A game of chess?

It’s easy to see history as a game of chess, a battle between good and evil, between God and Satan. The story ends with God winning and good triumphing over evil. We are the pawns, castles, bishops, kings and queens in this giant game of chess; God and Satan the players. The Shannon number tells us there are 69,352,859,712,417 possible games of chess that could have been played. In history it’s a lot larger than that!

Because people believe they are on the winning side they hold on to phrases like ‘Do not be afraid, all things are in God’s hands’ or ‘Everything will work out. You don’t need to know how, you just need to trust God and believe that it will.’ But in the grand game of chess though there is winner and loser even the victor sacrifices many pieces to win the game.

This widely held way of looking at life has always concerned me. If you hold on to this way of thinking, to see it in the big picture of good against evil is easy, when it comes down to the mundane — should I eat cornflakes or frosties for breakfast — people are then mere automata; puppets controlled by the puppet masters or players in the game. This is broadly similar to the perception of the behaviour of the gods of ancient Greece and Rome. People are seen as the sacrificial pawns in this game of good versus evil. 

But if the game only applies to the eternal tournament and lesser things are not included, where do you draw the line?

However, this isn’t a game, nor are human beings mere pieces on the board. And when damaged they hurt or die. If it were a game with the result predetermined then the damage to those players is cruel in the extreme! 

This overlooks stories in history that put the rest into context. About 5,000 years ago there were cities on the side of evil that were so depraved the game player on the side of good decided not merely to remove the pieces from the game board but destroy them entirely. 

A man named Abraham, seen as the father of the Jews and of other religions, interceded for the righteous living in those cities. Starting at 50, he argued God down to not destroying the cities if there were only 10 upright people in them. The story goes that there were not even 10, though Abraham’s relative Lot and his family survived, save for Lot’s wife who perished.

The context of that story is that God had promised to bless all people on this sphere we call earth through him. These are not the actions of a puppeteer and marionette. Indeed through history we read of Abraham being described as a ‘friend of God’. This is not just for special people because Jesus announced ‘No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.’

The other flaw with the metaphor of a game or even a war between good and evil is it leaves unanswered the real question: ‘What happens after the game is over?’ Argued about by theologians using phrases like ‘pre-tribulation’, ‘postmillennialism’ and others the focus has been on the end of the game rather than  ‘What happens after the game is over?’

Assuming one believes in life after death (to make that a valid question) then the question splits two ways: Firstly, what happens to the good guys and secondly what happens to the bad guys?

The latter of those two questions has divided Christian thinkers down through the centuries. Some citing the Bible claim they will endure conscious punishment for eternity, others, also citing the Bible say they will be annihilated, and yet others, also citing the Bible that all people good and bad alike will eventually come to know and love God. The vitriol of debate about those options is such that one might not guess those deliberating all claim to be on the same side!

But it’s the first of those two questions that is clearer: Though some religions claim a sort of permissive paradise allowing activities not even considered acceptable by them in this life, returning to Abraham gives a better answer.  Abraham was described as a ‘friend of God’ and this is what God desired to be spread throughout the world — friendship with Him! The endgame therefore is about an eternal relationship mutually enjoying company with God, sharing food, interdependence and kinship with others also enjoying a relationship with God.

Thus to see history or life as a grand game of chess is to completely and dangerously misunderstand God and His-story. Platitudes and oversimplifications trivialise and hurt those suffering. Though the concept of a game played out between good and evil has been around for millenia, it is modernity than has trapped mankind into missing a relationship with God as a 'mysterium tremendum et fascinans'. It would be better to see it as a symphony conducted by God looking for harmony in the orchestra. The orchestral players then are God's friends.