Guitar Praise: Christianized Guitar Hero

Pipenta

My only exposure to this Christian pop music has been by way of television commercials for Time-Life collections. As I’d never been impressed by the play list of any music collection sold on television, I sort of had a vague idea that there were probably better examples of the genre out there.

But watching the TV spots always left me feeling slightly queasy, like I was in a small, slightly overheated room with poor ventilation and one of those dreadful scented room candles. Oh yeah, if I had listened for too long, I knew I would be getting a whomper of a headache. And the thought of the people who made up the audiences for such music depressed me. And my reactions just baffled me, though I admit I didn’t give the matter much thought, as I would flip the channel as quickly as if I had inadvertently tuned in to the Jerry Springer Show. Ick, ick, look away.

So thanks to all of the above for helping me understand my reactions, and doing it without compelling me to listen to more of the treacly gloppy nonsense.

Ick, ick, plug your ears.

Anonymous

How about a Zen version?

scionofgrace

Cool, uncool, dorky, knock-off, whatever it is, if they’ve got stuff from the Newsboys, I want it.

redstarr

Hank Hill put it best…”You’re not making Christianity better, you’re just making Rock and Roll worse.”

Torley

Atheists should use the word “praise” more; that’ll mix things up! *air riff*

I remember some of World Wide Message Tribe’s music was very enthusiastic but shamelessly ripped off Prodigy’s riffs. A lot of modern Christian music sounds like watered-down derivatives of secular counterparts. To get the really quality stuff, you gotta rock out to Bach. :)

skyhawk

Rock me Asmodeus!

randalll

When you spend your whole life sublimating and shaming sexual desire, your subconscious gets desperate and starts to see sex in everything. Rock n Roll, the Twist, congressional pages, etc.

Takuan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uu-TtAKpCw

Foolster41

Takun #80: So then dismiss what the scripture tells Christians to do and instead judge based on what some Christians do? This is generalizing/stereotyping and is not helpful at all.

Keneke

Wait….Evanesence is Christian rock?

FoetusNail

Thanks, have you seen this yet?

romulusnr

RB2 will have Spirit in the Sky.

“Prepare yourself, you know it’s a must;
Gotta have a friend named Jesus.
So you know that when you die,
He’s gonna recommend you to the spirit in the sky.”

Then again, that song was written by a Jewish guy who didn’t believe any of it.

Takuan

lovely bit of work that

mellowknees

Can I barf now?

Modusoperandi

I think it’s sad that, to save their own souls, they have to suck the soul out of everything else.

Foolster41

#112: Circumcision isn’t really a part of Christianity anymore and hasn’t for at least a couple hundred years, so I don’t know how your challenge applies to Christianity. I’m not sure if circumcision is practiced today by followers of modern Islam or Judaism.

I do agree with letting ones children decide, as long as the parent also is allowed to tell their children what they believe is true.

FoetusNail

Why ain’t this ever enough?

mwschmeer

I’d buy the Zen version.

FoetusNail

No, blame all our problems on accepting beliefs as knowledge and letting unfounded beliefs influence our reasoning and societies. No, people should stop telling little children their beliefs are the truth. Even more egregious, parents telling little children their beliefs are the only truth.

The religious myth is but one unimportant piece of the lie. The deception is not the myth of any one faith, but the false impression there are answers to the unanswerable. Giving children the idea there is an answer is the danger.

anthony

Are we coming to a point of agreement or what? I’m not trying to sell anything. I’m pointing out that I agree with the message even if I eschew the belief.
And Modus, if you reread my comment you’ll see I was lamenting a sense of greater purpose, as in cosmic purpose, not wondering about why I was born. Reason and purpose are different animals.

And as for your ignorant remark about my parents, I can only say that while they were alive they cared for me and loved me. They never indicated that they thought of me as a mistake. I assume the same of your parents.

ridl

yeah, i’d take that guy over Joe Pesci any day.

anthony

I mean Jesus, it’s not as though I’m even trying to argue there is a God. All I said was I agree with the positive aspects of the Christian message, and that I have some remorse concerning my own lack of belief. Perfectly reasonable!
No need to light the torches.

FoetusNail

I do agree with letting ones children decide, as long as the parent also is allowed to tell their children what they believe is true.

