[polldaddy poll=9470964]
After lots of good conversation about Pokémon Go in our parent’s guide, I thought it would be helpful to poll our readers for their opinions.
Feel free to sound off in the comments as well. Let’s just be respectful to one another in Christ.
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My family went out to play PokemonGo yesterday- walking for the first time in 16 years. This GAME gets you up off the couch and walking around your neighborhood, checking out Historical Landmarks, walking to churches and other places to refill your supplies. Yes, the creatures are strange looking. Yes, you do battles against creatures and use “powers” to fight. Yes, we met a group of TEENAGERS who play PokemonGo and we actually TALKED TO THEM for a few minutes, something I NEVER would’ve been comfortable doing out of the blue before… Unfortunately, Yes, I missed the opportunity to tell them about Christ and thought of it a little late… But the fact that I actually approached a group of teen that looked, let’s say like they don’t get to church often… in itself is worth playing this game. Next step is to talk about Christ and invite people to Church! We can use this as an outreach and make a PokemonGo event with our kids from church and split into teams with adult leaders, start off at a park and have fun while inviting other Pokemoners to Church! Or at the least, give them a Gospel Tract!! What an opportunity UNLESS we want to DEMONIZE SOMETHING that can be used as a great witnessing opportunity. Watch out for backward-masking… Come on… I’m a fundemental, independent, Bible believing, Bible Teaching, KJV only Baptist and even I see the witnessing opportunity with this one. IF BY SOME CHANCE it is of the Devil— USE IT AGAINST HIM AND GET YOUR BUTT OUT AND EVANGELIZE!! America NEEDS Christ again as much as the rest of the World! We Christians have DROPPED THE BALL and let our country go to Hell while we sit in our comfy air conditioned churches criticising a GAME!! Get to work Church and GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE! (Remember Mark 16:15?!)
This new game seems a bit dangerous to me.
I have a nephew who is a policeman, and he said
people get lures to a certain place and then robbed.
And what about the children who may not be with an adult?
I think it is a perfect situation for more child kidnapping and other horrific crimes.
I think ii’s a great way to bond with your kids and it will have a lifetime of great memories of time spent doing a family thing.. at the same time it can become an obsession and you have to have some common sense. NO playing while driving, don’t be crossing busy streets and highways just get one. and be respectful of people and their property… always go in a group of two or more and for heavens sake pay attention to where you are at all times. I have very fond memories of playing the game when it first came out with my boys and those are still soem of the greatest memories I have with them as boys. You can also use this as teaching moments and relate them to Bible stories.. use scenarios and get their imagination going. It is not all about the battle although they think it is.
I feel it is desensitizing children (and adults) to the occult and demonic. Many if not all of the “monsters” have powers, like reading your mind, etc. We are called to stand apart and not be conformed to this world… And it also says that even the elect may be fooled. I’m guarding my soul and my kids’ souls from this. If I’m wrong- no biggie- they missed out on a stupid game. If I’m right- I may have well just saved their eternity by guarding what they play. ??
I agree with Corrinne, that these monsters have “powers” and may desensitize in favor of the occult. Getting the app to play is also extremely dangerous. You have to give your name, date of birth, your email address and your physical address; enough to sign up for an account at Macy’s or other credit–otherwise known as identity theft. Also, a teen who was in the process of deleting her PokemonGo app, was told that all her Google connections would also be disabled. That means that everything you do is available to Google. Aside from the many dangers of actually playing the game, signing up for it may be most dangerous of all. (My information was obtained by listening to the Tom Sullivan talk show. Tom was detailing the experience of his teenage daughter. To read about it you might go to TomSullivan.com).
I don’t like anything that tracks my location or the location of my children. So Pokémon Go is a no for our family. I think the less time children spend on phones and electronic gadgets the better. The attention spans of children have been greatly reduced due in part to parents relying on electronics too much to engage their children. I am not saying never let your children play video games, but to make sure you really know what they are playing and how much time is actually spent playing. I come to this conclusion after spending many years teaching children at church and observing the behaviors of children in and out of church and how my own children react to playing video games and watching TV. For our family, in small amounts, video games and tv can be a positive experience.
As with any thing in life, I do feel like it *could* be a stumbling block if a person becomes addicted to playing the game or allows it to alter their walk with Christ. I do not believe it is any more or less “evil” than any other secular games that people like to play though (Angry Birds, Dungeons and Dragons, etc). So proceed with caution, obey God if He’s convicting your heart not to participate in it, but it’s just a game and there’s no reason to lose our heads over it. With so many people enjoying it and respectfully participating, I think it could just as easily be a great outreach opportunity. I’ve seen many churches offering bottled water and an invitation to VBS while families are out hunting Pokemon. Smart, if you ask me.
