Monday, May 13, 2013

Reboot of web site

Hi.

Steve Racer here. I'm going to try to restore everything here on this site.

Hopefully it will all be back soon!

Worthy is Jesus, the Lamb of God

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing!

Revelation 5:12 : There is within my heart today a cry that says, worthy is Jesus. He is great, he is worthy, he is the most fit, the best and most noble recipient of our praise!

He died, and defeated death itself for us. He made himself a sacrifice, he who did no wrong ever. He loved us with a burning love that we can only faintly grasp. Yet he gave us himself, and his love, freely. Remember to thank him for this, and when you praise him, know that there is no other nor will there ever be one so worthy, so deserving to be adored and lifted up above all others. The King of all, who stooped down and washed our feet! Glory and praise to him and honor forever. Lift up your hearts to him, my friends, and know He, your God, is worthy, good, and overflowing with love for you, his children, his brothers and sisters, and yes, his beloved. His love for you will never die, never be defeated, and never run out. It is flowing to you now and you may dive into the sea of his burning passion for you. Do not forget that today, you are loved. Loved by one so amazing and wonderful, there is nothing more we could desire. Praise to the Lamb, the willing sacrifice, our Prince of Peace. We praise you God, and we will forever.

The Wondrous Cross
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride
See from His head, His hands, His feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown
Oh the wonderful cross, Oh the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live.
Oh the wonderful cross, Oh the wonderful cross
All who gather here by grace draw near and bless Your name.

CCLI Song No. 27893, When I Survey The Wondrous Cross

Bible Study 101: An introduction to studying the bible

Origins of the Bible
The bible is composed of many different books taken together as a literary work. It is divided into two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament was written over a period from approximately 1400 B.C. to 400 B.C. The New Testament was written in the first century, from approximately 40 to 80 A.D.

There are a total of 66 books in the bible, 39 of them are from the Old Testament, and the 27 left are from the New.

These books are written in different literary styles. These include: letters, sermons, law, poetic descriptions, narratives of historical events, prayer, praise, practical sayings, and the warnings of the prophets.

The Old Testament refers to the time before Jesus Christ came. It begins with Genesis, which includes an account of how God made the world. It includes the original Ten Commandments and the laws God gave to his people at the time, the Jews. The Jews were the first to receive God’s message. The Old Testament has many prophecies, or predictions, of what God intended to do. Part of that included the Messiah, or the ‘Anointed One’ of God.

The New Testament begins with the four gospels. Gospel is a word for ‘good news.’ These four books, written by four people, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, describe accounts of people who were with Jesus. The good news of the gospel was that the Messiah or Christ (in Greek) had come and God was offering his salvation and forgiveness to everyone. The remaining books of the New Testament are written by Apostles, or those appointed to teach the good news and create new communities of believers, or churches.

Over forty different authors wrote the books of the bible. They included shepherds (Hosea and Amos) fishermen (Peter and John), a tax collector (Matthew), a doctor (Luke), and a military general (Joshua).

Original Manuscripts

The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew with some parts being composed in Aramaic - a language similar to Hebrew. The New Testament was originally written in Greek.

The oldest surviving bible manuscripts (dating about 100 B.C.), the Dead Sea Scrolls, represent every book of the Old Testament except one (Esther). Finding these scrolls was significant, because they were compared to other copies of the Old Testament to test for validity. These scrolls helped validate the correctness of the Old Testament Hebrew writings we have now.
The New Testament is the best attested to piece of historical writing ever. There are over 30,000 manuscripts of parts of the bible, which is more than 30 times the number of manuscripts of any other historical book (the next closest is Homer's Iliad with less than 700). The manuscripts are compared to each other and compiled to make one complete document. The New Testament writings that are used include some dating from the first century, very close to the time Jesus was on earth.

These original documents are used, once compiled, to translate directly into the intended language, such as English. This means that the bible is not translated over and over, it is simply translated once from the original language straight into English by scholars of the historic languages.

Studying the bible

Reading the bible and studying it are really two separate things. To become a student of the bible it is important to understand a technique known as exegesis. Exegesis is the process of analyzing what you read and understanding the meaning. There are many parts of this analysis that will help you learn more about the meaning of what you are reading. These include:

History

Knowing the history of the time period you are reading about is important. For instance, when reading the New Testament, it helps to know that Israel is under control of the Roman Empire. However, the Romans also let the local cultures have their own rulers which were subject to them, such as King Herod.

Culture

Jesus was a Jew, it is important to know what that means. He followed their laws and teachings. It is important to note that at the time, the Pharisees and other teachers of Jewish religious law had added many extra commands and traditions not from the original law. This is why you see Jesus correcting them often.

Context

Earlier, it was noted that the bible includes many literary styles. Parts are history, poetry, analogy, etc. It is important to note what style you are reading. Jesus often spoke in ‘parables’, or short stories that had a moral. He often made analogies as well. Jesus said, for instance, "I am the gate for the sheep." (John 10:7) He is not literally a gate for sheep. What he is saying, from the context, is that he is the way to enter the kingdom of God, and the sheep are his followers. Context includes examining the text before and after what you are reading. It also includes analyzing the rest of the bible for comparison. In the case of the sheep, many times Jesus refers to his followers as sheep. Therefore it strengthens the case that he is once again using this same analogy.

