If we know nothing else about this 20 year old gunman, fresh out of his teens, we know for sure that he’s been submerged in a culture of violence from a very young age. We know that, in addition to suspected social disorders, he played violent video games.
I am by no means surprised that TM would sponsor such a view. Fellow alumni from my year (2000-2001) likely recall the many rules and guidelines revolving our conduct and entertainment options. The first X-Men film was new at that time and consequently banned from being played in the student union. We were inspired to “live honorably” by watching an edited copy of Braveheart. Gladiator was mentioned as another honor-inspiring film, but Dave Hasz wouldn’t show it because he didn’t have an edited tape.
It’s all contradictory. On one hand, Teen Mania men are called to be MEN, not “pansies” or “wimps”. Interns are called to non-violence and peace, yet spurred to honor by watching war movies. Much of the marketing to teens revolves around being elite and chosen warriors who sound a battlecry against the destructive culture of our world. Interns are forced to endure name calling and military-style drills during Gauntlet. Pretty sure all of us know someone who was a bit traumatized or injured by being shot at with paintball guns on too high settings and no protective gear. Many of us can recall the fear and panic in our hearts during some of the retreats and being sent to “jails” with facilitators who enjoyed their roles a bit too severely.
What is that culture called? I cannot call that Love.
In reality, the culture of Teen Mania is anything but non-violent. It pushes and manipulates and essentially brutalizes beautiful souls into either becoming spiritual abusers, or remaining oppressed in spiritual abuse. You can’t complain. You can’t question what’s happening because you’re there to PROVE how much you want to be there. How WORTHY you are for the kingdom.
But such is not the kingdom of heaven. It’s a culture of killing.
Personally, for me, I find a narrowness and rigidity in a viewpoint that equates the world with Satan. Or violent entertainment with murder. It ignores the complexities of cause and effect. Of free will and mental illness. Even the possibility of evil in the world, and the responsibility of the church to Love rejected people within it. With this view, we quickly blame “the world” or “secular culture” for every bad thing.
From what I’ve seen in The Bible, Jesus never said that. He didn’t heal people caught up in bondage or destruction and say, “oh it’s the secular culture”. It’s not as if that culture was less violent than ours! Yet, Jesus admonished the religious culture—their hypocrisy, their evil, their failure to help those in need, their greed. Jesus accused the religious culture of essentially crushing spirits of people and stomping out their faith–and that’s exactly what Teen Mania has done to so many inside the RA community.
When religious culture turns the world into “the big bad”, the end result is an Us vs. Them mentality. This is seen constantly in TM and the HA, even though people constantly say it’s NOT what’s happening. Well, I suppose it’s a very subconscious thing, but it needs to be rooted out of any supposedly good ministry because it only breeds division.
If Teen Mania is serious about putting an end to violent culture, I urge them to stop the violence among themselves. They must let go of the idea that anyone is any more chosen or called than another. The real Gospel message is that God is Love, He expressed that Love as Jesus, and Jesus died for all. That’s all-inclusive with no walls or fences. There are no weaklings, no pansies who couldn’t cut it. God chooses all and there’s no less Love for those who play violent video games, who smoke or who swear.
RA community, what are your thoughts on this? Whether or not you are still in “the church”, do you agree with the hypocrisy and destruction I’ve mentioned here? Do you have anything to add about tying popular culture to tragedy? I eagerly await your thoughts.
30 comments:
Let’s not forget the ATF video in which the believer punches out a non-believer for smoking, and Ron Luce commends him as a “real man”: Link
Meanwhile, several observers have pointed out that the imagery of the “Battle Cry” theme is appropriated from Fascism, right down to the red flag-waving (!) and Luce arriving in a military jeep.
It’s very well worth anyone’s time to spend a bit of mental energy considering the doctrines of Christian pacifism (even if you wind up not becoming a pacifist in the end– it’s all cool). After all, even if we conclude that the “secular culture” is our “enemy,” then Jesus taught us to love our enemies, pray for them, bless them, and not resist them.
Yeah the boot camp mentality for many things needs to go. The love of chrisy the serving regardless theses things need more emphasis.
