Introduction to Halo

It should come as no surprise that a series with a name like “Halo” would come with some religious themes.

We can’t say, of course, that when Bungie (the original developer) released the first Halo game in 2001 that they necessarily foresaw how deep into theology the franchise would go. But as the game’s main menu opens to the sound of a reverent-sounding choir, you get an indication that it’s not going to be your average first-person shooter.

But how deep can Halo’s 13 games (not including remasters) and a few dozen books go? Well, deep enough to merit a blog on the subject. And while not every spiritual theme in Halo is immediately present or fully explained in the game’s campaign (after all, you’re probably too busy blasting Covenant bad guys to care), taking a moment to question why the alien and robotic races of the series are fighting will inevitably lead you down Halo’s religious rabbit hole.

Fortunately, we at Plugged In have explored that rabbit hole and planted some signposts to help you make sense of it all. And after explaining the lore behind Halo’s most prominent spiritual ideas, we’ll show you how you can connect those ideas to Christianity—and in this case, it may be far easier than you’d expect.

So, without further ado, let’s don our MJOLNIR armor and ready a plasma grenade or two as we drop feet first into these spiritual themes.

Note: Because Halo is a vastly expanded universe, it would take a much longer blog post than this to cover all of the spiritual themes found within. As such, this blog will primarily focus on the franchise’s 13 video games, though some references to the series’ novels will be included, too.

Overarching Spiritual Worldview

Events Prior to Halo’s Known Human History

Millions upon millions of years ago, there was an alien race known as the Precursors. These ancient trans-sentient creatures chose to create other sentient life throughout the universe—and two races rose quickly in galactic power and interstellar prominence: humanity and the Forerunners.

The Forerunners developed some religious ideas about their Precursor creators, the most central of which was the “Mantle of Responsibility”—a belief that the “most developed species” should protect and steward all other life. While the Forerunners initially believed they were destined to hold this prestigious title, they learned that their creators intended for humans to rule the galaxy.

Unwilling to accept this reality (and perhaps afraid that the Precursors might deem them unworthy and destroy them), the Forerunners rebelled against their creators, slaughtering most of the Precursors. Facing genocide, many of the remaining Precursors transformed themselves into a molecular dust, hoping that one day the proper stimuli would allow them to regenerate back into their original forms.

Eventually, the ancient humans encountered this dust. However, over the course of millions of years, the Precursor dust had become corrupted. So when it was reconstituted, it became a new creature called the Flood. The Flood was parasitic in nature, multiplying via spores that shared a single consciousness. It took control of the nervous systems of any living creature the spores came across, assimilating their memories and intelligence into its own hive mind.

The ancient humans battled against the Flood, destroying entire planets wherever they found any trace of the infection. However, because some of these planets contained Forerunner citizens, the Forerunners retaliated, waging war against humanity for their perceived assault and eventually devolving them back into a primitive race.

It was only after all but wiping out the humans that the Forerunners likewise discovered the danger of the Flood. And, finding no other way to stop its spread, the Forerunners chose to construct massive weapons known as Halo rings. The weapons, when fired, were capable of destroying all life in the galaxy, thus starving the Flood of its food source.

Before they activated the rings, the Forerunners collected portions of every species they could find (including some of the Flood for research purposes), storing them on the Ark, the Halo control center which would remain untouched by the destructive force of the rings. From this safe zone, the Forerunners then fired the weapons, killing all life in the galaxy—including most of their own kind. When the proverbial dust settled, the Forerunners who had survived on the Ark then went about the galaxy, reseeding worlds with the preserved species before themselves slowly fading away or else leaving the galaxy.

Their final act was to designate humans as the race to succeed them in carrying the Mantle of Responsibility.

Events Within Halo’s Known Human History

Far in the future, humanity, having been reseeded on Earth, grows into a space-faring race once more. They begin colonizing other planets, but the race is plagued by terrorist attacks from insurrectionist colonies. In response to this, the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) starts the SPARTAN Program, looking to create super soldiers to quash the rebellions. The most successful of these super soldiers is John-117 (often simply referred to by his military rank, Master Chief), one of many children kidnapped at a young age to be genetically and cybernetically augmented and trained for the task (and the main character of the Halo franchise). It is around this time that humanity makes first contact with a political and religious alliance of various alien races known as the Covenant.

The Covenant, formed long ago, worships the Forerunners, mistakenly believing that the Forerunners used ancient technology to ascend to godhood. The Covenant scours the galaxy, searching for Forerunner artifacts, believing that if they collect the Forerunner tech as an act of faith, then they, too, will ascend to godhood in a process they called the “Great Journey.”

However, a sentient Forerunner robot informs the Covenant’s three leaders, known as the Prophets, that their beliefs are misconstrued. The Prophets had translated a Forerunner glyph to read “reclamation,” and the Covenant had taken it to mean they should reclaim the technology to complete the Great Journey. But the robot tells them this was a mistranslation: In actuality, the glyph means “reclaimer,” and it refers to the Forerunner’s choice to finally follow the Precursors’ original plan to give humanity the Mantle of Responsibility and allow them to rule over the galaxy.

Knowing that this revelation would destroy the Covenant, the Prophets collectively decide to keep this truth a secret. Instead, they inform the alien races within the Covenant that the very existence of humans is a heretical abomination, and that humans need to be completely eradicated. And while the truth eventually does come out, breaking the Covenant apart, it is this decision that sparks the war between humanity and the Covenant.

In this war (which takes place over the course of the first three Halo games), the Covenant devastates humanity, forcing continual human retreats and relocations. However, the war comes to a head when a small group of humans (led by John-117) gets chased to a Halo ring. These humans quickly discover the ring’s true intentions: to wipe out all life in the galaxy. However, the Covenant, believing that activating the ring will ascend them to godhood, try to find a way to start it. But in this attempt, the Covenant accidentally releases the surviving Flood that the Forerunners had kept around.

The rest of the Halo series chiefly involves John running around, dealing with the outbreak of the Flood and preventing various alien races and robots from activating the rings. And, as if all that wasn’t enough, in Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite, John must deal with the consequences of a human-created AI that’s gone rogue.

Halo and the Link to Christianity

So, it’s apparent that Halo deals with a variety of religious themes, from chosen races and covenants to false religions and divine ascension. But what you may not realize is how closely this franchise connects to the Christian story. And while these connections aren’t confirmed by the developers, you may be able to use them to bring gameplaying back to the gospel.

In these games, the root cause of conflict is, ultimately, the Flood. The Flood is said to be so deadly that “one single Flood spore can destroy an entire species.” And as the Flood gather together and form into a single consciousness, they create an entity known as a Gravemind. We meet one such Gravemind in Halo 2 and 3, which describes itself as a “monument to all your sins.” The Flood stands as the embodiment and result of sin, so it’s no surprise when, to escape the Flood, the Forerunners load up every species on their Ark while the rest of the galaxy perishes. Yes, you got that right: While the majority of the Forerunners perish as a result of the Flood, those who find salvation on the Ark survive—a clear parallel to Noah’s Ark in Genesis. However, just as sin did not end with Noah’s Ark, some of the Flood still survive and continue to ravage the galaxy.

