“The secret is: don’t look to other [artists] for inspiration — look everywhere else. ”
(The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell, Carnegie Mellon University, 2008. Page 58-59)
Bible
Etymology
Inspiration comes from Latin and English translations of theopneustos in 2 Timothy 3:16 (All Scripture is God-breathed). "Out-breathed," not "in-breathed." Divinely "ex-pired," rather than "in-spired."
Ewald and Cremer say it is an active word, "breathing the Spirit." Not only "given and filled and ruled by the Spirit of God," but also "actively outbreaking and spreading abroad and making known the Spirit of God." B. B. Warfield finds it passive. God does not breathe out God, but God breathed out Scripture. Scripture is not inspiring, but a divine product.
It is the graphe the written text that is God-breathed, not the idea in the heads of the authors. All Scripture has the same character as the prophets' sermons.
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Inspiration of the Bible by J. I. Packer. Pages 29-30.)
Usage
Inspiration refers to the divine origin and quality of Holy Scripture, the out-breathing operation that produced Scripture, the inspiredness of Scriptures, and the divine influence that enables the human instruments of revelation - prophets, psalmists, wise men, and apostles-- to speak and write the words of God.
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Inspiration of the Bible by J. I. Packer. Pages 30.)
The Process of Writing Scripture
Scripture has a double authorship, and man is only the secondary author, carried by the Holy Spirit. God used men whom he had chosen and prepared (Jeremiah 1:5, Galatians 1:5). Revelation to the prophets was essentially verbal; often it had a visionary aspect, and inspired Scripture is written revelation just as the prophets' sermons were spoken revelation.
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Inspiration of the Bible by J. I. Packer. Pages 31.)
Inspiration does not mean the human writer was suspended and wrote by mechanical dictation or automatic writing. The Talmud, Philo, and the Fathers have this concept of inspiration, though.
It also did not obliterate the personality, style, outlook, and cultural conditioning of his penman, but His control was still perfect.
It is not a quality attaching to corruptions that intrude in the course of the transmission of the text, but only to the text as originally produced by the inspired writers. Meticulous textual criticism is urgent to eliminate such corruptions.
Also, the inspiredness of biblical writing is not to be equated with the inspiredness of great literature. Inspiration relates not to the literary quality but to the divine revelation.
God asked Moses to write Scripture in Exodus 34:27 (Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”) and Deuteronomy 31:9 (So Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.) Acts says God spoke through OT authors, like Acts 4:25 (God,...who by the mouth of Your servant David have said...) and Acts 28:25 (The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying...). Others simple say God speaks, like 1 Corinthians 6:16 (For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”). Matthew 19:4 (citing Gen 2:24), Hebrews 3:7-11 (Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: [Psalm 95]), and Acts 13:34 (Isaiah 55:2). Galatians 3:8 and Romans 9:17 has the Scripture foreseeing events that happened before Scripture was penned.
The authors contributed historical research, theological meditation, linguistic style, etc, but they contributed nothing theologically. They spoke the words of the Father - Deuteronomy 18:15, 34:10; setting before Israel what the LORD showed them - Jeremiah 1:7, Ezekiel 2:7, Amos 3:7; then Jesus - John 7:16, 12:49. The apostles taught and commanded in Christ's name (2 Thessalonians 3:6: we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ), so claiming his authority and sanction (1 Corinthians 14:37), taught by God's Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9-13, John 16:13), written by the finger of God (Exodus 31:18). The New Testament looks back, Jesus came to fulfill the Law and Prophets. NT writers quoted the Septuagint, Targums, or ad hoc renderings of the Hebrew in an interpretative and expository mode of quotation well known among the Jews. They sought to indicate the true (Christian) meaning and application of their text.
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Pages 29-36.)
The doctrine of biblical inspiration is fully developed only in the NT, but far back in Israel's history, certain writings were recognized as having divine authority and serving as a written rule of faith and practice for God's people. We see the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 24:7), the Book of the Law found by Hilkiah (2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chronicles 34) and read by Ezra (Nehemiah 8:9, 14-17, 10:28-39, 13:1-3), the Pentateuch (Joshua 1:7, 8:31, 23:6-8; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 14:6, 17:37; Hosea 8:12; Daniel 9:11, 13; Ezra 3:2, 4; 1 Chronicles 16:40; 2 Chronicles 17:9, 23:18, 30:5, 18, 31:3, 35:26).
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Pages 52-54.)
Verses
- 1 Corinthians 2:13 - And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
- 2 Peter 1:21 - For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Game Design: The Lens of Infinite Inspiration
To use this lens, stop looking at your game and similar games. Look everywhere else.
- What is an experience I have had in my life that I would want to share with others?
- In what small way can I capture the essence of that experience and put it into my game?
Have an open mind and a big imagination. Search your feelings and observe everything around you. Be willing to try the impossible - for surely it is impossible for a roll of the dice to capture the excitement of a swordfight or for a videogame to make a player afraid of the dark. Find the non-game experiences that will inspire your game. Your choices in the different quadrants of the Elemental Tetrad can each be united by a single inspiration, or each can build on different inspirations and blend them together to create something entirely new. When you have concrete visions based on real life that guide your decision making, your experience will acquire an undeniable power, strength, and uniqueness.
Use the Lens of Infinite Inspiration to seek and find beautiful experiences and the Lens of Essential Experience to bring them into your game.
(The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell, Carnegie Mellon University, 2008. Page 59-60)