Pocket God

I recently discovered a weird game app called ‘Pocket God.’

“Pocket God is a god game in which the player takes the role of an omnipotent being who rules over an island and controls everything. The primitive islanders, known as pygmies, are subject to the player's god powers. These range from benevolent powers, such as giving the islanders a fishing rod, to destructive, for example summoning a hurricane, or simply entertaining, such as levitating the Pygmies.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_God_(iOS) 

This seemed like a rather ridiculous game at first. Then I realized many of us view God in a similar vein—as an omnipotent being who can be benevolent or destructive based on reasons we cannot comprehend. We would like to be gods—the ones in control. Since that isn’t possible, we hope to have God in our back pocket—to have His power at our disposal.

“So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can.” (1 Cor. 10:14 MSG)

 

Unfortunately, reducing God to manageable, controllable, describable portions—making God ‘user friendly’—is much of what religion is about. Instead, as we acknowledge the mystery, the incomprehensibility, the absurdity of faith—we enter into a subconscious intimacy that is more about submission than control. We realize that a god that fits into our preconceived ideas—a pocket god that is predictable and understandable—can’t also be the Creator and Sustainer of this universe.