Author Topic: Are video games sinful? (Read 4050 times)

BTNYC · « **Reply #10 on:** December 29, 2014, 12:45:14 PM »

Quote from: Traditional Guy 20

Intellectualism and common sense do not go hand-in-hand you know.

I could think of several hundred examples that explode that fallacy, starting with the Angelic Doctor himself.

BTNYC · « **Reply #11 on:** December 29, 2014, 12:50:39 PM »

Quote from: Traditional Guy 20

Anyone who plays video games never does it in moderation, as I surely know, considering I used to play them, and therefore sits on their a** all day doing nothing but engage in these useless activities.

Then I'll see your anecdotal evidence and raise you the same.

I still own my childhood Atari 2600. About two or three times a year I will dust it off and play a few of the games I enjoyed as a kid, and none of the sessions lasts longer than 30 or 40 minutes.

Projecting your own weaknesses and inclinations to particular vices on everyone else is a perilous thing. St Thomas Aquinas, the saint of common sense and greatest intellectual in history, expands upon this in his Summa article on judgment. I suggest you read it. http://www.newadvent.org/summa/3060.htm#article3

poche · « **Reply #12 on:** December 30, 2014, 10:30:17 PM »

If you play them to the extent that you neglect your other obligations then they could be sinful. I hope playing them did not stop you from going to mass last Sunday.

Charlemagne · « **Reply #13 on:** December 30, 2014, 10:35:03 PM »

I think they can be sinful simply because of the passions they tend to arouse. I used to get so angry when I was younger that I'd take God's name in vain. That's never good.

BTNYC · « **Reply #14 on:** December 31, 2014, 08:14:34 AM »

Quote from: Charlemagne

I think they can be sinful simply because of the passions they tend to arouse. I used to get so angry when I was younger that I'd take God's name in vain. That's never good.

Yes, I agree that playing video games certainly can be an occasion of sin for that reason. Similarly, alcohol arouses passions in people with certain temperaments, and when consumed in excess. Likewise, physical sports can certainly arouse passions in players and spectators, not infrequently leading to physical violence. I think we've all seen evidence of that.

But just as neither alcohol nor sports are intrinsically sinful, neither is a simple game played by manipulation of electronic sprites on a screen. All of these things should be enjoyed in moderation - with especial moderation imposed by parents on children - and should be avoided entirely by those whose temperaments incline them to overindulgence or easy overexcitement of the passions.