Christianity is brainwashing kids.

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
kinglizard, the message behind the left behind series of books is that these events WILL TAKE PLACE, and, in the game, the actions you take are PERFECTLY MORAL and that you MAY HAVE TO TAKE THESE ACTIONS

in the GTA games there isn't a presentation of your actions as moral
there isn't a message of any sort
the only thing there is pure entertainment

The problem with violent video games is that they desensitize children to acts of violence.

exposure to violent video games increases aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, physiological arousal and aggressive behaviors, and decreases helpful behaviors. Previous studies also found that more than 85 percent of video games contain some violence, and approximately half of video games include serious violent actions.

..."It appears that individuals who play violent video games habituate or 'get used to' all the violence and eventually become physiologically numb to it."

www.iastate.edu...

Children are smart enough to distinguish real life from video game plots so the real problem is not the "back story".

kinglizard, there are cases on both sides on video game violence and whether or not it desensitizes kids, so it's not exactly a truth that they do

anyway, the back story is a problem when the kids are told that the backstory is either truth or future truth

i know that when i was a kid playing video games i didn't get the urge to go down pipes or jump on turtles
but i knew that games had fictional backstories (well, some of them are based on history)
if i grew up thinking that eventually bowser would have kidnapped princess peach and that humanity would need to unite to jump on various creatures to stop him, i may have taken it differently

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
kinglizard, there are cases on both sides on video game violence and whether or not it desensitizes kids, so it's not exactly a truth that they do

Do you have links to the other studies?

Originally posted by madnessinmysoulanyway, the back story is a problem when the kids are told that the backstory is either truth or future truth

The story isn't the thing that desensitizes kids...it's the acts of violence.

Originally posted by madnessinmysouli know that when i was a kid playing video games i didn't get the urge to go down pipes or jump on turtles

Good, then I guess you won't need to worry about christian kids killing or converting non believers during the end times.

Did you even read the recent study I posted?



[edit on 12/10/2006 by kinglizard]

Bible prophecy does not say that christians will kill non-christians. it says, christians will be killed by non-christians and then the whole planet will go into some kind of downward spiral, during which several dramatic and deadly astronomical events will transpire, and nuclear wars on a global scale will kick in.

So if this game is supposedly a re-enactment of what's in the prophetical future, the person(s) who created it, didn't know their bible. plain and simple.

[edit on 10-12-2006 by undo]

The whole thing is blown out of proportion.

The first christians were so gunho to follow in Christ's footsteps, they literally gave themselves up to the Roman Colliseum to be killed. Paul had to explain to them that when Jesus said to "pick up your cross and follow me" that he didn't mean to commit suicide but to crucify the "flesh" (to rein in your urges, to get a handle on your diet, behavior, and etc) so that the part of you that's eternal (the spirit) can gain mastery over the flesh, which is not eternal and prone to selfishness and so on. So this entire idea of killing people in the name of Jesus has always been wrong. It's an incorrect translation of the texts. Jesus was anti-capital punishment, anti-war, anti-death.

How many of us play video games?

How many of us have been complaining about Grand Theft Auto?

How many of us will actually play this game in a disassociative state?

How many of us have better things to do than play video games?

How many of us have better things to talk about than video games?

How many of us have more responsibilities and are kept accountable?

How many of us actually take the time to research that which they oppose before falsifying evidence?

How many of us actually care?

I am not capable of speaking for anyone other than myself.

Before judging this game, there are other games that should probably be checked out first(i.e. - Grand Theft Auto, Any shoot'em up, any RPG where good kills evil, Megaman [evil cyborgs!], fighting games ((for a cause like, what, revenge or karma/dharma...???)), etc.)

Honestly, anyone of us could go on about games that have worse effects than this.

How many of us are willing to say, "alright, so be it, the end"?

For me, it's not the game that is the issue. I don't believe people become murderers (or car thieves) from playing video games.

What bothers me about this is the back story. The hypocrisy. The idea of Christianity backing a violence-inspired video game when they rail against other violence-inspired video games, claiming that they're ruining our children. And they insist on child ratings and want to ban certain violence inspired music and so on. But as long as it's about killing who they see as the bad guy, it's ok.

It much like the labeling of terrorists. If they're against us, they're terrorists, but it's ok for us to use the EXACT same tactics against them because we're the 'good guys'... the white hats.

It's the hypocrisy that bother me.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
The idea of Christianity backing a violence-inspired video game when they rail against other violence-inspired video games, claiming that they're ruining our children.

Is it Christianity that developed this game or is it an individual or individuals?

Or maybe I missed it as I didn't read this entire thread. Have Christian leaders or organizations supported this game?