Well you see that’s the problem right there, because the parents minds are usually circumcised. Obviously religion has been a complete failure, but it’s easier to blame all our problems on a few sinners. We need to leave all this archaic BS in the past where it belongs. Clinging to this stuff is similar to At some point the brainwashing has to stop if humans are ever going to live in peace.

keratacon

Does it have any Blind Willie Johnson?

FoetusNail

strike – Clinging to this stuff is similar to

bardfinn

Shakahuachi Monk-Buddha – where you fail for no discernible reason, and the post-performance breakdown is either mind-numbingly repetitive or different every time.

If you build a robot to beat the game, the disc self-destructs.

torgortega

Re #63: “My experience with officially “Christian” pop music has been that it’s mostly been terribly derivative of the work of well-established secular artists.”

My experience with ALL pop music has been that itâ€™s mostly been terribly derivative of the work of well-established secular artists. I donâ€™t think Christian music is any worse an offender in this regard.

Bugs

I can see the market for this: well-meaning Christian parents. And who knows, maybe there are kids out there who would genuinely enjoy it?

Clay(17) – Yes. Brilliantly put too, I LOL’d.

Keneke – Yeah, I’ve always puzzled about that. The band are all Christians (or were all Christian; didn’t they replace someone a while ago?) and happy to admit it, but have insisted in a couple of interviews I’ve read that they’re not a “Christian group”.

However, I’ve heard plenty of people claiming that they’re a religious group and that some of their songs are clearly addressing God or have other religious themes. I can see the argument (Going Under could almost be a prayer), but tend to think that people just see religious references because they’re looking for them.

Takuan

is there catholic rock?

Kyle Maxwell

Someone help me understand why this is worthy of derision. I mean… isn’t catering to subcultures with highly specific tastes what BB does too? And much of the rest of teh intarwebz?

Modusoperandi

anthony “To think we simply go to the grave makes life dull sometimes.”
Have you ever considered taunting police dogs while wearing a suit made of steak, then running like hell? Life is never boring when you’ve got eighty-plus pounds of German Shepherd ridin’ your shadow.

soupertrooper

@27- Graduated hs class of 88 with his son Jethro. I always wonder what he ended up doing.

bardfinn

Kyle Maxwell: This game doesn’t cater to a subculture – it panders to it.

All of the Christian Praise music that is aimed at young adults is done by marketeers – not artists – who attempt to “catch” the “new sounds going around” but end up writing, performing, and recording /terrible/, clinical synthesised pap, thinking that the portions they’re imitating are “what the kids are into” –

Meanwhile, what people really want to listen to involves moving their hips, which is the element the Baptists-Evangelical-sexphobic marketroids are explicitly leaving out of their genre-covers.

It’s music specifically made /not/ to dance to. MUSIC THAT DETERS DANCING. The most you want to do is sit next to your fellow believers and sway in unison, palms extended upward, eyes closed …

SeppTB

Whoa – whats with the subliminal Nikon D90 link in the middle of the word Christian – and does that count as an endorsement or slam on the camera?

Antinous

Yoga too satanic and foreign-like? How about Praise Moves: The Christian Alternative? These things really do speak to the fragility of some people’s faith.

Foolster41

Tuakan: Interesting. Can you show me the part of the bible that says that?

HM Magazine

While the makers of Guitar Praise didn’t exactly consult us on artists that could be included in the new video game, if they did, we might be able to help bunk the notion that â€œChristian rockâ€ sucks. Come on, admit it: You think Christian rock is like Creed or the Southpark guys saying, â€œIf we just play songs about how much we love Jesus, all the Christians will buy our crap.â€
Â
HM Magazine covers the Christian hard music scene â€“ featuring artists such as As I Lay Dying, Underoath, Brian “Head” Welch, Haste The Day, Demon Hunter, As Cities Burn, August Burns Red, The Chariot, Blindside, mewithoutYou, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Norma Jean, The Devil Wears Prada, The Almost, Anberlin, etc… as well as a variety of other artists like Paramore, Copeland, Mutemath and Reliant K.Â Check us out at online at HMMag.com. Thanks!

justONEguy

Must… buy… Nikon D90.

