Monopoly

A study commissioned by Hasbro revealed that fully 68 percent of Monopoly players have never read the rules.  I believe it.  Like most people, I learned Monopoly by listening to an experienced player explain the rules.  As a result, I have always played some bits of the game wrongly.  Free Parking, for instance.  It does nothing.  Absolutely nothing.

When confronted by information such as this, people tend to keep playing the way they learned originally.  They do this because (1) they don’t want to be bothered; (2) they don’t like the sound of the “correct” rules; and/or (3) they don’t take the game seriously.

Ironically, playing the rules properly can improve the experience considerably.  (Imagine that.  The game creators know the best way to play the game.)  F’rinstance, if you choose not to buy Reading Railroad, the others (and yourself as well) are supposed to bid on it.  Highest bid wins, even if it is for $1.  Considering that the main complaint about Monopoly is that it drags on too long, it would seem playing “by the rules” would help considerably here.

Nope.  Too much trouble.  We would rather have the experience we know (and reserve the right to complain) than have the experience the creator is trying to give us.

Anyone see where this is going?

You can’t ignore God’s rules and then blame God when His plan doesn’t work.  When many of the Israelites preferred Moses share His authority with Korah, the rebels insisted, “all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst” (Numbers 16:3).  Then when God proved them wrong by swallowing Korah’s rebels, the people blamed Moses (Numbers 16:41), bringing even more of God’s wrath upon themselves.

If we can’t learn the authority lesson, let’s at least learn the grumbling lesson (1 Corinthians 10:10).