Should Christians play Dungeons and Dragons?

Cis.jd said:

All the contents that you think children can learn in D&D or any dark horror fantasy game/movie isnt real.

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That doesn't mean it's harmless. I played D&D in high school, so I'm familiar with it … at least what I and my friends played. It doesn't matter if you're gutting a goblin; you're still play-acting a kill.

Cis.jd said:

We like seeing worlds characters battle vampires, ghosts, demons or whatever with powers. Thats all it is, entertainment.

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Demons are real.

)

baptistgirl21 said:

I was just wondering if it was considered satanic or witchcraft for a Christian to play D&D. My Christian boyfriend plays it and some of the characters he describes are pretty creepy. He even skips church to play it most of the time. He says it's not evil and I want to believe him, because he is a Christian, but I need other opinions on this. I'm curious.

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Personally I don't see D&D as sinful by itself. It's just a fantasy game and most of the time after following the rule books for awhile players usually make up their own dungeons and stories to play with.

The problem lies with your boyfriend's addiction to it. When he become engrossed by its gameplay and lore that God is secondary to it, he opens himself to influence of evil. This can happen with many different things like video games, comics or fantasy books. All items are not evil in and of itself.

I have read books and play video games that by any standards people will consider anti-God. But I know those things are not evil. I know full well they are man made fantasy. I don't test God and tempt evil by giving them any more credence than just entertainment.

baptistgirl21 said:

I was just wondering if it was considered satanic or witchcraft for a Christian to play D&D. My Christian boyfriend plays it and some of the characters he describes are pretty creepy. He even skips church to play it most of the time. He says it's not evil and I want to believe him, because he is a Christian, but I need other opinions on this. I'm curious.

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I know a few Christian men who are very God that I respect that play the game occasionally. However it appears your boyfriend is not capable doing that if it’s bothering you (you should be more important than a stupid game if he’s going to be a spiritual leader) and if it’s keeping him away from church (never acceptable. No reason to debate whether the game itself is bad, when it’s obviously bad and sinful for him. He can’t handle it and should quit until he grows up.

Honestly, if a man can’t put Jesus and you before entertainment when you are dating there is no way he will be able to be a leader in your home, a Christian father to your kids, etc. I would run away and if he gets a strong walk with Jesus maybe circle back down the road.


I speak from experience being the loser guy...it’s sad when you don’t put Jesus first because your family suffers. Thankfully Jesus didn’t get up on me

Tyler52 said:

You may be right, however I see no proof that playing D&D will make you do occult stuff. Also, God specifically told Adam not to eat the fruit, yet him and Eve ate it anyway, he never said not to play D&D (although you may be right and it may be risky, I have never played it), nor did he say not to read stuff like the Chronicles of Narnia. I think that as Christians, we need to look at this as individuals and determine if something like this could tempt us to do occult stuff. I do like your point that you can watch stuff that your "lady friend" can't, not everyone is permitted to do the same things.

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I know a good deal about the occult from personal experience. It is seductive in a way many other pursuits are not. God did not forbid games; He does forbid the occult. The same argument could be used to justify watching inappropriate content. What harm can that do? Plenty.

The occult is not fantasy. It is real. At least one actress in the movie "The Exorcist" was truly possessed. It was not acting. I watched a very short part of the movie, not knowing what it was. I gave up watching that kind of movie when I got saved. I saw the scene and it began to dawn on me what it was.

It is not something to fear but it is entirely unedifying and possibly harmful, especially to the immature spiritually. The mature know better.

Cis.jd said:

Nothing of what they will mimic in that game is real. It only is dangerous (or has a chance to have effects) if you believe it to be. It doesnt happen with this game, harry potter, or any of those works of fiction.

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I wish I could agree with you. I can't. The occult is real whether you believe it or not. And so is its subtle (and not so subtle at times) influence on people. There is a correlation between mental illness and the occult. That is due to the influence of evil spirits. Not all mental illness is a result of the occult, but you'd be surprised at how often it is.

Quartermaine said:

there are Christians who consider paisley satanic.

The game became a favorite target for the religious right in the 80's and ended up having right wing groups spreading all sorts of fake stories about it and making claims about demonic possession and witchcraft.