Original Languages

Since we have manuscripts of the original languages, many bibles will include a study aid with definitions of the words used in Greek and Hebrew. We can look back at these to improve our knowledge of a specific passage. This would be something for the advanced bible student.

Using Study Aids

There are many study aids that help us in our examination of the bible. Most good study bibles will include these aids which you should look for:

Concordance:

Basically an index where you can look up passages that have a specific word or name. You could look up occurrences of the word ‘sheep’ for instance.

Center reference:

A column down the center of each page will list footnotes with references to other bible verses on the same subject. This is very helpful when studying a specific subject.

Footnotes:

Many bibles will have notes from a bible scholar in it. These sometimes explain a historical or theological point. However, its very important to realize that these are opinions, not part of the bible. When you get a bible, you should check on the position of the footnote authors, because they may have specific biases.

Maps:

Maps bring a lot of depth to a bible study. Seeing the maps where Paul went on his missionary journeys, for example, brings a larger sense of reality to the letters he wrote in the New Testament.

Language Reference:

This can often be a separate book, or sometimes part of the bound copy of your bible. They give definitions of Hebrew and Greek words used in certain passages.

Bible study books:

Many of these study books are excellent. They lead the reader through a study on a specific subject, listing places in the bible to go read for them. This is a great help since someone has already done the research for the reader. However, keep in mind that these too can have a specific bias.

The role of the Holy Spirit

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26)
When studying the bible, it is good to be scholarly. Ultimately, however, we want our study to be an experience with God, where he can show us truth. Praying for the Holy Spirit to teach us is a good way to ask God to lead our study of him and his teachings.

Where to start

If you haven’t studied the bible before, a good place to start is with the gospels, the first four books of the New Testament. These are four accounts of the life of Jesus from the perspective of four different people. One common recommendation is to read the book of John, then the book of Romans. These books contain many of the teachings of Jesus and salvation. As you read, take note of the references and notes that your bible offers. Look up some maps and read about the history of the time period of 1^st century Israel.
As you begin your journey, pray for God to help you learn. Now you are ready to become a student of the bible.

The Greatest Romance

In the beginning he knew the cost. She would turn away from him, she would hurt him. But he loved her from the moment she was born. He knew everything about her, and he wanted her, more than anything, to be free. To experience the ability to make her own choices, to even reject him if she desired.

She is the bride, and was made perfectly for him, as he was perfect for her. He gave her a world, sunrise and sunset, beauty and even beautiful sorrow, for there was comfort for every tear.
From the beginning of time, he knew she would betray him. He loved her anyway. He knew she would run from him, and he still loved her. She was beautiful and wonderful and he would not simply turn away for another. She was his one true love, his only love and there never, ever could be another.

He pursued her when she first left. He already had a plan to make everything right, to repair the damage that had been done. He was willing to die for her. And that is exactly what he would do.
The greatest romance ever, the story I am telling, is the story of God and us. He is the author of romance and love. He knows the purest, sweetest love, for he is that love. Whenever we feel a pure, true love for another, we are in touch with the divine.

God gave us a free will, because he wanted us to be free, not robots. He wanted a bride, not a slave. He wanted love. He poured it out for us in his blood as he died for us.

He made us male and female, as a living representation of his love for us as a whole. If you have desired to love someone, hold them, care for them, even die for them - then you have felt a small touch of God's love for you, and you understand the true love of God. God wants to hold you in the arms of his Spirit, to care for your needs, and he has died for you.

His love is so amazing that he even died for those who hated him, who spit on him and beat him. Even more amazing is his grace and forgiveness toward those same people afterwards. If you want love, think of the love of God. That is the love he has for us, and he is so good he has enabled us to even love others as he has loved us.

I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them. - John 17:26

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." - John 13:34-35

There are so many verses that speak of love, I cannot recount them all. Yet we see that not only does God love us with a perfect love, he has given us the ability to love as he has loved us! Is this not a beautiful thing? Jesus prayed that we would be one, that he would be in us. Have you ever felt a desire to be so close to someone that you wanted to just be inside their heart and nestle comfortably there? That too, is a desire from God. He wants us to do that same thing, to make a home in his loving heart. It bursts with love for us.

The Song of Solomon speaks of the lover and the beloved, and it is a beautiful and perfect representation of love between God and us, as well as a man and woman.

"How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice!"
"Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away."

Where else should we look for God but within love itself? Is he not the author of all good things? He wants to be one with us in the spirit, as we can be one in the flesh between a man and woman. This is the mystery Paul speaks of in Ephesians. Being one in spirit with God, one in flesh with our mate. They are both the greatest romance ever, and a portrayal of unconditional love and union.

