I've been saying this for a while: Don't waste your time with Left Behind!

Exhibit A: See above screenshot. This is a scene from the new "Left Behind:Eternal Forces" video game, which I will never play, let alone buy. Apparently the "good guys" (Christians) learn skills and power up at Mission Training and at churches/cathedrals and become more spiritual by praying. The "bad guys" can be killed in self-defense but you lose spirituality points and then must pray to get your spirituality back up. Wow. Exactly what Jesus did.

Exhibit B: Go to this blog and read a helpful q & a session with someone who has actually played the game and from whom I borrowed the above screenshot.

It's really funny (in a sad, strange way) and really, really sad that this game exists. I can just imagine youth groups having "Left Behind:Eternal Forces" tournaments on video-projector screens across America. Makes me shudder and reach for my box of Testa-Mints.

***Disclaimer: If you’re a good little fundamentalist, begin picking up choice stones to throw now. Better yet, go read John 8:7b, 1 Corinthians 9:22b, and Luke 10:27.***

Why have we, as followers of Christ, allowed “Christian” to mean “second-rate” instead of merely “different?”

“Christian” has become a sub-culture. Examples abound: “Christian” music, “Christian” radio, “Christian” books, and “Christian” stores. This is nothing new. The Christian sub-culture has been around for a long time but has, in the last 25-30 years, become very pronounced. And the quality and purpose have become worse and worse until most things “Christian” have become second-rate. The music is largely “cookie cutter,” the movies are generally pathetic, and other art forms are almost non-existent. Dancing is still out, although it’s all over the Old Testament. I cannot think of one “Christian” painter other than Thomas Kinkade, whose work is all over the “Christian” bookstores.

When did verses like Luke 10:27 become “’Love the Lord your God with most of your heart and with some of your soul and with little of your strength and with hardly any of your mind’ and Love your Christian neighbor as yourself?” When was creative thought banned from the mainstream of Christian life? When was it demoted to the fringes of “Christian” society? Why aren’t we loving God with ALL OUR MINDS?

To clarify, I don’t outright object to having “Christian” music, etc. The problems come when “Christians” forget to turn on their brains. Jesus (Remember Him? Radical, liberal type who hung out with whores?) told us to love God with ALL our mind(s). That covers anything that comes out of your head, including, but not limited to: thoughts, music, ideas, art, screenplays, sermons, words in a conversation, recipes, and ranting essays. Making music that sounds like somebody (everybody) else is not using ALL your mind. Making a movie or writing a screenplay that preaches to the choir is not using ALL your mind. Not recognizing dance or visual art as worship is not using ALL your mind. Saying that God hates “fags” is not using your brain at all and means you did not read the New Testament at all. (See www.godhatesfags.com and prepare to puke.)

There is a point buried here somewhere.

God did not call us to make mediocre music, produce happy movies, sell t-shirts with lame slogans, and jump on the “bracelet-with-a-message” bandwagon. He called us to be Ambassadors. He called us to be creative, thought-provoking weirdos who aren’t afraid to leave the Christian ghetto. People who claim to follow Jesus should actually do it. Read the Gospels and make a list of the places He went, who he interacted with and what He said to them, and what the results of His interactions were. Now compare that list to the modus operandi of most modern, Western Christians. Shocking difference, isn’t it?

Why am I writing this? Because last night Bethany and I watched Woman, Thou Art Loosed and it is the only “Christian” movie I would ever recommend to anyone. And “Christians” largely ignored it because it shows real life. It doesn’t have a happy, “inspirational” ending. I never cry in movies, but both of us were wiping away tears at the end of this one. The reality and the spirituality of the film hits you right between the eyes, if you aren’t afraid to watch an R-rated movie. It seems that we forget that life is R-rated. For that matter, the Bible is R-rated; it’s full of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Woman, Thou Art Loosed actually had an impact on me and no other “Christian” movie has ever done that.

To look into this problem further (and I hope you will), read Michael Spencer’s essay on “Christian” movies at http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/riffs-112006-why-bad-christian-movies-succeed-and-better-movies-never-will and read the lyrics of Derek Webb (www.derekwebb.com). Derek addresses many different problems within Western Christianity and the Christian sub-culture.

Because Halloween is such a controversial subject in conservative Christianity, and because my views clash with many in this group, I would like to skip Halloween entirely. But it's impossible. Even the most disinterested Christian is going to be bombarded by messages about how evil 10/31 is, and about all of the atrocities that allegedly happen on that night. Some of these scare tactics have historical basis, but many are just silly. Eggs, toilet paper, and silly costumes are no more satanic than the black cat we used to have. And Halloween isn't the only "holiday" with sinister origins. I don't know the exact history, but I've been told that Jesus did not invent the Christmas Tree. *gasp* Nor was He actually born in December. *gasp, gasp* Nor were there necessarily 3 wise men. *triple gasp!!!* But that's a completely different subject that I may get into at another time.
Michael Spencer, a Christian thinker/teacher/blogger whom I highly respect, has posted on his site a Toast proposed by The Great Pumpkin of Peanuts fame. Here is an excerpt:
"The world of the imagination has always been essential to human beings, but they've never known just what to do with it. Sometimes they want to live there entirely, and others times they avoid it completely. They reward those who create it in books and music, and yet they fear these artists of the imagination as well, even doing them great harm. Throughout history, the imagination has been denounced as well as celebrated. Each one of us knows about those times when we were welcome to bring happiness, and also about those times when we were blamed for all kinds of evil that we did not create, in fact, could not create because of what we are."
"Particularly painful for many of us are the escalating attacks of religious people on the realm of the imagination. We have suffered from those who see the imagination as a gateway of evil, rather than a canvas on which human nature itself paints the picture. We have been blamed for violence and even death, things we would not even know were it not for human beings investing us with those actions in their own minds. It is as if some religious people actually believe that we exist- that we are real and were somehow a threat to them."
You can read the entire Toast at http://www.internetmonk.com/articles/P/pumpkin.html. It may do you good.