Do you think it's sinful to play video games if...

[Girder of Loins]

Let me ask you this: why do you think video games cannot in any way, shape, or form, give glory to God?

 

[allykelly07]

Let me ask you this: why do you think video games cannot in any way, shape, or form, give glory to God?

I am not saying that. If a person is engrossed in it, and it's a struggle for them, then they should not be playing it. But if a person is being led by the Spirit in everything, and is allowing God to be in control of them, if someone invites them to play, it could be used as an opportunity to preach the gospel to them, or they could use it as enjoyment, but should not be engrossed. But we should be having our minds on spiritual things, and living by the Spirit, so that we won't be overcome by the world. We are here only for a short time, and so are other people. So, if we are not making our lives about pleasing God in saving souls, then what is our life worth to them? They will die and go to hell, unless we are making the most of every opportunity with others, in hopes that they might come to know Him.

1 Corinthians 7:29-31
29 What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

Ephesians 5:15-17
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

Jude 1:22-24
22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Romans 8:6-9
6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

 

[Girder of Loins]

Ah. I was not clear on your position and misunderstood your premise. I was under the idea that you thought video games were inherently evil. I apologize for misjudging you!

Go in Peace, Sister!

 

[allykelly07]

That's ok... Thanks!

 

[emily catherine]

no i dont think its a sin

 

[Forlorn Drifter]

I don't think video games are in any way sinful. I view them as nothing more than a form of entertainment, like watching TV, going to the movies, or listening to music.

If it affects you in a bad way, IE makes you violent, I would suggest that you stop playing them. But otherwise, they are not sinful. Its a form of escapism, a way of getting away from life. Nothing more.

 

[Kurama]

Well I would describe myself as a moderate gamer, and I have played my fair share of games. I've spent large amounts of my childhood playing old school games (my parents bought me a Wii U for Christmas, Nintendoland is soon fun, especially when you're playing friends), as well as MMORPGs (such as Runescape). I also like to play indies, since they have better storylines and originality than most corporate games (currently playing Faster Than Light, a roguelike, it is excellent!). Seeing as I'm an Otaku, I also play visual novels, which are very delighting since I like both gaming and reading!

I have recently started playing more mature games such as COD and Grand Theft Auto and to be honest I don't get the same joy that I get from playing platformers and "nice games"...ok big deal, I'm shooting at bad guys....but it's so shallow. I liked COD World at War, though, since it was the first FPS that showed the unfairness and brutality of war (unlike all those crazy, mindless violence in shoot 'em up games).

Thus I have nothing against people playing violent games, they should have the free will to do so, and I do not think that it would affect the character of most (sane) people...but I don't really like playing violent video games, unless I'm playing with my friends (who love FPSs).

They're not really sinful though....in that respect we could say that anything that strays us away from Jesus is sinful. Any hobby...writing, singing, sports...*gulp* anime, can be sinful if it "replaces" Christ in your life. However even if you play the most violent and horrendous video games but keep Christ as no.1 then you're not sinning, just don't get too addicted!

 

[Baralabite]

A video game is just software. No matter what is in the video game it is not sin. Its just a load of code that does something. How can something that does not affect the user or anyone else be a sin? In fact buying a video game helps the company that made it. So its actually helping someone.

I would tend to agree, but keep in mind there are Sins of Commission (ones that you do), and sins of Omission (things that you should do, but you don't).

I'm not saying playing computer games is bad per say, but sometimes there are better things that someone could be doing. I play computer games. I play them too much. There are times when I know I should be doing something else, but I'm procrastinating it, and playing on the computer instead.

I like to refer back to 1 Cor 10:23:

[BIBLE]23 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.[/BIBLE]

As for sins of Omission, just think back to the Good Samaratan story, the people who left him didn't DO anything - which is what the problem was, they didn't do anything when they should be. I often don't do stuff that I should be, and I play computer games in their stead.

For the record, I've often used my Minecraft playing as a means to witness to peeps on the interwebs!

