Monopoly Makeovers

As a boy, I loved playing Monopoly. My parents originally taught me how to play this property trading board game. They soon resisted my requests to play it again because our games took too long. To pass the time on Christmas Eve, my sister and I often played Monopoly before Dad came home from work and we opened presents. One Christmas, Dad brought home a borrowed Nintendo Entertainment System that included a Monopoly cartridge. I played that several times on our TV.

The classic version of Monopoly released in 1935 has properties named after locations in or near Atlantic City, New Jersey. In recent years, numerous specialty editions have come out with renamed properties connected with movies, colleges, or other themes. Updates of the game include new game pieces and credit cards for purchases instead of cash.

This past Thursday, Hasbro announced Monopoly will get a “long overdue” socially conscious makeover. All sixteen of Monopoly’s Community Chest cards will be changed. Gone will be “outdated concepts” like collecting $10 for winning second place in a beauty contest. A website has been set up where people can vote for their favorite newer cards. Here are some examples…

“You rescue a puppy — and you feel rescued, too! GET OUT OF JAIL FREE.”

“You pass out umbrellas to people standing at a bus stop on a rainy Monday morning. COLLECT $10 FROM EACH PLAYER.”

“You held a neighborhood party — but you didn't recycle your trash! PAY $100.”

There’s already a Go Green edition of Monopoly for the environmentally-conscious. While I’m all for being good stewards of our planet’s resources and helping the less fortunate, I resent the idea of getting fined for not recycling or being forced to pay for someone else’s random act of kindness.

Hopefully, Hasbro will continue manufacturing Monopoly games with the original Community Chest cards. I have no interest in playing an edition appealing to those who have an unwarranted sense of entitlement. In real life, God rewards those who multiply their resources without being concerned about how people think of them.

“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” - Matthew 6:1

Unchangeable

Nonbelievers will often attempt to discredit God’s word.  While street evangelizing, I occasionally run into individuals who claim the Bible is full of contradictions.  When I ask them to name one, many times they cannot do so.  They simply believe what somebody else told them.

Recently in the Fargo Forum (my hometown newspaper), a man supportive of same-sex marriage wrote a letter to the editor claiming, “God’s laws change all the time” without citing an example.  He went on to write, “Just go to any bookstore and see all the different Bibles, each one a different interpretation.”  What does he mean by “different Bibles?”  Was he comparing the Holy Bible to non-Christian books such as the Koran?  That’s like comparing apples to oranges.  Muslims believe Jesus was only a prophet and not God’s Son.  John 3:16 says otherwise.

This letter writer might have referred to different Bible translations you find at Christian bookstores.  The English language has changed over the years but God’s word hasn’t.  Legitimate renderings of the original Hebrew and Greek texts all teach the same message.  The covenants God made with man in the Old Testament and the New Testament may have differences.  Nevertheless, Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the Lord, I do not change.”

If anything has changed, it’s our history and science textbooks (which the letter writer touted as his “holy books”).  Many of them nowadays don’t acknowledge God at all.  True science will not contradict the Holy Bible.  As Albert Einstein once said, “Science without religion is lame.  Religion without science is blind.”

Sometimes God will “change His mind” and relent from bringing judgment when His people intercede for others (such as Moses for the Israelites in Exodus 32:14) or when sinners repent like those in Nineveh (Jonah 3:10).  However, God’s character and moral laws remain constant.  Can you imagine God telling us someday that it’s now okay to rape, murder, and steal?

God is not fickle like most people.  He will always be faithful and act consistently with His word in response to our actions.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” - James 1:17 (NIV)