Despite Game Violence Concerns, Churches Connect with Kids via Halo 3
Despite Game Violence Concerns, Churches Connect with Kids via Halo 3
October 7, 2007
Religious leaders often involve themselves in the video game violence debate - but not usually on the side of games.So it may come as a surprise that a number of churches are capitalizing on the popularity of Halo 3 to attract youthful congregants. From the NY Times:
Across the country, hundreds of ministers and pastors desperate to reach young congregants have drawn concern and criticism through their use of an unusual recruiting tool: the immersive and violent video game Halo...
Those buying it must be 17 years old... But that has not prevented leaders at churches and youth centers across Protestant denominations, including evangelical churches that have cautioned against violent entertainment, from holding heavily attended Halo nights...
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... But the question arises: What price to appear relevant?
There are those who disagree with the use of Halo as a recruitment tool. James Tonkowich, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy was not supportive of the idea:
If you want to connect with young teenage boys and drag them into church, free alcohol and pornographic movies would do it. My own take is you can do better than that.
The Times checked in with Halo supporters among the religious community as well. David Drexler of the Country Bible Church in Ashby, Minnesota said:
[Using Halo is] the most effective thing we’ve done. We have to find something that these kids are interested in doing that doesn’t involve drugs or alcohol or premarital sex.
At the Colorado Community Church, youth pastor Gregg Barbour wrote in a letter to parents:
[Jesus called us to be] fishers of men. Teens are our ‘fish.' So we’ve become creative in baiting our hooks.
What You Won't Find in the NY Times: Jane Dratz advises young people on How to Share Your Faith Using Halo 3 in the Christian Post:
Let's take a look at how you can take this videogame buzz and turn it into an opportunity to talk about spiritual things with your friends...
Master Chief John 117... has been described as the man who "gave the world faith, gave humanity a future, and made mankind believe again." Does that have echoes of someone else you know?
...What role are you being called to play in the battle for your friends' souls? Are you actively engaged in efforts to 'rescue them' from the clutches of the evil one? If not, step up and use the buzz surrounding Halo 3 to introduce some God-talk into your conversations.
At his Mining Grace blog, Joe Holland writes about his use of Halo 2 to connect with kids in his youth ministry, as well as his impressions of Halo 3:
I discovered some implicit biblical themes. The enemy aliens are called The Covenant... I figured that Halo was just another Matrix knock off, a product of a Christianized culture, picking up Christian themes haphazardly like stepping in bubble gum on the pavement.
...What fascinated me [about Halo 3] was the overtly Messianic themes applied to Master Chief... Each commercial ends with the word, “Believe”. Gospel parallels anyone?
I don’t mean to say by this that Halo 3 is a Christian video game... this is yet another example of what JRR Tolkien used to call “the one story.”
Comments
I can already see another bible fight brewing and the main instigator hasnt even fired his rhetoric off yet. I mean im all for people defending their belifs but its not gonna work over the internet. You can't convince another who does not wish to belive what he is told after all.
Will the kids stay in church once halo is taken away and replaced with bible study? who knows.
Im not fond of the language they use though. Makes them sound a bit evil to be honest withrefering to teenagers as fish and how they're being creative in baiting their hooks. If the teens were really interested in faith the whole jesus malarky would have gotten them through the door in the first place.
You can see parallels in more works of fiction sure sometimes they are random but then so is life, hatign is over rated let everyone start finding things we can enjoy together, and sometimes if not at least in separate rooms.
Oh I jsut recalled I was part of a chruch based scout like group when I was young we had acouple outings one was a sleep over and we of 13-15 watched some R based action and martial arts flicks and and played on my NES with 12 games LOL.
(I am 30ish now BTW :P)
So again its not the chruch is evil its sometimes it trumps itself up to be, some staffers are so anal some are normal and care about fun and stuff,gota remember people the media hates US gamers and the chruch goers as well we both get the bad light put on us!
