Bema Seat and hours spent playing video games

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Kasey_Dee
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I work full-time at a stressful job. I've sent hundreds of hours playing Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim (400+ hours), Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 (1000+ hours according to Steam). If I've played 1000+ for Fallout 4, it's probably triple that for Morrowind. To me it's a stress relief and I enjoy playing those games.

However, all those hours spent playing games. Am I going to pay a heavy price at the Judgement Seat of Christ? Or does the Lord allow us this recreational time. I want to live for eternity, but I enjoy playing video games and I'm an indie developer as well.
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ccgr
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People watch movies, swim at the beach, listen to music. As long as we don't put our hobbies ahead of God, I think it's okay to relax a bit.
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J.K. Riki
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We're all going to be held accountable for everything we do here. It's going to be rough on that day, to be sure. God will love us through it all, but I can imagine few worse feelings than literally being in His presence as the parts of our lives we didn't live up to our best selves are worked through. We'll learn from it, no doubt.

Anyway, if you feel you are spending too much time on games, if it's nagging at you and you've prayed about it and it still doesn't feel quite right, it might be time to cut back. You don't have to go to the extreme of eliminating games from your life, but it may be time to re-balance your time. There's nothing wrong with having fun, but I'd say there is a line where it becomes more of an idol than good for us. Gotta find balance.

Also if your job is particularly or consistently stressful, it might be time to deal with that rather than avoiding it by turning to entertainment afterward. Jobs are going to be stressful sometimes, but we're called to do our work for God not for man. So it might be an indication that the focus needs to be put back on Him, which will reduce the stress. Hard to be stressed when you're doing what you're called to do, and picturing God smiling down at you as you put your best effort in for His glory. :D
project312
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Temperance is a fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22- 23 KJV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

1 Corinthians 6:12 KJV All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
Chosenchamp
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Kasey_Dee wrote: Sun May 14, 2017 9:20 pm I work full-time at a stressful job. I've sent hundreds of hours playing Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim (400+ hours), Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 (1000+ hours according to Steam). If I've played 1000+ for Fallout 4, it's probably triple that for Morrowind. To me it's a stress relief and I enjoy playing those games.

However, all those hours spent playing games. Am I going to pay a heavy price at the Judgement Seat of Christ? Or does the Lord allow us this recreational time. I want to live for eternity, but I enjoy playing video games and I'm an indie developer as well.
I feel you may have a very judgemental and religous view of the Father. Do you know that all of the consequence for all of our sins was paid already? Yes, by Jesus. It was His perfect and sinless blood that allows us to be called righteous by the father. He exchanged His righteousness for our sinfulness, He took all of the consequence for every sin you will ever commit. He paid so heavily, suffered so deeply the wrath of the Father on our behalf that the righteous and just Judge would be unrighteous and unjust to punish our sins AGAIN. He will never impute sin upon his children because their sin was paid for at the cross.

So yea, playing video games may be a time waster, there may be much better ways to spend our time, i'm sure you've felt moved to make some changes. Every child of God feels that way and is inspired by the Holy Spirit to be led into a life of righteous living, but it is only through a revelation of the complete forgiveness of our sins that can lead to freedom to live that way. Condemnation, rules, law it only brings about death. The bible says the letter kills, but the spirit brings life.

Trust the Gospel brother, it's all about Grace, His grace and what He has done, not what you can or can't do. I would encourage you to look up joseph prince sermons on youtube, he is an excellent preacher on grace!!!
RemnantRD
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Chosenchamp wrote: I feel you may have a very judgemental and religous view of the Father. Do you know that all of the consequence for all of our sins was paid already? Yes, by Jesus. It was His perfect and sinless blood that allows us to be called righteous by the father. He exchanged His righteousness for our sinfulness, He took all of the consequence for every sin you will ever commit. He paid so heavily, suffered so deeply the wrath of the Father on our behalf that the righteous and just Judge would be unrighteous and unjust to punish our sins AGAIN. He will never impute sin upon his children because their sin was paid for at the cross.

