For the first four years of his high school life, everyone had always thought of Baz as a chilled out and gentle guy. Even though he naturally had a muscular body, no-one had ever seen him use it to create violence. Quick-witted and clever, he was the sort of person who let his mouth do the talking, rather than his fists.

As he grew older, bigger, and even more muscular however, Baz started to change. He became more physical with his friends, and then with his enemies. Suddenly, Baz was in the middle of every fight the school grounds had to offer.

After a few bouts of this behaviour, the school became concerned about Baz, and so the headmaster asked the boy’s parents to come in for a chat. His dad had no idea what might have triggered this violent change in Baz’s behaviour, but his mum saw it differently. Since Christmas, a few months earlier, she explained that Baz had been spending a lot of time playing on his new games console. He only really bothered with one game, a super-violent beat-em-up called Battle Carnage.

Baz’s dad laughed off the suggestion that a video game might be responsible for his son’s behaviour, and suggested it was probably all to do with hormones. His wife and the headmaster were not so sure.

• Do you think there’s a link between video game violence and real-life violence? Why?
• Do you play video games? If so, how much do you think they can influence your behaviour?

• What kinds of video games are popular today? What kinds do you find most fun or exciting to play?
• Do you think people should follow age restrictions on games? If so, how closely should we stick to the guidance? If not, why not?

• How much of the negative stuff mentioned in v5 and v8 do you find in the video games, movies, TV shows and music you consume? What do you think the influence of these might be?
• How much of the positive stuff mentioned in v12 do you find in the same things? Are there certain areas of the media that offer this? Are you naturally attracted to them? Why or why not?
• Why do you think the writer, Paul, tells Christians to put the first set of things aside and focus on the second?

Do you think the world would change if the media was full of the ideas in v.12? If so, how?