Corn Hole and the image of God

I've just been introduced to the game of corn hole.

The idea is tossing a little corn-filled cloth bag into a hole cut into a plywood board. That's it. Get it in the hole and it's 3 points. Get it on the board and it's 1 point. First to 21 wins.

It's addictive. And it drives you nuts, because controlling the mechanics of the throw is much tougher than appears.

This topic came up:

Given that human beings are created in the image of God, how do our need for games fit this image?

The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein found that the word "game" is actually not definable.

Try it: come up with a one-sentence definition for "game." No single definition covers all of the permutations.

1. A game raises issues of unpredictable outcomes -- or in theological terms, of "freedom." This is much like art (whatever art is).

2. A game raises issues of predictable outcomes -- or in theological terms, of selection, or even more potent: of election. Of decree. Of causality. Of rule-based ways of conduct. This is much like science.

3. A game raises issues of skill. This is much related to education and learning.

4. But a game also highlights chance. This is much like everyday life, at least how everyday life is experienced.

And in all of it, a game highlights human limitations in all four of the areas above: we can't control outcomes (1) even though we want to (2); we wish and train for competence (3) even as we come face to face with our lack of it -- so we hope for the best (4).

And then when you lose, you must be kind. This is much like moral cultivation.

Basically, games teach us that there is a God. And we are not Him.

Logos2Go


Matthew 10.29-30 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

Deuteronomy 29.29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may do all the word of this law.