Video Games Are Anti-Social and Addictive

Published on February 24, 2007 By Jythier In Gaming

First of all, I'd like to say that the anti-social behavior this article is talking about has nothing to do with violence. Violence and video games is a completely different argument.

Video games allow a person to feel as if they have accomplished something without doing anything. So you beat every Final Fantasy. Nobody really cares, except other people that have played Final Fantasy, and even they don't care that much.

A huge problem is that a lot of women are not gamers. Some are, sure, but a lot aren't. These women tend to have very little respect for in-game accomplishments. That's why a lot of gamer guys want to date a gamer girl - because she is more likely to give him the respect he doesn't deserve. I know it's not a big deal to my wife that I can build a business in Capitalism 2, a theme park in RollerCoaster Tycoon(though I did get her playing that one) or that I can build a city in Sim City 4. Every time I say "Look what I did" she reminds me that I did nothing, which is the truth.

But it does not feel that way when I am doing it. None of it is worth anything in the real world, but it feels like it's so important. So I waste time with them instead of hanging out with my family, doing work, or spending time with God or on ministry.

You may say, "But I play video games and I do all those other things too." I say to you, are you doing those things while playing video games? If so, then there is room for them in your life. Sadly, in my life, my wife is not interested and my son is not old enough. Work has it's 40 hours a week, so that's not an issue. The only thing left is God and ministry. The only way I can do ministry through video games is to play multiplayer games, so all single player games are out. And God wants me out there doing real things for real people. So even multiplayer games are out.

So my video game time really is wasted time. But I'm not going to give them up yet. I'm not ready. I'm still addicted. I want to accomplish fake things, because it's fun. One may say to me, "Entertainment is needed too, so video games are okay in moderation." But really, I could have just as much fun playing with my son, hanging out with my wife, talking to God, or doing ministry. So I'm thoroughly convinced that these games are not needed. But it's just like any other addiction... it'll eat away at me until I give in, or I get over it. I'm still giving in.

Comments (Page 9)

121

_02

on Mar 31, 2007

People, let's get on topic.

122

Stanley Tarrant

on Mar 31, 2007

I know, and I am so sick and tired of hearing about Jesus on the radio, everywhere!!!

123

fissure

on Mar 31, 2007

Show me in the bible where it talks about this. Also, FOR OBVIOUS REASONS, the idea of God sending me to Hell for eternity for my finite sins is rediculuous. It is basically like me shooting someone because they couldn't tie their shoes fast enough. Or it is like burning someone alive in an oven because they lied to me and then "didn't beg forgiveness in X's name"

Also, if what you are saying is true, then we should kill all infants. Send them automatically to Heaven. Why even take the chance that they will reject Jesus and end up in Hell later on?? Some maniacs who truly believed in what you are saying did this to their own children.

Man, I wish I was born with severe Down's Syndrome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I have said before, show me in the bible where it says you are automatically saved if you can't make the decision yourself.

What if I am 40 years old, have an "accident" where I then become brain dead??? Am I automatically saved now because I can't accept or reject Jesus anymore??

Unfortunately, I do not have evidence form the Bible on the children issue at hand, and I'm not about to go searching through my book to give you an answer which you'll probably just question anyway.

This is not a reason to kill children. In case you've forgotten, God kinda frowns on killing. Anyways, if we did that, the human race will have died out within a couple of years and then Jesus would have nobody to come back to.

If you were 40 years old and then got a disease that messed with your brain, it wouldn't matter. You'd already had 40 years to make up your mind, if you didn't believe in God by then, you most likely wouldn't have after then (though you might have had some experience which changed your mind later on like Saul/Paul and so that's not totally fair).

Hell is not the same is killing someone for not tying their shoe in time. You're given about 70-80 years if you live a healthy life to decide, and frankly, I think that should be time enough. The point is, if you're at the gates of Hell and you got another chance to make your decision, everyone would say, yup, I believe in you now. If you need to actually see to believe, then that means you have absolutely no faith. The idea is that you're supposed to believe even without evidence (which obviously will sound very stupid to you and most other people) of God existing. And if people had a second chance to decide when they were dead, then they'd be saying that they believed merely to escape damnation, and if you believe in God for impure reasons (like to get out of Hell), then that's just as bad as not believing.

This argument serves no purpose. I could get you a recording of Jesus Christ Himself and you'll find some way to question me. Good-bye.

124

Stanley Tarrant

on Mar 31, 2007

I guess the whole point is believe or burn huh????? I think the only reason you have faith is because you were born to Christian parents and you have been brain-washed.

Anyway, have you read anything about near death experiences??? Certainly that is a piece of evidence just like the bible.