Foolster41

Takuan:

I am no bible scolar, and I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I can see some of these are misunderstanding the verses, taking them out of scirptural and cultural context or presuming that recording events as being approved of.

1: Deut 22:13-19. the sysnopsis from the site seems to indicate an option for a husband to slander his wife, but this isn’t the case if you look at the actual verse. It lays out guidelines for proving the accusation and punishment for the man if he is lying/slandering or the owman if he was right. According to the law of the time, having sex before one was married was a pretty serious thing. Obviously that’s not true now.

2: Deut 21:10-14: Slave wives was a common practice everywhere at the time. She is “let go” free. If she was a captive wouldn’t that be better than a slave wife? I can understand an objection to the practice in the first place, but the site seems also negetive about “letting go.”.

3: Deut 22:25-27? V. 27 mentions being out in the country and no one hearing, and nothing should be done to woman, so this is outright WRONG.

4: That was a PERSIAN practice, Persia was were the Jews were exiled at the time. The book doesn’t say weither the practice is good or bad. Just because it’s recorded in the bible doesn’t not necciely condone it. Besides, it’s kind of established the king is a jerk when he asks his first wife to apear presumibly naked in front of his guests and divorces her when she doesn’t.

5: I assume Romans 1:26. I think this is misunderstanding what Paul is saying. He’s not saying “women’s main purpose is sex.” at least any more than “mans purpose is to have sex.” He is comparing natural (I.E. procreating sex) and “unnaterual” (Non-procreating sex.). (By the way, the “unnaterual” in this verse isn’t always taken to be negetive even by pro-gays.)

6: I think the writer means Rev 14:1-4, not genesis. I don’t know what to say about this verse though I admit.

7: Again, that was a terrible thing Lot did. Just because it is recorded and not nessicerly directly condemned means that the bible is meant to say “this is alright.”

8: I can’t find any refrences to not selling sons, and I did quite a few searches. It’s possible I missed it.

9: St. Jerome is not from the bible, thus what he says is not the word of God. The verse is Lev 12:5. I don’t know what to say about being unclean longer when giving birth to a female. One commentator speculats it’s not doubling for girls but halving for boys because of the required circumscision ritual on the 3rd day.
http://www.stilltruth.com/2006/leviticus_12-5/

10: Soldiers in that time thought it insulting to be killed by a woman since women did not normily fight in wars. Again, the bible doesn’t say. “Yes he was right to do that.”. Suicide for any reason isn’t specificly condoned or approved of.

11: Num 31:17. Again, I’m not sure what to say about this.

12: The prayer is not form the bible and thus has no relevence. Culturaly the widow was expected to be cared for by the brother-in-law and have a son under the disceased’s name. It is likely that the woman would be the one angry at the careless man.

jayemdee

hallelujah for the D90. Now I’ll be able to do HD movies of my kidlets playing Guitar Praise. This is certainly a sign of impending rapture.

David Pescovitz

I was blogging in tongues. Sorry. Fixed. ; )

Jeff

Takuan, did you eat the runts of the litter? How fun! I’d like to find someone to eat two of mine. My twin is cool, even if he won’t sleep with me anymore : )

pollyannacowgirl

I went to an evangelical school. As far as I could gather, the evil of rock and roll was that the rhythm was supposed to imitate (and incite) the rhythmic rocking and rolling of people having sex. Like Elvis’ pelvis. Not to mention the devil-worshipping lyrics and the rampant drug use (I’ll give them that).

I could never understand why, if only the lyrics changed, Christian “rock and roll” was okay. The hypocrisy of everything I saw and learned turned me off forever.

Jeff

I think Moby calls himself a Christian artist. And I do think I can hear it in most of his stuff. I do enjoy him and he puts on a real fun concert.

Takuan

then let us dismiss the “scripture” (ie: current English translation fifteenth hand from various dead languages badly recorded and freely edited by the self-interested for centuries) and examine the recent behaviour of the xtians to women: Yep, nothing good there either.

soupertrooper

Oops! That should have been @30.

anthony

Takuan,
Consider Christ a fiction-fine. I say his ideas as I understand them were good nonetheless. I think people mix up the message with the masses too often. There is goodness in Christianity. Don’t confuse that with dumb ass Christians.

