Video Game Addiction

[Crosssword]

In following up on my efforts in repenting to God concerning my interest in occult things I am finding many of the old video games and entertainment which I have always loved, to not be fun.

RPGs and stories being my favorite. In these there are always all sorts of wizards, and the main emphasis is on slaying enemies and becoming stronger. Gaining new kinds of magics, some games even present actual occult notions and ideas (Wild Arms 3 comes to mind.)

I was a great lover of such things, and of the imagination. Of all fantasy, science fiction, D&D, etc. Such things did not exist in the days of the Bible. It troubles me that Jesus and his apostles do little more then say "very few will be saved in those days."

MMORPGs are even worse. Here you play all day and night slaughtering thousands of creatures just to gain a level. There is a barely no story and PVP is little more then glorified mass slaughter. I played World of Warcraft for like 4 years, had tons of different characters. Kill kill kill is all you ever do.

It's all well and good to say these are just games, but when played often they subtly demoralize and desensitize us. Then if we become deeply repentant it becomes hard to bother with them at all.

I suppose that like wine, a little can be good for the soul, but using often leads to drunkenness. I find it hard to balance fun and the spirit, in my case one must be sacrificed to a great extent. Just as the alchoholic will have to stay away from drink completely, another person can do it responsibly.

So I have cut down on these activities quite a bit. They are often not even fun anymore, as I see the so called heroes for what they really are: glorified killers, sorcerers, and warmongers. The stories are almost always concerning princes, kings, princesses, or other prominent worldly figures.

Aside from loving God and praising the beauty of his creation and good family values, I guess I am having to rediscover what it means to have fun.

So deeply have I had that mystical flare, I always thoughts sports were stupid and uninspired, but loved martial arts, sword fighting, wizardry. What child doesn't?

How much is sinful? How much must I repent for? Just because I don't actually go out and do these things, but is it any better then looking at a woman lustfully and thereby committing adultery in my heart?

If I allow myself to have fun with these things does it mean my heart is sinful, war loving, corrupt, sorcerous, and wrong?


I tend to either take things too seriously or I don't take them serious at all. Now that I am so very serious about God and repenting I no longer even enjoy these things.

Completely renouncing myself for God is no small and easy task. He knows I am giving up a lot, and he knows I have a lot to make up for. A whole life spent not getting a job, not pursuing God, just staying home and watching tv or playing video games all day. Now I am sick of them.

I guess the church seemed so unfun, and the message of eternal damnation so terrible, that psychologically I just couldn't face it. For about 2 years I was completely certain there had to be some other medium. That attitude only lead me farther away from the Bible, and now I have to repent.

So I don't know anymore. I'm becoming a new creature in Christ so everything is changing.

What do real Christians do for fun?

 

[Simonline]

In following up on my efforts in repenting to God concerning my interest in occult things I am finding many of the old video games and entertainment which I have always loved, to not be fun.

RPGs and stories being my favorite. In these there are always all sorts of wizards, and the main emphasis is on slaying enemies and becoming stronger. Gaining new kinds of magics, some games even present actual occult notions and ideas (Wild Arms 3 comes to mind.)

I was a great lover of such things, and of the imagination. Of all fantasy, science fiction, D&D, etc. Such things did not exist in the days of the Bible. It troubles me that Jesus and his apostles do little more then say "very few will be saved in those days."

MMORPGs are even worse. Here you play all day and night slaughtering thousands of creatures just to gain a level. There is a barely no story and PVP is little more then glorified mass slaughter. I played World of Warcraft for like 4 years, had tons of different characters. Kill kill kill is all you ever do.

It's all well and good to say these are just games, but when played often they subtly demoralize and desensitize us. Then if we become deeply repentant it becomes hard to bother with them at all.

I suppose that like wine, a little can be good for the soul, but using often leads to drunkenness. I find it hard to balance fun and the spirit, in my case one must be sacrificed to a great extent. Just as the alchoholic will have to stay away from drink completely, another person can do it responsibly.

So I have cut down on these activities quite a bit. They are often not even fun anymore, as I see the so called heroes for what they really are: glorified killers, sorcerers, and warmongers. The stories are almost always concerning princes, kings, princesses, or other prominent worldly figures.

Aside from loving God and praising the beauty of his creation and good family values, I guess I am having to rediscover what it means to have fun.

So deeply have I had that mystical flare, I always thoughts sports were stupid and uninspired, but loved martial arts, sword fighting, wizardry. What child doesn't?

How much is sinful? How much must I repent for? Just because I don't actually go out and do these things, but is it any better then looking at a woman lustfully and thereby committing adultery in my heart?

If I allow myself to have fun with these things does it mean my heart is sinful, war loving, corrupt, sorcerous, and wrong?


I tend to either take things too seriously or I don't take them serious at all. Now that I am so very serious about God and repenting I no longer even enjoy these things.

Completely renouncing myself for God is no small and easy task. He knows I am giving up a lot, and he knows I have a lot to make up for. A whole life spent not getting a job, not pursuing God, just staying home and watching tv or playing video games all day. Now I am sick of them.

I guess the church seemed so unfun, and the message of eternal damnation so terrible, that psychologically I just couldn't face it. For about 2 years I was completely certain there had to be some other medium. That attitude only lead me farther away from the Bible, and now I have to repent.

So I don't know anymore. I'm becoming a new creature in Christ so everything is changing.

What do real Christians do for fun?

