As many people know we lost Gary Gygax recently. His loss was especially hard for many of us, though we never met him, because there are a large number of us who found a place to belong. His game encouraged us to be heroes. We got to, in some small way, live out our fantasies and imagine worlds better than our own. The outcasts, the geeks, the nerds, and many of the people who society proper believes to be "weird" found that they weren't so alone in the world, that we had one another and that was ok. We formed a community and though we may disagree wildly we can always come together with the commone experience of being gamers.
Now gamers are, for a variety of reasons, a fairly generous group of people. We give gladdly because we recognize that we've been blessed and we know that reaching out to help others will make the world a better place. We know that we need to do this, not just because it's the right thing to do, but also because if we ever want the world to be what we see in our mind's eye then we need to work to get there. For us it's a matter of recognizing that people who have it worse than us who need help, and having been in the position where we didn't get help, we feel it a matter of course that we're going to help others.
I mention these things because this past Gen Con there was a charity auction held in honor of Gary Gygax's memory. The money was to be donated to Mr. Gygax's favorite charity The Christian Children's Fund. When said charity discovered that the donation money was, in part, connected to the sale of D&D they flattly refused the money. The auction found another sponsor in Fisher House so things sort of worked out for the best, but that's not the point.
The point is that Mr. Gygax was, himself, a Christian. He'd supported the charity for years and not a little of that money very likely came from D&D or other fantasy gaming products he was behind. I find it rather troubling that a charity that's always emphasized the vital need for money to help starving children refused money because they believed it to be somehow tainted by the heathen gamers.
Ladies and gentlemen I am a Christian myself. I've never made a secret of this and I'll talk about it openly and honestly given a chance. Speaking as a Christian I don't understand where this charity is coming from. We wanted to help and we were refused because we ran into the old stereotype of D&D is satanic. That hurts.
Now I'm not going to wish bad things upon the Christian Children's Fund but I would encourage people to write them and calmly explain how they feel about their refusal of funds. Don't curse them out, don't scream and yell; act like the better person. Show them you understand the spirit of giving and charity and be mature in your dealings. They very likely won't listen, people who hold a stereotype that closely rarely do, but we need to be the bigger people in all this. If for no other reason than to show everyone else that they're wrong about us.
That's all for now
May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you. Amen and amen
End of line
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The Nature of Evil
Evil's not a word that we use very much anymore and that's not a good thing. Sometimes it's the only word that can accurately describe a situation. We shouldn't shy away from the Truth of a situation because describing it would make people uncomfortable, that's not honest and it doesn't help solve the problem in question.
Part of the difficulty is that people, by and large, have forgotten what evil really is. I hope, that with this post, I can shed some light on what I think evil is and what we can do to combat it.
One example of evil is the way that the Shank family was treated after Debbie Shank was injured in a horrific accident. She has severe brain damage and needs constant care. Wal-Mart paid for her care until Debbie's husband won a lawsuit on her behalf to help pay for her 24hr care. Wal-Mart then sued the shank family and won because they had a clause in her work contract gave them the right to do so. Their claim was that not only did they HAVE to sue her but they were also being generous and merciful because they were accepting less than they were owed. This is an example of evil. They knew Debbie's condition. They knew that her husband had to divorce her so that she could qualify for medicaid. They knew that her brain damage was so severe that she can't remember that her son died in Iraq and that every time she's told it's like hearing it for the first time.
What Wal-Mart did was evil without question. However the Shank's story was picked up by the media. News shows like Countdown with Keith Olberman showcased this and expressed outrage over the fiendish level of greed that Wal-Mart was showing. This, coupled with consumer outrage (and lots of prayer from Christians I hope) caused Wal-Mart to change their position and, as of today I believe, control over that money is back in the hands of Debbie's ex-husband.
During this story one Glenn Beck actually had the utter temerity to declare that the media was acting like terrorists in the way that they had handled the story. Apparently his stance was that Debbie has signed the contract so she was just out of luck. This attitude and the earlier example involving Wal-Mart itself are examples of the evil of the lack of caring about those who are in genuine need. It's selfishness made manifest and it's an ugly and evil thing.