Wow Jackie! I have to agree! We Christians have lost it! No more evangelizing in the churches. I’ve not seen it. I’m at fault to. Lord forgive me! Always we must turn every evil what Satan meant. Turn it into the glory of the Almighty God ! Jesus!
Hey everyone- thanks for opening this up for comment. The issue seems simple to me: training children– let alone adults– to participate in channeling, witchcraft, curses, etc. is destructive. I could site a ton of Bible verses on this, including in Acts when those who loved the Lord burned their old books. Pokemon (and whatever latest craze will hit next) just cannot be that important to us. When things become too important for our kids, (ie, they say they just HAVE to have it or do it), we get the opportunity to disciple them on how to handle ‘idols of the heart.’ This is such a teachable moment! I happened to read to my son tonight in his character study, about king Josiah and how, after discovering God’s Word, Josiah removed ALL the witchcraft and idols/idolatry from the land. Guys, this one really is simple! When we’re willing to follow God’s ways (which are established to protect us and to keep the enemy of our souls from stealing our peace), suddenly a whole new world is opened up to us– one with countless options and ideas for family fun, making new friends, opportunities to witness, etc.– options that honor God and may even help others to see the danger of opening doors to the demonic and occult. Personally, I’ve been convicted in the past of ‘using’ harmful things as an excuse to witness to others, when the very next day I’m in ten new situations to witness and don’t even bother. The best way to ‘use Pokemon as a witness tool’ is to start with our children and help them understand Genesis 3– where everything began between good and evil– and how it fits our lives every hour today. Satan still uses the same tactics today, whispering things like, ‘If you don’t play this or do that, God will hold out on you and you’ll miss out! Do it anyway! Go ahead…it won’t reeeeally hurt you. God didn’t reeeeally say to flee from witchcraft and sorcery. It’s just a game, it won’t hurt.’ That’s not the voice of our Shepherd, dear family. Yes, He says go into all the world and preach the gospel…did we do that in the grocery store line or with the bank teller or the person I waited for ‘on hold’ on the phone today? Certainly we don’t need Pokemon to share the Gospel…:/ Do you guys know who Todd White is? (He’s got dreds and is like a modern-day John the Baptist, ushering in the second coming of Christ. 😉 He was an atheist, drug addict, and very angry man until someone shared the Lord with him for the first time when he was 34. God is now using him in a radical way to ‘reach Christians for Christ.’ I recently heard him speak in regards to movies, video games, books, etc., stating so simply, ‘Why would I watch or participate with anything that Jesus came here to defeat???’ We’re running out of time, and our children’s generation is being swept away. I pray even now that God would raise up our own children to be a voice of BOTH love AND truth. May they flee from the occult, be filled with the confidence and peace of God, and be used by Him to lead many to Christ. Amen! 🙂
As someone who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, playing video games a lot as i got older, and now having children myself, i think this is playing with fire. Can good come out of it maybe, but sure not an excuse to bring it into our homes. Pocket monsters. That isn’t even pretending to be an Angel of Light.
I would encourage you all to study the history of video games. They are made to be addicting. They are gateways.
Check out “controller” and “artificial atmosphere” on http://www.yah-tube.com/videos/littlelight/index.html
http://www.littlelightstudios.tv/media/watch/
these guys worked in Hollywood and are now working hard to educate and inform people who love their Creator.
Personally, I am a nobody, and you don’t need to listen to me. But i pray you would honestly pray, and listen for the still small voice to help you lead your family.
Because “Matthew 7:14
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. ”
Please read vs 13-20
As an adult, whose childhood was shaped by the choices of my parents, please consider wisely. Entertainment is fleeting. The images, the habits, etc. That will leave a lasting imprint on your child. I remember being a child and getting lulled into the good magic/bad magic idea. And i was in church all the time. A preachers kid and a missionary kid.
I just erased a bunch of stuff i typed. Please just pray, and watch some of those videos. They are life changing. Take it from an ex-gamer that started out playing olympic and educational games on the 5″ disks that you had to keep changing out in the 80’s. Even now i am starting to reevaluate what we allow our children to play. You may think I am crazy, but that path is a long, winding, dark path.
Technology may not be evil, but our minds were not created to function in the way we train them to function. Shalom my family.
I agree that it is a way to get people out of the house and into walking again but here in Roanoke Virginia, there has been 2 guys that walked off a cliff while playing this game. For some people this will take the place of Christ and that’s not good. And it also means that this will be another excuse to be using their cell phones while driving. Texting while driving isn’t good and now they will be gaming while driving. SMH