I’ve said it before: Christianity is as prone to having acts of violence carried out in its name as Islam. It may be the actions of a miniscule minority that’s ruining things for the rest of the religion, but it still looks bad.
The guys behind Tyndale House, the publishers of the Left Behind series make me ashamed to be Christian. And the conspicuous silence by Dr. Dobson and the southern Baptist convention, despite a million sample disks distributed through the pews of megachurches speaks volumes that should not be spoken.
I’m talking about Eternal Forces, a game based on the Left Behind novel series about the apocalypse. And it unfortunately tells us what some “Christians” really think of us, despite Christ’s commandment to love everybody:
Okay, so we’ve got Christian paramilitary forces loose on the streets of New York, fighting to turn the United States into a theocracy, and shouting “Praise the Lord!” as they blow away those who refuse to convert. In the virtual world of Left Behind only the conservative Evangelical Christians were “raptured” - spirited into heaven for the big Super Bowl party and skybox seats to the ultimate battle between absolute theocracy and the absolutely AntiChrist. So who’s “left behind” to blow away? Catholics, mainstream moderate Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, suspiciously well-groomed men, lesbians, and conservative Evangelicals who are closet gays.
link
Hat tip to the Green Knight for the link. I share his disgust.
To be fair, conservative Christian lawyer Jack Thompson is more than just disgusted by this game; he is hopping, spitting, lawsuit-issuing mad, so there may be some hope, yet. Let us hope there are more people like him on the Christian Right.
John said unto him, Teacher, we saw one casting out demons in thy name; and we forbade him, because he followed not us.
But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man who shall do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me.
For he that is not against us is for us.
(Mark 9:38-40)
POGGE Hits Me with a Meme
POGGE tagged me with the latest meme going through the blogosphere. This one is nothing if not simple: I’m supposed to supply you with eight random things about me. I suspect it’s eight random things that most people do not know. Let’s see what I can come up with.
- During elementary school and junior high, I played the recorder, the violin, the double bass and the cello. Actually, I cycled from violin to double bass to cello. I wasn’t very good, and I really didn’t have the patience to practise, so I dropped out of that in grade eight.
- My mother read to me until I was in my early teens. I didn’t mind as it’s not like any of my friends knew, and I remember hearing from a teacher that this sort of thing wasn’t unusual. Sometimes I read to my mother. When Erin and I moved in together, we started up the practise of my reading to her before bed. This is one of two outlets that I have to read books.
- The other outlet is while I’m on the exercycle at the gym with Dan. As a result, I usually have two books on the go.
- I tell people that I have been writing since I was 14, but that’s not quite accurate. That was the age when I wrote the first piece of fiction that would be published. Comparing it with The Unwritten Girl at least tells me that I’ve come a long way. However, I did try my hand at writing stories as early as grade one, and one even got finished. Thank goodness it’s not still around.
- Before 1995, when I visited Chicago to meet Erin in person for the first time (the full story of our romance can be found here), I’d been outside the province of Ontario exactly twice: once to visit Montreal, and the other time (in grade three) to visit Hull.
- I fear my only impression of Hull is where the OC Transpo bus dropped us off at: Place du Portage: a concrete government complex that looks designed to survive a nuclear blast. This does not give the city a fair shake, does it?
- Since visiting Chicago, I’ve added several American states and four Canadian provinces to my list of places visited, but I can tell you the precise point that is the farthest west I’ve ever gone (a cave system thirteen miles east of the South Dakota/Wyoming border — this trip is described here). In Canada, I’ve been as far north as Sudbury, but only as far west as Windsor. I’ve got to add the western provinces to my list at some point.
- I am pleasantly surprised at the attention The Unwritten Girl has received, including this plug of my upcoming Toronto launch party at Paved.ca and this kind review from Postcards from the Mothership.
And now to tag the meme’s three next victims — I mean, players: Andrew at Bound by Gravity, Dave at Blogography and Empress Eve.