There's also the evil of trying to lie about someone without actually lying. A good example of this can be found amongst people like Ann Coulter and some other radio personalities (including one who introduced McCain at an event, can't remember his name though) in their continued emphasis on Barak's middle name. Now while it should be abundantly clear to everyone that they're trying to pull a fast one we all know that it won't be.
For those who are wondering this is an example of lying without actually saying the lie. In putting the emphasis on Barak's middle name people like Ann Coulter are, rather coyly, trying to imply that he's a muslim when he's not. When called on it they try to spin the argument to say that they're only using his name and that there's nothing wrong with that.
If that were the case I'd agree but since I know what they're acutally doing I call them on it and call it for what it is. Evil.
To be sure there are other examples of evil in the world. They happen every day in all parts of the world. Murder, rape, child molesters, assault, etc.
How do we combat this you ask?
Well the answer is simple. The first part of combating it is to realize that God loves all of us and sent His only begotten son, Jesus, to die on the cross for all of us, and that on the third day He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Accepting Him as Lord and Savior is the most important step. (Remember folks I'm a Christian so this point of view really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.)
Second we have to come together and work towards changing society. We have to change the hearts and minds of the people so we stop accepting things like the aforementioned evils. We have to get our hands dirty. We have to treat one another with love and kindness and care for the poor, the sick, the widows and orphans.
If we did all that then the world would be a much happier place to live. At least I think so anyway.
That's all for now.
May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His Face to shine upon you.
Amen and amen
End of line.
Part of the difficulty is that people, by and large, have forgotten what evil really is. I hope, that with this post, I can shed some light on what I think evil is and what we can do to combat it.
One example of evil is the way that the Shank family was treated after Debbie Shank was injured in a horrific accident. She has severe brain damage and needs constant care. Wal-Mart paid for her care until Debbie's husband won a lawsuit on her behalf to help pay for her 24hr care. Wal-Mart then sued the shank family and won because they had a clause in her work contract gave them the right to do so. Their claim was that not only did they HAVE to sue her but they were also being generous and merciful because they were accepting less than they were owed. This is an example of evil. They knew Debbie's condition. They knew that her husband had to divorce her so that she could qualify for medicaid. They knew that her brain damage was so severe that she can't remember that her son died in Iraq and that every time she's told it's like hearing it for the first time.
What Wal-Mart did was evil without question. However the Shank's story was picked up by the media. News shows like Countdown with Keith Olberman showcased this and expressed outrage over the fiendish level of greed that Wal-Mart was showing. This, coupled with consumer outrage (and lots of prayer from Christians I hope) caused Wal-Mart to change their position and, as of today I believe, control over that money is back in the hands of Debbie's ex-husband.
During this story one Glenn Beck actually had the utter temerity to declare that the media was acting like terrorists in the way that they had handled the story. Apparently his stance was that Debbie has signed the contract so she was just out of luck. This attitude and the earlier example involving Wal-Mart itself are examples of the evil of the lack of caring about those who are in genuine need. It's selfishness made manifest and it's an ugly and evil thing.
There's also the evil of trying to lie about someone without actually lying. A good example of this can be found amongst people like Ann Coulter and some other radio personalities (including one who introduced McCain at an event, can't remember his name though) in their continued emphasis on Barak's middle name. Now while it should be abundantly clear to everyone that they're trying to pull a fast one we all know that it won't be.
For those who are wondering this is an example of lying without actually saying the lie. In putting the emphasis on Barak's middle name people like Ann Coulter are, rather coyly, trying to imply that he's a muslim when he's not. When called on it they try to spin the argument to say that they're only using his name and that there's nothing wrong with that.
If that were the case I'd agree but since I know what they're acutally doing I call them on it and call it for what it is. Evil.
To be sure there are other examples of evil in the world. They happen every day in all parts of the world. Murder, rape, child molesters, assault, etc.
How do we combat this you ask?
Well the answer is simple. The first part of combating it is to realize that God loves all of us and sent His only begotten son, Jesus, to die on the cross for all of us, and that on the third day He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Accepting Him as Lord and Savior is the most important step. (Remember folks I'm a Christian so this point of view really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.)
Second we have to come together and work towards changing society. We have to change the hearts and minds of the people so we stop accepting things like the aforementioned evils. We have to get our hands dirty. We have to treat one another with love and kindness and care for the poor, the sick, the widows and orphans.
