Paul said in Philip. 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."
Version IV of the video game Grand Theft Auto was released this week. It is rated "M" for mature and is full of violence, sex, drug use, and killing. Do not think for one minute that when young people spend hours each day on a game like this that it does not affect their minds.
I cannot caution parents strongly enough that this game is evil and will fill your childrens' minds with evil thoughts. An NBC 15 news story by Jenna Susko says, "It promotes violence, contains secret sex scenes, and rewards gamers for stealing cars. . . Mobs battle it out for control of the drug trade in Grand Theft Auto IV- a game that rewards you for meeting up with prostitutes while murdering and stealing cars."
Dr. Josh Foster of Mobile says, "The types of activities portrayed in this game make me queasy and make me sick. If kids see someone being rewarded for being violent, what they learn is that violence is good." One former video game employee said, "You'd be surpirsed how often parents would buy that for even young children, as young as 4 or 5 years old. You can pull out a gun and kill people on the street."
Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary, has a warning for us on this issue. Read his blog here. Here is an exerpt from his blog.
In some sense, we are what we play. This is not to say that every young male playing "Grand Theft Auto" is now or will become a violent sexual predator who steals cars. That is clearly not the case. But it is to say that these players are filling their minds with these images and narratives and they are feeling the competitive exhilaration of engaging in immoral acts as players in a game that engages multiple senses and sensations. This is dangerous stuff for the soul.
