Well, I follow scripture and scripture says to spread the word to the four corners of the earth. It also says to rebuke your brother. Why do you think Jesus was teaching the apostals to spead his word, why do you think Gods word was put into the bible for us to read? I am following the scripture when I speak Gods words, I am not doing it because I am focused on someone I don't even know rather than being focused on Jesus. Yes, of course I do care about you and Inmate but it is my relationship with Jesus that makes me care and his words that cause me to spend my very valuable time quoting scripture. Do I expect it to change your mind? not really, but when Jesus sent out his apostles to spread his teachings he did not expect everyone to listen and obey eather, that is why he says many will say Lord lord but few will enter the kingdom. I do say one thing though, Inmate hit the nail on the head when he said Jesus knows our hearts. He knows many people play russian roullette by thinking they can enjoy life now and worry about living for God tomorrow when it better suits them. He is not a sucker or stupid. If someone knows scripture they know the truth, there is an excuse for someone who does not know Gods words to not live right, but there is no excuse for someone who knows his teachings. Just like the parable of the virgins and the oil lamps, there is a reason he says he will come like a thief in the night. But I am not stupid ether, I know he only wants us to try so many times before we need to move on to someone else who may listen to his words. Best of luck in this life and the next, I mean that with a true heart.
Before I go, let me add I have nothing against video games. The game that Inmate loves so much is not your typical game. I would highly doubt many Christians find this stuff entertaining... not to mention funding these kind of things by buying it.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_%28series%29
Controversy
Former lawyer
Jack Thompson has been involved in a number of attempts to get families of murder victims to hold the
Grand Theft Auto series accountable for the death of their loved ones. Due to his conduct in this and related cases, Thompson was
disbarred in 2008
[40] and was fined more than $100,000 by the
Florida Bar Association.
[41]
On 20 October 2003, the families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede,
two young people shot by teens William and Josh Buckner (who in
statements to investigators claimed their actions were inspired by
GTA III) filed a US$246 million lawsuit against publishers
Rockstar Games,
Take-Two Interactive Software, retailer
Wal-Mart, and PlayStation 2 manufacturer
Sony Computer Entertainment America.
[42][43] Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two, filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, stating in
U.S. District Court
on 29 October 2003 that the "ideas and concepts as well as the
'purported psychological effects' on the Buckners are protected by the
First Amendment's
free-speech clause". The lawyer of the victims, Jack Thompson, denied
that, but failed in his attempt to move the lawsuit into a state court
and under
Tennessee's consumer protection act.
[44] Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal, and the case was closed.
In February 2005, a
lawsuit was brought upon the makers and distributors of the
Grand Theft Auto series claiming the games caused a teenager to shoot and kill three members of the
Alabama police force. The shooting took place in June 2003 when
Devin Moore, 17 years old at the time, was taken in for questioning by police in
Fayette, Alabama
regarding a stolen vehicle. Moore then grabbed a pistol from one of the
police officers and shot and killed him along with another officer and
dispatcher before fleeing in a police car.
[45][46] One of Moore's attorneys, Jack Thompson, claimed it was
GTA's
graphic nature—with his constant playing time—that caused Moore to
commit the murders, and Moore's family agrees. Damages are being sought
from branches of
GameStop and
Wal-Mart in
Jasper, Alabama, the stores from which
GTA III and
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, respectively, were purchased and also from the games' publisher
Take-Two Interactive, and the
PlayStation 2 manufacturer
Sony Computer Entertainment. On 29 March 2006 the case was dismissed and permission to appeal was denied.
[47]
In May 2005, Thompson appeared via satellite on the
Glenn Beck program on
CNN's
Headline News. Thompson mentioned Devin Moore and said regarding
Grand Theft Auto III and
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
"There's no doubt in my mind [...] that but for Devin Moore's training
on this cop killing simulator, he would not have been able to kill three
cops in
Fayette, Alabama who are now dead and in the ground. We are suing
Take-Two,
Sony,
Wal-Mart, and
GameStop for having trained Devin Moore to kill. He had no history of violence. No criminal record."
[48]
In September 2006, Thompson brought another lawsuit, claiming that
Cody Posey played the game obsessively before murdering his father
Delbert Paul Posey, stepmother Tryone Schmid, and stepsister Marilea
Schmid on a ranch in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. The suit was filed on behalf of the victims' families.
[49] During the criminal trial, Posey's defense team argued he was abused by his father, and tormented by his stepmother.
