Do religious nuts seriously believe this sorta thing?

Question

Okay, first read this comic strip:

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

I thought it was a joke to begin with then I noticed the serious notes at the bottom about Jesus, etc.

Do people seriously believe that games like D&D are a gateway to religious cults?

"I find it ironic that in your question, you pass judgement, yet you don't want these things to be judged."

I'm not sure exactly what you mean. I am saying that the idea that roleplaying games lead on to joining cults and worshipping gods is ludicrous. I am not "passing judgement" I am pointing out blatant lies.

And how exactly am I "not wanting to be judged"? Are you assuming that because I enjoy fantasy RPGs that I must be a devil worshipper? It is you who are judging.

The more important question here that I'd like to know the answer to, is why?

"...back in the 70's and 80's there were people that played D&D that took the game a little too seriously..."

Actually that was the novel/TV-movie "Mazes & Monsters". Nothing like that has really happened in real life. Although some people will claim otherwise, they are always based on unsubstantiated rumors & personal bias against the game's "demonic undertones"...

Answer 1

unfortunately... yes

Answer 2

How is your argument based on research to begin with? Before you jump on this, I don't believe the world is going to end in 2012. But I am curious, just what kind of research did you do to figure out that a future event may or may not happen????? Scientific evidence isn't even here yet. Predictions such as these are either believed or not, there's no way to prove or disprove till the date comes upon us. It's based on a Mayan calendar, which used planet alignment, sunrises and sunsets, full moons.... all of which can be proven scientifically up to a point. The Mayan calendar ends in our year 2012.... nothing about the mayan calendar states that the world is going to end. So the Mayan thing isn't what Christians today say it is. Christianity, for the most part, has always used other cultures prophecies, predictions, writings to support their beliefs. Now if you said, the idea the christians have about the mayan calendar is idiocy, I would agree.... but it seems to me you're taking their ideas and saying that it's the actual "prophecy"/prediction, when it isn't.

Answer 3

Well, yeah. Although I would object to the term religious nuts, since many of them are simply well meaning but poorly informed people. They believe that D&D (most of them are completely unaware of any other role playing games) leads to the occult or to mental disorder leading to suicide or murder.

Despite years of attempting to prove this theory, not one substantiated case has ever been discovered. I'm not saying it can't happen or even that it has never happened, only that no one has proved it. And anonymous claims that it happened to an unnamed friend are not proof. Document it.

Jack Chick is hardly a proper representation of mainstream thought, even from the Religious Right. As someone else pointed out, his anti-Catholic stuff has to be seen to be believed, although he seems to have distanced himself from some of his earlier more extreme work.

Dark Dungeons is rather (in)famous among gamers as an example of an attack on gaming. But really, even in the Christian community, most people are not getting their info from Chick tracts. There are other sources for this belief that are far more pervasive, the prime example being B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons) which used to hold seminars for police to "inform" them of the threat of D&D. Various anti-Satanist groups also attacked D&D (most of these are now gone, as it turned out that the massive Satanist movement they were countering simply didn't exist). More mainstream sources include James Dobson and Bob Larson (who never met an unchecked fact he didn't like).

Answer 4

I seriously almost burst out laughing when I got to the frame where the girl hanged herself because a character in a game was killed. That's just...wow. These people need to get a life. I certainly didn't come to Wicca through D&D. In fact, I played it a few times when I was a teenager and found it incredibly boring. The two have absolutely nothing to do with one another.

Though I am highly offended that they used part of the Rede in their compilation of lies. I suppose that means we are allowed to start using passages from the Bible to "prove" that Christianity is a violent, hate-filled religion. Maybe I'll draw a cartoon where a Christian summer camp catches a Wiccan teenager and sacrifices her to God, since "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live". Wonder how large an uproar that would cause among the fundamentalists.

)O(

Answer 5

Chick has been around for a long time. And the unfortunate thing about him is that a lot of his information comes from shady sources - i.e. Dr. Rebecca Brown. Just for fun, look her name up on google, you'll see just who supplies Chick with his information.

There are Christian groups here that do use these tracks to try and bring people to God. An outspoken Canadian cop, who is also Wiccan, commented on the fact that all the criminals he kept rearresting had pocket fulls of these tracks. Didn't seem to be doing much good.

Christians, and this is the sad part, are told things by people they trust. There are numerous Christians out there who believe that D&D (along with the Masons, Cahtolics, and anything else 'strange') are the work of the devil. So yes, there are Christians out there who believe this - and the only way to change that is to help them see that they've been lied to. That only a small fraction of 0.05% of gamers become unbalanced and start cults etc.

Answer 6

I have to agree with Wolfman with what he said about the 70's. I was in school then and kids did commit suicide and actually killed each other playing the game in a literal sense. People can be drawn into cults over less. Usually people that have some mental disability, or an inability to discern reality from fiction.

