mattbraunlin
Member
- Nov 1, 2023
- 80
- 83
Work, Work…
My brother and I are both big World of Warcraft fans (though I haven't played in many years.) The universe of Azeroth is a beautiful place, a rugged and authentic world into which tens of millions have disappeared, and which inspired one of South Park’s most brilliant episodes.
A few months ago, I discovered something quite remarkable that my brother and I have always had in common: both of us agree that the world of Azeroth would be, in his words, an ‘ideal afterlife.’ Though we are different people spiritually speaking, we both find the environment presented in World of Warcraft to be heavenly in the most literal sense, a place where both of us could see ourselves thoroughly enjoying a life everlasting.
I understand why, and the answer is simple: life in Azeroth is, by nature, a noble and exciting life, full of perilous quests and acts of bravery and selflessness. You take on the role of a young hero in his hometown, eager to to prove himself, and then you venture out into the wide world on a crusade against evil. You free prisoners, you give aid to the poor, you slay ruthless demons and warlords who prey upon the innocent.
Life in World of Warcraft is a life of good works.
And that is exactly what heaven will be like.
Those who imagine that an eternity with Jesus is an eternity of relaxing and doing as we please are sadly mistaken. In fact, to some extent you might call those people victims. Victims of a fatally false mindset that we in the west have fixed ourselves upon: the idea that God's plan for us is a passive, sedentary existence where we sip heavenly drinks and receive massages from angels, occasionally looking up to wave gratefully at the God who has given us the good life.
It's quite amazing to say so, but I would say that World of Warcraft is in fact closer to the Truth than such a foolish notion.
From the very, very beginning, God created humans to work. Genesis 2:15 states that The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. There was nothing laissez-faire about God's plan for his people even before our sin cursed the earth. We are designed, from beginning to end, to be active doers who make a tangible impact on the world around us.
Yet I do not speak of work in the sense of chores, or dull and dreary jobs that leave us counting the minutes until the steamwhistle blows. God designed work to be a Joy, a pleasure, a great and noble quest. The work God meant to assign us would have been an adventure the like of which not one of us can now imagine.
Sin changed everything. It is by sin that the work of a farmer now comes with sweat and exhaustion and uncertainty. That the work of a parent involves stress and fear and grief. It is by sin that we now have professions like doctors, lawyers, police officers, locksmiths and funeral directors; these are all good and noble callings, but none of them were part of God's plan.
Such is the sinful nature of Man. We have rejected quests. Our thinking is so backward that we (and most especially we in the west) have long since reached the point where we have come to believe that work is a means to an end, an obscene thievery of the time we want to spend lounging on the beach, or cruising around in our new cars, or getting high and listening to music.
Or playing video games.
The video game industry is thriving like never before, and this is obviously no coincidence. Hardcore gamers are not lazy sociopaths; they are noble souls who have searched our western world for quests and found none, and so they disappear into artificial worlds, the only places where quests worthy of humanity may now be undertaken.
What heroes, what knights in shining armour these men and women would make, had they been born into a time and a place that cared about anything but the bottom line!
I just finished a four-day weekend. Took a couple of days off to relax. What a miserable experience. Fidgeting and boredom, overeating and overthinking. Lashing out at a supposedly silent God.
Now, about a half-hour before going back to work, I am finishing up this blurb. I am glad that this time of self-indulgent foolishness is drawing to a close. I don't exactly adore my job, but I have at last come to understand that work is good. Work is crucial. Work is a reflection of heaven and eternity.
I truly believe that my brother and I are onto something with this World of Warcraft thing. One day that spiritual longing we both feel when we play it will be fulfilled to the greatest degree. The foolishness of western consumerism and sensuality will be eradicated, and the soaring Joy of quests and chivalry and exploration and simplicity and all things good and noble will take their rightful place as the good rewards of a job well done.
Who knows? Maybe when we awake in the heavenly realm, the first thing we will see is an angel with a yellow exclamation point over his head.