And long after the Ark, the Covenant arises with a religion based on the teachings of so-called Prophets. Specifically, these Prophets point back to the teachings of those who came before as well as point forward to the day when they’ll be saved via their faith in those teachings. The issue with their faith, however, is that they’ve misinterpreted the words of those who came before, adding unnecessary burdens based on tradition rather than truth. Instead of recognizing that the true reclaimer is humanity—and that John-117 is something of a Messianic figure—they attempt to save themselves through rigorous keeping of their laws, fighting against the salvation John brings and calling him a demon. This is reminiscent of what Jesus identifies is the issue with the Pharisees in Matthew 23, explaining that they “tie up heavy burdens” upon people seeking salvation and that they despise the true Messiah.

In the context of the Halo games, the one who will save the universe from the Flood is John-117. John, if we connect his name to John 1:17, would be associated with the following verse:

This, to me at least, is a clear depiction of how John-117 is meant to be a Messianic figure within the Halo franchise, bringing truth to the law-bound Covenant. But there’s one more Christ connection point you may find interesting:

Throughout the first three Halo games, John combats the Covenant and fights the Flood, culminating in his confrontation with the Gravemind head-on by descending into its domain. There, he activates a single Halo ring (outside the range of alien life) to defeat the Gravemind. Speaking with his AI companion, he says the words “It’s finished.” And while humanity believes that he is lost and gone, we, the players, see that he is not dead. These actions are similarly resonant of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection. Jesus defeated Satan and conquered the grave by perfectly following the law and acting as a sacrificial lamb. John echoes this by following the law of the Covenant (to activate the Halo rings), sacrificing himself to defeat the Gravemind. And both, after seeing that their work was completed, said “It is finished” (John 19:28-30).

Finally, there is one other character we can connect to Christianity in an interesting way: an alien named Thel ‘Vadam. At the start of the first game, he’s a high-ranking member of the Covenant, tasked with protecting the Halo from humanity. When he fails, he’s stripped of his prestige and given the task of “Arbiter” instead, a role that sends him on deadly missions for the purpose earning his honor back (but, for the Prophets, also in the hope that he’ll perish). In Halo 2, he’s even tasked with killing his own kinsmen who have learned the truth about the Halo rings and are speaking against the Covenant. However, his missions eventually lead to him discovering the truth for himself, and he spends the rest of Halo 2 and Halo 3 fighting alongside humanity against the Covenant. Thel ‘Vadam’s journey from a zealous member of the Covenant hunting down those who speak the truth to a devoted comrade of those he sought to destroy is very reminiscent of the Apostle Paul’s life, who went from being a high-ranking Pharisee wanting to quash Christianity to being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

We hope that this serves as a helpful primer for parents looking to understand the major religious themes presented in Halo—and how you can connect them to Christianity. While we can’t hit on every spiritual reference in the franchise, this guide covers many of the major religious ideas gamers will come across.

And be sure to check out our other Theology Of guides!

• The Theology of Lost
• The Theology of The Legend of Zelda
• The Theology of The Lord of the Rings
• The Theology of Pokémon
• The Theology of Star Wars
• The Theology of The Chronicles of Narnia
• The Theology of Fire Emblem

The post The Theology of … Halo appeared first on Plugged In.

So, after some brave consideration, here is my list of family friendly fare for your perusal. Each of these games is fun and generally content-free. And I’ve chosen a variety of genres, ratings, and age levels, along with game console considerations. Here are our best games of 2024 …

EA Sports College Football 25

(Sports. PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X. Rated: E) Gotta have a sports title in the mix, right? This one is the first new EA NCAA football game since way back in 2013. And in my humble opinion, it’s much more accessible for all age groups than the latest Madden title. EA Sports College Football 25 offers a flexible array of fine-tuning tweaks for gamers. More seasoned players can dial up the collegiate-contest difficulty. And if younger players take the reins, the football game can be optimized to almost play itself if so desired. It’s a spike-the-ball joy.

Princess Peach: Showtime

(Action/Adventure. Nintendo Switch. Rating: E10+) There were several different Mario and Mario-adjacent games released this year. But the most fun of the lot is the one where Princess Peach takes center stage and gives battle to a theater-grabbing baddie. Her game is filled with appealing variety and allows its protagonist to fill her heroic role in unexpected ways. On top of that, Showtime feels geared for younger players, which many moms and dads will appreciate. Peach is definitely ready for her close-up. 

Pepper Grinder

(Platformer, puzzle. Nintendo Switch, PC. Rated: E10+) Here’s another kid-accessible game. But this one definitely keeps dialing up the difficulty to adult-challenge levels. It’s all about a stranded young Pepper who finds a “grinder” and has to dig and tunnel her way past mounting platforms and environmental puzzles. The game has been cooked up with quick and increasingly challenging play at its core, demanding just the right combination of boosted speed, grapple-hook grabs and strategically timed jumps. Pepper and her grinder offer gamers some tasty side-scrolling play that’s fun and fluid, but never too spicy.

Astro Bot

(Action/Adventure. PlayStation 5. Rated: E 10+) A little robot named Astro was originally part of a short adventure game included with the new PlayStation 5 when it first released back in 2020. That brief dash of robotic fun helped gamers get a sense of the gaming options and controller functions that this then-new console offered. Well, now the little Astro Bot is back with a self-titled, full-length PS5 exclusive. And it’s loads of fun. Astro Bot has a little bit of everything … except problematic content. He’s a good little bot, he is.

Unicorn Overlord

(Tactical Strategy. Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X. Rated: T) So you’re looking for something with a little more punch, huh? Well, there were some good games on that put-‘em-up list. But this one was on the top of the heap. It focuses on the tasks of fighter gathering, in-game friendship building, large-map questing, and strategic battles. The only caveat with this T-rated entry is that a bit of rough language pops up on occasion. (See the full review for details.) Unicorn Overlord is well-crafted and offers gamers balanced strategic challenges without ever feeling either overwhelming or slow.

So there’s my five. But … psst, come closer. I realized that I didn’t include anything here for the really young gamers or the guys and gals who love cats more than gaming. So, I’m gonna slip one more under the wire just for you guys.

Little Kitty, Big City

(Adventure/Puzzle. Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X. Rated: E) If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to see the world from a cat’s-eye view, then Little Kitty, Big City might be a game that’s meowing your name. (Or maybe the name of some younger kitten lover in your soft and pettable clowder.) After falling from a high sill, our kitty protagonist must find its way home. Kitty hijinks and quests are the cozy call of duty—with no cat-box mess to worry over. I can hear some of you purring already.

That’s it! Those are Plugged In’s best games of 2024.

The post Best Games of 2024: Plugged In’s Year-End Picks appeared first on Plugged In.

But gamble some cash in an online game for a chance at obtaining that “Legendary” character skin you’ve been wanting? Why, don’t let us stop you.

For just a small amount of money, you can “spin the wheel” to try getting your favorite weapon or character skins, emotes or other customizations. Depending on the game, you might even unlock a weapon or item far better than any normal player can access, giving you a tactical advantage.

Of course, none of it is guaranteed. But hey, the more money you pay, the more chances you’ll get to try obtaining what you want!

Can anyone spare a dollar or twenty?

What Are Loot Boxes?