And Modus, come on. My life has been plenty exciting. I was of course referring to the dullness of an existence without greater purpose, not a life without thrills.

rrsafety

Cool….

I wonder if they’ll do a country music one, too.

How about a “air” saxophone for jazz riffs?

Kyle Maxwell

@38 Bardfinn:

As “pander” means “cater to the lower tastes and desires of others or exploit their weaknesses”, it’s basically a matter of taste and perspective.

While I can’t imagine any circumstances under which I’d play and enjoy this game, the fact is that a great deal of the scorn being heaped upon the folks involved is because they happen to belong to a group that is the Hated Other to somebody.

Oh, and #19 is *genius*.

FoetusNail

Now Takuan, we all know that scripture is either the word of god or the inspired word of god.

Takuan

enjoy!
http://www.cybercollege.com/antiwoman.htm

anthony

And you are sufficient to me, as well. Peace be with you.

Joe MommaSan

I guess my question is whether the good Christians who made this licensed it from the GH makers, or just stole the idea outright?

I’m betting on the latter, in which case you can expect a lawsuit any day now.

anthony

#70
There are people like that. The Emergent church is doing a good job.

FoetusNail

BTW – Takuan, what would be the good points? Brainwashing children?

Takuan

now that I think of it… organized religion hates women because women are smarter.

thecat17

@#7, #29 – Evanescence is not Christian music anymore:

“Originally promoted in Christian stores, the band eventually made it clear they did not want to be considered part of the Christian rock genre. Wind-up Records chairman Alan Meltzer issued a press release in April 2003 asking for the band’s music to be removed from Christian retail outlets.”

unclejerry

well that’s cool. Christians like to play games too so why not have one with music they enjoy.

Foolster41

#50: Salk lake city: Grand theft Mule? (I know, “horse” is more accurite, but “mule” somehow sounds better in the title.)

#54: It was a more of a changing of attitude from the strict 50s, even in Christian cirlcles, as #48 said.

badinia

Christianity has always been useful as a social barometer to tell me when something I liked was no longer cool. It happened to etheral gothic pop (Evanescence), it happened to Dance, Dance, Revolution, (Dance Praise!) and Guitar Hero is next on the godly chopping block.

anthony

I think organized religion is going through a second reformation. The old church is dying out, and a new one is hopefully going to replace it. There are intelligent, free thinking, liberal Christians.

James David

Print Magazine ran an article on how good (read: slimy) evangelicals are at branding. It was published within the past year, but I can’t seem to find it online anywhere.

buddy66

R&R was earlier condemned by racists because it was ”black music,” thus sexual by definition. Then Elvis & Co. threw white Christianity a curve. Its spread was phenomanal, 1955-1960. It changed pop music completely. A generation went by and the Christ hustlers changed their minds about The Big Beat; they saw where the money was.

anthony

Whoops. I meant Western Christianity in particular when I typed “organized religion”.
For what it’s worth my spiritual life has followed this trajectory:
learned the golden rule
observed the golden rule as best I could
observed everyone basically ignoring the golden rule
threw hands in the air

nothing left to do but observe the damn rule anyway-it’s a good rule.

FoetusNail

Maybe a new name would be in order, such as Intelligent Free Thinking Liberal Theists Who Mind Their Own Business, because Christian is taken.

Foolster41

#16: Christianity is a brand now? How much is that worth?

How is this ruining rock band? Does this make rock band magically disappear? I have rock band myself and love it. and I also like a lot of Christians songs that there’d be now way would be in rock band. I’d love to see skillet (the original 1st album, not so much their new stuff), Newsboys, Five Iron Frenzy, Bleach and D.C. Talk among others in a guitar hero/rock band-like game.

I’m not sure which bands are on the christian one, right not buying another rock band-like game doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

I Don’t think is should be necessarily thought of as a replacement for rock band for Christians who are trying to “shelter” themselves, but a way of extending rock band with songs that would not normally be seen on the main market. (As #35 said.)
Honestly I don’t understand the reason for all this thoughtless mocking.

FoetusNail

When you say do unto others as you would have them do unto you, make damn sure the people you are dealing with aren’t into a good spanking.

anthony

I don’t know.