So its honorable to watch an edited copy of Braveheart.
Lets look at the sub-text of this movie.
-Brit make a law to sleep with the bride on her wedding night on all new marriages.(AKA rape).
-William Wallace weds in secret and his wife is murdered.(Graphic death)
-William Wallace beheads commander of York and sends the his head back to the king.( graphic)
-The King kills the lover of his Son (the King throws him (the lover) out of the window)).
-William Wallace sleeps with the princes while she is married(adulatory).
-The sexual talks between the two woman when she gets back.
-George the Bruce lies and back stabs Wallace on the battlefield. -The torture of Wallace when he is captured. (Graphic)
-The princess telling the king she is prego with another mans baby and she will murder her husband (the prince)once he(the king) dies.
-Oh yea all the battle scenes. (unless all that was edited out then the movie would be about 20 mins out of the 3 hours)
Now lets talk about Gladiator
-Graphic Battle Scene
-A brother sleeping with his sister
-Raping the gladiators wife before killing her and her son
-Keeping Slaves
-Innuendos of Roman orgies
-Other Roman Gods
and some others that i cant remember since its been awhile since i have seen the movie.
Now that is what you call a double standard in my book.
Excellent post! I love all of it and I think it’s vital that you pointed this out. It reminds me of what my religious studies professor called “modern anti-modernism” where a group condemns certain modern things, like TV, movies, pop culture BUT then utilizes other modern things to share those condemnations or fears (like Ron and Teen Mania condemn these movies and the culture around them BUT use blogs, interactive media, movies, live action role play–all elements of our current culture–to COMMUNICATE that which they think is wrong.)
I’m pretty sure I experienced more violent media at the HA than on my own. I saw braveheart at least 3 times in one year. I watched the Patriot unedited the next year. Played paintball and airsoft. Watched interns box, wrestled on many occasions, when I’ve only been in 2 altercations growing up. The list goes on.
Oh, and on one of my ge trips, there were pyrotechnics to resemble mortars and Ron flew in on a helicopter.
Thank you, Shannon, for bringiing this up. I’m of Mennonite heritage and was raised a pacifist, so the culture of war that is taken for granted at the Honor Academy was something I had a great deal of trouble with (at the time, I brushed it off as a cultural thing, since I also happen to be Canadian; I thought it was just a Southern, American cultural thing to be all Patriotism=War=Godliness).
I remember in particular one discussion I got into with several friends on the K Crew about all this, where they took the Just War theory for granted as something that all Christians subscribed to. I didn’t have the words to defend myself, since I’d never had to debate my position before – I’d grown up with people who believed as I did. However, I took the opportunity to really wrestle with WHY I was a pacifist, and came away from the experience actually fully believing it for myself, instead of just because it was what I’d always been taught.
Anyway, I love how you’ve put your finger on the exact contradiction in Teen Mania’s attitude that I always felt but was never able to express. This dichotomy is a true conundrum that is a HUGE blind spot for them.
“This is war. And Jesus invites us to get into the action, telling us that the violent—the ‘forceful’ ones—will lay hold of the kingdom. He is looking for us to join him in the battle of the ages, to aggressively participate…” –Ron Luce, Battle Cry for a Generation, p. 57
“Jesus didn’t give his life to start a social club; His church was meant to be an army. If that is the case, then we are meant to be soldiers, enlisted men and women.” –p. 58.
“Most Christians don’t realize there’s a real war going on. They view our struggle as purely symbolic.” — p. 58
That sounds a lot like the words of “a culture of violence” to me. For someone who’s supposedly so opposed to violent imagery, Ron Luce sure sounds obsessed with it.
One more just for laughs, from the beginning of chapter 5:
“Rod Blagojevich wants to save American youth. [By banning violent video games.] In spite of the alarming call-to-action statistics, Time magazine reports: ‘Blagojevich is in for a tough fight.'” (p. 92)
Well… yeah, he was, wasn’t he. Do you suppose Blagojevich spent his youth playing video games about political corruption?
Wow, you all are awesome. Such great comments here.
