What games should Christians not play?

[santaclaus]

God wont have a problem with it, he is not as strict as people think.

 

[SaltShaker]

There is no such "list", nor should their ever be. Things are not as clear cut as you seem to make them.

"There are only two powers in this world, for good and evil. All that is not for god is against him."

Yes, that is a misquote, but I am in a rush. I will attempt to find the book/chapter/verse again later, if I have time. So there is the measuring stick.

However, I am not saying give up everything you do and go and live a hermit life meditating on God and praying. THe final commandmant Jesus gave was "Go out into all the nations and make disciples, baptising them......" so obviously, we must live and interact in this world of ours and those who do not believe that inhabit it.

What is the answer? Not ask people on the internet, for a start. Even though this is a Christian Forum, people who are not can access it with ease. Also, they are not you, and do not know your situation, just what you type.

The answer should be obvious. Go to God. Go to him with what you have said here, and ask him to tell you any specific games that he wants you to not play.

Hope this helps.

 

[SaltShaker]

seeker4Christ - usually, when you read books, you form an opinion prior to reading. Thus, when you begin to read, you see the themes more easily, or you grow bored ever more quickly.

LOTR is not about killing. It is about a simple hobbit who recieved a great burden, and was willing to sacrafice all to save others. It is about the struggles of people he loved most, and their willingness to stand up for the right side and deny the dark lord Sauron dominion.

If you take the time to look and think about it, there are many references to biblical-like events and themes. I have taken but 2, but there are many. Whole books have been written on it.

To say LOTR is about killing is simplistic. I will not deny there WAS killing in it, but to say it is ABOUT that is ludacrisy (sp?). As with any good book, the meaning is not IN the text, but BEHIND the text. You just need to analyze it a little.

 

[seeker4Christ]

I did find the Lord of the Rings to be entertaining and interesting and creative - I will give you that. But where is the witnessing? where the repentence? where the converting of sinners? where the loving of enemies? There is a LOT of killing in Lord of the Rings. Somewhere in one of the movies they reveal something that was in the Silmeralian book - the Lord of the Rings background book - that Orcs are really Elves converted into evil Orcs. So the writer had the concept of conversion - but only into evil. It should follow logicaly that the way to fight Orcs would be to convert them back into Elves - but this is never done.

 

[seeker4Christ]

If you take the time to look and think about it, there are many references to biblical-like events and themes. I have taken but 2, but there are many. Whole books have been written on it.

What Bible verses are being lived out in LOTR? Are you saying that whole books have been written about the Christian virtures of LOTR - what are the names of these books? Who are the authors?

 

[seeker4Christ]

Again, I must ask for physical evidence for anything that you consider. Another thing, I am hurt that you would consider Lord of the Rings to be terrible. I have seen all 3 movies and am about halfway through the first book, and I must say that it is one of my favorite books. Also, reading books about Chrstians is interesting sometimes, but variety is the spice of life and if we read nothing but the same thing over and over again, then we would get bored rather quickly. Finally, a book or story does not have to come right out and say its Christian to be Christian. Sometimes the fun is to find the themes in movies and books and even games.

Physical evidence / Bible verses:

Galations 5:19-21 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.



Revelation 22:15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.



Lots of games and the Lord of the Rings include witchcraft and magic arts. Yes I know they do not do it in the worst way with the heroes - it is also pretend magic rather than somebody trying to practice real magic, but for some it can lead to that. I know two people who went from pretend magic such as Lord of the Rings and D&D to trying out really evil occult stuff. Even if you have self-control yourself and stay out of the worst stuff how do you know you won't inadvertently lead somebody else astray?



Luke 6:27-28 Jesus speaking: "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."



Lord of the Rings never displays this love your enemies virtue, and I have yet to find a game about fighting the good fight about evil that does. Find a book or game that displays this virtue, and you have probably found a great game or book.

 

[pgp_protector]

Physical evidence / Bible verses:

Luke 6:27-28 Jesus speaking: "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."


Lord of the Rings never displays this love your enemies virtue, and I have yet to find a game about fighting the good fight about evil that does. Find a book or game that displays this virtue, and you have probably found a great game or book.

Havent seen the third one yet, but I thought Frodo was doing a good job of trying to help his enemies in how he was trying to help Golum & took pity on him.

 

[seeker4Christ]

Okay the kind treatment to Golum was good. But that seems to be the one exception - the rule was kill Orcs and other bad creatures.

 

[seeker4Christ]

...Be prepared though, that if you do post a game, you must bring up solid evidence about why it should be on the list. Not just Bible verses, but physical evidence as well.

What do you mean by "physical evidence"?

 

[Tiga Ronso]

Ok, for one thing this topic was about games, not books. Second, just because a book doesn't have blatant Christian topics, doesn't make it evil. I have read the first book in "The Chronicles of Narnia," in it there is a witch, plus, there is no witnessing that I can see of in that story. I haven't read the other books yet, so I may be wrong about the others. Now, then, with the killing in the books, yes there is killing, but only at the major battles really. There are a few skirmishes, but not too many. Finally, when I say physical evidence, I mean real stuff. Just because your friends turned to the occult and played Dungeons and dragons, doesn't mean that it was the sole cause of it. I meant prove that these games will cause you to turn to the occult no matter what.

