Thursday 14 December, 2006 at 3:15:56 pm
filed under politics, religion, software
I always new the Antichrist would be a Romanian.
There’s been some buzz the past couple of days about Wal-Mart’s decision to stock the video game Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a spinoff of the popular Left Behind series fo books. Liberal groups are now attempting to have it removed from the shelves. So why all the fuss?
The basic premise of the series (and of the game) is that all of the righteous people of the Earth have been removed in the Rapture, and those “left behind” need to prepare for the Final Coming Of The Lord. This, naturally, involves converting or killing every nonbeliever you encounter.
But still, why such a big deal? After all, these are not new ideas - they’ve been preached for centuries, and spread throughout the world in the form of history’s best-selling book. Nobody asks for preachers to be removed from their pulpits or Sunday schools to be shut down simply because they teach a message that some of the population disagrees with. If the Richard Dawkins can call for the wholesale abandonment of religion, why can’t orthodox Christians call for the wholesale adoption of Christianity?
Coming as it does from the same people who started “keep your laws off my body,” one would think that there would be a little more sympathy for “keep your hands off my religion.” But alas, only when unpopular ideas are “right” do they deserve to be spread.
Let’s face it, a victory for the protesters here just sets a precedent for supression of video games the right doesn’t like. Spore? How dare you try to make my child believe in evolution!
Let’s put our money where our mouth is and fight for our right to be cast into the Lake of Fire on Judgement Day.
technorati tags:leftbehind, christianity, religion, politics, walmart, technology, gaming
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Davi
on Thursday 14 December, 2006 at 6:16:23 pm
hey, we’ve still got a good four months…don’t give up so easily
dosnlinux
on Thursday 14 December, 2006 at 6:21:07 pm
Personally, I think Wal-Mart is only selling the game to get back some of their losses they took from the boycott earlier this year.
I also honestly can’t see what that groups problem is. It’s one game among thousands filled with gore and other questionable content. If you don’t like the game, don’t buy it. We DO live in a capitalist country for goodness sakes, and stuff that doesn’t make money won’t get produced.
LeftBehindGames
on Friday 22 December, 2006 at 4:01:54 pm
A statement from Left Behind Games CEO Troy Lyndon:
Focus on the Family, Concerned Women For America, Women of Faith, Outreach Magazine, National Network of Youth Ministers, and Promise Keepers are just some of the organizations that support LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces, a PC game. Read below to find out why…
This is the world’s first high-quality inspirational game which intends to model positive behavior by discouraging physical warfare. Our game is the first game ever to encourage the use of prayer and worship as the most effective means to resolve conflict. Physical warfare is discouraged as the least effective means for resolving conflict…and a gamer loses points for using a gun.
In the past several days, numerous people have been and continue to spread misinformation about the game.
Our game does not encourage killing. Our game is not anti anything … it’s simply pro-Christian. The ultimate bad guy is the antichrist who wants to eliminate all faiths and all religions, except his. He is deceiving the entire world.
Our game does not teach the pre-tribulation theology of the book series, except that this worldview is utilized as a fictional backdrop of the game.
In an industry which creates so much gratuitous violence and gore, LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces presents a healthy alternative. We need your help to get the word out!
PLAY THE GAME and find out for yourself that this game is about the battle of good versus evil.
Here is what some are saying about the game:
The Anti-Defamation League, although they speak out against the book theology, says “Conversion to Christianity in the game is not depicted as forcible in nature, and violence is not rewarded in the game.”
AOL says it is a “Positive Moral Message.”
Focus on the Family says “The kind of game Mom and Dad can play with Junior.”
Concerned Women for America says “A game we can wholeheartedly recommend!”
Wired Magazine, “Few are as ambitious and polished as this PC title.”
ArsTechnica.com, “This is a game that Christian parents can buy their kids, and one that Christian kids can play themselves without any guilt about “questionable content.”
Women of Faith says that in an industry that is full of destruction with no hope, the LEFT BEHIND game provides a healthy alternative.
Clint Thomas from Chaos Theory says, “For years we’ve been telling kids what to run from and not what to run to, until now!”
Should you have any concerns about this game, please go to the contact us page on our website at http://www.leftbehindgames.com and we’ll do our best to connect with you.
Sincerely,
Troy Lyndon
Co-founder, CEO
Left Behind Games Inc.
Davi
on Sunday 24 December, 2006 at 4:53:16 pm
what the hell?
a Left Behind-brand auto-response?
how did they do that?