For those unaware, loot boxes in video games function similar to lottery scratch tickets. With a scratchcard, you pay a dollar or two in the hopes that when you scratch off the ink, it’ll reveal that you’ve won money or a prize. With a loot box, you pay a dollar or two in the hopes that when you click it open, it’ll reveal that you’ve won a valuable virtual item.

Loot boxes appear in many popular video games (and most notably free-to-play games). Overwatch, Team Fortress 2, Star Wars Battlefront 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rocket League and Apex Legends are but a handful of examples.

But like a scratch ticket, there’s no telling what you’ll get. You’re guaranteed, at minimum, a “common” item. But more than likely, a “common” item isn’t what you have your eye on.

For some games, certain loot box items give players a blatant power advantage over others, incentivizing weaker players to either fork over money in the hopes they’ll get the same loot box advantage or else play at a permanent disadvantage. However, for others, running that gambit is the only way to progress. These games, predominantly available in the East, are defined as gacha games. They rely on similar random number generator mechanics, many of which require items only obtainable from paid-for loot boxes in order to play the game or progress the story.

Of course, most of these games wouldn’t dare to admit that they’re exploiting players. After all, you can, theoretically, obtain the very same items without paying a dollar. Some games will give you one free spin every day you log in. But others will take you logging thousands of hours of gameplay. But both cases recognize that most people won’t spend the time to grind or wait for the item when you could just spend $20 to get it instantly.

That temptation is magnified when the reward means other players will see that you’ve gotten a special character skin, weapon or ability. Furthermore, many people are willing to pay real money for purely aesthetic skins. Some will even shell out hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to obtain them. You might feel just one loot box away from getting one of those valuable skins and becoming rich off selling it.

But even if your kid doesn’t hope to get an epic skin and strike it rich, research shows that younger kids have a harder time understanding the relation between virtual and real-life currencies. That means, so long as your credit card is tied to the account, they’ll be more likely to just keep spending money to purchase and open more and more loot boxes.

Do Loot Boxes Affect Kids?

Gamers have never been particularly fond of the loot box, describing games that contain them as “pay-to-win” or “pay-to-progress.” The wallets of parents whose children have spent thousands of dollars on the mechanic likewise cry out for mercy. Even some of you, our readers, have recently commented on the loot box craze, comparing it, like me, to unregulated gambling. (So props to you, Boris, for leaving such a timely comment that it forced me to update this blog before we published it).

And that observation is exactly right. It’s the reason why the Australian government recently set new rules for the video game industry, stating all video games that contain loot boxes will have to be rated at least ‘M’ (Mature). The rating means that no child under the age of 15 will be able to purchase the game (at least without the help of a parent).

The measure officially went into effect in late September 2024. The reason? Because loot boxes are a form of “gambling-like content.” In other words, the measure “brings the gaming industry in line with real-world, age-based restrictions in Australia.”

The United States is likewise looking into the effect loot boxes have on children. In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission hosted a workshop to gather insight on the claim that loot boxes encourage addictive gambling behavior in children. In their report of the event, they detailed one researcher’s findings who demonstrated that “individuals who purchase a large amount of loot boxes score higher on an index of problem gambling.” Despite being unable to prove whether one necessarily causes the other, the researcher found the correlation to be “concerning.” In fact, the issue is so concerning that it’s caused at least one state to provide resources to help combat and prevent youth gambling.

And if emerging studies are finding positive links between loot boxes and gambling, it’s very bad news for children.

While describing why Nevada casinos prohibit people under 21 from gambling, ex-casino executive and spokesperson Alan Feldman explained the added risk children specifically face from engaging in gambling.

“Problem gambling affects youth disproportionately,” Feldman said. “We see more people under 21 in the higher incidence of harm from gambling than those above 21 […] There’s also a direct connection between research done on people who are in treatment for gambling disorders with their having started at a young age. To be clear, that doesn’t mean that everyone who gambles at a young age will be affected by a gambling disorder. However, the majority of those who are affected by it started at a young age.”

How Should Parents Respond?

Fortunately, there’s some good news for parents: Loot boxes aren’t nearly as common as they once were—at least, not in Western games. Some, such as Fortnite, have done away with random-item loot boxes. Countries like Austria and Germany have imposed restrictions on them, and Belgium has outright banned them. And if the aforementioned FTC study is anything to go on, the United States may not be too far behind in its own regulations, too.

But “loot box” mechanics aren’t just limited to video games—they’re just more problematic. Technically, every time you go to the store and purchase a sleeve of Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh cards, you’re engaging in the same mechanical idea. However, whereas mom and dad can limit a child’s card sleeve purchase to just one or two per visit, online loot boxes are harder for families to regulate.

So don’t wait for the government to get involved.

Sit down with your child and explain to them how loot boxes can be appealing. There’s a dopamine rush every time you click that button and see that you’ve gotten a pretty special item. But that rush can become addictive and seeking it out can encourage unhealthy behaviors and unwise decisions.

And as a more practical tip for you, the parent, never save your credit or debit card to a device your child has unmonitored access to. You just might save yourself from a large bill courtesy of a virtual Las Vegas.

The post Gambling for Children: The Problem with Loot Boxes appeared first on Plugged In.

Lara Croft has packed a lot into her 28 years. Born as the gun-toting protagonist in the revolutionary video game Tomb Raider, Croft has migrated into comics, movies and now heads her very own Netflix show, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. So influential is she that her very own Wikipedia page is nearly 15,000 words long.

Clearly, Croft has raided more than tombs: She’s raided the world of pop culture as well.

But she’s not alone. Games and game characters have done a nice collective side hustle by moonlighting in movies, shows and sometimes even hit songs. (See last year’s hit “Peaches” from The Super Mario Bros. Movie.) And given that the gaming world is far more lucrative than movies, its influence will likely only grow.

This week, I sit down with Emily Tsiao, who reviewed the new Netflix show, and Bob Hoose, who has reviewed his fair share of video games, to talk about Croft, gaming and just why video games are such a fertile land in the world of entertainment and pop culture. It’s a great conversation, and we have a great time talking. I hope you’ll have a great time listening, too.

And then, if you want to make the talk even more great, share your own thoughts. Are you a gamer? What are your favorite games? Or do you look at gaming’s influence and scratch your head in confusion? Planning to watch The Legend of Lara Croft? Tell to us in the comment section below. Or write to us on Facebook or Instagram. Leave us a voicemail at our Plugged In Show homepage, or write us an email at team@thepluggedinshow.com.

And be sure to join us next week when we talk about AI and adolescence, and we unpack Agatha All Along. That’s right, it’ll be truly an A-level conversation. Join us.

The post Episode 255: Lara Croft and the Growing Influence of Gaming in Entertainment appeared first on Plugged In.

This verse is a comfort to the multitude of Christians who have come to faith after Christ’s ascension. But if we were to be truly honest with ourselves, many would probably jump at the opportunity to take a time machine back to Jesus’ day to see Him in person.

Fortunately for you, as the Portals and Prophets rulebook explains, the Alpha and Omega time travel company is here to do just that—and more. They’re looking to hire a guide who will bring tour groups back through time to witness important events from the Bible, from Genesis to the New Testament era. You and other players compete as finalists for the position. And you’ll prove that you’re the best person for the job by traveling back in time and racing all across ancient Israel, showing you have what it takes to lead this expedition through biblical history.

Of course, there are a few challenges along the way.

