Okay, I usually try not to jump on the bandwagon of “trend blogging ” (those topics that it seems every blogger in the world hits on in the span of a few days and we never hear about again… twentysomethings leaving the church in droves, anyone?). Plus by the point I get the time to blog, it seems that everyone else has already laid out a good thought or argument.
But I decided to weigh in on the issue of Halo 3 in Youth Ministry environments.
Right now the major debate is over whether or not we should use such a violent game in Youth Ministry outreach? In fact, some are even claiming that as Christians we should not be advocating violence when among the most well-known 10 Commandments is “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” I diverge here, because a proper examination and study of the text reveals that it is not kill, but murder that is in place in this dictum. Now, you can make the argument that in Halo you are pre-meditating the “death” of others, and you could also argue that it is war, which is different. I really don’t get hung up on this point.
My real hang-up is this. Should we be inviting 13 year-olds to play a video game which has been classified as intense enough to warrant an “M” rating? Now, I have only played the first Halo, and it is left to my imagination at this point just how “intense” Halo 3 is. But I pose this question. If we are to submit to governmental authorities on things such as alcohol use, cigarette smoking, and driving, and even the MPAA rating system for movies, why should we subvert video game ratings? Is there really enough good in the game or the conversations surrounding it that it is worth willingly railing against the authorities that have set up the guiding ratings? Would we do the same for alcohol? Or for drugs? Or for pornography?
These are all questions that we must wrestle with. There are a few students in my ministry that are fans of the Halo series. A a group, we do not use it, due in large part to the fact that we only use a PS2 at the present time (and if we had a 360, I would wrestle with these issues long and hard. I have already vetoed DDR and Guitar Hero at our community outreach. We use Dance Factory instead, which gives us a little more control over what teens dance to. Not a big CCM-only fan).
I leave you with one other tired, but true, cliche. We win people to what we win them with. How many of our teens stick around after the Halo is over? Would they be involved if the Halo wasn’t there?
NOTE: Please read my clarification post and my comments below before adding thoughts that are going to accuse me of wanting to ban Halo.
Filed under: Blogging, Discussion, Entertainment, Evangelism, Ministry, Ministry Resourcing, Technology, Youth Ministry | Tagged: Halo 3, Youth Ministry conversation
Great thoughts! As a youth minister with a degree in Marriage and Family Therapy I can tell you that the entertainment choices parents allow their teens to make shock me sometimes. As I work with the teens at my local congregation I think about the time we spend doing different things. Everything you do prevents you from doing something else. A question I always ask myself when creating the schedule is: is there something better we could be doing with our time? I try to strike of balance with fun activities and service projects, but obviously try to make sure everything brings us back to Jesus. Thanks for your thoughts!
Amen, and thanks for your thoughts. I wrestle with the same questions when plotting out our group’s times together as well.
[...] For the youth ministers out there, here is something worth thinking about when it comes to the entertainment you us with your youth [...]
I just want to start by stating that I am a sixteen year old male, and am a fan of the Halo series.
I personally am not sure that the “Thou Shalt Not Kill” law refers to aliens so in a sense the players of the game are not breaking it. The rating issue you refer to is amazing. How can you call the Halo franchise a violent game? If you really wanted kids to not play games like this, for some unknown reason, then you should ban almost all games.
I remember as a kid growing up playing “Crash Bandicoot” where the aim of the game was to stop someone evil by killing all his followers using hand combat. Halo 3 features two villains which you similarly stop by killing all their followers and using machines, and munitions to stop them. Given that these underlying plots are almost identical, how do you justify banning the worlds best video game when it relates so closely, as to what you are doing, to a game aimed at children?
Halo 3 and indeed all shooting games are designed for fun. To say that kids are affected by this material is in my view a bit dramatic. Maybe if you were a fan, had actually played the game and appreciated how much fun you can have in this make believe universe you would not judge this master piece so harshly.