[50] Posey was also taking
Zoloft at the time of the killings.
[51] The suit alleged that were it not for his obsessive playing of
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the murders would not have taken place.
[52]
Named in the suit were Cody Posey, Rockstar Games, Take-Two
Interactive, and Sony. The suit asked for US$600 million in damages.
[53]
In 2009, a six-year-old boy, who claimed he had learned to drive from
the game, took his family's car on a 10-mile trip before he crashed.
[54]
According to
The Guinness World Records 2008 and 2009 Gamer's
Edition, it is the most controversial video game series in history, with
over 4,000 articles published about it, which include accusations of
glamorising violence, corrupting gamers, and connection to real life crimes.
[55]
Grand Theft Auto
The game was controversial from the very first incarnation of the series, in spite of[
original research?] its cartoonish graphics.
[56]Grand Theft Auto was condemned in Britain, Germany, and France due to its "extreme violence",
[57] and Brazil banned it outright.
[57]Publicist Max Clifford planted sensational stories in
tabloids in order to help sell the first game.
[56][58][59]
Grand Theft Auto III: general violence and crime
See also:
Grand Theft Auto III#Controversy
The controversies flared up again with
Grand Theft Auto III,
since the 3D graphics made the violence more realistic, and players
could pay the services of prostitutes to recover their health, and if
they wished, killing them to get their money back.
[59]
There is also criticism from the focus on illegal activities in
comparison with traditional "heroic" roles that other games offer. The
main character can commit a wide variety of crimes and violent acts
while dealing with only temporary consequences, including the killing of
policemen and military personnel.
Vice City: ethnic discrimination
See also:
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City#Controversy
The sixth game in the series,
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, also came under criticism. One mission in particular, in which the player must instigate a
gang war between Haitian and Cuban gangs, has been controversial. Haitian and Cuban anti-defamation groups criticised the game.
Jean-Robert Lafortune of the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition is
quoted as saying that "The game shouldn't be designed to destroy human
life, it shouldn't be designed to destroy an ethnic group," for this and
similar scenarios, including lines in the game's script such as "kill
the Haitian dickheads" said by character "Diaz" during an altercation
between the player and a Haitian gang. After the threat of a lawsuit by
the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, Rockstar removed the word
"Haitians" from this phrase in the game's subtitles.
[60]
San Andreas: sex minigame
Main article:
Hot Coffee minigame controversy
San Andreas was criticised initially due to its "gangster"
elements, which include drugs, prostitution, and murder; but later due
to the discovery of disabled interactive sex scenes, nicknamed Hot
Coffee, which was a sexual
minigame that was cut from the game, but remained in the game code, which was discovered in both the console and
Windows versions of the game. Dubbed the "
Hot Coffee mod", the minigame allowed players to have sex with their in-game girlfriends and also record sextapes.
After the release of
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,
modders managed to find the unused code in the game and released
unofficial patches for the
Windows and
Xbox (with a
modchip)
versions and
PlayStation 2 version with the use of an
Action Replay
code enabling the player to engage in these sexual mini-games (dubbed
"Hot Coffee" in reference to a euphemism for sex used in the game).
These mini-games were left partially intact in the game's code. This
prompted application of an AO (Adults Only)
ESRB
rating to the version of the game containing the leftover code.
Take-Two Interactive was forced to re-release the game in order to
restore the M (Mature) rating. A class action lawsuit against Take-Two
was also filed as a result of the "Hot Coffee" code.
[61][62]
Grand Theft Auto IV: drunk driving
Main article:
Controversies surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV
One of the controversies involved with this game was
Mothers Against Drunk Driving's (MADD) criticism of the ability to
drink and drive as a new feature. MADD had even requested
ESRB
to change the rating of the game from "M" for ages seventeen and up to
"AO", for adults only, because they felt it was inappropriate for
children, even at the age of seventeen, to experience drunk driving in
such a manner.
[63]
In the final game, drunk driving is a playable event, but it is a crime
that automatically generates a wanted rating and protagonist
Niko Bellic loudly (and drunkenly) proclaims that it is a "bad idea" and that he "should know better".
[64]
The Lost and Damned: full-frontal nudity
See also:
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned#Controversy
The Lost and Damned
expansion pack was condemned by U.S. parents group Common Sense Media
who issued a public warning against the pack's content due to a
full-frontal
nudity
scene during one of the cut scenes. They claimed the game was "more
controversial than its predecessors" because it featured "full frontal
male nudity"
