This is a pretty deep topic and I hope I can throw my two cents in without
stepping on too many toes, grin.
Games in and of themselves are something the human race has done since day
one, and it is an excellent tool that teaches, trains and challenges us in
many ways. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with gaming in my opinion.
Now christians and games is one of those topics that gets a lot of people
moved to explain themselves one way or another. Mostly, and I have run into
this a lot, is that the common misconception is that christians only reason
for living is to force everyone else to behave too soothe our own
sensebilities. Christians do not exist for that purpose. They were put on
earth to simply light a candle and show the way. It is then everyone elses
free will choice to take it or not, and then live with the results of that
choice whatever that may be.
Now does game content matter to a christian? I think it matters just as much
as it matters to everyone else christian or not. We play what we like, and
we ignore what we don't like. Yet can game content for christians be allowed
for them to play if it seems to contradict biblical views? I hope I can sum
it up a bit.
Magic in the bible is condemned because it was the practice of someone
taking someone or something else and treating those as GOD rather then the
LORD. Thus it is considered idolatry. An example to explain this thought
process better is this: You have a student who you are teaching braille.
Yet every time the student has an issue or problem with braille, they go
running to someone across the hall for answers, rather then to yourself.
They then come back and start doing things the wrong way, and you have to
correct and try to get them back on track again. Eventually, it gets so bad
you just tell that student to go learn braille from the other person, why
keep wasting your time.
This is just an example of the thought process behind the scripture so
please don't get upset at that.
The magic in video games is usually not like that at all. Instead it is more
tactical for strategic battles. You can easily replace a fireball for a
grenade, a magic missile for a bullet, a medikit in exchange for a heal
wounds spell. So I don't really see any issue with it, personally.
Now for the christian gamer, it isn't the action alone, but the desire as
lust or greed that is condemned as a sin. So when a christian plays a game
with controversial content, there comes along an internal check to see what
the game is getting into your heart and thought process. That means that
adult content can get into your head, just like excessive violence,
profanity, or similar type things. If a christian believes that they have no
issues with that kind of thing, that is between that person and GOD, but if
they get convicted, and they play it anyway, that leads to trouble. So
essentialy, there is no rule saying thou must play pac man but thou must
not play space invaders, grin. Perhaps the biggest problem christians might
have with games is for it to become an obsession, and not done in
moderation.
al
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