College ends this Tuesday. Or else! Heh, I'm just so tired and want to get over my college work.

*Haven't* been blogging this past few days because...my computer got spoilt. So, we decided to change the motherboard, hard drive and what have you. Now I have a new computer. Yay!

Going for a church camp tomorrow. Busy, like I said. Won't be blogging for a few days. Again.

Sorry if I my sentences appear fragmented. Just throwing out my thoughts. Which I rarely ever do, you know. Most of the time, it my thoughts are carefully thought out. Then, they are written here, on this blog. Very, very, very few posts here are planned, carefully researched and written papers.

Anyway, I plan to start another series on well, something. Hopefully when I come back from church camp, and when college ends. That, I suppose, would be in a few days time.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to post anything for Easter due to the fact that my computer broke down (to put it simply). I probably wouldn't have posted anything anyways, as I've been sick with flu (and sick of it!) for the past few days.

My college course is finally going to end. By the end of this week. Hopefully.

It is something of an experience to actually become addicted to a history book as thick as a brick. But addicted I was. And it has been consuming a scary amount of my time. But I always console myself by saying that "It's educational, after all".

A few days back, on Friday, I went to a little church (again) led by a woman pastor I just can't seem to like (for obvious reasons, heh) to see a limbless guy share his (short but interesting and entertaining) life story. Nick Vujicic is his name (yup, he has a website). Certainly fascinating to see how a handicapped (or someone with differrent abilities, if you want to go politically correct) person can cope with life. And how easy other more privileged people give up. He, like other people as severely handicapped as him, (who have learned to keep up with life) certainly put others- including me- to shame.

Oh yeah- my computer has been fixed, but now there's something wrong with my internet connection. Got it fixed about an hour ago, just hope it stays this way.

Thus, this is how this post ends.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Yep, same old same old. Methinks if the DaVinci Code hadn't paved the way, nobody would've bothered.

Nothing new I find really, and the most probable reason that this lost "gospel" (like a trillion others) has been ignored is because it was written by heretics. Pagels, quoted in a CNN article, offers an odd comment:

"The people who loved, circulated and wrote down these gospels did not think they were heretics."

Cooky, to say the least.

Here are some articles I've found so far:

The Gospel Of Judas
Will The Real Judas Please Stand Up

Conclusion

The main point I was trying to make in the previous post was that we ought not to repeatedly invest ourselves (and our time) into games that clearly trangress biblical morality. One time playings are perhaps, excusable. But repeated ones are certainly not.

The above statements can be expanded into another objection, namely, ought we to spend our time on such things? (As one person has also pointed out in a comment) Certainly we ought to do more benificial things.

This is not, however, a complete negation for anything related to leisure. But the fact is, playing games that fall under the biblically wrong category certainly is not commendable. Even more so when you spend a large amount of your time on it.

So that basically concludes my own exploration on this subject. And I admit that I have still much to learn (and much to do) in this regard!

Most of the problems in choosing video games also apply to that of music and movies. What, exactly, consitutes entertainment that doesn't go against biblical principles?

Taken strictly, this would mean that any entertainment that contains sinful acts (i.e. against biblical morality standards) would be considered "sinful" and, consequentially, not recommended for Christians.

However, large numbers of video games tend to fall in between the lines. Is it wrong to slay all those enemy orcs? Crash cars made out of digital pixels into people made out of digital pixels?

And, anyway, are the things we do in video games equally wrong as that in real life?

Since I'm not advocating the death sentence for all those who made (and played) those PS2 games out there, I would say that, obviously, there is no correlation. But the acts done in certain games are, nevertheless, wrong.

So where does that take us? Some play video games that are clearly wrong without any hint of guilt. Others play them, knowing that what they are doing are wrong but nevertheless still continue. Both groups are wrong in this case.

But then, what constitutes a clearly wrong video game? (I have few examples but I will give some abstract criteria instead)

Most of them fall under the category that promotes wanton (morally unjustifiable) violence, games that feature sexual elements and games that require you to deceive, lie and steal.

I would personally avoid these games. However, for some, these aren't exactly strong enough reasons to stay away from games. After all, there are movies that have these things and yet we still go to see them (I acknowledge that I have gone to see these kind of movies).

In this case, some leave it to their conscience (and I respect that)- but staying away from these kind of games which is know are morally wrong is still something an obligation for Christians. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 is still a good guideline.

Watching movies isn't exactly like playing games. When you watch a bad movie (morally speaking, although I do hope you extend it to quality!), certainly you wouldn't want to watch it again. The same thing goes with games. Repeated playings of Grand Theft Auto are not advisable, to say the least.

So these are my thoughts on this subject. I'm certain some people who play the above mentioned game (who are Christian) will disagree with me. I, of course, welcome what they have to say.

Abstain from all appearance of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:22)

The main question right now is whether it is not okay to pummel someone to death in real life- but in the video game world, it is perfectly legit, even fun.

There are some considerations before one either draws (or doesn't) a distinction between those two. The Bible verse quoted above, I think, gives us a direction to go in this issue. Abstaining from all appearance of evil, I would contend, is a main criteria in selecting what kind of video games are moral.

In my next post, I hope to highlight why some violence/magic in games cannot be really considered evil, or at least should be left up to the conscience (Main reason: Ambiguity).