Shawn Bain
Shawn is the Vice President of Geeks Under Grace and director of marketing. He has played video games since he was 2 years old and has immersed himself deep within the geek culture. Writing short stories and releasing them for free to the public began his writing journey, and now he uses what he has learned along the way to help Christians benefit from geek culture. Out of his desire to serve Christ, he also founded DUDEronomy and continues to write short stories that entertain and give perspective into the life of a Christian.
Shawn's hope is that his life would exemplify a follower of Christ and lead people to accept salvation through His grace. He wants to be a good father, husband, son, and friend to those around him.
I just wanted to stop in and thank you for your balance perspective, and express my appreciation that you didn’t just jump on the ‘I haven’t read it but it’s EVIL!’ bandwagon.
That said, I do have one slight correction to put into the mix:William Schnoebelen is absolutely not a reliable source of information.
He has variously claimed to not only be a Wiccan high priest, but also a Gnostic bishop, a Mormon, an expert or clergyperson in Alexandrian Wicca, Druidic Craft of the Wise, Church of All Worlds, Church and School of Wicca, and Roman Catholicism, and even the Illuminati!
Some of them simultaneously, if his timeline is to be believed. He was allegedly a Roman Catholic, a Freemason, a Wiccan, and a Satanist, all at the same time, from 1976 to 1980.
That’s right — he was a member of four mutually-exclusive religions in the span of four years. And he couldn’t even get the basic facts correct: Freemasonry has only 33 degrees of advancement, yet according to his own accounts, he was apparently a ’90th-degree’ Mason!
Also, anything that’s not his particular brand of Christianity is, in his eyes, ‘Satanism’. In point of fact, according to his own testimony, he left Satanism for Freemasonry because Satanism ‘wasn’t hardcore enough’ for his tastes at the time.
Thank you for this well-written article about the positive and negative sides of the issue. It has helped me a bit to clarify my thoughts on the matter. I’m old enough that I had the first edition D&D books back in the day. I even had Deities and Demigods with all of the old pantheons worshipped (mostly) in the real world. I found it sort of an interesting book of insights into a particular western view of those religions. These were not entities I included in my games. Later on, I played the Palladium Fantasy RPG, and it’s younger brother Rifts, along with its cousin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness. The one thing that bothered me about Palladium was that Satan was included as an actual being and that witches could be played that would actually make pacts with demons/devils to get their powers. I never allowed any of that in my games either. My standing rules: 1. No worship of false gods, Period. And then, because I’m not able to know how God would handle many issues with gray areas morally speaking, and it would be presumptuous for me to attempt to do so, 2. No divine intervention. I did not, however, have an issue with magic existing in the game because it was purely fictional, other than the one issue I mentioned above. Were I to play again today, if I had a group with which to do so, I would do things slightly differently.
Looking back, I’ve made some mistakes. I watched a friend slip away from Christ while playing a game with me. It’s heartbreaking for me because he invited me to church, but then slipped away and has never returned to a good relationship with God. He ended up in prison. There were warning signs in the game, and in his behavior, but I was too young and inexperienced to know how to handle it. The internet wasn’t a thing at that time. I had nobody to talk to about my concerns for him and dismissed them when I should’ve been more active in helping him address the issues. The church had decided it was all pretty much satanic, so there was nobody at all I could speak with about it. In the end, his parents, and the church, blamed me for playing that satanic game with him. He started breaking into cars and stealing stereos, along with some new friends of his. They were hurting and needed to blame it on someone, so it was me and that game.
So, I would do some things differently. And I would ensure that people playing the game had full consent from their parents before doing so. He was 16 and didn’t have their consent. Having said that, I don’t think it was magic in the game that was the problem. The problem was the issues that the player and the game master brought with them to the game. RPGs are great for figuring out who you are and what you might do, but they are also good for bringing problems to the surface and exposing them to friends. In a healthy, Christian circle, that’s a force to be wielded for greater good.
