by Levi Ritchie

Created on: June 10, 2008   Last Updated: November 03, 2008

This could hardly be considered a difficult or tricky question. The answer, quite simply, is yes. Video games are merely a newer form of the kinds of games people have been playing for thousands of years.

It is far more likely that you have questions regarding the content of video games. It's most frequent for you to hear, in response to question like this, "What would Jesus play?"

It's a lot like asking someone whether or not smoking is wrong, and being answered by the question "What would Jesus do?" It really doesn't clarify anything. Jesus never smoked. How would you know? People can always say alcohol isn't inherently evil because Jesus drank wine. How do we accurately determine whether something is right or wrong if there is nothing in the Bible that directly addresses it?

There are two very common, and very wrong, ways of going about answering this question. Allow me to go over these before I continue to the main point:

First, it is possible to assume that everything not specifically addressed in the Bible is fine. This is less common now than it used to be, but it is nonetheless a problem. It can cause rampant addiction to drugs, television, and cell phones. Christians are particularly vulnerable to this sort of addiction, because, though it clearly distances us from God, we can easily dismiss the addiction by claiming that the activity itself isn't wrong. This applies to video games just as much as it does other activities.

The second possibility is that one mighty assume everything not addressed in the Bible is wrong. On more than one occasion, rather than "What would Jesus play?", I've heard someone say "If you have to question whether it is right or wrong, it is almost certainly wrong." While I can Love and Respect people who live by that rule, I must strongly disagree with their assumption. While Christianity is frequently understood by the outside world (and even some other Christians) to be something that shouldn't be questioned or thought about, God gave men wisdom. We have the ability to discern right from wrong, and difficult questions shouldn't be ignored and given the right to a "safe" answer.

The Bible is more than a simple record of facts that God scribbled down one day. Meditation and study will reveal more than meets the eye. In studying the Gospel, you must realize why Jesus said the things he did. The Bible obviously doesn't list every word Jesus spoke during his lifetime, or even during his ministry. However, Jesus taught a central message

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