What can one do? Religion was a contradiction; an oppressive comfort. Now that I’ve shrugged it off, even the threat of eternal punishment is preferable to the old void.

ZombieBabyDiego

what was so offensive to the Xtians in the regular Guitar Hero game that created the demand for THIS version?
It’s all cartoonish non-violence.

anthony

I think it’s because everyone knows Satan invented rock and roll.
When God enters the rock, it seems perverse.

I’m not judging, though.

FoetusNail

Anthony, what is comfort and why do you need it? This is the part many of us don’t get when religion comes up.

Modusoperandi

anthony “And Modus, if you reread my comment…”
I never read your comment the first time. I don’t even read my own comments. Too much deja vu. I only read Takuan’s comments.

“…you’ll see I was lamenting a sense of greater purpose, as in cosmic purpose, not wondering about why I was born.”
I wasn’t wondering why you were born, either. I was trying to point out that cosmic purpose isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’m just not very good at pointing out such things. It must take practice, I guess. Something that “may be, possibly, if only…” is a pale shadow of something that “definitely is, right here, now”. You do (or did) definitely have parents that love/d/ you. You do (hopefully) have people around you that love you. The cosmos can wait.

Caroline

Buddy66 @57 — Except for Jack Chick!

“My heavy metal has turned millions into rock-a-holics . . .They’ve become zombies.”

Sister Y

Badinia, I think “cool” is often a rough hash for authenticity – and the phenomena you mention have been “Christianized” by being stripped of their authenticity. (I’ve never heard the Christian gothic ethereal pop, though!) But some things – say, weird “blessed” items or amulets full of Lourdes water or things you’d mail-order from an Evangelical radio station in the 70s – are extremely cool, dripping as they are with authenticity.

Takuan

not a matter of offensive,just branding. Organized religion can’t work without the Hated Other.

Takuan

praise be Sister! Long time no see!

Foolster41

Or blame all our problems on religion? People should stop expressing what they believe is true? “Freedom is slavery.”

Sister Y

Much love, brother Takuan.

Actually I can see Guitar Praise being an awesome drinking game for a certain set.

anthony

Takuan,
I don’t have a problem with what you wrote. It makes sense to imagine a world where everyone decides to live by a common, fair moral code minus the various competing deities. Theoretically there’d be no conflicting views of paradise and who gets to go where, etc.
As for your views on Christ, though- Jesus was more about ‘love thy neighbor’, be humble, live simply. Those are good ideas. He only spoke of violence in a metaphorical sense when attempting to bring about change.
Basically he had some of the same things that many other prophets did.
The bible and similar codes were constructed to define ethical, responsible behavior, and as such it needed to define a system of rewards and punishments. That’s where people go nuts.

And Foetus I guess for me The notion of cosmic purpose, truth, whatever beyond the brief human existence is a beautiful and poetic one. To think we simply go to the grave makes life dull sometimes.
That’s how it is for me anyway.

minamisan

is there a Scientology “E-Meter Hero” for us electronica fans?

Jeff

Takuan, you aren’t supposed to hate the other (in Christianity), but rather you should love them as you love your brother. You are allowed to hate the sin, apart from the sinner. Christianity when done right teaches about the Mystical Other, the spirit of love and peace and all that good stuff.

Of course I know how the Hated Other usually finds its way into everything. We even have the Hated Other/s in BoingBoing. But I stive to be one with my BoingBoing Brethren, loveing them as I would love any other node in the hive mind. I will now partake in the Sacrament and eat a small piece of a page from Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Peace be with you.

Antinous

you should love them as you love your brother

Oooh, bad choice of words. Takuan ate his siblings.

Takuan

so dump the jeebus part already. Good rules to live by don’t need the baggage of bowing and scraping to some so-all-powerful-cosmic-muffin-that-it-needs-our pathetic-prayers. Xtians don’t need the x. It’s mythology. Grow up already. You too, muslims and jews!

Takuan

there is, but no one can afford it.

bardfinn

Playing upon xenophobia /is/ “cater[ing] to … the lower tastes and desires of others or exploit[ing] their weaknesses”.

Put simply:

Christian Praise genre-covers simply fail to capture what makes the music they’re covering /good/ – because what makes the music they’re covering /good/ is the same thing Christian Praise consumers and producers are phobic of – their own bodies.