"One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."" --- Revelation 21:9
We, the beloved of God, are the bride of Christ. God's love is true love. When we pursue someone we love, remember how God pursued us. When we give our love flowers, remember all the beautiful flowers God made for us. When we forgive our beloved, we show how God forgave us. When we cradle our beloved in our arms, we show how God will hold us close to him for eternity and never let us go. When we sacrifice for our beloved, remember his ultimate sacrifice for us.
He wants to be so close to us that we would be called "one." A saint of the Catholic church wrote about this oneness with God. St. John of the Cross penned "The Dark Night of the Soul" (originally in Spanish.) It reads like a romance poem, and it is - one about God.

Upon a darkened night
The flame of love was burning in my breast
And by a lantern bright
I fled my house while all in quiet rest
Shrouded by the night
And by the secret stair I quickly fled
The veil concealed my eyes
While all within lay quiet as the dead
Oh night thou was my guide
Oh night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover
To the beloved one
Transforming each of them into the other
Upon that misty night
In secrecy, beyond such mortal sight
Without a guide or light
Than that which burned so deeply in my heart
That fire 'twas led me on
And shone more bright than of the midday sun
To where he waited still
It was a place where no one else could come
Oh night thou was my guide
Oh night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover
To the beloved one
Transforming each of them into the other
Within my pounding heart
Which kept itself entirely for him
He fell into his sleep
Beneath the cedars all my love I gave
From o'er the fortress walls
The wind would brush his hair against his brow
And with its smoothest hand
Caressed my every sense it would allow
Oh night thou was my guide
Oh night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover
To the beloved one
Transforming each of them into the other
I lost myself to him
And laid my face upon my lover's breast
And care and grief grew dim
As in the morning's mist became the light
There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair…

We can find rest and peace in the love of God. The Bible tells us, "perfect love casts out fear." God knows love, God is love, and God tells us what real love is.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." - I Cor 13:4-8
Love never fails… this is the greatest romance ever. The love that never fails, and never ends. The love that always forgives. The love that longs and burns and never dies. The love that seeks to know every part of us and treasure it, to become one. The love that died for us.

[1] Ephesians 5:31-32 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church.

[2] Loreena McKennit English translation

Christians Playing Dungeons and Dragons: Part 2

Christians Playing Dungeons and Dragons: Part II

By Steve Weese (a Christian who plays D&D)

Part Two: Christian Perspective

Defending the Game

The chief complaint I see about D&D by certain Christians is the magic. Specifically, that somehow D&D either teaches real magic use, or is a front for people to lure the unsuspecting into the occult. An article on the Chick web site (maker of extreme Christian tracts) references many of these arguments, and somehow claims to have researched these things. However, in many cases, no example is given from D&D as to how these things are the case. I will use this article as a source later in this section. If you read the D&D sourcebooks, it is clear it is a game. The rulebooks are just that; a collection of rules to describe how to play the game. It seems that if some of the critics actually read the books, they would see there is no way to actually perform any “real magic” from them. Otherwise, wouldn’t we have hordes of teenagers out there purchasing these books and hurling fireballs and magic missiles at each other? To defend D&D and show it does not conflict with Christianity, I will examine the criticisms of this article. I will also show examples from the D&D books themselves. To prepare for this section, I just have read the entire section on Magic in the 3^rd edition rulebooks. I will also examine some other criticisms of the game and explain why they are flawed.

Morality

One of the claims that is made often is that the players (often portrayed as young, impressionable teens, though this is hardly the norm) are offered confusing choices on morality. For instance, in the game, your character has an alignment. This alignment determines your characters general moral stance. The purpose of alignment in the game, as quoted by the Player’s Handbook is “a tool for developing your character’s identity...Each alignment represents a broad range of personality types or personal philosophies.” In real life, there are good and bad people. In movies there are good and bad people. So, why not in a game? Critics often say that because there is evil in the game, it encourages people to be evil in real life. This is like saying that watching Star Wars might make you decide to become like Darth Vader.

In every epic story or movie, there is always evil to overcome. Someone has to play the bad guy. Your character’s morality helps you know more about him or her. So, you can decide what they would do in certain situations. Using Star Wars again, Han Solo was a “good” character, but not that good. Remember Luke had to talk him into rescuing the princess by offering him a lot of money.

Luke: "But they’re going to kill her."
Han: "Better her than me."
Luke: "She is rich."
Han: "Rich?"
Luke: "Yes. Rich. Powerful. Listen, if you were to rescue her, the reward would be..."
Han: "What?"
Luke: "Well more wealth, than you can imagine."
Han: "I can imagine quite a bit."
Luke: "You’ll get it."
Han: "I better."

