So you want a video game for Christmas? Chances are that stores will have most of its stock filled with video games that practice shooting, killing, destroying, bombing, and blowing up buildings, people, and whatever stands in the way. Some of these games made news in the last few weeks by breaking sales records beyond any other game in history. People buy them! We love to play with violence! (As long as it does not really hurt.) Gone are the days were kids played tennis or soccer or football (whether outside or on the computer). These are the days of brutality, horror, and warfare. Does this topic really deserve a long post?
I cannot imagine why any parent would let their kid play sharpshooter or killer. Why would any father or mother spend their evenings destroying virtual lives? Being a soldier is an honest vocation, but impersonating a soldier in a video game knows nothing about the horrors of war. We are ignorant of the reality of War that shaped people’s thought in the twentieth century. Most of us are far removed from the reality of war in the world. For others, the video games glorify the violence they experience in the streets. Oh, yes, violence is real. But it does not need glorification!
“Set your mind on things above” are the words of the Apostle Paul (Col. 3:1-2). Hurting, violating, and killing are not the things any person should contemplate. I am happy to throw into this lot movies that glorify violence and horror (yes, including Vampire movies for teenagers in love or the more explicit versions of walking dead that now occupy our television screen). Tell me just one good thing that comes from this violence on our television screens and computer monitors! Just one way these things lift up and edify our lives! I cannot find one. They are time-wasters, mood-changers, character-killers! Christians have come so far as to excuse their own participation in violent movies and games. From a Christian perspective, our world of violence desperately needs renewal. As long as the violence of the cross is seen as an excuse and not the end of violence, there is much work to be done. As long as cooking shows and home improvement shows and children’s programs and sports events can be seamlessly interrupted by advertisement of violence, we have a long way to go. As long as Christians participate in justifying violence, Christianity has not understood its own gospel.
If you think about buying these games for Christmas this year, think again. Pray about your involvement in these things and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you if God truly desires for your eyes to see violence, for your conscience to become desensitized to the hurt, pain, and suffering glorified in 3-D effects in front of you, for your children to be exposed to violence, gun fire, and the screams of technologically created virtual reality. I think you know the answer. You just don’t like it.
Tags: video games, violence
I think you’re overreaching. While I don’t recommend letting children play these games, or any games until a proper age, they aren’t as bad as you’re making the, out to be.
I have played and continue to play MW3, as I did Black Ops before it, as a way to enjoy a challenging game and some harmless diversion. The violence has yet to make me do anything to anyone and so long as you approach it maturely it isn’t that big of a deal.
Though I prefer sports games to FPS games, I’ve had plenty of fun running around in a virtual world with unrealistic goals and a team of friends. Your pic isn’t realistic and assumes a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Boys are always going to do silky stuff and make believe about manly things like guns, fighting, and competition. Even kids who had parents try to program it out of them still messed around with it and are fine, maturing Christian adults.
The Elizabethean Faux Puritanism that pervades so much of modern evangelicalism is odd at best. I don’t know if you’ve ever played MW3 or any other FPS but you should try it, the experience is actually…well…fun.
Thanks, Robert. I think your response illustrates my concerns. I wonder about your definition of a “fine” and “mature” Christian. Even if you are not an “Elizabethan Faux Puritanist” (whatever you meant by that phrase), the idea that a Christian would call video games and movies that glorify killing and violence “fun” and “entertaining” or “silky” or “messing around” is at odds with the holistic biblical image of the Christian life lived by the Holy Spirit. This is actually the point of my blog: that these games do not contribute to the formation of a Christian spirituality; violence does not edify, does not lift up. I did not speak to whether the games and movies are perceived as fun and entertaining. Obviously the popularity of these games supports that claim. I question that they contribute to joy, love, peace, patience, long-suffering, forgiveness, and faith. What I fear is that Christians individually and together with the churches have said very little about the condoning of violence in our cultures. I did not imply or suggest that these games or movies lead to violent lives and behaviors. I suggested that the goal of everyday Christian living is undercut by the impersonation of violent behaviors. It would have been more accurate to call my perspective an inheritance of the Wesleyan Holiness tradition. You also would have a clearer picture of my thoughts if you knew about my experience in the military. And if you add to that my upbringing in Germany–a country highly sensitive to its errors in two World Wars, you would have come closer to a characterization of me. You certainly do not suggest that we need to participate in whatever thing we find ethically objectionable before we can make an acceptable judgment, do you? I stand by the conclusion of my post: if you pray about your involvement in these things and open your sensitivities to the Holy Spirit, God will direct your heart. Whether you or I are correct or incorrect in our position is beside the point. What matters is that our maturing as Christians reflects the maturity God intended for us, not the image we have of it. In the end, if you are correct that these video games do not at all impact a person’s character, psyche, behavior, and spirituality, there remains the suggestion of the Apostle Paul: what matters is not your conscience, but the conscience of your neighbor (1 Cor. 10:25-31). Take whatever is available in the market place, but do do not participate in anything that offends another person. Seek not your own good but the good of the many. In my case, this means the pursuit of fun and entertainment that seeks love, joy, and peace.
Dr. Vondey,
Thanks for your candid blog on the unnecessary involvement Christians tend to have in these types of video games. Through conversations with friends over the years, I’ve often noticed that I often tend to stand alone when it comes to issues of playing violent games, watching R– rated movies, alcohol consumption, etc. I tend to be reminded of Paul’s argument of permissible vs. beneficial actions in 1 Cor 10:23-31 and acknowledge the appropriateness it has in potentially grey areas of the Christian life. I think the potential pitfall for most Christians is that they fail to operate in discernment, resulting in poor daily decisions that, at face value appear spiritually meaningless, yet often do cause damage to ourselves and/or our neighbors. In the end, I’ve resolved to follow Romans 14:22-23 and keep a standard of avoidance on such matters; however, getting the community around me to see matters in this light is painfully difficult. Thus, I commend you for posting something in which most may disagree with you.
Thank you, Mike. I resonate with your experience. The escape from the culture of violence is not easy, perhaps impossible if we believe the minds of some (see Rene Girard’s book, Violence and the Sacred). Violence and destruction appeal to our fallen nature. Fortunately, Christianity is not a religion that simply criticizes. God through the Holy Spirit has given us the means to discern the world and to be transformed into the image of Christ. This is a message of the gospel. It is good news. Still, this transformation is often hard work, and discernment is the difficult starting point of the long process of transformation.