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sunfrost23 · 6 years

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Theology Thursday: Why Undertale is Very Christian

So, a little indie game came out in 2015 called Undertale, and it took the Internet by storm. Everybody was talking about it, but me, being the person that I am, didn’t know anything about it until 2017 or 2018 when I finally decided to look into it and I watched Damien Fate’s playthrough. And, not that surprisingly, being the person that I am, I was hooked. And I definitely don’t listen to the soundtrack almost every day.

But yeah, the game’s pretty great, as all of you know. Oh, and by the way, if you don’t know, then either go watch a playthrough or play it for yourself because I’m going to be talking spoilers in this post. And seriously, this is not a game you want spoiled for you.

So yeah, I now assume that all of you who don’t know the story have gone and now I will get into the actual point of the post.

Obviously, Undertale has a lot of great themes in it: love, mercy, determination. But I want to talk about how those themes and the story can be seen in a uniquely Christian light.

To explain my point, let’s start with the story. This is an area where I’m more just drawing interesting parallels, I’m pretty sure it’s not an intentional allegory, but there are some very interesting elements. First of all, we have a race trapped, underground, sealed off from the light. It seems hopeless, but then, a savior falls down into the world, becomes one of them, and sets them all free through the power of love. Sound familiar? Kinda like salvation history, if you think about it. Humanity fell, we were sealed off from heaven, and it seemed like we had no hope of salvation. But then, Jesus came, as an innocent child, to become one of us and set us free, give us hope again, and save us all.

Obviously, the comparison isn’t perfect, since the monsters were essentially innocent and trapped underground for no reason, not for their sinfulness like humans were. But I just think that’s an interesting thing to think about.

The thing I want to talk about more are the themes, one of which I think is the power of transformative love. See, when you play Undertale the way it’s SUPPOSED to be played (all of you who played genocide are heartless monsters don’t @ me) you go through the Underground and you make friends with everyone, even the people who are seemingly the most awful, terrible, and irredeemable. And through the force of your determination, of your refusal to stop loving them even when they seem too far gone, you change all of their lives, for the better. That’s what Jesus does for us.

Let’s face it, humans are pretty awful. Another point made in Undertale! But what I mean is, we’re fallen creatures. We sin, again and again and again, over and over and over, and sometimes it seems like there just isn’t any hope left. Like some people can’t be redeemed. But Jesus never gives up on us. He never abandons us, He never condemns us to Hell because we make mistakes. And this is a whole other post in and of itself but I just have to point out here that God doesn’t send you to Hell because you “broke His rules” it’s because you’ve made it eminently clear by living the way you have that you don’t love Him, therefore you don’t want to be with Him, therefore you don’t want to go to Heaven, THEREFORE you go to Hell. Anyway.

Jesus gave up everything for us. He endured the most painful, humiliating death possible to save us, to give us hope, to help even the worst person change. And that love, that all-powerful, sublime love, has touched the lives of millions of people.

That same love is what you show in Undertale. You die, over and over again, just so you can come back and do it again and show that you truly care about whoever it is your fighting. And your love, your refusal to hurt another person, actually changes people. All the monsters who attack you out of hate and fear give up the fight because of your kindness and patience. They come to understand that you won’t hurt them and that you want to support them. You give them friendship, you teach them understanding, you teach them to believe in themselves, you give them hope, and then you set them free.

And even Flowey, Flowey the frickin’ Flower, is changed by your influence. When he turns back into Asriel, your stubborn refusal to leave him and resolve to SAVE him inspires him to break the barrier and free the Underground. And if you boot up the game after finishing a True Pacifist run, Flowey straight up begs you to go away, the one thing he had been so determined not to let you do. He gets it now. You taught him how to love again. And love isn’t a feeling. Love is to will the good of another, and that’s what Flowey’s doing. In an effort to preserve everyone’s happiness, he’s asking you to stay away and not reset everything. Your love changed the most irredeemable character in the whole game.

So yeah, that’s my point. Undertale masterfully showcases the power of love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. It encourages you to show mercy, to forgive. And, in the end, love prevails. Love changes everyone’s lives. Love saves the world.

And now I have to end this by saying that I’m pretty sure that the Christian elements weren’t intended, I mean, I don’t even know if Toby Fox is religious in any way, shape, or form, but it’s like I always say, if you look for God, you can find Him almost anywhere. It’s kind of His job.

Obviously, I didn’t talk about the genocide route at all because that’s an entirely different thing and I also choose to exist in a world where the genocide route isn’t a thing and they all lived happily ever after, the end. I actually might talk about it in the future, but that’s for another time. Also, as another disclaimer, I understand that they are elements of Undertale that are very, y’know, not Christian. Same-sex relationships, anyone? But yeah, overall, the game’s pretty great, and you should check it out for yourself if you can. I highly recommend it.

#undertale #christian #theologythursday

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emilieletranger · 7 years

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Thursday, May 25, 2017. The Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, the "completion" of His earthly mission. Also, Towel Day (more widely Nerd Pride Day), commemorating Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I find meaning in their falling on the same day. I just began HGTTG for the second time and first page reads: "This planet has [...] a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces if paper, which is odd because in the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. [...] And then, one Thursday [!!] nearly two thousand years after after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, there was a girl sitting on her own in a small café [.]" No small wonder that humanity being unhappy and Jesus' way as a solution are mentioned by Adams within a breath of each other. The ascension is a comfort, as much an end as a promise: Jesus cannot stay with us the same way as before or our capacity for faith would suffer. He had to return to His Father. And He promised so much before leaving; He promised foremost the Holy Spirit's presence with us as love and hope and guide. This promise is the ultimate "Fear not!" The ultimate "Don't Panic!" to humanity, even in the face of confusion and destruction in this universe. Maybe a stretch, but the parallels, loose as they are, ate not mere coincidence to me. #Ascension #Catholic #Christian #feast #solemnity #towelday #nerdday #geekday #nerdy #geeky #CatholicNerd #fearnot #dontpanic #withusalways #theologyThursdays #thirstythursday #thirsty4theTruth

#ascension #feast #christian #fearnot #thirstythursday #catholicnerd #nerdy #theologythursdays #geekday #towelday #catholic #dontpanic #thirsty4thetruth #geeky #solemnity #withusalways #nerdday

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