I Stopped Playing World of Warcraft

Today I said goodbye to my World of Warcraft characters. Probably forever.

It makes me quite sad. I started playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) in 1998, when my husband introduced me to Ultima Online. That was a fun game... I still remember the music, exploring the world, my cute little character. I had a little house that I decorated. I had a treasure hunter who would get treasure maps, go find the coordinates, and dig up treasure. I had a miner that would go out into the mountains and mine gold and other ores. I had a tailor that would make clothes. I even had a character named Jesus Christ who dressed in robes and was a carpenter.

Then we started playing Dark Age of Camelot when we lived in Italy. Since we lived overseas, we had my mother-in-law pick the game up and ship it to us international express mail so I could get the character names I wanted. We had a great time playing this game as well... most of my Ultima Online friends played this game with me as well.

I was planning on not playing any more MMORPGs after this, until my husband started playing World of Warcraft. I initially didn't play this game, but then he really wanted to play with me so he offered to buy me the game. So I tried it. Again, it was a lot of fun. I loved exploring the world, getting to level 70 with one of my characters, going into the dungeons and getting great armor...

So what made me stop? That darned conscience of mine. The whole witchcraft aspect. In Warcraft they have a Warlock class, who can have a pet known as a succubus... an S&M type demon character that helps fight for you. I never had one of those as I saw the obvious parallels to demons with that one. And I didn't really play a rogue, as I thought it was wrong to play a character that glorifies stealing.

Almost every class involved some sort of magic. Mages cast spells as their main source of damage. Clerics and priests cast both healing and damage spells. Hunters cast trap spells and spells to heal their pets. The warriors didn't really cast any spells, but they would drink potions and use spell scrolls to make themselves stronger.

Then there's the whole killing aspect. You had to kill to get treasure, to gain experience. Most of the creatures that you killed were monstrous, but then you'd go out and kill wolves or bears for some quests as well. That aspect struck me as well.

So I was going to not get involved in any more MMORPGs. But then I thought about the game some more... and I got scared. Could playing this game, knowing that there was witchcraft involved, be seen by God as sinful? Was my refusal to give this up a sin that I was not willing to repent of?

Most Christians know that adultery is a sin. But Jesus says that if you look at someone that you are not married to with lust, that is the same thing as committing adultery. Most Christians also know that witchcraft is a sin. The Bible says:

Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

~ Galatians 5:19-21

I started thinking... if lusting after someone is the same as committing adultery, because you are imagining committing adultery... is imagining that you are casting spells the same thing as committing witchcraft? The Bible says that people involved in sorcery do not inherit the kingdom of God... clearly that is something that someone should repent of, and not willfully do. What if I died today, or the rapture happened? What if I got before Jesus and he said "depart from me, I know you not" because I refused to repent of the sin of witchcraft by continuing to play these games?

I was scared. I know that we are saved through faith in Christ, and it is not through our own works that we get to Heaven. However, are people that continue willfully in a lifestyle of sin truly saved? Perhaps, I am not God. I don't know who is saved and who is not saved. I know that there are people that believe that all you have to do is say a prayer and "ask Jesus into your heart." But what about the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and said that he followed the 10 commandments... when Jesus told him to go sell everything that he had to inherit the kingdom of God, he walked away sad, because he was not willing to give up his riches for Jesus. If it was a prayer that got your name written into the Lamb's Book Of Life, why didn't Jesus run after him and say "wait! All you have to do is ask me to come into your heart!" No, he did not do that.

Jesus said "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever will save his life shall lose it, but whoever will lose his life for My sake, he shall save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses himself, or is cast away?" (Luke 9:23-25) God doesn't want just an hour of our lives on Sunday morning. He wants us to live for him all the time.

But I'm rambling a little. There is a lot that I don't understand. I know that people have different beliefs on how you get saved. It's hard for my finite mind to understand fully. However, I do know this: eternity is an awfully long time. What would happen if I continued to play MMORPGs, casting spells with my characters, and then I found out that by doing so and not repenting, I was keeping myself from inheriting the kingdom of God? I can't say for sure. But as I thought on those things, I decided that I would not take the chance. I didn't want to put it off until November when my account that I paid for ran out. When people of the New Testament times gave up their witchcraft books, they burned an extraordinary amount of spellbooks. I'm sure that it probably hurt them to think of how much $$$ was being burned, but they did it because that was what they thought was right.

MMORPGs are very popular. I know why they are... they are fun. Daniel says that the Antichrist will cause craft to prosper... meaning witchcraft, not doily making. In Revelation the Bible specifically mentions that people did not repent of their sorceries. Which in the Greek is pharmakeia, which can also be translated as drugs... perhaps the Bible means both. But I'm sure that the popularity of books like Harry Potter, and the popularity of spellcasting in MMORPGs, is no accident.

It was a very hard decision for me to give up this game that I love. I have a lot of good memories with these games. It took me years to make this decision to give them up. But my conscience is now lighter.

Adventures In History: 2 Kings 17 (part 4) - The End

This is the final part to my 2 Kings 17 story. Here are the other parts:

• Part 1
  
• Part 2
  
• Part 3
  

When we last left Israel and America, the people were worshiping idols and making God angry. There were some preachers out there warning them to repent, but most refused. They liked their idols too much.

As for Israel...

And they left all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and made molten images, two calves, for themselves. And they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire. And they used divination and incantations, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke Him to anger.

