VR Church Bible is one of many evolving spiritual spaces in the metaverse. It has seen its size and popularity increase dramatically during the pandemic. COVID-19.
Founded in the United States in 2016 by DJ Sotoa pastor based in FredericksburgVirginia, VR Church Bible has seen its number of participants increase steadily year after year.
“Some religious people said “Hey! I want to help and volunteer” and so there was like an epiphany and I think we started a new type of church“, said DJ Soto.
“We have all the functions of a physical church, or what you define as a physical church and we express it here in the metaverse“.
When they increased the number of services each week, DJ Soto said it was like a psychological change.
“We are no different from other churches, whether physical or in the metaverse,” he said, explaining that they “now interact with hundreds of people in live worship. Our influence certainly numbers in the thousands“.
“Making Manuscripts More Meaningful”
Garret Bernalwho was attending the event for the first time and who identifies as a member of Chruch of Latter Day Saints, applauded and praised the construction of the church in virtual reality.
“They have 3d artwork so they installed verses all over the place and they installed 3d artwork for those“, he said.
“I was able to read the verses, especially these buildings, and I was able to see a rendering of the verse I was reading, which made the manuscripts much more meaningful to me“.
Mr. Soto believes the future of church attendance lies in the metaverse, because “it makes it possible to reach people who cannot physically go to church“, did he declare.
Alina Delp is one of those people. In 2010he was diagnosed with an illness neurovascular who confined her to her home.
“When you have a chronic illness and can no longer participate in what others are doing, people slowly but surely drift away. So it was just me, my husband and our cats“, she says.
The VR Church has changed all that, she believes.
“All of a sudden, you have power again. Suddenly, we are important again. Suddenly you’re human again“, she said, crying.
“Suddenly you feel like you can do anything in the world, when you were told over and over again that you couldn’t do anything anymore..”
RV better than being in a physical church?
Delp was ordained a priest of the VR Church and was one of many baptized there. However, some have questioned the validity of virtual sacraments, like baptism, performed in the Metaverse.
“Theological reflections are like our bodies and matter in part because God came in human form and showed great compassion and empathy for humans“, said Paul Raushenbush of Interfaith Youth Core.
“So, as we increasingly meet in digital spaces, what are the consequences?“.
“Christian theologians have yet to ponder what it means when they come together in digital spaces“, he added.
But while some wonder if a church can really exist in virtual reality, others find the experience can be equal to, and sometimes better than, a physical church.
“Many congregations – and this includes all denominations, all religions – think the building matters“, said Jeremy Nickelfounder from Evolvra meditation space in the Metaverse.
“They think the church is the building, or the mosque is the building, or the temple is the building. The church, the temple, the mosque or the synagogue, it’s the people, it’s the things you do together, it’s how you change the world together. And so we don’t have this illusion“.
Soto explains that it is not about avataror what they choose to look like, but of the true mind-to-mind connection that takes place in the metaverse and its spiritual spaces like VR Church.
“It’s just crazy what we can do now. I can’t imagine what it will look like in eight years“, did he declare.
Article translated from English