If we did all that then the world would be a much happier place to live. At least I think so anyway.
That's all for now.
May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May He make His Face to shine upon you.
Amen and amen
End of line.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Weekend Protest
This past Sunday the tenth of February something amazing happened. In more than 50 cities in 14 countries more than 9000 people gathered outside various branches of the Church of Scientology to protest the corrupt and supressive activities of the RTC. I want to make it clear that they were not protesting against the faith itself, rather they were protesting the litigious nature and bullying tactics used by the organization itself.
Prior to all this I had stumbled onto some videos on youtube by Mark Bunker that he had filmed at a couple pickets. Digging further I found his website www.xenutv.com and learned even more about the practices of the Church of Scientology. I saw behaviour that one would more attribute to a cult rather than a religion. I learned about Lisa McPherson, Paulette Cooper, Operation Snow White and Operation Freak Out. I encourage readers here to visit xenutv.com, www.xenu.net, or to google the above terms and names. Do your own research on this because I cannot put into words my outrage at the things I learned.
During this time I happened to stumble on another video. This one having been posted by one the members of Anonymous. Over the following weeks as I did more research and watched more videos I became more and more convinced that someone had to speak out about the injustices I was learning of, and then a video was posted calling for a protest on February the 10th. The day that would have been Lisa McPherson's birthday, had she been alive. A video response by the Wise Beard Man was posted calling on Anonymous to peacefully protest, to please refrain from doing anything illegal. This advice was taken to heart and thus was Mark given the above apellation.
At the protest people wore masks, wigs and scarves because Scientology representatives have been known to follow people to their homes, take photographs for purposes of harassment and a number of other bullbaiting tactics that, to be perfectly honest, make me sick. The "Fair Game" policy is one that states any critic of Scientology is a criminal and thus fair game for any measure the "Church" deems necessary, thus creating things like Operation Freak Out.
That so many people came out in support of the protest shows that the angry masses of the body politic have had enough. Seeing so many rising up to speak out against what they believe to be an injustice warms my heart and gives me hope for humanity. This is how problems are overcome and this is how the voice of We the People is heard.
Being a critic of Scientology does not make you a criminal. It does not make you a bigot or a facist. It does not make you guilty of religious intolerance. It does not mean you are afraid. It does not mean you have something to hide or are against helping people. It DOES make you a rational human being who is willing to talk about things.
It makes you wonder that if Scientology is so focused on communication why do they forbid their followers from talking about their beliefs?
To those of you still in Scientology I encourage you ask questions. Do research on your own. If people won't answer your honest questions then something is very wrong. Ask a Christian, Muslim, or Jew about their faith and they'll gladly tell you about what they believe. Why aren't you allowed to do the same? Why is it that people have to sign a billion year service contract with Sea Org to get classes that they otherwise couldn't afford? Why aren't you allowed to defend your faith? Why is it always attack and never defend?
The answers are out there and I encourage you to seek them out.
That's all for now.
May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you, and may He make His Face to shine upon you. Amen and amen
End of line.
Prior to all this I had stumbled onto some videos on youtube by Mark Bunker that he had filmed at a couple pickets. Digging further I found his website www.xenutv.com and learned even more about the practices of the Church of Scientology. I saw behaviour that one would more attribute to a cult rather than a religion. I learned about Lisa McPherson, Paulette Cooper, Operation Snow White and Operation Freak Out. I encourage readers here to visit xenutv.com, www.xenu.net, or to google the above terms and names. Do your own research on this because I cannot put into words my outrage at the things I learned.
During this time I happened to stumble on another video. This one having been posted by one the members of Anonymous. Over the following weeks as I did more research and watched more videos I became more and more convinced that someone had to speak out about the injustices I was learning of, and then a video was posted calling for a protest on February the 10th. The day that would have been Lisa McPherson's birthday, had she been alive. A video response by the Wise Beard Man was posted calling on Anonymous to peacefully protest, to please refrain from doing anything illegal. This advice was taken to heart and thus was Mark given the above apellation.
