Ah well, it's time I re-entered this forum anyway.
I was an avid gamer. My favourites have always been FPS. Ooooh, the whole Half-Life trilogy nom nom nom nom <3 How I had wished my computer could run the 2nd and 3rd episodes. I went with the whole Guildwars set - I couldn't wait for Guildwars 2. Then there's my all-time favourite: COD4 Modern Warfare and now Modern Warfare 2 is out with multi-player storylines! My computer can't run either of these. I definitely have the money to purchase a brand-spanking new computer that hardcore gamers would die for. However, it is not something that I would do. Maybe I would've done it a couple months ago but certainly not now. In fact, I uninstalled all the games on my computer, scratched any CD and DVD that I never bought, stopped watching movies, and I will soon be performing a systematic cleansing of my bookshelves. My desk is a mess but on the right side is my Bible, some biblical study-DVD's, and Little Pilgrim's Progress. I spend hours at night reading up on the Bible, interpretations, and all sorts of biblical research. On some nights, I don't sleep until 5am after praying and much reflection on what I had read in the Bible. Why?
a) Gaming was a colossal waste of my time. I looked back at all the hours I spent on gaming in the past when I could've done something far more productive. At the very least, I could have owned my own successful business! But I guess better late than never!
b) If you're spending time to game, you are spending less time pursuing God. I took my "gaming time" and used it to pursue God and guess what? I've never been happier. In fact, I have never been busier! Not only am I tired and exhausted but God has opened doors that I could never have imagined. I now have a chance to actually make a decent living from being my own boss.
c) To be honest, even MMORPG's have "violence" per se, magic, and all sorts of things. It's cute and harmless for the most part but you would be surprised at how addictive those games are. There are people who get addicted enough that they would daydream as their characters and some people can't get enough (think hardcore Star Wars fans with their costumes and everything). Same thing for FPS games.
Sparking one's imagination is good but what has it ever done for me? Nothing. Reading the Bible has made me happier than reading some fantasy novel, watching Harry Potter, or playing games. I have so little time now that I can't even watch TV - not that I would really watch anyway. I used to feel that people who took these "extremes" were completely off their rockers. Now that I'm in this place, I have to say it's quite peaceful. It's scary to think that you'll lose those comforts but even if you simply start purusing God by reading the Bible and asking questions such as "What does the Bible say about..." you will find that you will actually care less and less about many of the worldly things in life. You don't die to your games (or whatever your 'thing' is). It's actually quite the opposite - those things die to you.
You say those games are part of your life, let me ask you a fair question then; other than providing you with temporary escape from reality, what else has it done for you? Now compare that with what God can do for you.
I once read something quite interesting. In an article, someone described salvation as a union - that it can never be taken away. Then they described your day-to-day acts, your good "deeds," and living biblical morals as your fellowship with God. You can lose your fellowship and you can also regain it when you repent and turn back to God. If you continue to refuse, God will force you to turn to him. When he does that it will hurt more than losing a comforting game. I speak from recent experience. But of course, who ever learns from someone else's bad experiences? It's kind of like a Catch-22: to avoid a bad experience, you learn from someone else's mistake but no one ever really learns from someone else's mistake so they always end up making the same error. lol Life is certainly amusing!
You want a girlfriend? Be zealous in your relationship with God first. Take every opportunity to pursue Him. Only then will he grant you your wish. Or you can go out, force a relationship to "happen," and live in pain and regret. Would you reward your own child (hypothetically speaking) with something great and wonderful if they didn't do anything good to earn it? I wouldn't. Why would God?