I think, in terms of gaming history, Jesus would probably be Mario. I would see Master Chief as Peter, given how iconic he is with the Xbox platform, but I could also see Samus, Link, and Gordon Freeman at the table. I would personally assign Judas as Kane of the Brotherhood of Nod, mostly because he is such an iconic character for a major RTS franchise and he is thoroughly a villain.
You assume all these churches did that in the first place. The number of churches that are independent and not affiliated with any specific sect of Christianity are increasing.
Few of them bother to do things like condemn harry potter as satanic, and most of them couldn't give a flying fuck about what the pope thinks.
The Chronicles of Narnia
In this book series, parallels between the lion and Jesus, not to mention the crucifiction, are inherently obvious.
But then again, if you look at a wide variety of media, from top best sellers to TV shows to movies to music, you'll find a number have religious REFERENCES scattered about in them.
In a sense, for churches to understand that moden media and it's religious references can be used to help young people understand the bible better is a step FORWARD for them. Sure some could just be throwing references around willy-nilly, like the Matrix series, but ones that make closer parallels and actually have some story elements directly influenced from the bible can be an excellent teaching tool for churches.
Now you may say that this all flying bull crap and chips, but think about this for a moment:
The SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI and it's spin off the PERSONA series are ALSO heavily influenced by religion. Just NOT Christianity. They are instead influenced by Shintoism, the traditional Japanese religion (even pre-dating Buddhism which other Japanese games also pull things from), and throw in a mixing pot of other mythical and religious creatures. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, can actually teach you about the mythical Christian hierarchy of angels through the fact that you have to FIGHT them in a world gone mad, and every religion and myth under the sun is battling for control.
In my eye, this would be no different from churches in the 70's using "Jesus Christ: Superstar" to reach out to new churchgoers. Even an episode of All in the Family when Archie Bunker is put in a holding cell with a bunch of hippies, where one of them is playing a tape cassette player with the "Jesus Christ: Superstar" soundtrack on it could be used.
I guess it boils down to this:
If churches treat the religious references in games as a book club would treat a book's story, to discuss the meaning and significance of the characters and the story, then it's a good thing. That can inform, educate, and get people interested in the religion.
On the flipside, using the "HEY KIDS! WE GOT TEH HALOZ!" method, then locking the doors and going, "Now to talk about Jesus!", would be the WRONG way.
Lastly, if they want people under 17, I think getting a permission slip would be the final cherry on top to make sure it's all good and reasonable.
And that's my two cents.
~Otaku-Man
Be that as is may, it only reinforces my point, in that most religions have fallen prey to the same illogical fallacies as portrayed by the Covenant- killing those who don't believe simply because they don't.
More and more kids are starting to wake up and realize the lie that is Christian superstition. This is why we see ministries utilizing highly secular forms of entertainment -- even when the entertainment contradicts revelation -- to keep children in the Church. Indoctrinating a child in Christian lies a young age is vital: once the mind is sharp and free of parental authority, wise individuals (who were not indoctrinated) will seek the truth. Christianity cannot stand by the merit of its own claims; so, I'm not surprised to see Churches doing everything they can to violate the mental agency of children while they are still young.
@Coravin
You were a smart kidd. That's great. But most children can hardly name a single gospel, or understand a full episode of spongebob. Even then, you're asking a child to abstract from a level of philosophical inquiry that is among the most challenging, difficult, and theoretical in all knowledge. And, on top of this, the child is usually guided under the presumption that all other religions are false and under the threat of eternal torture.
And, yes, Christ is modeled off a vidictive bronze age war god (I will NOT stop using this perfectly descrptive term). I suggest you re-read the book of Mark; Christ does not object the OT, his validity is derived from such superstition.
Supported by real life? Lol, okay. Sure! People see individuals walk on water, rise from the dead, commune with burning bushes, construct arks large enough to hold 23 billion species, and evoke the other insane supernatural claims of superstition every single day. Again, Christians seem to be so deluded in their indocrination that they are simply devoid of fact, inquiry, and reason.
