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Okay, so for a moment let’s ignore the fact that this is the first post to this blog since August, and skip right to the good, er, interesting stuff.

Perhaps I’ve been living under a rock, but I just now heard about Dante’s Inferno - that’s the video game version, not the description of hell from the 14th century epic poem. Apparently come February 2010 you’ll be able to battle your way through nine circles of hell using your scythe and your “holy powers” (which apparently manifest themselves as a glowing gray cross?? But why wait - you can already “damn your friends to hell” using the nifty facebook app they provide.

I’m sure I’m not the first person to notice the trend in the media to deal with themes that relate directly with our Catholic faith. Movies like Stigmata and Constantine, tv shows like the CW’s Supernatural, and now video games, and then there’s that whole sexy vampire thing that I still don’t understand. The media has always used the supernatural as a jumping off point, but what interests me is the fact that they’re starting to acknowledge the role of God in the battle between good and evil. Used to be the media saw a world with demons but no angels, sinners but no saints, but not anymore. For example, the last season of the CW’s Supernatural dealt with the struggle of two humans and their angel buddy to prevent the apocalypse. This year they’re wrestling with some pretty deep themes like whether or not God has given up on humanity.
All in all it makes for some pretty interesting discussions in the youth ministry setting. What are your thoughts?

Oh, and for the record, I found out about the new video game by way of this site – which I have to admit, made me laugh until it hurt.