“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. ‘Eat and drink!’ he says to you, but his heart is not with you.” Proverbs 23:7 “Our words indicate the state of the heart; and whether men speak much or little, their words express the character of the thoughts they cherish. A man’s character can be accurately assessed by the nature of his conversation. Sound, faithful words have the proper ring to them.” — The Youth’s Instructor, June 13, 1895. What is fantasy? Fantasy is defined as something produced in the imagination. Jesus clearly indicates that it is a sin to fantasize about anything that would become sinful in our real lives: “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28) For example, children should not pretend to steal, kill, etc. Even when playing house, children in their play should honor and obey the parents they are pretending to be. The mother in the game should respect the father, and so on. There are two types of fantasy: Real and Supernatural 1- Constructive Reality – A child pretending to be a truck driver, the father pretending to be a horse and letting the child ride on his back. 2- Destructive Reality – A child pretending to shoot another person or hitting someone. 3- Supernatural (out of the ordinary, non-existent) – A child pretending to fly like Superman… increasingly, toys are being created to normalize what does not exist. There are four areas of dangerous or unrecommended toys. “The first work of those who desire to reform themselves is to purify the imagination. If the mind is guided in a vicious direction, it must be restrained by cultivating only pure and elevated subjects. When tempted to yield to a corrupt imagination, flee to the throne of grace and pray for strength from Heaven. In God’s strength, the imagination can be disciplined so as to dwell only on pure and heavenly things.” — Medical Ministry, p. 93. Toys as a support: Toys can be a help in teaching a child. It would be better to provide constructive toys like a small rake for children to help sweep leaves, etc… children love to create things. The best toys for a baby are safe kitchen utensils, tools, and implements. Dangerous Toys: “These are dangerous for your spiritual life” 1. Vanity – Vanity is an inappropriate focus and concern with external appearance. (Read 1 Peter 3:3-4) God has warned us not to focus so much of our attention on outward appearance but on the inner qualities of holiness. “The king’s daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is interwoven with gold.” (Psalm 45:13) Can you think of any toy that violates this principle? We want to teach our children to dress appropriately and to be clean. But providing children with toys that have toy mirrors, makeup kits… starts early to teach them to worry more about external appearance than internal purity. Another toy that encourages vanity is fashion dolls. Baby dolls teach and encourage girls to prepare for the responsibility they will likely fulfill in the future. Fashion dolls, on the other hand, encourage girls to live single with a lot of money to spend on clothes. These dolls usually come with several different clothing choices so that children develop a taste for what is fashionable and not appropriate for Christians. You may notice the very thin waist causing a wrong impression about external appearance. Most girls do not grow up looking like “Barbie,” and this type of fantasy leads to “romance, which is the “second danger.” 2. Romance: Most would be alarmed if they clearly saw how standards have changed over the last century regarding the experience of romance. Gradually, our society has accepted reserving less and less in the area of romantic and sexual relationships for marriage. Therefore, there are games and toys that teach childish fantasies of youthful dating. Child pornography is subtly used in television, magazines, and other areas to inappropriately awaken sexual appetites. This leads to violence. 3. Violence: It is a sin to physically harm someone in real life. It is also displeasing to God to imagine such a thing in our hearts. Pointing a toy gun or a knife at a person is not acceptable. No violent toy or weapon can be justified. Remember we said in the last topic that they are increasingly trying to make dangerous toys seem harmless! My son really wanted to buy a water gun; it seemed so harmless, but I don’t support weapons of any kind and explained to him that even though it’s water, he would still be holding a weapon and pointing it at someone, which is a type of destructive play and does not guide us to have pure and pleasing thoughts to God as Philippians 4:8 teaches us. Another thing he always wanted were those little green uniformed soldiers; I even bought them for him for a while, but when we played, I talked about the soldiers’ facial expressions that didn’t look happy and how sad a war is and how each soldier held a weapon in their hands… for a while he played, but then he lost interest and decided to donate them, thank God. “But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:11) Evil always seeks a greater evil, and this leads to the occult. 4. Occult: “Many toys encourage children into the occult. Most people might say that children are just playing when they practice witchcraft skills, such as casting spells, uttering curses, charms, summoning supernatural forces, predicting the future, mind control, and so on. All the Care Bears, Smurfs, Spider-Man, or any other trendy cartoon may seem innocent, but we see the results in society in adults and young people who were raised in vanity, romance, violence, and occultism. Over many years, as Satan has been taking control of human minds, toy manufacturers have discovered that children are particularly susceptible to toys that are connected with the latest television programs. These major toy manufacturers have started launching new lines of toys connected with new series on television. Satan is very deceptive, using hour-long advertisements to sell occult devices disguised as toys. Children are taught to play with these toys. The bigger problem comes when they start to think and act like the characters in the shows. Children adopt their personality traits and mannerisms and do not realize that they are individuals created by God to be uniquely different from everyone else. (To understand more about this subject, read chapter 57 of the book Child Guidance, titled “Exercise and Health”). I believe the best toy and play is still being outdoors and playing with the natural objects God provides us for free. “Poverty, in many cases, is a blessing, because it prevents young people and children from being ruined by inactivity. Both physical and mental faculties must be cultivated and properly developed. The first and constant concern of parents should be to ensure that their children have a strong constitution, so that they can be healthy men and women. Without physical exercise, it is impossible to achieve this goal.” – Child Guidance, p. 220 This quote has been on my mind since I read it some years ago. Sometimes I think that even the car can spoil children when they could walk a short distance to another place and thus engage in physical activity, but with the customs of the world, we all have cars nowadays and end up being a bit sedentary. We have watched many documentaries where children have to walk long distances to school and are happy and healthy. What if your child already owns one of these toys? We must accept the responsibility God has placed upon us to seek righteousness as a family, even if our decisions are not popular. Replace unrealistic posters with pictures of real animals. Replace bedding, towels, curtains with Disney characters (Mickey Mouse, princesses, Disney cars) with real flowers or real animals or another colorful pattern; use real things. Study the Bible with your child and help them understand that God cares about the types of toys and recreation. May God help us make wise choices regarding the toys our children will have!

Luciana Riges

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