Jesus said 'The thief [i.e. the Evil One] comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy [sound familiar?] but I have come that they might have life, life in all its fulness.' (Jn.10:10). We are redeemed from sin and death (Jn.5:24) not to be religious kill-joys but specifically to enjoy Life (Jn.14:6; 17:3). This is achieved through living by means of the Holy Spirit Who, indwelling us, is 'Christ in us, the hope of glory' (Col.1:27 cf. Rom.8; Gal.2:20).

As for your prediliction for occultic games, there can be no compromise. Those games are specifically designed to be addictive and to destroy people from the inside out (1Pet.5:8-9). Spiritual cancer, like physical cancer, takes no prisoners (Matt.5:29-30). If you do not eliminate it totally, it will eliminate you.

I very much recommend that you read the book The Normal Christian Birth by David Pawson (his other books are very much worth reading too) available online from www.anchor-recordings.com (UK) or www.Goodseed.org (USA) or from your local Christian bookstore or public lending library.

Simonline.

 

[puregrl]

Christians can play video games, just like any other game. As long as it does not make us start of question our beleifs or lead us down a different path. It is awesome that you have become a new christian, and your intresests are changing as they should. Everyone has different beliefs on things, so im sure you have heard many different opinions on what is acceptable and not. All i can tell you is to follow what you beleive and what God tells you is right and wrong.

 

[Peripatetic]

Video games can be a part of a Christian life if they are part of a healthy balance. The same can be said for most hobbies. Our life should have room for prayer/Bible study/worship, family/friends, work/school, adequate sleep, learning/reading, rest/relaxation, and hobbies. Hobbies can take many forms, as long as they don't prevent some of the other important activities of life.

 

[Aibrean]

I am a real Christian and I play World of Warcraft. Personally I think if you think it's all about "kill, kill, kill" you have missed the point and never really got into it. If you are in a large, active guild, you can socialize and build friendships. The whole lore aspect is "good vs evil". You should get into the storyline.

I don't consider it an addiction because I can (and have) live without it. I don't play every day.

 

[LostandFoundinMaine]

I am a former World of Warcraft player and I was addicted. Towards the end of it I was working full time and playing between 40-60 hours a week. Although I am a believer that almost nothing will hurt you in moderation, what I was doing was not even close to moderation. It was tearing my world apart. Luckily I hit rock bottom about a year and a half ago and have not played a video game since.

I realize that not everyone who plays that game will end up like I did. I was just unable to handle it in a healthy format. So I guess that my best advice is just to be carefull and pay close attention to your life outside the game and listen to people close to you if they start to say you play too much because chances are if they are complainging then you do.

 

[Crosssword]

Sadly, I had no life outside the game, or any game in fact. My life consisted of little more then being depressed and getting stoned. It seemed like nothing was worth doing, and my experiences with people were generally unpleasant. Because of my father I thought I knew more then the church, and in my own fear of rejection I didn't pursue that either.

Even as I repent and try to change my life, it's hard to feel forgiven. I've known about Christ all my life, and I've known I was a glutton, a sloth, but I just didn't see any way out. It's still hard to feel God's love and even harder to love and forgive myself.

Finally attending church is a start, but my life is still basically the same. I still live in a big house with just my grandfather. Hes fully retired so money isn't an issue. So I will get no respect from most people, as they have to work for everything. My work has been in learning, studying, and talking to people about the lord.

It sucks to have felt trapped, depressed, rejected, and having done nothing with my life. There were times I really needed God, but it felt like he wasn't there. There was distance between us, for I did not understand what I was to do.

Balance is difficult. Once I came to accept my position of sloth and being overweight, I could not even recognize sins let alone ask for forgiveness of them. I despised myself so much that I didn't really want to be forgiven. I cultivated an attitude that I just didn't care. I dug myself into a hole, and I still don't see the way out.

I knew a lot of people who went to college and wound up working at two-bit jobs to try and pay back their ridiculous fees. I have a grandfather who collects articles about how messed up Arizona is and is always telling me everyone is cold and to themselves here. He gets angry and extremely pessimistic and paranoid when I interact with people. He forbid me to have a girlfriend unless I move out and got a job. Luckily he's finally softened up a bit, and I've become more determined.

But yeah my life: worst possible impressions, terrible origins, cursed, sad, utterly forsaken, yet supported so that I exist in a limbo which accumulates sin and bad karma, and feel like theres nothing I can do about it. How was I to follow the lord?

I thought about taking up my cross, going from place to place, but that would require money, passports, learning of laws, it just doesn't work in today's world. Maybe I should have been a missionary.

What can I do for God now, Give myself to a church? It's going to take more then sunday worship and an occasional weekday meetings for me to feel any real change in my life. Everything worth doing takes too long, involves too much schedules, money, and days in some school.

I don't enjoy this time at all. I'm fully nostalgic about the past. I would go back in time if there was a way. I would rather be surrounded by people and serving them full time then being here, alone, in the same darn situation I have always been in. This time I would like a better answer from myself then "God hates me and has cursed me."

So it's not easy. It takes time trying to find those who I can be a part of their life and they a part of mine. Finding love may very well be impossible. I used to pray trying to give myself to the lord, but I felt rejected. I felt that because he did not talk to me personally and give me some kind of sacred mission that it was hopeless. Now I don't want to do anything, but give myself fully to him every waking moment.

I'm supposed to feel loved, forgiven, and look up? I'm supposed to be stuck in this depressing situation and actually feel good about it? I just can't win no matter what I do. If the lord won't help me to change my life then I wish he'd put me out of my misery.