Answer 7

Satan has a way of luring people into bondage and he targets some with the occult and the promise of supernatural power. I've seen it happen. I know some very well educated, well grounded, emotionally stable people who have witnessed demons first hand. Such things do exist and are a very present reality. Jesus Christ is the only protection from such influences.

Answer 8

I can sympathize with your frustration in not understanding “why” many Christians believe that what seems to be “harmless” games or activities can be a “gateway” to the occult. Most Christians who were raised in the church and never experienced the occult or Satanic activity also have trouble believing this. That being said, demonic activity is, unfortunately, very real. It comes in many different forms. For me, before I became a Christian, it was through the “harmless” use of hallucinogenic drugs.

For hallucinogenic drug users it may seem as though one is more enlightened or in a special state of ‘spiritual’ awareness or insight. The most important thing to understand is that it is NOT evident to those who are getting ‘sucked in’ what is actually happening to them ‘spiritually’. Many Native Americans used hallucinogens to achieve this state as part of their religious beliefs. I’m sorry to say that those drug induced states are directly tied to demonic activities. I say that from personal experience.

One thing that may be somewhat misleading from reading the “Jack Chick” tracks (besides the fact that they’re a bit ’corny’) is that it is not some automatic thing that happens to everyone who plays with an “Ouija board” or “D&D” one time. It is something that can and does take place slowly over a period of time. It certainly doesn’t always lead to demon “possession” as may be implied in the tracks.

There is a distinction between demon possession and demon ‘oppression’. A person who partakes in rituals that invite ‘spirit guides’ into one’s life (even in fun) or depends on an ‘Ouija board’ to give guidance is exactly the way the demons are invited into a person’s soul. Do you think that it is a coincidence that kids who are bombarded with subtle (and many not so subtle) spiritual messages in lyrics of Satan-glorifying music and games that rely on ‘spirit guides’ are experiencing high rates of suicide and some even become “mass murderers” (just read about the life of the Columbine killers).
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RPG’s may seem harmless because they may be fun and they don’t directly reference Satan or demons. That is the aspect of demonic activity that is deceptive; demons don’t identify themselves as such. If you read any of the other Chick tracts, you might be surprised to learn that they often use friendly sounding name or odd symbols to identify themselves.

Why do demons act so surreptitiously? That is the very nature of their demonic character. Jesus Christ had many experiences with demon possessed people. It would have been very unlikely that those persons were actively and openly involved in demonic or occult activities. In that society, the death penalty was given to those who even practiced witchcraft or astrology. Still there were many who were harassed by demons who didn’t directly ‘ask’ to become possessed by a demon spirit or even know that dabbling in ‘divining’ activities could lead to such undesired results. Most people who ultimately experience demon oppression are not (at least initially) seeking demonic influence or even contact but are just looking for some excitement, thrills, fun, insight or power from a source other than God Almighty, the creator of this universe.

Jesus gave his disciples insight into demonic activity through his parables and instruction. He explained to them what Satan’s motivation is. He said, “Satan came to lie, steal, and kill”. Not exactly the ‘child’s play’ that many blithely associate with the “father of all lies”. In one revealing parable, Jesus described a person who was freed from demon possession as “one whose house had been swept clean”. But, that person didn’t allow that ‘space’ to be occupied by God. So, when the demon returned with “seven other demon spirits” and noticed the house was “unoccupied” that person was worse off than when they were before.

That is the primary message of the Chick tracks. Only Jesus Christ in one’s heart can ensure that no demons will ever have undue influence much less ‘occupation’ of one’s soul. Certainly, when the Holy Spirit of God is in one’s heart, one’s awareness of evil becomes heightened. Without God’s Holy Spirit for discernment, one is subject to the deception of evil whose determined purpose is the ultimate destruction of human souls.

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Answer 9

yes but you have to understand to back in the 70's and 80's there were people that played D&D that took the game a little too seriously. These "religious nuts" are basing there theory from these events.

There were reports of D&D players from this time actually building mini temples to the gods of this game. Worshiping them. And commiting suicide if their Character died in game.. Doesnt sound so harmless anymore does it? ive of corse not heard of these things for a long time. and if its played as it should be. as a game. its harmless and not devil worship

Answer 10

Obviously some folks do.

I used to play D&D with a number of people. None of my Christian friends ever became "occultists" from playing it. No one took a charater's death that hard!

If the theory that playing D&D leads to believeing that you really ARE a sorcerer, then why are most of us not hotel owners from playing Monopoly?

Answer 11

how can you say that nothing like that has happened?

are you the all seeing, judging one?

i know of some of my friends that did take the game into real life and it just so happened take the ones of us that wasn't playing the game, well took physical control over them and got them out and off of that stuff. after a week they each one came to us and thanked us .

you can judge and say it's not true, but i've been there and seen it.
i admit it isn't that every game will lead to this, but it can happen.