To castlewalls:
I actually have a deceased acquaintance who had the exact same shift in attitudes about religion and DnD. He was adamant in his defense of DnD as a harmless pasttime and scorned church-goers in general, not just those who disliked DnD. Then I didn't see him for a couple of years, and the next time we met he was born again and would have nothing to do with "Satan's game."
I never would'a thunk it of him. And I had no idea how to respond to the change in him.
Wish I had some helpful advice for you. The problem is that many of the laws in the Bible that are followed by different sects of Christianity are (I believe) supposed to taken in historical context. I'm sure there are others on this board who disagree with me, and although I do study the Bible and Biblical scholarship as a pasttime, I am by no means an expert. But many of the laws change according to the version of the Bible you read, which of course gives rise to the churches who won't accept anything other than the King James Bible as the true book (never mind that the Bible wasn't originally written in the king's English, or as one book, or with chapter and verse notations, etc.) Unfortunately, many Christians don't see any reason to learn more about how the Bible came to be (heck, many Christians don't even see any reason to actually read the book of their faith). To me, this shows a tremendous lack of respect for the object that is supposed to be the focus of their lives. Some I've met (bless their ignorant little hearts) even think that King James wrote it! (And of course that Jesus was a blue-eyed white guy.
)
You could try some logic (although this may be stretching it with some). For instance, the First Commandment is in different versions translated as "Thou shalt have no other gods besides me" or "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." To me there is a big difference in the two: the first leaves no room for other gods to even exist, while the second simply states that you shouldn't put any other gods before God. Perhaps you want to sacrifice a lamb to Zeus, but you better do something better for God.
DnD seems to be kosher (no pun intended) according to the second version.
When it comes right down to it though, you can't really argue with someone else's beliefs if you don't understand them. That's where the gulf between the two sides of any conflict begins.
In high school, I was a closet agnostic. Actually, I wasn't sure whether I believed in God or not. I remember wondering, even at a young age, what the difference was in believing in the God of the Bible versus believing in the gods of the Greek pantheon. But I generally stayed away from any discussions of religion because I had a live and let live attitude towards it. The people around me thought differently though. After I graduated, I remember being shocked when I found out that some people I went to school with thought I was a Satanist!
I think the greatest thing I got out of going away to college was that I got out from under the wing of my parents' and friends' beliefs (this is something I think everyone should experience, but unfortunately many don't). I encountered people who actively attacked those beliefs, sometimes in an even more hateful way than "bible-thumpers" I grew up with attacked my lack of those beliefs. I really began to explore what
I believed, and eventually I realized that each person's relationship with God (or whatever they believe or don't believe in) is something that they must work out for themselves. I now have little use for people who belittle others' beliefs, no matter what they are, but I also know that had I not had time to spread my wings in an environment that promoted free thought, I may have become the same sort of person. It is a thought that gives me chills.
Boy, that was therapeutic!
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Oh, and one other thing.
Mallus wrote:
oh, on the subject of Orson Scott Card. Great writer. Speaker for the Dead is an amazingly thoughtful and religious book, but his thoughts about witing and evil are useless. I suppose it works for him, but not for me. Just an example: Why is pornography inherently evil? What's counts as porn? Hustler? Ulysses? The works of John Donne {he uses some highly erotic language in his religious poems....}. Any writing that provokes a sexual response? Why not any writing that provokes a violent response? Like Tom Paine's "Common Sense" {literally, in that case}. Like most neat propositions, it just ain't much help...
Amen, brother. One man's trash is another man's treasure. I know a preacher who thinks Schindler's List is a wonderful movie, but that Spielberg ruined it with the foul language, nudity and sex.
P.S. If you actually read all this crap, go with God and don't take any wooden nickels.