 

[Lg2000]

there just games get over it .....i play madden 04 ........theres no witnessing so it must be a bad game ...do u want to play a game about witnessing to fiction characters .....thats ridiculous .......u ppl are to self righteous and seem like very boring ppl who think every thing is wrong .....im not trying to offend ne one this is just my opinion and i think i went very off topic here but oh well ...there just games ....ive played violent games since i was 4 and ive never done ne thing violent to ne body ......not even get in a fight ....its just fictional entertainment .......i play maybe an hour to two hours of video games a day, sometimes even less ..............and the only games i play are sports , racing , action&adventure , and fps .............i dont see ne thing wrong with the games i play .......

 

[Tiga Ronso]

Thank you for saying what I have been trying to get across to them this entire time. They are just games, nothing more!

 

[seeker4Christ]

Thank you for saying what I have been trying to get across to them this entire time. They are just games, nothing more!

Well than why did you start this thread? I thought you were looking for ideas about the morality of games, but I guess you were really looking at a chance to shoot down the idea of moralizing about games.

 

[seeker4Christ]

Okay, I know that a great many computer games now involve either magic or violence or both. So I suppose for some of you it would be unthinkable to rule out games with magic or violence. Tell me though, how can you tell the difference between a game with magic that is somehow acceptable and a game with magic that is not acceptable? Can anyone suggest a guideline for telling the difference?

Also I admidt I am a Christian that leans very strongly towards pacifism, and while the New Testament Bible supports pacifism, I know it seems that most Christians are not really pacifist at all. Anyway, for me, as a pacifist, I am done with games that involve graphic violence. I did play a Star Wars 3d shoot um up for awhile years ago and I like that that game does not have magic - just fictional future technology instead. I don't play it anymore now since I am mostly pacifist now.

 

[seeker4Christ]

there just games get over it .....i play madden 04 ........theres no witnessing so it must be a bad game ...do u want to play a game about witnessing to fiction characters .....thats ridiculous .......u ppl are to self righteous and seem like very boring ppl who think every thing is wrong .....im not trying to offend ne one this is just my opinion and i think i went very off topic here but oh well ...there just games ....ive played violent games since i was 4 and ive never done ne thing violent to ne body ......not even get in a fight ....its just fictional entertainment .......i play maybe an hour to two hours of video games a day, sometimes even less ..............and the only games i play are sports , racing , action&adventure , and fps .............i dont see ne thing wrong with the games i play .......

No not every game has to have witnessing to be acceptable - but if a game has heavy violence as a mostly pacifist Christian I object to that and wonder why they cannot do some conversion metaphor instead of all this killing.



I think sports and racing games are better games than shoot-em-up games. What is fps?



Does anybody like the idea of a 3d zero-g paintball game where you paint say, blue opponents with say, red paint, to convert them to the red team? Would anybody be interested in playing that?

 

[pgp_protector]

FPS = First Person Shooter

Quake , Unreal , Duke Nukem ... ...

 

[seeker4Christ]

Ok, for one thing this topic was about games, not books. Second, just because a book doesn't have blatant Christian topics, doesn't make it evil. I have read the first book in "The Chronicles of Narnia," in it there is a witch, plus, there is no witnessing that I can see of in that story. I haven't read the other books yet, so I may be wrong about the others. Now, then, with the killing in the books, yes there is killing, but only at the major battles really. There are a few skirmishes, but not too many.

What makes the Chronicles of Narnia Christian? I read those books too a long time ago but I do not recall any Christian themes.

Finally, when I say physical evidence, I mean real stuff. Just because your friends turned to the occult and played Dungeons and dragons, doesn't mean that it was the sole cause of it. I meant prove that these games will cause you to turn to the occult no matter what.

I think most people would have a tough time proving that any game will "cause you to turn to the occult no matter what." If that is your measure of the acceptability of a game then pretty much anything goes....
Maybe that is why you started this thread - you wanted to read "anything goes". Well there, now you have it.

What about this verse: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things. - Philippians 4:8 The Bible - New International Version

A better game should remind of us positive things. For example team sports like basketball games remind us of the goodness of working together, of the nobility of being a "good sport".

 

[Haethurn]

Art needs to have conflict. It's as simple as that. You could make a game that was completely Christian and completely pacifistic, but then it would stink. And I'm saying that as a Christian.

It is quite ridiculous in my opinion to scrutinize art with the Holy Bible.

The Holy Bible says absolutely nothing about computer games. I don't care what verses you take out of the Bible, they are going to be very far-fetched interpretations taken completely out of context. You can't tell me that anything Jesus, God, or the disciples said has anything to do with computer games that were made thousands of years after the events in the Bible. I'm sorry, but man, I'm not buying that.

The Bible only speaks about things that existed back then, and we have to understand that.

 

[Markh]

i'm sure there was entertainment at the wedding feast, games are simply a form of entertainment.

 

[Tiga Ronso]

This is exactly what I wanted to prove. There is no such "list" nor will there ever be one. It is up to us as human beings, to know the difference and judge for ourselves what is acceptable. As for The Chronicles of Narnia, they were written by a Christian writer were they not? Finally, I have noticed a trend with what games are mentioned. You always seem to mention games like Diablo, Grand Theft Auto, and the like. What about other games? Zelda for example. Focused heavily on magic, and the triforce could be seen as a symbol for the pyramid. Thats not to say that I don't like Zelda. Its one of my favorite games.

Again you guys proved my point. How a simple topic can split us as Christians apart. This is exactly what Satan wants. What say we put aside such differences and opinions and answer questions with objective minds, not judgemental minds. We are all different and that is what makes us unique. So what if some of us like to play videogames. That may help in the fight against Satan, God does work in mysterious ways.