Good point, maybe people like Richard Dawkins saying all organized religion should be got rid of has a good point after all, because thats were this sort of thing comes from. The trouble is, there are probably a lot of Christians who don't like the idea of this game either, so you shouldn't call us all hypocrites you know. The main problem is that some people see the whole of Christianity or Islam as being at fault for a few peoples obvious wrongdoings.

Originally posted by kinglizard
Is it Christianity that developed this game or is it an individual or individuals?

It's individuals, of course. Christianity is an ideal. It can't really DO anything without its proponents, the individuals who practice it.

Have Christian leaders or organizations supported this game?

Certainly the people at Left Behind do. And I don't know how many Christian leaders support it. But they certainly do support the Left Behind. James Dobson, Rick Warren and Jerry Falwell have all declined to comment on the game.

Source

When Bible publisher Tyndale House licensed a video game that exploits 9/11, and teaches children that New Yorkers who don't convert deserve to die, conservative Christian leaders sat silent - all but one. Now, a 20-year veteran on the front lines of the culture wars is challenging his brethren and sisters to protest the game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces. So far, he's called out Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, PhD, Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren, and Southern Baptist pastor Jerry Falwell. In the past, all three have warned parents to keep their children away from other violent video games. But since Christian supremacist hate literature has been turned into a children's game, the No Comment Chorus has shucked and jived, ducked and covered, cut and run.

Originally posted by apex
you shouldn't call us all hypocrites you know.

I didn't call you all hypocrites. Not even close. I said Christianity's backing (producing in the name of Christianity) of a violent videogame is hypocritical.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic

Originally posted by apex
you shouldn't call us all hypocrites you know.

I didn't call you all hypocrites. Not even close. I said Christianity's backing (producing in the name of Christianity) of a violent videogame is hypocritical.

Sorry, I was blurring the distinction between Christians and the image of christianity.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic

Originally posted by kinglizard
Is it Christianity that developed this game or is it an individual or individuals?

It's individuals, of course.

Good, I'm glad you see my point. When you said "The idea of Christianity backing a violence-inspired video...." makes it sound like you are saying that Christianity is backing this video game when really it's a small group.

It's like saying that all Muslim people support terrorism when it is just a small radical group of Muslims. You can't group everyone together like that.

Originally posted by kinglizard
Good, I'm glad you see my point. When you said "The idea of Christianity backing a violence-inspired video...." makes it sound like you are saying that Christianity is backing this video game when really it's a small group.

That is the very same point I tried to make back at the start of the thread and here is the answer I got from Gear

www.abovetopsecret.com...

As you can see he chose too lump them all together thinking it was PC when in fact as you pointed out it is not since it is not Christianity on the whole, just one or two or perhaps a very small group of Christians in the end that are at fault.

[edit on 12/10/2006 by shots]

Originally posted by kinglizard
You can't group everyone together like that.

If you read my posts, you'll notice that I don't group everyone of any particular group together. I've even stood up and said things like, "Not all Christians are like that", etc.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
If you read my posts, you'll notice that I don't group everyone of any particular group together. I've even stood up and said things like, "Not all Christians are like that", etc.

Well I'm glad that you made a distinction in this thread earlier but as you know this is the quote I'm referring to.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
The idea of Christianity backing a violence-inspired video game when they rail against other violence-inspired video games, claiming that they're ruining our children.

People of the Christian pursuasion made the game. They're pushing the game. They're making money from selling the game. The game is about Christianity and how people who cannot be converted to Christianity should be killed.

I know that not all Christians support the game. That's clear.

Now... Is there something you don't understand about my point of view? If so, please ask straight out and I'll see what I can do to answer you.

Well i'm a christian and i have played or play, Everquest, Everquest II, Realm, Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, several of the Final Fantasy games, most of the ninetendo, super nintendo, sega genesis, game gear, gameboy, a few other blizzard games, gamebox games, and I'm a beta tester for Lord of the Rings Online.

So, in the game, the player is acting as what?
a) Tribulation Saint
b) One of 144,000 witnesses
c) Michael or Gabriel
d) Moses/Elijah
e) Hitler

I would like to know who is doing the killing, it might shed more light on the topic.

Originally posted by TarzanBeta
So, in the game, the player is acting as what?
a) Tribulation Saint
b) One of 144,000 witnesses
c) Michael or Gabriel
d) Moses/Elijah
e) Hitler

I would like to know who is doing the killing, it might shed more light on the topic.

Well, from this in the article:

it puts players in command of brainwashed legions fighting for Christianity.

It sounds like it's going to be a real time strategy to me, like the Command and Conquer series. I'd be interested to know why all of this about it, as technically the player wouldn't be doing the shooting.