Sure, anyone can show up in Bethel, or Bethlehem, or Beersheba when not much is going on. But, as Ecclesiastes says, there’s a time for every matter under heaven. So you’ll need to make sure you’re not only in the right location of a biblical event—but also the right century. Because if you can’t manage that, well, you’ll be waiting quite some time to read about it in the Bible.

Components

Portals and Prophets comes with a seven-page rulebook. It also includes four different decks of cards: 18 brown “Genesis” cards, 75 green “Old Testament” cards, 22 white “New Testament” cards and five blue “Portal” cards. A handful of tokens for tracking progress on the board and 10 colored pawns (two of each color) close out the rest of the materials.

Gameplay

Portals and Prophets sends up to five players back to the time of the book of Genesis, and then slowly brings them, century by century, to the New Testament era. Each player holds five cards in his or her hand, with each card depicting an event from the Bible (as well as where and in what century it took place). As the centuries tick by (designated by a token moving along a timeline on the board), players run from location to location, hoping to be in the right place at the right time to play those event cards for points. Then, players can draw more event cards from the deck so they can hopefully score those, too. And whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins.

Players will also want to consider scrapping cards: Some cards contain a “fuel value,” wherein discarding those events adds fuel to the time machine. With enough fuel, players can score points even if they don’t happen to be in the correct century for that event. For instance, if the game has progressed to the 9^th century B.C., but the “Fuel Boost” indicator is on “2,” then players can play event cards that occurred up to two centuries in the future or in the past (in this case, anywhere from the 11^th to 7^th centuries).

Players can also earn points by scoring cards from different areas of Israel. The gameboard is split up into five regions: Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Coastal and Distant Destinations. For bonus points, players should witness events in all five.

Additionally, cards are grouped into categories (“Ancient,” “Royalty,” “God Speaks,” “Miracle,” “Battle” and “Mountain”). The card “Daniel Interprets the Writing on the Wall” (Daniel 5), for instance, is classified in as Royalty, Miracle and God Speaks. Players with the most cards representing a category will earn extra points at the end of the game.

Spiritual Elements

In a game where players sprint around Israel (and nearby locations, such as Egypt and Babylon) to witness biblical events, you’re going to learn a bit about the Bible itself. Each game card references an event, along with the location and century in which occurred. The cards likewise contain an artistic depiction of the event and a relevant Bible verse describing it. And while even nonbelievers will recognize some of these events (such as a card depicting David and Goliath), other events may be obscure enough to encourage families to open their own Bibles to read more about the event and its significance.

Noteworthy Potential Concerns

There isn’t too much to sully this Christian gaming experience. However, some cards reference moments from Scripture where people died, which may feel a little weird to think about bringing tour guides to watch. (My first trip back in time certainly wouldn’t be to see the “Amorite Kings Executed.”) Likewise, iconoclasts may take issue with some New Testament cards’ depictions of Jesus.

Conclusion

Portals and Prophets is actually quite fun. We had a blast racing to reach our next destination before each century ended to watch biblical events come and go. And, to add an additional fun challenge, the game’s rules stated our player pawns couldn’t pass through or stand on the same place as another player’s, causing a few of us to (unintentionally and intentionally) sabotage each other.

Portals and Prophets will appeal to the family who wants an easy-to-learn game that still allows for a bit of strategic planning. The seven-page rulebook is a breeze to get through, and gameplay scarcely lasts more than an hour.

And for parents who’d like to use this game as a deeper teaching tool, consider this: When the points have been scored and the game is over, take a look at the cards each player has played, and ask your kids which card they find the most interesting. Then, open your Bible to where that event takes place. Read it and teach it to your child in its full context. Each time you play, pick a new card and read the Bible passages related to it.

By doing so, even if you don’t have a time machine of your own, you may just find yourself whisked back in time anyway.

The post Christian Board Game Review – Portals and Prophets appeared first on Plugged In.

Introduction to the Series

Death is little more than a temporary setback in most games.

Sure, Bowser might defeat Mario. But you, as the player, always get to try again until you win.

But in Fire Emblem, death is a plot point.

The series began in 1990, when Nintendo released Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light to Japanese audiences. And gamers quickly took to the franchise for its then-unique gameplay, which combined the elements of a role-playing game with turn-based strategy. Its characters were fleshed out: they had rich backgrounds and complex personalities. And most importantly, they could die.

But unlike most games, characters who perish in Fire Emblem typically don’t come back from the dead (a mechanic known as “permadeath”). There’s no respawn—the game simply continues without them. The franchise made it abundantly clear that your actions, as the player, had gotten this soldier killed, and there’d be no more seeing them grow as a character. As you might expect, Fire Emblem stands as one of Nintendo’s darker, more mature franchises.

And those rich, complex characters are deeply impacted by those deaths, as well. They “feel” the loss of their comrades. Indeed, in later games, characters can form deep friendships with each other—and romantic ties, as well—affecting performance on the battlefield. 

Outside of combat, players watch as their soldiers expressed their hopes and dreams. Some games even showed what your surviving units chose to do after the game (and the war) ended.

The game, lauded for its RPG elements and unforgiving tactical gameplay, began releasing in the United States in 2003 with its seventh entry: Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (released simply as Fire Emblem in the U.S.). American audiences were introduced to this cutthroat world full of medieval knights, spell-casting mages and dragons across subsequent releases, the most recent to date being 2023’s Fire Emblem Engage.

But as my soldier dodges yet another potentially lethal blow from an enemy’s lance, the biggest question on my mind is: Were I to give up my save-scumming ways and allow my favorite soldiers to perish…where would they go? What’s heaven like in Fire Emblem? And what God or gods might they meet there?

So, without further ado, let’s take our favorite 12-15 units out to battle and leave the rest to remain as backup benchwarmers as we figure out this franchise’s spiritual themes.

Overarching Spiritual Worldview

Those themes, as it turns out, are not as easy to discern as you might think. In fact, as far as my research shows, the afterlife never officially comes up.

As of posting, the series contains 17 core Fire Emblem games and a handful of spinoffs. However, while a couple of these games are sequels to others or at least somewhat connected, most of them follow their own, separate stories that contain different lands, peoples and even gods. And, unlike The Legend of Zelda (as we mentioned in our “The Theology of … The Legend of Zelda” blog), Nintendo has never released an official timeline. We can only speculate on whether they’re meant to connect.

Regardless, the following is what we can piece together from Fire Emblem lore.

In the beginning was the world—but not as our characters know it today. Back then, it was a world of nothing but ocean, until the goddess Ashunera appeared and created both land and life (Note: Ashunera does not appear in the vast majority of Fire Emblem games, as most games are disconnected from one another. However, for simplicity’s sake, this section is written under a creative choice in order to connect the games under an easy-to-digest creation narrative). The human life she created were divided into two races: the Beorc and Laguz. While the Beorc were like normal humans, the Laguz were chimera-like, with some sprouting wings, fur or claws. The two races soon went to war. In attempting to stop them, Ashunera lost control of her emotions and unintentionally flooded the world, only sparing one continent.

Not wanting to flood the world again, Ashunera separated her emotions from herself, which then took the form of Yune, the goddess of chaos. Having no emotions, Ashunera became the goddess of order, now known as Ashera. (Although this split eventually causes issues, too.) In time, other continents rose from the waters, and other gods similar to Ashunera would appear (though whether these deities are gods on the same level as Ashunera is disputed). Those gods would provide humans with the ability to channel their elemental abilities into magic.

