The Sims

Perhaps you've heard of this apparently extremely popular game. The Sims is more of a gaming franchise than a single game. It falls in the gaming category of "life simulation" (thus, "The Sims"). First released in 2000, the latest release was in 2014 with multiple spinoffs and other expansion packs. It's a "sandbox game" meaning that it has no real end or "win" method. You just meander about and do what you want. Its purpose is to simply let the player make virtual people and play in virtual worlds to experience virtual life.

The Sims is a prime example of our love affair with the not real. We have games that simulate reality which are not real. We have "reality TV" which is not real. We have "social media" that allows us to simulate personal contact without actual personal contact. We have pornography that allows us to simulate intimacy without having to actually be connected to anyone at all. We have the news media that gives us the sense that we're informed about what's going on although we can never be sure that they're telling us what's going on. Quite a few have jumped into virtual church where we "attend" on Sunday in front of our screens and watch, never even approaching edifying believers or the fellowship of the saints. We have virtual shopping, virtual sex, virtual friendships, virtual fun, virtual vacations, virtual doctors ... the list just goes on and on. And we're fine with it. While we understand that "virtual" means "approaching but not quite real," we think we get to experience real life in our virtual worlds. By once removing the actual contact, we can enjoy what God says as sin because, after all, it's not real.

In 1998 President Bill Clinton was being questioned over about to Congress. His reply was famous. "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is." It was a nice dodge, but we seem to have just absorbed it and moved on. We don't want to define "is." We're good with "virtual." Virtual reality, virtual spirituality, virtual friendships, virtual dating, virtual sex, virtual money, virtual church, virtual fun ... we just keep going. And we lose sight that "virtual" is not real. At the same time, "virtual sin" is still sin because "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man" (Mark 7:20-23). And we're getting immunized to it.