Kids Kill In Violent Christian Videogame
Evangelical videogame makers are hoping to capture a mainstream audience with a new game that leaves corpses piled on the streets of New York. The Rapture is headed for New York City, and just in time for Christmas. In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a Christian-themed videogame due out this October, the New York skyline smolders during the End of Days, the faithful have been called up to heaven, and the remaining New Yorkers are engaged in an epic clash between the Tribulation Forces and the Antichrist’s army of Global Community Peacekeepers (aka UN Peacekeepers).
Hmm…apparently all the Sunday School lessons that taught me that God is a just, compassionate, and loving God was just SO much propaganda. That image of the Almighty is just so 1970s it’s hard to believe. No, as it turns out, God is actually a mean-spirited SOB with a serious attitude problem who has no problem with wasting large numbers of Unbelievers if that’s what it takes (An awesome, powerful God who’s willing to kick ass and take names….).
Just what in the Hell (if you’ll pardon the pun) are Christians teaching their children today? That this really is a Revelation/End of Days time, and therefore any and all force is permissible. so long as in the end you win souls for Jesus Christ? Yes, I realize that this is “only” a video game, but the version of Christianity being taught in the game is something I don’t even recognize.
Evangelical videogame makers are praying that Eternal Forces will finally enable them to tap into the $25 billion global videogame market. They hope their “Christian” values-themed game will capture the same audience that has made bestsellers out of violent standards like Grand Theft Auto and Halo 2
I’m not one to worry about violent video games necessarily translating into violence in real life. I think that most video game aficionados have the wherewithal to recognize where the game ends and real life begins. But that’s not what sticks in my craw. No, what aggravates me is the brand of muscular, kill-or-be-killed Christianity that is being sold here. This is the same narrow, self-absorbed. devoid of compassion Evangelical self-righteousness currently in vogue in today’s Republican Party, whose unofficial motto seems to be either “My religion uber Alles” or “Kill ‘em all. Let God sort ‘em out.”
Whatever happened to love, compassion, and Christian charity? To tolerance, non-violence, and the willingness to accept your fellow man for what he is? If this is Christianity, then God help us all, because we’re in more trouble than even I’d suspected.
Lord, save us from your followers…..
