PROTECTING YOUR COMPUTER

The wary attitude of Orthodox Christians to computer games is understandable. The unfamiliar always requires caution. "We grew up without these games - so maybe it is better to protect our children from this new, incomprehensible influence."

Well, what if you try not to be afraid of the unknown, but calmly take a closer look at it and try to find a good use for it? The most dangerous "coupling" from the computer world: computer – computer games – children... Are our children's computers being stolen? Children already speak a language that is incomprehensible to us (chats - sites-chips...). You have to return them to the real world almost by force. Maybe to protect them from a strange and, most likely, harmful influence?

But wait. And is it the first time that children go to their own worlds, unlike ours? Didn't anyone who read Jules Verne, Dumas and Conan Doyle in childhood go into the worlds created by these writers? And did he grow up incapable of hearing the words of the Gospel in the end? Do not rush to condemn: Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich read adventurous novels and detective stories by the authors just listed to his children in prison...

And those children who turned the neighboring grove into their secret and fabulous place – didn't they live in their "virtual reality"? Isn't any children's game already an "invention"? And is it easy to distract the child from the game?

But if boys still play war, then maybe it will be better if the kid aims from a stick or from a toy machine gun not at a living peer, but at a "virtual" target?

How much has been said about the need to save children from the "influence of the street". And that's what the computer does. I'm a little sorry. I am sorry that for so many years in the spring I have not seen boys launching boats along the streams. And in winter there are no snow fortresses and their "captures". And even snowwomen have become a rarity in the yards. Computers and video game consoles have taken children off the streets. They returned the children to our homes. But is it the fault of children or computers that children get bored at home without electronics? If we are bored with ourselves, if we cannot be more interesting to children than colored spots on the screen, this is our fault, and not the fault of technology or "Western civilization".

Yes, the computer is captivating and distracting. Internet dating, games, search for information - interesting, but not always necessary... However, is this a reason to anathematize computers and keep your child away from their world? You can get carried away with anything beyond measure. And here it is important to determine: what, in fact, is the measure itself?

The critics of the computer and computer games seem to proceed from the conviction that man is called to remain in prayer continuously, and therefore any action (which engages a person in something else) distracts him from prayer and, therefore, is anti-Christian.

That's right – a schema-monk who would put down his rosary and start looking for news on the Internet would be strange. But are all Christians schema-monks? And is schema podvig the only way of serving God and people? And apart from the computer, does nothing distract us from prayerful concentration? And if our lives and the lives of our children are not all filled with prayer, is it necessary to immediately call for this "unprayerful" remnant to be reduced, to disappear and to be "covered" by the multiplied prayer rule?

It seems to me that book calls to unceasing prayer today are much more dangerous than any computer games. The fact is that if an Orthodox person takes seriously such a call (printed in a pious book or pronounced by a parish preacher) and embarks on the path of continuous prayer, then he is very, very risky. Before a Christian cleanses himself of passions and sees the uncreated light, he will most likely acquire a bouquet of mental and spiritual illnesses, fall into the deepest delusion. For in the absence of an experienced spiritual father, who himself has been practicing "mental prayer" for more than one year, without constant advice and guidance, a person who has decided to master the higher form of prayer from books will find himself almost defenseless in the face of charming delusions. And how many spiritual fathers do we have today who can lead people along the highest and straight path?262

Therefore, the general church requirements of piety are quite sober. Read daily morning and evening prayers from the prayer book. Begin each deed by turning to God for blessing and help. Go to church more often. If you have the strength, time and diligence – read also the Gospel chapter per day, according to the kathisma and according to the canon... But everything that goes beyond the usual rule is only with the special blessing of the spiritual father.

Thus, in the life of a person there is a place for other activities that are not directly combined with prayer. There is a place for play, and for communication, and for correspondence, and for the consumption of new information (including non-church information). If a person is engaged in something that is not directly related to prayer, it should not be immediately regarded as a sin. A person can play, walk, talk with friends on secular topics – and this will not be a sin.