-John

 

[Ritageorge]

I can see this thread has been inactive for 4 years but I was doing some google searching and wanted to add my perspective.
I never thought anything was wrong with Mario games, and I still don't.. or donky kong for that matter..
When I was 13 I was a very overly scrupulous and overly religious child... if I got an impure thought I would cry and pray for hours upon hours..

I got Zelda a Link to the Past on Snes and loved it.. The Zelda games are an RPG that doesn't really have any magic or anything like that.. It's more like Mario with an RPG storyline..
I remember seeing a game called 'Secret of Mana' and thinking it was evil because the box used the term 'black magic' on the back of the cover.. One day however when it seemed there weren't many good new games to buy, my mum bought me Secret of Mana.

It's a story about a Mana tree that has died, and a boy, girl, and little fairy must save the world.
It's a traditional RPG in that there are weapons that must be leveled up, you can choose different weapons like swords, shurikens, whips, etc, and you also collect "elementals" that give you magical power.

In example, "Undine" is the water elemental, and you get both defensive and offensive magic with each elemental.
"Salamanda" is the fire elemental, "Luna", "Lumina", "Driad" among others..
Games like this refer to offensive magic sometimes as black magic, and defensive magic as white magic.

I had issues with this terminology, and I kept feeling bothered that the game had magic.. The Bible says people who do magic will go to hell, it says nothing about whether they're christian or not.

I kept wrestling with the 'it's just a game' rationale over and over in my head.
I was also getting thoughts like 'but what if the occult uses such games to get people to summon demons without them being aware?'

There is a dragon named flammie who is a good white dragon who comes to help you and fly you away sometimes.
There was another game I loved called Secret of Evermore.
http://tay.kinja.com/the-story-behind-the-only-square-rpg-developed-in-north-1640340675
It was about a boy and his dog who got sucked into a virtual reality machine and had to fight his way through a prehistoric world, an ancient egyptian world, a gothic medievil world, and finally a futuristic one. In this game you had the ability to use alchemy to fight enemies.
With both games it's not really possible to win boss battles with just weaponry. The alchemy required you collect ingredients, like chilli peppers, parts of water, parts of oil, brimstone, limestone, and so fourth
I loved the game it was my absolute favourite.
There was one boss at the end of the gothic world, a big ugly face named Mungola, with 2 marionette puppets - one named Memphis, the other named Old Nick.
(old nick is a name for the devil, and it was a devil looking puppet)
I felt a little anxious about both these elements in the game.
There was another game by a different company called Lufia 2 - Rise of the Sinstrels.
It had a great storyline and was a very hard 90 hour RPG. Once again you had magic spells that did defensive or offensive work. The save points were a pentagram - which bothered me.

You can read about the meaning of the pentagram here
http://www.angelfire.com/id/robpurvis/pentagram.html
Some call it satanic, others not so much - apparently until medieval times it was used as a Christian symbol

Anyways, I didn't have friends as a kid because my mum wouldn't talk to people, she was very depressed and isolated herself and as a result isolated me. These video games were really important to me, but it always bothered me that there was magic in them

It's a tough one, because what do we do? Ignore or avoid all fairy stories like Hans Christian Anderson and Brothers Grimm? Almost every story has an evil witch and good fairies..

I loved Final Fantasy 6 (released as 3 in the US) and I ended up buying a playstation just go get Final Fantasy 7 and 8.. and then 9
Final Fantasy 8 had some very strong occult overtones.. One task involved collecting 6 of 1 item, 6 of another, and 6 of another.. Another element you could collect was Diablo (devil) - Leviathan, and Cerberus (gatekeeper of hell)
The main girl, Rinoa, gets possessed by an evil sorcoress named Edea, who it turns out is possessed by another evil sorcorress... all of this bothered me..

