The Story of Squid Game is NOT a SIN

Sin is saying “no” to God, to love, for personal growth, and to others.

Summary: A story of people who fail at life for various reasons, but suddenly receive a
mysterious invitation to participate in a survival game to win more than 38 million US
dollars. The game takes place on an isolated island and the participants are locked up
until there is a final winner.

Preliminary Statement:

The Squid Game participants have different stories about how they failed in life for
various reasons. The show is a highly concept thriller in which individuals who are
deeply indebted, desperate for money, are being recruited to a game wherein they will
play a different version of childhood games. And by the end of the game, the last man
standing will win 45.6 billion won or 38 million US Dollars.

Here are the proofs that Squid Game is not a sin:

● First, most of the participants in the squid game have debt which they badly want
to pay the person they owe money to, and they will do everything for it.
● With this, it is not a sin because according to our module, “Sin is saying no to
God, to love, to personal growth and to others.” In this scenario, they did not say
no to others.
● And the other proof, participants in the game sacrificed their own lives for others.
There are scenarios where they think of others before themselves. Also, some of
them changed their perspective because of this. With this, the game itself and
the participants did not say no to personal growth and to others.

First Argument:

First, let’s define sin. What is a sin? Based on our module sin is defined as “At the heart
of every sin, there is a free human decision”. If we relate this to the movie it tells us that
the squid game is not a sin because, in the first place, when the guy with a suit tries to
talk to them about the game, they have a choice if they want to join or not. The guy
explained how beneficial it would be for them to join the other big game because they
will earn more money than they already have and they can earn millions of money. It will
help them since they have debts that they need to pay. They have the power to willingly
choose to participate in that game. It is good of him to approach those people who have
debts and actually help them.
In addition, in the ending scene, Il-Nam (Player 001) and Gi-Huns (Player 456) played
one last game and the game they played was to bet if the homeless man would be
helped by others. Gi-Huns (Player 456) won the game because there was a good
Samaritan who called the police to help the man. With that being said, the squid game
is not a sin because Gi-Huns (Player 456) and other people’s way of looking at things
have good intentions meaning they want to accept the risk of playing the game for the
sake of paying their debts and still have enough money to start again and not make any
more mistakes.
The movie also dictates that in the second episode, a majority of the players vote on
ending the game and that is the only possible way that players can exit the game and
that is to walk free. But many of them volunteered to come back because they know
they have debt and they realized that the games may be their only chance to win the
money.

The squid game is not a sin in accordance with the principle found in the Sources and
Modifiers of Human Act " An indifferent act which is done for a good end becomes
good." Because it is just an act of portraying certain characters, filming the scenes, and
publishing them to the public with the purpose of giving entertainment, and moral
lessons, and being an eye opener to its viewers.

Lessons/eye openers like "Money doesn’t buy happiness" and "Greed often leads
to destruction" can be learned just by watching the show.

1. Money doesn't buy happiness, the best example of it is the elderly man in the
movie named Oh Il-nam (Player 001). The rich old man who is said to be the founder
and the mastermind of the squid game. But outside the game, he is just a sick and
lonely man who wants to find happiness and thrill in the remaining days of his life.

2. Greed often leads to destruction, which was shown many times throughout
the show.

· Where almost all of the Squid Game players landed their positions in the
Games because of greed.

· And when some of the game keepers, those wearing red, decided to sell
organs from the dead players for side cash. They enlist the help of one of
the players — a doctor — who agrees to harvest the organs in exchange
 for information on the upcoming games. When the leaders of the games
learned about it, the culprits were executed/killed for promoting an unfair
advantage to some of the players.

With all the lessons that I have given along with other ones not mentioned, all came
from just one show which is "the squid game". Shows with a good purpose like this help
us in becoming better people and learn from the mistakes that were shown in the show
itself. Therefore, we believe that the squid game is not a sin.

Second Argument:
God gave us the freedom to make our own decisions in life. According to Galatians 5:1,
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves
be burdened again by a yoke of slavery". Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and
will, to act or not to act, to do this or do that, and to perform deliberate actions on one's
responsibility. With this, here are proofs from the movie itself that the squid game is not
a sin:
1. In the first episode, we saw how the man in a suit recruited the players. The
players were not forced to join the game; instead, they were given a chance to
choose whether they would join or not. After the first game, they saw how
dangerous the situation they were facing, so the antagonist let the players decide
if they wanted to stay or not.
2. In episode 2, the players of the game were given a chance to choose whether
they would go back and continue the game or not. Most of the players still
choose to go back and continue the game even though they witnessed horrible
scenes in the first game. In this part, we can see the act of freedom with one's
responsibility, a responsibility for their own life.

Furthermore, our module defines sin as "saying no to God, to love, to personal growth,
and others." In this statement, there are some scenarios in the movie where players in
the game do not reject God, love, personal growth, and others.

1. The players quickly accepted the offer when money was involved because they
desperately wanted to settle their debts to others, which we interpreted as not
rejecting God and others.
2. In episode 6, we saw how Ji-yeong (Player 240) chose to sacrifice her life to
save Sae-byok (067), who has plans if she will ever get the chance to win the
prize and get out alive. This kind of act will be considered as saying no to others.
3. There are times when they stand up for one another and support those in need
even though they know there can be only one winner. Since they are still able to
feel affection and love for persons they do not know, this does not say no to
personal growth and no to love.
Concluding Statement:
“At the heart of every sin, there is a free human decision.” This is the definition of sin
based on our module. They are given a choice if they will join the game or not. Also, the
guy in a suit explained all the pros in joining the game which is earning a lot of money
which is in favor of all the players because they have a lot of issues when it comes to
finances. This movie gives us a take-aways which is: Money doesn’t buy happiness.
Knowing that Il-Nam (Player 001) is really wealthy, he still wants something that makes
him happy, which is playing their childhood games because that is something we enjoy
when we are kids. Even us humans, sometimes we always say “sana bumalik na lang
ako sa pagkabata” because we know that kids don't have a lot of problems, we’re just
thinking about having fun and playing outside with our friends. So we are sure that
money really doesn’t buy happiness. Many elders say “hindi naman madadala ang
pera o ari-arian sa hukay” which is true because when we die, only the living will enjoy
all the wealth of the dead. We are into experiences and happy memories since we are
carrying all those happy memories forever. Shows like "The Squid Game" have a
positive intention to help us grow as humans and learn from the failures that were
presented in the show itself.
In Galatians 5:1, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do
not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Freedom is the ability to
make conscious decisions and take action on one's own responsibility. It is established
on reason and will. In the movie, you can see that they are not forced to join the game.
When they saw how gruesome the game is, they were given a choice again if they still
wanted to play. Many players backed-out but they were given a choice if they are still
willing to join and again, they are back to the game because they know that this game
will be beneficial to them. All of their actions are done with their own free-will.
Gi-Hun (Player 456) and other players have good intentions, which means they wish to
bear the danger of playing the game in order to pay their debts and yet have enough
money to start over and avoid repeating their mistakes. We should reconsider that this
is just fictional and not to be considered a sin but it comes down to the person watching
it. Based on the results that we have searched and thus concluded that the Squid
Game is not a sin.
The possibilities of this research being used in a similar background can help future
researchers on what actions or mindset they can consider a sin when the topic being
researched about is purely fictional.