Han might well be described as having the alignment of Chaotic Good, which is described as:

“A chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. He makes his own way, but he is kind and benevolent. He…has little use for laws and regulations… He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with society…” (Players Handbook, 89)

So, alignment is simply background for your character. A criticism leveled at D&D comes from a description of the Lawful Evil alignment. This is from Schnoebelen’s article from the Chick site:

“For example, you can have a "lawful evil" character. A handbook states that: "A lawful evil villain methodically takes what he wants within the limits of his code of conduct without regard to whom it hurts. He cares about tradition, loyalty and order, but not about freedom, dignity or life."Talk about a mish-mash of moral ambiguity. Our young people are having enough trouble getting their values straight without being immersed in this sort of material!” (Schnoebelen)

Yet, there are plenty of characters in the Bible who fit this description. I would say Pharaoh in Exodus is a good example. He took what he wanted with little regard for others, by enslaving the Jews. He had his order and tradition, but did not value freedom or dignity of life. Admitting that there are people like this is hardly a corruption of one’s values.

Fantasy Magic is not Real World Magic

The magic that we are forbidden to practice in the Bible comes from one source – Satan. God and Satan are here in the real world with us. Fantasy stories take place in other worlds, in other realities that never have happened and never will. It is important to note that in many fantasy worlds, like D&D, magic is different than what we might call ‘magic’ in the real world we live in. Magic in these fantasy worlds is considered a natural force. I would compare it to something like electricity or even gravity. Using magic in these worlds is like turning on a lamp or making furniture. It is simply there, part of the lives of the characters that live in the imaginary fantasy world. It is not the occult magic that is referred to in the world of reality. When a character in the fantasy world accesses magic, they are simply tapping into a power source that is built into their world, not calling on evil spirits, demons, or the devil.

If a game is supposed to be set in a fantasy world, it is hardly surprising that it might include magic in that world. It wouldn’t be very exciting to play a game called “Checkbooks and Yard Work” that was totally based in reality would it? Magic adds an element for our imagination to enjoy when we are stuck mowing the lawn. It’s simply imagination. To say D&D is bad purely for including magic would be to categorize any story that includes some type of magic as evil. We would then have to classify Cinderella, the Smurfs, Lord of the Rings, Mario Brothers, and a whole horde of stories and ideas as evil and corruptive. This would include the famous Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, the oft-quoted Christian writer.

D&D and arcane rituals

Often critics will claim that somehow D&D contains information on how to ‘really’ cast spells and perform magical rituals. The first page of the introduction in the Players Handbook clearly states, “This game is fantasy. The action of a D&D game takes place in the imaginations of the players…In reality, however, you are no more your player than you are the king when you play chess. Likewise, the world implied by these rules is an imaginary one.” (Players Handbook, 6) In his article, Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons, William Schnoebelen (who says he was a former “witch”) asserts:

“On top of that, the second issue is that the materials themselves, in many cases, contain authentic magical rituals… In the late 1970's, a couple of the game writers actually came to my wife and I as prominent "sorcerers" in the community. They wanted to make certain the rituals were authentic. For the most part, they are.” (Schnoebelen)

This is one of the most profoundly undocumented claims this writer makes. It is completely off base. Why, you ask? Because, there is no description of any ritual in the D&D core rulebooks. If the author wanted to make this point he should have provided an example. But there aren’t any. Now, in the 70’s there was Basic D&D and Advanced D&D. (D&D History) I owned original books for these versions. There are no details on rituals to perform in these books, from what I can remember. As I said, I just completed reading the entire magic section of my current rulebooks just to make certain this is the case with the new books. What is in there is very simply rules, and not ritual. This is a description of casting a spell from the Player’s Handbook:

“Preparing a spell requires careful reading from a spellbook (for wizards) or devout prayers or mediation (for divine spellcasters)… after preparing a spell, the character carries it, nearly cast, in his or her mind, ready for use…Spellcasting might require a few special words, specific gestures, a specific item, or any combination of the three.” (Players Handbook, 148, emphasis added)

Note that is the character, not the player, that is actually performing these actions. The player does not have a spellbook, nor does he meditate. It is just assumed the character does something to this effect, but it is not explicitly described. The player looks up the exact spell they want in the rulebook so they can understand the effects in the game. I’ll show you an example of one of the most common spells, Fireball.

Fireball

Level: Sor/Wiz 3

Components: V,S,M

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)

Area: 20-ft radius spread

Duration: Instantaneous

Saving throw: Reflex half

Spell Resistance: Yes

A fireball spell is a burst of flame that detonates with a low roar and deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) to all creatures within the area. Unattended objects also take this damage…

You point your finger and determine the range (distance and height) at which the fireball is to burst. A glowing pea-sized bead streaks from the pointing digit and, unless it impacts upon a material body or solid barrier prior to attainting the prescribed range, blossoms into the fireball at that point… (Players Handbook, 204)

There is a bit more describing the effects such as things catching on fire, etc. However, there is nothing in the description of this spell or any other spell in the D&D manuals that will instruct you how to cast it for “real”. I suppose you could try pointing your finger and hoping a “glowing pea-sized bead” streaks out; good luck with that. The components section lists “V,S,M” meaning to cast the spell your character has to say a Verbal part (some magic words), a Somatic part (waving the hands and gesturing) and also a Material part, which in this case is a ball of bat guano (eww) and sulfur. There is no description for any of these spells saying exactly what the verbal and somatic parts are. Therefore it does not tell you how to cast the spell. Not that anyone can really cast a fireball spell anyway (if you have seen someone do this, feel free to correct me.)

