1TIM6_12 Christian Gaming Tag

Many people my age, and especially computer geeks like me, love to play computer games. If done with moderation and without making moral compromises, this can be a very enjoyable and stress-relieving thing to do. There is just something about entering a fictional world where you are able to do amazing things that you never could do on your own in real life. For example, as a kid, I used to play war games in the woods around my parents' house with my friends. We would fight historical conflicts from the Middle Ages to World War II, as well as fictional conflicts from a war with the Soviet Union (that thankfully never really happened) to a war in that galaxy far, far away (that is Star Wars to those few who are not fans). The action of these pretend fights, whether using water guns, pine cones, or sticks, excited my heart as a boy, not to mention gave me quite a few cuts, scrapes, and bruises. I think that is why as an adult, I love to play those action games on the computer so much. I avoid the ones that have bad language and bloody violence, instead playing the ones that offer that kind of action that I filled my time with as a boy, except now I can avoid getting hurt (unless the structural integrity of my computer desk fails).

Through the availability of high speed internet where I live now, I have gotten into playing online multiplayer games such as Star Wars Battlefront II and especially Battlefield 2142. Playing these games is like getting together with my young friends all over again, except this time I am playing war games with people from all over the country and sometimes the world. While playing these games, I have seen that many people join online fighting clans and add that clan's label (a.k.a. tag) to their player name in the games. These people fight as a team, supporting one another and enjoying one another's company online. I have been asked many times to join this clan or that, but I simply do not have the time to get that involved. Recently, though, I was struck by an idea that the clans gave me. I had the idea to create a generic clan tag to identify Christian gamers, a tag that doesn't have to require clan membership or some such, but rather something that any Bible-believer could wear proudly to point to their faith in Jesus Christ.

The clan tag that I created and now play under is simply 1TIM6_12. This is a Bible reference to a challenge that the Apostle Paul gave, saying, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Timothy 6:12, NKJV). I chose this verse because every true Christian has taken up "the good fight of faith." It is not always easy to have faith in God in this world of skepticism and sin. That is why Paul described the Christian life as a "fight," but he emphasized that "faith" is a "good fight."

It is worth having faith in God and His Word. Paul gave the greatest reason why the "fight of faith" is "good" when he mentioned "eternal life." The Bible explains that it is only through having faith in Jesus Christ that we can "lay hold on eternal life." The world says that there are many paths to assuring your eternal future, but Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6, NKJV). The only way to go Jesus' way and find truth and life is through having faith in Him. Faith is all about believing in what you cannot see and cannot completely prove, but trusting your life on it anyway. It is about taking God at His Word, as Jesus explained, saying, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life" (John 5:24, NKJV). Trust me, when I began to have real faith in Jesus Christ my life was changed and I knew that I had taken hold of the kind of life that will never end, even if my body fails me!

Part of fighting "the good fight of faith" is confessing a "good confession in the presence of many witnesses." Paul emphasized this to remind us that, if you are a Christian, you should be telling others what Jesus Christ has done for you and what He can do for them. And so using the 1TIM6_12 tag when I play online serves to remind me that even there I can be a witness for Him with my behavior and my words. It reminds me to behave in a Christian way even when I am playing a game, but it also points others to the Word of God and my faith. My hope is that more Christians will begin to use this tag and that people will take notice and ask about it in the games. It could be another way that Christians can open a door to witness for Jesus Christ.

If you would like to use the 1TIM6_12 Christian gaming tag, you don't have to join a clan or anything; you simply have to be a Christian who wants to be a witness online. I would like to hear about it if you decide to start using it. Just simply leave a comment with this blog post or email me at preacherwitt@gmail.com. May God richly bless you offline and online, to be His child and His witness!

Must-Read Election Article!

The following article is a must-read for all Christians who are committed to voting based on Biblical values and morals: http://www.falwell.com/index.cfm?PID=17819

I want to warn you that the article does directly talk about what the presidential candidates have said and done concerning the issue of abortion. Frankly, I am glad to hear about the issues that the news media primarily ignores in favor of discussing economics and foreign policy. It is for that reason that the information in this article needs to be spread.

Remember, God is not going to judge our nation over our economics or foreign policy; God is going to judge our nation over our morals and values! That is why I am praying that you will vote your values and that your values will be God's!

I actually preached a sermon about this recently that you can download here: http://www.mcewenfbc.com/recordings/2008_09-24_Romans_13_1-7.mp3