Video Games: How Far Is Too Far?

Two rectangular paddles slide up and down to rally a simple square Ping-Pong ball. A tiny arrow-shaped spacecraft, drawn with three white lines, shoots at asteroids to prevent rocks from crashing into it. A yellow disc-shaped creature races through a maze to gobble up white dots.

The three video games described were released in 1972, 1979 and 1980. To those born after the year 2000, these descriptions can seem laughable.

Gaming titles now boast fully rendered 3-D environments, feature-film-caliber music, and engrossing plotlines to draw in players. In addition, the internet allows multiplayer competition and the ability to view charismatic and highly skilled gamers stream gameplay—along with a robust chat community. Players can interact and bond with millions of users worldwide.

There is a generational divide here. Most adults cannot understand why anyone would sit and watch an online stream of someone else playing a game. For those who enjoy this, they think of it as something similar to viewing sports, a cooking show or a talk show. The comradery aspect in the chat is another reason they keep coming back. Even alone at home, someone can connect with others with similar interests.

Only recently were internet speeds fast enough to allow real-time streaming and multiplayer. While the modern video game industry boasts incredible technological achievements of mankind, it also brings out the worst in human nature: grotesque violence, lewd sexual content, foul language, and sinister story lines centered on demonic influence and the occult. All of this worsening year by year.

Video games are everywhere. Your peers likely talk endlessly about them at school—and spend countless hours playing them in the evenings. They are widespread on the internet. Some can be educational; others unabashed “time-wasters.” Video games can be compelling, interesting and captivating.

As a teenager striving to live God’s Way, where should they fit into your life?

The Big Picture

Often, topics such as video games can seem incredibly complex. You may have loads of questions: “Which ones are acceptable?” “How much time should I spend on them per day?” “How much violence is too much violence?” “Where do I draw the line?”

Whenever there seems to be a flurry of questions on any topic, stop yourself, take a step back, and examine the big picture. There is a single query that overarches every subject: “Is this helping me to become a better person?”

You are privileged to be able to know and understand God’s Way from a young age. You can understand the truths of the Bible. You have an opportunity that only a select few have had throughout millennia.

With this knowledge comes the incredible purpose of human existence. God wants you to become more like Him. He wants you to build His holy, righteous character and live a life of genuine outflowing concern for others. Ultimately, He wants you to become part of His Family.

Ask: “Are video games helping me become a better individual?” Also: “Am I being honest with myself?”

To answer the second question, you must understand human nature. A succinct Bible definition can be found in Jeremiah 17: “The heart is deceitful above all things…” (vs. 9).

This verse can be difficult to apply to who you are as a person, to your heart. Yet everyone living God’s Way must regularly remind themselves of this. We are all susceptible to the pulls of the flesh. If you fail to realize this, then you will be automatically deceiving yourself into thinking your actions are fine.

These two principles—your incredible human potential and the truth of your human nature—should inform every one of your decisions. These factors also play heavily into the topic at hand.

Virtual Escape

Why do people enjoy video games? One of the biggest draws is the thrill of inhabiting a digital world. Generally, the aim is to be larger-than-life, whether saving the universe from hordes of aliens, traversing a city as a crime-stopping superhero, or smashing other fighters in online play.

Virtual worlds are incredibly appealing. Yet they take you from the here and now.

Becoming a super soldier in a pitched battle can be more appealing than having to deal with issues of everyday life. Homework, parents, chores and after-school jobs can all seem to pale in comparison to slipping into the shoes of a master assassin or a cynical detective.

By focusing so much effort on a virtual life, however, you ultimately give up quality time spent on your real life. Priorities shift and you soon find yourself drawn back to the virtual world that offers things the real world cannot.

Again, how does time spent on video games help you become a better person?

Most game designers seek to offer a virtual world that boasts anything is possible. To electrify their audiences, they design games to exemplify the elements that appeal most to human nature. In other words, anything illegal is possible, with many titles designed to allow the player to act like a criminal.

Other worlds created in these titles can suddenly transport you from everyday reality into a fantasyland where, for example, behemoth monsters must be slain using magical swords.

Such alternate realities are completely divorced from the real world where laws of cause and effect apply. Violent and fatal decisions are easily overturned with the click of a button. Players are encouraged to take foolish risks without fear of consequences.

Many titles encourage a player to forget who he is and take on the persona of a game’s character. In essence, they push you to leave your life behind and escape into a realm where you do not need to be concerned with being balanced, developing human relationships, or planning for the future.

Sadly, many gamers take this role-playing to the extreme. Nonessentials become difficult to separate from priorities. Instead of focusing on expanding their knowledge, they become obsessed with advancing the characters or story lines in games.

This misplaced focus can impede you from achieving your potential. While you may be incredibly skilled at shooting digital arrows or sneaking past computer-programmed security guards, these skills do not translate into good character.

Note that not all games perpetrate violence and a total escape from the world. There are titles that encourage learning new skills. Some have a heavy emphasis on teamwork or problem-solving. But the vast majority do not build any useful skills aside from perhaps hand-eye coordination, which can be developed by playing any real sport, putting together a jigsaw puzzle, or sketching with a pencil or pen.

Additionally, software packages exist that are useful in creating and compiling digital art, composing music, or editing video. Much of this software can be found online for free and can be used for more productive purposes.

Unlike the vast majority of video games, such hobbies build tangible results that can be shared and edify others.

