Stay away from even the appearance of evil

So I was awoken at 5:20 this morning by DH as he was getting home from work. He told me he is downloading a computer game.

at 8:30am I went into the dining room to record my temp I took at 5:20 on the online free charting software.

The game is only 30% downloaded....it is called world of warcraft.

Just by looking at it it looks like magic the gathering or pokemon or something (yes I am against pokemon, no offense to anyone out there who plays/watches it, it's just that our children's church pastor 10 years ago told the parents - and no I wasn't a parent I was just a 12th grader myself- to not let their kids play pokemon).

So I am very disappointed but what can I do but pray and hope DS doesn't see DH playing this and also want to play it.

so I googled the name of the game for reviews.

The first site I came to said: it cost $50 to download and is $15 a month...my first question is where did DH get the money.....
and the reviewer (and this is a "christian" review site) said: I know what you people are thinking, about the demonic "magic". There is a whole lot of magic in this game: from auras to ranged damaging ice novas, resurrection spells, etc. It is a part of what this game is. In addition, you see many characters and NPCs (Non-player characters) which seem to have evolved half way between two species. There are also ghosts that linger in some quests, and when you die, you become a ghost and your object is to run back to your body to be revived. This all is fine for the solid Christian; I personally have no problem with it. However, for the younger ones, maybe a few points should be explained here and there, to what is true to life and God.

--SO it's ok to pretend to play with magic?

The Second site had a lady ask since she became saved is it now wrong to play this game because her father wants her to stop and he listed a bunch of reasons why they and a rebuttal reply are as follow:
rb - Oh, I should probably go down your dad's list.

f- it has magic in it
rb - No it doesn't. That's not magic. That's graphical effects created by internal programming within the game using statistical data.

f- it has demons in it.
rb- Yes. But you're fighting them. You are NOT demon.

f- there are names that sound demonic.
rb- Why should their names bother you? That's their problem, not yours.

f- you can play as a warlock.
rb- A fantasy warlock. Not a real warlock. IE See the magic explaination above. (said something about being able to distinguish fiction from reality...I really want to roll my eyes at this one personally)

f- believes games have a spiritual side to them and that Satan will corrupt people in any form rb- he can and what would stop him from coming through as something as "its just a game"Except that it has no spiritual influence unless you're crazy and believe it's all real.

f- says he sees nothing but evil and darkness coming from the game and to stay away.
rb- And yet hasn't come up with a good reason why. (see above)

f- asks "where does that magic those characters are using come from? it sure isn't coming from god.
rb- You're right it's not. Because the game doesn't take place on earth. (ie, no earth based religions) It takes place in a FAKE Fantasy realm. The "magic" comes from whatever you want it to be...that's part of roleplaying. For all you care, you could roleplay the fireball is coming from God's power.

f- saw the night elf on the main world of wacraft site and wondered why she hardly had anything on.
rb- If you get "excited" over a computer character, there is something deeply wrong.

f- The word "warcraft" sounds like "witchcraft"
rb- And the word Level sounds like Devil. You're point?

---does anyone else not see it sad that these other "christians" "justified" why she should play the game and go against her dad's instruction? Why didn't someone say "Honor thy father and thy mother" "children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right"? sure one person said they prayed and the Lord told them to stop so they did and another person told her that as long as her heart doesn't condemn her then it's ok to play....I personally thought that line of speaking applied to something maybe not defined by the Word, but then if you believe the Word doesn't give you instruction for every area of life, then you haven't really read the Word, searched the Word, etc....if the Lord calls something a sin, then you best stay away and we all know those who practice magic will burn in hell , so why would we even pretend to practice it? I have this argument with people regarding harry potter...sure it's just a "children's" story but she uses real spells and did research at the library, internet, maybe even with real warlocks and such...and I know my son loves puppets and when he sees one he wants to make one and pretends he has a puppet with him at all times....so let's say he sees the movies or reads the books and decides he'd like to play as if he's the main character, well then he goes to the library or gets online and is able to find spells...and then tries his hand at casting them..you see where I am going with this. STAY AWAY! so my aunt is like oh it's just harmless fun....I replied with "and the ouja board is just a game." I knew she would understand that cuz when we were kids we got a hold of one and she immediately took it away from us. (me and my sis and her 2 daughters)

the last review I read was talking about virtually saving souls and they got saved in real life (although at the review above you can see where someone says oh so like if I play with magic then it's as if I did it in real life, like if I get saved in pretend world like I really am gonna in real life...so that persons thought process kinda blows this one to come away)

the minister who plays this game says: "I think the reason so many people are open to hearing about Jesus in the World of Warcraft is because the majority of people who play the game are lonely kids who don't have any friends. I doubt any of them play sports so you can pretty much guess that there are lots of gay boys and fat little pale-faced Wiccan girls on the servers who hate themselves and escape into virtual characters so they don't have to deal with their pathetic lives. When they hear that someone loves them, even if it is just the Lord Jesus Christ, they always want to hear more!" {I can't stand the way he described the kids who he figures are playing this game, after all my DH is going to try it out and his BIL plays this...both are adults not kids with nothing better to do}

the next reviewer on this site said: "The World of Warcraft is ripe for eager young Christian evangelists to ply their trade. "I'm studying to be a missionary at Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Virginia," says one gamer (who prefers to remain anonymous) and sharing the Good News of Jesus in Azeroth is a great way to practice soulwinning in Arkansas, where I'm from originally. I think that when Jesus said in Mark 16:15, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, He knew that True Christians™ like me in the future, would be called into virtual worlds where we'd be witnessing to gnomes, trolls, night elves and all sorts of other creatures. I also think that verse applies to Christian astronaut missionaries in the future who will encounter and evangelize unsaved alien life forms on other planets. I believe with my whole heart that Christian gamers are sincerely answering the Great Commission of Jesus and we are able to do it without getting out of our chairs or leaving our bedrooms. I bet the Apostle Paul is so jealous!"

--did anyone catch his alien reference? oi vey

So ok what about LOTR trilogy and narnia books? these tracts at chick.com tell us to stay away.

http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract7.html HP review

http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract11.html a former witch on LOTR

http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/narnia_chronicles.html

I know I flip flopped on narnia a lot....I can see both sides in the movie - only read a children's shortened version of the book so hey don't throw tomatoes since I didn't actually read the book, even as a kid....it had the word witch on the cover....I stayed away.

So.....