D&D is just a very elaborate game of cops and robbers end of story

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yes that has been my experience of the game. So much of the stuff I heard about the game from Trinity broadcasting years after I started playing was so ludicrous, it was unbelievable. Much of it was slander or ravings from people who were either compulsive liars or delusional schizophrenics.


I will also say this Christians can be very arbitrary over what they fuss about.

Resha Caner said:

Maybe you won't. But it would be a mistake to think everyone will react the same way you will. I've seen kids mimic things from the games they play, the books they read, and the shows they watch. It does happen.

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In that case, it's a good thing the politicians who are on television all the time are such moral exemplars.

baptistgirl21 said:

I was just wondering if it was considered satanic or witchcraft for a Christian to play D&D. My Christian boyfriend plays it and some of the characters he describes are pretty creepy. He even skips church to play it most of the time. He says it's not evil and I want to believe him, because he is a Christian, but I need other opinions on this. I'm curious.

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I have some limited interplay with Dungeons & Dragons; like right now, I'm playing the D&D Warriors of Waterdeep app on my new phone.

Sure, as with many specifically non-Christian ideas that are created in the world, such as the Star Wars movies and games, Marvel and DC comic-book superheroes, or even the old Greek Myths, a game like D&D can pose some small spiritual hurdles, but I'd say that because it, like the other ideas I've mentioned, is a merely human idea, it can be used and even vetted and revised for one's own purposes, if needed. One can even modify the basic ideas in the game to comport with a more or less Christian approach to life or paradigm (think: The Hobbit/the Lord of the Rings).

I don't think D&D is satanic since it was created by a guy who was, at the time during which he created it several decades ago, simply bored, inspired to have fun and a Lutheran to boot. His original intent for the game was to simply be an innovative form of interactive entertainment--nothing more, nothing less. The thing to keep in mind is that what D&D started out as isn't exactly what it has evolved into today philosophically speaking, so these days, like many Fantasy and Sci-Fi ideas, we can spot what may be some spiritual strengths and weaknesses, but this is a far cry from simply saying we should punt it into the nearest trash receptacle.

Anyway, it's my break-time: Where's my mobile phone?

I don't know a lot about the board game D&D. What about any sort of magic or spell casting in a game? I ask because I used to torment myself in my teens through scruplousity over computer games I enjoyed playing but which had any sort of spell casting aspect.

On the one hand some of these games had no relation to real magic at all, on the other some of them had incorporated into the gameplay spirits you could invoke with names that definetly came from the world of the occult such as Asmodee, Astarot.


I don't play computer games now very much, but occasionally play games like Oblivion.

To give two old examples from my teens, these were two popular games back in the 80s

Heavy on the Magick (advance to 35:40 for were the player invokes a occult spirit - Astarot)



Firelord


In this you have the option of trading items, or stealing when a shopkeeper has his back turned. If you get caught, you go to the judge and have a trial - but its basically how good your reactions are whether you are found guilty (lose a life ) or innocent. The spell casting aspect bears no similiarity to any sort of actual witchcraft or occultism. The game is little more than a zap and dodge game.

So my question is about what is within the area of the freedom of the believer, and are there games which are outside the area of freedom?

I'd say that games that are not based on actual occultism, are a bit different from those that are, and one should cultivate their own convictions in regard to them?

Any thoughts?

dms1972 said:

Any thoughts?

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My only thoughts don't have a lot to do with your post. I see the other side of this Christian hand wringing over the cause of the month. My beef is the Christian Cultural Ghetto. Christianianese Culture etc. Some Christians get so caught up on the purity aspects of things that they become like the NT Pharisees and their fear of the gentiles. They basically were afraid of ghetting some kind of ritual purity kuties from eating and associating with gentiles. And I see much the same thing from many Christian groups.


