Protestants, Video Games & Moral Bankruptcy

Here's something. From CrunchyCon:

In a story that could have been lifted from The Onion, but in fact appeared in The New York Times, hundreds of Protestant churches are using the ultraviolent videogame Halo to lure teenage boys into church. No, really, I'm not making this up.

... This story reveals the idiocy and moral bankruptcy of the idea that you measure success by how many people you get inside the church door. The church should be standing against the worst excesses of popular culture, not participating in them. Show me a church that uses Halo as a recruiting tool, and I'll show you a church that almost certainly has nothing useful to say about the road to salvation.

I've played the first two Halo games, and I mostly did so to spend time with my younger brothers (who love the games). It's purely a "time waster" for me. And wasting time with your brothers isn't necessarily a bad thing. But video games are something you should grow out of, there's far more important things in this world, and frankly, far more constructive ways to "waste time." When my brothers go to their Catholic youth group, they don't go to play Halo - they can do that at home.

Church youth groups should be challenging their members to live better, nobler lives. Buying a big-screen TV, a copy of Halo, and some snacks is something anyone could do. Churches should do what they do best - bring young people to a personal relationship with Christ. Catholic youth groups do well to foster devotion to the Sacraments, encourage pro-life innitiatives, and provide a positive environment for peer interraction.

This situation described by the NYT article isn't so much a condemnation of young boys. Young boys like playing war. No, instead, this is a condemnation of protestant churches that have to resort to material incentives to get kids to come to church. Because, you know, that's what kids really need - more material incentives in their life.

In other words, leave Halo parties to the big brothers.