So yea, playing video games may be a time waster, there may be much better ways to spend our time, i'm sure you've felt moved to make some changes. Every child of God feels that way and is inspired by the Holy Spirit to be led into a life of righteous living, but it is only through a revelation of the complete forgiveness of our sins that can lead to freedom to live that way. Condemnation, rules, law it only brings about death. The Bible says the letter kills, but the spirit brings life.

Trust the Gospel brother, it's all about Grace, His grace and what He has done, not what you can or can't do. I would encourage you to look up joseph prince sermons on youtube, he is an excellent preacher on grace!!!
Actually, that's not a judgmental and religious view of the Father at all, but a scripturally accurate view which seeks God's perfect will and what is pleasing to God in our lives. Would you say that the biblical fact that God is just and will punish sin makes this view judgmental and religious? Would the Bible's exhortation to find out what is pleasing to the Lord be considered judgmental or religious... or I daresay "legalistic?"

Christ's sacrifice on the cross, death, and resurrection established our salvation if and when we choose to accept, repent, die to self, and allow Christ to be Lord of our lives. Scripture tells us that our past sins are forgiven and washed clean. We are now a new creation. Christ's blood has the power to cleanse us from past sins, and has the power to keep us from the effect and consequence of present and future sins. This is why there is a new dynamic in our grace filled new testament! The scriptures say that we now have a Mediator (Christ) and Intercessor (Christ) who is our High King and Priest. Now when we sin, we have the gift of repentance. When we repent, He is good to forgive us. This new dynamic was not available for us prior to our justification, but now is freely available for those of us who belong to Him. This is the perfect example of God's grace towards us who believe and continue and abide in Him :)

The hyper-grace movement has infiltrated the church, being peddled by teachers today both on tv and in churches which feel good, and sound good... but is simply false doctrine and a different gospel. It misses key points in Scripture which relate to our new dynamic in Christ. The proponents of hyper-grace push the ideas of sinless perfectionism and sins forgiven past, present, and future, even though neither points are supported scripturally unless one twists the context of the very scripture used to support it. It promotes the idea that even though we are saved, there are no consequences in our lives if we do sin now that we are saved. This belief system ignores the multiple warnings to the church from the OT to the NT. A simple look at the 7 letters to the churches of Asia minor in the book of Revelation is proof that there can be spiritual and eternal consequences for those who are born again believers. When it comes to Joseph Prince, I would take caution with his teachings as many have been scripturally off especially when it comes to the understanding of God's grace.

Yes, playing games can become an idol in our lives. When we find that playing games take our focus and attention away from God, it has become an idol. This is a perfect time to take time to be in prayer and seek God's will in our lives regarding the very things we do to see if they are pleasing to the Lord. Sometimes, God will have us take a break from them. Either way, repentance and the genuine seeking of the Lord's will in our lives is the answer almost every time we come into a problem where our focus can be muddled. When we have the urging of the Holy Spirit letting us know to make changes, it's important to take note and allow God to help you make those changes in your life. Without any change, there is no relationship with Christ.
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Reverend Michael
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Repentance should not be looked at as an action that can only be done after conversion to faith in Christ. If that were true, then nobody could be saved, because we all have fallen short of the glory of God. Repentance is an act by a sinner, a sinner who first believes in Christ, and a sinner who is already a believer in Christ. There is no such thing as a sinless Christian. "In Christ," we have many blessings. But only "in Christ." By grace, we have been saved, through faith. And, the righteous shall live by faith. We have many blessings in Christ. But we also have the eternal covenant in Christ Jesus. Repentance follows the sinner, in that a sinner repents, receives forgiveness from God, and moves closer in his or her relationship with Him through a process that we call discipleship.

We have been justified and redeemed as believers in Christ. But we can still sin in our lives. Christian living likes to eliminate the very real threat of sin, but sin can still harden us against God (Hebrews 3:12-14). Please be aware that repentance is not just for the faithful. The Lord Jesus at the beginning of His public ministry said, "Repent. The Kingdom of God is near." This was at the beginning of His ministry, not the end. Therefore, please understand that repentance is a very serious moment in a person's life, and every unbeliever who reads our discussion needs to know that repentance is available for them, too, so that they can be saved.

The grace of God surrounds an unbeliever. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin. The unbeliever calls on the name of the Lord and is saved, because, God makes all things possible.
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