Fantasy by M. Joseph Young

Fantasy
M. Joseph Young
October 2002

Often you will get advice from Christians suggesting that if you want to play role playing games as a Christian you need to remove the magic from the games. Don't play the wizards, whatever you do; and if you have the choice, stick to science fiction games, or espionage or western or other settings in which there isn't any magic. Magic, we are told, is a terrible thing which should be removed from our games as much as possible.
I'm going to go against the grain. One of the best ways I know to bring your faith to bear on the games you play is to infuse those games with magic.

Not so very long ago I was asked to write an article for The Expositor, explaining that role playing games were not the evil cult activities so many Christians believed them to be. As I considered how to condense so many answers to so many objections into one short article, I remembered somewhere reading that most game defenses wind up saying that games really aren't bad after all. That's not what I believe about games. I believe that games are good, that they actually encourage our faith and promote the gospel. Instead of making excuses and apologies for them, instead of answering objections and misunderstandings, I should be telling the world why role playing games are a wonderful gift from God. But why was that? It had something to do with why J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams wrote such wonderful books. I recognized what it was: it was the magic inherent in the fantasy. Fantasy books and fantasy games contain magic, and that is a very good and very important thing.

We've already addressed the objections to using magic in games; but I don't mean to say now that it's perfectly all right to include magic in your games. I mean that it is good to have magic in your games, that a game in which there is magic is a better game, a more Christian game, than one in which there is none.

Our world is filled with people who don't believe in magic. They don't believe in God, either, or the devil, or angels or demons. They discount any record of miracles as clearly myth, and are quite comfortable asserting that Jesus was a very good man who taught wonderful things during his life and then died, only to have His followers make up a lot of stories about Him. These ideas all fit with their view of the world, a world in which everything can be measured and studied. There are no more acts of God; they have been replaced with natural disasters. The morality which philosophers once called natural law and perceived as the presence of the divine speaking within the mortal is now considered learned pragmatism, the rules society requires for its existence drilled into our subconscious from an early age. This world does not believe in magic. It believes in science, in evolution, in medicine and physics and astronomy, in anything that will give it explanations that do not require us to go beyond this world--because beyond this world we come face to face with God. As long as there's no magic, there's no God; He isn't necessary.

In my article, I observed that no one can watch a fantasy movie or read a fantasy story or play in a fantasy game without at least briefly losing that defense, coming face to face with the possibility that there is magic in the world. We Christians believe in a magical world. We believe that God is working in our lives and the lives of everyone around us, performing the work he has begun in us, calling the lost to Himself, and steering the course of nations toward the end of the age--all very magical things. Yet many of us insist on stories and games in which none of that is real. We should be insisting that the worlds from which magic has been removed--the westerns and spy stories and science fiction sagas--bring back the power of God, make magic a possibility within the story. Fantasy, I said, is apologetics to the heart--it is a way of undermining disbelief, of subtly suggesting that there is a greater reality undreamt by most.

A year ago I argued that magic was not a bad thing; as Halloween approaches, let me suggest that in our fiction and our games it is in fact a good thing, a thing which we should embrace and encourage. It is the path that leads the lost toward the greater truth.

This is an awesome article that I completly agree with.

Back to Basics

I Just got back from my Emmaus Walk a couple of days ago. It was the most awesome time God really moved in an amazing way.

I Had expressed to me the Love of God, I can't comprehend it but I will surrender to it and be embraced by it.

This Weekend hit me right between the eyes like a two by four. I realized howmuch Spiritual Pride I had onboard. I thought I was above the basics. Not So!

I realized that I my priorities were all out of whack.

So I am returning to the Basics.

:)

I just finished reading Dune: The Battle of Corrin by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson.

I have found while there are no where in the realm of Brian's dad that it was an actioned packed conclusion to a great trilogy.

Working in Circles

Every since I have gotten back from my trip to Arizona the first of June I feel like I have been running and gunning. I feel like I am doing a lot of work but I really have not gotten anywhere.

Spiritually I feel like God is far from me. I know he is not, but I feel like I am wandering around in the desert.


I have read a few good books recently. I finished reading the biography of John Adams by David McCullough. It amazes me how they wrote to one another during that time period. Each letter was a work of art of the English language. It is very sad to see how we have devolved. The amazing set of men who founded the USA is incredible.

