It is possible to teach Christian values through video games. The Veggie Tales series can be offered as proof of that.
But expecting a teenager to become a firm believer from playing Left Behind: Eternal Forces might be more difficult than passing a camel through the eye of a needle.
The game which is published by the same folks who brought you the Left Behind series of novels has arrived just in time to be a stocking stuffer for Christmas this year. Christian parents, however, should be disturbed by some troubling theology that emerges during game play.
For instance, the first objective requires players to convert people on the street. Once average citizens are transformed from non-believers into Christians, their wardrobe changes. Women who may have been dressed provocatively now wear conservative blue suits with skirts that descend to their ankles. Male converts change wardrobe to wear a vest, a white shirt and brown pants.
In other words, men who convert apparently start raiding the closet of Simpson’s neighbor Ned Flanders. "Hi didly Ho Neighborino. We’re all in one accord."
But the Christian uniform – certainly is nothing less than that – creates interesting questions of its own. What about the individuality of believers? Saint Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:21, "And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you; nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’" This certainly implies that ever believer has a unique set of gifts which only he or she can bring to the church. It appears that Left Behind: Eternal Forces is raising up a body of Christ that consist entirely of, say, right elbows.
Secondly, the conversion process for those who currently don’t have a stand toward Christ one way or the other is far too easy. What message does that send to a gamer who may wish to convert people in the real world?
Most disturbing is the premise within the game that allows players to simply execute those who are too difficult to convert. Fatwa by PC game: what a concept!
As the game progresses the difficulty of the player’s enemies increases. By the third level of this game (a beta version of this game is available online) Christians are reduced to bear-knuckles street brawling in order to dispatch machine gun-wielding bad guys. What a way to honor the Prince of Peace.
Concerned over negative publicity the game has already received from critics, Jerry Jenkins has offered this defense:
"Unlike typical video games that show buckets of blood and flying body parts, victims shot in our game fall in a puff of smoke."
Jenkins is correct when he says the game doesn’t feature any blood and gore. (The game doesn’t feature any Al Gore either for that matter.) But the version a friend tested did not have antagonist disappearing in a puff of smoke. Instead their bodies littered the streets.
There is a way to avoid mayhem if a player can’t convert an enemy. The player always has the option of simply running away. Again this seems like faulty theology. The church expects young people to stand up for Christ but this game shows that it is easier to run.
And, by the way, isn’t the whole idea of winning souls for Christ for points repulsive? I was brought up to believe that one tries to convert people out of love. In that type of conversion the conversion is its own reward.
In between the conversions and variant levels of mayhem Left Behind: Eternal Forces is leaven with predictably conservative information screens that take issue with topics like Evolution and Archeology. After all how are you going to believe that the earth is 6,000 years old when fossils show the earth is older than that?
All in all, Left Behind is really a game that lives up to its title. It deserves to be Left Behind in the discount bin of your local retailer.