Today we talked about the symbolism of the mark of the beast and apocalyptic events described in Revelations. There’s a bunch of science fiction around the apocalypse, and the Fallout series and Blade Runner stand out to me in the context of the Bible. When (or if) the apocalypse happens, the believers of Jesus Christ with be saved from the torment of the world while the rest of humanity will be left behind to fight, survive, and suffer without a savior. The Fallout games are set in a post-apocalyptic nuclear war in 2177 to 2287 (depending on the specific game in the franchise you play, the year can vary). Specifically, in Fallout 4 you play as a veteran who escapes into a nuclear fallout shelter as the bombs are dropped a few miles from his home. The shelters that house the remainder of humanity are mostly used as human experimentation facilities, and your fallout shelter cryogenically froze humans to see how long they could survive in that state. You wake up 210 years later to the post-apocalyptic world. With a biblical lens, you could look at the nuclear bombs dropping as the kingdom of heaven opening to save the believers, while the rest get left behind. Those who remain live in a brutal and terrible reality. Blade Runner can be viewed in a similar way; it’s a dystopian future where life is bleak, and corporations have more control over culture and laws than the government. The reality of this fictional story could be viewed as the kingdom of heaven having already saved its believers, and what we see on screen is the people being left behind to suffer.
The mark of the beast was an interesting discussion, because I love deep diving into the internet to find the most bizarre conspiracy theories out there, and unfortunately you don’t have to dive that deep to find them. Going over the Bill Gates and Barney are the antichrist conspiracies was very entertaining and shows how biblical interpretation and texts can be used in destructive and unhelpful ways.