Now, the one thing I would like to point out is that we should be careful with respect to how our freedoms affect others. What is a sin for one is not necessarily a sin for others, granted, but as it says, if what I do (eat) causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never do it (eat meat) again, so that I will not cause another to stumble (1 Cor 8:13). We may enjoy many freedoms in Christ, but we must take great care that those freedoms are not the downfall of another. Other than that one point, I think you said a lot that needed saying. Thank you.
I am commenting based upon my experience: Many years ago as a 20 year old Catholic, (before I became born-again), I was invited to join a D&D club on board ship in the Navy. I inquired about the nature of the game and met some of the players. Even back then (while being a regular alcohol consumer) I had discernment that there was an evil spirit behind the game. The player’s personalities and actions definitely reflected the dark side. We all are guilty of sin and need the Savior. It is also important for us not to engage in activities that can open a door and let evil spirits into our lives or our families and friends.
NO! Please my oldest son was an avid D&D player. He was born in 1981, grew up with the newness of video games and all of the 80’s traps that we were not aware of.
MY SON COMMITTED SUICIDE AT 16 years old. It brought me to my knees and I began a long search of what happened to my son. He left us a three page letter. There is absolutely no doubt that he opened a door, a portal to allow demonic activity and bondage into his mind. I knew something was wrong but couldn’t put my finger on it. He was so creative, beautifully artistic, caring and loving. One month before his death I saw something come over him that I couldn’t explain, I saw his face change and a deep strange look in his eyes. It frightened me as well as him…..I asked him what it was and he said he couldn’t explain it….I asked him if he would ever harm me or anyone and he started to cry and said no mom. I didn’t understand spiritual warfare at that time in my life, I didn’t understand the trappings of Magic, Spell casting and conjuring.
I found the drawings of demons, angels fighting demons, wizards and finally a great picture that my son drew of angels battling demons and the cross of Jesus that he drew in the sky. In his letter he said he was having thoughts of harming people, that he couldn’t stop it and this the final fight that he would not allow this creature inside him to do this harm even if it meant he had to take his own life! This is real! Don’t fall victim to this game. Trust me…..after the Lord showed me what actually happened to my son, the still small voice of God came to me…”he is safe”…..safe from what?
After his death and my journey of discovery, I kept my other two young sons away from all of these trappings. Yes they played games (we are not radical in that way) but no games that entail magic or spell casting. No Pokemon, etc…. after I learned that Harry Potter actually uses white magic spells, I never allowed this as well. Ask yourself why the youth today are so fascinated by New Age? its an epidemic.
Eric would be 38 now if he had lived. My other son’s thank me constantly for standing strong and saying no to these games and books.
Trust me please, I happened on this article by accident…I’ve never really told our story but feel compelled to tell this now. Somebody needs to hear this. Don’t let the FOG enter your mind, if you think of this game when you’re not playing it, you are in it’s grips, (I know this sounds crazy-but if your ears ring all of the time) ask for the Holy Spirit to help you break the bondage….Stop playing it.
A Mother of a D&D victim.
With all of my Love.
Ma’am,
I am sorry for your loss. I lost a friend I played D&D with to the world, but not in the way you did. I watched two women break his heart. I watched him stealing from friends and then making new friends and stealing from others with their help. He had always been a good young man with a decent heart. Afterward, he went to prison. To this day, his life is a mess, and he has not returned to Christ. His family and the church blamed me and the game for what happened to him, but I want you to know that what happened to him was happening anyway. It wasn’t the game that caused him to fall. It was his own choices and the darkness that had crept into his heart. And it was the harm caused to him by the people closest to him.
Sometimes people fall. The game is only a place where the problems you carry with you may be expressed in relative safety, *if* you’re with good, trustworthy friends. And if you are with good Christian friends, they might help you work through some spiritual darkness in your heart. Not everything requires therapy. Although, clearly, in your son’s case it may have helped. Conversely, it is a place where others may find weaknesses in you to exploit. I would submit for your consideration that the people he spent his time among were a greater contributing factor than the game he was playing with them. Many people play RPGs and do not kill themselves. Many people play RPGs and do not become demon-possessed.
