Kill Us, Kill Them

So, let me get this straight...

...Islamic Jihadists who use guns, planes, bombs, knives and other forms of violence to kill unbelievers are bad.

But are we attempting to train a generation of Christian kids to use the same tactics?

Check out this video game.

"Wage a war of apocalyptic proportions in LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces - a real-time strategy game based upon the best-selling LEFT BEHIND book series created by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Join the ultimate fight of Good against Evil, commanding Tribulation Forces or the Global Community Peacekeepers, and uncover the truth about the worldwide disappearances!

• Lead the Tribulation Force from the book series , including Rayford, Chloe, Buck and Bruce against Nicolae Carpathia – the AntiChrist.
  
• Conduct physical & spiritual warfare : using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world.
  
• Recover ancient scriptures and witness spectacular Angelic and Demonic activity as a direct consequence of your choices.
  
• Command your forces through intense battles across a breathtaking, authentic depiction of New York City .
  
• Control more than 30 units types - from Prayer Warrior and Hellraiser to Spies, Special Forces and Battle Tanks!
  
• Enjoy a robust single player experience across dozens of New York City maps in Story Mode – fighting in China Town , SoHo , Uptown and more!
  
• Play multiplayer games as Tribulation Force or the AntiChrist's Global Community Peacekeepers with up to eight players via LAN or over the internet!

Talk to Action describes the game:

This game immerses children in present-day New York City -- 500 square blocks, stretching from Wall Street to Chinatown, Greenwich Village, the United Nations headquarters, and Harlem. The game rewards children for how effectively they role play the killing of those who resist becoming a born again Christian. The game also offers players the opportunity to switch sides and fight for the army of the AntiChrist, releasing cloven-hoofed demons who feast on conservative Christians and their panicked proselytes (who taste a lot like Christian).

Is this paramilitary mission simulator for children anything other than prejudice and bigotry using religion as an organizing tool to get people in a violent frame of mind? The dialogue includes people saying, "Praise the Lord," as they blow infidels away.

The designers intend this game to become the first dominionist warrior game to break through in the popular culture due to its violent scenarios and realistic graphics, lighting, and sound effects. Its creators expect it to earn a rating of T for Teen. How violent is that? That's the rating shared by Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory, a top selling game in which high-tech gadgets and high-powered weapons - frag grenades, shotguns, assault rifles, and submachine guns -- are used to terminate enemies with extreme prejudice.

The publishing empire created by Tim LaHaye and Jeff Jenkins, authors of the inexplicably popular and theologically suspect Left Behind series, are at the heart of the creation and distribution of this game.

I really believe there is a large sect of Christianity out there in America that wants this kind of scenario to happen. It's the same sect that, while they may hate the Islamic Jihadists for blowing up the World Trade Center and lopping off heads of innocent bystanders in Iraq, secretly long to take the same action against their own "infidels". All in the name of God, praise the Lord and pass the ammunication.

Still more disturbing is the realization that a member of the Board of Directors of Rick Warrens' Purpose Driven (mega-)Church is also on the Board of Directors for this Left Behind Games company:

The international director of Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church, Mark Carver, is a former investment banker who serves on the Advisory Board of the corporation created in October 2001 to develop and market this game. The creators plan to market their game using the same network marketing techniques that Mr. Warren used to turn The Purpose Driven Life into a commercial success. For example, they plan to distribute their merchandise through pastoral networks, especially mega-churches.

I don't want to get into a discussion about how The Purpose Driven Life relates to the Left Behind empire and vice-versa - the site linked above is looking at that story. I do mention it because my church is struggling with whether to offer a church-wide Sunday School discussion on The Purpose Driven Life. My wife has read it and enjoyed it, and got a good message from it. I have not read it but have planned to and kept putting it off.

Thank goodness Slacktivist reads (and brutally critiques) Left Behind so the rest of us don't have to.

It's a very dangerous business that these mega-churches/mega-corporations have opened themselves up to. They and their congregations run the risk of being taken over by charismatic leaders and pastors that promote their own suspect theological agendas that stray in several different directions from the core Christian message. We have to stay vigilant.

And try to make sure Left Behind: The Game isn't promoted in my church...

Short Takes

Welcome Back, Michael Silence and happy birthday to your lovely wife!

Lauren at Created for his Glory has a great anti-profanity rant (which sounds like a contradiction) with No Swearing Allowed - I have a great rant on this subject as well but I have to get a great picture digitized to go along with it, first

80's Video Blast of the Week II

Genesis: "Land of Confusion"



This week one of the weirder videos of the era. The same group that did the "Spitting Image" British TV show did caricature puppets of Genesis members Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford as well as a number of popular political figures of the mid-80's.

