All things permissable?

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dmdar

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Hi, a question- the scripture says that all things are permissible but not all things are beneficial. However it also says that we are not supposed to set anything unclean before our eyes. Can anyone explain this to me? For example in the context of video games, is it permissible to play anything? Maybe you have heard of Fallout 4, I heard another believer saying it was OK to play that, it does involve shooting but it is mostly shooting monsters, also there is Mass Effect, that also involves shooting but it is just aliens. Is it permissible to play games like that or is it an "unclean thing"? Thanks!
 

dmdar

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Some believers use these scriptures to justify consuming alcohol, they drink wine. I do not believe this is right, but am I mistaken? Thanks!
 

Bob

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Thank you for the post.

One thing is true about people in general: we can easily justify our actions to ourselves when they are desirable and the consequences seem vague.

If you need to ask if it is OK to play certain video games, you likely know the answer but are hoping someone will tell you there really isn’t a reason not to. (The spirit of the serpent in the garden is still very much with us, and loves to draw us away from God.)

If you love God, then embrace Him as guide and mentor. He gave us Jesus and many saints as models: you will never go wrong constructing your life accordingly. The benefits vastly outweigh dubious short-term pleasures. You will cruise through life knowing you will be taking the right (and narrow) path in any situation.

Blessings.
 
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Scott Downey

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That freedom you have is to be directed towards serving God and others

KJ21
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve one another.
ASV
For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another.
AMP
For you, my brothers, were called to freedom; only do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the sinful nature (worldliness, selfishness), but through love serve and seek the best for one another.
AMPC
For you, brethren, were [indeed] called to freedom; only [do not let your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse [for selfishness], but through love you should serve one another.
EXB
My brothers and sisters, God called you to ·be free [L freedom], but do not use your freedom as an ·excuse to do what pleases [opportunity/occasion for] your ·sinful self [sinful nature; flesh]. [L But; Rather] Serve each other with love.


Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

2 Behold, I, Paul, say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

3 For I testify again to every man who is circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

4 Christ then becomes of no effect unto you, whosoever of you claim justification by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

5 For we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.

7 Ye were running well; who hindered you, that ye should not obey the truth?

8 This persuasion cometh not from Him that calleth you.

9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

10 I have confidence in you through the Lord that ye will be not otherwise minded; but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.

11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why then do I yet suffer persecution? Then would the offense of the cross cease.

12 I would that they were even cut off which trouble you!

13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve one another.

14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye not be consumed one by another.

16 This I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

18 But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, and they are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, quarreling, rivalry, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 envying, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. About these things I tell you again, as I have also told you in times past, that those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.

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

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

24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

26 Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another and envying one another.
 
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Scott Downey

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Dead to Sin, Alive to God​

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be [a]done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been [b]freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, [c]reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as [d]instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God​

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were [e]delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness [f]for holiness.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit [g]to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the [h]gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 

Scott Downey

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Hi, a question- the scripture says that all things are permissible but not all things are beneficial. However it also says that we are not supposed to set anything unclean before our eyes. Can anyone explain this to me? For example in the context of video games, is it permissible to play anything? Maybe you have heard of Fallout 4, I heard another believer saying it was OK to play that, it does involve shooting but it is mostly shooting monsters, also there is Mass Effect, that also involves shooting but it is just aliens. Is it permissible to play games like that or is it an "unclean thing"? Thanks!
My grandkids 12, 13 are allowed to play Fortnight but not Roblox by their parents.
They are a believing christian family active in church,

You just need to ask yourself and God if He minds you playing those PC games.
God will make His will known to you one way or another, if you belong to Him.
 

Davy

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Garbage in, garbage out.

In the criminal justice world, studies have shown that police officers dealing a lot with violent criminals need time away from the violence, as their mind becomes numb to it, and they start to develop problems.

Like Lord Jesus said, wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart will be also.

And what the world calls 'entertainment' often is not, but is 'conditioning' of the mind towards evil. And many computer games are stacked with evil.
 
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Scott Downey

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When I think of uncleanness I think of sexual immorality
  1. 1 Corinthians 5:1

    Immorality Defiles the Church​

    It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  2. 1 Corinthians 5:9

    Immorality Must Be Judged​

    I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  3. 1 Corinthians 6:13
    Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  4. 1 Corinthians 6:18
    Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  5. 1 Corinthians 7:2
    Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  6. 1 Corinthians 10:8
    Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;


  1. Romans 1:24
    Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  2. Romans 6:19
    I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  3. 2 Corinthians 12:21
    lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  4. Galatians 5:19
    Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  5. Ephesians 4:19
    who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  6. Ephesians 5:3
    But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  7. Colossians 3:5
    Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  8. 1 Thessalonians 2:3
    For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit.
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  9. 1 Thessalonians 4:7
    For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.
    In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  10. 2 Peter 2:10
    and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,