Halo3 - Thou shalt stick thy head in the sand
11 10 2007Wow, there are times in the church that just baffle me. I have been overwhelmed with the media coverage given to churches and Halo3. And disappointed… especially in my fellow youth pastors. The blogging world is afire with the debates on using Halo3 in church (here, here, here, here, here, here and here). I am trying very hard to figure this one out, but I am coming up with nothing. So here I go trying to understand this. Bear with my while I process this out.
Violence
The single rallying cry out there seems to be how violent this game is. The NY Times says “Thou shalt not kill unless in church” (paraphrase). So in Halo3, you shoot people who are highly stylized much like sanitized cartoon heroes who look like robots. I get that there is an element of violence inherent in this game. But many people are twisting the Bible to say something that it just doesn’t say.
Thou shalt not kill? Who actually died? Can teens not distinguish between play and reality? Are they so fragile that they can’t contemplate the meaning of death? If so, then they need to leave out most of the Biblical accounts of death and violence. For that matter, there could be no gospel message for them. The Bible is full of violence which is much more graphic than anything to come out of a video game, much less the somewhat sanitized violence of Halo3.
Visually, is Halo3 any more graphic or violent than the Passion of Christ?
Then there is the actual violence to talk about. Compare Halo3 to paintball or football for that matter. How many people watch football? Is it much different. People are pushing and tackling people, most of the time with intent to hurt them. There is often real blood and pain involved. In paintball, you draw sights on actual people and shoot at them. You see their face and hear them cry out when they get hit. I Halo3 you neither see the persons face nor have actual pain.
Evangelism
Then there are questions about using Halo3 for evangelism. I’ll go on record that I don’t like any evangelism that uses bait and switch tactics, especially if you never get to the switch. I would include in this list: concerts, game nights, public speakers, retreats, mission trips, entertainers, VBS, etc. I go back to my buddy Grant who told me, “What you save them with, is what you save them to.” Don’t attract kids for one reason only to get a captive audience for your gospel presentation.
Having said that, does that rule out fellowship? Can’t you just get together with youth ministry kids and have fun? Is that not spiritual enough? I can’t tell you how many times I get together with kids for fun and they ask to spiritual questions. Even more often, I meet or get to know someone through a fun experience and that leads to a relationship of evangelism.
Unfortunately, what I hear from some youth pastors out there is, “If kids want to play Halo 3, they aren’t going to church to do it.” I can only ask, “Why not?” Why wouldn’t kids want to come to church to have fun. Is church supposed to limit itself to education? Or just things that aren’t fun? Maybe it’s only this kind of fun? Someone actually denounced all game playing because in every game there is a loser and that (according to them) is not indicative of the kingdom. I guess people from that youth ministry don’t suffer and die and go to hell?
OK, I’m a little lot agitated by this. I don’t really care one way or they other about Halo3. I play it and have it at church. We talk about the things I don’t like about it and there have been times when someone takes it too far. If you choose not to play it at your church, you have every right to that decision. Where I get sideways is when people start trying to make (twist) the Bible support their views. I don’t understand the idea that we should not watch video game violence, but it’s OK to watch it in sports or the news. I especially don’t understand it when you can’t read a lot of the Bible without encountering it. Violence is out there and we will all experience it. The Bible doesn’t even come close to saying, “Thou shalt stick thy head in the sand.” So for all the people I might have offended in this post, I’m not sorry (though I am open to correction).
Mostly, and this is where I run out of steam, why is this the issue that gets such a reactionary, closed minded response?
I think the points you’re bringing up are valid. I’ve mentioned multiple times when discussing this topic that youth pastors need to be consistent on the violence issue. If violence is wrong, than it needs to be wrong not only in video games, but across the board.
I think that part of the reason this is getting such attention is that it goes deeper than just Halo 3. As I’ve been observing the blogosphere over the past few days, I think that, as we discuss, what we’re all getting at is two things. First, I think this is digging down to a very foundational issue of youth ministry. Do we take an attractional approach, or something else? You touched on this when you mentioned the old “bait and switch.” Many people see youth ministries that use Halo 3, and they see those youth ministries using to to attract students, not for the “fellowship” that you mentioned. The second issue, I think, is one that is not only being dealt with right now in youth ministry, but across America. Are video games “okay” for adolescents. Halo 3 had the largest launch day in media history. Video games aren’t something that only weird geeks (such as myself) do in their spare time anymore, they are mainstream. Because of this people are talking about if its really possible to have video games that help build community or not. I think it is, but - anyway.
So, yeah; those are the two issues that I think underlie this discussion, and I think that they are really the reasons that we’re seeing such a huge discussion going on right now about it in the youth ministry blogosphere.
Your post inspired me to post on a bunch of blogs about this. It’s just silly, how we’re so concerned about Halo 3. It seems as though there’s a pattern, whenever something is a huge financial success (and more or less harmless) of Christians finding something to attack about it. Pokemon, Harry Potter, World of Warcraft, and now Halo 3. I could tell you bad things about any of those, that Christians use as an excuse to throw them out. And the world, knowing they in no way are *really* bad, is just looking at us, scratching their heads, and noting that there is no fun to be had in Jesus.
If people want to consistently oppose violence, I’m fine with them saying no to Halo 3. But if they just assume because of the M rating that it’s bad, or because it’s violent, I get irked. There are plenty of violent things in our society Christian leaders could oppose, that are far worse than Halo 3. Hollywood lately has moved to a sickening degree in the direction of obscene & dehumanizing violence in their recent movies - we can decry those, instead of a tame game like Halo 3. That’s realistic option A.
Realistic option B is to make kids stop studying history and reading the Old Testament, both of which have worse violence than Halo. Sometime real soon, our youth are going to have a Halo night (not in place of church - on an off night), and they’re really excited about it. And I’m excited about the potential it has to introduce people to a church where they can hear the gospel and get to know Christ, as well as learning that Christianity isn’t about spoiling our fun and judging others.
Well,
I’m against Halo or any violent video games. I’m aware that there is a great deal of violence in the Bible, but it’s not there for our amusement, titallation or for the vicarious thrill of the hunt. But HALO exists for precisely these reasons. And I agree that those of us who oppose the violence in these games need to be consistent. This is the very reason I would never take my group to play paint ball or lazer tag, and why we avoid competitive activities in our group. Yes, the real world is a violent, competitive place. But the Kingdom of God, as I understand, is meant to be the opposite.
[…] Tamir malnick wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI don’t understand the idea that we should not watch video game violence, but it’s OK to watch it in sports or the news. I especially don’t understand it when you can’t read a lot of the Bible without encountering it. … […]
[…] unknown wrote an interesting post today on Halo3 - Thou shalt stick thy head in the sandHere’s a quick excerptI have been overwhelmed with the media coverage given to churches and Halo3. And disappointed… especially in my fellow youth pastors. The blogging world is afire with the debates on using Halo3 in church (here, here, here, here, here, … Read the rest of this great post here […]
[…] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptThe Bible doesn’t even come close to saying, “Thou shalt stick thy head in the sand.” So for all the people I might have offended in this post, I’m not sorry (though I am open to correction). Mostly, and this is where I run out of steam … […]
[…] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptThe Bible doesn’t even come close to saying, “Thou shalt stick thy head in the sand.” So for all the people I might have offended in this post, I’m not sorry (though I am open to correction). Mostly, and this is where I run out of steam … […]
[…] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptThe Bible doesn’t even come close to saying, “Thou shalt stick thy head in the sand.” So for all the people I might have offended in this post, I’m not sorry (though I am open to correction). Mostly, and this is where I run out of steam … […]