Eric, thank you for adding the sources and video link for examples of TM’s violent culture. Time and time again I find TM locked in an Old Testament, contractual mentality. Obligation, law and war. There is very little emphasis within TM of the New Testament, covenant, LOVE. Freedom, spirit and peace.
Lisa, I love your point about ministries using the same media they condemn. Spot on.
Sean, you’re among those who were shot point-blank with paintball guns, right?
Diane, my CA at TM was also Mennonite. It breaks my heart now to realize that there were interns who were struggling like you and pressured to go against their beliefs or upbringing of pacifism. So many interns suffer in silence.
Personally I must admit I was a pacifist as a teen, UNTIL THE HA. I didn’t return to pacifism until I had truly changed my mind about the cultishness of TM. And I must say, I’m a much happier person now 😉
Michael, you listed all of that from Braveheart and Gladiator from memory?!?! Thanks for adding that!
Keep the thoughts coming, if you like. The more I read what you have to say, the more interested I am with this discrepancy of violence. This whole Us against Them mentality among Christians is the contributor to genocide and prejudice and I think it had no place in a life of faith.
How truly damaging… It’s just sad.
Just out of curiosity has RL or any of the other TM folks associated the availability of the high capacity assault rifles with the violence or is it just all on the media?
Our society tends to equate things like “violent video games” and other media with such actions. There has been some very little correlation found in these, but not enough to sit back and say, “let’s ban all media”
Similarly, the Christian community was/is very much against Harry Potter because of the magical ideas… but Lord of the Rings is perfectly acceptable? The double standards always amaze me.
Shannon K. — Well, J. R. R. Tolkien was a Christian…. and so is J. K. Rowling, so there goes that justification.
It’s funny how Ron Luce seems to blame video games and movies for influencing violent behavior and yet he’s not ranting against real guns for the real violence they cause when put into the wrong hands…
I believe George Carlin put it beautifully in this clip:
There was a shooting at the mall down the street from my work three days before Newtown. Some guy opened fire in the food court. It was terrifying. No one knew what happened, who had been shot or who the the shooter was for two days when they FINALLY gave us a report it was just before the Newtown shooting.
I can’t believe it was almost a month ago that all this happened because I’m still freaked out like it just went down. My head was really spinning though and all I could think was ‘When is this all going to stop?!’ But that feeling of anxiety didn’t go away and I guess I’m still feeling it.
I don’t know. The conclusion that I drew as that a large part of the shooters actions was due to mental illness. I don’t think I have one guy friend that doesn’t play video games and not one of them would hurt another human intentionally.
I’m not sure, but it might be a lack of understanding of reality that would cause a person to blame a murder’s intentions on something as trivial as video games. (not just pointing fingers at Ron, but a good sized portion of American church cultures)
Another common denominator in the MULTIPLE shootings that happened last month (four that I can think of, Arizona and New York as well.) Is that it’s winter (bad weather) and it’s the holiday season. (AKA- family chaos.)
And to stay on topic – yeah, I do think the environment of TM would be a bigger cause of a person being aggressive and angry then a video game. Because I think what influences a person is their surroundings, not the games they play. but I haven’t really looked into it or studied it.
Shiloh….! I have no words–that is frightening. I’m sorry that happened, and so close to you.
In working on the next post for the blog, I’ve been thinking that unfortunately, within TM and much of Christendom there is a failure to allow or admit to the complexity of life. Everything is expected to be explained away with a simple answer and that does no one any favors.
Jeremy–nice George Carlin link, and good to hear from you again.
Yes! Exactly. No one around here was talking about how it was ‘probably video games.’
And then what really put things in perspective for me, our police department wasn’t giving out any information, so I was on google every chance I had to see what the latest news was. I put in the search bar, ‘how many people were shot’ but google cut me off and put, ‘how many people were shot in chicago today.’
Apparently, so many people get shot in chicago there’s a constant update. And it was a bigger deal then some mall shooting cause those people deal with it every single day.
I guess that’s what makes it feel so out of control.