I don't recall anything in FF7 bothering me too much besides the same factors as Mana/Evermore.. that there was magic..
I also had "terranigma" which bothered me as a whole on it's story line..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terranigma - The first tree you help is named "Ra" (name of the egyptian sungod)
RA could also mean 'resident advisor' but with video games like this it's more liketly to be gods and godesses that the names are derived from. "Dark Gaia" is the equivelant of the devil in this game. Gaia means godess of the earth, so "dark gaia" would be a dark ruler of the earth.. ie satan
Wikepedia describes Yomi as a 'friendly demon you find in a box' (this thing is with you at all times)
I don't recall that description being in the game, Google says "Yomi" is japanese for knowing what's in the mind of your opponent... at the end of the game you find out Yomi was working for "Dark Gaia" and apparently Dark Gaia created you, so when you kill Dark Gaia you cease to exist.. - it bothered me that the game brought in a storyline about the devil creating anything.. (reminds me of the unpardonable sin, crediting satan for Gods work) so I actually got rid of that game after playing it once through when I was 16. - oh and it has beautiful graphics, but includes a goat sacrificing scene http://tay.kinja.com/7-reasons-terranigma-is-the-best-snes-rpg-most-gamers-n-1644695511
This game as well as the others have beautiful graphics and it saddens me that they bring such occultism in.

I also had purchased Chrono Trigger for DS.. a much popular SNES game that didn't get released in Australia, as well as some of the Breath of Fire series.. I never had time to play them, or FF9. I had heard there was magic called 'holy' and 'devil' in either the Breath or the Chrono series and that bothered the crap out of me...

a few years ago I began reading a book by Christian author Derek Prince... he talked about how his grandfather had ended up with some chinese silk embroided dragons from the war, which Derek now owned.. and how he constantly felt like the Holy Spirit was telling him 'the dragon is satan in the bible, how can you, a Christian pastor and evangelist have it in your home?'

finally he got rid of the dragons and his ministry flourished, then he started really researching 'could this have been biblical'
and discovered that there are in deed many many ways for a human being to be cursed, which is all documented in the Bible, but many people don't read those parts, or ignore them.
If you want the most thorough information on this, in the fastest time, type "how to pass from curse to blessing" into youtube and you will find a 90 minute video (in 10 parts)


Everything that the pastor says, every point he makes is backed up by multiple biblical passages..
I really prayed on it and I ended up throwing in the trash all of my RPGs... (not Zelda, which doesn't have battle magic)
I threw away Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, Final Fantasy 6, 7 8, 9, 10, 10-2, 11, and 12.. and Lufia 2
At the time I felt it was right and I felt convicted...

If something brings glory to the occult or satan, its important not to sell it or give it away, but destroy it.. I destroyed a $2,000 pile of video games... ones that were very rare and people paid a lot to get 2nd hand..

I felt confident in my decision for years.. it's only now 3 years later that I really miss 3 of those games...
Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, and FF6 on SNES
To be honest while the playstation Final Fantasies were enjoyable.. the occult overtones bothered me a lot
but Secret of Evermore just has 'alchemy' - so how far do we go? do we say 'well it's absolutely evil to have any book, fairy tale, movie, or game that has ANY sort of magic?
or do we avoid this one because alchemy is something real that real witches and satanists partake in?
= but then isn't the 'snow white witch" type magic also what satanists partake in?

I have been self employed as a photographer for the last 9 years, and when you're self employed you don't have much time for fun, but my husband recently bought me a 3ds and wii u (both Nintendo) and many old snes games are being rereleased...

While I got rid of my original games, I never deleted the snes ROM from my computer (a rom lets you emulate the snes on your computer, and no I never used it to steal games, I only got the games that I had actually purchased in real life on the snes as roms on my computer)

My point is... years later I do regret getting rid of some of them.. Secret of Evermore was given to me by my mother (who is now dead) on my 15th birthday in 1997... it provided hours upon hours and days and weeks of fun

There are many new RPG's available on iPhone, and Nintendo, and I try to google 'is there witchcraft, or demons' in the particular game..

I don't want to buy games that fit into what I feel is sinful..
Terranigma is not one I would ever touch again.. the storyline was (as mentioned above) very upsetting to me
Final Fantasy 8 had stunning graphics and storyline and gameplay, but having a devil character on your side (which you could avoid doing, but I hated the fact that it was in the game) is definately unacceptable to me, and the game has items called 'occult magazines' that you have to collect to= NO - Final Fantasy 8 also involved 'Junctioning" the spirit elements that cast the magic for you... as if you're calling it into yourself.. another girl from my church was really upset about her brother playing it.