I also think this actually negatively impacts our ability to witness to the other side. The arts and culture are a way of transmitting ideas etc. and it helps to be able to relate to others through this kind of media. I was greatly impressed how many anti-Christian friends who played D&D responded positively to the latent Christian themes of the Lord of the Rings movies etc. Anyway their is a great book that deals with this topic called "Finding Common Ground.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037B6R10/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Pavel Mosko said:

My only thoughts don't have a lot to do with your post. I see the other side of this Christian hand wringing over the cause of the month. My beef is the Christian Cultural Ghetto. Christianianese Culture etc. Some Christians get so caught up on the purity aspects of things that they become like the NT Pharisees and their fear of the gentiles. They basically were afraid of ghetting some kind of ritual purity kuties from eating and associating with gentiles. And I see much the same thing from many Christian groups.


I also think this actually negatively impacts our ability to witness to the other side. The arts and culture are a way of transmitting ideas etc. and it helps to be able to relate to others through this kind of media. I was greatly impressed how many anti-Christian friends who played D&D responded positively to the latent Christian themes of the Lord of the Rings movies etc. Anyway their is a great book that deals with this topic called "Finding Common Ground.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037B6R10/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

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I think the Christian Cultural Ghetto is what Jesus called the children of the kingdom. When people only have outward stimuli to rely on and not spiritual transformation to keep them in Christ, the kuties syndrome spreads and becomes a defining part of the faith, but it's not faith at all.

To pavel (thanks for your book suggestion):

Well I take your point, to some extent, but people are looking for some guidance as to what is within the circle of freedom for the believer? It may be cause of the month for some, but not all.

It was a significant enough issue in the early church for Paul to address in his letters

In my teens I could be playing these games innocently, then someone says what are you doing there in the game - "casting a spell to a magic place" (which in some games has no relation at all to any sort of occultism) - but they associate spells with witchcraft and the occult and I have to try and defend and explain it is little more than remembering a password in the game.

(Its even very difficult to get some christians to see that CS Lewis and Tolkien are not occult writers!!!)

But its the other game I am interested in people thoughts on mainly since its isn't made up references but uses the names of actual spirits from the world of the occult? Is this harmless in a game, or can it bring a person to the periphery of the world of occultism?

Just a reminder that magic isn't real. There's no real magic to get tricked into.

Homeopathy is a "magic-likr" piece of nonsense that is more dangerous than any game.

Quartermaine said:

there are Christians who consider paisley satanic.

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The motif (the boteh) which paisley designs are based on is supposed to be Indo-Iranian / Zoroastrian in origin. The design came West through the East India Company - and Paisley in Scotland was the first place to imitate the design.

I personally believe that the game would be okay IF he was not using it as a means to distance himself from the Lord and His people. But since the game is interrupting and hindering your boyfriend's faith as well as his relationship with God...

In short: no. Given these circumstances it is NOT okay.

dms1972 said:

To pavel:

Well I take your point, to some extent, but people are looking for some guidance as to what is within the circle of freedom for the believer? It may be cause of the month for some, but not all.

It was a significant enough issue in the early church for Paul to address in his letters

In my teens I could be playing these games innocently, then someone says what are you doing there in the game - "casting a spell to a magic place" (which in some games has no relation at all to any sort of occultism) - but they associate spells with witchcraft and the occult and I have to try and defend and explain it is little more than remembering a password in the game.

(Its even very difficult to get some christians to see that CS Lewis and Tolkien are not occult writers!!!)

But its the other game I am interested in people thoughts on mainly since its isn't made up references but uses the names of actual spirits from the world of the occult? Is this harmless in a game, or can it bring a person to the periphery of the world of occultism?

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Here's a thought for us all to ponder over: As I'm playing this nifty little D&D game app on my mobile phone, when I use a "magic-user" character to zap an opposing monster, am I indulging in an actual casting of a bona-fide spell, Wiccan or Pagan in nature, or otherwise?

What do I mean here by the prior question above? I mean that I think we should analyze this issue better by applying some biblical hermeneutics, and then we should ask ourselves:


With this possible differentiation we may make between the two fields of spiritual discernment that Paul describes, that of matters of taste and viewpoint versus matters of bona-fide holiness, are we to evaluate the nature of the D&D game as being unholy even when it doesn't actually pull in and use any utilization of "real" spells any more than does Doctor Strange in a comic-book or than does Gandalf in one of the Hobbit movies? To my mind, the answer is that D&D doesn't include any actual use of magic, especially not any that would be considered as such by Wiccans, Druids or any others today who indeed claim to indulge in authentic occult practices.

