Ashley Baxstrom: As I made clear in a previous post, I am not a gamer nor techie nor even that good at using my smartphone. The best I can claim is having made it to the fighting-Jafar level of Sega’s Aladdin game. But connections between religion and the gaming world keep catching my eye. Both of the following were found through @religtal on Twitter, which conglomerates tweets and articles on “religion in the digital age.”

First up: a new videogame, “The Binding of Isaac,” which features the tagline “Life ain’t easy when your mother is hell-bent on murdering you.” Question: If she thinks she’s hearing God’s commandment (even if, as alleged, she’s gone totally insane), does that count as hell-bent? And also, it was Isaac’s father, Abraham, who was originally willing to sacrifice him up to God. Why the Madean-twist? Isaac, who apparently is a tiny naked anime baby, curls up in a ball and cries a lot (see the trailer). Aside from that, he escapes to his basement and has to fight for survival against over 50 enemies, including Loki and something that looks like a pile of intestines (think exploded pig monsters from the original Power Rangers) and eventually his mom, while also collecting items and playing puzzles. Yes, puzzles. “The goal of this system is to make the game feel endless to the player, and to make the content feel richer the more you play”; all that and increasing difficulty levels and the joy blowing up monsters?!

And then: the AMAZING TRUE STORY of a woman who discovered the face of Jesus on her Nintendo. A used Nintendo, nonetheless. Purchased on eBay for only $31.  What crazy person sells a miracle Nintendo?! The 24-year-old who purchased and discovered the Christ-console isn’t sure if she believes it’s a sign from Heaven, but was quick enough to coin her new catch-phrase: “What would Jesus play?” Nintendo, clearly.