I can understand how the video game argument comes into play. But it does sound ignorant as a person can be. Like a parent wanting to blame all their kids problems on anything but bad parenting. I mean, we are so way past ‘video games’ I thought. Bad home life, drugs, personal conflict, mental illness. Anything that contributes to a person being insane enough to take another human’s life. Not ‘video games’ or ‘dungeons and dragons.’ which make a person… what? just dumb enough to not connect that killing another person isn’t pretend and there isn’t a reset button?
I don’t know. I guess I’m rambling. But it’s a topic that’s been on my mind and I’ve been asking the questions. I don’t get why Ron even bothers. He obviously doesn’t even care. If he did he wouldn’t try to give an answer (especially one that is so uneducated.) but just cry with the rest of us. Because there isn’t a black and white answer on this one.
Excellent point about the hypocrisy of criticizing video games while forcing interns to act military, even to the point of shooting guns at each other (even if they’re paint guns).
There is no reason whatsoever that violent or militaristic training is helpful in accomplishing the goals TM says….having a passion for lost people. “Lost” people don’t get “found” by sequestering young people and screaming “it pays to be a winner and you’re a loser” in their faces until they break down.
Ron’s blog post is a glaring reflection of his narcissistic personality. Here is a situation where the young man’s mental state and apparent lack of guidance has resulted in a tragedy and he wants to blame it on video games?
When I really think about it, I realize this is part of Ron’s narrative of, “Contribute to my bloated ministry and mine and my wife’s exorbitant salaries as we crusade against these violent video games.”
Everything in the world always comes back to what “he” is doing and harping on the media has always been his schtick.
“He obviously doesn’t even care. If he did he wouldn’t try to give an answer (especially one that is so uneducated.) but just cry with the rest of us. Because there isn’t a black and white answer on this one.”
Shiloh, that’s very poignant. Thank you for sharing.
Wanderer, EXACTLY. I think TM really embodies a Dominionist theology where the ends justify the means. Yet Jesus came to Love, not to dominate as TM might have us believe. The military crap has got to go.
Grace, you are right, I think. Harping on the media is the TM standard.
The Harry Potter vs. Tolkien thing has been justified by saying that witchcraft is only a sin in our world (that we know of, anyhow). Tolkien and MacDonald’s fantasies – among many others… Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula K. Le Guin’s etc. (I love fantasy, can you tell) all take place in what we are to recognize as “other worlds”.
I’m not suggesting that I hold these beliefs… this is just the best explanation that I’ve been privy to.
“In reality, the culture of Teen Mania is anything but non-violent. It pushes and manipulates and essentially brutalizes beautiful souls into either becoming spiritual abusers, or remaining oppressed in spiritual abuse.”
This is an excellent quote.
I don’t think that argument holds water. Fiction is fiction, regardless of what world it takes place in.
Yes. I was shot point blank, without a mask, facing the DIRECTOR of undergraduates, Heath Stoner.
At least I was a couple of feet away. My buddy was right in front of the barrel. His welt was nasty.
Well, Lord of the Rings is supposedly allegorical to the Bible. (the creation story is pretty cool.) The parable is pretty subtle though, to the point that Tolkien criticized C.S. Lewis for being too blatant in Lion Witch and the Wardrobe.
Last I checked, unlike Harry Potter, “our world” doesn’t have dragons and goblins and elves and giants and trolls. On the other hand, if the story is real I wouldn’t be able to see them because they’re magically hidden from us Muggles. Hmm. This is quite an interesting view of our world.
I’ll have to research this some more. Accio encyclopedia! … um, Accio encyclopedia! …
…I’ll get back to you.
XD
Eric- that’s funny. 🙂
I always thought there was a pretty clear gospel interpretation in Harry Potter. Harry survived an attack no other human had survived, not because something was special about him but because his mother died for him.
In marginally related news: NRA Blames Violent Video Games for Shootings, Releases Violent Video Game in Response.
No comment.
This is an awesome post. I didn’t even know or understand how much condemnation I endured after submerging myself in the TM culture as a January Intern class of 2001. You are absolutely right about the culture not being a culture of love. Christ said Himself that He did not come to condemn the world but came to save the world. They don’t preach grace and acceptance. The good news of the gospel is that we are under a new covenant which is why we take communion and it’s for the remission of sins. All of our sins have been forgiven. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus and that’s how we are able to live victoriously. Preaching law or making people bear weights for sin is no different than what the Pharisees and Sadducees were doing in Jesus’ day.
