Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

• 1 Corinthians 9:25

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

• Ephesians 2:8-9

You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

• James 2:24

Writing for this blogsite sharpens my mind.  Preparing for my Sunday school class, guiding the class through the study guide questions and researching cross references sharpens my mind and deepens my relationship with Jesus.

But I also play three numeric puzzle games on my phone and three word or code breaking games and one solitaire game.  That’s it.  I was an engineer and working with numbers was child’s play, but I have noticed that I resort to the calculator far too often.  I used to do those things in my head.

One of the code breaking games is a Bible verse game.  Okay, I am convinced that half of their “verses” are not in the Bible or a paraphrase summary of a paragraph.  But the codes are child’s play to break.  Most of the time, I see the patterns of the words and simply type the statement.

But all seven of these games on my phone have advertisements.  I am too cheap to pay a few dollars for the no ads version.  Thus, about half of the hour or so of my “game playing” is watching ads, muting whenever possible.

But I have a problem with many of the ads.  Some are vulgar or in poor taste, but the ones that I am thinking about today are targeted at Christians.

The ads start with “If you are a Christian, you should download this game…”  They then speak of getting closer to Jesus, keeping the mind sharp, learning more Bible verses, and walking with the Lord.

Sorry, I can do all those things without my phone.  I can obtain knowledge of Bible verses by doing something they never thought to do – reading the Bible.  I can get closer to God by praying, or am I wrong?  I can grow in faith through Christian fellowship, sharing experiences with others, and studying God’s Word together.

At what point does playing a variety of “Bible” games on my phone turn into worshipping the phone?

Sorry, I should not have said that.  No one bats an eyelash when they forget to do their bedtime prayers or they skip church one Sunday, but if they are separated from their phone for more than a few minutes, they get the hives.

Really, put the phone down and walk away.  It is good for you.

But the adds never say that you must download, they simply hint that you are not much of a Christian if you don’t download the game.  They play on guilt.  One ad, which I find hideous, is in the form of a prayer, praising the application developer for helping her get closer to God.  Hideous is not a strong enough word.  Maybe blasphemous.

But one game is one of those word games where they give you a few letters and you make as many words out of those letters that you can think of.  But there is only one word that might be related to Christianity.  For Example, they give you P-R-A-Y.  Pray is a nice word, if you do it.  But are these other words exclusively Christian?  Pry, rap, ray, pay?  They might be in the Bible, but not even finding the obvious word of “Pray” draws me closer to God unless I turn off the phone and pray.

Another game flashes trivia questions, for one or two seconds, and then a new page appears.  But I have been writing quizzes for this blogsite for five years.  I took a speed-reading course decades ago, and seeing a one or two second flash of six or seven questions, I can reconstruct the questions in my mind.  Some are in error.  Some are sloppy.  For example, who created the covenant of circumcision?  The answers, as I recall, were Abram and Adam.  No, God established the covenant with Abraham.  Abram had his name changed to Abraham as a result of the covenant.  You may find this nitpicking, but God created the covenant.  Abraham accepted the covenant.  Thus, the true answer is missing, and the almost, sort of alternate was in error.

Sorry, I have taken courses in writing good quizzes, and at this game’s best, none of the questions could be considered valid.  Two alternative answers at the most?  Pure garbage.

But I do not wish to totally trash these games.  If they inspire people to pick up the Bible or go to God in prayer, they may have minimal use.  Playing such games instead of the mind-numbing garbage that is 90% of the games out there…  Now that may be a halfway house type of thing.  Wean yourself off the trash with Bible games before weaning yourself off the phone entirely.  That is, except to make a phone call.

All that being said, I keep my phone in a pocket.  I play the seven games (a daily challenge in each). But the phone is there for two reasons.  If I have fallen and I cannot get up, I can call for help.  And the delusional reason is that someone other than a doctor’s office confirming an appointment…  The delusion that someone might call just to talk.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.