I’ve been told by many musicians – from rock bands to Irish Traditional Musicians – that they just don’t understand why Dallas crowds don’t /dance/.

The answer is simple: This is the buckle of the Bible Belt, and Baptists don’t dance.

It’s even illegal here to dance /in public/ unless the owner of the property you’re on has a dance permit! Blue Law FOR THE WIN!

Cefeida

I’m Christian, myself. Can’t stand most Christian music. But others like it and I’m sure they’d have fun with this game. I mean, why not?

Foolster41

#120: “You either know all this and approve, or you’re so brainwashed you’ll never see it.”
So I’m either presumed to be a evil mastermind or a brainwashed zombie? There’s no room for being simply mistaken?

“Believing everyone is a sinner, is brainwashing at its finest.” One question: Do you believe that everyone has not done wrong of some kind?

Takuan

yup, my kids ain’t never done wrong.

FoetusNail

That’s the whole point they ain’t got any good rules except maybe one and that one’s conditional on the whims of an imaginary god and his Earthly messangers.

Carlin on the Commandments

trr

Subliminal: I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Not a Doktor

@ 50 anthony , August 27, 2008 4:02 PM

How a Salt Lake City version of Grand Theft Auto? Sans the theft and grand parts.

“Salt Lake City Auto”.

Riding your skateboard in the Smith’s parkinglot gets you four stars. Also you can go to Boise, in the back of your mom’s mini-van.

Anonymous

Something like this seems deeply counterproductive. Are they trying to give the impression that Christianity is A)such a delicate construct that it cannot survive if the believer isn’t kept in a sterile subculture and B)so culturally sterile that all it can come up with is second rate knockoffs of secular stuff, with “christian” tacked onto their names? Because, if they aren’t, they might want to reconsider the whole genre of “christian-whatever”.

Whatever you think of the religion, it is hard to see the act of stamping your brand on bowdlerized knockoffs of culture as being anything other than pathetic.

The Paul

@badinia: Kinda’ slow on the up take if you’re just now realizing Guitar Hero should be past it’s expiration date.

MaximusNYC

My experience with officially “Christian” pop music has been that it’s mostly been terribly derivative of the work of well-established secular artists.

I’ve always felt there’s something pathetic, and slightly dishonest, about this stuff. It seems to be based on the idea that if you gussy up Christianity (or a simplified form of it) with a knockoff version of popular culture, you can slip it to people on the sly, like a bitter pill in a spoonful of sugar.

That’s not to say that Christians can’t make great art — some of the greatest art of our civilization was made by Christians, with Christian themes. And there are talented artists who happen to be Christian, whose work is informed by their beliefs, without necessarily being branded as “Christian.”

eigengrau

Fayth – ur doin it wrong.

If you are a Christian, and buy the fact that it is important for Christ’s principles to be propagated into the world, I’m cool with that.

But this does that in all the wrong ways, and sends a lot of wrong messages – that the original Rock Band is bad, that Christians are money grubbers and want a piece of that pie, or that you should take the Jesus Compliant(TM) option over the competitor’s. Clearly monopolistic, capitalist marketing behavior.

I welcome the coming generation shift that is going to turn these tactics on their head. The Modern age is dying, and this kind of “Christianity” is going to go with it. I have high hopes for the replacement. Like changing your underwear. Everything needs a revolution once in a while.

My favorite quote about Christian involvement in media: “We don’t need more people writing Christian books, we need more Christians writing good books.” – CS Lewis

Keith

what was so offensive to the Xtians in the regular Guitar Hero game that created the demand for THIS version?

I’m guessing it has something to do with the fact that to win the game, you play Devil Went Down to Georgia against a (very cartoonish) Satan.

A lot of Christians are overly literal about interpretations of Satan.

But yeah, Xtian pop-culture: there’s nothing it can’t make suck.

Takuan

why can’t intelligent people take the good points of the xtian brand and lose the hairy-guy-in-the-sky-kill-all-women parts?

FoetusNail

All three Semitic religions and thousands of others around the world are insidious, this allows evil a home. These religions are evil. The answers they provide are nothing more than Trojan horses, which release a viral scripture that dulls the mind and leaves its victims open to exploitation.