Paul preached against this and said sin shall not have dominion over us because we are under grace and not under the law. The cross made a difference and as long as we keep creating an environment of condemnation no one will walk in freedom.
They preach law and the law is considered the “ministry of death” because no man can keep it perfectly which is why Christ died in the first place.
I wish that they would all read UNMERITED FAVOR and DESTINED TO REIGN by JOSEPH PRINCE or at least the 4 gospels and the Apostle Paul’s letters to the gentiles so that they can see how much Christ loves us and not just us but all humanity.
“Last I checked, unlike Harry Potter, “our world” doesn’t have dragons and goblins and elves and giants and trolls. On the other hand, if the story is real I wouldn’t be able to see them because they’re magically hidden from us Muggles. Hmm. This is quite an interesting view of our world.”
This makes sense, Eric… but the point in the Potter-verse is that these things exist in our world… but are kept secret from Muggles (you and I are muggles, by the way… unless you have something to tell us…) Thus the need for secrecy, penalties for performing magic on or around muggles etc. It’s a fantastical viewpoint on our mundane world.
“Fiction is fiction, regardless of what world it takes place in.”
Meh, so you say. Without really qualifying your opinion.
Like I said, I don’t agree with the logic. But it’s a compelling argument, worth looking into. Especially if it’s something you plan on being outspoken about.
Kimberly and Jami, thank you for your comments. I think you both bring valid points to the conversation which I would love to explore further.
Post a Comment
Comments violating the comment policy may be deleted.
Comments on posts older than 7 days will go into moderation before publishing.
Let’s not forget the ATF video in which the believer punches out a non-believer for smoking, and Ron Luce commends him as a “real man”: Link
Meanwhile, several observers have pointed out that the imagery of the “Battle Cry” theme is appropriated from Fascism, right down to the red flag-waving (!) and Luce arriving in a military jeep.
It’s very well worth anyone’s time to spend a bit of mental energy considering the doctrines of Christian pacifism (even if you wind up not becoming a pacifist in the end– it’s all cool). After all, even if we conclude that the “secular culture” is our “enemy,” then Jesus taught us to love our enemies, pray for them, bless them, and not resist them.
Yeah the boot camp mentality for many things needs to go. The love of chrisy the serving regardless theses things need more emphasis.
So its honorable to watch an edited copy of Braveheart.
Lets look at the sub-text of this movie.
-Brit make a law to sleep with the bride on her wedding night on all new marriages.(AKA rape).
-William Wallace weds in secret and his wife is murdered.(Graphic death)
-William Wallace beheads commander of York and sends the his head back to the king.( graphic)
-The King kills the lover of his Son (the King throws him (the lover) out of the window)).
-William Wallace sleeps with the princes while she is married(adulatory).
-The sexual talks between the two woman when she gets back.
-George the Bruce lies and back stabs Wallace on the battlefield. -The torture of Wallace when he is captured. (Graphic)
-The princess telling the king she is prego with another mans baby and she will murder her husband (the prince)once he(the king) dies.
-Oh yea all the battle scenes. (unless all that was edited out then the movie would be about 20 mins out of the 3 hours)
Now lets talk about Gladiator
-Graphic Battle Scene
-A brother sleeping with his sister
-Raping the gladiators wife before killing her and her son
-Keeping Slaves
-Innuendos of Roman orgies
-Other Roman Gods
and some others that i cant remember since its been awhile since i have seen the movie.
Now that is what you call a double standard in my book.
Excellent post! I love all of it and I think it’s vital that you pointed this out. It reminds me of what my religious studies professor called “modern anti-modernism” where a group condemns certain modern things, like TV, movies, pop culture BUT then utilizes other modern things to share those condemnations or fears (like Ron and Teen Mania condemn these movies and the culture around them BUT use blogs, interactive media, movies, live action role play–all elements of our current culture–to COMMUNICATE that which they think is wrong.)