As a literay work, the tomb of superstition is rife with contradictions, messages of hate, and is clearly the work of dozens, completely different, authors. As such, your religion does not stand up to unbias critcism, amounting to little more than a pile of functionless superstition. The text is hardly worth consideration as a work of fiction. Assuming it contain any fraction of the truth is absolutely insane.
Again, Christians are sometimes so deluded in their religion that they see a critique of their religion as a critique on themselves. I am not saying that Christians are insane, genocidal, child killers. I AM saying -- and using their own religious texts -- to say that their "God" is an insane, genocidal, child killer.
Ha ha, you are funny. Religion's base principle is free will. We choose to believe, you don't. We're okay with you not believing, but you aren't okay with us believing. S'okay. Be cool, man. You are free to believe what you want.
See, our God even has you covered there... He already gave you free will whether you want it or not.
Too funny.
well at least it's fun.
I guess MC has only avoided the Gary Stu tag for so long really.
Christians not condemning video games like the biggoted sheep you claim they are. Even the violent ones.
Like communion perhaps?
Now, see, not ALL Christians are like Jack Thompson, I promise! ;p
Also, we should try and guess at what new things he will accuse God of being this time, claiming that the Bible backs it up.
I'm going for 'Hooker', 'Racist' and 'rapist'.
The bait comment was interesting.
well, he did always tell stories that the people could relate to, so in a way he did.
I think it is more about the images. Take Spider-Man 2. When he stops the train from crashing into the river, he is carried on his back, in the position of Christ on the cross back inside. Basic images like this are used all the time. Now this doesn't mean that Master Chief is the second coming of Christ (My god I'm laughing as I write this) but it is kind of like the saying. "There are only 7 different types of stories to tell and every story since those 7 has been a rip off of those originals."
Not that I necessarily believe that, but still the thought of a pastor saying "Master Chief died for your sins." is pretty amusing.
Halo 3 is meant to be a fun multiplayer. It has its competitive moments, but every game with a multiplayer does. The church sees fun and a good way to connect, so why not?
It's like those stories where you hear older men trying to lure kids with candy. Same effect but an extremely much better outcome for everyone.
I didn't see this coming.
And forgive me for being ignorent but who's Pandralisk?
I guess that would have been popular culture of the day.
I guess my point was, that Jesus never advertised story telling sessions as a disguise to share a gospel message.
In the end, I guess anything can be used for whatever you want to use it for.
and the parables of Jesus (just like the fables of Aesop, etc etc) were storytelling sessions disguising a message. whether you believe in the tale itself isn't the issue, it's getting the moral that matters.
He's the Jack Thompson of religion here. He usually can't go a post without bashing Christianity and thinking up new words to bash god with. I think it started with 'Bronze-age Wargod' and grew from there.
JC is obviously 3 days.
;)
Pandralisk is one of the commentators on the iste, he is respected by . . . absolutely no one. He is very annoying and he goes on and on about Chrisitianity worships a bronze age God and is full of hate mongerers, freaks and is the source of all the worlds problems. Basically he is the type of person that gives atheists a bad name. Oh and he never listens to reason but keeps repeating the same stuff over and over.
Anyway as long as these guys don't get upset if they don't get as many converts as they thought then this is fine.
"REPENT SINNERS!!! MASTER CHIEF IS THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST!!! FOR HE WIELDS A FLAMING ENERGY SWORD OF BLUE AND RIDES THE WARTHOG OF DEATH!!! REPENT YOUR n00b WAYS!!!
I'm having way to much fun with this. I'm probably going to hell now.
Not everything is an allegory to the Bible. Not even going to mention how pathetic the story of Halo 3 was, though it was presented amazingly.
I don't have much problem with a 16-17 year old playing Halo3 and I don't even have a problem with the Church or the military exploiting its popularity for their own agendas, but I DO have a problem in that it's outrageously hypocritical of those who speak out against this behavior and then don't when it's their 'buddies' doing it.
the 1st amendment is in grave danger, people!
