A friend in my congregation enjoys playing paintball from time to time. Others play lazertag. Now, while these may imitate the "concepts of war", has there been any Society comments on these games? Are these matters for personal choice?
Paintball and Lazertag - Can True Christians Play?
by truthseeker 13 Replies latest jw friends
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BluesBrother
I cannot think of any comments that they have made on this . I do not know where you are located but , is it big in USA ? that is the only reason that it would come to their attention.
But they have counselled against playing chess, in the past, because it is apparently derived from war strategy , and there is plenty of comment against violent computer games, so I would reason that a "Trained Christian conscience and a spirit of a sound mind " should lead a mature christian to avoid such aggressive recreation , in case it should stumble your brother with a weaker conscience. Or something like that ..
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Caedes
I seem to remember as a kid being told that playing chess was bad because it is a wargame that teaches you military strategy etc.
Mind you my parents were pretty hardline about such things. My own rule of thumb as a child was "is it fun?" if the answer was yes then I probably wasn't allowed to do it.
I do play airsoft these days, a bit like paintball really. lots of fun.
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TheListener
Someone with access to a cd rom can clarify this but I don't recall seeing anything SPECIFIC about paintball and lazertag. However, if I were still an elder I could easily find material to make the dub realize that the society (aka Jehovah) didn't look kindly on games that imitate war. Guns, whether shooting light rays (visible or invisible) or paint balls would be nothing that a true christian should be involved with. How would these games differ from martial arts training? Surely it wouldn't be pleasing to Jehovah to imitate something that pleases the devil.
For me, I freaking love lazer tag.
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kristyann
I don't have access to one of those cd-roms or anything, so I couldn't tell you if the society has made any comments on paintball or lasertag... but I bet it's only a matter of time before they do, if paintball increases in popularity. I told you all about my boyfriend's JW parents and how they are really really loose with their rules and pick and choose which WTS rules they will obey...so in other words, they're not hard-line at all... but when their one son (my boyfriend's younger brother) asked if he could play paintball with some friends, they absolutely forbade him to do so because it involved GUNS. They seemed horrified at the idea. However, I think that what they really didn't want was to spend the money on it (or for their son to spend his money on something like that)... I have noticed a pattern over the years of their picking and choosing rules that allow them to spend as little money as possible (i.e. no Christmas because they'd have to buy presents so they like that rules... no sports because they'd have to buy uniforms, etc... but when it comes to free Thanksgiving meals that they don't have to pay for, they are all for it!)
But anyway... if they increase in popularity I bet they'll say something about it... just like with chat rooms, the internet, etc.
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atypical
Howdy,
I searched the watchtower cd for the subject, and found this article. It's from the the 89 awake. I cut and pasted part of it. Here it is:
War
Games—Are They for Christians?About 20 members of two Sacramento-area churches, in California, paid about $35 each to "participate in the increasingly popular outdoor sport," one reporter wrote. "Church against church, they took to the rugged terrain for nearly six hours—hiding behind trees and 55-gallon [200 L] drums, firing carbon-dioxide-powered guns and trying to capture the other team’s flag." When questioned about the propriety of a church leader engaging in such a sport, a preacher of one of the churches said: "Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean you can’t be a human being and have fun." His counterpart, pastor of the opposing team’s church, reportedly "had no doubts about playing war games on a regular basis." However, should not one calling himself a Christian have doubts about playing games that glorify war?
One player stated: "It’s everybody’s dream to sneak up and get right behind your man and blow him away. That’s the ultimate kill. He never knows what hit him and he’s dead." Another said: "I fell in love with it the first time I played. It’s like getting addicted. You have to come every week and get your adrenaline rush."
Many behavioral experts denounce war games as being offensive and a stumbling block to others, calling them a "frightening phenomenon." Various reactions were:
"The act of pointing a gun at someone, paint pellets or not, and pulling the trigger could lead to desensitization when it comes to real violence." "Getting a rush from shooting people seems unsavory in the extreme." "I see it doing far more harm than good," said a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin (U.S.A.) and a specialist on aggression. "The evidence is clear that there’s no beneficial catharsis and that there can be a reduction in the inhibitions against violence." "Other critics have called the war games craze a sick version of people hunting and simulating murder," says the magazine New Orleans. "One . . . suggested that war games participants were actually in need of a good therapist."
Besides the morally obscene nature of the games, they are fraught with danger, resulting in many injuries.
War is an abhorrent thing. That is why a Christian gets no thrill or exhilaration from simulating or perpetuating it, dramatizing it. Rather than taking delight in participating in such aggressive acts, the true Christian delights in the fact that the Grand Creator, Jehovah God, will soon make "wars to cease to the extremity of the earth."—Psalm 46:9; Isaiah 2:4.
I know from the halls I have been in that it was very frowned upon, but everyone did it. They just made sure to only invite the right people who would not talk about it later.
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Poztate
A friend in my congregation enjoys playing paintball from time to time. Others play lazertag. Now, while these may imitate the "concepts of war", has there been any Society comments on these games? Are these matters for personal choice?
Ah...Personal choice. There is no such thing with the WT. They say it is your personal choice but then go on to tell you what a"mature christian" would do. Going against what they "advise" would mark you as being spiritualy weak.
When I was growing up we played with toy guns.(cowboys and indians) It used to be personal choice. Try it now.!!
We used to have watergun fights..good clean fun...try it now.!!
CHESS...as been already mentioned...war game..Mature christians should avoid. My wife finally let our daughter play chess but insisted on breaking off the cross on top of the Bishop. LOL
Good luck with the paintball and the lazer tag.However, should not one calling himself a Christian have doubts about playing games that glorify war?