It is my sincere desire that you are able to come to peace with this loss. I wish I could offer more than words. Thank you for your heartfelt warning. It is a reminder that our actions can impact the lives of others in both positive and negative ways.
Really grateful for this balanced, sensible article. My son’s just started playing at a school club (aged 12) and I’ve been inclined to let him get on with it as it’s the 1st social thing he’s really done at school. There’s been a niggle about the magic demonic side of things! But it’s good to put it in perspective, and knowing his character at the moment I’m quite assured that he’s not about to get into the characters too much; he’s quite a level headed, pragmatic kinda boy. Really good points made and I like how calmly you make them; there is an air of kindness and empathy you have with people and their opinions – thank you.
Great article. I choose not to play Dungeons and Dragons anymore (I played for years when I was younger) because some of the themes make me uncomfortable as a believer. But that’s a personal choice and I’m not sure there is anything objectively wrong with the game. It’s nice to see somebody approach the subject without falling to one of the two extreme opinions.
I think you are absolutely right, not everyone should play D&D (or anythng similar) if they have trouble seperating themselves from the fantasy aspects and real life. The game is what you make it and some groups playing can be toxic, and other are great. Not all people play the same you need to find a group that you feel comfortable to play in an a DM that understands your concerns and is willing to work with you.
In my humble and personal opinion, I think that no RPG at all has anything to do with REAL religious, moral or political aspects of REAL life.
I play D&D and several other rpg I collect since 1987 with no limits of characters, races, classes, deities or aligments an I NEVER saw anything that could bring to bad behaviour, sects, or crime. Absolutely ZERO.
I studied psychology at university and I’m son of a former italian and history school professor so educational aspects of life are deeply present in my family.
1) D&D (and all rpg’s) it’s a GAME so it may affect negatively only heavily mentally disturbed persons almost in the same way movies, books or anything else can do.
If a madman watches Rambo, he can be inspired to emulate him and kill people in a mass shooting.
The problem is always WHO uses things, never things: a gun never kills anyone if it’s not handled by a killer, the killer kills with or without a gun.
The problem is the killer, not the gun.
If I play Risk or Axis and Allies, (willing to talk about games concerning real life tragedies like war), I will never think to be or emulate Hitler or Stalin and try to conquer the world and rule it under a bloody dictatorship.
With fantasy games the danger is absolutely zero: the reality is too far from the fiction.
2) rpg’s are games somehow close to movies or even more theatre where people plays a role in stories where there are good characters and bad characters and often the plots are totally fictional.
I don’t think a christian ACTOR should refuse the role of a bad guy in a fiction where he must dress, act and speak as an evil villain.
It is just a fiction, and the same is while playing d&d.
You ACT, you PLAY, you ARE NOT the character you are playing. You can get into your character deeply to enjoy better your time and experience of GAME around the table, but you remain you in your reality, your character remain a fictional part of a fictional story in a fictional world.
An actor gets into his character on stage as well but without changing himself.
You can be good or evil in the game, steal, kill, cast spells or worship the deities you prefer ALWAYS IN THE GAME: it’s not you, just your CHARACTER.
Maybe this will help you to explore parts of your personality you don’t know.
If you are mentally sick this is not suitable for you like are not suitable some movies, books, firearms and so on.
You just need a good psychiatrist.
3) the words about false gods is the same: they are part of something that’s ALL FALSE: campaign setting, magic, creatures you can encounter and deal with or fight with.
There is NOTHING REAL but a group of friends around a table, with books, dices, pencils and paper having fun and training their mental and collaboration skills in a healthy way together without harming anyone. This is the only REAL THING.
The crisps and the coke, the beer and pizza on the table are real as well. That’s it.
The Bible says people must not confer with magic users, not practice magic, not worship false gods, not kill, not steal etc. IN REAL LIFE. This is just a GAME.
