Originally posted by Ziggy

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well, heavy metal and death metal are different. Death metal is more screaming etc. while heavy metal doesn't necessarily have that kind of tone/message. Also, Dave, that is kind of the perfect example of a person of most religions (well, that i know of)

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Not to start a genre war, but Death Metal generally has death growling, you usually only hear screaming in Melodic Death Metal. Also, Heavy Metal is the actual name of the music genre, and therefore is an umbrella term dividing into different genres, with each having their own subgenres.

Originally posted by Acureforthecommonidiot

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I don't understand how someone can label their music "Christian" if it sounds like a demon is singing O.o Hardcore "Christian" Rock? pffft, that makes me laugh, the genre itself contradicts the "message" they're trying to send. I mean. . . how can it be Christian??? For YEARS rock music has been panned by the Christian community for having been evil. . . and now suddenly it's NOT? Someone please explain to me, WHY?

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More on topic, the harsh sound of a music genre does not necessarily make it "demonic". On the contrary, members of bands such as Demon Hunter and Mortification are very devoted to Christianity. War of ages has several songs about wanting to be with Jesus and/or needing him. Horde is in fact Anti-Satanic, and the band has even received death threats from Anti-Christian Black Metal bands. The point I am trying to make is that even if a genre of music seems scary to you or not appealing, it doesn't necessarily make it unfit to preach the word of God, God can put His Word through anything, and some people have become familiar with Christianity through these types of bands. Besides, a sound can't be evil, it's the message that makes the music evil, and if a band is trying to send a Christian message, then there's nothing wrong with that, regardless of what genre the band is. I'm sure there could be a soft rock band about Satanism, but it'd sound "angelic".

I can add to the list of bands like that that happen to be Christian: The Devil Wears Prada. Their song "Hey John, Whats Your Name Again?" has the lines "I'm going to hope for you/I'm going to pray for you/Amongst the Reckless and the Black/Salvation lies within". Sure doesn't sound demonic to me.

As for Christian video games, I just recently bought Left Behind: Eternal Forces, and it's a pretty good RTS. Time-consuming and difficult (the first few levels leave you without any good fighting units, so if you stumble upon enemy fighters, as I did, you might as well stand there an let yourself be killed, you can't run fast enough or long enough to escape, and trying to kill them is useless), but still fun.

having been an owner of RPG Makers 1 + 2 for playstation 1 + 2 i have attempted to put together several Christ Glorifying games.
although i must admit that when i first began such endeavors i found them to be filled with far to much proselytyzing for them to be taken as either serious, or enjoyable, let alone life applicable.
over time however i got accustomed to the software, and what points i really wanted to try to make, and eventually got a hold of a principle that Christ Himself used.
God most often Teaches us the Truth through story or narative.
it's not about going at people Preaching AT them about what's wrong or right.

is it wrong to put some overt lessons or blunt statements in the work?
absolutely not, but not at sake of sacrificing the story being told.
everyone can tell when something sounds corny or canned, and when someone is just trying to convince someone to see something from their point of view.
for some it may take several times to pick up on it, and others might see through it the first time.
it's not supposed to be about how sneaky or eloquent you speak, but rather about being Honest and Sharing what you Know to be the Truth from God, in a manner that is applicable to where people are at, and can relate to.

taking this into consideration, RPG's would be the ideal arena in which Christ Glorifying gaming should be placed.
i would have to Agree that most "christian" games that i have played are mainly just a bunch of bible verses or over proselytyzing efforts which continually repeat the same lessons over and over rather than introduce or discuss any other topics.
how many "christian" games for instance, has everyone here played where the whole game revolved around Ephesians 6?
or how many games claimed to be about Moses, or Noah, or another Patriarch only to have the game turn out to have absolutely nothing to do with them or the things they went through or did?

that all being said, probably the best Christ Glorifying game that i've ever played was a home made game by a fellow owner of RPG Maker for playstation.

the games he made were titled "Tsebaoth: the nurith wars".
(for those interested in more info in regards to this series, here is the game designers' website http://www.brandonmdennis.com/games.html )

it basically was an allegorical story surrounding King Davids' Great men. (do you guys remember them? the ones who slayed the giants and were renowned for many great feats?)
it also dealt with the power of the Words we speak, and putting Faith in what God says we can do if we only Believe and Trust in Him.

