VIDEO GAME RELIGION
Video games have come a long way since Space Invaders, Atari, Pacman & Tetris. I Remember growing up in my elementary school years and playing the original Nintendo Entertainment System in the Mid-90s along with the Super Nintendo. Then in the late 90s moved on to the Playstation & Nintendo 64. In my teens I would move on to play the Xbox & the Xbox 360. For me it was never an obsession but there are millions of people who are such hardcore gamers that it is their RELIGION.
I want to say first of all that I don’t believe playing video games is a SIN, even if some games are sinful. Some of them are not. However when the game consumes your life, that is a sin and your not redeeming the time the LORD has gifted you with.
I don’t believe it is a sin if you let your child play video games. You just don’t want that to be the MAIN THING. There is nothing wrong with having good clean fun. Just remember to put the LORD first.
What this will be about is the obsession of gamers to the point of gaming being their RELIGION.
So this will be called…
“VIDEO GAME RELIGION.”
If you are a Christian than you aren’t religious, you just have a relationship with Jesus Christ. You believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as your crucified, buried, and risen saviour. You are going to heaven for that reason. But there are many false religions which lead people to hell. Things like Hinduism, Catholicism, Mormonism, & the list goes on. The video game religion is NO DIFFERENT than these false religions.
The Video Game Religion is a…
#1 – BLOODY RELIGION
In Romans chapter 1 it names off a list of sins and then in verse 32 it says this..
Rom_1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
You can actually have pleasure in someone else sinning. You can have pleasure in watching someone else sin. I believe people have pleasure in WATCHING fictional characters commit sin on a video game.
On these Open World games like Grand Theft Auto you can steal cars, kill people, fornicate, run over old ladies & commit any sin imaginable. God hates sin & he hates evil. The majority of video games contain content that is contrary to God’s words.
In Proverbs chapter 6 it names off six things that the LORD hates and one of those things is “hands that shed innocent blood.” Its wrong to commit murder but what do most of these games involve? They involve blood shed. War is necessary at times in this life but I don’t believe it is meant to be played on a video game. Games like Call Of Duty are so realistic with their bloodshed. They are doing nothing but descensitizing the mind to violence. Can a person sit around and play games like Gears Of War, Dead Alliance, Dead Rising, Resident Evil, Shadow of War, Uncharted, GhostRecon and not have their mind descensitized to blood and gore?
In Genesis 6:11 one of the reasons God brought the flood in Noahs day was because of violence..
Gen_6:11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
In Matthew 24 Jesus Christ describes the end times and says “it will be as it were in the days of Noe.”(Noah)
He also said “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” I believe these video games people are playing are nothing but a future reality of how people will act during that time.
The things they act out in these games will end up being 2nd nature to them in real life. You can’t pump something into your mind 24 hours a day and it not have an effect on you.
Video Games contain an intense amount of blood & gore. I believe the devil is using this to descenitize the minds. In the Tribulation men will be able to kill and sacrifice God’s people like it is second nature. Notice that the “Great Whore” in Revelation 17 is “drunken with the blood of the saints.” Most religions are bloody religions. Video gaming is no different.
Men love video games because it lets them go into a world where they can do ANYTHING they want. There is a “do what thou wilt” philosophy behind video games. That is what the flesh wants and loves.
I’d like to point out that VIDEO GAMING
#2 – Has a ZEALOUS Crowd of FOLLOWERS who Come TOGETHER
They show their religion in their DRESS. They have BOOKS that have cheat codes and instructions on how to practice their religion BETTER. And just like any religion they meet TOGETHER to worship.
When they play online they can play in GROUPS. One of the worst things you can do for your child is let them play an online video game.
1Co_15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
While your in bed asleep your child can be up all night talking to someone in the UK or across the country. You have no idea who that person is, how old they are, or what they are saying. A long time ago people in the “bible belt” weren’t as corrupt as people in other states who didn’t have as much of a christian atmosphere. BUT NOW every place is getting worse because the influence from quick & easy communication.
The bible says we should train up a child in the way he should go. Buying them video games with violence,cussing, sexual content and letting them play online with men twice their age is leading your child on a path to hell fire.
Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
There are so many tools of Satan the devil is using to keep people on the path of destruction. Nothing wrong with a kid playing a good clean game. But Letting your kid play mindless video games, for hours, without supervision, is helping Satan “blind the minds” lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine unto them.
I’d like to say the “VIDEO GAME RELIGION”
#3– DEMANDS SACRIFICES
Deu_32:17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods thatcame newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
There is always a new god coming up. They come out with a new game system every few years.
Did you know that Christianity is the only FAITH where the GOD of that FAITH died for his followers? The devil demands constant sacrifice from his followers while Jesus Christ sacrificed his own life for his followers.
