Friday, June 09, 2006
CHRISTIAN MURDER AND MAYHEM--OR SLIDING DOWN THE SLIPPERY SLOPE
Spirit Daily has linked Paul Proctor's review of a new "Christian" video game called "Left Behind: Eternal Forces". He is not complimentary.
One has to wonder if computer games like this aren't really just training videos and simulators designed by ecclesiastically embedded enemies of Christ, in the tradition of Judas, to undermine the Gospel and seduce its more naive and narcissistic players into pursuing their passions rather than yielding to the Word of God; providing a purpose driven pretext for recreational rebellion; a sanctimonious sanctioning of sin and sadism for the supposed salvation of seekers under the gratuitous guise of "meeting their felt needs;" one more clever contraption of compromise, confusion and complicity intended to lure and hold a carnal Christian's attention and keep them coming back for more so as to casually coerce them into a new crusade of global zealotry; another "end justifies the means" vision and ministry brought to you by the smiling faces of the ever-clever church growth movement.
From what I can ascertain, they're just taking pragmatism to the next level here, that's all; which is precisely what unrepentant sin always does. But, hey - it's just harmless entertainment, right? Why take it so seriously? It's pretend, for crying out loud! Nobody's actually going to get hurt here; and if you object, then - well, you obviously have no real compassion for or interest in reaching young people for Christ, now do you?
Think it's all just fun and games?
Tell that to the folks out in Littleton Colorado where violent video gamers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold trained religiously at home on their computer screens in preparation for that infamous massacre of Christians and others at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999 -- an event that led to an entire string of similar shootings in schools and churches across the country.
A comparison of Proctor's evaluation of Left Behind: Eternal Forces to my take on Cthulhu/Lovecraft was inevitable, and you already knew I was going to make it, didn't you. Needless to say, I'm in agreement with Proctor. In fact there is even a Cthulhu video game based on what Tor Thorsen refers to in his review at that link as "demonic fiction of author H. P. Lovecraft."
Christians living in what is becoming a non-Christian, and maybe I could even say an anti-Christian, culture must be discerning in what they choose for entertainment. Murder and mayhem simulated on an interactive video screen serves to lower the threshold of opposition for the same thing in real life. Just as a flight simulator can teach a pilot how to fly, a video game can teach the player how to kill without mercy. If we don't want to end up as barbarians, we should stop taking barbarian lessons.