You can read more about the, ahem, genesis of this video here.

More Proof That...

...I should have a baseball hat surgically attached to my head so you can't see my hair.


This is also proof that we should never look at photos of ourselves taken at angles we can't see in a mirror....

Friday's Feast

Friday, May 26, 2006 - Feast Ninety-Five


Appetizer - How old were you when you got your first credit card?

I don't really remember having a card when I was in college, so I guess it was after. Probably when I got my first job after I graduated.


Soup - When was the last time you felt out of place?

Yesterday afternoon, at a meeting. Everyone in the room was talking about all these media and society people they know and I had no idea who any of them were.


Salad - Did you have a curfew when you were a teenager? If so, what time did you have to be home?

Not really a curfew, but I knew what time I needed to be home. I had no real reason to stay out all night. I had fun with my friends going out for pizza after the football games, but otherwise I came home. I really lived the idealized 50's high school experience in the early 1980's...


Main Course - Name a person from history with whom you feel you have something in common.

I don't feel I know enough about the people of history to know if I have much in common with any of them or not. See my post about historical accuracy for more of my feelings on the matter. I think most historical figures have a few traits attached to them (Lincoln: integrity, perseverence; Washington: honesty; Franklin: spunk, tenacity; Twain: wit, sarcasm) but we know very little overall about what kind of people they are. How did they treat their children? Their parents? Their peers? The strangers on the street? In some ages, their slaves and the "lesser" society members? Washington may have been the most honest man alive, and in his private moments kicked his kids and slapped Martha around. Yet many people would choose him as someone to admire and emulate solely on the legends of history. I'm not saying you shouldn't admire Washington - I do - I just think it's difficult to feel real commonality with people from the past, especially famous people, when all you have is the legend of their personalities to go on.


Dessert - When you read a newspaper, which section do you go for first?

When I was a kid, it was always the comics. Or, more correctly, the "funnies". That's what they were called, that's what they are called, and that's what they shall ever be called. Amen.

Today, if it's football season the sports page. Otherwise I usually skim the front pages of the top four sections (Main, Local, Business and Sports) then head to the sports. This time of year it's NBA and NHL tournaments (yawn!) high school baseball/softball/soccer finals (yawn!) and of course, NASCAR (extremely high-pitched and obnoxious yawn). Oh, and the MLB box scores which I'll occasionally peruse to see how badly my Fantasy players are doing (translation: badly). Sometimes there's a pro or college football story, but not all the time.

I enjoy the Editorial page because it's kind of like reading blogs. Except for the writing experience. And to see what's melting down Don Williams or Cal Thomas this week.

Most of the national and world news I see in the main section I've already read about the previous day on the web, so that's old stuff.

A lot of the Local section is spent with recipes and feel-good fashion articles, which I flip past. There's a way-too-short entertainment column above the TV listings, and then...of course. The funnies.

What I Watched Last Night

The last five minutes or so of American Idol. And then just because it was on.

My thought, after seeing him perform the final number amidst all the glitz and fireworks, etc...

What's the big deal?

Sorry, I could care less.. My wife thinks he's really good, but listening to him sing doesn't make me want to pencil him into my Top 5 pantheon. Not that I actually, you know, have a Top 5 pantheon of singers, but if I did he wouldn't be there.

His voice is too thin and shallow for the style of singing he was doing. I would've picked the girl.

If I cared.

Which I don't.

One More Soccer Story

Friday evening Brainboy's team practiced for their final game the next day. Well, it was nominally a practice but in reality it was kids vs. dads, and I played in my first ever soccer game - formal or informal. The first time I'd ever been on a field competing in any kind of pick-up type game of soccer.

It was fun.

Especially when I scored a goal right past the goalie, Brainyboy. (Ironically it was the third point for our team, which is what he scored for his team the next day).

He hasn't yet murdered me in my sleep, so apparently there's no hard feelings..

The Imprecision of History

Michael speaks about his minister's comments on "The Da Vinci Code":

"The DaVinci Code [sic] is a fictional book and movie. And while it does take some things from history that sound good and like evidence, Dan Brown takes liberties with the actual facts in order to tell his story. For example, Constantine did not approve what chapters went into and which were excluded from the New Testiment."

Here's something that is true of anything that's historically related to Christianity, but isn't directly referenced in the Bible: The history we all believe is the culmination of years and centuries of written and oral records, passed on from person to person. It is only as accurate as the veracity of the person or persons recording the event.

