Was there something else?

[Sparrowhawk]

Ok, um this seemed to best fit here. I don't know how many of you have heard of the member (i guess ex-member) Sgt_Fox, but he left because of... well its kinda of hard to say.

He started a thread on Tales of Symphonia and how it was evil. Not the evil like "this is a really poor game" but evil like "God hates this evil and you guys should not play this". Well obviously he had some people who did not quite agree, including myself.

I sent him a pm (i don't like to debate ideas concerning right and wrong on forums) telling him my beliefs (a lot of people were just using forums and that i think can get kind of ugly - people seem to get offended a lot) and why i believed and asked if he would be willing to share his reasons.

I did this politely, but he never returned it, but kept bashing others views (his views were taken well either) and i recommended on the forum that he try to us pm if he really wanted to discuss other's views, also other people could explain their views and a lot of trouble could be avoided if both sides listened and were sincere.

Again he ignored me (and everybody actuall) and posted one last time saying he was leaving this site because people refused to listen about how occult stuff was harmful to a walk with God (which we never said, in fact walking with God never came up, only if games had religion if that made them evil came up).

Did we do something wrong? I tried to be as polite as possible, I really don't know how he was driven off. Actually I felt he was not listening after ignoring people and not even discussing why he believed what he did, but maybe I was in the wrong.

So, was I in the wrong? I was hoping to talk about his views sincerely ( I try to discuss not debate, especially with people that are not really close with me) I never even said he was wrong, just offered why I did not think so yet and asked if he really wanted to talk about it i was willing and would listen to his ideas. So was I in the wrong? Or did he leave and there was nothing we could have done? I just really hope we did not chase off someone by doing something wrong. Any input would be appreciated.

[Nate]

Being that I was involved with it, I'll give you my $0.02, for what it's worth.

I realize I may have come down hard on the kid...but I tried to be nice, at first. I decided I would not get in an argument with him on the subject, if you notice from my first post. I thought maybe if I told him that everyone has certain convictions concerning things not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, he would come to an agreement...or at the very least, agree not to slam what others believed...which he seemed to do, at first.

It didn't help that I think he wasn't aware that Ah! My Goddess is an anime, I think he may have interpreted that as me calling the game a goddess or something...but whatever.

He mentioned that he liked anime, and when he told us that he would avoid RPGs so that he could stay "with Jesus," that slightly ticked me off. I don't like people challenging my faith in any form. The reason I posted it in the thread, as opposed to a PM, is that many people need to be made aware that just because your convictions do not agree with another's, that does not make one of you wrong and one of you right. The fact that he likes anime, and as I stated, I cannot think of a single anime that has nothing objectionable, screams out "hypocrite" to me. Though apparently from what you have said, sending him a PM would not have helped anyway.

I admit I get worked up sometimes, but only when someone tries to argue something that is unprovable, or something that challenges my faith, which I hold VERY dear to my heart.

As for what could be done to prevent this, I don't know. He seems to be very judgemental of those who do not agree with him, as shown in his last post...the comment (paraphrased), "I found more evidence that I'm right and you guys are wrong but you won't listen."

But you have to remember, he is only 14, and he is going through a lot of things right now, physically and emotionally. The teen years are not a fun time, and the fact that his parents seem to be fighting doesn't help, I'm sure.

Maybe he'll grow out of it, maybe he won't. Some people go their whole lives being stuck-up, judgemental Christians...but it is my sincere hope that he won't be one of those.

And...I think I'm done. ^^

[Sparrowhawk]

Yes, Iagree he was judgemental, but the reason i was trying to get him to talk about it without slamming others is because i used to be the same way. I grew up in church, have gone to a Christian school all my life, etc... So I became prideful, thinking that I was better than most, not becuase I knew more than other people, and I had never done any of quote "really bad stuff".

I thought i was too good for that. My wake up call came a few years ago when I really started to struggle with sinful stuff, that no one else could see me struggling with. My pride kept me from asking for help, and after a while I gave up. Finally about a year ago, something else happened in my life that gave me a wake up call, and then another and even this morning i read in the Bible about not being a slave to sin, and that was very helpful.

Basically I'm just worried about him, I remember thinking the exact same way. I debated for years about whether FF games were bad because they had "magic". Eventually I came down to the conclusion it was a game, it did not promote magic, it was a completely different world in fact. Obviously people cannot cast things like Fire and Ice. So I came to the conclusion "if this is bad, so is every fairy tale I ever read or had read to me since i was little" the game was no more real than Cinderella or any other Disney movie.

Anyway, that was why I wanted to talk to him. I did not say he was wrong, because there definitely could be something he had to share I needed to hear. I just had never had another Christian flat out walk out and not share why they believed in something, so I was afraid I had done something wrong. Thanks for the 2c kaemmerite, it helped.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I'd wish he could come back =(

I mean it seemed like we could help him during his tough times and such

[lionheart]

I remember that thread...

I don't mean this disrespectfully to him, but I think that he was just on a rant, and when no one agreed with him he just decided to leave instead of trying to find out why nobody agreed with him.
I don't think that there was really any way that he would have stuck around here, aside from finding someone who agreed with his viewpoint.
I remember a similar discussion in one of the other threads about runescape. Both sides talked about it for a bit and then everybody chilled out, no big deal. Or at least it appeared to me that way.
So since he wasn't willing to listen to the other side, I don't think anyone could have really done much for him. Though we can still pray for him.