This is typical WT BS.They have to ask it as a question to make it appear as a personal choice. If an elder asked this question of you and you said..Hell No..I don't have a problem with it do you think he would back off with a shrug and say.. oh well it is a personal choice?? -
inquirer
Jehovah's Witnesses can't play them. :D
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blondie
A few years back the CO found out that several brothers and sisters were visiting the local paint baill entertainment center (laser tag too), elders and MS and pioneers amongst them. He told these "appointed" people that if they continued they would be removed. Paint ball/laser tage = no privileges.
Here is the article atypical posted with the source attached:
1989 Awake
5/22 pp. 26-27 Bang! Bang! You’re Dead!THE early morning air is chilling. The trees in the dense forest are still—hardly a breath of air is stirring. The variety of birds that once roosted and took shelter in the leafy branches have suddenly disappeared. Wild deer and other animals who only a few hours earlier took refuge in the dense foliage have fled. A sense of foreboding fills the air. Inch by inch on your stomach you slither. There is mud and slime underneath. The dampness soaks through the tattered camouflage suit. Survival dictates you must lie prone in it.
Suddenly the stillness is shattered by a nerve-racking, warlike cry. Another human creature leaps from the underbrush not more than 20 feet [6 m] away. With reckless abandon he fires point-blank. His weapon jams without getting off a shot. His cursing fills the air. Instinctively you roll to the side, simultaneously squeezing the trigger of your weapon. In a blink of the eye, crimson covers the enemy’s chest and oozes over the front of his uniform. You have met the enemy and he is yours!
Are these the saddened reflections of a veteran of World War I or II, or Korea, or Vietnam? No, they are the setting and scenario of the thousands of "weekend warriors," both men and women, who weekly take part in one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States and Canada, also in England, France, West Germany, and Japan. Divided into two teams of 12, 15, or 20 combatants each, the objective of the game is to capture the opposing team’s flag.
It is played by men and women of all walks of life—doctors, lawyers, nurses, secretaries, high-tech engineers, retail businessmen, and those up and down the corporate ladder. Dressed in camouflage fatigues, with faces smeared with mud or brown, black, and green coloring, all players are reduced to one common denominator—grotesque-looking adults playing at the game of war.
Equipped with specially designed handguns and rifles that can shoot gum-ball-size gelatin capsules filled with red, water-soluble paint, speeding at 250 feet [76 m] per second, bursting on impact, each player takes on the ominous appearance of a seasoned veteran of Vietnam combat. The telltale sign of red oozing seemingly from every pore is a notice to both friend and foe of a fatal casualty. Once any player is shot by an opponent, he is "dead" for the rest of the game. No prisoners taken!
The battleground can be any wooded area, often rented, leased, or owned by the franchise. Many such tracts have streams and dense underbrush, with the slime and mire mentioned at the outset. More elaborate ones may have specially constructed huts that resemble Vietnam villages for house-to-house combat. Many are given Vietnam names. Some may have army tanks to add to the realism or caves and foxholes for hiding or ambush. Small platforms may be constructed in the branches of trees, from which snipers may track their victims and make their "kill." If the opposing team’s flag is not captured, then the team with the greatest number of "kills" wins the game.
War
Games—Are They for Christians?About 20 members of two Sacramento-area churches, in California, paid about $35 each to "participate in the increasingly popular outdoor sport," one reporter wrote. "Church against church, they took to the rugged terrain for nearly six hours—hiding behind trees and 55-gallon [200 L] drums, firing carbon-dioxide-powered guns and trying to capture the other team’s flag." When questioned about the propriety of a church leader engaging in such a sport, a preacher of one of the churches said: "Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean you can’t be a human being and have fun." His counterpart, pastor of the opposing team’s church, reportedly "had no doubts about playing war games on a regular basis." However, should not one calling himself a Christian have doubts about playing games that glorify war?
One player stated: "It’s everybody’s dream to sneak up and get right behind your man and blow him away. That’s the ultimate kill. He never knows what hit him and he’s dead." Another said: "I fell in love with it the first time I played. It’s like getting addicted. You have to come every week and get your adrenaline rush."
Many behavioral experts denounce war games as being offensive and a stumbling block to others, calling them a "frightening phenomenon." Various reactions were:
"The act of pointing a gun at someone, paint pellets or not, and pulling the trigger could lead to desensitization when it comes to real violence." "Getting a rush from shooting people seems unsavory in the extreme." "I see it doing far more harm than good," said a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin (U.S.A.) and a specialist on aggression. "The evidence is clear that there’s no beneficial catharsis and that there can be a reduction in the inhibitions against violence." "Other critics have called the war games craze a sick version of people hunting and simulating murder," says the magazine New Orleans. "One . . . suggested that war games participants were actually in need of a good therapist."
Besides the morally obscene nature of the games, they are fraught with danger, resulting in many injuries.
War is an abhorrent thing. That is why a Christian gets no thrill or exhilaration from simulating or perpetuating it, dramatizing it. Rather than taking delight in participating in such aggressive acts, the true Christian delights in the fact that the Grand Creator, Jehovah God, will soon make "wars to cease to the extremity of the earth."—Psalm 46:9; Isaiah 2:4.
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Cygnus
So they don't come right out and say you can't. Reminds me of skydiving or rock climbing. It's not a good idea, it doesn't show respect for life, 1975 may be the time for Armageddon, but we're not saying, brothers, we're not saying!