Now Dan Brown wasn't standing behind Constantine, chronicling his influence on the Bible. But then, neither was anyone else alive today. Nor was anyone who's lived in the last 1800+ years. Everything we know we know from history, and the writers who passed on the stories from year to year. And the truth is, while it may be an "accepted" historical fact that Constantine didn't do what Dan Brown _fictionally_ supposes he did, nobody can really sure.

History is always at best tenuous. What we believe is true is always subjective due to the most powerful influence of the time. The old adage is correct: "The winners write the history books".

Now, the more eyewitness accounts to an event the better the chance the history is correct. Everyone believes the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 12/7/1941. There were tons and tons of people who either witnessed the attacked or reported on it. But who knows who fired the first shot of the Revolutionary War? Was it Bell or Watson who really turned the final screw and invented the telephone (it could've ultimately been Watson that said, "Mr. Bell, come here - I need you")? Who was responsible for committing Christian forces to the Crusades?

History has a lot of questions, and a lot of facts taken as fact due to tradition. Maybe they're exactly true, maybe they aren't. But until a Doc Brown really perfects the De Lorean time machine, there's no way to be absolutely certain what happened when the Bible was first put together. We can believe, and accept that what happened is correct (and it most likely was) but to blindly dismiss any other historical possibilities that far in the past, even fictional ones, is disengenous and close-minded.

Those who forget history are bound to repeat it - but history may not be exactly what you think it is...

It's Amazing the Things You Can Get Into on the Weekend

1. Saturday morning was the End of the Soccer Season - for both Tink and BrainyBoy v10.3. Tink's 6-yr-old girls team was the usual mass of mayhem and confusion, with all the little girls running in a pack here and there like the hunting dogs in the old cartoon about catching a fox. They won, although sometimes it's difficult to tell who's scoring when all the kids fall into the goal along with the ball...
   
   BrainyBoy's 10-yr-old team was somewhat more refined, however that it a relative term. The best part of his game, however, was the goal he scored near the end of the game. Now, you have to understand BB isn't the swiftest kid on the block - he's become a competent goalie and is rather intimidating because of his size but he's always been a defensive player. In this final game, the coach promised him if they got a lead he'd let him play offense. Up 2-0, BB took control of the game and the ball, dribbling downfield and promptly placing it between the other team's goalie and the inside bar of the goal. It was the team's final score of the season, and my son was all smiles.
   
   So were we. Plus I have it on videotape!
   
   
2. After the game was the team party and cookout for BrainyBoy. More mayhem and confusion.
   
   
3. After the party the four of us drove to Gatlinburg for the Mountain Craft festival. Laura bought one of these:
   
   quilted maple top, walnut bow - Photo by Robert Batey
   
   It's a bowed psaltery, a string instrument originating in Scandanavia that has been imported to America and a built by a very talented craftsman named Rick Long. If you've never heard of one, go to the website and listen to some audioclips - it's a gorgeous instrument.
   
   
4. The rains came and forced us soon back to our car. The same rains fairly well washed out the Gatlinburg Highland Games, but we drove up to check it out anyway, even though it was getting late in the afternoon. When we arrived most of the participants were packing up to go home, but we were very lucky to see the last event of the day - the mass bagpipe band performance.
   
   
   Sitting in the stands at the football field, we saw and heard the amazing spectacle of over a hundred bagpipe players in full regalia playing several numbers, including the traditional "Amazing Grace". Truly spectacular.
   
   
5. Back home and disappointed because "Lost" - Season 1, Vol. 2 was supposed to arrive from Netflix today, but it didn't. I've determined Netflix is not great on their shipping promises... Have to wait till Monday...

80's Video Blast of the Week

"Total Eclipse of the Heart"



Do any of you from my generation remember sitting in front of MTV (when it was first getting popular) and watch videos for hours? Waiting for your favorite one(s) to finally come into rotation?

YouTube has 80's videos like this one from Bonnie Tyler, one of my favorite songs from high school. I almost helped a girl perform this during a chorus concert. We did a duet of "We've Got Tonight" instead.

Friday's Feast

Friday, May 19, 2006 - Feast Ninety-Four

Appetizer - What is the last thing you had to have repaired?

My car, after I collided with a deer last year.


Soup - If someone gave you $2,000 with the stipulation that you had to spend half of it on yourself and give the rest to charity, where would you spend the $1,000 and which charity would receive your remaining $1,000?

I'd buy myself a synth keyboard, so I don't have to keep borrowing the one I've been using. That way I'll have my own for my band and the shows that I play. The rest I'd give to my church.


Salad - What is one of your favorite songs from the 1980s?

"The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News is probably my favorite song. It was the theme song to "Back to the Future".

*sigh* They don't make music like that anymore...


Main Course - You enter a pet store. Which section do you go to first?