This seems to be the overarching theology of Fire Emblem—but these gods wax and wane in their importance. For instance, despite playing a large role in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Ashunera has little impact in other games.

A race of dragons also arose, many of which often serve as the series’ main antagonists. These dragons were very powerful beasts, and the most powerful of them all were a subgroup known as Divine Dragons. While not gods themselves, these creatures were so powerful that many would worship them as if they were. However, their power also betrayed a cost: Though it may take thousands of years, dragons eventually succumb to madness and seek to kill humans.

The dragons could avoid this outcome only by taking on human forms, a form known as the Manakete race. These people, while typically weaker than the average human, could temporarily transform back into their dragon forms provided they met certain requirements (varying by game). Additionally, their bones could be used by others to fashion magical dragon-slaying weapons, and their blood, when consumed by humans, could grant magical abilities.

At various times throughout this lengthy Fire Emblem history, war would break out across continents—between dragons, between humans and between dragons and humans. These wars would send many to their dooms, and heroes—including your character in the game—would rise up. Typically, these heroes rally an army of soldiers to assist them, search and find some magical weapon or device that just may change the course of battle (known as a fire emblem) and save the day by slaying a mad dragon or an evil cult of dragon worshipers.

Glossary of Important Characters/Topics

Fire Emblem – A “fire emblem” is the object around which the story of each game ultimately revolves around. This object can be anything from a weapon or shield to a family crest or genetic attribute. Regardless of its form, the player will typically need to find the fire emblem in order to beat the villain.

Dragons – Dragons play a large role in Fire Emblem games. Though there are many types of dragons (such as Ice or Earth Dragons), the strongest and rarest—the Divine Dragons that we mentioned—typically side with humans (or at least the humans who fight for good). While some of the other types of dragons use their magical powers for good, others actively (or unintentionally, if they’ve gone mad) become evil.

Gods and Goddesses – There are many gods throughout the Fire Emblem series, and some seem to contradict accounts from other games. For instance, there seem to be four gods that have been described in some way as a “creator” god. But from what we can discern, Ashunera seems to be the franchise’s ultimate goddess. Other gods tend to be based around the elements of the world (such as earth, air, fire and water), and some draw directly from Norse or Egyptian mythology. For example, the gods found in Fire Emblem Heroes take their names directly from the Norse gods.

Other Spiritual Elements – Some spiritual elements in Fire Emblem don’t easily fit into a single category but are still worth mentioning. These include:

• Resurrection – Some characters, such as Alear from Fire Emblem Engage, have died and risen from the dead. Resurrection is possible, often as a result of extreme magical or divine power. However, others have attempted to resurrect loved ones with little success, unintentionally raising zombified corpses.

• Possession – Some characters become possessed via foul magic or otherwise placed under a sort of mind control. Likewise, wicked people and objects can cause the negative emotions of characters to become amplified. And in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the player controls a man who holds the spirit of a deity within him.

• Souls and Emblems – Despite little information about an afterlife, the franchise does make use of the concept of the soul. Some beings remain in the world despite their bodies being destroyed, and others use magic to steal life force from other people. On a similar note, Fire Emblem Engage contains many magical rings which can summon “emblems”—sentient translucent copies of famous heroes from previous games.

Connecting, And Contrasting, the Gospel

Despite the franchise’s disconnected narrative, we can still pick up on spiritual themes that are common across the board. Consider using the following comparisons as ways you might tie Fire Emblem back to the gospel.

1. Starting Over – Due to the difficulty of the Fire Emblem games, many entries in the franchise allow the player to use a limited amount of “undo” functions in order to retry strategies so as to save troops who would otherwise perish. More recently, this ability has been linked to some kind of divine power, whether given by a god or through a magical object. While these powers may need to rewind time to make sure things play out the way they intend, biblical Christianity depicts a God who has set forth an unfailing plan since before the dawn of time itself. This is exemplified in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, as He willingly laid down His life in accordance with the Father’s plan (John 10:17-18, Acts 2:23-24 and 3:18). Though the battle may at times feel lost, Christians can rest in comfort knowing that our God doesn’t need to fix any mistakes, as He has never made one and never will. Men cannot thwart God’s plans—rather, He oftentimes fulfills His plans through their actions (Genesis 50:19-20, Daniel 1:1-2, Habakkuk 1:5-11, Acts 1:16-19).

2. Permadeath – When a soldier dies on the Fire Emblem battlefield, it’s a tragedy. Their stories end, as do all their hopes and desires. And with little information about the afterlife, we can only assume that death is their ultimate end. But in Christianity, we do not need to fear death as the end. Rather, death is the transition to glory, wherein we are finally brought into the presence of our God to worship and enjoy Him forever. As those who are raised in Christ, we do not need to fear death, knowing that what lies beyond is far greater than the world we live in now. Death therefore has no sting for a Christian (John 11:25-26, 1 Corinthians 15:50-57, Philippians 1:19-26).

3. Sacrificial Love – Many characters in Fire Emblem sacrifice themselves in order to save their friends, counting them greater than themselves. While theology isn’t really the focus in these moments, their sacrifice points to a bigger truth. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Indeed, Jesus gave His life for His friends just a few hours after speaking these words, saving all His friends from the wrath of God due their sins. Jesus took the punishment for our sins upon Himself that we would be seen as righteous before God. And as we believe in His effective final sacrifice for sins as our Risen Savior, we too will rise with Him into new life (Romans 5:9 and 8:11, Hebrews 10:11-14).

Conclusion

We hope that this serves as a helpful primer for parents looking to understand the spirituality in Fire Emblem so that you can be equipped with the knowledge you need to lead into a gospel conversation or to decide whether the franchise is for you.

And be sure to check out our other Theology Of guides!

• The Theology of Lost
• The Theology of The Legend of Zelda
• The Theology of The Lord of the Rings
• The Theology of Pokémon
• The Theology of Star Wars
• The Theology of The Chronicles of Narnia
• The Theology of Halo

The post The Theology Of … Fire Emblem appeared first on Plugged In.

If you’ve been hanging out with us for a while, you know that we at Plugged In believe entertainment impacts us deeply. It affects what we think, how we feel and even what we believe. But while entertainment influences us mightily, different forms of it influence us in mighty different ways.

Take a favorite song. The tune might just last three minutes. But if we’re in the middle of a painful breakup and that song describes just how we’re feeling, we might listen to that three-minute song about a thousand times during a weekend.

Or consider a video game. Your average shooter might not have the emotional angst of that breakup song. But instead of passively listening to it while we sit in our bedrooms, we’re actively engaged in, y’know, shooting stuff. And we might go on shooting stuff for dozens, or even hundreds, of hours before we move on to the next game.

Both that song and that game impact those of us who engage with it. But each taps into a different part of the brain, plays on different emotions and impacts us in very different ways.

And our strategy for how to deal with those different forms of media needs to be tweaked accordingly, too.

We talk a lot about this dynamic in our new book, Becoming a Screen-Savvy Family. But we’ve got more to say. Our panel of experts—Bob Hoose, Kristin Smith and Jonathan McKee—joins our host Adam Holz to discuss these different forms of entertainment and the different strategies each requires.

