The Cracked Acorn: Spore

Genesis 2:7 – …God breathed into his nostrils, and man became a living soul.

Something is bothering me!

No! It is not global warming!;

No! not the internet;

No! not the world debt problem;

No! not the triple-decker breakfast sandwich with double bacon and added cheese on a large bun.

It may be the following: After years of code writing and testing, gaming has reached a new point.

‘”Spore”, the eagerly-awaited computer game five years in the making allowing people to play God by re-creating the universe, goes on sale this Sunday. (It takes longer for the gamer to create the animals than it did GOD.)

Players start the game in primitive waters, eating algae and trying not to get eaten. When the creatures have grown enough, they can find a mate.

“Then we mate and what we’re going to do now is lay an egg for the next generation of our species,” he says as he demonstrates how the game is played. “So, I’m basically designing the next evolution of my species.”

Players earn points from eating. The points can be used to buy new features for their creatures: a new mouth, a nicer nose, faster fins, and in later stages, faster legs, a bigger brain.

“If you step way back, you know, evolution is about the incremental improvement of a species embedded in a larger ecosystem over large periods of time,” Wright says. “And that was kind of like the general presentation, the toy that we wanted to build of evolution.”‘(Spores, WIKAPEDIA)

The game goes on to allow the creation of tribes and the player acts as their god, deciding the many serious situations of life. Evolution may be only the tip of the iceberg. Versions will come along that allow Satan to enter in, and additional software to be purchased to allow “cheats!”

Games are already on the market that covers almost every aspect of human nature, bad and good. *This latest one may be trying to open a door that many of us would rather see closed.

Years ago, we listened to a minister candidate who said when Christ was not present, we were the Christ. Hands went up, and it finally was laid to rest as a semantic remark. This well-educated Biblical person was not asked to come back. Having never played this game, I assume there may be a gray area or an OUT for Christians who want to enter into another dimension of Biblical exploration via the minds of advanced game writers of the very large gaming community. Software and equipment to run present games can approach $10,000 to be on the cutting edge.

* Broad is the way…and many there be which go in thereat. -Matthew 7:13

A little girl climbed into her grandfather’s lap and studied his white, balding head. She ran her fingers along the deep wrinkles and road mapped his face and neck. “Did God make you?” she asked. “Yes,” he answered. “Did God make me too?” she asked. “Yes,” he replied. “Well,” she shrugged, “Don’t you think He’s doing a better job now than he uses to?”