First, let me apologize up front if I’m crossing any boundaries set by this site’s owners and moderators. Writing for GHR is a privilege that I take seriously–especially with regard to content allowed on this community blog. This blog post is religious in nature, with regard to me and a game I had been playing. My intent is to simply share an experience that occurred to me tonight–nothing more. With this in mind, I invite you to click the jump.
I had a wonderful experience tonight. It was unexpected. To put it plainly, God revealed to me a change he wanted me to make in regard to a game I’m playing. I felt compelled to share this experience, and, I apologize in advance if I’m crossing any boundaries with respect to the owners/moderators of this site.
Since my conversion to Christianity some 14 years ago, God has made alterations in all areas of my life, including my entertainment. Aside from the obvious, there are some types of movies, anime, and TV shows the Lord simply doesn’t want me to watch, and He has pruned them from my viewing rotation. The one area He has been silent on has been the videogames I play–until now.
Just to set some background, I’ve played plenty of games with violent, dark, pseudo-religious and occult themes. From the first Silent Hill, to The Suffering, on to Jericho (which sucked) and even The Darkness. I’ve played more recent titles like Dead Space, and Darksiders, and just about everything in between–without even a hint of conviction. They simply weren’t games God brought to my attention, so I enjoyed them for what they were.
That changed tonight. My wife and I were at a party, celebrating her father’s birthday. Plenty of friends and family were present, and we had an awesome time. As the party drew to a close, a wonderful woman approached me and my wife. Her and her husband were long time friends of my father in law. After having a great conversation, and listening to her share stories about my wife as a little girl, she asked if she could pray with us and for us–to lift us up, and to keep our marriage and faith strong. We closed our eyes, and she asked me to begin by saying, “Lord forgive me my sins.” That was when it happened.
As soon as I spoke those words, specific images flashed in my mind of a game I have been playing. That game is Dante’s Inferno, and those images were as clear in my mind as if I was watching them on my 1080p television. The images, and what I can only describe as the presence of God was so intense, it made my portion of our group prayer difficult to speak. With all of the various games I play, and the variety of subject matter they address, this is the first time the Lord had anything to say about my gaming at all. It was hard hitting, and unexpected–but His message was clear.
Now, let me make this next point crystal clear. I AM NOT saying that Dante’s Inferno is an evil game, nor am I suggesting anything like that with regard to EA / Visceral Games or anyone–Christian or not, who plays this game. I AM NOT saying people shouldn’t rent or buy Dante’s Inferno. Personally, I had been enjoying the game quite a bit, though even I had to say that some of the enemies–especially some of the bosses–were somewhat disturbing in their imagery. Its a good game with some fairly deep combat mechanics, and I think it ranks high among hack-n-slashers in quality. So please, for those Christians who are playing and are not convicted, CONTINUE TO ENJOY THE GAME.
I’m not going to try to question why He doesn’t want me to play it. Frankly, it doesn’t matter what I think. I rejoice in the fact that the same God who spoke this universe into existance, who spoke to Moses, Isaac and Jacob, and who preached on a hill side of olive trees on how we should love God and each other, felt it important enough to give instruction to me on something that seems so small in my life. If He would reach out to me with regard to a game, what wouldn’t He do for me, or any of His children? God created us as individuals, and He deals with us individually. I believe that with all my heart. As God Himself said, “Who is my mother? Who is my brother? He who does the will of God.” With that in mind, I will obey.
So, when I return home, Dante’s Inferno will be converted into store credit somewhere, and I will choose another game. As much as I enjoy gaming, nothing in this world can compare to communing with God and doing His will–even in little things like this. I just wanted to share this experience with others of Faith. This is one forum of two that I felt comfortable about posting this. Forgive the long post, and again–my apologies to the forum admins and site owners if I crossed any boundaries.
Wow, that was powerful and well written. Thanks for sharing. I respect the fact that you shared your religious experience with us and appreciate the fact that you told no one to stop playing based on your thoughts. It bothers me when others push their agenda onto others, and you did not do that. Excellent post.
