Call of Duty
"Mom, why can't we play Call of Duty?" said the teenage boy.
"Well, this is really your father's rule for our household, but I absolutely agree with him. First person shooter video games are not allowed in our home. You can play hunting games, target practice, we'll even allow you to shoot fictional Lego characters that break apart. But realistic games where we make light of killing people will never be allowed. We don't kill for fun. War is not a game. People are precious."
In the past my children have argued that first person shooter video games are just fine because it isn't real life. To which I ask them, "Are we supposed to delight in evil? Should killing people for fun, even in a fantasy world, be entertaining for us?" When we hunt animals, do we just shoot them and leave them where they lie? Of course not! We don't hunt for sport, we do it for food. Death isn't a form of entertainment, and it should not be depicted that way.
War is not entertaining. I understand Hollywood glamorizes it. But for all the men and women who have lived it, war is not fun. For all the men and women who gave their lives or took lives of the enemy, no one comes away thinking how exhilarating death is.
To be clear, fighting war is not a sin. Being a soldier and having to take a life in the midst of battle is not murder. But finding delight in taking a person's life is sinful. In 2 Peter 3:9, God says, "He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." (NLT) We should reflect God's mindset in our entertainment choices.
We understand that sex outside of marriage is wrong. Likewise pornography, even cartoon pornography, is sinful entertainment. We understand that violence against the innocent is wrong. Likewise entertainment that promotes torturing children or raping women is out of the question. We understand that killing people for sport is wrong. Likewise it is hard to understand how a video game that rewards you for killing people honors Christ.
Death is difficult for all of us who have lost loved ones. The hurt is deep and real. War, though sometimes necessary, isn't entertaining or fun. Adults have an easier time separating reality from fiction than children do. And for few adults, playing Call of Duty or other first person shooter games might not devalue life in their minds. But I would propose that realistic games, which depict people and require you to pull a trigger to kill them, do not value life. While we can argue the merits of real war, it is difficult to argue the merits of personally "killing" people on video games for the purposes of entertainment.
"Well, this is really your father's rule for our household, but I absolutely agree with him. First person shooter video games are not allowed in our home. You can play hunting games, target practice, we'll even allow you to shoot fictional Lego characters that break apart. But realistic games where we make light of killing people will never be allowed. We don't kill for fun. War is not a game. People are precious."
In the past my children have argued that first person shooter video games are just fine because it isn't real life. To which I ask them, "Are we supposed to delight in evil? Should killing people for fun, even in a fantasy world, be entertaining for us?" When we hunt animals, do we just shoot them and leave them where they lie? Of course not! We don't hunt for sport, we do it for food. Death isn't a form of entertainment, and it should not be depicted that way.
To be clear, fighting war is not a sin. Being a soldier and having to take a life in the midst of battle is not murder. But finding delight in taking a person's life is sinful. In 2 Peter 3:9, God says, "He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." (NLT) We should reflect God's mindset in our entertainment choices.
We understand that sex outside of marriage is wrong. Likewise pornography, even cartoon pornography, is sinful entertainment. We understand that violence against the innocent is wrong. Likewise entertainment that promotes torturing children or raping women is out of the question. We understand that killing people for sport is wrong. Likewise it is hard to understand how a video game that rewards you for killing people honors Christ.
Death is difficult for all of us who have lost loved ones. The hurt is deep and real. War, though sometimes necessary, isn't entertaining or fun. Adults have an easier time separating reality from fiction than children do. And for few adults, playing Call of Duty or other first person shooter games might not devalue life in their minds. But I would propose that realistic games, which depict people and require you to pull a trigger to kill them, do not value life. While we can argue the merits of real war, it is difficult to argue the merits of personally "killing" people on video games for the purposes of entertainment.
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