The absurdity of the claim that D&D manuals can help you cast spells is illustrated in a wonderful article entitled “Spellcasting 101” by William J Watson. He tries to cast the spell Hold Portal from the 3^rd edition books:

…the spell description says that "the magic holds the portal fast, just as if it were securely closed and normally locked." That should easily keep my two daughters from running out of the playroom every two minutes to bother me as I write this.

Test Method: The book tells me that the only thing we need to cast this spell is a verbal component... but it doesn't tell me what that magic word is. Still, a 20th level mage like myself should know all of this by now. I'll just shout a few lock-related magical power words at the playroom door.

Results: Failure.

(Watson, emphasis added.)

I highly recommend this article to illustrate the point. The fact is that players do not even say any magic words or move their hands or do any kind of ritual whatsoever. The words and gestures are left to the imagination, and the player simply says, “I cast Fireball.” That is it. No rituals, no magic words, no eye of newt. Just, “I cast Fireball” with maybe an “at those guys over there” after it.

Violence in the Game

One thing that has to be kept in mind is that D&D did come from a war game. A large part of it is based on medieval warfare. A good movie example of this kind of thing is Braveheart,with Mel Gibson. People really fought with swords and lances and shields and it was brutal. In the game, you can fight as well. Personally, one of the things I like about the game is you can fight monsters. In real life, really the only fight that could be challenging is against a human opponent. Killing people is clearly wrong but killing an evil, nasty, slimy monster with 16 eyeballs in a fantasy game is great fun. However, you have a choice, and actions have consequences just like in real life. If you take your party and slaughter a village of innocents, word will get around about what you did and good characters will come after you. In fact, I have often found D&D contains lessons in morality. If you play an evil character, you eventually make enemies. You lie and betray others. People stop trusting you. Others are after you. You often die alone and friendless. Evil reaps its rewards just as it does in real life, while good characters make friends, save lives and help others. They end up with allies and victories. Though they may make evil enemies in the process, they are trusted and known as a good hero.

I want to point out that fighting and casting spells are by no means the only things players do. Players role-play. As their character they discuss options, talk to townspeople, solve puzzles, scout the landscape, create items, and many other things. Fighting is only a part of the big story that is played out as your character goes through an adventure. Sometimes a character can even talk his way out of fighting. It all depends on the player’s choices.

In terms of violence, it is really dependent on the players. Combat is handled through hit points, which represent the amount of hits a character can take. Many gamers simply do combat by talking hit points. For instance, “Okay, I hit it with my sword for 10 points of damage.” No gory details needed. It is a game and when you are fighting the point is to survive and defeat the enemy, so you are essentially trying to get the enemy down to zero hit points while keeping yours above zero. It’s really a game of numbers. The numbers help describe who wins and loses. Some players and game masters can be more descriptive by saying for instance, “you slash the orc across the torso for 5 points of damage.” This is no more violent, however, than your typical action movie.

D&D and negative psychological effects

Another frequent criticism of this game is that it causes violence, suicide, or some type of disorder where the player loses a sense of reality. Several studies have been done testing this hypothesis, and none of them found a link between these and Dungeons and Dragons. An article I found from religioustolerance.org lists five separate studies, and none of them found links to D&D. In fact, one study found that the suicide rate among role-players is over 50 times less than the average population. Another found that gamers are less likely to commit crimes. (Robinson, 3)

What about the cases where this has happened? There are often stories you hear about D&D players losing it and thinking the game is reality, or that D&D was involved in a crime. However, many of these stories are simply urban legends, or police ended up determining that D&D had nothing to do with the crime. (Wikipedia) Of course there are a few cases where this did happen. Since we have already established that D&D does not cause these problems, it is logical to assume the people in these cases had prior mental disorders. The tiny number of actual cases where gamers are involved in crimes, again, shows that they are less likely to exhibit violent behavior than the average person.

What about the demons in D&D?

One thing that is helpful to understand about D&D is that it takes concepts that it considers to be from various mythologies to build a fantasy world. The game master can use these concepts to create various fantasy flavors. For instance, it could be Norse, Egyptian, Oriental, Celtic, or even Native American in style. The creatures that a player can encounter come from almost every one of these possible mythologies. Christianity is not the only religion to talk about “demons.” For instance, Japanese mythology has a type of demon called an Oni.

Oni are devil-like demons with long nails, wild hair, a fierce look and two horns on their forehead like the devil images known in Western Christian cultures. They wear tiger skins and can fly. Oni hunt for the souls of those who did evil things in their lives. (Japanese Mythology)

In fact, since demons are not really given a physical description in the Bible, it may be Christianity was influenced by demon concepts from other cultures. The point is that the “demons” in D&D are not directly correlated with the Christian concept of demons.

The truth is, in the 20 years I have played D&D, I have had my characters encounter demons maybe twice. There are such a wide variety of monsters and creatures in the game that demons rarely show up.