Recently of the top ten selling Xbox360 games 9 of them involved this kind of violence, so if you wanted to ban ever piece of entertainment that crossed the lines you imply by this extremely narrow length then I suggest you stop because what would our entertainment be without these games.
thank you for your very well-thought out comments daniel. i am glad to see that you are wrestling with these issues on your own. there are, however a couple of misinterpretations of my thoughts in your response.
while i am not a fanatic of the series, i have spent a fair amount of time in the past playing the original with a student in a previous ministry. we did indeed use the time to build our relationship. And even though there was a point to the story beyond “kill all the aliens”, as a war-type game there is a lot of simulated death. and while the dictum is indeed murder, and not kill, i do believe that if we were to ever confront extra terrestrials, do not murder would indeed apply to them.
my issue with kids playing this series is not simply because of the violence. it lies in the rating. Christians are required to follow the laws of the land insofar that they do not contradict the Laws of God. inviting teens to play a video game (or worse, featuring it in a setting where many teens who will be playing) that they are too young according the the governing body over that media is contrary to what Christians are supposed to be doing.
i do not feel that it is a far leap to state that video games (and music, movies, tv, and other various forms of media) affect the worldviews that we formulate as to what is acceptable and what is not. while i will not go out on a limb and state that we should blame crimes on video game and music choices, we learn the most from what we immerse ourselves the most in. we must be constantly on guard for what we are being “taught.”
in short, i am i no way making an argument for banning the game period. i merely wanted to raise some of the big items that we tend not to think about (such as the rating quandary) and whether or not we can truly build real relationships between students and the God of the Universe using Halo (or any other video game) as a basis. it is not about banning “fun.”
again, thank you for your thoughts. i hope that these words help to clear up those misinterpretations.
You helped to bring your point of view across more clearly.
I’m still not convinced, however I’m supprised my comment was not kicked off.
well, the original intention of the post was to share my thoughts as i wrestle with this, and to encourage others to think, so i am not all that worried about changing your opinion. it’s not a salvation issue to me, so it’s not a huge thing on my radar. (not to sound rude, just stating that and realized how harsh it might come across as).
and i can count on one finger the number of comments that i have deleted. and that was just because the commenter was rude, condescending, took me out of context, had no desire to converse, and really just wanted to get his thoughts heard and tell me how stupid i am for believing what i do about what the post was about. your comment was a pleasure to read. thanks again.
If you think Halo 3 is bad then don’t play it. Its is fantasy not real its not a sin to killed someone in a game. Its just my opinion nothing else. A child can play any game they need parental permission. The ratings don’t lie what else is it supposed to say? Like Daniel Marshall said ““Thou Shalt Not Kill” law refers to aliens so in a sense the players of the game are not breaking it.” and “If you really wanted kids to not play games like this, for some unknown reason, then you should ban almost all games.”. Like I said just my opinion nothing to be rude.
Sayername, you missed my point in this post. I did not at any point argue for banning Halo, I am merely trying to raise questions in Youth Leader’s minds as to the value of using a video game such as Halo in their ministry. Does the benefit of using it to create a relationship with a student outweigh the potential moral failure of playing it with a 13-year old who may not have parental permission, or the fact that the ratings board classifies it as “M” and we as Christians are supposed to follow rules such as this since it does not contradict the Law of God.
And, again, the fantasy element of the game aside, the proper translation would be You shall not murder, and if we were to find that aliens exist, they would fall under the authority of this Law.
Alright now i am a halo fan. alright i said it plain out, i like it because of story lin, (the books i have followed the story of 1-3) not for the mindless violence witch i believe is a little overboard in halo 2-3 so plainly speaking i wont let my little little sibling play. but 13 year olds? they can play it and if they unerstand whats going on, even better! now im going ot tell you right now every thing that motivates the, covenant, did i spell that right? probabley not…. is religion, didnt spell that right either, RELIGION! they blindly kill off everything from inocent civilians to enemy soldiers over religion, one like the catholic religion the christian religion ect. the whole theory of doing something your god wants to get to a higher plain of existnce, IE: the great journey in halo 2 and 3, now the whole point of halo is, these aliens Glass planets (use weapons to completely and utterly reduce the entire surface to a glassy substance) and they came to our area of the universe, they started killing us off planet by planet, and we have to defend everything: earth, the final planet, the thousands of civilians families ect. that are still left alive in the human race. and allthe while keeping people interested with the flood: theyre like interstellar space zombies, <—- NOONE USE THAT! THATS MINE!
