CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Has anyone ever read the Christian Spotlight Guide 2 Games' review for Pokemon? I was just interested in their take on it, and so I read it. What a bunch of...I mean, c'mon. Horoscope signs as pokemon types? Fire is weak to water, ice weak to fire, duh. That's not a horoscope. The evolution isn't evolution, it's a metamorphosis. They claim the evolution to be evil because they get bigger from smaller Pokemon. Butterflies get bigger from a small worm, is that evolution? NO. As for the rest of it, throwing spells and crap, I mean, seriously. Electric eels can shock, but they aren't evil, are they? No. The Elite 4 were supposedly 'masters of evil'. Feh. I can't believe this crap.

GIMME A BREAK! GIMME A BREAK! BREAK ME OFFA PIECE OF THAT KIT KAT BAR!

*ahem*


.....sorry.

*leaves*

I guess they don't really understand what Pokemon is all about. I think that's why people make misconceptions like that. I still remember hearing about churches burning Pokemon cards back when they were really popular.

Well, my church feels the same way towards it but I really don`t want to break into that arguement.

In general, they are going hrough evolution because it`s called evolution.
If they were going through a metamorphic stage it would be called metamorphisis.
By calling it evolution, it gives it a take on evolution.

As for the horoscope thing, I think somebody is a few fries short of a happy meal.

Mmm, this old problem? A few years back the children's pastor at my church wrote a paper on the pokemon craze due to parental worries. In essence, the paper said that pokemon were not some demonic game, but simply a typical kid's game and kid's cartoon. The pastor's only worrys were that pokemon cards are made by "Wizards of the Coast," so parents might be worried about their children linking to D&D or "Magic:the Gathering" websites from the pokemon card game site, and that parents would have to deal with the issue of magic in the game. Those worries make sense, but most of this stuff sounds like the spam e-mail I get every once in a while claiming the FAA might take Christian broadcasting off the air (based on a petition from some atheists struck down in the '70s): hokey and paranoid.

If anything else had been as popular, we'd get the same effect. Pokémon just happened to be one of the more popular ones, so yeah, it gets attacked.

*still ponders how these kinds of "reviewers" will treat him when he enters the gaming industry...*

Mostly, I think some Christians are just too lazy to do anything about the REAL problems in the world, and go after the innocent, harmless things just so that they look like they're doing something.

Or maybe it was because when Christians went after Pokemon, "the innocent, harmless thing", as you say, it was because Pokemon was A HUGE fad with kids under 10 when it first hit America. After millions of kids threatened to kill their parents for not getting them some Pokemon cards, Christian parents got concerened.

It IS innocent and harmless. People love to blame things that aren't really responsible for things. Hey, some Christian groups say that Christian rock and Christian rap are made by Satan. I knew some people that said Nintendo was made by Satan and that video games were destroying our children. Lots of people said the same about TV.

The point is, just because Christian groups attack it doesn't mean it's bad.

After millions of kids threatened to kill their parents for not getting them some Pokemon cards, Christian parents got concerened.

Oh yeah, and we all know how serious kids are about that. I remember when I was a kid, my dad wouldn't buy me a video game, so I yelled at him and said I hated him and wished he would die. Was I serious? No. I was just being a brat because I didn't get what I wanted. The video game wasn't at fault. And neither are those Pokemon cards. Now, if there WAS a rash of children murdering their parents over cards (which there WASN'T) maybe then it would be something to be concerned about, but it didn't happen, so it's all just paranoia.

kaemmerite wrote:Oh yeah, and we all know how serious kids are about that. I remember when I was a kid, my dad wouldn't buy me a video game, so I yelled at him and said I hated him and wished he would die. Was I serious? No. I was just being a brat because I didn't get what I wanted. The video game wasn't at fault. And neither are those Pokemon cards. Now, if there WAS a rash of children murdering their parents over cards (which there WASN'T) maybe then it would be something to be concerned about, but it didn't happen, so it's all just paranoia.

Good for you.

It was a ridiculous panic accusing Pokemon of being demonic. However, Christians were not the only ones with troubles from concerned members. I understand back in 2000, 2001 there was some concerns among Muslims that the game was evil. One was the allegation that "Pokemon" was supposed to mean "I am a Jew" in Japanese.

There's always somebody having a panic attack about some harmless game.

This is just a friendly reminder to keep it civil. A while back, we had different thread concerning another Christian review site which went down hill and ended in a lockage. I’m sure some of you reminder it, so let’s not go down that road again. All right, people?

My church was split about 50/50 on the issue, all though it seemed like the only one's who were against it were those who knew nothing about it and took the word of those who hated it for Bible truth, or didn't allow their kids to get involved in much of any other fads either. Personally, I say that unless there are actual statistics saying that there has been some really unhealthy affect on the youth of America because of it, leave it alone and let the kiddies have their fun. I liked it, I bought and traded the cards and watched the tv show, and it never had any kind of a spiritually detrimental effect on me.

Just my two yen.

Oh, and yeah, what LA said! (Seems like we were posting at the same time. . .)

kaemmerite wrote:Mostly, I think some Christians are just too lazy to do anything about the REAL problems in the world, and go after the innocent, harmless things just so that they look like they're doing something.

Rock on. I mean, while people are spending their precious time on those articles they could be clothing and feeding the poor.

AnimeHeretic wrote: I understand back in 2000, 2001 there was some concerns among Muslims that the game was evil. One was the allegation that "Pokemon" was supposed to mean "I am a Jew" in Japanese.

Er, wow. How the heck did that get that from something that means Poket Monsters?

It IS innocent and harmless. People love to blame things that aren't really responsible for things. Hey, some Christian groups say that Christian rock and Christian rap are made by Satan. I knew some people that said Nintendo was made by Satan and that video games were destroying our children. Lots of people said the same about TV.

