This is for you Sarah but mainly for all the other comments that disagreed my goal from this is to expose the absurdity of some Christian traditions and to shine a light on what the bible really says about fictional stories and how we should view that. I know this wasn't really the question you asked but the conversation was steered towards the question"Can Christians play Video games" so i was convicted to respond because i know a lot of weak Christians will bind themselves with spiritual yolks that are ultimately man made commands.
Hello so i think every geek seems to have this question when they become a Christian. What helped me and honestly i believe God gave me this private revelation when i was seeking the answer to this question about video games, anime, comic books and stuff like this. So first i would not tackle them individually but group all of them as a whole under the term fictional stories. Now i think its important that we dont go off of how we feel but what the bible says because we don't decide what is good or bad or what is sinful and what is not. So im going to address some verses to support my position and then explain them.
Romans 5:13
To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.
Romans 7:7
What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.
Romans 7:8-9
8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
So Romans 5:13 tells us that sin cannot be credited to our account where there is no law in this case God has not given the law that forbids fictional story telling and yes this includes anime, video games, and comic books.
Romans 7:7 tells us that laws that are from God tell us what is right and wrong otherwise we would have never known what sin is and what it is not.
Romans 7:8-9 tells us that when a command is given by God it activates the sin as sin. Because prior to the command it wasn't sin because remember God decides what is right and wrong not us and now all of a sudden something that you casually did and thought was ok is now wrong. It also tells us that sin without a command attached to it is not sin at all in fact Paul says its dead and he even goes on to say he was ALIVE apart from the law but when God gave a commandment sin was activated or as he states sprang to life and he died (sinned).
So as you can see what the bible says about commands and how we are to treat them. Now for the private revelation God gave me or at least i think he gave because it makes so much sense.
First off i would like too say this, there are two types of violence righteous and unrighteous. A example of righteous violence would be when David killed Goliath and chopped his head off and made a spectacle of him or when a solider goes to war for a righteous cause to stop people who want to come over and enslave us and make us all submit to Islam. A unrighteous form of violence is when king Herod killed all those innocent children just because he was scared Jesus would become king and he would lose all his power or when a man breaks into a families house kills the children and raps the wife in front of the husband and then cuts the husbands head off and makes a spectacle of him.
Another thing to consider before i begin is that there are two modes in a game competitive and story.
Competitive is online multiplayer and solely for testing your skills against another person and having fun playing with other ppl
Story is just for following the story of the franchise kind of like reading a book but it takes skill.
What can i compare fictional stories too, to show the absurdity of some Christian positions.
Children playing army is similar instead of playing using 1's and 0's they are using plastic, are they committing murder or performing a form of unrighteous violence? Well no in fact i would argue that even if they made the plastic toy commit a unrighteous violent act it still wouldn't be a sin because how can he enact violence especially unrighteous violence against a inanimate object the answer is he cant because you cant kill what was never alive to begin with. 1's and 0's are not ppl they are just like the plastic toy they are lifeless.
People playing paintball and Air soft, this is a great comparison to video games in the competitive aspect so during these games when you get shot you die but you don't really die you simply raise your hand and go back to your spawn point sound familiar sounds like call of duty doesn't it no one dies they just re spawn and even if they did so what its not murder because as i stated 1's and 0's are inanimate objects.
Now about stories mocking God.
What is considered mocking God(Jesus Christ) well its when a story fictional or non fictional story or person make (God) seem laughably unreal or impossible.
Now we have to realize not everything is going to have Jesus in it and we shouldn't expect it too thats why fiction is called fiction. So when a writer writes a story where there is a made up God of a made up world we shouldn't be surprised thats the whole point now do we lack such discernment that we somehow think these made up Gods Mock the real God in some way or take away from his character and power well no the story literally advertises to us that they are made up according to the writers imagination and are not real. Also when the writer tries to incorporate some biblical themes like angels and demons we get mad and say its mocking and its wrong when in fact for most people when they see a angel or demon they think about the bible or Jesus because that is where these ideas come from.
This isn't even a fraction of the arguments for this topic but im not going to lay out each and every argument i would be here for a few hours lol. But i will leave you with what i decided to do when coming across topics that are not in the bible.
The first thing is i let my biblical inspired conscious speak and if it brings up any concerns i tell myself show me in Gods word because my feelings don't matter Gods word does i can say something is sinful until im blue in the face but that doesn't mean its true unless scripture says it is.
The second thing is a list of questions i ask myself.
1.Does this activity mock God(God of Christianity) or make fun of him?
2.Does this activity cause me to sin?
3.Does this activity change the way i think(negativly)?
4.Do i take the time that is supposed to be Gods and give it over to that activity?
5.Does me talking about or doing this activity cause divison or make someone stumble?
If it gets through these defenses its ok. Also if your wondering where i got this from its from the bible Romans 14:22-23 i would read all of Romans 14 though.
If you have any questions are want to talk privately we can do that as well i just don't want all the geeks God has raised up to be spoken of as evil because the Christian gaming community has a lot of good fruits especially in the area of Evangelism. This virus epidemic just proves how God is working and using video games and geeks to his glory because we are out there sharing the gospel with ppl while playing games online and or while streaming with twitch while the Christians who hate us stay home and cant do anything we are sharing the gospel with ppl who would otherwise never leave there house and when they do leave their homes they hear the gospel from a angry street preacher in front of comic con or E3 telling them they are going to hell for being a geek its no wonder they hate Christians. Here are some twitch streamers and you tubers that are Christian and play games to the glory of God for the purpose of fulfilling the great commission to make disciples of all nations.
Twitch:
1.God Squad
2.Souzy Live
3.Dr wittinesser
4.Pastor Skarr
5.Reborn Crusader
6.Retro rewind podcast
7.Solideogloria_ctc
8.Coin a geek
Youtube:
1.God Squad
2.Coin a geek
3.Dr. wittnesser
4.Geek devotions
5.The reformed gamers
6.Gamerfaith
7.Souzy
8.Gaming pastor
9.Gods Geeks
God Bless-Nick
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