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The original Metroid game came out in 1986. In this game one
played the hero Samus Aran who went through the planet Zebes to stop an invasion by space pirates led by an evil archvillain
named Mother Brain. The pirates were trying to gain control of parasitic creatures called Metroids that latched onto their
prey and sucked all the life out of them. The shock at the end was that when the armor was removed, Samus Aran turned out
to be a woman. It's common knowledge now but quite a shock for an age of gaming male heroes at the time.
The series
returned on Gameboy in 1991 with Metroid 2:The Return of Samus. In 1994 Super Metroid came out on the Super Nintendo continuing
the series. Since then Samus Aran came out as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee. She came
out last year on Gameboy Advance's Metroid Fusion and then on the Gamecube with Metroid Prime.
Thus, the series has
had a long run. The Gamecube version had a feature where if you had a Gameboy Advance (Which I do) and have Metroid Fusion
beaten on it (Which I do) you could play the original Metroid.
But what about the gospel? Alright. Well the one thing
I would first note is that the original Metroid consisted of running, jumping, shooting, and finding items in a maze of tunnels
in a strange world. There are a lot of advancements in Prime but it consists basically of running, jumping, shooting, and
finding items in a strange world.
The first principle then I noticed when playing the original Metroid afterwards was
that the foundations are still the same. Sometimes when we get high up learning a lot in our Christian walk, we forget the
basics. These basics include prayer, Scripture, and Christian fellowship. As advanced as we can get, all the new techniques
we learn will still depend on the basics to work. Samus's space boots may allow her to jump twice (Once on the ground and
once in the air) but jumping is still foundational.
Another point I came to is that we have to learn to utilize the
new things we acquire. (In this case, new information and insights on the Christian walk.) I have a lot of books on my shelves
with information that I've absorbed over the years but if I don't apply it at all, I might as well have never learned it.
It's not enough to get all the cool equipment. One has to apply it.
When I was playing as Samus at first I found some
cool new versions of her gun (Samus's weapon is a power beam attached to her right arm as part of her power suit armor.) and
thought I'd never go back to the original power beam. These new styles were cooler! Then I came across something I wasn't
expecting.
There were some enemies that could only be hurt by one version of the beam gun. I had to keep switching.
There were different uses for different guns at different times. What a shock that I had to adjust to!
You know, too
often especially in apologetics we've been convinced there's a magic bullet that will work everytime. I wish there was one
argument that would convince every skeptic and we could convert the whole world but there isn't. A preacher might wish there
is one thing he could say that would motivate everyone but there isn't.
Different people are motivated by different
messages. Our church had two evangelists over the past few months. The first one was very emotional based. I really wasn't
moved much. The second one was more intellectually based. This one really helped me out a lot.
There is no magic bullet.
As much as we'd sometimes like to stay with the techniques we favor, we have to switch out a lot. We'll have to use different
strokes to reach different folks. We can't assume what excites us excites everyone or what convinces us convinces everyone.
And
as for a villain, when I think about a Metroid, I think of it as something like sin. A Metroid is just a parasite. It comes
and sucks the life out of us. I could compare Space Pirates to Satan and his angels. They are not sin themselves but they
use sin to suck the life out of the human race.
Fortunately, in our world, to deal with the Metroids we face, we do
have a Samus Aran. Ours didn't come with a beam gun but he will come with great power and glory one day. Christ is our savior
who takes on the power of sin for us. Only he can truly destroy us. While the common person wouldn't last against a Metroid,
only Christ can stand against the powers of darkness. We can only stand when he is standing with us.
Today, I thank
God that he is my savior fighting off the parasitic power of sin and he has equipped me with a number of tools in my arsenal
to fight alongside him but I must remember his basics also. Without the foundation, the extras will be useless.
Aren't
you thankful for that too?
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