Why put faith in a 2000 year old book that has multiple versions, and God knows how many times it has been changed throughout history. How come their isn't one version of the bible? I guess God's language and word choice wasn't good enough. So we humans had to change the bible????? How is the bible a better piece of evidence then say the Koran??? What if the Koran is true?

125

Stanley Tarrant

on Mar 31, 2007

Hell is not the same is killing someone for not tying their shoe in time.

You are correct; it is infinitely worse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God kinda frowns on killing.

Why????????? He doesn't frown on killing people by the thousands and millions, and apparently he must throw us into the lake of fire or "eternally seperate us", or whatever for not believing in Jesus, so why would he frown upon killing?

Well, it looks like you don't care about anone else going to hell but yourself. And this is my biggest argument of all against Hell, is NONONE TAKES IT SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!! If you TRULEY BELIEVED that Hell is real and that you must accept Jesus to avoid Hell, then your life must be eat, sleep, take care of yourself, and save as many people or lead as many people as you can to Christ before you die. Everytime, you play galciv2, watch T.V., etc. that is valuable time that you could be saving people. I mean if you truly, truly believed in Hell, you would have to be put in a nuthouse. You would go insane, because all you would think about is how everyone is comming to terrible and everlasting pain. Your lack of concern for me proves that you really don't believe in Hell. Either that or you don't care about me at all. Like you would basically be that person to just sit and watch a burning house with tonns of kids in it, and just be like, well serves you right you didn't believe.

126

fissure

on Mar 31, 2007

I personally don't think Hell is eternal burning, I think of it as life without God. Maybe that's a heretical thought. Maybe not. But that's what I think.

And please don't tell me that people are religious because of their parents. If the world was that way then everyone would have the same religion.

I have not read much about near death experiences, and I have no interest in them. Whatever they may reveal, they shall not turn me away from my beliefs.

And it is true that the Bible has been translated into many ways. That's the problem with multiple languages. I'd hope it hasn't been changed too much from the original, though I wouldn't be surprised if it has been. The temptation to use religion for power can be very...erm, powerful. If the Koran is true, and Islam turns out to be the truth, then oh well. I will not have lost anything by believing in my faith. I have nothing to lose. Either I'm right, and hopefully I end up in Paradise, or I'm wrong, and no harm is done.

The bible also says homosexuals are an abomination to be killed, but then murder is a sin.

What? From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition."

I don't know whether or not you're a Catholic, but I am, and I use this as well as the Bible as a handbook for life.

Anyways, as I stated before this conversation is useless. In case you haven't figured it out yet, nobody ever wins in religious arguments. Beliefs and opinions cannot and should not be questioned.

127

denyasis

on Mar 31, 2007

With regard to the OP, I can totally agree and disagree with your opinion. However, I truely beleive you have several very valid points.

I look at video games as any other form of recreation. If you take it to an extreme, it becomes anti-social. I was an RA in College (1 of 3 jobs I held - guess my addiction

), and I had 2 guys who were addicted to video games. Halo and Socom 3. Now all they did was MP, which you could argue that they weren't anti-social, they were mearly playing with their friends. But, They stopped going out with us. They didn't eat, sleep, go to class. They both almost failed out of college.

It's like any other "pleasure". Too much is a bad thing. I had a guy who was addicted to working out. Drug abusers, alcoholics, Gamblers, I had them all.

BUT, I had many many more people who knew moderation. They enjoyed a video game everyone once in a while. I remember back in the day, bonding with my friends at home over Goldeneye. We played Risk too. But we also went out on the town.

I think its really a balancing act. Don't let your hobbies, recreation, whatever you wish to call it get in the way of the rest of your life. If you do, then you lose focus on the important things, lose touch, lose yourself.

And that is something that no one wants to happen.

128

Stanley Tarrant

on Apr 01, 2007

Anyways, as I stated before this conversation is useless. In case you haven't figured it out yet, nobody ever wins in religious arguments. Beliefs and opinions cannot and should not be questioned.

You are of course right on the first statement. I guess we will all find out if God is an evil rotten bastard when billions scream out in unison for all eternity.... for the purpose of entertaining those in Heaven I guess. Actually, Heaven could become Hell in a way. Perhaps your wife (I will just assume you are a male and married for sake of argument), didn't really accept Christ as her prsonal savior, but only "paid lip service" to Christ. You die and go to Heaven, so wonderful. Your wife, however, goes to Hell. Enjoy Heaven for all eternity..... Don't let the agonizing screams of your wife haunt you when you are in Heaven..... Whether or not Hell is burning for eternity or "eternal seperation" from God, by definition, I suppose Hell is something far worse than even are most twisted minds could comptemplate....