it was violent, although not gory.
although i don't personally understand this whole issue about non-violence, it seems more like people feel it's to taboo rather than something scripturally based.

i would have to at the same time wonder, how can a Disciple of Christ become a soldier then and go and fight in wars if he is not meant to view, read, or have anything at all to do with violence?
that just doesn't make sense.

someone else mentioned earlier about how hiding from the violence and darkness of the world we live in is like trying to pretend it's not real.
is it not just as harmful, if not more so, to go around teaching people this is the case?

just because a person is a Disciple of Christ does not mean they don't/won't ever experience and live in the darkness all around them in this world.
depending on how sheltered a persons life is will probably determine such opinions i suppose.

as for the whole "christian" music topic (although i Hope this doesn't come across as spam since it isn't on topic with the actual original thread) i would have to Agree that it has always been about the Message that is Preached in the lyrics that make music sinful or Obedient to Christ.
unless of course it is an instrumental piece where the whole purpose and goal of said musician(s) was to make it for an evil cause.

I highly applaud the effort. I never find bible games, and if I do, they usually stink. Left behind looks ok. I even have an idea for the storyline.

i have tryed the games they seem to fit the religion well but no something i would play

i have read things about games like Pokemon and final fantasy ,etc a lot of the games like Pokemon have monsters named after demons satanical messages that brainwash kids into worshiping satin i think that is wrong and final fantasy you get weaponry and magic and well Pokemon is short for pocket monsters and on a lot of pages i read that kids collect these demons(Pokemon) and once all of them are collected the child's wish could come true like he wants money for gum and his or her parents wont give it to them he could make a wish for them to die then the child can take the money and buy anything the child wishes for and when the police come all they find is a child asleep with his Pokemon peacefully then no blame comes to the child and they cant figure out who killed the parents.
i know there are Pokemon games on the site and stuff i don't want to sound like an anti-Christ or anything my parents raised me right and i would never call anyone other than Jesus god. they though the Pokemon thing was a bad thing so i forgot about it over the years even i don't know if i want to question it.anyways Pokemon is about friendship and battling to be the number 1 trainer.i am not sure what to think of it.

Hum, just a basic outline idea that popped into my mind; In the distant future mankind is struggling to survive in a postapocalyptic world inhabited by mutants/aliens/demons or something similar. Christianity is all but forgotten, and as the situation seems more and more hopeless, the people are gradually losing their will to fight. That is, until the player stumbles upon one of the books of the Bible. This small piece of text inspires him and his friends, and marks the start of an adventure-RPG where they set out to recover all the diferent books scattered throughout the land, completing the entire Bible and bringing hope back to the people. As the characters discover new pages, they'll be inspired to do more selflessly good deeds(being sent off on side quests). The game can be made with a single player character, as a Zelda type adventure, or it can be made with a final fantasy type battle system with several characters forming a party, as our hero progresses and makes more friends.

This is just something of the top of my head.
A game based on old testament stories such as escaping from Sodom and Gomorrah and a few levels dealing with the battles of king David and his army.

Acureforthecommonidiot :

...Did you know I found more Christ in the demonic music that got labeled Christian than what you like? Yeah. I know. I've got 666 branded all over my body.

"well, heavy metal and death metal are different. Death metal is more screaming etc. while heavy metal doesn't necessarily have that kind of tone/message. Also, Dave, that is kind of the perfect example of a person of most religions (well, that i know of)"

As a death metal fan, I must fix this. Death metal is growling, grunting, and sometimes making disturbing animal noises. Screaming is in there, but not as much. Also, once again, if this "demonic" sounding music that just sounds like a bunch of football players beating eachother up is sending the wrong idea musically, why are half of the people who listen to music with a more extreme sound the sanest people I've met? Not to mention, they can easily be the strongest Christians, Muslims, Pastaferians, or guys who decided to worship their computerism you can meet?

I'm not a strong Christian at all. In fact, I'm extremely agnostic in my ideas due to being tired of feeling like God is trying to push me off a cliff. I do know the metalheads who were Christians that I've met were the smartest ones I've talked to. They also were the ones who didn't let anyone get them down for being what they are. In the metalhead scene, you often get pushed around for being a certain religion, and if you're Christian, you're just a joke to most.