Any other pastors on here?

[PneumaPilot]

I was just wondering if I have the dubious distinction of being the only pastor who plays FG2 (or hangs around these boards at least) or if anyone else here is the pastor of a church?

Actually, there are four pastors in our Thursday night gaming group, all playing -what else? - World of Darkness.

[unerwünscht]

"ogre" (Cannon) and I are deacons does that count?

[PneumaPilot]

Well, that's interesting. What kind of church are you deacons in? I'm a Baptist pastor, by the way.

[unerwünscht]

I'm not sure that this is the proper platform for a theological seminary, and as my belief structure has generated issues in the past with the Fantasy Grounds community as a whole I think it best to refrain from answering that question.

[PneumaPilot]

Ahh, well whatever. Nice to meet ya anyway.

[wigwam]

I used to be ...!

[PneumaPilot]

Oh yeah? How long ago was that? What kind of church were you a part of?

[wigwam]

Baptist (Reformed). 3 years ago (for 8 years.)

[PneumaPilot]

Cool. I consider myself a 'Reformed' Baptist (In theology, not in the official organization). Are Reformed Baptists in England a certain denomination, or are you just referring to the fact that you're a Calvinist?

It's interesting that all of the Christian role-players I know are all Calvinistic Baptists. I wonder if there is a connection...

[wigwam]

By "reformed" I mean "Clavinistic". However, that's a poor definiton. There is a denomination of reformed baptists in the UK but they're called "Grace" Baptists. There are other denominations similar too.

As to the number of role-players. I am reall, really surprised as I had thought we would generally buy into the "Satanism" concern. Maybe the times really are a'changin!

[PneumaPilot]

There was an article in the Christian Research Journal about 8 years ago called "Good Fantasy, Bad Fantasy" that actually said that kids that grow up on fantasy games and literature have an easier time accepting the truthfulness of the Bible. I lent my copy of that journal to one of the teenagers that I was ministering to at the time and he kept it, so I no longer have access to the hardcopy, but there may be a record of it online. www.equip.org is the website of the Christian Research Institute, who publishes that journal. I'll have to check it out.

Additionally, I wonder if there is a connection between loving fantasy and being able to see God as truly sovereign in a Calvinistic-type understanding. When I read passages like Romans 9 and Ephesians 1, I have absolutely no trouble thinking of God like that. Actually, I love it. Some people do have trouble with it, though. It might be fruitful to study the phenomenon.

[PneumaPilot]

Ahh here's the link to the "Good Fantasy, Bad Fantasy" article: https://www.equip.org/site/c.muI1LaMNJrE/b.2721291/k.B2CC/DF801.htm

[wigwam]

Thanks for the link. Interesting article.

[PneumaPilot]

Yeah, I thought it was pretty well written. Now, I myself am a huge fan of the new World of Darkness (not so much the Old one - we tried a couple of times and just could never get it going - why would Vampires want to hang out with each other in the old version? I think the new games are much better suited to group play). The writer of the article seems to think it evil to want to act out the part of the antagonist or anti-hero like Vampires and Werewolves. I think that with the new World of Darkness, though, there is a much bigger emphasis on playing through the implications of a flawed morality or maintaining some form of Harmony. I also appreciate how in the new World of Darkness, gamers are given a toolbox of sorts to play their own games. You decide what the origins of Vampires and Werewolves are. You make the stories that explore various choices. I think that this can be healthy in the way that the writer of the article talks about the good parts of escapist fantasy. It is certainly not something that Christians should avoid like the plague. There are good experiences to be had here.

In our game last Thursday, we even dealt with the fact that a couple of the soldiers (our player characters) shot some Iraqis. They had to make moral degeneration rolls for that. I love that. You shoot a 'bad guy' but since he's human, the experience may cause you to slowly lose your mind. That makes for good roleplaying, especially if someone gets a derangement from it. Good times!