Let me repeat myself, the religious myth is but one unimportant piece of the lie. The deception is not the myth of any one faith, but the false impression there are answers to the unanswerable.

Giving children the idea there is an answer is the danger. There are no answers to the mystery our presence presents. Religion does not provide any answers or great truths. Religion only outlaws critical thought and provides the vehicle for controlling the lives and votes of millions.

You either know all this and approve, or you’re so brainwashed you’ll never see it. Believing everyone is a sinner, is brainwashing at its finest.

Anonymous

has anyone read Rapture Ready! its a supposedly brilliant outside look at the world of evangelical pop culture/merchandising

Modusoperandi

anthony “I was of course referring to the dullness of an existence without greater purpose…”
And what difference in ultimate purpose is there between a godless and god’d universe? The reason for your existence, in either case, is because your parents wanted kids. Then they had you and realized what a terrible mistake they’d made. The same is true in both universes. Luckily, both of them have actual, physical parents who care for you anyway.
In both, too, you will die. This is an unfortunate side-effect of existence, and the one which people have the biggest problem with.

Clay

Christianity v1.0 had no dependencies on the Hated Other libraries, but after a lot of forking, with most compiled code out there running anywhere from v5.0 to v12.0, it’s become a frequent staple because most dev teams found it easier to maintain their userbase with it.

There are some shell scripts to remove the dependencies, but they’re not very popular.

Takuan

better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o&feature=related

Takuan

the “ideas” of Jesus were around before Jesus. They are OUR ideas. Branding is labeling, not creating.
What prophet do I respect? The one forgotten. The idea lived on, the name was never important.

FoetusNail

This is my opinion; my opinion is not a belief. But first, does god exist? Don’t know, don’t care. OK? Secondly, for the purposes of this statement, religion means the three desert religions.

Religion is bad. Religion says we are nothing without god. Religion debases human achievement. Religion is the ultimate malware. Parents into innocent trusting minds load this malware. Religion creates a bio-chemical botnet responsible for self-loathing, misery, and death. We are unworthy sinful creatures incapable of understanding, the only way to rise above this morass god blessed us with is to render unto god that which is godâ€™s. Removing this malware is difficult, if not impossible. This malware invisibly controls how we think and act. Religion is mental circumcision, and just like your prepubescent circumcised cock is all you know and all you need, our preloaded beliefs are all we need until we grow up.

Then we start to learn. One day in the shower after gym class, look at that poor bastard, his (uncircumcised) cock is deformed. Thank god that didn’t happen to me! You grow up some more. WHAT! You mean they cut the end off MY Cock. Iâ€™m circumcised? For fuck’s sake! Why? Then you hear that your circumcised cock is less sensitive than an unmodded cock. But since an orgasm in an attentive orifice makes you feel like if he or she licks my cock one more time I going die, you find it impossible to believe your experience isnâ€™t already the best it could possibly be. In fact, those people are fkin delusional and are wasting their lives.

Fortunately, unlike your long gone foreskin, you can reprogram your mind restructure your beliefs. Yes, that kernel will still be there buried in your subconscious, but over time its influence lessens. We created this god, we carved it out of our consciousness and now live divided, isolated. When this Judeo-Christian god dies we will be born again whole as we always were. We can have faith in ourselves.

This is my challenge to religion: trust your children to decide for themselves. Don’t cut the end off of their cocks or gouge out their clits, and leave their minds open. Remember, only you can prevent forest fires.

Foolster41

@#44 (Me): So, I guess in a way Christianity is a brand, and I guess I can see the appeal to slapping “Christian” on something. Heck, there’s not even a royalty that needs to be payed.

Not all Christian music is bad by the way. Perhaps a difference in taste, but it seems cold to just blanket say “Christian music is bad.” (Mostly I’m referring to #22s comment)

arkizzle

Tak, that is an exceptionally well made point.

Takuan

yeah, ole “Charcoal” Takuan they call me…

TheVoBRX

I can see it now…

“Hey Bobby, wanna come over after sunday school and shred some sweet licks for Jesus!? My mom got me Guitar Praise the other day since I learned to recite the entire book of Leviticus!”

