Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except in a Popular Video Game at Church
October 10th, 2007Via: New York Times:
First the percussive sounds of sniper fire and the thrill of the kill. Then the gospel of peace.
Across the country, hundreds of ministers and pastors desperate to reach young congregants have drawn concern and criticism through their use of an unusual recruiting tool: the immersive and violent video game Halo.
The latest iteration of the immensely popular space epic, Halo 3, was released nearly two weeks ago by Microsoft and has already passed $300 million in sales.
Those buying it must be 17 years old, given it is rated M for mature audiences. But that has not prevented leaders at churches and youth centers across Protestant denominations, including evangelical churches that have cautioned against violent entertainment, from holding heavily attended Halo nights and stocking their centers with multiple game consoles so dozens of teenagers can flock around big-screen televisions and shoot it out.
The alliance of popular culture and evangelism is challenging churches much as bingo games did in the 1960s. And the question fits into a rich debate about how far churches should go to reach young people.
Far from being defensive, church leaders who support Halo — despite its “thou shalt kill†credo — celebrate it as a modern and sometimes singularly effective tool. It is crucial, they say, to reach the elusive audience of boys and young men.
Witness the basement on a recent Sunday at the Colorado Community Church in the Englewood area of Denver, where Tim Foster, 12, and Chris Graham, 14, sat in front of three TVs, locked in violent virtual combat as they navigated on-screen characters through lethal gun bursts. Tim explained the game’s allure: “It’s just fun blowing people up.â€
Once they come for the games, Gregg Barbour, the youth minister of the church said, they will stay for his Christian message. “We want to make it hard for teenagers to go to hell,†Mr. Barbour wrote in a letter to parents at the church.
Related: Convert or Die “Christian” Video Game: Left Behind Eternal Forces
Why does this story have the redolent stink of Catholic church perverts stalking and raping young male children? “They come for the games in abasement, and they are into the game, and they stay for the Christian message.”
What exactly, or how could it be a Christian message, when this guy says he “want(s) to make it hard” for teenagers to go to hell? Well we know what got hard for the Catholic priests. I’ll bet these evangelical stinkers are up to their eyeballs on young boydream fantasies. You know, all those Christian conservatives who rant and rave about moral values, but then get caught at sexual games so infantile in nature, that I couldn’t dream them up. I could go on, but it would be xrated. Pity the Game Boys.
evangelical christians sure can be hypocritical, but i don’t see any real issue here. there aren’t any substantial studies that i know of linking “violent” video games and actual violence, and there’s obviously no moral comparison. am i wrong?
@ remrof
Do some reading along these lines:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1B3GGGL_enNZ177NZ229&q=blackwater+christian&btnG=Search
If you still don’t get it, maybe I’ll consider adding this to the “Coincidence” category as well. HA
The churches no longer follow the Law. They are christian anarchists. They say, “the Law was nailed to the Cross”.
The churches are dieing. The Spirit does not stay where He is not welcome. People who want to know God are going “outside the camp”. This is really not new.
Hell is the grave. No one can be saved from it. Eternal Punishment is a man-made doctrine and against the Law of God. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, and God gets what He wants.
http://www.goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=21276
These folks have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. Meat-brain hucksterism; not very Christ-like.
“The churches are dieing. The Spirit does not stay where He is not welcome. People who want to know God are going “outside the campâ€. This is really not new.
Hell is the grave. No one can be saved from it. Eternal Punishment is a man-made doctrine and against the Law of God. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, and God gets what He wants.”
Messianicdruid is absolutely correct. There is no such thing as “Hell for eternity” (in the Bible, “hell” really means “Gehenna” which is where child sacrifice under the Canaanites and most kings of israel took place, and, in Jesus’ day, was a city dump that was kept continually burning.) 1 Timoth 2:3-4 explains that God will save all mankind no matter what.
Anyway, this Halo nonsense is just another example of “Churchianity” which opposes true Christianity and is part and parcel of Mystery Babylon mother of harlots. In any case, no one “converts” on their own, they must be called by God. All these people are being converted to is the Babylon system. Come out of her my people!