Other folks here should feel free to disagree with me, but to my mind, unless a D&D player is a Wiccan or some other authentic practitioner of sorcery, and he arbitrarily customizes his particular play of the D&D game to incorporate authentic occult spells, mantras or paraphernalia, then all that any person is essentially doing when sitting down to play D&D is .... rolling dice and counting numbers and concepts.
{E.G. -- I roll a 20-sided die, and the stats for the fearsome red-dragon are greatly reduced by the stats of my two-handed '+10 Holy Sword of Vanquishing' as I unleash it by the hands of my holy Paladin character... or something like that! }

Of course, what I've covered above isn't also to say that playing such games is always a good use of one's time when real-life social responsibilities need to be taken care of first, especially when a person is a Christian or when a Christian guy happens to be married and needs to make sure his wife and kids feel loved and cared for. Not only this, but a Christian also might not want to indulge in playing certain kinds of characters, or certain alignment types, or certain **ahem** variations of character.

So what about the game I mentioned Heavy on the Magick - which though the authors are not likely to be occultists, I used to read about these programmers - they had an interest writing games with mythical, and mystical themes - they must have done some research for writing that game.

Some folks argue saying magic is not real anyhow so no harm can come, honestly I am not sure on that - perhaps not, depends what is meant by magic and what we mean by real. Some would say magic has to do with illusion.

Leanne Payne says about this: "Sin has to do, in a very real sense, with rebelliously demanding to experience what is not - what God did not create and can never look upon, much less bless. The facets of evil we call black magic, witchcraft and sorcery illustrate this. The evil magician or sorcerer evokes the phantoms, the illusions that would consume the naive, the unwary, those who are not living from the centre (from their union with Christ). The evil magicians call into "being" the illusory, that which hates reality" (quoted from: The Healing Presence)

But there is a danger in dabbling outside of the game world. I have read too many accounts of people getting into difficulties over playing with a planchett to dismiss it or think I could mess about with one with no risks. Maybe in a lot of instances nothing happens, but sometimes something does seem to happen, so it is taking a risk. If in a role playing character I invoke in the game a spirit from occult lore to assist me in the game, then my guess is its unlikely anything is conjured, except if I made a serious attempt apart from the game to conjure such a spirit following a set ritual from some occult book.

All the same if I have doubts about playing the game then its sin for me. And since early christians burnt scrolls they owned becoming christians, connected to witchcraft and sorcery - I would have to wonder whether even a mere game if it references actual demonic spirits would be pleasing to God?

I have read of pastors having in their possession occult books and refusing to part with them - they have descended in madness in some instances - died ranting and raving (see Kurt Koch - Occultism and pastoral care for numerous case histories)

As regards D&D board gaming all I can say is I really don't know - to me its not something that appeals and I don't know anyone who plays it anyway - the game seems complicated and difficult to learn, and prone to arguments.

Christians such as Neil T. Anderson (Freedom in Christ Ministries) I know includes games such as D&D, Magic: The Gathering in his non-christian spiritual checklist.

dms1972 said:

eople say magic is not real so no harm can come, honestly I am not sure on that - perhaps not, depends how we mean real. Some would say magic is unreality. But there is a danger in dabbling outside of the game world. I have read too many accounts of people getting into difficulties over playing with a planchett to dismiss it or think I could mess about with one with no risks. Maybe in a lot of instances nothing happens, but sometimes something does seem to happen, so it is taking a risk. If in a role playing character I invoke in the game a spirit from occult lore to assist me in the game, then my guess is its unlikely anything is conjured, except if I made a serious attempt apart from the game to conjure such a spirit following a set ritual from some occult book.

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Never seen that hypothetical situation take place in all my years of gaming.

I think 1 Corinthians 10 (the last part of the chapter) applies to this situation. If someone like you has misgivings about it then they probably should stay away from it since they are sinning against their conscience.

Aussie Pete said:

Except it glorifies demons and leads people into the occult. Same with Harry Potter and such.

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Except it doesn't. It doesn't glorify demons and doesn't lead people into the occult. In the game demons are monsters and enemies. They are considered evil. You don't have to worship the devil in the game or to be part of the game.