Hello fellow believers

[Nataku]

Hello everybody Im Nataku. I know this isnt the best place to ask but I have a question to ask my fellow followers of God. Me and my g/f are having alot of arguments lately over games and anime. Lately my g/f's church is saying that all games are evil, I admit they do take time away from God but to say that there satan's tool against God is something different, and with Anime her church mostly says that all the violence and mythology and such is evil all anime is evil because it comes from japanese people, people who are not saved and such. I dont believe that, I love playing games and watching anime and I believe in God completely I love God and cherish and all the good stuff but my g/f and now her family and church are saying its wrong for me to play games watch anime they even say that spider-man is evil...I dont know what to think anymore..can someone plz give me answers?

[Jasdero]

First off, welcome to CAA!!! Okay, I"ll try to help this out the best I can,

there satan's tool against God is something different, and with Anime her church mostly says that all the violence and mythology and such is evil all anime is evil because it comes from japanese people, people who are not saved and such.

That sounds a lot like something my church could say. My mother's Korean, and we go to a Korean church, and the thing is, the relationship between the Koreans and the Japanese are...not too good. But, I got lucky, and so far, my church hasn't said anything either bad or good about anime.

I dont believe that, I love playing games and watching anime and I believe in God completely I love God and cherish and all the good stuff but my g/f and now her family and church are saying its wrong for me to play games watch anime they even say that spider-man is evil...

You just answered yourself. You love God, and that's what matters. If those games are what your church believes, wouldn't you have stopped loving Him? You haven't, and that proves that nothing is wrong with them. Do you remember that whole entire thing with the Harry Potter books? I'm a big fan of Harry Potter, and one of my Catholic friends said that Harry Potter was the devil's work, and was trying to corrupt people, and make them learn witchcraft. Sometimes, things get taken too far. A lot of us who are Christians/Catholics/whatever, we all love video games, but we still praise God, and love Him. Doesn't that speak for itself?

I dont know what to think anymore..can someone plz give me answers?

Like I said, I'm horrible at giving advice on religion. I usually screw something up, and then offend the whole entire community. I haven't on CAA yet...I think, and I don't want to, but I'll give this a try all the same. I hate to say it, but I only see a couple of options, that wouldn't be extreme. Okay, you could try talking to them, but you've probably already done that....V_V Another thing you could do is just not talk about video games, or anime in front of your girlfriend, and anyone else who's against it. If they ever start attacking it, say something that let's the matter slide.
Blah, I give terrible advice....V_V I bet one of the wiser CAA members will pop in here soon, and give you better guidance, so I'll just leave now. Good luck, Nataku!

[Nataku]

Thanks for you assistance, I showed my g/f this site so lets c what happens, more advice would still be nice though ^^.

[Yojimbo]

Hello Nataku welcome to CAA.

I'm not a real good advice giver either as far as religion goes, but I'll throw this out there. You accept God and love Him therefore it's obvious anime and games aren't pulling you away from Him. This site is proof you can love anime and videogames and still be a believer in God. You've already told your girlfriend about this site so now you should tell your pastor. You also need to establish a few things with your church. First off, that anime itself is technically just cartoons. Now I know they wouldn't go as far to say cartoons themselves are evil so that should help your agrument. Secondly, that there is good anime and bad anime just like movies, games, magazines, whatever. You need to show them the difference between anime like Trigun and Ninja Scroll. The same goes with games as well.

I hope that helps some goodluck.

[Nataku]

Thanks for the advice and luck I'll need it. Its not easy to convince them thats its good when they believe anything not from God or saved people is evil but I'll find some way I guess.

[Sam*ron]

Hello, and welcome! *Hands Nataku a rose* I hope you like it here!

Feel free to ask for help on avatars and sigs anytime! Oh, oh, oh! I love your avatar, GO WOLFWOOD!!!!!!!

And with your G/F thingy, you really should pray a lot and ask Jesus for help. And I will be praying for you.

Welcome again!

[Yojimbo]

Yes that's another thing that disturbed me this generalization of Japanese as "unsaved" that you said.

Jesus told his disciples to spread the message to all the people's of the world. The original Christians were Jews we Gentiles converted were converted so how can your church generalize a race as unsaved. By the defintion of your church all Gentiles of any race are unsaved. I mean honestly should we not use compasses because Arabs invented them? They are not in the right here.

[Elric_kun]

Hi, and welcome!^^

[Jasdero]

Thanks for you assistance, I showed my g/f this site so lets c what happens, more advice would still be nice though ^^.

