OT: Politics

[SlipperyJim]

MaxWilson said:
Fair enough--I'm Christian as well--but looking at the history of D&D it's still a valid observation that the, uh, more fundamentalist (evangelical?) Christians are less likely to be a fan of simulating pagan religious warfare. And fundamentalism is a form of conservatism, so IMHO Archonsod's point is valid.

Yeah, I know. Just like their concern over Harry Potter, a number of my brothers and sisters in the faith would probably get their knickers in a twist over playing Dominions 3. What can I say? I believe they are wrong. I also believe that such folks are distinctly in the minority, even among us crazy Jesus freaks. For example, we have discussed Harry Potter in my home Bible-study group, and none of us are worried about it. In fact, a few of us are even fans.

D&D and other RPGs are in a different category for me, but it's not really about the occult. See, I grew up playing a lot of RPGs: D&D, GURPS, Shadowrun, Earthdawn (yay, horrors!), Call of Cthulhu, Torg, and many more. I was also a frequent player on several MUDs, which were the pre-Everquest version of MMORPGs. I spent an obscene amount of time, money, and effort on make-believe. Then I had an "Aha!" moment. What if I could devote even a fraction of that time, money, and effort to something or someone real?

RPGs are a great form of escape. But as soon as the escape takes priority over the real world, something is horribly wrong....

[Gandalf Parker]

Ive always said that the matrix movie had a very flawed basis for the story. The machines force us into a virtual world? If they perfect jacked-in technology then I think a too large portion of the populace will voluntarily take to their beds with more and more machines being force to take care of them.

Gandalf Parker
Hurry up with the Matrix.
I want to be playing Dominions 10 in the nursing home.

[Saxon]

Gandalf,

What are you doing out of bed? I just realized that post about Dr. Suess must have been around 5 in the morning?

Stay well,

Saxon

[Saxon]

Yes, Tolkien was through and through a Catholic and it shows in his work, but you have to look for it. Earlier, C.S. Lewis was mentioned and his blatant "Aslan is Christ." Lewis was a much heavier handed writer, but both tackled the same themes. They met at Oxford in the 20's and had regular drinking and discussion sessions through the 40's. A number of other authors took part in this and drafts of The Lord of the Rings, The Screwtape Letters and so forth were first discussed in the sessions. It is clear that the group were first and formost christians exploring the intellectual side of their faith, particularly through writing.

Anyone who is interesting in some academic readings on Tolkien, with a focus on the christian side, should check out "Tolkien, A Celebration." I think it falls short in examining his Green side, but it does cover a lot of other territory well.

[Gandalf Parker]

Ahhh ruin it for me.
Not that it was a big subject for my anyway.