Escapism is something that humans have engaged in for several millennia, it is quite possible that Adam and Eve used their imagination and memories of paradise to escape the stress of their new lives following their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Loosely defined escapism can be any activity that offers a mental diversion from the pains and stresses of everyday life, in other words it is a mental mechanism by which a person can escape from reality if only momentarily. I offer King David as one possible notable biblical example of escapism in practice. David wrote many of the Davidic Psalms while he was running for his life from Saul. It is within the realm of possibility these writings, which ran the gambit of human emotions not only provided David with a much-needed outlet to express both his feelings, and his faith in God they also provided him the mechanism that allowed him to escape for a moment the worries and stress of his plight.
As human technology advanced so did the mechanisms available for escapism. The invention of the printing press in 1440 (Bellis) opened the door for the mass production of books which still to this day provides many with a means of escaping and exploring. However, the potentially biggest breakthrough came in the mid-1990’s when the World Wide Web went online and became available to the masses (Peter) this would open the door for a whole new level of escapism. One of the latest and possibly most alarming advancements in the field of escapism occurred in June 2003 when Linden Lab publically launched an “online 3D virtual world imagined, created, and owned by its Residents that offers a platform for communication, business, educations, organizational development to anyone who wants to try it.” (Linden Lab) As the name of this virtual word implies, Second Life is a place to escape their First Life (a/k/a real life) and be free from the constructs and restrictions of society. People joining Second Life create a virtual persona called an “avatar” which is the vehicle that they use to explore and experience this world. Depending on the individual intentions and desires, avatars can range from just a simple computer generated person, to a complex virtual person capable acting out in violent or even sexual ways. I do not want to get too far off topic but I feel it is important that you fully understand that in this virtual world you can find everything from harmless activities like racing, and chess to extremely perverse activities like rape and torture. In essence, inside Second Life a person is most capable of Freudian reconciliation because this world allows them the “freedom to perform those actions condemned by the superego but sought after by the id without fear of negative social consequences. (Steiff 37)
Several years ago, I was intrigued with a news story about Lifechurch.tv who invested several thousand dollars to use of this new technology as a means of evangelism to attract people to Christ whom might never step foot in a physical real-world church. In the story, Rev. Elaine Heath a professor at Southern Methodist University said, “that people have to be in a community living out faith together to really have a church.” (Teague) This sparked my own curiosity, and inspired me to look at this virtual world, and this virtual church to see for myself is it possible to have an authentic worship experience in a world whose expressed purpose is to provide a Second Life, when your first life is what you want. To accomplish this I utilized the Wesleyan Quadrilateral looking at scripture, tradition, reasoning, and experience.
Luke the physician tells us that the early church “…devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and 
miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (NIV Acts 2:42-47) The key point here is that the met together physically for instructions, and fellowship. Now while it is entirely possible to receive instruction through a non-personal environment, I conclude it would be very difficult to have true authentic fellowship in this environment. The primary reason for my conclusion is that in my opinion true authentic fellowship leads to the building of relationships, which in turn open up opportunities for accountability. Second Life allows the person the ability to create the persona of their avatar that may or may not have any basis in their real-lives, this in-turn means that there is a good chance for deception, and true biblical accountability requires a foundation of truth and transparency not lies.
The next aspect I looked at is how the worship experience in this virtual church resembles my experiences within more traditional settings. Surprisingly once I installed the worship script, my avatar was able to be as animated during the praise and worship as I am in my real worship. However, I personally never felt the same divine presence that I often feel in real worship I felt detached. Now granted my detachment might be in part from my being a skeptic, or the fact that it is hard to be serious when you find yourself between a bunny rabbit and a vampire (as I was during on service.) During the few weeks I attended virtual worship the church was going through a sermon series entitled True[ish] which to be honest I enjoyed listening to, but the detachment I felt made it difficult to really take anything from it. It felt artificial, as though I was simply watching a television show.
The author of Hebrews admonishes us “not (to) give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (NIV Hebrews 10:25) So my conclusions are as mixed as some of my reactions to exploring this virtual world were, but in essences while I can definitely see the value of having an evangelistic presence in a world where an alarming number of people give into the their sinful natures and engaged in virtual sin (which is just as sinful as real-world sin.) However, while attending a virtual church, and even paying virtual tithes could give the illusion of being a part of a community of faith. In reality, I feel it is promoting a level of detachment that leads to building boundaries to authentic faith. For the people I saw in my time in Second Life I prayed that if they were not already involved in a real-world church that God would lead them to one where they are fed the word, and can grow in an authentic relationship with Christ, and other Christians.
Works Cited
Bellis, Mary. “Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press.” About.com. 10 February 2009 <http://inventors.about.com/od/gstartinventors/a/Gutenberg.htm>.
Linden Lab. “FACTSHEET: What is Second Life?” Linden Lap. 10 February 2009 <http://lindenlab.com/pressroom/general/factsheets/sloverview>.
NIV. The Holy Bible, New Internation Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991.
Peter, Ian. “History of the World Wide Web.” 2004. Net History. 9 Febuary 2009 <http://www.nethistory.info/History%20of%20the%20Internet/web.html>.
Steiff, Josef. Battlestar Galactia and Philosophy. Chicago: Open Court, 2008.
Teague, Don. “Give me that online religion.” 21 May 2007. NBC Nightly News. 10 Feburary 2009 <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18789168/>.
Originally published October 29, 2010 was written a paper for a Spiritual Formation class while taking the Course of Study for Elder at Nazarane Bible College
