The Great Game.
The future looks bleak. Especially, we are told, for seventeen varieties of birds and mammals unique to Australia. When human and wildlife habitat collides, it appears animals and birds seem to lose out. Sadly, we are not very good at sharing.
But it is not just plants and animals which do not have a bright future. Most films which depict the future have quite a pronounced dystopian slant. Spielberg’s latest offering Ready Player One, depicts a world where life is hard and people are looking for ways to escape it.
It is fascinating how the vast majority of people today would acknowledge that the world is broken. It could always be better. Most people would be able to come up with a definition on what the perfect world would look like, and it is obvious we haven’t got there yet. Will we ever get there?
In Ready Player One, many living in poverty have withdrawn to a virtual world, the Oasis. It is a world inside a computer where you can live your perfect life and be anything you want to be. This massive virtual world is the brain child of James Halliday, a genius who came up with the idea and made it a reality.
The premise of the movie concerns a game and anyone who wins it owns the Oasis. The main characters are all searching for the “Easter Egg” in this virtual world and the finder wins the game. There are three missing keys which unlock doors and there are clues which tell the players how to find them. The characters are on a quest and on the way, they find friendship, love, and hope.
For those who believe in the Bible, it is fascinating to see promises for a better world. We read about swords being beaten into ploughshares (Isaiah 2:4), and where the wolf, lamb, calf, and lion will all lie down together in peace (Isaiah 11:6). There will be no more death, sorrow, and pain (Revelation 21:4). Unlike the Oasis though, everyone has a chance of not just finding this perfect world, but having a share in it (Matthew 25:34).
Sources:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-24/scientists-calculate-extinction-risk-australian-birds-mammals/9687952
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ready_Player_One_(film)
All brickbats, bouquets and banter welcome at pastor@pmbc.org.au