so if it teaches kids not to blindly follow something potentially bad, while all the while basically saying, dont kill people for no reason, defend something you believe in, then i say let em play it! but if you do, offer the books, THE ORIGINAL ONES MIND YOU! halo the fall of reach is the first one halo the flood is the second and halo first strike is the third and they all tie in anything somone missed in halo 1 and set it up for halo 2 and 3.
thanks for your thoughts justin.
allow me to reiterate. i am in no way arguing against playing the game. what i am doing to trying to raise the issue of allowing teens who are underage (according the game’s rating) play it in a youth ministry context, i.e. youth group meetings, outreach events, etc. should youth leaders be willing to overlook an established governing body’s decision to state that those under 18 should not play it (yes, i know that thousands do, but you have to be 18 to buy it, unless they really started to get lax on the M rating lately), effectively breaking a rule (not a law, but a fairly large rule) that we are supposed to follow?
that’s all i’m saying.
Well, think of it this way: The rating is called Mature. for people who are mature enough to play it so if your kids over there are mature, they dont try to repeat everything they see or hear then they are good with playing the game also 13 years old, well i have yet to meet one who was not mature enough to play halo
not a bad argument, but mature according to the esrb means that no one under 17 is supposed to be playing.
but i have met one or two genuinely mature thirteen-year olds. but the beauty in that is, there should be a major drop in comparing maturity levels in adults and teens.
Well I would agree that ersbs mature rating is good and acurate however Esrb has overrated many games in the past and will continue to do so in the future. but i do agree I guess Saying that most everyone is mature because i know this is not true, however truthfully if the kid is not gonna start cursing and emulating the games activities, theyre good to play it. now most people under these standards are good, let them play the game just not online! they go online theyll be cursing by the end of the week. everyone on there ends up cursing……….
I know this may be a little late of a comment and you may no longer read them, but I would just like to throw in my two cents about this topic as a dedicated Methodist as well as an avid Halo player.
I have read the Bible a number of times and understand the meaning. You, as a youth-minister might have the idea that the Bible is not to be taken literally in most cases. I definitely understand your taking of “Thou shall not kill” and “Thou shall not murder”. Most people may say that these are the same, but they are not, and I thank you for recognizing that.
Now, onto the issue at hand. I know in some of the youth programs that I was involved in earlier in my lifetime, there was a wide variety of kids there. Probably from around 8-18. None of the activities were separated by age, save a couple of the more physical ones such as relays, tug-of-wars (or tug-of-faith as we used to call them), you get the picture. I know that some of the older kids in your group might be involved in the gaming community and play Halo as well as some other violent games, or games with questionable content (GTA). I say that even though they have the right to play these games as they are above the M rating, that Halo be kept out of the hands of the smaller kids, even if they have played it. In my personal opinion, even if these kids have played it at the discretion of their parents, that you as the youth-minister would be held responsible for supplying an underage child with a product that they are not supposed to have.
I know my solution does not matter, but after I grew out of being a member and into an administrator, me and the other older mentors decided to implement things like Guitar Hero and Rock Band into the group, with certain songs that don’t have very questionable lyrics. Sure, it seems evasive, buts it’s better than being held liable for something that could effect your career.
Good luck!
thanks for your thoughts Eric. I read them all
Well eric i must disagree most parents pay no attention in recent years to what there kids do. my freinds little little brother wanted to play it onlin and we would Not let him and hisparents couldnt understand why? well ive been online before and 80% of what the people say are either curses or racial slurs. but this is just my example of how much most parents pay attention.
i have a family at my church that I love to pieces and have been around for a long time…because the youth leaders played halo with their kids.