Religion Meets Virtual Reality: Christianity-Themed VR Demo Scheduled For Easter (nbcnews.com)

"Anyone looking to experience God in a brand new way will soon have his or her chance -- virtually," writes NBC News, reporting on "a new immersive faith-based virtual reality experience...part of a larger project created by L. Michelle Media called Mission VR." An anonymous reader writes: The company was founded "to create a signature virtual reality environment -- a faith world of sorts -- where dynamic, never before seen, Christian lifestyle stories and experiences could have a home." Demos have been timed to coincide with this weekend's Easter celebration, while the official launch happens later this spring. Viewers will apparently experience biographical stories combining VR applications and YouTube videos to showcase the power of belief. "Up until now, we've only been able to watch Christianity from a third person perspective -- preached sermons, music videos, interviews, even reality shows..." says the founder of Mission VR. "This is the future of Christian programming."
But one reverend told NBC that VR worlds could be dangerous because they "may take people from community and from the incarnational aspects of Christian life... [W]e always run a very serious risk that the medium overtakes the message... What we must do is guard against the use of technology through market logic where people become brands and all things spiritual become commoditized."

Comments

Re:Medium overtakes the message?

[Anonymous Coward]

seeing as christian holidays are all designed around preempting pagan holidays this just seems fair. Besides, all religious holidays are based on myths and lies believed by the gullible so that the moneyed priests can stay in power over them. Fear of death is NOT a good reason for allowing yourself to be brainwashed. We've had "alt-facts" for millenia, it's called religion.
--
Steve (AC because I haven't bothered to register in all these years)

Re:Prayers don't work

[ooloorie]

Prayer does not work inasmuch as one's requests for outcomes do not increase the likelihood of those outcomes. Maybe prayer helps to calm one down, clear the mind, improve emotional stability. Most people do not pray for these benefits, so for most people, prayer does not work.

And mainstream Christian churches (Catholicism, Lutheranism, etc.) don't claim that prayer does that; what they generally teach is that "God answers prayers in his own way". Generally, that means that when you ask for winning the lottery or for a lightning bolt to strike your ex-wife, what God might grant in response to your prayer is what Christianity actually values: serenity, compassion, wisdom, understanding, and freedom from sin and desire. You know, just the sort of benefits that meditation can actually deliver.

You equivocate.

No, not at all. What actually happened is that you were so ignorant about Christianity that you created a strawman in your head and didn't even realize it.

Re:Prayers don't work

[ooloorie]

It's a beautiful way to blame the person praying for the fact that the prayer doesn't work.

Mainstream Christianity has never taught that "if you ask God for X, you have a higher probability of getting X".

What it has taught is that "if you ask God for X, you may get some Y that helps you".

For example, when "X = material benefit", then a reasonable outcome is that "Y = reduction of desires for material benefits".

If you strip away all the religious mumbo jumbo, it's quite clear that the only "Y" that Christianity ever promises are psychological benefits, and that Christianity considers any promise of material benefits "Y" to be the domain of the devil.

And the psychological benefits Christianity promises for "Y" happen to be pretty much the kind that prayer can actually deliver.

In fact, a common theme throughout Christian writings is that God rejects and opposes material desires and tit-for-tat deals; see, for example, the Book of Job.