I’m pretty sure I experienced more violent media at the HA than on my own. I saw braveheart at least 3 times in one year. I watched the Patriot unedited the next year. Played paintball and airsoft. Watched interns box, wrestled on many occasions, when I’ve only been in 2 altercations growing up. The list goes on.
Oh, and on one of my ge trips, there were pyrotechnics to resemble mortars and Ron flew in on a helicopter.
Thank you, Shannon, for bringiing this up. I’m of Mennonite heritage and was raised a pacifist, so the culture of war that is taken for granted at the Honor Academy was something I had a great deal of trouble with (at the time, I brushed it off as a cultural thing, since I also happen to be Canadian; I thought it was just a Southern, American cultural thing to be all Patriotism=War=Godliness).
I remember in particular one discussion I got into with several friends on the K Crew about all this, where they took the Just War theory for granted as something that all Christians subscribed to. I didn’t have the words to defend myself, since I’d never had to debate my position before – I’d grown up with people who believed as I did. However, I took the opportunity to really wrestle with WHY I was a pacifist, and came away from the experience actually fully believing it for myself, instead of just because it was what I’d always been taught.
Anyway, I love how you’ve put your finger on the exact contradiction in Teen Mania’s attitude that I always felt but was never able to express. This dichotomy is a true conundrum that is a HUGE blind spot for them.
“This is war. And Jesus invites us to get into the action, telling us that the violent—the ‘forceful’ ones—will lay hold of the kingdom. He is looking for us to join him in the battle of the ages, to aggressively participate…” –Ron Luce, Battle Cry for a Generation, p. 57
“Jesus didn’t give his life to start a social club; His church was meant to be an army. If that is the case, then we are meant to be soldiers, enlisted men and women.” –p. 58.
“Most Christians don’t realize there’s a real war going on. They view our struggle as purely symbolic.” — p. 58
That sounds a lot like the words of “a culture of violence” to me. For someone who’s supposedly so opposed to violent imagery, Ron Luce sure sounds obsessed with it.
One more just for laughs, from the beginning of chapter 5:
“Rod Blagojevich wants to save American youth. [By banning violent video games.] In spite of the alarming call-to-action statistics, Time magazine reports: ‘Blagojevich is in for a tough fight.’” (p. 92)
Well… yeah, he was, wasn’t he. Do you suppose Blagojevich spent his youth playing video games about political corruption?
Wow, you all are awesome. Such great comments here.
Eric, thank you for adding the sources and video link for examples of TM’s violent culture. Time and time again I find TM locked in an Old Testament, contractual mentality. Obligation, law and war. There is very little emphasis within TM of the New Testament, covenant, LOVE. Freedom, spirit and peace.
Lisa, I love your point about ministries using the same media they condemn. Spot on.
Lux, you’re among those who were shot point-blank with paintball guns, right?
Diane, my CA at TM was also Mennonite. It breaks my heart now to realize that there were interns who were struggling like you and pressured to go against their beliefs or upbringing of pacifism. So many interns suffer in silence.
Personally I must admit I was a pacifist as a teen, UNTIL THE HA. I didn’t return to pacifism until I had truly changed my mind about the cultishness of TM. And I must say, I’m a much happier person now 😉
Michael, you listed all of that from Braveheart and Gladiator from memory?!?! Thanks for adding that!
Keep the thoughts coming, if you like. The more I read what you have to say, the more interested I am with this discrepancy of violence. This whole Us against Them mentality among Christians is the contributor to genocide and prejudice and I think it had no place in a life of faith.
How truly damaging… It’s just sad.
Just out of curiosity has RL or any of the other TM folks associated the availability of the high capacity assault rifles with the violence or is it just all on the media?
Our society tends to equate things like “violent video games” and other media with such actions. There has been some very little correlation found in these, but not enough to sit back and say, “let’s ban all media”
Similarly, the Christian community was/is very much against Harry Potter because of the magical ideas… but Lord of the Rings is perfectly acceptable? The double standards always amaze me.
Shannon K. — Well, J. R. R. Tolkien was a Christian…. and so is J. K. Rowling, so there goes that justification.
