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Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Under God's Right Arm: Satan's Game
By: Rev. Colson Crosslick
Poor, young Stephen Filly wept.
I stood with his parents praying for Stephen’s soul behind my church as we watched the 15-year-old burn his Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books in metal trash barrel. The flames leaped into the air and the dark, toxic smoke filled the parking lot (the smoke actually stained his mother’s paisley dress!)
First, went the Dungeon Master’s Guide, next the Monster Manual, and then the Player’s Handbook. All of it burning; returning those foul books to hell. I quoted the following passage to Stephen from 1 Samuel 15:23: "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry."
Stephen, my friends, was addicted; completely hooked on a role-playing game that encourages young people to fantasize about murder, mayhem, robbery, tomb raiding, spell-casting and consorting with undead creatures like zombies and vampires. Being addicted to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (known in gaming lingo as “AD&D”) is not unlike becoming addicted to pornographic web sites that show young girls and boys frolicking naked before webcams while claiming that they are all over the age of 18.
For those Christian parents unaware of AD&D – let me warn you. The game is toxic and encourages children to take up witchcraft, read Harry Potter novels, and use their imaginations to create rich, fully realized worlds that are not our own. These imaginary worlds are populated with gnomes, elves (which supposedly live for hundreds of years!), dwarves and even dragons (and if the books are any indication many of the female elf characters are scantily attired!). AD&D fills children’s heads with impossible fairy stories and has them role-play often violent scenarios of death and destruction.
Forget for a moment that Stephen is an A student at Ripsaw High School and is a star player on the varsity soccer team. His father, Gary, found a several “character sheets” among the papers on Stephen’s desk. These “character sheets” are the sketches of the characters that Stephen pretends to be while playing AD&D. One of the sheets was for an evil Halfling thief called Rat Catcher! Under intense grilling by Gary, Stephen admitted that he had pretended on several occasions to have Rat Catcher kill innocent people in order to steal their money. Innocent people!
Needless to say, Gary was extremely disappointed in his son’s behavior and gave him a few good whacks with his leather belt. He hoped it would knock some sense into his boy, but unfortunately, Stephen was stubborn. So Gary approached me as his pastor and I did some research on the Internet about AD&D. What I found was startling to say the least!
I found a site where a woman claimed that her son committed suicide because he played AD&D. He even used the AD&D books as a stool to secure the rope that killed him! This boy came from a poor, broken home and his father recently died of a drug overdose, but the AD&D game only made things worse because he was constantly pretending to be a knight in shining armor saving villagers from dragons and goblins. What silliness! This boy needed to face the realities of life and put his faith in Jesus – not in the hands of greedy, corrupt game makers. His mother, of course, was crushed and plans to sue the AD&D villains for ever penny they ever made. We can only hope and pray that she is successful.
The facts are the facts. AD&D is a cult that promotes anti-Christian values. The game forces children to believe in the supernatural and encourages them to experiment with witchcraft and to believe in monsters. There are also false gods in the game – like Thor the God of Thunder (which I thought was a comic book character, but apparently is a god worshipped in the democratic communist countries of Scandinavia). Remember Psalm 4:1-3: “How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?”
Christian parents need to take action if they find their children turning to AD&D. Instead, they should reinforce the Bible in their household. There is adventure galore in these holy pages! Have your children read about 500-year-old Noah and how God wiped out all of humanity in a flood, but Noah and his sons gathered two of every animal to save them from the destruction of the earth. Or read about how Jesus spit in the muck and created a mud mask that restored the sight of a blind man. Then there is the story about how Cain killed his brother Abel with a rock to the back of the skull and how the wrath of God forever marked him.
These are true to life Bible stories and not the corrupt violence and magic of AD&D. I urge my fellow Christian to boycott AD&D and work with your pastors to create Bible reading groups for children as alternatives. Together we can save our children’s souls from the dangers of dungeons and dragons and bring teenagers like Stephen back into the warm embrace of the Lord.
(The Rev. Colson Crosslick is pastor of the Pretty Good Shepherd Church in Ripsaw, Arkansas. In the past, he has called for a boycott of the Conan movies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also writes the regularly appearing column Under God's Right Arm for DaRK PaRTY.)
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Labels: Dungeons and Dragons, Parody, Under God's Right Arm
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this game has been the escape that the nerds, dorks, geeks, and untold others have used to survive in your "reality" where people like you bully them, hurt them, and mentally scar them with your religious bullshit.
most people who play D&D are more balanced and able to live life to its fullest then people like you anyway.
do us all a favor and jump in that barrel you burned the books in and torch yourself.
"this game has been the escape..."
"jump in that barrel...and torch yourself"
I'm not sure that you, original anonymous poster, are a very good example of
"most people who play D&D (who) are more balanced and able to live life to its fullest"
I try to get to as many "nerd nights" (that's what our wives call them) as I can these days, where we play Middle Earth RP - but I can asure you that although you may find a momentary escape while playing, there is a reality so far beyond this world and your fantasy ones. It is only in that world that you will ever find any peace or fullness of life.
(Philipians 3:20 - and note the context, it's about not "being religious")
And burning the books, and the father who hitted his son... that's idiotic. Go to the national library and burn all books that isn't the bible if you think so...
By the way, the d20 (twenty-sided die) in that picture is not used in D&D; I've never seen a d20 with anything but numbers on it; 1-20.
I pray for all of your damned souls. Stop rolling dice and get to church to worship the Lord God -- Not Orcs!