When I was a teenager I would go to my church's CCD/bible classes and later the Confirmation classes for two reasons; 1. My parents made me : ) and 2. The ultimate lure for a teenage boy: Girls. I'll be damned if there weren't always a dozen hot catholic school girls at those things. Weekend retreat to a summer camp in the woods = makeout sessions guaranteed! Oh yeah there was something about God in there too I believe.
Cheers
Well, I'm in. I bet I can get the ragged, beardy look down. I'm not sure what icon represents the Master Chief appropriately, that would not cause trouble on a public street corner, though.
If our resident troll has any objections to churches using Halo 3 then I guess that means he endorses drugs and sex.
I think he's on holiday..
Wait.. what if this starts a "Cult of Halo" Outside of Xbox Live? They'll be at the TV's all day, slaves to the Bungie Monster! Western Society will collapse and then.. THE REDS ARE COMING!!
++COMMS BEGIN++
Seeds are sown. Advancing world domination plan through use of nut. Russia will rise again. And RAY is the key!
++COMMS END++
(Can anyone else see that happening in Lubyanka?)
It's okay because the Church is doing it. Same as when America's Army came out.
(That name just makes your teeth ache doesn't it? America's Army... Ugh.)
Don't lump all Christians together. Some of us know what we're doing. ;)
Oh course since its a M-rated game I don't see how approperate it is to be playing for a church event. I've never heard of any churches playing R-rated movies to get the youth's attention.
:P I can't spell today. Sorry
the chruch is labled as haters and there is not hate here,thus a problem is made to be solved by trying to bang a dead horse in the rear.
well I hope no one tries to spin it the wrong way.....
Duly noted. Didn't really help but thank you.
We played halo3 at it till 7am.
A commenter here who is, hardly respected by anyone. Like Thompson, I'm sure he makes some good points ,but they get lost in all the abrasive vitriolic hate speech.
As for the article, some religious things that some pastors abhore, such as Dungeons and Dragons, have been used by churches to reach out to youths and give them something to do to keep them away from drugs. As for the premarital sex thing, if it happens, it happens, but it is a good way to keep those kids from ruining their lives with a pregnancy or STDs
But still, this is interesting, but it's just a desperate bid to get kids to care about church when in reality church and relegion in general are becoming more and more the domain of the elderly and the zealot.
but thats just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Picture of the Last Super
Jesus-Master Chief
Jeudas- Sonic?
Help me out here guys.
I didn't realize that the church of England was in the United states too.
I really don't think any of the churches here have anything to do with the Church of england or Manchester Cathedral. So really pick the right double standard if your going to bring it up.
Then again, the same churches will probably jump on that bandwagon as well to attract more of the youth group (and by that, I mean finding Christian themes in Harry Potter). I wonder if the Pope will condemn this tactic.
Dear... this is so revolutionary it is preposterous!
I admit, that was a pretty broad generalization and I've noticed that particular trend myself now that you mention it.
In the end, using a violent video game, no matter how cartoonish, to promote the message of the "Prince of Peace" is quite contradictory and hypocritical. But then, so are so many church policies.
You think this is bad? Wait until Pandralisk shows up, it'll get about 10,000 times worse.
there is the possibility that he is no longer coming here. Nevertheless please do not speak his name for we do not want him to return.
"I didn’t realize that the church of England was in the United states too."
Yes it is, actually. They only use the term "Episcopalian" though, and aren't very big with attendance, but they are under the Archbishop of Canterbury like any Church of England denomination. They've made the news recently when they ordained a homosexual bishop and some of the denominations left and joined under the Nigerian and Rwandan archbishops so I guess those can be called "Church of England" for real now, only from African diocese.
They're also known for running a lot of private schools. I attended two of them, although few of the students or teachers were members of the corresponding church. My understanding is that they've lost membership to newer, more active or evangelical churches. They're also pretty liberal so I suppose its mostly just the "elderly" rather than the zealot (per Yuki's post). But each denomination is pretty independent.