If Hell is real, fine. Then God is an evil bastard beyond human contemplation. And if thats the truth, then that sucks.

With regards to your final statment, we would still be living in caves or walking around in sandals if beliefs and opinions weren't questioned. We would still think the world is flat. So I would have to say your last statment is flat out wrong.

129

CobraA1

on Apr 02, 2007

OK, it seems like nobody's closing this thread, so I'll take my chances with a reply.

I personally don't think Hell is eternal burning, I think of it as life without God. Maybe that's a heretical thought. Maybe not. But that's what I think.

That's actually a lot more accurate than the "burning" hell which Stanley seems to be obsessed with. I think the "burning hell" is a mistranslation.

Here's an email exchange I made with somebody recently (probably somebody on this forum):

> ok, start with your arguments about why a Hell of infinite torture is real and God is
> not evil

First of all, let's cleanly split your questions:

As I understand it (and correct me if I'm wrong), the questions you are asking are:

1) Is hell real?

2) Is sending people to hell evil?

First, the question of the reality of hell: This isn't just a question only about hell - this is a question about the existence of anything spiritual, and usually boils down the the question of the existence of the spiritual world. So I will answer the question about the existence of the spiritual world, and assume that if God and other spiritual things exist, then heaven, hell, and other spiritual concepts are likely to exist as well.

First of all, modern science lacks the proper tools to directly test the existence of a deity: We can neither confirm nor deny his existence through direct scientific means, so the question is left open as unanswered, probably unanswerable through direct observational science.

That doesn't present a problem for Christianity, however: They never claimed to be a science. They claim to be a faith-based religion.

So, we turn to other ways to look at the spiritual world: Our known historical records and archeology. So far, it seems that the vast majority of the historical (and indeed, the current) world was religious in some way or another - indeed, even the earliest records of human activity indicate a belief in the spiritual. The spiritual world does not seem to be "invented" somewhere along the way, as we have no record of its invention. So far, this has been an axiomatic belief of most people for a long time, and most people would ask if there were proof that God or the spiritual world didn't exist - and so far, that evidence has been lacking.

So, with science not being able to answer the question, and with only our history to rely on, I prefer to take the default position and ask if there is any evidence against the existence of a spiritual world.

On to the next question, then: Is sending people to hell evil?

This implies that hell is a place of eternal torture. Although this is the common modern view of hell, it is probably not accurate. From what I understand from the sources I'm reading, a better understanding is a separation from God, and a place of great shame and humiliation. The idea of hell being a place of torture was probably a bad translation of this concept into our modern society, which is based more on pain than shame.

It seems the entire purpose of hell is simply misunderstood, and it's not so much about punishment as it is deciding not to be with God. Most Christian beliefs teach that going to hell is not imposed on anybody, but rather that the individual decides he/she doesn't want to be with God. God doesn't force anybody to join him in heaven, so they end up separated from God, which is pretty much what the orthodox definition of hell is.

References used:
http://www.christian-thinktank.com/eyesopen.html
http://www.christian-thinktank.com/hinvent.html
http://www.christian-thinktank.com/sh1college.html
http://www.tektonics.org/gk/hello.html
http://www.christian-thinktank.com/gutripper.html
http://www.tektonics.org/uz/2muchshame.html

I have yet to receive a response (either that, or my ISP blocked it - they tend to be overzealous about their spam filtering sometimes

130

Stanley Tarrant

on Apr 02, 2007

I haven't responded to you yet. Actually, your view on Hell isn't as unreasonable, although I am assumming that in the above scenario Hell is eternal. See eternal ANYTHING could be Hell. Think about it. Lets say for all eternity you had to sit in front of your computer and play galciv 2 DA. Eventually, you would get so sick of the game that having to play it for all eternity would become Hell.

Irregardless of what Hell is, whether it is "burning forever" or "eternal seperation from God", Hell really, really, sucks. Due to the eternal nature of Hell, it is infinite evil. If I could press a button and send you to the Hell that Christians believe in, I just don't see how that wouldn't be the absolutely most evil thing I could possibly do. I mean, torturing people in this world is considered very, very evil. We make our worst horror films like Saw 3 based on that premise that torture could actually be considered more evil than killing someone. One of the most evil seriel killers of all time (forgot his name) shackled women in his basement for the purpose of torturing them daily. In fact he was careful to keep them alive just so he could continue to torture them. This guy was a real monster.