Back in 2^nd edition D&D, TSR (the company that formerly owned D&D) actually removed all references to demons, in what was believed to be a gesture toward the religious pressure on it. However, they were placed back into 3^rd edition by the new company, Wizards of the Coast. (Wikipedia)

Personally, as a Christian, I will say I don’t like the idea that there are “demons” in D&D. I would rather there not be, and in any games that I run myself I exclude them. I know that demons are real and would rather not play around with the concept. Since D&D is so versatile, it should be no problem to fully enjoy D&D without including any demons.

I found out in my research that 3^rd edition released a book just on demons and demon worshippers. It is called the Book of Vile Darkness and is for “Mature” readers only. This is not part of the core rules, and is definitely not required to play the game. In defense of the D&D publishers, I would say that they probably don’t believe in demons and think of this as another “mythology” to add to the campaign. For example, in the movies Young Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom the heroes were up against strange cults that worshipped evil gods and peformed human sacrifice.

Regardless, as a Christian, I would recommend for a good D&D experience just to cut out the demons altogether.

Sex and D&D

D&D is a fantasy world where characters can experience new adventures, conquer enemies, win rewards, gain experience and even find love. Since you are only limited by your imagination, your character could do just about anything, including have sex. However, this game is definitely not designed for this purpose. There are no sections or chapters on characters having sex.

Christians have certain guidelines to follow on sex, and they would apply to playing this game as well. Just as they apply to watching movies, or other types of entertainment. Therefore, a player should keep these guidelines when playing D&D.

Do the rulebooks feature some scantily clad women? Yes. This is part of the fantasy genre. If you go to the library and look in the fantasy section, there will be many of these. (I dare say the same about the romance novel section.) D&D is not marketed to Christians, obviously. There is no actual nudity beyond the occasional breast in the books I have seen, and those are the older rule books. I just paged through all 286 pages of the Players Handbook. I found only 3 pictures with scantily clad women, none of which appear sexually suggestive. They are either just standing there or casting a spell. I think this may be part of marketing also to attract more women players by having less of those types of drawings and artwork in the newer books.

Benefits of D&D

Dungeons and Dragons, as we have seen from an earlier description, actually requires math skills. It does not require advanced math, but it does require regular addition, subtraction and multiplication. Practicing these things in the context of a game actually encourages math development among the players.

The Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs published a report on role-playing, describing it as a stimulating hobby that promotes creativity. (Wikipedia) The National Association of Gifted-Creative Children has endorsed D&D for its educational content. (Robinson, 3) D&D does actively encourage creative problem solving. There are puzzles to solve, social situations to resolve, and decisions to be made about actions and consequences.

The Imagination

I find that one of the most beautiful parts of D&D is the chance to stretch the imagination. A player can imagine other worlds, mystical creatures, endless seas, magnificent cities and more. When we were children we imagined things like this, at least I would say most of us did. Isn’t our imagination a gift from God? Where did the great painters get their ideas for paintings if they did not first see them in their mind’s eye? The great building and structures of our time were first imagined in the mind of an architect. As adults we should be free to imagine and enjoy the gift we have. We imagine differently from children, this is true, but we still imagine. We played “cops and robbers” as kids, can’t we play Dungeons and Dragons as adults? I say we can, and we can enjoy it.

Accepting Christians who play D&D

D&D is not for everyone. I’m not saying that Christians have to play D&D or even like D&D. However, Christians should, after learning the facts, be able to accept other Christians playing the game. In Romans 14 Paul writes:

The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls.

Christians playing D&D are not sinning and not becoming involved in the occult. As this article has demonstrated:

Role-playing involves imagination and fun, not a departure from reality
The D&D sourcebooks are primarily a listing of rules to play a game, not instructions for the occult
No credible link has been established between D&D and suicide, violence, or other mental disorders
D&D does have some content that Christians should be wary of
Playing D&D can have educational and creative benefits

Playing D&D as a Christian should be viewed as any other entertainment. Some movies and books we are ok to read, and some we should not. Just as we can eat too much cake or watch too much football, we can play too much D&D. As Christians this is how we function in the secular world. We can do many things, within reason and limits. If we have a peach with a bad part, do we throw the whole peach away? We can, or we can cut the small bad part out with a knife and eat the rest of the peach which is perfectly good. D&D is not just one game, it is really an almost limitless structure within which a player can have adventures. Christians can play easily within this structure without going astray.

Biblical Perspective

I would be remiss if I did not put this article in perspective of the Bible. Interestingly, in the article on the Chick web site, the author quotes I Thessalonians 5:22 as saying: “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” This is from the King James Version. This appears to be a slightly inaccurate translation in the KJV, as three modern versions, the NIV, NASB, and New Living, translate it as such (respectively):

Avoid every kind of evil.

abstain from every form of evil.

Keep away from every kind of evil.

Paul the Apostle, and author of this book, was not talking about appearances at all, but evil itself. The author of the Chick article is apparently ignoring other versions of the Bible to make hispoint, which is actually about appearance. However, we know God does not judge things by appearance.