Yes yes!!! very good idea!!! and my advice still sucks lol..oooo, i hope ashley, uc pseudonym , shatterheart, omega_amen, or any of those people pop in here. they're awesome with advice!!!

[Ducky]

Welcome to CAA. I hope this site can help with your g/f and all. I'm not great with advice but as far as a church saying everything from a certain group (such as the japaneese) is evil, Jesus is the way the truth and the life right? Thus if he is the truth than all truth would be of him and even if there is some violence and whatnot in videogames and anime there is some truth like Vash's love of and respect for all life.

[Angelchick]

welcome, enjoy your stay at CAA.

[Swordguy]

HI i how are you.

As far as your question

For the most part most game are not evil. what makes them bad is if they drag you away from God and become and idol or a stumbling block for you. (which it has been for me on acation) but the main thing i would have to say about this is pray and listen for his answer you will knw it when it comes obay it.

[Mangafanatic]

Hey Welcome to CAA.

Woow, toughie with you GF. Here's what my thoughts are.

Here's the question: Are you and your girlfriend in a serious relationship? By serious, I mean, do you think you might get married one day? Is that why you're dating her?

I don't want to sound like I'm grilling you, and there is a very good reason why I'm asking you these questions. If she's just a person to hang out with, it's okay if you have BIG difference in your views of issues facing you everyday-- such as the entertainment you choose to take in. But if you might be truly serious about this girl you're going to have to reconcile your differences. There's not much chance you could have a peaceful marriage when you're watching movie she believes are the devil's workshop. Similarly, you're going to probably develop some serious anamosity towards her if you feel she's always tearing the things you've come to appreciate.

My advise would be to think through the nature of your relationship. If it's more a friendship thing, I would just try to avoid topics you two disagree on. My cousin(who is one of my best friends) comes from a VERY strict family which I love very much. Still, we disagree on just about every think but politics. I get along with them by not bringing up those issues which I know they feel deeply convicted against. But if you have future plans for your relationship with this girl, somthing's gotta give. Sit down with her and talk it through.

Ask/tell her:
Why does she feel the Japanese are unsaved? Doesn't she see the flaw in saying a WHOLE group of people don't believe in Jesus when statistically there is a percentage who would claim just the opposite? (It's 4% that claim to be Christian, last I heard. It ain't much, but it's alot more than your girlfriend is thinking.) By this same "anime is evil because Japanese people aren't saved" logic, then bread is also evil because the guy who makes it isn't saved (hypothetically speaking of course.) A product's worth should be based on the product it's self and not its producer.

Hope this helps, and I'll be praying for you situation.

[Mithrandir]

First off, Nataku, welcome to CAA! Now then, on to your questions. As the name implies, we are a group of Christians who like anime. For the most part, we see anime as a medium that one group of artists use to tell a story. Other examples of media would be music, movies, plays, etc. We try to stay away from Theological debates as much as possible, at least where they will become simply arguments. To me personally, however, calling all anime evil is similar to calling all cartoons evil. And I would really question the motivation behind anyone who would do that. Afterall, veggie tales is really good for kids!

As christians, we believe (to quote a popular paraphrase) that we are to be "in the world but not of the world." Put another way, we are not meant to turn our backs on everything the world does. If we lived our lives without interacting with the world at all, how would anyone get saved? Instead, we should avoid CERTAIN aspects of the world. This is where the "anit-anime" people are very adamant. They believe that all anime is bad. However, I have yet to see anyone on that camp who has acutally watched much anime. Usually, they are spouting something that uncle bob's cousin said. My personal conviction is that people who never question what they are told do not very often know WHY they believe something. That makes a poor witness, as Jesus said to "always be ready to give an account for the hope you have within you."

Also, please forgive me but I must point out this logicall flaw.

Proposite: Games take time away from God, and are therefore evil.
Extrapolation: Your Job takes time away from God...
Extrapolation: Eating takes time away from God...
Extrapolation: Your girlfriend takes time away from God...

Heck, even Paul was a tentmaker. He had a job! The point I am making is that the logic is backwords. Let me know if you want to know more... I'll PM you with the rest.

[Lynx]

hello, and welcome to CAA!

[Omega Amen]

Welcome, Nataku.

First, a side issue that must be cleared quickly.

... omega_amen....

I am not trying to pick on you, kirastill, but do realize there is no underscore character in between the two words of my username. There is just a space. This is important to me because I occasionally search my username on this site to see if any thread desires my input. The underscore messes with that.

Okay, now back on the topic.

I have delayed my welcome greeting because I was trying to think up of a tactful and hopeful way of expressing my thoughts on your problem, Nataku.