If you are a “gamer” you probably aren’t bringing goats & calves and sacrificing them to your game system. But you are probably sacrificing everything else.
Husbands will SACRIFICE time with their wives & family to play the newest Call Of Duty game. Video games have played a major part in divorce. The bible says in.
Mar_10:7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
When you get married you leave your father and mother. This shows that being in a marriage involves growing up. The bible also mentions something else in…
1Co_13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
While a man sits around in his bed room playing video games his children aren’t being trained up in the way they should go.
Pro_22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Letting your kids see you play on Xbox live for 8 hours a day isn’t “training them up in the way they should go.” You SACRIFICE your family to a video game console. You also SACRIFICE your time.
Eph 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Eph 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Col_4:5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
It would be awesome if I could have all the time back that I wasted playing a video game as a kid. I sacrificed so much time to a video game console.
Real life is different than video game lives. A popular gamer saying is “Don’t tell me to get a life, I have as many as I want.” Thats because on these games you can get blown up, shot in the head, drive off a cliff, or killed in every way imaginable and then the game goes to the LOADING screen and then your back where you started …with a new life.
It will warp the way you think about life ENTIRELY
“ViDEO GAMING IS ALSO A RELGION
#4 – It demands a lot of works..
What does religion demand from a person? It demands good works! That is, you have to do certain deeds to stay in good favor with your God. For example a Catholic must participate in the mass & do all the sacraments. In religion you have to achieve so many things to make it to heaven. In religion salvation isn’t a “free gift.”
What are the “Works” in video games? That would be the obsession of “unlocking achievements.” Your not a good gamer unless you unlock every achievement on the current game your playing. Your spending all of this time working towards getting these little rewards on a screen. This is setting your mind on the TEMPORAL THINGS instead of ETERNAL THINGS.
Col_3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Mat_6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mat_6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Back when I was a teenager and I had an Xbox 360 and I was always worried about my system getting this thing called “The Red Ring Of Death.” If it got the red ring of death you would just have to get a new one. That is because it is a material item and everything in this world devolves. All the material stuff you have will continue to look worse and get old. If your not saved you need to get saved and then worry about laying up ETERNAL REWARDS in the afterlife.
In our christian life we face GIANTS. Whether it be a sin that is giving us trouble or persecution or even another person. When God gives us the victory over these giants it makes us a better Christian. It makes us more of a soldier in our christian life. Gamers will spend HOURS trying to get past a hard LEVEL. There is a sense of satisfaction & achievement when they make it past a BOSS level in a video game. That is a counterfeit of facing giants in your christian life.
Many people will spend hours and hours on a game just to GET BETTER. Its not just a game for fun anymore. It has become a sport. Some people even want to get better for BRAGGING RIGHTS. Your throwing your life away trying to get better at a video game.
VIDEO GAMING IS ALSO A RELIGION OF…
#5 – IMAGES..
Exodus 20 and verse 4 shows us that God does not like IMAGE worship. Jesus Christ is the “image” of God and the only “image” we should worship. The moment video gaming becomes your GOD you show alligence to IMAGES because you spend all your time with them. In Christianity we operate by faith and not by sight. Video gaming is all about sight. The better the graphics get on the game the more they will get worship.
Num 33:51 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan;
Num 33:52 Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:
God doesn’t like PICTURES that show something sinful. Video games are “moving pictures” that show the most vile things imaginable.
Now with inventions like the “Microsoft Hololens” you can have “IMAGES” seem to appear right in your face in your living room. This could be FORERUNNERS for the IMAGE of the anti-christ..
Rev_13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
#6 – Video Gaming Is A Religion Of Anger
Anger, rage, and self harm is commonly associated with video games. All of these things are connected with religion in the bible. The Pharisees were angry at Jesus Christ because he was against their man made religion. The prophets of Baal were known for CUTTING themselves. The devil possessed man in Mark chapter 5 would cry and cut himself with stones. Devil possessed men are VERY religious.
People who play video games go into a complete rage when they lose a game. They will do what gamers call “rage quiting.”
Many times gamers will go so into their religion that they will break things, hurt themselves, and scream cuss words. These things I believe are signs of devil possession.
Col 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Those things mentioned in that verse are associated with video gaming. Games have made people mad enough to kill. If you research a lot do these real life killers and shooters you will find that they play a lot of violent video games.
The greatest thing you can do is get saved today. If you are saved the greatest thing you can do is begin to build up eternal rewards and spend less time building up temporal rewards on video games.
It is so simple to be saved. Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, he was buried, and resurrected.
1Co 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
1Co 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
1Co 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
So Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. He paid the payment for all your sins. Now you just have to accept the payment. Come to
Him right now and let him know that you realize you are a sinner and you want to believe on
him to be your saviour.
Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