As far as any controversy based on the above article it's sort of a non-issue outside of Christian circles. As posted above this kind of thing is pretty common. I guess the Quakers might be the main objectors, but I've only ever known one Quaker before (a principal at one of those Episcopal schools) and he was mean as a snake.
Indeed. But it would probably create just as many. For science knows no morality. And if we did follow science like a religion, we would be asking 'Whether or not one could', we would never ask 'Whether or not one should."
And besides, it's not religion has no use. It has always been about control, for better or worse. The problem with religion isn't so much with the scripture itself (most of the time at least, some of the Word can be horrible), but with the interpretation and application of it. A fundamentalist athesit is much worse than a modorate Christian.
A fundamentalist anyone is much worse than a moderate anything.
Aye.
For one thing, as Verbinator pointed out, all stories share certain elements, so these people could just be playing up on the parallels, but it doesn't sound like it. I'm not sure how what they're doing will (although I don't think it SHOULD) work as an actual serious attempt to draw people into a religion. It seems a little disingenuous to pull people in through the excitement of a game and expect them to be sucked into a belief system from there.
If they mean it only to be a fun activity the kids can do to keep them away from passtimes that can do them actual harm, good for them; if some of those kids are attracted to their beliefs through the exposure, fine; but if the actual goal is to use Halo as, well, a recruiting tool, and "convert" them through unasked-for discussions of the game and parallels to the Bible, that's a little harder to swallow.
@Verbinator
Actually, stories are the same around the world, in terms of their essential elements and the basic framework, just altered according to what culturally valued beliefs/actions for which the characters are rewarded (or punished, when they fail to meet those). I think it's safe to say that EVERY culture, anywhere and anytime, is functionally retelling (sometimes new or interesting takes on) identical stories.
There are small but non-integral (to a story) differences in what is important in beliefs or actions in one culture versus another. However, these basically result in cosmetic differences such as what specific action is rewarded or punished for falling in line with or (not) the cultural expectations, and don't affect the actual plot of the story.
More religion != more morals
Plenty of people without religion are good, kind, etc., and plenty of religious people are jerks and evil. One does not necessarily follow the other. I'm dealing with a family member right now that has serious anger and social problems stemming from a mental disorder. He became religious, and now he's nearly legally a "danger to himself and others" because, on top of everything else, he believes that God has a "special plan" for him that may, but has not yet, including "smiting the wicked."
I know, it's extreme, but it's a serious example of religious thinking that actually made the moral situation much worse.
Sure, science doesn't bring morals, but boiling the world down to science-or-religion is a false dilemma. Religion doesn't necessarily bring morals either, and a non-religious person can find them by having even the smallest amount human empathy, which is what morals are essentially about... being good to other people and not hurting them.
Eh, what do I know, I'm just some half asleep atheist. :)
I'd like to say that I respect others and their reigions except for thsoe individuals that want to shove their crap down my throat.
But Church anything usually makes me feel uncomfertable. I always get this feeling they are still trying to hold onto some kind of power over the people....I dunno.
However, on the basis of using the game as a tool to promote friendliness, and disregarding the plot in favor of just having fun, this isn't a bad idea. I just worry what will happen when they catch on to the religious theme in the series.
Um, Kajex, the religious themes of Halo's antagonists are far closer to Islamofacism than Christianity. Killing people would bring them salvation? Thought suppression? Hatred of logic and reason? It's right out of the jihadist play book. There aren't any parallels between the Covenant religion and modern Christianity that I've seen. (Granted I've not played Halo 3 yet, only Halo 2.)
I love this, if for nothing else than to shut idiots like Pandralisk up.
Though the way the story seems to assume that all Christians are automatically in agreement on whether violent video games are bad is kind of disturbing. The SP movement seems to grow more and more convinced that all people of faith are mindless robots who believe what their preachers preach and don't think for themselves. (Which is ironically far more typical of the secular progressives than most rational believers.) That kind of unnerves me.
