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From: barry@ames.UUCP (Kenn Barry)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: One Christian's view on D&D games
Message-ID: <1233@ames.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 31-Oct-85 17:18:57 EST
Article-I.D.: ames.1233
Posted: Thu Oct 31 17:18:57 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 3-Nov-85 05:22:41 EST
References: <1515@vax3.fluke.UUCP> <515@aero.ARPA>
Distribution: na
Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center, Mtn. View, CA
Lines: 87

[Peter Homeier discusses D&D (warning: flame-bait ahead!)]
>Now I saw all of this happen, not only to myself, but to many other people at
>CalTech.  People got swept into the game, and became inextricably fixed, 
>without the power to drop it.  It provided an artificial success and a set of
>peers that would give acceptance on grounds completely different from normal
>human relationships.  I have seen it ruin grade point averages and isolate
>people in an imaginary world.  I myself remember saying one night to some of
>my friends, after a game that had gone on til the small hours of the morning,
>"D&D is a way of life!"  And this was among intelligent, reasonably stable
>young adults.

	People form all kind of obsessions, some of them destructive.
I've known people who let their GPA's slip because of pool or bridge,
too. As for being a "way of life", science fiction fans have been claiming
that about SF for decades (FIAWOL) without having it ruin their lives.
I guess a few had their lives ruined, though: they became SF writers
:-).
	I strongly suspect that "intelligent, reasonably stable young
adults" refers only to the others in your D&D group.

>I have
>watched the evolution of D&D as a system with mounting concern and horror
>and disgust.  I have seen the rudimentary modeling of medieval clerics and
>Biblical miracles in the first three books transformed into detailed 
>involvement in the most pagan and Satanic rituals possible, with all the
>world's most debased idolatry exalted to normalcy, even required for play.

	There is a phrase for this. It is called "Fundamentalist hysteria".

>And here we come to a point that may stir considerable debate, but I still
>feel compelled to make.  And that is that there is a real realm of the spirit,
>where some things exist that most people disregard as nonsense.  I warn you,
>that there is a conflict going on today that is throughout the entire earth,
>but is invisible to the physical eyes.  There is a general insurrection against
>the just rule of God, and that insurrection is led by the fallen angel Satan.

	Mebbe so; so what? D&D players aren't real Satanists. Can you
say "pretend"?

>This is why, in the end, this is not just a game.  If we were talking about
>things that were just not correct to imagine, or which were just inspiring
>bad behavior, that would be bad enough.   But when people steep themselves
>in these things, even if they would never say that they believed any of it,
>"It's just a game!", they open themselves to influences from the spiritual
>realm for which they have neither awareness nor defence.

	Actually, you *have* convinced me that there are people who lack
the emotional maturity to play D&D - you are clearly one of them. Anyone
as deeply awash in superstition as you are, to the point that you are
unable to distinguish between reality and play, should avoid all fiction,
be it games, TV, movies, or books. You are not ready. I'm surprised you
don't keep your true name a secret, too; aren't you afraid some evil
wizard will use it to steal your soul?

>I am not
>saying that those who play D&D are possessed by demons.  Some might, but in
>general I am talking about an oppression that is less obvious but nonetheless
>real.  The kinds of gods and such that are talked about in modern D&D are
>actual names in many cases of evil spirits that exist and work their darkness
>in human minds today, anywhere they can find an entrance.  I warn you
>seriously, if you play D&D, you are playing with fire.  You are dealing with
>things which have a reality beyond what you know.  And they are not good
>entities, but evil, plotting your destruction and enslavement in whatever
>way they can.

	You are right for persons like yourself, Peter. Your mistake
is in thinking there are very many like you. Anyone superstitious enough
to take the Bible as some kind of Christian grimoire is also naive enough
to take D&D manuals the same way. But there's no protecting such people
from the power of their own unrestrained imaginations. Whether they poison
their reasoning powers with D&D, or the Bible, or old Beatles albums,
the problem lies in their own minds, not in the sources of their fantasies.

>In the name of Jesus Christ, I now bind and compell all
>evil spirits which are oppressing, influencing or possessing the minds or
>spirits of those reading this to immediately cease all such activity, leave 
>those people so afflicted and never return to afflict them again.  In the
>name of Jesus, begone and do not return.

	I believe you have the honor of performing the net's first exorcism.
I wonder if you've succeeded in destroying the line-eater? :-)

-  From the Crow's Nest  -                      Kenn Barry
                                                NASA-Ames Research Center
                                                Moffett Field, CA
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