And then, Adam talks with someone who knows all about the influence of entertainment: Christian music superstar Rebecca St. James. She and her equally musical brothers, Joel and Luke Smallbone, otherwise known as For King & Country, are the subjects of a new movie called Unsung Hero, which focuses especially on the siblings’ dad, David. Accordingly, St. James talks about the film, her family and how she herself has navigated the sometimes high-pressure entertainment industry.

So join us, will you? Listen to what we have to say. And once we’re done jabbing, take a turn yourself. Let us know what form of entertainment is particularly enticing to you on Facebook, or Instagram, or by sending us an email at team@thepluggedinshow.com. Or leave us a voicemail on our podcast homepage. And then, get ready for another dynamic Plugged In Show episode next week.

The post Episode 228: How Different Entertainment Forms Influence Us. Plus, a Conversation With Rebecca St. James appeared first on Plugged In.

And when the apostles had received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they began to preach the gospel in Jerusalem and then in all Judea and Samaria. It’s a message that continues to be shared all over the world. And in Commissioned, a game created by Patrick and Katherine Lysaght, players will experience that spread—as well as the difficulties those missionaries faced.

You, along with up to five of your most determined friends, play as an assortment of apostles, guiding them on their missionary journeys. And don’t worry: no matter if you decide to play as Andrew, Barnabas, James, John, Paul or Peter, you’re all on the same team. You’ll travel from town to town, preaching the gospel and building up churches while you play against the board as it throws various trials at you in an attempt to hinder your mission and extinguish your churches.

Commissioned attempts to showcase the spread of the gospel as seen through the book of Acts, as well as “the first 150 years of church history,” according to the game’s rulebook. Players will encounter pitfalls and resistance that will threaten a quick ‘game over.’

And though God confirmed that He would not allow the church to fail in our history, well, the fate of the church in Commissioned rests in your fallible and distinctly unsovereign hands.

Good luck.

Components

Commissioned comes with a 12-page rulebook. It also comes with five double-sided scenario cards that change the victory conditions for each playthrough. The box likewise contains various wooden stand-ins which represent player apostles, fellow missionaries and church members. Players use 96 “faith cards” to help them build the church and bolster themselves against the 27 “trial cards” they’ll face. Each player will also be given a personalized player board for the apostle they choose to play, and one player will get a wooden “Elder’s Staff” to indicate their leadership for the round. Other tokens depict the looming effects of trial cards, such as a church that is unable to gain more members and a counter for extinguished churches. Finally, a double-sided game board depicting the Mediterranean area and an eight-sided die round out the gameplay elements, while a “Theme Appendix” cites the Bible verses or historical context that served as inspiration for the aforementioned faith and trial cards.

Gameplay

Commissioned offers players five different scenarios from which to choose: Acts of the Apostles, Peter’s Gentile Outreach, The First Missionary Journeys, Appeal to Caesar, and To the Ends of the Earth. The scenarios start players on different portions of the board with different restrictions and resources, as well as special rules the players may have to follow and the conditions for victory. And, just to raise the stakes a bit, these scenarios also come with the consequences you’ll reap if you fail, from “The Roman Empire never adopts Christianity” to “The Church never expands beyond Judea.”

In addition to these scenarios, players will choose between the easier “Disciple” or harder “Martyr” difficulties, the latter of which includes far more punishing trial cards for players to endure. Yet despite the five different scenarios, games are relatively simple: move your missionaries and apostles around the board to create and grow churches in various cities. In terms of other objectives, players will sometimes need to collect cards representing the New Testament canon to show it being written throughout their journey.

But don’t expect the journey to be easy. Each turn, you’ll have to draw a trial card which will hinder your mission in some way, from eliminating church members from a region to imprisoning your apostle for a number of rounds, thus preventing the gospel from advancing to the next city. If five churches are extinguished (by losing all their church members) or if you run out of cards in the trial deck before meeting a scenario’s victory conditions, you lose the game.

Now, we played Commissioned a few times, and we found the game to be rather difficult. Even though we were eventually able to win a game, it took all of us planning and working together in order to accomplish our objectives before we ran out of time. But while it’s likely that your first game will end in a loss like ours did, the difficulty speaks to the very trials, persecutions and challenges that the actual apostles faced as they spread the gospel throughout the world. It’ll likewise make victory all the more satisfying.

Spiritual Elements

Notwithstanding the game’s inherent connection to the missionary journeys of the book of Acts, Commissioned’s components and rules alike are based in Christianity. Players play as the apostles and hope to raise churches across the Mediterranean region. The back of each scenario card provides a brief history of the events summed up in the scenario’s title, from Paul’s conversion to Christianity to Peter’s call to preach to Samaritans and Gentiles.

Turns themselves are based in Christian themes, too. At the start of each turn, players draw a trial card, many of which are based on a Scripture citation found at the bottom of the card. Then, players move into the “pray” phase in response to these trials, wherein they draw faith cards they can play to help counter these trials. These faith cards come in four levels: “1-Faith” cards usually provide one small benefit. “2-Faith” cards provide one board effect or the choice to add some books to the New Testament. “3-Faith” cards help add church members and missionaries. They also counter trials that prevent the church from growing. Finally, “4-Faith” cards “reflect miracles in the early Church” and provide powerful boons for the gaming group. Like the trial cards, each of the 3- and 4-Faith cards additionally have titles like “Great Commission,” “Jailhouse Earthquake” and Jerusalem Council” with Scripture citations for what those titles are referencing.

And for those who don’t have a Bible immediately on hand, the game’s Theme Appendix provides the verbatim Bible verses so players can read the aforementioned citations.

Noteworthy Potential Concerns

There’s nothing here that we think will immediately raise an eyebrow, content-wise. Some cards reference persecution, and cards referencing Christians being martyred are here, too.

Though if we had to point out a more philosophical issue, some may dislike the idea of playing as the apostles and having the ability to fail their gospel mission.

Conclusion

If you’ve played the popular board game Pandemic, in some ways, Commissioned is like a reverse version of that game.

In Pandemic, players fight against the board as tiny disease cubes spread across the world—tiny cubes which players hope to eradicate before they spread too far. Meanwhile, Commissioned tasks players with spreading church-representing cubes across the board while the game attempts to eradicate the gospel before it gets too far.

That comparison is purely made to help people understand the gameplay. But the two games are similar in another way: the game can quickly become extremely difficult depending on the cards you draw.

It’s somewhat of a flaw for nearly any game that tasks players with strategizing against the board itself, wherein a single arbitrary card flip can make a playthrough feel too easy or near impossible to win. For example, your first Trial card may cause you to simply lose one Church member—not a big deal, you can recover from that quickly and continue on. But in your next playthrough, your first Trial card may cause you to lose half of your starting church population—making your initial spread into adjacent regions twice as difficult as it might have been had you drawn something else. And, if we’re being honest, that latter scenario can feel pretty frustrating.

But at the same time, Commissioned benefits a little from that randomness. Because even though those card draws can feel oppressive and unfair at times, they also give players more appreciation for the things the apostles endured–especially children who may not have truly thought about the difficulties the disciples faced in their missionary journeys. In essence, the game’s historical and spiritual basis gives its challenges more leeway perhaps than other historical games.