At the protest people wore masks, wigs and scarves because Scientology representatives have been known to follow people to their homes, take photographs for purposes of harassment and a number of other bullbaiting tactics that, to be perfectly honest, make me sick. The "Fair Game" policy is one that states any critic of Scientology is a criminal and thus fair game for any measure the "Church" deems necessary, thus creating things like Operation Freak Out.
That so many people came out in support of the protest shows that the angry masses of the body politic have had enough. Seeing so many rising up to speak out against what they believe to be an injustice warms my heart and gives me hope for humanity. This is how problems are overcome and this is how the voice of We the People is heard.
Being a critic of Scientology does not make you a criminal. It does not make you a bigot or a facist. It does not make you guilty of religious intolerance. It does not mean you are afraid. It does not mean you have something to hide or are against helping people. It DOES make you a rational human being who is willing to talk about things.
It makes you wonder that if Scientology is so focused on communication why do they forbid their followers from talking about their beliefs?
To those of you still in Scientology I encourage you ask questions. Do research on your own. If people won't answer your honest questions then something is very wrong. Ask a Christian, Muslim, or Jew about their faith and they'll gladly tell you about what they believe. Why aren't you allowed to do the same? Why is it that people have to sign a billion year service contract with Sea Org to get classes that they otherwise couldn't afford? Why aren't you allowed to defend your faith? Why is it always attack and never defend?
The answers are out there and I encourage you to seek them out.
That's all for now.
May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you, and may He make His Face to shine upon you. Amen and amen
End of line.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Hatred
Each and every one of us has had to face hatred at some point in our lives. Its an isidious thing that can be as simple as someone making a snide comment about your choice of clothing, or as blatant as using racial epitaphs and violence. In any case it is not just wrong its evil. The problem is that we've run into in recent years is confusing real hate with politcal disagreements or diferences in philosophical and religious beliefs. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an end in sight for that particular problem. What's most bothersome about it all is that so many problems could be solved if people just talked to one another.
The reason I'm talking about this is because of recent events at a site where I am a frequent poster. Gamepolitics.com is a site that talks about the gaming industry and how it relates to politics.( I mentioned them in an earlier post for those who are interested) A fellow poster there takes every opportunity he can to denigrate religion in general and Christianity in particular; even when religion has nothing to do with the news story in question. He has been asked, repeatedly, to knock it off only to have him turn around and tell us that, those of us who are Christians, are just too ignorant and superstitious to understand him and if we only gave up the things we believe in then we'd see everything his way.
Now don't get me wrong, the guy has every right to his beliefs; and I'd never claim otherwise. He's made his choice and, as a Christian, all I can really do is accept that he's made that choice and pray for him. He accuses Christians of being full of hate and wanting to legislate their faith into being the law of the land. Despite being shown the error of his logic, nope he's right and we're all just too stupid to realize it.
I'll be honest, there are things I disagree with and I'll make it known that I think certain behaviours are right or wrong. That doesn't mean I hate the person doing them, and that doesn't mean that I hate them for thinking differently than me. I actually rather like people most of the time.
My caution to everyone is this. Don't get so caught up in the "us vs. them" mentality that you lose sight of trying to actually solve problems. Remember the first rule of the fanatic: "When you become obsessed with the enemy you become the enemy". You don't have to agree with someone, but at least have the decency to listen to their arguments. Don't berate them for thinking differently than you, you can see where they might be coming from without agreeing with their philosophies. If people were more honest about that kind of thing there would be a lot fewer problems in the world.
That's all for now all. May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you, may He make His Face to shine upon you. Amen and amen
End of line.
The reason I'm talking about this is because of recent events at a site where I am a frequent poster. Gamepolitics.com is a site that talks about the gaming industry and how it relates to politics.( I mentioned them in an earlier post for those who are interested) A fellow poster there takes every opportunity he can to denigrate religion in general and Christianity in particular; even when religion has nothing to do with the news story in question. He has been asked, repeatedly, to knock it off only to have him turn around and tell us that, those of us who are Christians, are just too ignorant and superstitious to understand him and if we only gave up the things we believe in then we'd see everything his way.
Now don't get me wrong, the guy has every right to his beliefs; and I'd never claim otherwise. He's made his choice and, as a Christian, all I can really do is accept that he's made that choice and pray for him. He accuses Christians of being full of hate and wanting to legislate their faith into being the law of the land. Despite being shown the error of his logic, nope he's right and we're all just too stupid to realize it.