However, after thinking about this for a long time, I have realized that I cannot really be tactful or hopeful on what I honestly think about the illogical statements your girlfriend's family/church make. My advice is usually very sharp and to the point, and in this case, will include severe criticism on your girlfriend's stance, which can be misconstrued by her or even you as an attack on her character. Such a misunderstanding will not look good for the CAA and thus will be counter-productive towards its cause.

As you can tell, I think that your girlfriend's church is just plain wrong on this matter on many levels.

The only advice I can really think up without sounding unintentionally harsh is to do something similar to what oldphilosopher just did. That is, question the logic of your girlfriend's church's statement, and do not get caught up with the specific scenario of anime and video games. In fact, do not even mention them because that will distract from your argument. What is wrong is the principle statement, "Since X and Y are made by Z, who is unsaved. Since unsaved is evil, then X, Y, and Z are all evil and must be completely avoided."

Focusing on that pushes the burden of defense on them. Now whether they will listen to reason is another matter, and quite frankly, that is completely out of your control. They will have to admit that they are wrong before they accept your stance. They might have already made up their minds and will not listen to you. If they will not admit they are wrong on this stance of morality, then you will also see many more and deeper differences between you and your girlfriend.

I think I will leave it there because at this point this is really sounding grim, and the CAA is more about having fun and fellowship. I do not want to give the wrong impression here, especially in the Welcome Area.

So, I wish you the best in your endeavor, and enjoy your stay here.

[Roland-shin]

Welcome to CAA hope you have agood time!
catch you up later!

and dont worry I am sure your g/f will understand that anime/games arent bad...

[AngelSakura]

AngelSakura: Well, hello. *goes in circles around Nataku* Hrm...I think we've got an imposter here, Nick-chan.
Nick-chan: I see. Well, pretending to be me has its price, you know...*hoists Cross Punisher onto shoulders*
AngelSakura: Anyway, welcome. This is my future husband, Mr. Nicholas D. Wolfwood. I can see you've heard of him. I'll just say this: there's only one Nick-chan!

[c-girl]

Heeeelllooo! >^.^< Welcome to CAA!

[CephasWhite]

Welcome fellow Christian Warrior Nataku, I will pray for you. See you on the boards and always remember...(signature)

[Spirit_Wolf8356]

Welcome, Nataku! Nice ta meetcha!

As for advice/answer thing, really, all I can tell you is stick with what you believe, but listen to other people's veiwpoints. Keep an open mind, but if you think the other person's idea is wrong, maybe go to some other sources and find out what other people believe as well, and go from there.

[Nataku]

Thank you all for the advice. After talking to my g/f (pretty much preaching my feelings and what I felt that God has told me for 2hrs straight or 1hr or whatever) I dont know whats going to happen or how she feels. I will accept her decision if she continues to believe that anime and games like final fantasy are evil for whatever reason because I love her dearly and in my heart I know that she's the one. Who knows maybe Im wrong its possible but I know what I feel and I know not everything of this world is evil I can never believe a anime or game will turn someone against God. I can only speak for myself, I dont claim to know what is right and wrong I only know how I feel. I know no matter what game or anime movie or whatever I watch or play it will not affect my faith my faith is with my lord my God and nothing else. And I hope and pray that my g/f understands even if she doesnt agree I want her to understand, then together we'll just take it from there and see where this path called life leads too.

God bless you all my friends for taking your precious time just to greet and help me,
Your fellow follower of God Francisco (Nataku) Salinas

[Fsiphskilm]

[align=cente

[Swordguy]

SATAN LIVES INSIDE YOU

Christ lives in me.

[panegryst]

yes, christ lives inside us, but satan is always there as well. the old tendency towards sin still exists inside us, so Volt's advice is sound

[Fsiphskilm]

The strange thin

[Nataku]

Update

Just so ya all know, me and my g/f are back on track and she's on this forum now ^_^ she'll post her welcome thread tomorrow. Thanks be to God ^_^ now she doesnt go on believeing when they tell her its evil now she believes in herself and God. So thank God most of all but thanks to all you guys for your help advice and such. Thanks and God Bless all. ^_^ laterz

[Yojimbo]

Update

Just so ya all know, me and my g/f are back on track and she's on this forum now ^_^ she'll post her welcome thread tomorrow. Thanks be to God ^_^ now she doesnt go on believeing when they tell her its evil now she believes in herself and God. So thank God most of all but thanks to all you guys for your help advice and such. Thanks and God Bless all. ^_^ laterz

Awesome man I'm glad she decided to come here to see for herself!

[Nataku]

Yeah its great ^_^

[Fsiphskilm]

[quote="Sword