Hysteria would be hysterical were it not so damaging…
It’s funny how Ron Luce seems to blame video games and movies for influencing violent behavior and yet he’s not ranting against real guns for the real violence they cause when put into the wrong hands…
I believe George Carlin put it beautifully in this clip:
There was a shooting at the mall down the street from my work three days before Newtown. Some guy opened fire in the food court. It was terrifying. No one knew what happened, who had been shot or who the the shooter was for two days when they FINALLY gave us a report it was just before the Newtown shooting.
I can’t believe it was almost a month ago that all this happened because I’m still freaked out like it just went down. My head was really spinning though and all I could think was ‘When is this all going to stop?!’ But that feeling of anxiety didn’t go away and I guess I’m still feeling it.
I don’t know. The conclusion that I drew as that a large part of the shooters actions was due to mental illness. I don’t think I have one guy friend that doesn’t play video games and not one of them would hurt another human intentionally.
I’m not sure, but it might be a lack of understanding of reality that would cause a person to blame a murder’s intentions on something as trivial as video games. (not just pointing fingers at Ron, but a good sized portion of American church cultures)
Another common denominator in the MULTIPLE shootings that happened last month (four that I can think of, Arizona and New York as well.) Is that it’s winter (bad weather) and it’s the holiday season. (AKA- family chaos.)
And to stay on topic – yeah, I do think the environment of TM would be a bigger cause of a person being aggressive and angry then a video game. Because I think what influences a person is their surroundings, not the games they play. but I haven’t really looked into it or studied it.
Shiloh….! I have no words–that is frightening. I’m sorry that happened, and so close to you.
In working on the next post for the blog, I’ve been thinking that unfortunately, within TM and much of Christendom there is a failure to allow or admit to the complexity of life. Everything is expected to be explained away with a simple answer and that does no one any favors.
Jeremy–nice George Carlin link, and good to hear from you again.
Yes! Exactly. No one around here was talking about how it was ‘probably video games.’
And then what really put things in perspective for me, our police department wasn’t giving out any information, so I was on google every chance I had to see what the latest news was. I put in the search bar, ‘how many people were shot’ but google cut me off and put, ‘how many people were shot in chicago today.’
Apparently, so many people get shot in chicago there’s a constant update. And it was a bigger deal then some mall shooting cause those people deal with it every single day.
I guess that’s what makes it feel so out of control.
I can understand how the video game argument comes into play. But it does sound ignorant as a person can be. Like a parent wanting to blame all their kids problems on anything but bad parenting. I mean, we are so way past ‘video games’ I thought. Bad home life, drugs, personal conflict, mental illness. Anything that contributes to a person being insane enough to take another human’s life. Not ‘video games’ or ‘dungeons and dragons.’ which make a person… what? just dumb enough to not connect that killing another person isn’t pretend and there isn’t a reset button?
I don’t know. I guess I’m rambling. But it’s a topic that’s been on my mind and I’ve been asking the questions. I don’t get why Ron even bothers. He obviously doesn’t even care. If he did he wouldn’t try to give an answer (especially one that is so uneducated.) but just cry with the rest of us. Because there isn’t a black and white answer on this one.
Excellent point about the hypocrisy of criticizing video games while forcing interns to act military, even to the point of shooting guns at each other (even if they’re paint guns).
There is no reason whatsoever that violent or militaristic training is helpful in accomplishing the goals TM says….having a passion for lost people. “Lost” people don’t get “found” by sequestering young people and screaming “it pays to be a winner and you’re a loser” in their faces until they break down.
Ron’s blog post is a glaring reflection of his narcissistic personality. Here is a situation where the young man’s mental state and apparent lack of guidance has resulted in a tragedy and he wants to blame it on video games?
When I really think about it, I realize this is part of Ron’s narrative of, “Contribute to my bloated ministry and mine and my wife’s exorbitant salaries as we crusade against these violent video games.”
Everything in the world always comes back to what “he” is doing and harping on the media has always been his schtick.
“He obviously doesn’t even care. If he did he wouldn’t try to give an answer (especially one that is so uneducated.) but just cry with the rest of us. Because there isn’t a black and white answer on this one.”