I just don't understand how God is not evil for sending people to Hell for not believing in Jesus. I mean, WHY does God have to send us to Hell?? Do I have to shoot my son in the face with a shotgun if he can't perform advanced calculus (an impossible task for a 5 year old) and if he doesn't beg forgiveness in my dead grandmother's name??? Is God stupid??? The reason I say that is God creates us as imperfect beings who sin (If God hates sin so much, couldn't he just create us all to be sinless and perfect??), and yet he holds us to IMPOSSIBLE STANDARDS?????? The bible itself says that God apparently holds us to impossible standards. Why???? Why the hell (no pun intended) would God create us as sinful, imperfect beings, and then hold us to impossible standards, prescribing us infinite punishment for failing to meet impossible standards??????????

WTF????????????????????????????????????????????????????

131

CobraA1

on Apr 02, 2007

although I am assumming that in the above scenario Hell is eternal.

Well, God doesn't force people into heaven if they don't want to, and if they didn't want God on Earth, I doubt they'd want him in the afterlife.

Irregardless of what Hell is, whether it is "burning forever" or "eternal seperation from God", Hell really, really, sucks.

True.

If I could press a button and send you to the Hell that Christians believe in, I just don't see how that wouldn't be the absolutely most evil thing I could possibly do.

People are pushing the button themselves; God isn't touching it. He's pushing the Heaven button. It's believed that God creates faith, but people reject it.

The reason I say that is God creates us as imperfect beings who sin

Re-read Genesis. You can blame satan and Adam and Eve for that.

The bible itself says that God apparently holds us to impossible standards. Why????

Yes and no. First, he's infinitely good, so he really can't stand any sort of evil. But you forget the other side of the coin - he's also merciful, so he's willing to forgive us. That's what the gospel and faith are all about. Sure, if he were truly evil as you claim, he would've sent us all there with no chance of being able to get to heaven. But there is a way to get to heaven, and God supplies that way, and that contradicts your claims of God being evil.

132

tetleytea

on Apr 02, 2007

These are good questions being asked. While I don't have all the answers, I am still Christian. I can't wait till I understand absolutely everything about the universe before I believe in God.

133

Stanley Tarrant

on Apr 02, 2007

So if Adam and Eve hadn't sinned thousands of years ago, I would be perfect and sinless???? Also, why does Satin even exist? Why does God allow Satin to exist and corrupt us anyway? I have lived for 26 years and I have never once had a nightmare with some kind of horned deamon or felt "Satin's presence" or any of that nonsense.

See here is the thing. You can apparently live for 80 years and torture and rape women every day of your life, and be a person that makes Hitler look like a carebear. Then when you turn 80, you suddenly "turn" to Jesus. Now, lets look at the 20 year old Hindu boy. The boy lives a good life that puts are American lives to shame. He gives to the poor, is completely unselfish, etc. But hey, he dies without knowing Jesus, because nonone told him. So he is screwed now forever???? Anyway, as it was said before this argument is pointlss. The very definition of being a Christian is to just flat out consider other ideas of God and the afterlife as heresy, no matter what. No matter if traditional Christianity with "eternal Hell" is an utter abomination of sense and reason. I will end this post with a refute to a quote:

This argument serves no purpose. I could get you a recording of Jesus Christ Himself and you'll find some way to question me. Good-bye.

To which I reply: This argument serves no purpose. I could show you anecdotal evidence from thousands of real life people today who have had near death experiences, where they died, saw the afterlife, and came back to life, painting a picture of the afterlife that is very different than what tradiional Christianity teaches. Suffice to say though, that near death experiences don't show an eternity of Hell for those who don't "accept" Jesus. You would still find a way to question all these thousands of near death experiences. Good bye.

One last thing: How do you know you are "saved". How would you ever know that you are truly "saved", afterall, the Devil supposedly believes in Jesus I am sure.

134

Stanley Tarrant

on Apr 02, 2007

Oh yeah, I forgot you have to "repent". Well if you ask me, no one here has truly "repented for their sins". Everytime you play a videogame or watch T.V. I think that is a sin if you are a Christian, because you should be spending that time spreading the word of God and Jesus. But as I doubt you are truly sorry of your sins when you play this game or watch T.V., or do anything to entertain yourself, you haven't truly repented. So, how the Hell do you know if you have "repented" enough???? If I say "I believe in Jesus" a thousand times a day, does that make me saved??? Being saved is so open to interpretation, but I don't think any American at least has the right to say they are saved. We live a life that is thousands of times richer and more sinful I think then the sick and starving children in Africa. I say none of us has repented, because if you truly repented, you would make yourself poor and give to all the kids in Africa, and spend 80-90% of your awake time spreading the gospel instead of wasting it playing video games, etc.

135

Stanley Tarrant

on Apr 02, 2007

Thats it I'm done. I guess we will all find out if God is supreme evil won't we...........

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