I answer the summons. Yet another challenge, and THIS one with Scripture! Could it be that he is finally accepting what seemed impossible for him to reach: inciteful thought? Oh wait, I just read his last post....scratch that.
Regardless, I am here. Cheryl can come in if she wishes.
I'll call the verses in descending order, 1, 2, etc.
1. This says not to love the world: that means LOVE the world, as you would love God or your wife, if you indeed, do at all. To give them love of the heart. The world is not the place of man, so it is said. 1 John 4:19 affirms that (looks like Damar should have kept reading...): We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one." Satan is also attested to as the prince of the air, the ruler of this world, but not the Maker, nor the Creator, nor the King, nor the one in charge. He has to ask God for permission to do acts against his followers, as you see in Job 1...The Christians are not of this world, Damar. We are belonging to a higher authority: God. We are no longer bound to sin. WE are dead to it, and must be dead to it, and not continue in sin, though we all do. We are in this world, but not of it. Do you understand? Like, you can swim in water, but you can't breathe in the water, or you'll die. I think that serves fairly well as analogies go.
As for God not caring of loved ones....umm, I hate to tell you this, but He says He loves the WORLD. That means EVERYONE. The dead are the sinful, those of the world. They may bury the dead, the no longer living. But that was regarding Jesus to a man who wanted to follow him, but had to go and bury his father. God cares about us all. Or else we couldn't be saved, and God would be wrong, having lied to us, therefore God wouldn't exist, therefore I could have a free-for-all: rampant sex, murder, drugs, thievery and everything possible....but that's ONLY if, and as far as I can tell: every man has the choice to make: believe ON God or not. Make your home on God.
2. As for gibberish, 2 Peter 3:14-18 is telling us to be stable in God, to look forward to the coming of the Jesus Christ, and to Heaven, annnnnnnd, if you read 2 Peter 3:10-12..."But the day of the Lord (not the day of Jesus Christ's return) will come as a thief in the night, in whcih the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements melt with fervent heat?"
That is saying: God's Judgment is coming on the world, and it will be with fire. Everything will be destroyed, the atmosphere, the earth, and al things on it. Including people. After that is our reign with Christ, in the new heaven and the new earth. But this requires discernment and study. So you might not want to pick the one verse that only supports your ideas for a moment, and ignore (or "forget") the verses that immediately reject your ideas...
3. Umm, to my memory, "Conversation", isn't playing a game...Be holy in speech, in talk to your buddies, with parents, with brothers and sisters, with people you don't know...online. Whatever. So any point you decided to rack up for yourself here...has no basis. At all. Conversation is not playing games. I can go around and shoot anything in a game, and still be holy in speech...I don't see how this verse links to playing FPSs. And you know, as you said, what's right for me is not right for you....how can you then claim that defining holy and righteous by "Our book", the Bible, coincides with your definition of it? I would be interested in knowing what YOUR definition of holy and righteous is...or do you have one? To be holy is to be set apart from something else. It is to be blue in a white world. It is to be Christian in a sinful world. God is holy: he is not like us, he is not fleshly, he is not sinful. He is set apart from the rest of us. That's not saying black people are holier than white people and vice versa.....think metaphorically.
4. Everbreast? Please. Unreal II? Have you not seen Bloodrayne, or Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny? Or Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball? Or Dead or Alive, period? They're animated girls....I don't lust after them. They're not even real. They serve as no temptation to me. As for a parade of naked women: it's easy to turn away from sin. It is said, and I have said this before, "RESIST THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE." Satan uses all sorts of tactics against us, be it a parade of BMX XXX girls biking by in real life, or BMX XXX videogame. It is ridiculously simple to turn away from it all. All you have to do is do it: just look away. Call on God to give you help. Defeat sin. Do not be claimed by the deadness of the world: be alive.
And also, uh, I think in First Person Shooters, you don't really gaze at a girl's breasts all that often...you're more or less gazing out your helmet to enemies and firing the crap out of them...correct me if I'm wrong...the most I've ever seen of that is Samus Aran (a chick), looking around in First Person Mode and she sticks out her arm cannon....I don't know if that qualifies as making me wanna jump her. I don't think so. I can play a game without lusting. I can play Everquest without wanting to have sex with that chick in blue. I can walk through the mall and see so many hot girls walk by wearing lickable skin-tight clothes, and I don't have to lust. I'm not gay, but I don't have to lust...it's easy. Try it.
