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How sick must a person's mind be to be able to take pleasure in the suffering of others?! I wonder why people always want to kill instead of healing. I remember from my early life of gaming (when I yet did not know the Lord) how seldom did any gamer want to be a healer of any sort (if it even was an option). Men desire power and might, not to the end of defending others, but the exact opposite. I guess that if a man could change parts with God, he would most certainly like to see all of creation suffer at his own hand in a most dreadful way. Thus, we see how true it is when God says He IS love and holy. Love is a swearword of the worst kind to this world. Not only are men selfish, that is, seek their own pleasure at the cost of others' suffering, BUT THEIR VERY PLEASURE IS TO SEE OTHERS SUFFER!
How sick must a person's mind be to be able to take pleasure in the suffering of others?! I wonder why people always want to kill instead of healing. I remember from my early life of gaming (when I yet did not know the Lord) how seldom did any gamer want to be a healer of any sort (if it even was an option). Men desire power and might, not to the end of defending others, but the exact opposite. I guess that if a man could change parts with God, he would most certainly like to see all of creation suffer at his own hand in a most dreadful way. Thus, we see how true it is when God says He IS love and holy. Love is a swearword of the worst kind to this world. Not only are men selfish, that is, seek their own pleasure at the cost of others' suffering, BUT THEIR VERY PLEASURE IS TO SEE OTHERS SUFFER!
War games are war games. We can't get around that, and shouldn't try. They're not pure entertainment; they're games with a purpose that teach things, in the same sense that playing Monopoly teaches certain things.
War games are war games. We can't get around that, and shouldn't try. They're not pure entertainment; they're games with a purpose that teach things, in the same sense that playing Monopoly teaches certain things.
I would disagree and say they are purely entertainment. They involve strategy and skill and so are more entertaining than many other games even...Not many people I know from my own family and high school play war games because they want to be a soldier.
Are you saying that hunting should also be avoided because it desensitizes children? Just asking out of clarification sake.
Clarification -- not many people play Monopoly because they want to be Rupert Murdoch or Bill Gates. The game, however, has a purpose. It's not like playing catch or some other game with no direct connection to "real life."
War gaming has lots of strategy involved. So does Monopoly. So do the various SimCity and related games. The games can be enjoyable in their own right, but they teach some very specific things.
In the case of games like Grand Theft Auto and Mafia Wars, the premise of the game is inherently evil and the games should not be played by Christians. Fantasizing about stealing cars, robbing and killing people in rival gangs, etc., simply is not acceptable for Christians. I remember reading somebody's Facebook page where the invitation to a church event was right next to a criminal act committed in Mafia Wars. Is that a very good testimony?
In the case of war games, the claim by liberal psychologists that they desensitize kids to violence and gore has some validity. If you spend lots of time perfecting your skills and seeing some of the very graphic violence in those games, it **WILL** affect you. (So will deer or rabbit hunting, but lots of city kids never get to do that.) I don't have a problem with a war game that teaches kids that there's a legitimate purpose for violence. I do have a problem with a game that glorifies violence for no reason, or puts them in a position where killing "good guys" is the purpose of the game.
Violence is serious -- and potentially is deadly serious. Teaching the right and wrong use of violence to kids is not a bad idea. Teaching violence for no reason, or for bad reasons, is very wrong.
I don't think they are good for anyone. I have seen the hours that are poured into games like these with absolutely no positive outcome. They waste time and lead to a desensitized view of war. War is ugly. I have not yet been but I have seen the aftermath and talked to people who have been and it is heart wrenching to hear about. But to someone who plays war games, these things become trivial and I have seen them do terrible things to peoples attitudes toward war. Also, I am terrible at video games so that helps me stay away from almost all of them.
Clarification -- not many people play Monopoly because they want to be Rupert Murdoch or Bill Gates. The game, however, has a purpose. It's not like playing catch or some other game with no direct connection to "real life."
War gaming has lots of strategy involved. So does Monopoly. So do the various SimCity and related games. The games can be enjoyable in their own right, but they teach some very specific things.
In the case of games like Grand Theft Auto and Mafia Wars, the premise of the game is inherently evil and the games should not be played by Christians. Fantasizing about stealing cars, robbing and killing people in rival gangs, etc., simply is not acceptable for Christians. I remember reading somebody's Facebook page where the invitation to a church event was right next to a criminal act committed in Mafia Wars. Is that a very good testimony?
In the case of war games, the claim by liberal psychologists that they desensitize kids to violence and gore has some validity. If you spend lots of time perfecting your skills and seeing some of the very graphic violence in those games, it **WILL** affect you. (So will deer or rabbit hunting, but lots of city kids never get to do that.) I don't have a problem with a war game that teaches kids that there's a legitimate purpose for violence. I do have a problem with a game that glorifies violence for no reason, or puts them in a position where killing "good guys" is the purpose of the game.
Violence is serious -- and potentially is deadly serious. Teaching the right and wrong use of violence to kids is not a bad idea. Teaching violence for no reason, or for bad reasons, is very wrong.
If the fact that some source of entertainment (i.e. a book, video game, tv show, movie, etc...) has a some point to it (as pretty much everything does, such as a plot), requires it to have a "Christian" interpretation then I would rather just throw out every source of entertainment because that would simply be too many lectures. What I mean is, that video games (violent games specifically) are not the only thing that may have sub-points within a plot that are unchristian (whether the overall point is Christian or not). Thus, it seems ambiguous to have a universal among these points, rather, you should explain "unchristian" points as it seems necessary for a specific situation and a specific person. To understand the full implication of this means that this issue is a matter of conscience and not one that the Bible expressly or implicitly calls a sin or wrong in any universal way.
Lots of games are more or less neutral when it comes to a Christian's participation.
Some aren't.
Killing people, apart from very specific situations, is sin. Robbing and participation in organized crime are sin. That means games like Grand Theft Auto and Mafia Wars are glorification of sin, turning it into entertainment.
First-person shooter games simply aren't the same as kickball or chess. Yes, it **IS** true that "some people need killing," and that's why we have police and soldiers and capital punishment through the court system. But should the deliberate taking of a human life be made into a game, ESPECIALLY when the game has photorealistic imagery with screams, maiming, and other aspects deliberately added to enhance its excitement while having the effect of desensitizing players to violence?
Those are legitimate questions. My answer is "yes." My primary emphasis in saying yes is to rebut liberals who treat all violence as wrong, and I believe it is entirely legitimate to teach kids that some violence is entirely appropriate and even required. I will defend the blood and gore as appropriate for a very specific purpose.
On the other hand, I respect the consciences of those who believe violence should not be a game but still support the mission of the military and law enforcement.