The Internet. Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay. So, as Christians, what attitude should we have towards it? Does it even matter? Well, here at InterHigh, we think it does matter! Now, you may be thinking, “how does it matter?” I’m glad you asked! Let me tell you about InterHigh Monthly #6.

The World on a Screen

“The world on a screen?” Kind of sounds like we’re describing Google™ maps. Guess what. We aren’t. We’re actually talking about the Internet and video games.  Our technology offers a virtual world that could be seen as a replacement for the real world (you know, cars and trees and people and stuff). So, on to the event…

We had lively discussions about four video clips for most of session one. The mentors leading the session began by showing us a clip from Wall-E. (Oh no, Disney! For more on that, click here). All of the people in the clip were looking at their computer screens chatting, even when they were right next to each other! However, this could be the direction society is heading towards today—most of our relationships are becoming based online rather than in person. In fact, another video clip highlighted how misleading, or even fake, our online personas can be. This, of course, might lead to no one knowing what we’re really like, especially if allow our online relationships replace our real ones. What a tragedy!

But you say, “I don’t spend that much time online unless you count…” Video games? That’s right, we also talked about video games. Many of us were surprised to learn that the military uses games similar to fps’ (first person shooters) to condition military troops to impulsively shoot enemies. A shocking statistic: the firing rate of riflemen at enemies went from 15% in WWII to 95% in the Vietnam War! Yep, the rate quintupled! Yet when we play these games, without the restrictions of military supervision and training, we train ourselves to be killers. Sounds dangerous, huh? But an even more dangerous effect of video games on us is addiction. In a video clip from Frontline, we saw the sad story of many Korean teenagers who have become addicted to video games. How does this relate to us? Well most of us might not be addicted to video games or to the Internet, but we all have things that attract us online – dramas, facebook, blogging, manga, you name it. We have to be on our guard to be sure that we are moving towards less wasted time, keeping this verse in mind: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (James 4:17)

Moving on, we had dinner (chicken bakes and salad) followed by games. I particularly enjoyed the thinking cap game. First, each person drew the food that best described her on an index card. Then, we placed these cards in the “thinking cap” that each mentor wore. Finally, the mentor tried to guess the food that was displayed on his cap, and who the food represented. One of the mentors, Nick Yoo, drew an ice cube because he was “so cool that he’s frozen!” (I thought it was because he sweats a lot). We followed this with a time of rocking praise—it really helped me get ready for the message…

Remember

In other news (or in session two), Pastor Will talked about the importance of remembering. “Remember what?” you say. Remembering what you ate for breakfast yesterday? No, we were talking about the importance of remembering Jesus’ death for us on the cross, especially in light of Easter. As an example, Pastor Will talked about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, describing it quite memorably: “God pwned Pharaoh ten times!” However, when the Israelites left Egypt and arrived at the Promised Land, they were afraid of the very tall and buff residents of Canaan. They even started complaining and demanding to go back to Egypt. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? They had been slaves in Egypt, but they wanted to go back—they didn’t remember what God had done for them. So to relate this back to the Passion Week (the week before Christ’s death), Pastor Will asked us to take this week to remember what Jesus has done. As Jesus tells his disciples during the Last Supper, “‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’” So let’s take time to remember how Jesus has “pwned” difficulties we’ve had in our life, and also how He purchased our forgiveness from sin with His death.

Well, I really enjoyed this month’s InterHigh, but I can’t wait until Rise next month! We’re having William Lane Craig, one of the most famous experts in defending Christianity, come to speak at the event. Remember to invite all your friends, including the non-Christian ones. And until next time, let’s do our best to be God-honoring InterHighers!

What was your favorite part of InterHigh Monthly #6?