Hey, you took my freakin Belt of Truth!
When I was a little kid, my brother and I inherited a Nintendo system from our cousin. With it came the usual set of games: Mario Bro’s 1-3, Duck Hunt, etc. One of these was a gem called Spiritual Warfare. If there’s anything worse than thinly-disguised educational games, it’s a religiously-themed thinly-disguised educational game with MIDI hymns.
The game is played by forcibly converting non-believers to Christianity by hitting them with fruit. Sometimes demons come out and bite you. If you are at all familiar with the Christian New Testament, you may recognize the fruit metaphor from the Apostle Paul’s writings. While Paul is talking about showing people the “spiritual fruit” of kindness, patience, and self-control, this game literalized his metaphor, encouraging children to throw pears, pomegranates, and grapes in sinners’ faces.
Pictured above, the “hero” hits a sinner with a pear, whereby he immediately drops to his knees and accepts grace.
A second Biblical metaphor used throughout the game is the “armor of God.” You must collect pieces of this armor to pass certain obstacles. One of these is the Belt of Truth. At one point in the game I came across a bar, complete with a flashing neon sign.
My young teetotalic mind reasoned “Hey, a bar. There must be sinners in there. I’d better go save them.” Ignoring Elliot Ness at the top of the screen, I walked in.
Damn angel.
Is this really how Christians see the world? I assume Christians made it. Who else would imagine such mind-numbingly vapid entertainment? Makes me embarrassed to call myself one.