So, maybe you’ll win every game of Commissioned you ever play. Maybe you’ll never manage to succeed. In either case, the game reminds us that the events it references really did happen and that the apostles endured these trials and prevailed through the power of the Lord. And that’s a victory that was guaranteed, even in spite of your gaming table’s uncertain success.

The post Christian Board Game Review – Commissioned appeared first on Plugged In.

Introduction to the Franchise

Gotta catch ‘em all.

Well…maybe. Catching every Pokémon is quite the difficult task, and it’s made even more difficult because some of those Pokemon are designed as literal gods. That’s a tall order for a protagonist who isn’t even in his teens.

Of course, when the permanently 10-year-old Ash Ketchum first appeared on televisions around the world in 1997, catching all of “‘em” sounded much more manageable. When Ash first set off into the world of Pokémon with dreams of becoming a Pokémon Master, there were only 151 Pokémon around to catch. (Well, 152, if you count the early appearance of the Second Generation Ho-oh.) As of time of posting, there’s more than 1,000.

There’s no doubt that Pokémon has captured the hearts of many. Its 1,200-episode series (and counting), 24 movies and more than 100 video games can testify to that fact. And even if you’ve never played a game or watched an episode of Pokémon, you’re still probably familiar with a certain yellow electric mouse.

But just as some Pokémon like Pikachu accrue greater popularity than others, so it is that not all Pokémon are created equal in power or stature, either. As Pokémon’s roster has grown, the variety of these “pocket monsters” have grown as well—expanding well beyond the occasional ghost or rock monster. Nowadays, where one Pokémon stands as a literal personification of a god, another is a literal bag of trash (sorry, Trubbish).

And with its ever-growing roster comes a monumental amount of spiritual lore—so much, in fact, that we’ve chosen to cover Pokémon as our next entry into our growing Theology Of … series. Below, we’ll unpack Pokémon’s creation narrative, discuss some people or things of particular importance to the series and introduce you to some of the show’s most notable spiritual themes. Then, we’ll help you think about how those themes either connect or contrast with the Gospel. And, remember, for reviews of specific Pokémon games, you can search Plugged In’s video game section. We might not have ‘em all, but we have a lot.

So, without further ado, let’s grab a Poké Ball and learn how to capture and teach some of these spiritual themes.

Overarching Spiritual Worldview

In Pokémon, the creation narrative starts with a void of nothingness. And from that void (according to the narrative) came an egg of light, one that hatched to reveal Arceus, a giant white deer-like being. Arceus created the universe, and it made three legendary Pokémon to help it do so. These Pokémon are Palkia, Dialga and Giratina, who were given control over Space, Time and Antimatter, respectively. However, Giratina (Pokémon’s unofficial version of Satan) was banished to another realm when Arceus saw its evil nature.

Other legendary Pokémon were soon created, and they in turn helped make things like the sun, moon and planets. Other legendary Pokémon—Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie—were created as the embodiments of willpower, emotion and knowledge, respectively. Because these three were made, the path was set for life to form—namely, humans and the more common Pokémon. Over time, humans learned how to capture and train Pokémon, logging the creatures’ abilities into reference material such as the Pokédex. And in modern times, it is common to see Pokémon engaged in contests and battles, trained by their human trainers.

Glossary of Important Characters/Topics

Ash Ketchum – Ash is the central protagonist for the vast majority of Pokémon products (especially in TV and movie releases, which we’ll pay special attention to here).The 10-year-old Ash desires to become a Pokémon Master, though the title is rather vague. Ash treats Pokémon with kindness, and he is quick to protect or help any Pokémon in need. Because of this, Ash makes many human and Pokémon friends throughout his journeys. These journeys often include engaging in Pokémon battles in tournaments or defeating villainous teams with nefarious motives. Though Ash catches and uses a lot of different Pokémon, his first Pokémon (and the one to whom he is closest) is Pikachu.

Pikachu – Pikachu is a Pokémon who resembles a yellow rat with a lightning-bolt tail and is capable of attacking with electricity. Pikachu is Ash’s first Pokémon, and the two form a deep bond throughout the course of their travels, often risking their lives for each other.

Jessie, James and Meowth – Jessie and James are two grunt members of Team Rocket, a villainous group of people who want to steal, sell and exploit Pokémon for profit. Just as Ash has Pikachu, the duo’s main Pokémon is Meowth, a talking cat-like Pokémon. In the TV series and elsewhere, they frequently attempt to steal Ash’s Pikachu, and they almost always have their plans foiled. Typically, they’re dealt with in some sort of way that causes them to go flying off into the sky before returning again later.

Villainous Teams – And speaking of villainous teams, there’s actually quite a lot of them. In most of the video games, the player will likely have to take down one of these teams as the central antagonistic group as they attempt to accomplish a nefarious goal. Other than the aforementioned Team Rocket, these teams are:

• Team Magma (appearing in games Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire), who desire to wake up the legendary Pokémon Groudon in order to expand the landmass of the region through its volcanic powers.
• Team Aqua (Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire),who serve as the foil to Team Magma. They desire to wake up the legendary Pokémon Kyogre to use its water abilities to sink a lot of land and expand the oceans.
• Team Galactic (Diamond, Pearl and Platinum), who desire to use the space-time powers of Palkia and Dialga to recreate the universe.
• Team Plasma (Black, White, Black 2 and White 2), who believe that Pokémon should be liberated from trainers, even through theft. Later, a schism forms in the group, with the latter group desiring to freeze the region to take all the Pokémon for themselves and rule the land.
• Team Flare (X and Y), who desires to use something called the Ultimate Weapon to “obliterate all life except themselves and start anew.”
• Team Skull (Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon), who are more of a nuisance than a threat as thugs who just want to make money, sometimes through stealing Pokémon.
• Team Rainbow Rocket (Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon), who desire to use a specific type of Pokémon called Ultra Beasts to take over the world. This team is made up of the leaders of the other villainous teams from alternate universes where they succeeded in their goals.
• Team Yell (Sword and Shield), who are simply overzealous fans of a rival Pokémon trainer.
• Team Star (Scarlet and Violet), who are university students who bully other students.

Legendary Pokémon – Legendary Pokémon are Pokémon that are “generally featured prominently in the legends and myths of the Pokémon world, with some even going so far as to view them as deities,” according to Bulbapedia, a community-driven Pokémon information site. While most of these Pokémon have immense power, not all of them have power directly related to spiritual concepts. However, some of the more notable legendary Pokémon who are related to spiritual concepts are listed below:

• Arceus and Giratina – Arceus is said to have created the universe, while Giratina stands as Pokémon’s unofficial personification of the devil.
• Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie – these three represent the “spirit of all consciousness,” that being willpower, emotion and knowledge.
• Zapdos, Articuno and Moltres – these three elemental birds are based on mythological birds—the thunderbird, simurgh and phoenix, respectively.
• Lugia and Ho-oh – these two creatures are based on the Shinto god Ryujin and the Chinese phoenix, respectively.
• Cesselia and Enamorus – Cessalia is said to be a sign of hope and good dreams, and a Pokédex entry in Pokémon Legends: Arceus states that it “resembles the heavenly maiden who created the Milky Way. Meanwhile, Enamorus is based on Ugajin, a harvest and fertility god in Japanese mythology.
• Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus – this trio is based on the Shinto spirits Füjin, Raijin and Inari, the gods of wind, lightning and fertility, respectively.
• Zekrom and Reshiram – these two Pokémon represent the concepts of Yin and Yang.
• Xerneas, Yveltal and Zygarde – while official Pokémon sources don’t say what inspired these Pokémon, many fans believe them to be based on Norse mythology. Regardless, Xerneas and Yveltal respectively represent life and destruction, while Zygarde “monitors the ecosystem,” balancing life and death.
• Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu and Tapu Fini – these four are based on Hawaiian gods.

