After running to I.G.A. for some cereal and--God forgive the glutton--Krispie-Kremes, I sat down with my Lucky Charms and opened the front page to see a snippet from an article in the Life section. On page 3 in Life it reads at the top of the page: "GOD gets in the game." What is this, you ask?
Christian companies are marketing Christian video games to the masses. The very first one coming out is called called Catechuman, where your mentor and brethren has been captured by demon-possessed Roman soldiers, and you have to work through the catacombs to free them. No joke; the description even included the demon-possessed part. I laughed for hours inside. A game by Godly Games, called Victory at Hebron, revolves around the defeat of Jericho and the Amorites, and Joshua and Caleb's journey to Hebron. Somehow the developers are able to keep out the violence of ancient war, and I wonder, then, "What's the point of the game?"
Marketers for the game say they want to use the game to draw in people of all ages and thereby expose them to Christianity and theology. Tim Emmerich, president of Graceworks Inc., says, "We see developing Christian games as a unique opportunity to expose game players, especially younger ones, to important aspects of Christianity in an interactive environment."
Another, very popular game soon to come out uses the same graphics used in the popular games such as Halo and Grand Theft Auto; this game is called Left Behind: Eternal Forces, based on the popular fiction--fiction, please understand--of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Troy Lyndon, in charge of the Left Behind game, says this: "The purpose of Left Behind Games will be to entertain, reveal mysteries and evangelize. Ultimately, gamers will decide what they prefer." In my mind, Halo may have more eternal truths woven into it than Left Behind. But that's just me.
So now not only are we adding another section to the growing Christian subculture (Christian fiction, Christian movies, Christian music, Christian t-shirts, Christian TV, and now Christian video-games) but we're doing it all in the name of spreading bad theology? Sorry all you Left-Behind folk, let me put it bluntly: Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins are wrong.
Christian companies are marketing Christian video games to the masses. The very first one coming out is called called Catechuman, where your mentor and brethren has been captured by demon-possessed Roman soldiers, and you have to work through the catacombs to free them. No joke; the description even included the demon-possessed part. I laughed for hours inside. A game by Godly Games, called Victory at Hebron, revolves around the defeat of Jericho and the Amorites, and Joshua and Caleb's journey to Hebron. Somehow the developers are able to keep out the violence of ancient war, and I wonder, then, "What's the point of the game?"
Marketers for the game say they want to use the game to draw in people of all ages and thereby expose them to Christianity and theology. Tim Emmerich, president of Graceworks Inc., says, "We see developing Christian games as a unique opportunity to expose game players, especially younger ones, to important aspects of Christianity in an interactive environment."
Another, very popular game soon to come out uses the same graphics used in the popular games such as Halo and Grand Theft Auto; this game is called Left Behind: Eternal Forces, based on the popular fiction--fiction, please understand--of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Troy Lyndon, in charge of the Left Behind game, says this: "The purpose of Left Behind Games will be to entertain, reveal mysteries and evangelize. Ultimately, gamers will decide what they prefer." In my mind, Halo may have more eternal truths woven into it than Left Behind. But that's just me.
So now not only are we adding another section to the growing Christian subculture (Christian fiction, Christian movies, Christian music, Christian t-shirts, Christian TV, and now Christian video-games) but we're doing it all in the name of spreading bad theology? Sorry all you Left-Behind folk, let me put it bluntly: Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins are wrong.
2 comments:
My friend is truth.
And I dug my hole deeper :-)
I personally think that those games would be pretty sweet. I dont know about using them to spread the gospel...College is amazing dude! It's so crazy. I love it. How is CCU going?
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