Hey, Islamic extremists are certainly not the only ones who have declared genocide on unbelievers- Just about every religion short of Buddhism and Jews have, at some point or another, done precisely those things. Sure, not today, since Catholicism has come a long way from then, but nobody is really innocent. But the suppression of intelligent reasoning in the face of blind faith is still a prevalent theme throughout the series, and in at least those respects it still applies.
Though admittedly... Christianity has yet to subjugate several primitive alien species, 2 of which have warlike tendencies and 1 of which usually work as mercenaries.
"Here kids, we're suffering from empty-pew syndrome and need to indoctrinate you in our belief system of lies while you are still young and not capable of refined rational thought.
We know what these bizarre stories in the Bible are no longer applicable, supported by evidence, or crafted in a coherent manner. We'll selectively cherry pick the easy parts to you an regurgitate a vague interpretation of the text until you believe it as a source of truth (even though you have never actually critically engaged the text). We know this idea bores you, so while we indoctrinate you, feel free to blow the heads off aliens."
You, silly, silly, Christians!
@Pandralisk: You just accused all christians of not being capable of refined rational thought? Do you believe the same way about stephen hawking or einstein? Most of the great scientsts are christians and use science to PROVE God's existance, not deny it.
Do not presume that divine-command ethics is the only form of ethical morality. Perhaps if you'd take your head out of a book that commands the murder of women, rape of children, and tolerates eternal torture and devote your focus toward an entire philosophical tradition, you'd discover that there are DOZENS of ethical systems that promote strong moral values (these values simply do not encompass the more dogmatic, warantless, values contained in pile of garbage that is the Judeo-Christian-Muslim Bible).
No, I accuse many Christians of forcing children to attend churches and try to learn about an extremely complicated religious tradition when they are barely capable of reading at a first-grade level. Forcing content that is assumed to be true -- without ever considering arguements or alternative theories -- down the minds of children and the mentally underdeveloped DEFINES indoctrination.
Forcing a child to conemplate the nature of metaphysical reality, before they have so much as graduated high school, is just as damaging and obscene as forcing porn, violence, and hate on children.
I'm sorry to hear that you're filled with such hatred and bile towards a group of people that you don't even know. Why the hate and vitriol? Christ came for all people, so that all may have eternal life. That's what I believe and I've never made a secret of it. I care about people and I think that using Halo as a witnessing tool is a great idea.
Christ is also derived from, or actually IS, a bronze-age War God that is guilty of genocide, tolerating eternal torture, and an entire canon of acts so terrible that any unbiased person of moral virture would find disgusting. I encourage you to read the Bible; especially the OT books of Deut, Levti, and the NT books of Corn and Rev.
I waste my time giving Christians the pleasure of a normative debate. The sad fact of the matter is that Christians/Jews/Muslims have no warrant, justification, evidence, or reason for holding their beliefs. In fact, indoctrination, fear, and hate are the chief historical and contemporary methods of spreading the religions of Abraham.
Stop saying the same thing over and over. It's getting tiring. PLEASE, just stop the 'bronze age war god' thing.
We know your opinion, and you are entitled to it. Now stop repeating yourself over and over.
You're helping no-one. You're changing nothing, for the better at least.
Um... Christ and the relevant information related to him came about during the New testament. So why are you attempting to use the Old Testament to ridicule our beliefs. That's kind of like a JT thing to do... you know, using irrelevant data to push your point.
Also, if it's such a waste of time, why do you bother? Your blatant disregard for anyone else's beliefs only deters anyone from taking you seriously. Again, another JT-like tactic. Why am I taking you seriously? I'm not really, but I'm trying to give you a little help in identifying the reason why people around here may look on you with contempt. Yeah, you're probably try to bite back with some insult to me beliefs (judging from previous experience) and I'm willing to accept that, but in the case that you don't, then thanks; it's appreciated in advance.