5. And there is this point of entertainment: I can play Quake III: Team Arena and go on the Blue Team and blast the crap out of you with a railgun from a distance, or run up to you and saw you to bits, or take (my favorite weapon) the Rocket Launcher and blast you to the abysmal chasms around the level layouts. It is difficult to abstain from all appearances of evil. It is difficult to not look at something or do something you want to do, and shouldn't do. For me, games are optional: I don't have to spread your guts over the nearest wall (which I most assuredly would, that's how good I am at the game). I don't have to watch those slumber party sleepover turned lesbian sexfest movies, or Michael Myers in action with a knife, or Chris Rock make dirty jokes, or South Park make fun of God and curse and be nasty like they are. I can abstain from it. I just don't (well, not for all of them, like South Park and Quake III)
I don't think Quake III will save my life from hell, but I think it really is FUN! I don't think South Park will save me from hell, but it sure is hilarious. I don't think I'm going to spread God's love by plastering your skull on a digital stick in a videogame, either, but you know: it's fun. It's not what we're called to do, it may even be a sin for some: playing Quake III might be disobedient to your parents, or cause conflict in your soul about it, or you might be a filthy, ungodly mouth on it. ANYTHING could be sin. Watching Winnie the Pooh could be sinful. It doesn't have to be, but it can be.
6. And for your final point, this proves a 6:0 win in my favor. I'm sorry Damar, but evil doesn't last under the scrutiny of the Word of God, and neither does twisting the Word of God. Try again next time with better stuff. I guess this whole thing I was expecting was a major disappointment after all.
Yes I have thought thoughts to that tune. "I kick major arse", or stuff like that. Is it sinful? Yes. Is it right? No. Would God encourage me to think like that? No. Is it prideful? Yes. Is being prideful a sin? Yes. Is thinking thoughts like that edifying to God and to the soul? No.
However, God had to put up with all our sins, and they far exceed thinking you're hot stuff. WAY beyond that. God died for everything at his point, everything then, everything before, and everything after. So my thought, my prideful, badmouth thought, he died for, and for so many others.
RIFFRAFF, as I've explained before, didn't follow him. Here are a few who followed him: fishermen, tax collectors (rich people), doctors, and Pharisees (the religious leaders), just to name a couple types.
And, uh, by the way, JESUS hung out with SINNERS and RIFFRAFF. He was friends with the TAX COLLECTORS AND THE SINNERS. That's what the Jews called anyone they looked down. He hung out with Gentiles. He talked with adulteresses, more than one, and he healed the sick, the possessed, the dead, even.
God did not strike Judas Iscariot dead for betraying him to the Pharisees, who promptly took him to the judgement, and the judgement promptly got him to Pilate, who promptly put him before the Jews, and then he was crucified. Judas Iscariot committed suicide. And he was one of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus Christ. Hmm.
As for cheer squad off to the side, THEY were the ones that ran off when he most needed him. They were the ones who fell asleep when he asked for them to stay awake and pray. They were the ones that denied him thrice that they were even associated with him. They were the ones that couldn't believe he would be resurrected. They were the ones that wouldn't believe he lived until he showed himself to them. They bickered over who would sit on his right hand in Heaven. They doubted that a miracle could occur on the seas. They lacked the faith to cease the storm. They shunned the children from Jesus.
What a pep squad! I definitely want those guys to back me up when I go into battle.
Jesus would not kill you for stealing from him, or order you to repent and follow him. No. 30 pieces of silver for his death....did he stop Judas? No. He knew it would be Judas who betrayed him to the hands of man. Did he stop it? No. I can imagine Jesus Christ playing Capture the Flag with me on a Multiplayer mode of Quake III. I can see me and him playing that. Why not? BEcause of some blood? God would not incinerate you for playing a violent game. Regardless of that OBVIOUS fact, he also is everywhere. Right now. He's right around me, watching me type this, and hearing me listen to Puddle of Mudd's She Hates Me, which I am changing right now, and he is right beside you Damar, wherever you are, be it at your bed, at your computer, outside, or elsewhere. He's with every person in the world. He's even in the places no one lives in. What can I hide from God? It is said that all deeds committed in darkness shall be exposed in the light, and the light is God.
What can I hide from him? Not even my heart is hidden. Not even my deepest, evilest secrets are. Why try? He is God. If he couldn't be everywhere at once, well, I would not accept that. God's supposed to be almighty right? Why should he be confined to Olympus? Why must he move about as a bulll to steal Europa, as Zeus, or send Hermes out as the messenger boy? No. God does it all on his own.
So, my friend, it looks like you can be the one to be laugehd at. 6:0. Flat win. One more win and I would have skunked you at ping-pong. I recommend more serious, more thought-provoking entertainment next time.
Have fun responding!
