There is always an option to “start anew”; either an option in the game, or it allows you to reset the the data to the effect that you start anew.
Gaming is far from re-birth. Many games have a set of rules, and they give you a fair chance of winning or completion. Tournaments, from football to racing, tend to have all entrants to game from the first level. However, to save unnecessary and potentially embarrasing situation, some adjustments are made. For example, the top 3 winners of the previous year do not take part in the first round, since they might win at a big margin. Spectators will enjoy more seeing everyone competing rather than a competitor having a major advantage through a game, especially when this is fact before the game started.
I turn to computer games, including those on smartphones and tablets. Here, similar rules apply with regard to ranking. There is always an option to “start anew”; either an option in the game, or it allows you to reset the data to the effect that you start anew. Another option is to uninstall the game and / or use another gamer ID; with that, you start the game “anew”.
When starting a game again, but as a completely new game, obviously you are playing at some initial levels that are fairly “easy”. But any history of your previous attempts would not be taken into account, or, in fact, there was no way to get the data back anyway. This is an interesting analogy, that starting a game anew is like being born again. Not exactly the same, since our biological and mental age continues, but our spiritual age is at an infancy. This part grows, nourished by the living water of Jesus, which also helps govern our biological and mental faculties.
No? I agree, playing computer game is not being born again. It's an analogy. Does this take away the awesome seriousness of new life in Christ? Perhaps. Any analogy remains an analogy; they aren't going to represent or capture the full meaning of what they are trying to portray. A bit similar to using water as liquid, water as steam, and water as ice, to illustrate the Trinity.
An analogy has its own limitation and problem. Analogies are also cultural phenomena which might not translate well to different people. They work as trigger and opening to help us make a start on an idea that might be complex to explain and relate to. To say this the other way, how often do we use analogies to illustrate something we explain? Quite often.
Different analogies work better for different people.
- Illustrating something to someone who is 5 years old, we won’t use some mathematical concepts e.g. division by 0.
- To assist someone who has a strong interest in graphic design, it’s better to use an analogy in that domain.
- For a group of yoga students, illustrating a concept using analogy of walking peacefully in a forest is probably more suitable than what are best headphones to use while travelling on a noisy train.
Relax, above are merely examples.
An important point is that we should leave the analogy behind once we begin to grasp the core meanings of what we want to illustrate, in this case, new life in Christ – being born again. Analogies don’t replace the ideas they illlustrate.
starting a game anew is like being born again