Realistically, I head for the dog or cat food aisle cause that's probably why I'm there. But if I'm just hanging out or browsing, I'll go see the tropical fish.


Dessert - On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how athletic are you?

I'd say about a 6. I don't exercise much, but I can play softball without much problem.

Ok, That's Great, But...

Key sworn in as city's new fire chief

"When Robert L. Key Sr. was formally sworn in Wednesday as Knoxville's new fire chief, it was in a ceremony outside the Knoxville Fire Department headquarters building.

As Key took the oath of office from City Judge John Rosson Jr., he stood close to the department's antique fire engine, which is on permanent display."

...why, exactly, do we need to swear in a fire chief? I mean, who cares really, but why does a fire chief have an oath of office? Are we afraid they might betray the city and start putting out fires for Sevierville instead?

Man Deemed Incompetent

Man Deemed Incompetent
Nothing in particular to say about this story, I just couldn't quit looking at the headline:

Man Deemed Incompetent

Hm.

Man Deemed Incompetent

Before I read the article I couldn't help wondering who in particular it was about. The President? Bobby Knight? Alec Baldwin? Sam the Butcher? Or is it some kind of existentialist judgement of the human species? Some over-reaching feminist statement attempting to draw a conclusion on the relative intelligence of the male gender? A fatalistic message received from an alien intelligence out among the stars.

No, I'm pretty sure it's about this guy.

Christmas Capitalism and Field Trip Follies

Well, we did just like I said. Tink and I ate dinner, played Monopoly, bounced a balloon back and forth to each other and watched Looney Tunes until she went to bed.

One word about the Monopoly game we played. It was the Christmas version (one of about 10 versions we have, including Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Monopoly Jr., and I think maybe Green Acres. I'll have to check.) and she insisted on buying and selling yule-themed real estate. The thing about the Christmas version is some of the cards require you instead of advancing to St. Charles Place or taking a ride on the Reading Railroad, is to sing a chorus of "Jingle Bells" in order to keep from paying $100. In May. Ok, whatever. I sang. I'll sing anything. I'll sing "Ina-Gada-Davida" to keep from paying $100.

Then another card signified, "You've been elected Head Elf! Pay each player who voted for you $50" Wow. Institutionalized bribery up there at the North Pole.

Anyway, great holiday capitalistic cheer was spread all around. Even the cat put on his reindeer antlers.

So, my wife calls about 10:30. The fourth graders, she, and the rest of the parents spent the evening at the Grand Ole Opry, listening to - in her words - "some of the whiniest country music I ever heard." Yep, welcome to Nashville. Unfortunately Porter Wagner was supposed to appear but called in sick. But there were several performers they enjoyed, so it seemed to work out.

When they got to the hotel after the concert they found out the reservations had all been lost.

Welcome to Nashville...

Just Me and My Gal...

Laura and BrainyBoy are in Nashville today and tomorrow with the rest of his class on a field trip.

So it looks like it's just me and the Tinkerbell this evening. Any suggestions? Hang gliding? Rock climbing? Offroad racing?

More like takeout or frozen dinners, playing Monopoly and watching DVD's.

Who cares? It's an evening with my little girl.

So Many Choices...

WWLD?

WWDPD?

Thank You, Mr. President

At the Sound of My Voice...

Logtar has interviewed me online via podcast.

You can listen here, or go to Podomatic.com if the link doesn't work.

We discuss family, 9/11, blogging, superheroes, rock tumblers, whatever happened to Theatre Thursday and many other exciting topics, so take a listen!

Friday's Feast

Friday, May 12, 2006 - Feast Ninety-Three

Appetizer - What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Black Cherry, that I used to get at Kay's Ice Cream on Broadway in Fountain City. But just about any brand of Black Cherry is good.


Soup - What are 3 things you would like to put in a time capsule?

Today's newspaper, my high school yearbook and maybe a vinyl album.


Salad - Name something you are 100% sure of.

The Designated Hitter rule is bad for baseball.


Main Course - What is something you do to calm yourself when you're stressed or upset?

I play a game on the PC. Preferably something that totally occupies by brain, usually a simulation game like Civilization III or Starcraft. Planning strategy and using logic lower my stress levels.


Dessert - If you could receive an invitation to any important event, what would you like it to be?

I'd love to go to Game 7 of the World Series, or the Super Bowl. I'd also enjoy going to the Oscars or the Tonys.

Docent for a Day

Yesterday BrainyBoy v10.3 was a junior docent at James White Fort here in Knoxville. He and 17 other of his 4th-grade classmates carefully studied texts and history of the home of one of Knoxville's first settlers, and became guest tour guides for the exhibit.