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Title: Video Game's Message to Kids: Convert or Kill Non-Christians
Source:
.theprovocation.net
URL Source: http://www.theprovocation.net/2011/ ... essage-to-kids-convert-or.html
Published: Dec 5, 2011
Author: staff
Post Date: 2011-12-05 15:10:38 by Ferret
Keywords: None
Views: 229
Comments: 5
THE NEWS: Want to kill off thousands of New Yorkers in the name of God? No problem. There's a video game on the market that will let you do just that. THE PROVOCATION: Need more proof that the religious right is interested in forcibly imposing its views on the rest of the nation? They've happily provided it in the form of this video game. It's called Left Behind: Eternal Forces, but I've got a better name for it: Immoral Combat. In this game, the United Nations is a villainous tool of Satan and peacekeepers are the enemy. Who are the heroes? Warmongers, crusaders and the like. So much for turning the other cheek. The cover carries a picture of two he-men with expressions just brimming with arrogance. One wonders what ever happened to the meek inheriting the Earth. Meek is one thing these two guys aren't. They look like a couple of refugees from World Wrestling Entertainment. T.J. Deci of All Game Guide describes the game in the following terms: "Players join ... a small force formed to resist the domination of the so-called 'Global Community Peacekeepers,' a United Nations-based organization that is actually led by the Anti-Christ." How violent is it? Deci says that "although it involves no blood or gore, Eternal Forces offers plenty of destructive combat, involving both the supernatural powers of faith and modern military technology." Wait. Their god needs F-16s and smart bombs to win a war? In the Old Testament, Elijah just called down fire from heaven. Either YHWH's getting lazy in his old age or he learned something from the Romans back in the day. Sure, they fed his people to the lions, but everyone enjoys a good bloodbath now and then (note sarcasm). And what better place for a bloodbath than in the hands of angst-ridden teens amped up on pubescent hormones and armed with joysticks? Sure there are other video games of this sort out there. Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt and Soldier of Fortune come to mind. But in each of these games, the player is the ultimate authority. In Eternal Forces, it's an omnipotent deity who's calling the shots. The player is merely a crusader, a holy warrior in some ultimate battle against the infidel. Doesn't this sound just a little like something an Islamic extremist might enjoy? Just change the god in question, and it would probably make a great gift for your average Muslim terrorist in training. There's even a scene that shows a burning New York City skyline, which is eerily reminiscent of 9/11. This game is clearly meant to advance an ultra-right wing agenda by demonizing the United Nations, a popular target of the fringe right for years. Renegade militia leaders, anti-tax militants and psychos who get off on stockpiling weapons love this sort of stuff. Think David Koresh, Tim McVeigh and their ilk. So do white supremacists, separatists and, of course, Dominionists - the folks who want to replace the U.S. Constitution with a system of government based on their view of the Ten Commandments. Emphasis: Thou shalt worship no other god. And if you do, we'll fill you full of holes and you can rot in hell. That's the message being sent here. And it's been sold by up to 10,000 retailers in past holiday seasons, a time that's supposed to be dedicated to peace on Earth and goodwill. But in the minds of those who created this game, peacekeepers are evil. War is godly. According to Deci, the game was "developed ... with a strong emphasis on Christian American values and New Testament lore." These are Christian American values? They certainly aren't the values of the New Testament that I read. They seem to be straight out of the most violent chapters of the Old Testament - accounts in which YHWH supposedly commands his followers to destroy entire cities, butchering every man, woman and child in the process. Whom would Jesus bomb? According to the makers of this game, anyone who doesn't agree with their particular theological view. If it's on your children's list, you might want to disappoint them on the grounds that this game is quite naughty and not the least bit nice. On your next holiday shopping trip, it's one item that is, indeed, best left behind. 
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#1. To: Ferret (#0)
The Left Behind novels should not be blamed on Jewish theology. They are rightwing Protestant fantasies about what happens AFTER the righteous are raptured -- which, to my tiny mind, means pitting the sinners (who didn't get raptured) against other sinners (who are somehow connected to the Anti-Christ). This has led to a series of films of modest budgets/talents that include the sort of violence that shows up in the sort of movies that "Christians" don't want their kids to watch. There have, in fact, been a number of efforts at such books and movies, apart from the "Left Behind" franchise. The Omego Code is a particularly bad example -- the more so because, despite the fact that it was a stinker, someone sued to get the credit for the storyline! Its pretended sequel, Megiddo, was even worse - although its star, Michael York, actually wrote a book about his experiences making the film. This film genre is one of the niche markets that involves LESS intellectual energy than zombie films.
I read most of those books in that series, back when I still considered myself a christian. I don't know why I did. They were not well written. I guess I bought them hoping they would get better. They didn't. And anyone that says that the NT is all lovey-dovey, like the article above says, and christians constantly echo this, has not read the NT. It's even more of a bloodbath than the OT. The writer claims this game does not portray christian values. It portrays those values extremely well.
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#2. To: Shoonra (#1)
The Left Behind novels should not be blamed on Jewish theology.
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