Oh my goodness, Koji, thank you so much for posting this, because it was totally awesome!!! (And yes, 35 years later, I finally got some closure for Hank -#BoyfriendGoals- & the gang!!)
No disrespect to Game of Throne fans or Ms. Daenerys, because having 3 dragons is cool, but anyone has to admit that a 5-headed dragon where each dragon head has a unique personality and its own ability is THE bomb!! (Long live Tiamat.
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I understand how these worlds are so easy to get caught up in. Shoot, I just recently wasted an entire afternoon watching the Mortal Kombat 11 cut scenes!
I grew up in the era apparently birthed all of these controversial games so I can empathize with both the attraction and the dangers. Seeing as you said you were struggling with psychosis and have said in other threads that lust can be an issue as well, I give you total respect for trying to make some positive choices to cut down on these things.
I have also found it interesting that while I was growing up, there was plenty of talk about the evils of such games, but no one seemed to be talking about what I view (for myself, at least) as a kind of reverse type of psychosis within the church. One of the big criticisms we always heard about these games is that they would lead people astray into Satanic fantasy worlds of demons and monsters.
For a long time, I was part of a pentecostal church in which some members would almost instantaneously spiritually "diagnose" people with the "demons" they supposedly had, allwith the intent of praying them out and "getting them healed."
Now, I am not trying to belittle spiritual demonic warfare AT ALL, but I've told the story often of how two elders in this church saw a cross stitched picture I had made of an angel holding a baby and told me to get rid of it. Why is that?, I'm sure you're asking. Why, because they claimed that it had "the same evil spirit" as the scene in which the devil is holding a demonic baby in the movie, "The Passion of the Christ", of course! It also wasn't enough that I just throw the picture away, but I also had to cut it up and destroy it so that, according to these people, no one could find the picture in the trash and be tempted to take it home, thereby "spreading the evil" to another household.
(Is it just me, or does this sound like major plot point for something you would find in The Conjuring movie series?) Personally, I think someone should be paying me royalties...
In other words... I honestly believe these people are being lured into a branch of hyper-religiousness in which they themselves are also being led astray into their own fantasy worlds of demons and monsters, in which they take comfort in being self-made, and often self-proclaimed instruments of God's holy work (in exactly the same way that someone sucked into fantasy gaming enjoys that thought of being the almighty hero.) But they will tell you that it's all about God, and not themselves, so what they do is holy and of the Lord so they don't see the lines when they cross them. (Something I've noticed though is that if you try to take away or "slow down" their ministry, which they say is "all for the Lord", they will often ignore that spiritual authority and just move to another body of people who are willing to believe their extremes.)
Again, I am not trying to disrespect or mock God or the church in any way -- but it's just been my experience that extremes on either sides tend to fall for the exact same "evils" they accuse each other of, then fnd a way to completely justify their own fanaticism. You also make a great point in that every generation has a scapegoat, and I'm sure God is looking for people like you to take a stand among the current group.
And I'm certainly not trying to say that fantasy programming based on godlike heroes and sexually exaggerated characters are necessarily healthy for Christian consumption.
All I'm trying to point out is that I think there are dangers when people lose control or a grip on reality in any direction, whether it be fantasy or zealous self-righteousness, which is all the more reason to stick closely to God in our convictions.
However, you already know of all that, I'm sure
, so again, just wanted to say, thank you so much for sharing this Koji!!!
Major kudos to you for taking action in your life and I hope you'll keep talking to us about your journey - I think your Christian gaming group sounds awesome, and I'm sure God is setting you up to be able to help other people as well.