The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart - 1 Samuel 16:7

Just because someone dresses differently from you, or looks like what your ‘culture’ might consider evil, does not mean they are evil. The next time you hear someone saying evil about D&D, tell them to look for themselves. Not at the appearance, but at the actual game and the people who play it.

Sources:

Spellcasting 101: Don't Try This At Home, William J. Walton http://www.theescapist.com/random011102.htm

Should a Christian Play Dungeons & Dragons? William Schnoebelen http://www.chick.com/articles/frpg.asp

Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons, William Schnoebelen

http://www.chick.com/articles/dnd.asp

Dungeons and Dragons, Players Handbook, 3^rd Edition, Wizards of the Coast

Wikipedia entry for Dungeons and Dragons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons - history, versions, and revisions http://www.lyberty.com/encyc/articles/d_and_d.html

Dungeons and Dragons™ and other fantasy role-playing games, B.A. Robinson

http://www.religioustolerance.org/d_a_d.htm

Japanese Mythology

http://www.artelino.com/articles/japanese_mythology.asp

Christians Playing Dungeons and Dragons Part 1

Christians Playing Dungeons and Dragons

By Steve Weese (a Christian who plays D&D)

Recently I have seen a resurgence of discussion on this topic, and since it is central to Fans for Christ, I thought I should address it. Since Dungeons and Dragons has long been described by certain Christians as a ‘doorway to occultism’ and a ‘manual for magic’ I will first address what D&D is. This will include describing a typical game session, including examples of games I have been in. Then I will address specific claims and charges about the game, which I believe are patently false.

Part One: The Game of D&D

What is Dungeons and Dragons?

Dungeons and Dragons (or D&D) originated from an already existing game of medieval warfare. This game, Chainmail, was further developed into the first true role-playing game. (Wikipedia, 1) A role playing game is where the player takes on the role of someone else, and acts out that role. This may seem a bit strange at first, but people actually do this for a living; they are called actors. So, this game gave people a chance to become actors, playing a part.

The director of this movie, if you will, was known as the Dungeon Master. This person was sort of the referee who created the world and the other characters that the players would interact with in their own movie. (Now this person is usually called the Game Master, since role-playing games have evolved to have many settings beyond fantasy.)

The genre, or setting of this game is fantasy. It is very similar to the world of Middle-Earth in J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings novels. The general fantasy world is the world of wizards and knights, fair maidens and dragons, elves, dwarves, goblins, trolls, kings and peasants. Of course, this world in some ways is similar to our medieval and renaissance times, in terms of government, clothing, weapons and armor.

So, a player of D&D creates this persona, the role they would play, which is known as their character. A character in D&D has ability scores that describe how strong, smart, fast, and charming they are, for instance. They also have a sex, height, race (such as elf, dwarf, or human) and a class, which is their job. The current version of D&D, 3.5, allows many choices for this class. A character is some type of adventurer (obviously, you’d get bored playing as a peasant farming all day or scrubbing in the kitchens.) The classes a player can choose for their character are based loosely on different fantasy stereotypes you have probably seen in movies. Here are a few examples: warrior, barbarian, wizard, rogue, priest, ranger (a woodsman or hunter), paladin (like a knight), monk (think Kung Fu.)

Usually, characters are part of a group of adventurers whose strengths compliment each other. This group is referred to as a party. If you have seen Lord of the Rings, think of how Gandalf can use magic, Aragorn can use swords, Boromir can fight and shoot the bow, and the hobbits are good at hiding and sneaking around. In different situations, different party members’ abilities are needed. This actually promotes a sense of teamwork within the group of adventurers.

Playing the Game

Once the characters have been created, it is time to play. The Game Master will usually start the adventurers on a long-term quest usually referred to as a campaign. The characters meet in the fantasy world, join together and begin on their quest.

There are many rules that determine what a character can and cannot do. They are based on the abilities mentioned before, such as strength, and also skills that the character learns. As a character gains experience in the game, experience points are awarded. This is a way for characters to advance their skills. As they gain experience, skills and abilities improve.

The game in some ways tries to simulate what it would be like if your character was actually there in the fantasy world. Let’s compare this to a task you would perform. You have a bow and arrow, and you are fairly skilled with it. So, you go practice at the archery range shooting at the targets. Now, even though you are good, do you hit the bull’s-eye every time? No. Sometimes you do, and sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you don’t even know why you missed. However, if you had no skill with the bow, you would probably never hit the bull’s-eye, or, if you did, it would be total luck. To represent this situation in D&D, your skill is added to a random dice roll. Here is an example of how this would work. This time, it is your character Visk that is skilled with the bow. To represent this skill, he gets a skill score of 8. (Zero would be no skill at all and 20 would be the best possible.) To represent random chance each time you fire, a dice roll is added to your score. Hitting the bull’s-eye is represented by a difficulty of 15. So, each time you roll your dice, you add your score of 8. If the total is 15 or above, your character hit the bull’s-eye. So, this sequence describes the action rolling a 20-sided die (results of 1-20):

Roll	+Score	=Total	Result
11	+8	=19	Visk hit the bullseye
6	+8	=14	Visk just missed the bullseye
20	+8	=28	A perfect shot
2	+8	=10	Visk missed badly

The player would roll the die (die being singular for dice), and the Game Master would tell you the result of the action. This is how many actions occur in D&D. Other actions, such as getting on a horse or picking up a rock on the ground, are simple and do not require a dice roll. It is assumed that you are able to do it. To do something like this, a player just says, “I get on my horse.” So now the rest of the gamers all know that that player is on his horse.

