Well here we have it, the fall of church as we know it. No longer do youth groups gather to play relationship building and touchy-feely games. Instead they have resorted to attracting youth by hosting a violent video game. An article in the New York Times is what brought this to my attention. Yet, this has been happening for years. We have church haunted houses, skate parks, trips to play laser tag, and water fights. The secular world is connected to the never ceasing desire to attract young people to the church and violence (mock or real) has almost always been a part of it. True, many of us long for the spiritual return of the Ungame, yet desire the energy of flash-bang video action. A tenuous balance, if any. So what do we do with this? Maybe we should have sex night at church where we watch scantily clad bodies grinding in passionate lust. Or how about drug night, where the ice cream gutter becomes the line of huffing? I pray that we never do that and pray that those using Halo to attract young people realize the dangerous slope they tread upon. “It’s just fun blowing people up” does not belong in out Christian tradition. The conservative community churches (the ones using Halo in some cases) should recognize this. After all, they’re the ones passionately articulating that christianity is not about violence and, instead, point the finger at fundamentalist Islam. How long until our youth see violence, “god” inspired military might, as righteous in the eyes of the Lord? I should hope that history can continue to teach us, and that the golden calf, the way to draw youth to the church, finds it’s way into the woodshed for a little lesson. We’ve been on the mountain too long, hungry too long, and this looks to good. But sin almost always looks good and is easy. There’s a reason the numbers are growing, but I’m afraid it’s not the love of God and community that are drawing them to the church. If friendships come of it I pray they can transcend the basis of their foundation: the destruction of humanity and creation in an alternate reality.
As a side bar, I must comment about Second Life and alternate realities online. I cannot recall where the article was, but the question of online infidelity has been raised. If ‘he’ spends his time living with another women, running finances with her, sleeping with her, and sharing motions with her, even if it just ‘imaginary’ online, is it infidelity? The ethics of technology have just reached a new height, a dangerous one. Where we go from here is going to be an amazingly scary, depressing at times, and enlightening journey. After all, many of the most powerful old testament stories are founded in ethical errors.