Hard Questions

It can be easy to believe that the sex, violence or magic elements of different video games will not negatively affect you. But these factors play right into the deceptive hand of human nature, which can be summarized as vanity, jealousy, lust and greed.

Racking up wins in online play leads to vanity. Hearing that a classmate just got the latest video game system can elicit pangs of jealousy. The sexual aspects of many titles bring out lust. And as the newness of each game wears off, greed rears its ugly head.

A question to ask when thinking of purchasing or playing a video game is, “Would I play this game in the presence of Christ or one of His ministers?”

It can be easy to justify your actions, perhaps thinking that, since there is not “too much” bloodshed in a game, it is still acceptable to play.

Perhaps you are blasting aliens, not humans. Yet does this mean you are not killing?

In virtually every game, there is aggression on some level. Sometimes they are overtly violent; other times they appear to be a harmless mix of good and evil.

Human nature especially draws the mind toward sex and violence. The apostle Paul explained why in the book of Romans: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God…there is none that does good, no, not one…their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes” (3:10-12, 15-18).

Human nature is destructive. And what better way to fuel the fire than to act out violence with seemingly real video games?

As with adults, teenagers can easily fall into the other works of the flesh, which include fornication, witchcraft, hatred, wrath, strife, murders and drunkenness. (Read the complete list in Galatians 5:19-21.)

Video games simply magnify many of these “works” and condition youth to think that this is normal and acceptable. Teenagers in God’s Church must do everything in their power to avoid those things that fuel their human nature—which include almost any video game on the market today.

When Jesus Christ delivered the Sermon on the Mount, He magnified the Law and amplified the Ten Commandments. (Take time to read Matthew 5:21-48.) For example, the sixth commandment states, “You shall not kill” (Deut. 5:17). But Christ said that even one who “is angry with his brother without a cause” is guilty of breaking this commandment.

In a similar way, being violent, lusting or engaging in any other wrong form of behavior through a video game is breaking God’s Law. Most are full of wrong attitudes, criminal acts and sexual perversions. From God’s perspective, they are not “just a game.” Rather, they are sinful, and should never be played—especially by youth who are set apart from the world as ambassadors for God’s way of life.

We are told to dwell on good and just subjects (Phil. 4:8). Do violent games allow us to dwell on these thoughts? Do they present the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23? Or do they reflect human nature—the works of the flesh (vs. 19-21)?

The apostle Paul stated, “…whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7). Is filling our minds with fictional worlds brimming with carnage sowing “good seeds”?

All Bad?

Does this mean that everything about video games is bad? The themes of most popular games go against God’s Way on many different levels, but not all of them.

Some games are educational. As computers become more popular, programmers are finding more creative ways to teach. There are games that can increase your intelligence and expand your mind. There are also some games that are not specifically educational but may be found to be entertaining, without any sex, violence or other wrong behavior. With parental permission, these games can be played.

Before you play a game, ask yourself if there is anything blatantly—or even subtly—wrong with it. Be aware that your human nature will cause you to think a game is “not that bad,” when it actually is! In other words, you will easily be able to deceive yourself (Jer. 17:9). If you feel even slightly uncomfortable with a game, do not play it.

Be especially cautious with any online gaming or streams—especially when it involves chatting with others. Video games by themselves can be a window to worldly influences. Yet interacting with those who are not living God’s Way is an even bigger gateway to sin. The anonymous nature of the internet means there will be more swearing, bathroom humor and sexual innuendo.

These are all things to avoid!

While playing an educational or entertaining game is fine to do on occasion, you must be sure that it does not take over your life—you must remain balanced. The teen who wants to please God must strive to be “temperate [moderate] in all things” (I Cor. 9:25). While playing a game for a couple of hours a week may be an opportunity to educate and entertain yourself, playing it for hours on end every night is unbalanced.

Many video games are simply deplorable. Some may be fine to play occasionally. You must always frame this subject against the backdrop of King David’s wisdom found in Psalm 101:2-3: “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way…I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before my eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.”

Spiritual Parallels

Think back to the big picture. As ambassadors representing a soon-coming government, you have a much more fascinating and challenging mission.

While video game developers strive to create title after title of fantasy, war-absorbed scenarios, the truth of God’s Plan is infinitely more dramatic and exciting than what any video game could offer. You are training to be leaders in the world tomorrow. If you continue to live God’s Way, you will one day be responsible for planning cities and creating new environments where all will live in peace and safety.

Jesus Christ commands those following Him not to kill or destroy (Ex. 20:13). Yet Christians are to use weapons—spiritual weapons—to control what enters their minds (II Cor. 10:4-5). Consider this when choosing how to spend your time.

While you may not be baptized, it is imperative to grow and train yourself for the awesome mission offered to you. Through the Church and your parents, you have the opportunity to accept this most crucial objective.

At best, virtual worlds are a cheap substitute for your awesome potential. At worst, they are a platform that encourages and rewards those who act out brutality and violence without repercussions in a digital fantasyland. They can also be a gateway to worldly conduct that can pull you out of God’s Way.

Time is short! Achieving your awesome potential requires dedication now. To fight against the pulls of your mind, remove the negative, violent and corrupt influences in your life. Cut out anything that is a waste of time. Even though it may sometimes seem difficult, your parents, minister and friends in the Church are there to help navigate the complicated age in which we live.

Always remember, God will help you keep His Way.