Demon's/Dark Souls and Claiming Victory Over Sin

I'm going to shift gears a little bit from previous posts. It's my belief that from the right perspective, we can use the things of the world to draw us closer to God, even if they might appear to have no connection to Godly things, like I've done with the meme-related posts so far. This time I'm going to try looking at a video game in the same way, and the game, or I should say series, is Demon's Souls.

Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are a pair of mature rated games where you play a character in a fairly traditional fantasy setting, who is tasked with going through the game's areas and slaying evil monsters. As you defeat enemies, you gain souls that can be used to upgrade your weapons and abilities to help with the greater challenges later in the game. What makes this series different from other action/rpgs is the level of difficulty. These games are hard. Notoriously hard. The website for Dark Souls is even called preparetodie.com. It's also a rewarding game to play, and rarely feels cheap when you die. If you're up for a challenge, and don't mind some blood and a few demonic looking creatures, I'd recommend trying it out. But how on Earth am I going to relate this game to our battles with sin? Let's start with the easiest connection to make.

Demon's Souls is Hard / Combating Sin is Hard

Becoming a Christian isn't some instant win where your life suddenly becomes easier. We are still in this world and have to deal with the realities of life. Perhaps dealing with life's trials can be easier, since we can take hope and courage in knowing we have the gift of salvation. What a lot of people don't understand is that part of the responsibility of being a Christian is that we have to deal with the spiritual sin and temptations in our lives as well as the same worldly problems everyone faces.

Let's use lust as an example, since it's a temptation that probably everyone deals with.

You know you want me.

Two guys are walking along when a pretty girl walks by. One guy isn't a Cristian. He thinks it's fine to watch her, maybe even turn around and watch her walk away, or think for a while about what he'd like to do with her. He's oblivious to the damage those types of thoughts can do. The other guy though, is a Christian. He notices she's pretty and while he's certainly allowed to appreciate beauty, it's unhealthy to take it further than a passing appreciation. He knows that lusting after her belittles her and he should know, value, love, and respect a person before even having thoughts like...and now he's watching her walk away and thinking similar things to the first guy. He just lost a battle. It's that easy to loose. You can lose just as quickly in Demon's Souls. You turn a corner you shouldn't and find an enemy you aren't equipped to deal with. And then you see this:

You will see this screen a lot, and it's disheartening when you do. It means you have to start the level over, and you've wasted some time. The first time you die, OK let's just try again, but what about the second, third, or fifteenth time you fail? It's easy to start getting frustrated and think you'll never win. Losing those battles to sin and temptation can be just as frustrating, but this life is not a game.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sound serious? Think you're doing well in the not sinning department?

Matthew 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

How about now?

How is thinking something the same as doing it? It almost doesn't seem fair. The reason is that we aren't talking about criminal acts, here. I hope it's safe to assume that most of us don't have any trouble not murdering people and stealing things. We're talking about your spiritual health. When you have lewd thoughts about someone it's hurting you, not them. When you sit there wishing you could knock some sense into that annoying co-worker it's hurting you, not them. Again it's similar to how Demon's Souls works. If you screw up it's your fault, not the game's. Both the game and real life are about preserving your health, either virtual or spiritual, while trying to achieve the goal laid out for us. And it can oftentimes be very hard to do consistently.

People can either help you or hinder you

There's a unique multi-player concept in Demon's Souls called phantoms. You can either summon people to help you (Blue Phantoms), or people can invade your game to try and kill your character (Black Phantoms). It's unique because the single-player, co-op, and PvP are all combined. Players can also leave messages, either helpful or tricky, that show up as symbols on the floor.

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.

Unfortunately, the people we meet in real life don't come conveniently color coded, but some mean to help us and others to harm us just like the game. Sometimes it isn't personal, and others it is, but the end results to our spiritual and emotional health are the same. We need to be careful who our real friends are. Someone might seem fun to spend time with, but if they are encouraging you to compromise your faith or your values, they're no real friend to you. Of course the Bible warns us about our choice in friends as well.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

The Odds are Stacked Against US

So the worlds of Demon's Souls and our own are stacked against us, and even some of the other people in it with us are going to bring us down if they get the chance. This is where the game and our battle with sin go in different directions. In both cases a major tool for learning and getting better is to learn from your mistakes and not give up. Get beaten by a tough monster. Learn his attacks and try again. Get burned by a sin you didn't expect to fall into. Learn from your mistakes so you won't fall victim again. Luckily for us though, there's another option to help us in our battles with sin.

Enable God Mode

A lot of older games had a cheat code to put in that made you invincible, and they commonly became known as God mode. There is not a God mode or cheat in the Demon's Souls games, but there is a real God mode for our spiritual life. God loved us enough to give us free will, even though he knew we would fall to sin from the very first couple. He loved us enough to make that decision knowing the way to get humanity back into heaven was to sacrifice His Son on the cross. God knows what we deal with, and He knows that temptation is strong. He knows we will all fail at some point. The Bible is full of evidence of that.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.

So how do we turn on God mode? The first thing is to accept the gift of salvation by believing that Jesus was the Son of God, He died on the cross to pay for the sins of humanity, and He rose again three days later claiming victory over sin and death. Think of it as the greatest DLC you could ever get for your spiritual life. And it's free!

Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.

The way God mode turns on in our daily lives is through prayer. Take that battle that you keep losing and turn it to God. Prayer doesn't have to be full of thee's and thou's to be effective. Talk to God like you would talk to someone you have respect for. Something like "Dear God, I'm having a rough time dealing with _________ right now. I really need you to come down and turn my God mode on and protect me from this. Thank You, Lord for hearing my prayer. Amen."

I think a good summary for all this is the concept of putting on the armor of God. Armor fits both the concept of the game and our spiritual protection, so I'll leave you with those verses to think about. God Bless, Thanks for reading, and good luck if you decide to pick up Demon's Souls!

Ephesians 6:10-18, 10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.