, I don't think it's true. I disagree with a lot of the things that are happening within this story or even just how it's brought forth. Okay. And so I have to wrestle with that, is that I really, it's a really impactful experience. I really enjoy this game in one way or another, but I also profoundly disagree with what it's saying, or even just little pieces of it. I disagree with these things, and I think we see this in the scripture as well. Like I said, there are lots of stories and lots of things that happen. While scripture itself is pure, the stories that it tells of people are of imperfect people outside of Jesus. Right. This is poignant in the moment to me because I just read through the book of judges this week, and, oh, boy, there is a lot of darkness in that book. If you've ever read the Book of judges, it's hard. You don't walk away from the stories and judges saying, this is exactly how I should live. This is a perfect example of what it looks like to live a life honoring to God. Right? We look at Samson and we say, no, that that guy was heavily flawed, even though God used him for good things to, um, it even says in the text, and I'm going to botch it a little bit, but basically that God raised up Samson and used Samson because he wanted to destroy the Philistines and, and have Israel kind of, um, uh, gain victory over the philistines. That's why God used Samson in particular. Uh, but Samson was a very flawed human being, and he's not someone that we would put up and say, this is who you ought to aspire to be insofar as he does follow after what God wants him to do. Yes, follow his example in the ways that he does what God wants, but do not follow his example in going to a prostitute. Right. Of. Of abandoning his wife and leaving her to die along with her family. All these different things that Samson does, they're poor examples. And there's a lot of that all throughout the book of judges. There's a lot of that all throughout scripture itself. Scripture is full of imperfect people. That kind of goes without saying. Any story is going to be full of imperfect people because we've been corrupted by sin. I. Okay, so I might be going too far afield, but let me bring us back to where we were. Philippians four. Okay, finally, whatever's true and honorable and just and pure and lovely and commendable and excellent, if it's worthy of praise, think about these things. So it seems kind of difficult to say that while also studying the book of judges, right? How do you think on things that are honorable and just and pure and lovely when you're looking at the devastation that sin has caused, when you're looking at the lives of these people who just kind of make a train wreck of things that are going on, how can you take such a dark story and then say, oh, but think about the things that are good and true and pure and lovely? Well, I think another question is, why are these stories so poignant? Why are they there in scripture? I mentioned horror as a warning. In some ways, the judges are warnings as well. But I think there's a number of different things. One is that the scriptures tell the truth. They tell the truth about who humanity is in our sinfulness. Right. It does not buff out all the rough edges of the people, even the man after God's own heart, King David profoundly messed up his life and the life of his sons as well, because of the sin that he partook in, because of the adultery and the murder that he partook of. So scripture is true about what it says about these people, and it shows us. So it shows us how things are. Right. I. How the human heart is. I think in the case of video games and stories and things like that, those also show us how things might be. They give us a hypothetical. These fiction, these works of fiction tell us how things might be, how some things are corrupted by sin as it is. And I think those types of stories that tell us what things are and what things might be, they point us toward what ought to be, and they point us towards what we long for in our heart of hearts, and that is perfection. It shows us our flaws and the flaws of these hypothetical people or beings or universes or whatever it may be. But we then analyze those things and evaluate those things to find what is good and true and beautiful out of them, even if that is simply to say, this is not it. So I think of a video game, a video game series that I really like, the Shin Megami tensei series, where you have all these folkloric, demonic entities throughout the game. You can use that term different ways. It calls them demons in some of the games, but these folkloric entities. And I would say that it is very wrong, as the main characters to use those entities for your own power and to bring about your own world. But I think that also profoundly shows us that we shouldn't be grasping for this power, and it shows us that the God who is there, Yahweh, actually created this world for good things, and he didn't leave it to the depths of chaos, the way that these games depict the world being. And I think that that's kind of the point. That's the point for me, for all these different stories, whether it's true stories in scripture about imperfect people, or whether it's hypothetical stories about the way that things could be. I think the point is that the things that are true and honorable and just and pure and lovely and commendable and excellent, the things that are worthy of praise, those things that we should think about, those are what we extract from the imperfect stories. If that makes sense. Let's go back to Philippians four for just a second, because I read Philippians four eight, but just before that, here's what Paul says. Starting in verse four. He says, rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice. And for Paul, that meant during times of heavy persecution, rejoice in Goddesse. Okay? He continues. He says, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So approach God without anxiety, but with thanksgiving, approach God even in the midst of difficult times. Continuing in verse seven. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Then he says, finally, brothers, whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, whatever is excellent, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things, what you've learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. I think what Paul is saying is that despite your imperfect circumstances, don't be anxious because God is sovereignty. We come before a good God. We can come before him with thankfulness in our hearts, recognizing, hey, my circumstances might not be ideal, but God is. God is perfect, and he's working something out. And so therefore, I can think about in the midst of hardship and difficulty and imperfect people, and even in the midst of imperfect stories that are being told, I can think about what's true and honorable and just and pure and lovely. I can look at my circumstances and recognize, no, that is not good and pure and lovely. But it points me to the fact that it's not that this is imperfect and that what is good and pure and lovely, I can focus on that, on God, on his plan for me, on what Jesus Christ has done on my behalf to save sinners. Those are the things that I can focus on. And I can use these imperfect stories and imperfect circumstances as a springboard to launch me to recognize God's greatness. Because when I see my heroes fail, I recognize, wow, Jesus faced that temptation and he didn't fail. Wow. When I see unjust rulers in this world, God is altogether just. When I see a story like Shin Megami Tensei say that the world is chaos and you have to reform it in your image and it gives you an unsatisfying ending to that, and that you have to partner with demons in order to bring that about, I can go to God and say, wow, that is not how you've created this world. In fact, you have done it so well and so perfectly that even in the midst of sin, you turned it. Like Joseph says, you turned what was evil to good. That's our God. And so that's my thought. That's my thought, and hopefully it makes sense to you. I don't know how well I've communicated it, but I think it pertains to horror, that there are ways we can use horror, but I think it pertains to all of life, to every imperfect situation you come across, which is going to be just about every circumstance that you have in life. My warning or my caution is that when you look at these things, these imperfect things in life, in circumstances and stories and things like that, here's my charge to you, is don't revel in the darkness of these imperfect things. Use that darkness to reveal the light of God's truth. Let it send you back to scripture to meditating on how great our God is. So that's my encouragement for you. That's been this bite sized thought. Love to hear if you have any examples of this or any, any ways that you've seen this? Or, hey, if you haven't thought about this before and maybe you're struggling in some of these areas, maybe you are really focused on the difficulties and the imperfect circumstances you're facing. I'd love to hear about it. If you want to share the you can get in contact with us, go to our link tree and we'll continue the conversation there. But till next time, lockers keep beating down your backlogs and we'll keep breaking down the benefits.