Should things that have occultist symbols in them be avoided?
Question:
I have a question about occultic symbolism in the media. I saw a pastor in a video preach about how a lot of Disney cartoons and movies for kids have sexual and satanic symbolism. He also said that other cartoons and video games have evil symbolism as well. Now I have a question about a specific game. There is a weird-looking eye on one of the multiplayer maps. You barely see it, and if it wasn't for someone pointing it out, I would have never found out. A lot of people can't even see it. Now there are a lot of games where you can clearly see some Illuminati symbols. In this game, you don't really see it. Some games tend to use the eye of Horus on them because the Masons use it as their symbol as well. In this video, there is a distorted image that somewhat looks like the eye of Horus but it is hard to tell if it's really that. Like I said it's all over some games but it only pops up in two places in this game and it looks distorted. It's not clear like other games. Would it be a sin if I play it even though I don't know if it's bad or not? I don't play it with bad intentions.
Answer:
It seems it isn't enough to deal with issues of sin and righteous living these days. People have to hunt down religious symbols. Yes, in Egyptian mythology Horus was the god of the sky and was represented by a falcon. In typical Egyptian abbreviation, this became a stylized eye. People who think there is magic in the world are often fascinated by Egyptian mythology and Egyptian hieroglyphics. It remains that both the Egyptian gods and modern-day occult practices are equally false.
During the Middle Ages, iconic works of art became popular and one symbol was called the Eye of Providence. You can see in this 1525 of Pontormo called "Cena in Emmaus". The triangle was to represent the Godhead: The Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The eye is that God sees everything, a symbol that is frequently found in the Bible but perhaps inspired by "Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy" (Psalms 33:18). Freemasonry picked up this and other symbols as part of its beliefs. But it was more broadly used than just in Freemasonry. That is why it ended up on the Great Seal of the United States. It was a symbolic way of saying that God watched over the founding of this country. Because it is in the Great Seal, it gets picked up and put in other places as well.
Whether it is in your video game, I doubt it. The person was picking out a piece of what looked like abstract art. It reminds me more of what you get when people look at inkblots (or chicken nuggets and toasted cheese sandwiches of late). Our minds like to find patterns, and people see what they want to see.
Do some of Disney's movies (especially those of recent times) contain poor moral teachings? Very likely. So do most movies, television shows, music, etc. Are they satanic? Only in the sense that Satan is behind sin in the world. But I would not go so far as to say the portrayal of immoral ideas is intentionally worshiping Satan. Some people think the way to gain followers is to cause a panic of some sort. Perhaps it works. People who panic don't think clearly.
What should be asked is if a game promotes evil -- making evil look like it is acceptable or fun. Those are the games to avoid.
Question:
Thank you so much for your answer. I actually found out what that image was, and it was not the eye of Horus. I forgot to mention this other video. It has a weird image but it could be anything. It also has some letters in Arabic, and it literally says "wag wag the dog, love of cats" the only problem with the image is that it looks pretty creepy. I really do not know if it is satanic or not or if those were the designer's intentions
Answer:
Given: "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works" (II Corinthians 11:13-15). What does "satanic" look like?
We need to be careful not to confuse imagery from popular culture and claim this is what Satan actually looks like. For example, the Bible uses images of darkness, a seven-headed red dragon, and a snake to describe Satan because it gives a visual picture of his character, not because that is what Satan literally looks like.
The video game wanted to give a place that looked both foreign, dangerous, and evil at the same time. Arabic was probably picked because of recent middle eastern wars and because most people have no clue as to what the letters mean. Red is the color of danger in American culture (but not necessarily in other cultures). The two-pointed hat is again an American image of deviltry (see the pointy-headed boss in Dilbert cartoons). So while a mood and hints are being given, it doesn't mean that the game is necessarily promoting evil -- most games do have bad guys.