“Hail Satan!”

“No Bobby, no.”

assumetehposition

You guys are reading into this waaaaay too much. Christians like to have fun too, and this is an easy way for them to do it. Rock & roll vs. the Christian subculture was big news about 40 years ago, but most of today’s Christian kids grew up on Christian rock and aren’t aware there was ever any controversy about it. Simply put, these are the songs they like in a popular gaming format. Whoop-de-do.

assumetehposition

This might make a great gift for some people I know, though the design can’t hold a candle to Popgun’s Guitar Hero. The obvious bands are there — Kutless, 12 Stones, Skillet, Jonah33 — although I would have liked see some more Christian classic rock represented (there’s only one Petra song).

Unfortunate that it’s not a console game.

SeppTB

#15 TRR – My usage was certainly a stretch for the word, but it falls well within what Kevin Nealon’s Mr. Subliminal would find acceptable, and that’s good enough for me.

Brett Burton

This is a sure fire way to make Christian kids hate their parents. I’m imagining a kid opening his birthday presents. “Oh boy guitar heer…oh? What’s this? Guitar praise?” “Billy, it’s just like guitar hero, except with no songs that you like”.

johnnyuber

Sweet … this opens up the marketplace for a completely satanic version ;)

Foolster41

PennyArcade (www.penny-arcade.com) Mentions guitar priase today in the newspost, and I think gives a pretty good take on it. (Sorry, I don’t know how to link to the specific day. It’s Friday august 29th though)

assumetehposition

Wait… I think I just commented on the wrong blog. Crap.

anthony

How a Salt Lake City version of Grand Theft Auto? Sans the theft and grand parts.

“Salt Lake City Auto”.

zikzak

From the title, I imagined a guitar game where the computer audience would always say nice things about your playing. Like Guitar Hero for kids with really poor self-esteem.

Takuan

no one knows what Jesus was about. No one can even be sure he existed. No one needs him either. You in yourself are sufficient to me, I would like the same courtesy.

Foolster41

Foetusnail: I don’t think this argument is for here, we’re going horribly off-topic as it is, but I really haven’t heard any clear reason WHY religion is so darn horrible except that some use it as an excuse to do evil. People use it as a reason to do good too. You say “a few sinners are blammed” (I believe everyone is a sinner, even me and no one is better than anyone else.), but I still stand on that you’re blaming SOME of the followers of religions on EVERY follower of EVERY religion.

At the very least, I hope this is more of a preference thing. “I’d rather people didn’t teach their children religion” rather than “they must stop it now and I’m going to do everything in my power to do so.”. The first is perfectly reasonable, though I have the freedom to ignore it. The second is following a Orwellian idea of what freedom is.

FoetusNail

Not at all, the masterminds are long dead.

This is not some mistake or error in judgment. This stuff is put into our heads before we get a chance to be mistaken. These are not opinions, but beliefs. Beliefs exploit fear and our weakness for the superstitious.

What does right and wrong have to do with original sin? This ain’t about right and wrong, it is about self-image, self-respect. We are not all unworthy sinners, begging forgiveness; speak for yourself. The concept of Sin is a lie, a destructive, dehumanizing lie, which creates dependence on the priest and their relationship with the supernatural. This is about telling children you are sinful, read dirty, and only (print deity’s name) ____________ can cleanse your eternal soul, protecting you in the after-life.

I don’t care about your beliefs. This is not about beliefs, it’s about exploiting our ability to believe.

With a strong enough belief, the world is flat, enigmas mere gods, and we all live forever, and ever, and ever…

dhamby

Ah, boy.

I just want to see if Muslims come out with their own version, or even Hindus.

Hell, this would a fun market to tap into.

FoetusNail

“…it attacks us in our deepest integrity, it says that we would be nothing, that we would have no principles, no humor, no irony, no decency…”

“They are OUR ideas.”

Takuan, Thanks

StrangeInterlude

Brilliant comment, Clay (it’s #17 for those of you who might have skipped it). It’s something I’ve always thought but didn’t quite have the vocabulary to express aloud or in print. Although I’m officially an agnostic, I do have to say that old-school Jesus was way cool, and not just in the King Missile sense.

Guitar Praise: Christianized Guitar Hero

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