I also read Yon Ill Wind a Xanth novel by Piers Anthony for nostalsia sake. I have not read a Xanth book in a long time and enjoyed it even though the book was not that great. I forgot the preocupation Piers Anthony has for sex in all his books.

A week from now I will be going on a weekend retreat. An Emmaus walk to be precise. I don't have any preconcieved notions on what will happen. I do not have huge expectations but I hope God touches me, revives me.

Victories and Defeat

I like most of you struggle with this thing called the old man or the sin problem.

Everyone has certain weaknesses and strength's when it comes to what tempts you. Everybody is affected differently by the sin problem but we all have the same problem.

One of the areas where I struggle personally is in Lust. It seems like I go through a certain cycle of temptation. Sometimes I have Victory in this area but invariably ,I will be in need of grace again.

How do you all deal with your own areas where you are tempted. How can we see our lives with clearer eyes to see where the Lord is growing us?

How do we see this process of Sanctification at work in all our lives?

1776

If I reccomend any book to you this year it will be this book.

1776 by David McCullough is an amazing book. I love History but for some reason never really got into American History. My Knowledge of the Revolutionary war is vague at best.

This book is a book everyone should read. It is about determination and has really inspired me. I am at the point in my life where I could look around and get discouraged, it is easy to do so. The example of George Washington and how he handled the adversity that was all around him was amazing.

I liked this book so much I am reading McCullough's biography of John Adams now.

Hitting the Wall and Learning the World

The past few weeks have been a bear for me.

Struggles with people at Church. Just wanting to quit and throw in the towel. The tough part of the Christian walk that no one tells you about.

But, Jesus is Risen!

I was goofing off and reading Eldest the sequel to Eragon. The Baby was in bed and the Wife was at the Hospital with her mom who had collapsed with low blood sugar.

Tough night for Nik but I had taken care of Lochlan and he was in Bed.

Well I was reading Eldest and I thought to myself.

"When was the last time you read the Bible?"

I had been so busy and I have kind of lost time to just be with God. So I went back to the Kitchen table and read the Gospel of John starting where Jesus washed the disciples feet. I just imagined being there.

Sometimes Jesus wants to Show us Love and Mercy when we least deserve it.

Then I read about the Crucifixion and God's Spirit moved on my and I was touched by the unexplainable presence of God. He died for my Sins so that I might live.

.....

In addition to finishing Eldest I have also read a Sci-fi book that I would highly recommend. Learning the World by Ken Macleod

It is about a colony ship finishing it's 400year journey. It follows the story of a young girl who grew up on the Ship.

The Name of the Ship is But the sky my lady, the sky!.

it's one that will make you think.

Bible on CD

This Wendsday I decided to purchase the Bible on CD. The reason I made this purchase was because I have not been able to do my morning devotions. I thought the least I could do is listen to the Bible on my way to work in the morning.

So far it's working fairly well. At least I am hearing the Word for a little bit each day. I personally feel my mind wander when I am trying to listen.

I will let you know how the experiment is going.

The last two Fantasy books I have been reading are Wizard of London by Mercedes Lackey and Harrowing the Dragon by Patricia McKillip.

I thought Wizard of London was a good Lackey book but I felt like the pacing was all loaded in the front of the book. Really all the interesting stuff happens in the first half. Still the book does a good job of emotionally connecting you to the Characters.

Harrowing the Dragon is a book of short stories by Patricia McKillip. McKillip is my favorite fantasy writer right now. Her prose is beautiful as a poem and really places you in another world. All her tales have a hint of melencholy. I hightly reccommend her as an author.


In Non-fiction I read Why I am Catholic by Garry Willis. It is an exelant History of the Papacy and an insight into the life of it's author. It explains why someone is a Catholic despite the checkered history of the Papacy. I love the last section of the book which is about the Creed. Anyone who wants to know more about Church History and the history of the papacy I would reccomend this book to them.


Also I am going to play Dungeons and Dragons tommorow. I am looking forward to this game because I have never really played before even though I love Fantasy books. I am either going to create a Dwarvish fighter or maybe a human Paladin.