When did America begin to self-destruct spiritually? Do you ever wonder? I have. Ask ten people and you'll get ten answers.
Some say it began in the 60s with the Beatles and permissive parenting. That lead to drugs, free sex and a general contempt for authority.
Others say, “No, it began before that. It was the 50s—think Elvis and his wild hip gyrations.”
Some point to the roaring 20s, with speakeasies and crime sprees and dime novels with questionable characters.
But Harvard historian Dani Shapiro offers a disturbing piece of evidence that dates much earlier yet. It was the year 1860 when a young American toymaker named Milton Bradley schemed upon an idea for a successful board game.
Seems he retooled a popular British board game called the “Mansion of Happiness.” Players in this game sought to free themselves from vices and—at the same time—accumulate virtues. All of this in order to outrun their fellow players—pilgrims if you will—on the road to heaven. Hence the use of the term, “mansion.” If it smacks of influence from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, there's no accident. Consider the long shadow Bunyan cast. Nearly 200 years after Pilgrims Progress was first published, it still influenced the entertainment of British culture.
But back to Milton Bradley. He took the “Mansion of Happiness” concept and infused it with a focus on self-fulfillment through the acquisition of money. Historian Shapiro said Bradley–quote– “chucked the piety. In his version, originally called the Checkered Game of Life, players raced through life's stages seeking maximum material wealth. Quite obviously” says the writer, “our ideas about life's purposes had changed.”
Sad, isn't it? Our slippery slope has been a long time in coming. The Game of Life. The world says the objectives have changed. Jesus begs to differ.