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Are you keeping the TEN COMMANDMENTS While Gaming?
Cordova, TN; July 27, in the year of our Lord 2013--Family
Friendly Gaming, the industry leader in covering the family
friendly video games is exploring the fascinating question of:
“Are you keeping the TEN COMMANDMENTS While Gaming?” Another way
of looking at it is this question: “Are you applying God's
standard to what you do when you are playing games?” If not,
then why? What standard do you apply? Is that standard different
than in the real world? Do you have different standards
depending on where you are? If so, how do you keep track of all
those different standards? Doesn't that get confusing? Isn't it
easier to have one standard and to use it everywhere?
The best thing to do is to go to the source. Do you even know
what the Ten Commandments are? Exodus 20:1-17
1 And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of
the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of
anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the
waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them;
for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the
children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth
generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a
thousand generations of those who love me and keep my
commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the
Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you
shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a
sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work,
neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female
servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your
towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the
seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made
it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long
in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not
covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his
ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
That is a high standard that few of us can live out in real
life. What about inside video games? Let us look at these one at
a time. The results may shock you. They may impact your life in
such a way that you make radical changes to your gaming habits.
Or they may re-affirm your choices. They may encourage you if
you are making the right choices.
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.” Some
people may easily follow this one while gaming. They do not play
games with gods in it. They do not worship video games. They
avoid games like God of War. They avoid games that teach all of
us to worship the gods or goddesses in those games. What about
those that do? Is taking on the role of a god, or respecting a
goddess inside a game mean they are violating the First
Commandment? Jesus made no distinction between pretending to do
something, thinking about doing something, and actually doing
it.
Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the
form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in
the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship
them.” Just in case we missed in the First Commandment, God
reminds us in the Second Commandment. We are not worship
anything we make, or see. Could that include video games? Of
course it can. Does it include video games in your life? Do you
bow down and worship video games? I suspect few actually
prostate themselves to the game cartridges, discs, or machines.
But what does worship actually entail? Do you sing songs about
video games like KJ-52 did? Do you give massive amounts of money
to video games? Do you give massive amounts of time to video
games? If the answer is yes, then it is possible you are
worshiping games.
Exodus 20:7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your
God.” You may have heard this as: “You shall not use the Lord
your God's name in vain.” A good way of looking at this is words
have meaning. Words also can have consequences. If you do not
believe that, then get into a relationship with anyone, and say
something that hurts their feelings. Your tongue can do all
kinds of damage. My tongue has done damage in the past, and it
has been an opportunity to learn. Plenty of games barrage our
brains with bad language. How does taking all of that into our
brains influence us? Ever repeat something you heard on a TV
show, movie, or video game? I have, and every fellow gamer I
have ever talked to admits they have as well. So these games can
put stuff into our heads that we will repeat. The test is this:
“Are we repeating good things, or are we repeating bad things?”
If we repeat a game that is misusing God's name, then we have
broken this commandment.
Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” This
may be one of the most difficult for any gamer to keep. This is
also the commandment that has some of the most spirited debate.
What day do you observe as Sabbath? If you do not observe
Sabbath then how can you keep it holy? What does it mean to keep
something holy? The way I look at it is to set a day apart for
God. Out of seven days we get six to ourselves, and one to rest
and worship God. Are we really so selfish to think we should get
all seven days to ourselves? Different gamers apply this to
their lives in different ways. Some I know play Christian games
only on the Sabbath. Others fast from video games on the
Sabbath. How can you apply this to your life?
Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother.” How many times
are video games the central issue within any argument between
kids/teenagers and their parents? The answer is a sad truth that
this commandment is not being kept very well. How many times do
we say: “just one more level,” or “I need to get to a save.” Yet
we beat more than one level, or we go past that save looking for
the next one. How are we helping our parents with chores around
the house when we are absorbed within a video game? You may
completely respect, love, and honor your parents. You may only
play video games to stay out of their hair when they need some
alone time. How many of actually fit into those statements
though? How many of us create real world conflict because of our
video game choices? How many of us disrespect our parents
because of video games?
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