For the same reason we shouldn’t play chess as well: it simulates a war with kills, a battlefield. But it isn’t reality.
I think, in my humble opinion, that it’s better to play a worshipper of a false god in a COMPLETELY false, fictional, world, than including a real God into a game of fiction.
God exists? Is real? If the answer is “yes”, He must be kept as a part of our REAL LIFE, in the life of REAL PEOPLE who just have a strong and unharmful passion: ROLE PLAYING GAMES.
God is not a game, is not part of a game, it is, IMHO, better and right to keep Him out of games.
It is absolutely better for a Christian to PLAY a cleric of Torm (lawful good) or even Cyric(chaotic evil) IN A GAME all focused on UNEXISTING THINGS 100%, than include a serious thing, fundamental for many in their real lives as God in a game. To keep Him out is a form of RESPECT.
Is it fiction? Let it be 100% fiction.
The focus is that WE ARE NOT OUR CHARACTERS, they can do ANYTHING in their fictional, unexisting lives and world without affecting our conduct, moral and thinking in our real life.
Otherwise all christian ACTOR who play evil guys such like Hitler, Hannibal Lecter, Count Dracula or Jack the Ripper, for example, should be condemned to eternal damnation to hell.
A little bit absurd uh?
The role players are “actors” as well.
People, play safe, play with no stress, have fun and while you play take a little “vacancy” from your real life and all its stressing aspects.
PLAY, NOT BE YOUR CHARACTERS.
FUNDAMENTAL: playing rpg’s should be something that by one side keeps alive our childish imagination, fantasy and creativity forever BUT, by the other side, follow our personal growth becoming something useful to melt together: fun, self exploration, introspection and learning about the value of collaboration, socialization and problem solving skills.
As a volunteer I make even autistic and problematic boys play in an association.
We solved many problems and bullism situations as well.
PROUD TO BE AN RPG PLAYER.
Cheers to you all fellow players from Italy.
(Sorry for my english. Hope you will understand anyway)
Luigi Marinello
The biggest spiritual hurdle for Christian players is maintaining a mature and substanstive style of play. Many adult players still engage in role playing in the same way that they did as children, which sates their sense of nostalgia or catharsis but fails to challenge them intellectually or emotionally. This often parallels our spiritual lives, when we are drinking milk instead of eating solid food. D&D is wonderful when it helps us to grow in some way, when our methodology challenges us as people. Games mired in youthful tropes of “I killed X” and “I got Y” tend to ground us in the inconsequential, so that the game never realizes its potential beyond what could be accomplished in a barrel-smashing computer RPG or young adult book for reluctant readers. A vibrant imagination is a delight. A stagnant imagination indulges in a steadily diminishing worldview that grows eager to accommodate sin.
That is a great point, Mavin. We definitely have to be careful that we don’t let the game keep us from “putting away our childish ways”. If it is a harmless game that helps you grow in your friendships and builds you up in some way, then it is a better pass-time than many others. If you let it keep you from growing though, it may be time to put it away.
I was a child in the 1980s and D&D did not have good reputation so I was always a little leery, but curious since I love sci-fi and fantasy books. I am now at the age of 43 enjoying RPG games. My first character was a dragonborn cleric. I had no problem separating myself from my character while also having fun with creative thinking. My Barash was a sincere worshipper who followed the path of justice for all. If he was meditating or praying, I just said something like Barash is going to the temple to offer prayers. I didn’t actually pray to a pagan entity. I think that’s the type of thing where many people get hung up and worried about with Christians playing RPG games. I carefully examined what spells he had access to, and if I wasn’t comfortable with one, such as those that used necromancy, I didn’t use it. I also didn’t make him a murder hobo. He was a lawful good character. I did a lot of healing and smiting evil. It was a blast.
thank you so much! I’ve been afraid to play it for awhile because i only want to get farther in my walk with God and now i know this isn’t gonna be a problem with some of peers and myself. (I was always scared to play cause I didn’t want it to open a door that may lead to other things)
What a wonderful article. Whilst I get into the game, as you mentioned, a character for me is a disconnected thing I can make do whatever with complete disconnect; much like video games or TV. That being said, you raised some good points about false gods.
