Purpose-Driven Life Takers
My friend Mark posted a while back about one of his favorite publications, The Onion. I love the satire — and the subtlety that leaves you checking back up at the top of the page to make sure this is a joke. You can usually find the evidence of tongue-in-cheek without looking too awfully hard. But when I found this article via O’DonnellWeb about a video game wherein endtime Christians gun down and bomb nonbelievers, I gasped and looked up and down the page. I searched high and low but neither tongue nor cheek were to be found anywhere. What kind of Christians would put even shop an idea for this kind of game, much less actually produce one? I’m still hoping it’s someone’s awful idea of humor. Because the reality is just too appalling. I always thought people who thought that Christians seriously wanted to take over the US and create a theocracy were just paranoid anti-Christians. I guess I am very sadly wrong.
Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission — to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is “to conduct physical and spiritual warfare”; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life.
I do want to clarify, as I read the article they did make the point that Rick Warren did not create this game. But they also make a point that by not denouncing it, he is making a de facto endorsement. What do you think?
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June 4th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
As a maker of video games, I have a hard time casting judgement. Still, what I do is not motivated by trying to make people do what I want them to do. Well, aside from buying our games…
Still, I have to wonder if these people aren’t taking the “word of god” a bit far.
It’s an interesting dilemma for me, to say the least.
June 4th, 2006 at 10:21 pm
This is just horrifying to me. Christians love to distance ourselves from the Crusades, but this game sounds like it’ll take us right back there - repent or die! Scary - and I hope Rick Warren comes out with a statement against it. And I am very sad that Tim LaHaye is part of this. I don’t agree with his theology and I’ve been very bothered by the commercialism stuff in the Left Behind series, but I didn’t think he would take it this far.
June 5th, 2006 at 8:01 am
Wow. I can’t imagine this isn’t someone’s sick idea of a joke. If Tim LaHaye really is involved in & supporting of this, I’m stunned.
June 5th, 2006 at 8:18 am
kinda makes all those M rated games they all always complaining about (like Grand Theft Auto) seem like a walk in the park. very frightening!
June 10th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Another blog I read had a post about this game followed by a ton of comments. The owner and many of the contributors to it are graduate theology students. They were pretty negative on the game, too. But their language wasn’t as nice as yours.
June 13th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
I’m sitting here stunned. I can’t believe that high-profile Christians in the year 2006 would actually endorse such a despicable product. At the very least, it’s in extremely poor taste. Gee, thanks a lot, guys–that’s all Christians need: to look more like violent, marauding idiots and bigots!