The vast majority of Christians who were forced to go to Church as children have not grown up to blind, zombie-like followers of the Faith. Actually, most, upon reaching an age and maturity of free thought, have very likely taken a step back and tried to analyse their beliefs against everything else that they now know. And you had better believe that they have had doubts, MANY doubts at times, but those who have kept their beliefs have not done so because they were forced to by their parents or by anyone else. They still have their beliefs because they choose to. We don't live under Sharia Law or Communism or the like where we only believe something because we are forced to.
Absolutely. All you're doing is reinforcing how stupid said people are, who refuse to question or investigate their "own" belief system, and that's pretty stressful for their tiny, tiny wittle brains!
I can't tell whether you're being sarcastic or not, but if you are, I think you misinterpreted.
On one hand, I'm glad that fellow Christians don't fell "guilty" to play games such as Halo 3. It would be ridiculous IMO. I remember Jeff Freeman's article about Dungeons & Dragons, at the time it was under attack by the religious right. Here is his last words : "Telling (even fantasy) stories is not an un-Christian thing to do. Playing board-games is not an un-Christian thing to do. Playing something called a 'role-playing game' that combines elements of both is not an un-Christian thing to do either. Lying, however, isn't Christian at all."
On the other hand, I don't like the idea that Church uses these games as "marketing" tactics. It's not what I expect from Church. Would I be an atheist, I would think the same way.
Oh for crying out loud, man, SHUT THE HELL UP.
You say you don't want to stereotype, yet look what you're doing. You've just said in two sentences that everyone who happens to be a Christian is no better than Fred Phelps. Do even you realize what you're saying?
(and any who want to see why he's wrong in what he's saying, not just how he's saying it, which is the summarized version)
I don't know about you, but I was reading The Lord of the Rings and certain Middle English when I was 6 and 7, respectively, so the Bible wasn't exactly above my comprehension level. That aside, CHRIST is not modeled off of some bronze age god. If you've studied the Bible as a serious literary work, you should be well aware that much of what is in its pages IS supported in real life, although the timelines are off on some of it. Which is not surprising, considering the numerous retellings until the versions we see, those inscribed once the written word was put to such purposes (it initially was only a business tool in the relevant parts of the world, leaving verbal storytelling to enshrine such stories in a far more mutable form).
Of course there are Christian and Jewish traditions maintaining that the Bible is infallible as the word of God, but that is harder to believe for a student of literature and myth (which doesn'y mean lies or fantasy, it's a reflection of culture), because dissection of the Bible's details and voices reflect beliefs of the time. However, it is still possible to believe that the Bible is the word from God in the light of such studies, only then one must accept that it is written with the best human understanding and even adaptation of that word according to contemporary understanding, not flawlessly.
It is entirely possible that certain tales from the early Bible and its GOD are based off of a bronze age mountain god that was followed by some of the early Jews before they became Jews. At which time they were quite spread-out according to tribes (made up of extended families) and such, which is the dominant division of societies prior to civilization as we recognize it. BUT those tales would have been precursors to the Jewish tradition as we know it (and their consolidation into anything that could be termed a Jewish peoples or nation) and possibly evolved but most likely were dropped for an elsewise-derived God founding a new faith.
The benefits of dropping the other religions in favor of this one are clear: unlike every other god, the religion that would become Judaism followed one single God who ruled over everything. In other words, the preceding gods were limited to one aspect of life or land that they ruled, and so a religion following only one god could only ply him for help when they were where he held dominion. A religion following multiple gods required multiple sets and types of sacrifice, but a religion following one god not only permitted focused worship but also allowed the belief that this one god was THE only true god.
Again, there is no evidence whether belief in this God preceded the assembling of Jewish community. Every other form of religion has parallels in other cultures that have lacked cultural crossover, spontaneous creation of systems of worship seeming to result in certain prescribed patterns of religion. Notably, the Jewish God does NOT fit into these patterns, and spontaneous creation of religion has never resulted in anything similar.