Hey Man, thank you for posting that, I really appreciate it. I completely understand where you are coming from, that is, in a nutshell, what we as christians can expect from our hobby. There’s tons of media out there that lives to push the boundaries, and it may be ok for some, but not for all, and that should be respected. It’s my personal belief that too much content in the form of vulgar language and sexual overtones are creeping into more and more movies and games, and it is a personal battle that we all must face and make our own choices in. I thank God for your revelation and can only pray that the rest of us can seek Him in each of our lives. God bless you bro, thank you for sharing this with us.
I second their comments. Thanks for sharing your experience and conviction! It’s refreshing to see a Christian gamer admit it and share how it’s affected his life!
As part owner of the site let me say I have NO problem whatsoever with this post and I know the others dont either. Keep up the good work Kevin. As always, you bring a great viewpoint and well written articles to our site and we appreciate it more than you know.
Nice read. Thanks ShoNuff.
Excellent article. I agree w/ DeviousMrMatt that it was not “agenda-pushing” or “preachy.” It was a commentary on a gaming experience by a gamer – so it definitely has a place on this site, imho.
I had a similar experience with the game. As a “hack-n-slash” lover of games like DMC4, I downloaded the DI demo to my 360. After hearing several podcasts report that even the demo featured prominent nudity (in addition to other “push-the-envelope” imagery), I decided to pass on the game and demo, despite my love for the gameplay genre. I came across the article below from http://www.HardcoreChristianGamer.com which validated my decision.
http://www.christian-gaming.com/articles/should-a-christian-play-dantes-inferno
Neither your article nor the one at HCG did the stereotypical “this game should be banned!!!” routine that we have all seen for various games (Mass Effect/”Sex-box” article comes to mind). As you stated, each person chooses the media they consume based on their own interests and convictions. Thanks for sharing yours.
-Meef
Thanks everyone for the positive feedback. As bluemanrule said, this is one of the reasons this community is a great place to be.
Meef–I didn’t know Drew had done an article on this game. Based on what he said, I’m glad the Lord pulled me away when He did. LoL
Again, thanks for the positive feedback. This community is the greatest.
Have to say I agree with all comments posted here. When I first saw the title I wanted to get my Bible thumper helmet on, but there’s no need (and just kidding about the Bible thumper helmet
) I think you did an excellent job in presenting your story without any overtones or implications that sometime come with talking about religion and a certain feeling or belief. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Great article. About seven years ago, I had the same revelation about the music I listened to. And as a result, I don’t normally listen to current music. I’m happy to see you stand by your convictions but I’m even happier to see Gamerhusbands.com leave it uncensored. It says a lot about the site and the comments say even more about the community. This is a great place to be.
Kevin, great article. I agree with Allen, I also have no problem with the article. As always, you showed why we enjoy having you as part of our Community and Staff. While I enjoyed the entire article, I was touched the most by the 2nd to last paragraph (…same God that spoke to…). May Gof continue to work in your life.
Great testimony of your experience. As has been said, you did a good job of emphasizing your feelings without forcing your conviction on others. This article is cool to me because I had a similar conviction in the past. Sometimes it’s a struggle for me because I see content or gameplay I would enjoy but pass it up due to my conviction. It’s just cool to see someone else take a similar stand. well written too.
Great article man. You and Drew shared similar feelings.
I’m glad to hear that you guys didn’t think we were being preachy and ‘down with the game’ at HCG either.
I had a similar experience a year ago about the entertainment media I was allowing in my life as well.
I want to first say thanks for writing this article and I am sorry if I sound preachy in my comment. I listen to gamerhusbandradio as part of my weekly rotation but never visited the site until I heard Alfred speak about this article. As a life long Christian, who has had his bouts with doubt and at one point left the church, it is confession like this that reaffirms my believe that our God is an awesome God. I am glad to see that GH left the article up and that I was about to see God work through your article. Gaming is a huge part of most of our lives and it is good to see that this community is accepting enough to respect your views. I want to say good on yall and I now found a second community of gamers that a glad to join (the first being TAG).
Robert
When I first clicked the comments for this article, I braced myself for the inevitable flame war that was to come. The maturity and respect this site has shows in the comments. I just registered to join the forums and become a “gamer-husband” thanks to this post. That, and the fact the word “ocarinas” was used in the Captcha
Well said man, well said.