Secret of Mana has a friendly dragon, offensive and curative magic..
is it blasphemous to own a game that implies that white magic is where healing comes from?
It's just a game, but is it upsetting to God?

Zelda uses hearts as healing and swords as offensive.. sometimes the sword is powered by magic potion but thats more on a Brothers Grimm level than an occult level.

I really miss Secret of Mana and Secret of Evermore and frankly I would LOVE to purchase them on 3ds if the option became available.. but is it Gods will? Is it upsetting to God?

You can take things too far.. I LOVE the Beatles, and some Christians suggest it's wrong to own any secular music because it glorifies the world and not God, but Christian music is so freakin hideous (yes I have been on several worship teams for years at a time) and the music just sucks... I have a personality, I have free will, I want my life to honor God, but I want to actually be interesting too and have fun things I do..
If you just walk around preaching all day, nobody will listen because you can't relate.

I can add more to this but I have a bride calling me.. (I'm a photog) gotta run

 

[The Hammer of Witches]

Do you think it's sinful to play video games if they dont affect you in a negative way?

Let me just give you an example.

I used to play extremely violent shooting games such as Call of Duty, Battlefield and Red Dead Redemption when I was a bit younger. However, the mindless violence in these games just lost their appeal to me, and I have stopped playing them completely.

Now, think of "old-school" games such as Super Mario games, Luigi's Mansion, Legend of Zelda, etc. THESE are the games that I've started to play in my free time.

Mario: You jump on little mushroom monsters and turtles
Luigi's Manison: You suck up ghosts with a vaccuum cleaner
Legend of Zelda: You use a sword and shield to battle cartoon monsters

So, NOT exactly the same violence level as Call of Duty or Gears of War lol.

Specifically, the only game I really play is Legend of Zelda Windwaker, which is probably the most kid-friendly Zelda game there is.

So if I ONLY play this game in my free time and it's not really a habit, do you think this is sinful? I know some people would say: "Well, if you have free time, shouldnt you be using that time to spend time with God?" Yes, there is a point to that.

But sometimes its nice to just sort of relax your mind after a long day, rather than contemplating the mysteries of the universe and deep life questions as soon as you get home.

I will also say that I make a concious effort to spend time with the Lord each day, and ONLY THEN will I put some time aside for Legend of Zelda.

What do you guys think?

http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-video-games.html
I still play video games occasionally, although it is not the best way to spend my time. It does not edify me or anyone else. While games are not inherently sinful, one must be careful. I would not recommend supporting Nintendo due to their antichrist beliefs.

 

[Zoii]

Na relax - its not a sin. More like....well if youre a total gamer then thats a bit unhealthy if it affects socialising or study n stuff

 

[Christian Harris]

Starting off, I'm sorry if I accidentally rehash that which has already been said here, but I'm writing this at 6:00 AM without any sleep so I don't currently have the patience to read through all the comments. That said, I had the same thought a while back while playing identical games to those you've played, and still play them today. The reasons that I decided it was alright to continue on with my current actions, were these.
1- In Romans 14 Paul talks about personal convictions that scripture does not specifically address and how to determine that which is right and wrong for you to do based upon them, using your conscience and the Holy Spirit as a basis for judgement.
2- In 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 Paul again addresses this topic and says, "'All things are lawful', but not all things are helpful." (10:23, ESV).
3- Lastly I realized that the thought process behind the "Jesus probably wouldn't play video games if he were here today" argument was faulty. Jesus lived around 30 years on the Earth, of which we only have a relatively small (but immensely important) amount accounted for. Do you think that every breathing moment of his existence was devoted to studying scripture, praying, and fasting? No! He had a trade (carpentry), ate and went to the bathroom just like everyone else, and doubtlessly had time occupiers relevant to his time period, too.

 

[JohnLuna]

That is not a sin! relax

 

[Conker]

As long as you're not addicted or viewing anything inappropriate contentographic I think it's fine; but it's up to debate