So heck, maybe my next character will be a paladin hellbent on slaying them~
Thank you! Sometimes I wish I could disconnect that well, but part of me enjoys getting into the character as much as I do. That paladin would be a fun character!
This was a great article. My D&D party is 7-42 in age range. I use the influence from JRR Tolkien Silmarillion in establishing origin Deities back story. There are those that are sided with positive power and those that are sided with negative power. To my 7 year old who is a Tiefling Druid she understands this is pretending we are in a story.
As their DM I give a little extra reward for positive focused actions. For example talking to a Baby Red Dragon when they were sent to fight it. They showed kindness and lost 1000gp. To me I can teach Christen values in a mythical diety filled magical world where you have to make sacrifices. Just like JRR and CS Lewis. To abandon D&D for me is to commit to not reading any fantasy works of art including those written by deeply inspired Roman Catholic writers. Go Aslan and Sam!!
I also would like to thank you for this article! My husband of 16 years enjoyed playing D & D before we were married, and it came up periodically, but I was fairly closed off to the idea. When our kids expressed an interest, I felt it could be a way to spend time together without spending a lot of money. We started playing fairly recently with another family from church, and I’ve been very impressed with the (as you mentioned in your article) creativity and critical thinking skills involved. I did have a friend express concerns in the church, and I’m so grateful to have a church family that would keep us accountable and express concerns, even though it’s never easy to confront a friend. I feel more educated on the subject now, and more like I can put my disorganized thoughts into some organized thoughts and points to help put her mind at ease. Thank you!
Thank you, Amy! I’m glad the article will help you discuss D&D with your church family. It is great to have friends that love you enough to keep you accountable. Like I said, D&D isn’t for everyone, but it is for some. Hopefully this article will help her see where the dangers and pitfalls are and that they can be avoided.
This is a fantastic article! My boyfriend plays with other Christian friends, but I’ve been quite unsure about it because of things I’ve heard. I think this article will help both of us be more balanced.
Thanks so much for this article. I got into D&D in the last year to be closer with my friend from church who has autism. She was always into gaming and anime but I couldn’t find a common ground. We joined a D&D group together and she has changed so much, she has come out of her shell and actually talks to people. She barely made friends before but now she has confidence in herself and has a steady job too. You were spot on about the creative/skills part in your article.
On a personal note, thanks for the reminder to be vigilant concerning idols and straying from God. Sometimes I have been convicted in my gaming group to speak up, particularly when Jesus Christ is shouted out. I will be mindful of this and use it as a way to talk about God with my new non-christian friends.
Thank you, Cass. It’s amazing that D&D is having that much of an impact for you. It is a great avenue to socialize with friends with autism since it can have established boundaries that give you a lot of room for creativity in a world that you can both understand well.
Idols are always difficult. I struggle with them often in my life as well. I’m glad the article gave you a moment of self-evaluation. I think that is important for us all.
Nice. I love D&D.
Thank you, Brian.
You did an incredible job on this article, Shawn. Very thorough and balanced. I am a huge fan of D&D and it’s a great way to stay connected to friends while I’m studying out of state. But as you touched on, it became a big source of stress relief/numbness to the rigors of med school and I really felt like it was an addiction in some ways. God wants me to have fun and connect with friends, but He also put me here for a reason; so cutting back and resetting my priorities to God has done wonders. It’s not easy to maintain that balance though, so I’m glad I stumbled upon your article 🙂 good reinforcement.
Thank you for the kind words, Tony. That’s an excellent testimony on the effectiveness on discernment. As you said, the balance is important.
Nice article! We’ve been needing an article like this one for awhile now.
Thanks, Chris. I was hesitant to do so because of the large undertaking and a misperception that this argument didn’t still exist, but now that I have, I hope that it helps fellow believers understand each other and come together.