An Example Gaming Session

As luck would have it, I played in a D&D game just a week ago. There were seven of us who went out to a gaming café. We sat around a table and got comfy on the couches. A TV was playing in the background and Rocky II was on, though I don’t know why.

Many people assume that when gamers role-play they totally take on the character. Usually, this is not what happens at all. In fact I have never seen this happen, and if I did, I would think that the person doing it was a total nutcase. Instead, we all have a picture of our character in our minds, doing the things we are trying to do with him or her. Besides that, its not much different than friends gathering around to play monopoly or cards. We talk, laugh, joke, and play the game. During this session, for example, we took a break and walked next door to get pizza and subs. Let me give you an example dialogue from this game.* The players are Scribe, Adryn, Steve (myself), Brad, John, and Lex. The Game Master is Dan.

Dan: Okay, so last time you guys played you had just killed all the wolves that the warrior guy had sent after you.

Steve: Yeah, I had just climbed up to the platform and then collapsed there bleeding. So I’m up there. Bleeding.

John: Okay I go look back to the room the wolves came from, behind the gate.

Dan: What gate?

John: The one to the room with the wolves.

Dan: Oh, that gate rose up into the ceiling, there’s just an empty room where the wolves were.

John: Oh ok.

Scribe: Oh, this is such a bad movie.

Steve: What? Rocky II is a great movie! Its like… nostalgia.

Scribe: No it’s not, it’s just bad.
Brad: See I think watching movies is like a meal, sometimes you want something really healthy, but sometimes you want some junk food. So movies like this are just junk food.

Adryn: Yeah, I can see that.

Steve: THIS IS A GOOD MOVIE!

John: So anyway, I guess we all climb up to the platform.

Steve: Yeah, is anyone going to heal me?

John: Okay, let me see. I have one Cure Light Wounds spell left.

Steve: Well? Heal me!

John: Okay, I cast the spell. (John rolls some dice.)You heal seven hit points.

Steve: Okay, thanks. Now I’m up to 10.

Dan: Alright, what are you guys going to do now that you all climbed up to the platform?

Steve: Well I guess I will scout ahead. I signal to the rest of the party to be quiet and wait where they are.

Scribe: WHAT? YOU WANT US TO WAIT?

Steve: So much for stealth.

Dan: Okay you see a door on the right and a room over to the left.

Steve: Okay I go into the room.

Dan: This room right here, you just walk in?

Steve: Okay no wait, I check for traps first.

Dan: Alright give me a roll.

Steve: (Rolls dice) Total is 31.

Dan: Yeah, you find a trip wire going across the floor here.

Scribe: I walk up behind the rogue.

Steve: What are you doing? I told you guys to stay back! There’s a trap here.

Scribe: Well, get rid of it, rogue!

Steve: What do you think I’m doing? Okay Dan, I get out my grappling hook and move back away from the trap and have everyone else back up. (Meaningful look at Scribe)

Dan: Okay. (He moves our miniatures on the map to show where we moved to.)

Steve: Alright I throw the grappling hook across the wire and use it to pull the tripwire.

Dan: Ok roll. (Steve rolls dice) You hear a loud thunk.

Steve: Okay I go carefully check what happened.

Adryn: Wow Billy Dee Williams sure looks different in this movie.

John: Yeah but you can still tell that’s his voice when he talks.

Steve: What? That’s not Billy Dee Williams.

John: Remember in Star Wars he was the only guy who called Han “Han”, everyone else said it like “Hahn.”

Scribe: Yeah, that’s right.

Steve: That is so not Billy Dee Williams… its… its some other guy.

Lex: I think he is right.

John: No way that is totally him.

Steve: No its this other guy who went on to make this other movie… its Carl Weathers, that’s it. Carl Weathers.

Scribe: I’ll settle this. (Gets out her cell phone and calls someone.)

Dan: Okay well you see a bunch of metal spears that are stuck in the wall now.

Steve: Wow glad I found that trap.

Brad: I walk by and look at the spears. Hmm.

Scribe: (on phone) Okay you know that Rocky movie? Yeah. Who plays that guy... (pause) Apollo Creed.

Steve: No, that’s the character’s name not the actor!

Scribe: Oh. (pause) It’s Carl Weathers.

Steve: Ha! I told you.

John: Okay but he still really looks like Billy Dee Williams.

*This is from memory and not exact.

As you can see, this is hardly an occult experience we were having. Instead, it is like a bunch of friends getting together playing a game. I have played D&D for almost 20 years, and this experience is very typical. I have played with probably a dozen different groups of people, and it all has been very much like this.

Part II: Christian Perspective on D&D

Sources: