Restless Faith...for God's Glory and Neighbor's Good
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Original: 10/9/2007 6:00 PM
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tinglypoet


Tuesday, October 09, 2007

video game follow up...

 

amazing article in New York Times last week:
"Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except in a Popular Video Game at Church"
read it HERE - i hope it's still available...

if not, here are some of my favorite quotes:

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.”

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.

"It's fun BLOWING PEOPLE UP." 

Playing Halo is “no different than going on a camping trip,” said Kedrick Kenerly, founder of Christian Gamers Online, an Internet site whose central themes are video games and religion. “It’s a way to fellowship.”

Mr. Kenerly said the idea that Halo is inappropriately violent too strictly interpreted the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” “I’m not walking up to someone with a pistol and shooting them,” he said. “I’m shooting pixels on a screen.”

one says it's no different than a camping trip; one says it's fun "blowing people up"

my question, and i am not supposing i know the answer:  would Jesus play Halo? 

 Posted 10/9/2007 6:00 PM - 88 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment

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Visit tinglypoet's Xanga Site!

I've never played Halo.  But this youth pastor's idea seems to contradict what you quoted from Shane Claiborne, doesn't it?  I don't know if Jesus would play it (although I'm leaning slightly towards no), but in general I say, "ah, there are other ways to keep 'em from going to hell" 

Which, also, what? "We want to make it hard for our teenagers to go to hell."  Who said THAT was a good vision statement for youth ministry?

Posted 10/10/2007 1:33 PM by tinglypoet - reply


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