Eternal Forces is the latest startup in the Left Behind conglomerate, at last bringing weak theology and lazy plots to the gaming realm. Praise the Lord and pass the AK-47!

The mockery of this misguided idea pretty much writes itself, so I'll focus on a couple of less obvious but key disturbing themes:

1. Christian analogues of popular art and entertainment products invariably suck. (Hey, kids, if you like Metallica, you'll love White Heart or Stryper!) Is this because Christians are somehow inherently, as a group, less artistic or creative than their secular counterparts? Possibly. More likely, it's because resonant art begins with inspiration, not agenda.

2. The mental gymnastics performed to defend this game as "Christian" are impressive (or creepy and depressing, take your pick):

"Our game includes violence, but excludes blood, decapitation, killing of police officers," the company says on its Web site, noting that a player can lose points for "unnecessary killing" and regain them through prayer.

Does the existence of blood or decapitation really change the moral quality of the act of killing and make it more acceptable than the killing in those other, non-Jesus-sanctioned games? Or is it that removing these elements somehow makes parents feel more comfortable with what they are exposing their children to (read: more likely to buy the game)? The really disturbing thing about this (beyond the mind-boggling failure of the "logical process" theoretically at work here) is that sanitizing the killing makes it less offensive. Shouldn't Christians, of all people, be offended by killing and resist being desensitized to its moral impact?

Furthermore, the notion of distinguishing between acceptable and unacceptable targets should give a thoughtful Christian pause. This distinction requires a judgment that is not only wholly antithetical to New Testament teaching, but downright dangerous in the modern political climate.

But wait, there's more!

"Christians are quite clearly taught to turn the other cheek and to love their enemies," the company Web site says. "It is equally true that no one should forfeit their lives to an aggressor who is bent on inflicting death."

Right, kinda like Jesus didn't forfeit his life to an aggressor who...oh, wait...

The common thread in the defense of this game is a very old one: missing the forest for the trees. And it's unfortunately common these days in modern American Christendom, in which most of us live by a made-up law code we decorate with Jesus' rubber stamp, rather than living by faith.