And they probably had the same thing about "Amazing Grace", half the other songs in the hymn books (the tune of many were, in fact, based off drinking songs), and even organ music.

Some probably even thought translating the Bible into English was evil. :/

lol check this out

[quote="Bible.com"] Children can receive demon spirits by opening themselves up to the spirits behind Pokemon. When it was first released in Japan in 1997, it was reported that over 600 children went into epileptic seizures while watching the Pokemon cartoons. ² The epileptic seizures were said to be caused by the incessant flashing lights in the cartoon overloading the optical nerves and inciting seizure]

Isn't that the most rediculous thing ever? It was by flashing lights, not demons.

Mr. SmartyPants wrote:Isn't that the most rediculous thing ever? It was by flashing lights, not demons.

Also, that episode was banned from all television stations for causing that, and is not available on DVD or VHS, even in Japan.

Indeed. These people have less time than we do.

if i'm thinking of the right site http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/games/home.html
that one is kind of hit and miss. Sometimes the reviews are good and sometimes you wonder if the reviewers were on crack. Not just the game reviews, but the movies too.

oh and hey..as far as i know, that's a pretty outdated, off-site review that's used with permission. Note that the review format works on a much more basic outline strategy. just a thought.

EDIT: good for a laugh:

"The moral content is where Nintendo misses the mark. Pokemon promotes the disproved theory of evolution. As pokemon grow and become more powerful they evolve (as the game states) to a more powerful pokemon. The new pokemon they become are usually larger, meaner, and nastier looking (an exception is a bug turning into a cocoon). This goes against God�s law. So many of the pokemon look like animals, there is no reason to call them monsters."

from a review of Pokemon:Emerald seen here http://www.almenconi.com/reviews.php?art_id=415

I love that they say that Pokemon promotes evolution, even though from my recollection, the animals dont evolve from fish to bird or ape to human...it's more like progressive evolution within a species. which isn't anti-Biblical.

anyways....

Rjdreamer wrote:Er, wow. How the heck did that get that from something that means Poket Monsters?

er, carefully?

Also note that evolution is your offspring developing new traits through genetic mutation. Changing the way you look isn't evolution... you are not your own offspring!

One can prove "Pokemon" means "I am a Jew" the same way one can prove Barney the purple dinosaur is the devil.

Given: Barney is a cute purple dinosaur.

Barney = Cute Purple Dinosaur

Extract the Roman numerals:
(and remember that the Romans had no letter 'U',
they used 'V' instead)

CVTE PVRPLE DINOSAVR
CV V L DI V

Add them:
100 + 5 + 5 + 50 + 500 + 1 + 5 = 666

Barney = 666

Yeah, this is old and it is rediculous... I think that report was teh first place I heard the term "horned god" referring to any and all creatures in fantasy that have horns or even antlers... Because some of the characters in pokemon have horns, people connected it to the "horned god" pentagram. Ignoring the fact that goats aren't a symbol of evil consistantly in the bible, and that the creatures they were talking about were creatures that had antlers in some cases...

People make a big deal about the unicorns, because in some mythology they turn into dragons and are evil, and also about the dragons. Because Satan is often represented biblically as a dragon or a snake, all usages of dragons and snakes are considered to be satanic refferences.

People pull stuff out of their butts... This is an old report, though... I think perhaps FotF should take that out of their website, as well as their blanket report on anime (they actually made a couple at least...) but for the most part, FotF will hold views that don't line up with the majority on this website (I'm not talking politically, I'm talking entertainment wise) so this is sort of a dead topic...

Oh, I didn't even realize this was Christian Spotlight... I thought this was a discussion about Plugged-in... It may have been Christian Spotlight that people went off about the "horned god" though... That one still gets me...

What? Unicorns are evil now? Didn't they used to be a symbol of Christ in the middle ages?

Oh, they've been used different ways, but because some mythology had them as evil creatures, it's evil to use them... Sort of like wearing black, white, or blue because all of those are "death" colors...

Narnia is the incarnation of evil, then, with all it's fantasy.

That Pokemon review is old, and I believe it was orginally posted on this site. But I think it was later removed, as I have been unable to find it recently.

there will always be paranoid legalists in the church, and everyone is entitled to have an opinion. if people want to think it's evil, then fine. if people want to think it's good, then fine.

what bothers me is that people make false assumptions about things like pokemon without investigating for themselves. without actually doing the research for themselves, they just assume it's evil because they heard it was evil, and then attack it like it it's evil.

A lot of times people are uneasy about things that are different from what they know. I've seen this happen too, people saying something's evil, especially things from another culture that are unfamiliar... since they dont know about them, they make assumptions... how many times have you guys heard "anime is nothing but dirty japanese cartoons!"

ever seen the "icons" show about d&d? it illistrates the point nicely about how that happens.

i guess the moral of the story is "keep an opened mind". granted too opened is just as bad as too closed, but hopefully we all can find a happy balance where we are open-minded enough to give things and honest and fair shot before casting judgement upon them either way.

I've never seen the Icons about D&D, although I wish I had. I'm into D&D and tabletop RPG's like that. And I played Magic back in the day, too. My mom always says that anime is just dirty cartoons as well. But that doesn't make them bad, necessarily. I suppose you could do satanic things with D&D, and maybe with MTG, and there are bad animes out there.

It's a little more understandable to me that people could write off games like Doom and GTA as evil, but Pokemon shouldn't be grouped with them.

everdred12a wrote:It's a little more understandable to me that people could write off games like Doom and GTA as evil, but Pokemon shouldn't be grouped with them.

Not to bring this thread off-topic, but in Doom, you are a person killing demons. Demons are evil. I never understood why killing demons makes Doom an evil game.