sports

===ORIGINAL POST===

Now a days I feel kids have lost themselves in a imaginary world.. This world they create In there minds through TV , video games and cell phones..

I remember when the cool thing to do between 8-16 was to be outside playing football, building tree forts, baseball, soccer, paintball, 4 wheeling.. Whatever we could find..

Now at 10-16 its let's see how high I can get, skip school, how many kills can we accumulate on battlefield..

Why I bring this up is because of how humbling it is to me that my life has changed so drastically by the Grace of God that I can be used to go out and make a difference in these kids lives..

Showing them the love God has for them, how much of a plan and purpose he has for each of there lives..

Every opportunity I get to speak whether its to one kid or 20. I know that even if what i say reaches into the heart of just one kid..

That kid ends up on a different path finds a new hope and vision for his future and God changes not just his or her life but every person around them then that's worth it all..

I pray that tomorrow night when I speak that even if there is just one kid in the crowd, I pray that God reaches into there heart and his light shines on them. That the words I say are not words that they hear that will direct there eyes towards me.

But that they will be the word of truth that will direct there eyes to God who can and will change every one of there lives forever..

-Amen

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===MY RESPONSE===

In all due respect, Scott, I think you've got some majorly wrong ideas here.

As a musician, programmer, and aspiring game developer, I think it might be of a little use to explain exactly how strongly I feel about what I do, so I apologize for the wordiness.

First things first, why are you equating videogames with harmful and evil things such as drug abuse high and delinquency? And on the other hand, you hold such things as sports up as inherently righteous pastimes? Let me be the first to say that I absolutely hate playing sports, partly because I have experienced a lot of ill will or plain rejection from people through them. I've never been very good at most sports, but it's enraging that I'd ever be given a low value as a friend or human being because of that, and yet I have.

But despite this, do I call sports the villain? I'd be foolish to not have worked past that. The worth of our activities and pastimes can ONLY be judged by how strongly they serve to help people grow closer to each other and to love God. If a sport isn't doing that, or worse, is inhibiting that, then it's as useless as any videogame ever could be.

In an inverse way, videogames, along with every equivalent media, whether it be movies or books, have the potential to be as enriching a thing as any good game of sportsmanship and teamwork.

Do you remember the first time you ever read the Chronicles of Narnia? I couldn't forget those stories if I lived one hundred million years. The vivid depictions of creation, the God-figure working through the years of the world to lead his willing people to a happy end, it stands as an "imaginary world" and yet SUCH an amazing parable. It helped me grasp a lot of spiritual concepts I had never really understood before.

The reason I'm so passionate about game design is because it's a medium through which I can take music, writing, programming, and other talents, and use them to create an interactive and highly emotional experience. I was made a creative being, in the image of our great Father, and by following in his footsteps, I want to create my own world, my own Narnias, my own Middle Earths. Because when I create something and can look at it, love it, and say "it is good!" I can better understand the love Christ has for us.

It's time the church and society in general stop distancing themselves from videogames like it's rock & roll all over again. Because if you don't understand videogames, and you don't know which ones will build you up and which ones will break you down, how can you possibly hope to help the youth choose their media wisely?

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===RESPONSE===

Hey Wesley Aaron G that's awesome you do what you do very cool.. And I am not necessarily bringing down all video games.. I myself would find myself getting into them for hours on end at times..

Its not always a bad thing and I'm not saying just sports.. But how quickly do the hours go by and how many hours are waisted in these kids lives in front of a TV playing games.. Dude I get online and its sad because they spend every waking moment of there free time playing a game..

Many of these whether you agree or not are first person shooter games. Gods word clearly says that we need "Not to be transformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:2)

Now again I'm not totally condeming video games I just feel there needs to be a balance.. If your playing these things and feeding your mind the visions of killing innocent people and living in this imaginary world not of narnia but of combat, evil and destruction and you spend more time in that then you do reading your bible or filling your mind with something good whether you agree or not it has an effect in your thought life and your mind..

Not saying all these kids will be serial killers.. But by sitting behind a TV your missing out in a lot of hands on things in life..

As far as sports go I'm sorry you had bad experiences but in a lot of ways if you have a good coach you learn about discipline, you learn how to have team work, you learn how to fight for yourself and not give up..

But there's so much more than that forward kids to do outside its important that we interact with people..

Not by talking online or texting either but by truly interacting with others..

I think what you do is great and its an awesome gift.. But you have to agree a little as a whole group as to what technology is doing to peoples lives..

I remember bailing hay, having picnics, going to the creek picking up crawfish, riding bikes everywhere, playing cards its not just sports there's a ton of things to do even throwing rocks see how far you could throw haha..

I didn't grow up with cell phones And all that so in time these kids won't know life without it all and it will be harder for me to reach them but life was much different..

Last thought: Imagine this country if the video game world ended, if cell phones crashed and the internet was down.. What fo you think would happen?

People will lose there sanity and there mind they will really have no idea how to function or survive.. It would be complete chaos and when that happens its hard to say our eyes were on God because the reality is if they truly are then we won't need all these things he is the only one we should find our peace and comfort in.. Not the the things of the world but we've become so blinded by it that thats where our minds are being conformed to the image of whether we want to admit or see it or not...

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===MY RESPONSE===

 Let's ignore videogames for a second, and focus on technology in general. You're still making technology out to be the beast that is corrupting the generations and stealing away the children, and that's a mistake.

If all technology was suddenly erased, what DO I think would happen? Frankly, the spiritual state of the world would remain unchanged, and we would be no better off then than we were with it. Those that currently abuse technology to fill voids in their life would find that the voids in their life STILL existed. Then they'd go on to fill it with something else entirely. Abuse of technology is not the root problem, but a symptom of a deeper problem, a spiritual problem with our generations.

Perhaps the reason technology has been such a stumbling block for many is because the church and family has held back from it, and failed to teach young people proper becoming conduct regarding it and its uses? A lot of young people I've known have been sheltered from it throughout their childhoods, and then fallen headfirst into trouble with it when they finally do use it, because they don't know what they're doing, or even what they SHOULD be doing with it. A whole area where the church isn't equipping youth to act godly in. What a great opening for the devil, eh?

Going back to videogames for a moment, the same principle needs to apply there. If you, or any other, finds themselves with a harmful addiction to videogames, that's likely not the videogame's fault, and is rather evident of self control issues on the player's part, which can spring from any number of personal issues (never taught proper self control by parents, or using entertainment as a way to ignore your well-being, etc. etc.) . Blaming videogames for making someone an addict is about as sensible as blaming food for making one obese.

Lastly, you refer to face-to-face communication as "true interaction". Though it's definitely true interaction, I think that phrasing is somewhat misleading, as it infers that other interaction, like via technology, is some sort of "false interaction". And therein lies the issue. Neither are false. Both have definite values in their own ways, and it's not wise to reject one or the other. I myself tend to be a better non-verbal communicator than I am verbal, and so a good portion of my closest friendships have been enriched by the addition of online communication to the mix.

Technology, taken and used rightly as a Christian, should make our outreach to people and to each other easier, more versatile, and more effective.

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