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A metaphor
Jul. 8th, 2015 03:35 amImagine you’re given a video game. There’s no tutorial, no indication at all of the point of the game or how to play it, and if you lose once that’s it, you never get to play it ever again, and you’re only given one measly life; no one-ups, no saving your progress, no continues, nada. One and done.
Also, the game is completely unfair. Doesn’t matter if the game glitched and killed you out of nowhere in the middle of your 16th year, doesn’t matter if you’re killed shortly into playing it, doesn’t matter even if a glitch makes it so all you can do is sit there while other people have to do things for you; you play the hand you’re dealt. And when you die, you’re out of the game, that’s that. You can still win, even being killed prematurely, but there’s no way to know beforehand, remember.
The unfairness deepens; everyone starts the game with wildly different levels, resources, abilities, and avatar appearances. Everyone starts the game with their own arc already tied in with the arcs of other players, and you’re basically stuck with one another for the remaining time. Sometimes this works in people’s favor, other times not so much. Some people start the game and play the whole thing on “super easy” mode, while others find themselves thrown into “maximum difficulty: blood sport” mode. Switching modes is possible, but highly difficult and often just as random as which one you started out in. Even if you luck out and get “super easy mode,” you could still be killed by something stupid like an infected papercut.
Now rumor has it that if you win, you get immortality, eternal youth, and endless video games for eternity, but there’s not actually anything official about that, it’s all rumor and hearsay, so you’re never sure if it’s true or not. And, rumor has it, if you lose the game you get thrown in prison, bunking with Bubba for the rest of eternity, and periodically have to star in a real-life SAW movie. All you have to go on for the rules are conjecture by other players, but how they came up with these rules is a mystery, as there’s absolutely no way of knowing how well or poorly you’re doing in the game, for aside from there being no progress bars, there is - as I said before - no indication at all of the objective(s) of the game, and no way at all to contact the game’s creators or their employees.
One of the few rules for winning the game that most people seem to agree on is that you have to think that the game’s creator is utterly perfect and amazing, and you have to give them your whole adoration, and you’re not allowed to criticize them or their employees or their creation... all without knowing who created the game or anything about them save for the game itself and the rumors about it. Rumors which are many, varied, and not only contradict one another but contradict themselves as well.
This has been a metaphor for Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, among others.
Also, the game is completely unfair. Doesn’t matter if the game glitched and killed you out of nowhere in the middle of your 16th year, doesn’t matter if you’re killed shortly into playing it, doesn’t matter even if a glitch makes it so all you can do is sit there while other people have to do things for you; you play the hand you’re dealt. And when you die, you’re out of the game, that’s that. You can still win, even being killed prematurely, but there’s no way to know beforehand, remember.
The unfairness deepens; everyone starts the game with wildly different levels, resources, abilities, and avatar appearances. Everyone starts the game with their own arc already tied in with the arcs of other players, and you’re basically stuck with one another for the remaining time. Sometimes this works in people’s favor, other times not so much. Some people start the game and play the whole thing on “super easy” mode, while others find themselves thrown into “maximum difficulty: blood sport” mode. Switching modes is possible, but highly difficult and often just as random as which one you started out in. Even if you luck out and get “super easy mode,” you could still be killed by something stupid like an infected papercut.
Now rumor has it that if you win, you get immortality, eternal youth, and endless video games for eternity, but there’s not actually anything official about that, it’s all rumor and hearsay, so you’re never sure if it’s true or not. And, rumor has it, if you lose the game you get thrown in prison, bunking with Bubba for the rest of eternity, and periodically have to star in a real-life SAW movie. All you have to go on for the rules are conjecture by other players, but how they came up with these rules is a mystery, as there’s absolutely no way of knowing how well or poorly you’re doing in the game, for aside from there being no progress bars, there is - as I said before - no indication at all of the objective(s) of the game, and no way at all to contact the game’s creators or their employees.
One of the few rules for winning the game that most people seem to agree on is that you have to think that the game’s creator is utterly perfect and amazing, and you have to give them your whole adoration, and you’re not allowed to criticize them or their employees or their creation... all without knowing who created the game or anything about them save for the game itself and the rumors about it. Rumors which are many, varied, and not only contradict one another but contradict themselves as well.
This has been a metaphor for Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, among others.