Good hunting.
My brother and I are both big World of Warcraft fans (though I haven't played in many years.) The universe of Azeroth is a beautiful place, a rugged and authentic world into which tens of millions have disappeared, and which inspired one of South Park’s most brilliant episodes.
A few months ago, I discovered something quite remarkable that my brother and I have always had in common: both of us agree that the world of Azeroth would be, in his words, an ‘ideal afterlife.’ Though we are different people spiritually speaking, we both find the environment presented in World of Warcraft to be heavenly in the most literal sense, a place where both of us could see ourselves thoroughly enjoying a life everlasting.
I understand why, and the answer is simple: life in Azeroth is, by nature, a noble and exciting life, full of perilous quests and acts of bravery and selflessness. You take on the role of a young hero in his hometown, eager to to prove himself, and then you venture out into the wide world on a crusade against evil. You free prisoners, you give aid to the poor, you slay ruthless demons and warlords who prey upon the innocent.
Life in World of Warcraft is a life of good works.
And that is exactly what heaven will be like.
Those who imagine that an eternity with Jesus is an eternity of relaxing and doing as we please are sadly mistaken. In fact, to some extent you might call those people victims. Victims of a fatally false mindset that we in the west have fixed ourselves upon: the idea that God's plan for us is a passive, sedentary existence where we sip heavenly drinks and receive massages from angels, occasionally looking up to wave gratefully at the God who has given us the good life.
It's quite amazing to say so, but I would say that World of Warcraft is in fact closer to the Truth than such a foolish notion.
From the very, very beginning, God created humans to work. Genesis 2:15 states that The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. There was nothing laissez-faire about God's plan for his people even before our sin cursed the earth. We are designed, from beginning to end, to be active doers who make a tangible impact on the world around us.
Yet I do not speak of work in the sense of chores, or dull and dreary jobs that leave us counting the minutes until the steamwhistle blows. God designed work to be a Joy, a pleasure, a great and noble quest. The work God meant to assign us would have been an adventure the like of which not one of us can now imagine.
Sin changed everything. It is by sin that the work of a farmer now comes with sweat and exhaustion and uncertainty. That the work of a parent involves stress and fear and grief. It is by sin that we now have professions like doctors, lawyers, police officers, locksmiths and funeral directors; these are all good and noble callings, but none of them were part of God's plan.
Such is the sinful nature of Man. We have rejected quests. Our thinking is so backward that we (and most especially we in the west) have long since reached the point where we have come to believe that work is a means to an end, an obscene thievery of the time we want to spend lounging on the beach, or cruising around in our new cars, or getting high and listening to music.
Or playing video games.
The video game industry is thriving like never before, and this is obviously no coincidence. Hardcore gamers are not lazy sociopaths; they are noble souls who have searched our western world for quests and found none, and so they disappear into artificial worlds, the only places where quests worthy of humanity may now be undertaken.
What heroes, what knights in shining armour these men and women would make, had they been born into a time and a place that cared about anything but the bottom line!
I just finished a four-day weekend. Took a couple of days off to relax. What a miserable experience. Fidgeting and boredom, overeating and overthinking. Lashing out at a supposedly silent God.
Now, about a half-hour before going back to work, I am finishing up this blurb. I am glad that this time of self-indulgent foolishness is drawing to a close. I don't exactly adore my job, but I have at last come to understand that work is good. Work is crucial. Work is a reflection of heaven and eternity.
I truly believe that my brother and I are onto something with this World of Warcraft thing. One day that spiritual longing we both feel when we play it will be fulfilled to the greatest degree. The foolishness of western consumerism and sensuality will be eradicated, and the soaring Joy of quests and chivalry and exploration and simplicity and all things good and noble will take their rightful place as the good rewards of a job well done.
Who knows? Maybe when we awake in the heavenly realm, the first thing we will see is an angel with a yellow exclamation point over his head.
Good hunting.
