Insomiac’s Spider-Man 2 is a masterpiece of visual storytelling. Epic fights, excellent dialogue and characterizations, and a feast for longtime comic-book fans. As a Christian gamer playing through it, I was struck by many of it’s Christian themes, ranging from wars with sin, to powerful redemption arcs.
Faith Impact
Spider-Man 2 reminded me that I have an inner Venom, a war with sin that rages sometimes. I have the ability to make the right choice and be the man God wants me to be.
Let’s the stage. Following the devil’s breath catastrophe from the previous game, Peter Parker is attempting to merge his life with Mary Jane, teacher at the local High School, and mentor a young Miles Morales. Everything begins to change when his lifelong best friend, Harry Osborne, mysteriously shows back up. Harry has recently recovered from some sort of rare genetic disorder, though he neglects to mention how this was accomplished.
As the video game progresses, it’s discovered that Harry has bonded with an alien symbiote called Venom. Venom is an interesting life-form. On the one hand, it gives the user everything. Harry is not only healed, but physically enhanced with incredible power. On the other hand, the longer Harry is bonded to it, the more the symbiote can twist his mind, and his desires.
I’ll skip a lot of plot points and tell you that Harry, Peter Parker and Mary Jane are all infected by the symbiote at some point. Venom never has to subdue someone through physical force, nor does he even attempt to cajole you through eloquent speeches. Instead Venom buries its way into the deepest recesses of your heart and mind, and amplifies the darkest parts. All of your fear, your pain, your trauma, hate, everything is amplified.
As a Christian, there is no better analogy for sin than this. I was struck by how I could identify with many of the struggles Peter and Harry go through. Despite my best intentions, the more I grow spiritually, I’m ashamed to realize just how deep the root of sin goes in my heart. I’ve struggled with many sins, from hatred, bitterness, intense profanity, lust, and pride. Although I’ve made progress, I’m dismayed at times at just how entrenched it really is.
Despite even my best intentions, there is always the temptation to go a darker way. As I played the game I was constantly reminded of a line from Lord of the Rings where Frodo begs Gandalf to take the Ring of Power and Gandalf refuses. ‘Understand something Frodo, I would take this in an attempt to do good. But through me, it would work unimaginable evil.’ Gandalf was wise enough to understand that even when attempting to do what is right, evil will find a way to corrupt even our best intentions.
So it is in the game, Venom twists the mind so subtly. Peter is dedicated to being a superhero, and keeping people safe. Venom subtly suggests that the best way to keep people safe is cirumvent the law and just murder the villains. Playing on Peter’s frustrations and hate. In Harry Osborne’s case, Harry truly has a selfless desire to solve the problems of the world. Venom also twists this desire by making him think that the world is too broken to be fixed and instead should simply be wiped out, reset, and be rebuilt. Playing on Harry’s trauma, and fear.
Martin Luther famously wrote, ‘sin boldly, but believe on Christ more boldly.’ I was perplexed by this statement when I first read it, but I think I now understand what Luther was saying. Luther was not saying we should sin with nary a care in the world because we’re ‘all covered’. He was saying that we should not hide our struggles from everyone, we should not cover up our sins, because we believe in Jesus Christ, whose blood covers our sins. It takes a degree of boldness to admit that you aren’t perfect, especially in an Instagram society that uplifts the perfect body, the perfect life, and all this fake imagery.
There is a powerful passage in 1 John 1:7-10, “…If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” That’s remarkable. The Apostle John says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves…” Meaning that despite his accolades, and his spiritual status (way above me!), the Apostle John had struggles of his own.
Not just John. There is a poignant passage in Romans 7:7-25 where Paul laments his own frailty and weakness. Peter, the strongest of all the Apostles, denied Jesus three separate times. Jesus Christ Himself taught us to pray, ‘And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us’. I find it interesting that we were to pray this not yearly, monthly, or even weekly, but daily.
I was sitting in a Bible study recently, and we were all discussing the Greek word, ‘pistis’. Pistis, is a word that is usually translated as saved, or as faith. We were all talking about something interesting, although we talk about whether we are ‘saved’, actually, this is a slight mistranslation. Pistis actually refers to an action, not a static sort of thing. In other words, in the Greek, there is no concept of one and done salvation. The more accurate translation is ‘being saved’. (for a deeper and more scholarly take on this, check out Dr. Bill Mounce and Professor NT Wright’s work on this very subject) We aren’t saved and that’s it. We are actively, day by day, being changed, shaped and built into what God wants us to be. We are being saved.
Which ties in rather beautifully to the powerful redemption arcs in Spider-Man 2. At the end, Peter, Miles and even Mary Jane have come to grips with their worst darkness, all without it destroying them. In order to root Venom from their system, everyone had to go deep and make peace with all their mistakes, hurts and desires. Despite being superheroes, Peter and Miles realize they aren’t perfect either, but they make the right choices. Mary Jane learns that though talented as a journalist, she is too quick to sell out, and uses her skills to write stories with integrity.
We may not have awesome powers, but there’s nothing more superhero-like than to get up every day and make the right choices. Especially if we haven’t always made the right ones, we can still get up day after day, and choose to be the man or woman God wants us to be.
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:12-14