I'll be honest, there are things I disagree with and I'll make it known that I think certain behaviours are right or wrong. That doesn't mean I hate the person doing them, and that doesn't mean that I hate them for thinking differently than me. I actually rather like people most of the time.
My caution to everyone is this. Don't get so caught up in the "us vs. them" mentality that you lose sight of trying to actually solve problems. Remember the first rule of the fanatic: "When you become obsessed with the enemy you become the enemy". You don't have to agree with someone, but at least have the decency to listen to their arguments. Don't berate them for thinking differently than you, you can see where they might be coming from without agreeing with their philosophies. If people were more honest about that kind of thing there would be a lot fewer problems in the world.
That's all for now all. May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you, may He make His Face to shine upon you. Amen and amen
End of line.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Tragedy
There are tragic times in life. I think we can all agree on that point. Bad things happen and hit us in the heart, it makes us angry, depressed and sometimes it makes us feel like ending it all. Sorrow is a natural part of life, its a part of what makes us human. The ability to feel emotional pain is part of what makes us appreciate the good times in life.
As a Christian, this holds especially true to me. God never promised us an easy life. never said that there wouldn't be hard times while we were alive. I accept that, and most times I readily embrace it. Over the years I've developed a personal philosophy on the matter that goes a little something like this. "There are storms in life, this we cannot avoid. What matters isn't the storm you face, but how you face it. You can either stand up and look straight into the eye of the storm saying I am a child of the Living God, bring it; or you can crumple into a ball and just hope to survive." Lately it seems like there's just been one storm after another, after another in succession; and it is hard to maintain the faith that's seen me through so much.
From being bullied and emotionally abused for my entire time in school, to the trouble I've always had finding and holding a job, to my current situation of trying to get medical assistance to help pay for a hospital stay from earlier this year. I've come through them all, by the grace of God, and become the person I am. I wouldn't change any of it, because I wouldn't be who I am without those things that happened.
I mention all this because my sister was pregnant with her second child recently. She lost the child, and that's what it was, a child. (Don't go there in trying to say anything about that.) In some ways this storm is harder for me because its not me that's facing it. As much as my sister and I don't get along I've always had her back. This is something that I can't really help with and I hate it, but its a storm of life so I can either face it as above or I can retreat.
If you take nothing else away from this post take this. God loves us. He doesn't allow these things to happen in order to cause us harm. We have to trust that God, our Abbah Father, knows what's going on and that there are reasons for them that we are unaware. Its hard sometimes, and its never truly easy; but it is what it is.
That's all for now all. May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you, may He make His Face to shine upon you. Amen and amen.
End of line.
As a Christian, this holds especially true to me. God never promised us an easy life. never said that there wouldn't be hard times while we were alive. I accept that, and most times I readily embrace it. Over the years I've developed a personal philosophy on the matter that goes a little something like this. "There are storms in life, this we cannot avoid. What matters isn't the storm you face, but how you face it. You can either stand up and look straight into the eye of the storm saying I am a child of the Living God, bring it; or you can crumple into a ball and just hope to survive." Lately it seems like there's just been one storm after another, after another in succession; and it is hard to maintain the faith that's seen me through so much.
From being bullied and emotionally abused for my entire time in school, to the trouble I've always had finding and holding a job, to my current situation of trying to get medical assistance to help pay for a hospital stay from earlier this year. I've come through them all, by the grace of God, and become the person I am. I wouldn't change any of it, because I wouldn't be who I am without those things that happened.
I mention all this because my sister was pregnant with her second child recently. She lost the child, and that's what it was, a child. (Don't go there in trying to say anything about that.) In some ways this storm is harder for me because its not me that's facing it. As much as my sister and I don't get along I've always had her back. This is something that I can't really help with and I hate it, but its a storm of life so I can either face it as above or I can retreat.
If you take nothing else away from this post take this. God loves us. He doesn't allow these things to happen in order to cause us harm. We have to trust that God, our Abbah Father, knows what's going on and that there are reasons for them that we are unaware. Its hard sometimes, and its never truly easy; but it is what it is.
That's all for now all. May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you, may He make His Face to shine upon you. Amen and amen.
End of line.
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