Other Spiritual Elements – Some major spiritual elements furthermore take place outside of the aforementioned legendary Pokémon. These include:

• Resurrection – Some characters, including Ash, have died and been brought back to life through various means (including through the tears of Pokémon). Likewise, the legendary Pokémon Ho-oh has resurrected Pokémon before.
• Possession – Ghost Pokémon exist in the game, and many of them can haunt or possess people. In one reviewed episode of the series, Ash is possessed by a ghost Pokémon. Likewise, it is canon to Pokémon that people have souls.
• Aura and Oneness – Aura, or spiritual energy, is present in Pokémon, and some Pokémon are able to channel their aura into power. Likewise, we’ve previously noted how some messages regarding “becoming one with Pokémon” are present in the anime.
• Bond Phenomenon – This occurs “when the trust between the Trainer and the Pokémon reaches maximum,” and the Pokémon gets a lot stronger as a result, according to Bulbapedia. The trainer will feel the pain the Pokémon feels while in battle, and he or she can share the Pokémon’s point of view.
• Ghost, Psychic and Dark types of pokemon – Various Pokémon fall into the category of Ghost, Psychic and Dark (the last of the three literally translates as ‘Evil’) Pokémon. This last classification does not, actually, mean that these Dark Pokémon are inherently evil: Canonically, such temperament is based on the trainer’s methods of bonding with the creatures. However, these types are more likely to do supernatural things (ghost and psychic) or do nefarious things (ghost and dark).

Religion – Some of the Pokémon are canonically worshiped or revered as deities. In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, two groups of people argue over whether Palkia or Dialga is the supreme god (with neither group realizing that Arceus is the canonical god). In the games Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, a people called the Draconids worshipped the legendary Pokémon Rayquaza, and it responded to their prayers at one point. Other Pokémon, like Enamorus, Reshiram and Zekrom are said to have worshippers. Various shrines have been built to other Pokémon, too.

Connecting, And Contrasting, the Gospel

As Pokémon has expanded its roster, it’s also created some spiritual questions for families to ponder. Below, we’ve listed a few topics that you can use to link Pokémon to Christianity.

1. Intentional God – According to Pokémon lore, Arceus had a beginning, and he created other Pokémon in order to help him create the universe. This starkly contrasts with biblical Christianity. God has no beginning nor end (Isaiah 40:28, John 1:1, 1 Timothy 1:17). Likewise, God did not make other “gods” in order to assist Him in the creation of the world—He was intentionally involved in it, down to the last molecule (Job 38:4-7, John 1:1-5, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Revelation 4:11). Our God is one who is intentional, so intentional that He, who created all things, even cares for us (Psalm 8:3-9). And His love for us is such that the Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily died in our place to satisfy the wrath of God against our sins—that while we were still enemies of God, He loved and redeemed us (John 3:16, Romans 5:8-11, 1 Thessalonians 5:9).

2. No Greater Love – Throughout the anime, Ash and Pikachu have an extremely strong relationship. In fact, Ash has frequently risked his life to save Pikachu from dying or being seriously hurt. Jesus tells His disciples that “greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). And earlier, Jesus confirmed that He would voluntarily lay down His life for His people, thereby proving His love for sinners (John 10:7-18, Romans 5:8). All those who are in Christ are reconciled to God and are made righteous by His blood. Christians no longer need to fear death, as they, like Christ, will be raised with Him into eternal life (Isaiah 53:10-12, Ephesians 1:7-14, 1 Corinthians 15).

3. Good Versus Evil – Ash (and, in the video games, the player character) battles against various villainous organizations that hurt people and Pokémon to achieve their goals. Clear villains are often depicted in Pokémon, and their deeds are likewise seen as evil. And the spiritual reality in our world is that, according to God’s holy standard of what is good, we are evil, too (Genesis 6:5 and 8:21, Ecclesiastes 9:3, Mark 7:21-23, Ephesians 2:3). Because our God loves goodness and justice, He would be perfectly righteous to condemn us for the wicked deeds we have done. But our God is also merciful, which is why He has provided Jesus Christ as a substitutionary sacrifice in our place who takes the payment for our sins and, with His righteousness, sets us free from sin and death (Ephesians 1:3-6 and 2:12-13, Colossians 1:21-23, 1 Peter 1:3-5, 15-16).

Conclusion

We hope that this serves as a helpful primer for parents looking to understand the spirituality presented in Pokémon so that you can be equipped with the knowledge you need to lead into a gospel conversation or to decide whether the franchise is for you.

And be sure to check out our other Theology Of guides!

• The Theology of Fire Emblem
• The Theology of The Legend of Zelda
• The Theology of Star Wars
• The Theology of Lost
• The Theology of The Lord of the Rings
• The Theology of The Chronicles of Narnia
• The Theology of Halo

The post The Theology Of … Pokémon appeared first on Plugged In.

Sometimes, there’s nothing quite as relaxing as stealing stuff and engaging in high-powered shootouts.

Or, at least, so would say fans of the online shooter The Finals.

The Finals is the latest in a string of online shooters where gamers pick up virtual weapons and fire virtual rounds at their virtual competition. The Finals adds a bit of burglary to the action, though: Gamers are asked (as part of a televised game show, the story tells us) to steal vaults and transport them to cash out points. But other contestants are trying to steal the very same vaults—and they can steal from you as easily as you can steal from them. This invariably leads to the real draw of the game—the shootouts. And not only can you shoot each other but you can blow up pretty much every bit of scenery you see, too.

We’ll use that game to launch (pardon the expression) into a wider conversation about online shooters such as Fortnite. Why are these games so popular? Are they cathartic, or could they lead to some real-world issues? Just how much should parents be wringing their hands over these Fortnite-style shooters? Adam Holz will talk to Kennedy Unthank, Jonathan McKee and our very own gaming expert Bob Hoose on these issues and more.

And once we’ve fired off enough conversation in that direction, we’ll turn our attention to Gracie Abrams, a relatively new name in the world of music. Kristin Smith will tell us about this up-and-coming musical star (and daughter of Hollywood director J.J. Abrams) and let us know whether the “I Know It Won’t Work” singer will work for parents.

And then, when we’re done with this episode’s fun and games, we’d love for you to join in the conversation. Do you play Fortnite-style shooters? What do you think of Gracie Abrams? Let us know in the comments below. Fire off a missive or two via Facebook or Instagram. Shoot us an email at team@thepluggedinshow.com. Or pull the trigger on our new voicemail option, which can be found on our podcast homepage, thepluggedinshow.com.

And, as always, we look forward to your company again soon on The Plugged In Show.

The post The Plugged In Show, Episode 219: ‘The Finals’ and Other Online Shooting Games appeared first on Plugged In.