What ever happened to Contra!

Since we cancelled youth group tonight I decide to go ahead and watch some youtube videos to catch up on what I have been missing in the real world. I first heard about Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2 from some of our kids. I have now began to wonder how exactly this game can even be sold!

Watch this clip and tell me what you think. (Click here to watch the Clip)

Not only is the entire video disturbing, but especially the part at 4:40 where he walks up to an injured man and blows his head apart! Come on people! This is not warfare this is genocide! Hitler killed cause of race; now the game kills cause of, what, proximity? wrong place at the wrong time? Oh yeah because its a mission on a game that is fun to watch! What was I thinking?

I am the last person who would get up on a soap box and attempt to protect our kids in a vain attempt to sheltering them from the world around them; but this video game (and I am making a judgement about the whole based on the part) is disgusting.

Parents: You can argue with me if you want...I don't care; but this game should really not be in your kids games systems. I have held my peace on a lot of things and honestly not as careful as I should have been with what games are played here at the church; however, I am making the decision to start being a little more with it when it comes to games and media and I think that you should make the same decision.

It doesn't really matter how much attention you have taken in the past; start now! If you never took the time to do your research on games in the past; make an effort now!

If you purchased this game for your kid...I will pay you for it! If that is what is holding you back from getting it out of your kids video game library! I feel that strongly about it!

Some Stats:

The Game sold 4.7 million units in the first 24 hours and made $310 Million!

By comparison the final Harry Potter book made $220 million in its first 24 hours!

The Game made $550 million in the first 5 days of being offered!

Please let me know what you think by commenting below!

“The last of human freedoms is to choose ones attitude in any given situation.”

Vicktor E. Frankl penned these words in his book, Man's Search For Meaning. He was discussing his own imprisonment at the hands of the Germans. His home had become a concentration camp with thousands of other Jews, who really had no hope. Frankl noticed a difference between those surviving and those who were dying. The one's who were most healthy were the ones that decided that they still had some kind of control over their futures. A simple decision of what to eat first on their meager plate was enough to keep some sane. Those who were dying by the day, were the ones who had given up and conceeded all hope and most of all, all choices. They essentially were the walking dead.

Most of you know that we have been discussing the relationships we have with our parents during Jr. High youth group. You might be asking yourself what Vicktor Frankl has to do with getting along with parents. No, their lives are not like concentration camps. However, the attitude that they chose to address this relationship with, will determine the outcome; just as Frankl noticed a connection to attitude and survival.

In Philippians 2, Paul reminds us that our attitude should be the same as Jesus. He goes on to explain the humble and service oriented attitudes that Jesus displayed. The word translated attitude was used back then to mean the "diaphragm." The muscle that cause the lungs to inhale and exhale. The diaphragm determines the nature and strength of the breath and hence the human spirit and its emotions. Therefore, our very nature, our very essence, should be the servant attitude displayed by Jesus in John 13, when he washed the disciples feet and ultimately his work on the Cross.

I challenged the Jr. High kids to take this servant attitude home to their parents, as an example of who they are following. Easier said than done.

Then we threw Marshmallows in the air and tried to catch them. The guys caught 66 from Ian (who washed his hands first), but the girls didn't do as well.