Toy Guns
Playing with toy guns is not an innocent game as some claim. It is very harmful to allow our children to play with toy guns and to actually pretend to kill one another. Killing is the breaking of the sixth of God’s Ten Commandments “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13).
A true understanding of our relation to our neighbor shows that we must respect and honor his life, for all life is sacred (Genesis 9:5, 6). Jesus magnified (Isaiah 42:21) this commandment to include anger and contempt (Matthew 5:21, 22), later, the apostle John added hatred (1 John 3:14, 15).
When we teach children to break any of the Ten Commandments, even by pretending to break them, we are encouraging them to sin. Paul admonished the believers to even “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22).
Sadly, the majority of children have become used to the sights of murder and the violence of guns that is often presented in the media. Unfortunately, it has become so common to them that it is a casual sight to see a person dying at the hands of some at street shooting. With the frequent exposure to the scenes of violence, our children’s impressionable minds become less sensitive to the sacredness of life and tragedy of death by guns.
By beholding evil, children become evil and by beholding good they become good (2 Corinthians 3:18). The plan of redemption aims to restore the image of God in man (Romans 8:29; 1 John 3:2), a change that comes about by beholding Christ (Romans 12:2; Galatians 4:19).
Jesus Our Model
Jesus is in the business of saving not destroying. He said, “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost” (Matthew 18:11). And He summarized His mission: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18, 19). The gospel of Jesus promotes help for the poor, giving light for the ignorant, alleviation of pain for the suffering, and deliverance for the slaves of sin.
We, as followers of Christ, should walk in the foot prints of our Master (1 John 2:6). The Christian needs to be fully familiar with that rightouss life of Christ in order to copy it and apply its principles to his life. Therefore, it would be a big mistake on the part of any parent to approve the use of toy guns for play (Romans 13:14).
There are many good toys that can be used for the wholesome mental and physical development of our children. The apostle Paul urges the believers today to be Christ like: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