~ 2 Kings 17:16-17

The Israelites made a couple golden calves and worshiped them. They served a foreign God, Baal. They made their sons and daughters pass through the fire. What does that mean anyway?

Baal was a false god that supposedly granted benefits, but he had a dark side to him. He required human sacrifices. In times of trouble or plague, human victims, usually the first born child, was burnt alive, known euphemistically as "passing through the fire." Another god that required burnt human sacrifices was Molech, who was often portrayed as a bull.

The Israelites started getting involved in witchcraft and sorcery, which God had declared to be an abomination (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). They started to worship the stars, called the "host of heaven". Asherah that they worshipped took the form of tree trunks. So they were worshiping cows, trees, and stars. They forgot their creator, and instead worshiped the creation. (If you are interested in more information on Baal, Asherah, host of heaven, etc., please see the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, an excellent resource for learning more.

These Israelites sound really out there, don't you think? Of course us enlightened Americans are nothing like that, right?

We last left the Americans in the late 1960s. Teenagers were rebelling against authority, taking drugs, and worshiping rock stars. Here I must note that Revelation 9:21 says that the people of the tribulation did not repent of their sorceries... which in the Greek is the word "pharmakeia", which can also be translated into drugs. 1 Samuel 15:23 states "for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." As far as God is concerned, these people might as well have been practicing witchcraft.

One of the rock star idols of the time, The Rolling Stones, performed a concert at Altamont speedway near San Francisco, where the Hell's Angels, who were hired as security guards, murdered one of the concert goers during their song "Sympathy For The Devil."

In 1973, the Supreme Court made the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. Since then, around 48.5 million babies have been killed. A small percentage may have been performed to save the life of the mother. Many, however, were killed because they were inconvenient. Some were killed because the mother thought that she was wiser than God, and could not give the child a good life (and would not consider adoption). Some were killed because the child was believed to be born deformed, or sick, or with other defects, and the parents, in their infinite wisdom, decided that they knew better than God and that the child did not deserve to live. Some, I'm sure, were killed for other reasons... in almost every case, the people deciding to undergo the abortion decided that they knew better than God, who created the life. In other words, the children were sacrificed to the gods of convenience, or wisdom, or some other false god. We're not so different from the Israelites after all, are we?

The environmental movement started gaining momentum around this time. The first Earth Day was in April 1970. While being good stewards of the Earth is wise... and since God created the Earth we should be responsible with it... but many have gone overboard in it's protection. In 2006, Sea World had to stop running their fireworks displays because a small amount of contaminants would end up in Mission Bay, and they needed to get a discharge permit as a result. Another belief that seems to be catching on is that the Earth is overpopulated and people need to start having fewer children (never mind that God considers children to be a blessing... oh, and the 1 child policy works so well in China). Another idea catching on is that people are no more important than animals (doesn't the Bible say that we are worth many sparrows?). Nevertheless, you can destroy an unborn baby, but don't you dare destroy a bald eagle's egg (unless you want a hefty fine and a jail sentence).

Then you have groups like PETA, who believe that we shouldn't eat animals or wear leather. They claim their own form of morality but they are willing to tempt people to lust (with all their naked campaigns like the running of the nudes), and occasionally even commit blasphemy with anti-God campaigns like their ad with a picture of a pig and the slogan "He Died For Your Sins."

In a way, we are doing exactly what the Israelites did. They worshiped the creation rather than the creator, and so are many of us. We don't burn our children, but we are willing to rip off our preborn children's tiny limbs with a vacuum or burn them in saline solution.

The final chapter of the American story has not been written yet. However, the Israeli's story in 2 Kings 17 does have an ending:

So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria until this day.

~ 2 Kings 17:23b

Israel, who had seen miracles such as the parting of the Red Sea and the fall of the walls of Jericho, were carried away captive into Assyria. What will happen to us?

Harry Potter Bible Study?

The Church of England recently came out with a study guide to use along with the Harry Potter books, tying it in with Christian themes.

???

What in the world does the Bible have to do with Harry Potter? Actually, I do know a Bible verse or two related to Harry Potter:

Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

~ Galatians 5:19-21

It seems pretty clear to me that Harry Potter is not something to be messed with. Certainly not the subject of a Bible study, unless it is a Bible study as to why you shouldn't be messing with it.

A lot of people have the opinion that you shouldn't be against the Harry Potter series if you haven't read it? I don't see how that makes a lot of sense. There's witchcraft in Harry Potter, right? That's all I need to know. Whether Harry Potter uses actual spells or not is irrelevant.

I'm not going to let my daughter (when she gets old enough) read the story precisely because of the subject material (witchcraft). I don't have to read it to know that it is not appropriate reading material. Similarly, I don't have to read Penthouse to know that that is not appropriate reading material. We all know what is between the covers, and it's not a knitting magazine, that's for sure. Even if, say, they make a computer model and put it in there... I don't want anyone in my family looking at a fake naked lady any more than I want them looking at real ones.

Harry Potter is hard to escape. Our library has a special display and a waiting list for the book. Advertisements are everywhere. Even some children's cartoons have references to Harry Potter like book series (I know "Arthur" has a Harry Screevner, I think Clifford has their own wizard series as well). The day will come when I will have to explain why I don't think it's an appropriate book for her. I don't need any Harry Potter Bible Studies making it more difficult.