Shiloh, that’s very poignant. Thank you for sharing.
Wanderer, EXACTLY. I think TM really embodies a Dominionist theology where the ends justify the means. Yet Jesus came to Love, not to dominate as TM might have us believe. The military crap has got to go.
Grace, you are right, I think. Harping on the media is the TM standard.
The Harry Potter vs. Tolkien thing has been justified by saying that witchcraft is only a sin in our world (that we know of, anyhow). Tolkien and MacDonald’s fantasies – among many others… Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula K. Le Guin’s etc. (I love fantasy, can you tell) all take place in what we are to recognize as “other worlds”.
I’m not suggesting that I hold these beliefs… this is just the best explanation that I’ve been privy to.
“In reality, the culture of Teen Mania is anything but non-violent. It pushes and manipulates and essentially brutalizes beautiful souls into either becoming spiritual abusers, or remaining oppressed in spiritual abuse.”
This is an excellent quote.
I don’t think that argument holds water. Fiction is fiction, regardless of what world it takes place in.
Yes. I was shot point blank, without a mask, facing the DIRECTOR of undergraduates, Heath Stoner.
At least I was a couple of feet away. My buddy was right in front of the barrel. His welt was nasty.
Well, Lord of the Rings is supposedly allegorical to the Bible. (the creation story is pretty cool.) The parable is pretty subtle though, to the point that Tolkien criticized C.S. Lewis for being too blatant in Lion Witch and the Wardrobe.
Last I checked, unlike Harry Potter, “our world” doesn’t have dragons and goblins and elves and giants and trolls. On the other hand, if the story is real I wouldn’t be able to see them because they’re magically hidden from us Muggles. Hmm. This is quite an interesting view of our world.
I’ll have to research this some more. Accio encyclopedia! … um, Accio encyclopedia! …
…I’ll get back to you.
XD
Eric- that’s funny. 🙂
I always thought there was a pretty clear gospel interpretation in Harry Potter. Harry survived an attack no other human had survived, not because something was special about him but because his mother died for him.
In marginally related news: NRA Blames Violent Video Games for Shootings, Releases Violent Video Game in Response.
No comment.
This is an awesome post. I didn’t even know or understand how much condemnation I endured after submerging myself in the TM culture as a January Intern class of 2001. You are absolutely right about the culture not being a culture of love. Christ said Himself that He did not come to condemn the world but came to save the world. They don’t preach grace and acceptance. The good news of the gospel is that we are under a new covenant which is why we take communion and it’s for the remission of sins. All of our sins have been forgiven. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus and that’s how we are able to live victoriously. Preaching law or making people bear weights for sin is no different than what the Pharisees and Sadducees were doing in Jesus’ day.
Paul preached against this and said sin shall not have dominion over us because we are under grace and not under the law. The cross made a difference and as long as we keep creating an environment of condemnation no one will walk in freedom.
They preach law and the law is considered the “ministry of death” because no man can keep it perfectly which is why Christ died in the first place.
I wish that they would all read UNMERITED FAVOR and DESTINED TO REIGN by JOSEPH PRINCE or at least the 4 gospels and the Apostle Paul’s letters to the gentiles so that they can see how much Christ loves us and not just us but all humanity.
“Last I checked, unlike Harry Potter, “our world” doesn’t have dragons and goblins and elves and giants and trolls. On the other hand, if the story is real I wouldn’t be able to see them because they’re magically hidden from us Muggles. Hmm. This is quite an interesting view of our world.”
This makes sense, Eric… but the point in the Potter-verse is that these things exist in our world… but are kept secret from Muggles (you and I are muggles, by the way… unless you have something to tell us…) Thus the need for secrecy, penalties for performing magic on or around muggles etc. It’s a fantastical viewpoint on our mundane world.
“Fiction is fiction, regardless of what world it takes place in.”
Meh, so you say. Without really qualifying your opinion.
Like I said, I don’t agree with the logic. But it’s a compelling argument, worth looking into. Especially if it’s something you plan on being outspoken about.
Kimberly and Jami, thank you for your comments. I think you both bring valid points to the conversation which I would love to explore further.