A Broad Path Indeed

I have spent the last couple of days in a state of deep disturbance concerning the above video, wondering how many individuals will be lead astray by the dangers of games such as this one in the coming three months.

The particular industry that created that little jewel prides itself on the vast extent of actions that the player can perform in the game world. These actions include such things as sword fighting, archery, and conversation, and extend all the way to theft, witchcraft, and even polygamy…you heard me right, polygamy. Play your cards right and you can allow your character to marry multiple women…and if they discover that they are not your only wife sparks will fly! But fear not, you can just use one of your multiple invisibility spells to escape her retribution…

Brothers and sisters why do we encourage the use of such tools?! Why do we allow ourselves, our friends, and our families to participate in simulations of actions that God has very strictly prohibited?

As I slowly worked my way back to normalcy by God’s grace after He instilled in me the will and desire to leave behind my interest in fantasy games such as this one, and indeed even as I worked through simply developing that will to begin with, I realized several important facts about fantasy as a general rule. They are subtle, but then again so are most of the tools that Satan uses to lure away God’s people from serving Him.

Primarily, most fantasy worlds are places that we desire to escape to on to some degree or another. Either we see the people and places as “cool”, or we are simply dissatisfied with our current existence here in this life and want an alternate world to run to. This alone can be a problem, since when we are under oppression we are called to flee not to a made up world, but into the arms of our God.

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.” – James 5:13

And this concept is particularly true given the next factor of fantasy worlds, and that is that as a general rule most fantasy worlds are places where God as the True Living God is neither the Creator nor the Supreme Ruler. In many a pantheon of false deities created the world, if its origin is mentioned at all. For the most part, however, the author/game designer will touch upon the religious principles governing the world, because in order for it to fully work as a fantasy universe it must be bound by a set of supernatural laws that allow the characters within it to perform magic. Without this elemental and underlying principle, fantasy itself ceases to be fantasy…I have never understood why… it simply does.

Next, fantasy offers us a chance to guide our own moral actions apart from the sovereignty of an imposed moral code. Much like plastic surgery, fantasy offers the user the opportunity to look and behave differently than they ordinarily do. With this newfound liberation comes the opportunity to create one’s own moral standard. In every single fantasy that I have ever read or played with the exception of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings the characters did what they wanted when they wanted to because they could. Without the Lord of Hosts as the ruler, there is no consistent moral standard, and cannot be a consistent moral standard to guide one’s actions. In fact, the very nature of existence itself on any level cannot be fulfilled if one cannot “Glorify God and enjoy Him forever”.

Along that line, fantasy allows the player to perform more specifically evil acts such as the open practice of witchcraft, and sets forth those patterns of behavior as the accepted social standard in the world at hand. Even in the Lord of the Rings, Gandalf was a perfectly accepted and even somewhat messianic symbol, though he was a practicing wizard. Notice the simplicity and strength of Deuteronomy on this topic.

“When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.”

On the other side of this issue please note that I am not suggesting that we start writing Christian fantasy that somehow attempts to fit God into worlds that we in reality have created ourselves. Not at all! Rather I feel that such an action would be adding to creation, and thus the fundamental message of Scripture itself, that God came and died in this world for humanity alone. I do not recommend writing about how he also came to Fakeland and died for elf-kind, dwarf-kind, and all other manner of made up beings. To do so would be to mock creation and the design of God Himself who purposed salvation as He did for a reason, and established man himself as the created head of the rest of his design.

Rather readers, I urge you to be content with where God has placed you, and instead of seeking an escape, seek His glory in all situations that you find yourselves in.