This faith appears to be entirely distinct from and unlike any before it, and is of interest because of its uniqueness (which remains until the present). There is no evidence which makes it certain that this God was not worshipped prior to this time, nor any making it certain He was; however, due to the small size and wide scattering of tribes, the faith built on the Jewish God would have left no more evidence of its existence than any other faith of the age if not for the stories compiled into the Bible. Such notable change follows most of the more brutal acts attributed to God but precedes the time of the eventual followers of this faith's actual cohesion.
In other words, the more violent aspects of the Jewish God are most likely attributable to an attempt to woo those who had followed various other gods by encapsulating their deities' history within the new faith. This results in a notable demarcation of stories certainly belonging to the new faith's singular God and those which may be remnants of efforts to consolidate tribes and therefor older systems of worships' sometimes multiple and usually feature-locked (as in inhabiting a certain mountain or lake) gods.
It is believed that certain repeated tales in the Old Testament had different versions due to something quite common in a time when most stories were maintained verbally and not uncommon after: the tellers used contemporaneous understanding of the world and beliefs in conceptualizing their story. Far from making these events fiction, all this means is that an event commemorated in the past was updated according to altered understanding of the world around them. It's possible that either historical events may have been retold in manners not suiting the reality or style of the time of their actual occurence, or even that allegorical tales were misattributed as history. It is still possible for an educated person to follow the Bible as part of their faith, which is one of the things we explored in studying its literary qualities, and that is a personal choice.
But to presume that you have the right answer and shove it in people's faces as you do, pandralisk, is every bit as obnoxious and arrogant as those Christians you claim turned you off from the religion.
When I played Halo with students it wasn't a a marketing/bait-and-switch tactic. We played halo in addition to basketball, foosball, ultimate frisbee, dodgeball, etc simply because we enjoyed hanging out together. Believe it or not, we also studied the Bible and Jesus. That was what most of the students came to hear about. They did have Halo at home after all, and didn't have to hang out with a youth minister to play it. As far as the M rating goes, it was always their parents' decision whether or not they played. I didn't require Halo gaming of anyone and was respectful of anyone who didn't want to play out of conviction.
In noticing biblical themes in Halo I was by no means saying that MC = JC or anything else like that. I happen to by enthralled by the Bible. I think it is interesting when Biblical themes show up in culture. I don't use Halo to talk to people about Jesus. That is, quite honestly, silly and pedantic. And if you must know, I do believe that the common human tendency to enjoy stories about triumph over evil, hard fought wars, and heroism of the messianic variety is due to our being made in the image of God and all of those stories finding their source and terminus in the person and work of Jesus Christ. But that is certainly not a thought that is original to me nor a silly thing for a Christian to think.
So to summarize, Halo is fun to play and the biblical themes are interesting but that is about as far as it goes. I'm glad to see there are so many thoughtful gamers out there. Your discussion over here is really quite interesting.
Oh, and to the question, "Would Jesus play Halo?" I think he would but I don't think John the Baptist would have. I'll let you sort that one out (Matthew 11:16-19).
You fail. You see you are not unbiased; therefore you cannot, in good faith, claim an UNbiased point of view. Of course I'm not unbiased either, nor do I claim to be. I actually have thought about my faith and I was raised in a Christian home my whole life. I'd be a liar if I said that there weren't times I still had doubts; but those are coming less and less often. I've been through the fire and come out, while a little burned, pretty much ok.
So kindly stop with your own hate.
You talk about how Christians force themselves onto others. You are such a fucking hypocrite. Because you are doing exactly that.
Since his posts are obviously intended to be inflamitory and are frequently off topic, I propose we ignore them. By writing long detailed agruments for him to respond to, you are only empowering him. He has some 'need' for attention and keeps coming back here because we give it to him.
This is a gaming website, not a religious philosophy (or history) site. If we ignore him long enough, he will move on to a better suited site to post his flaming rants.
I think the analogy to him as a religious JT is very apt with one difference. I find JT entertaining (in a sad way). Since I don't enjoy Pandralisk's rants (and he's certainly not changing anyone's opinion), I would rather not have him (or replies to him) clogging up the post.