Spritual Warfare
Posted by: doughboyinc <doughboyinc@...>
Perhaps a quote from St. Paul would be helpful in
explaining what we mean by war. "For our struggle is
not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this
dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly realms."
In the Christian worldview, all people are under the
power of sin. Willingly or not, and sometimes a
mixture of both, we fall under the control of evil
spiritual forces. When Christ frees one from the
power of sin, one breaks free from the control of evil
forces. As Christians, we will come under attack from
those forces, and often from their human agents.
However, attacking the agents doesn't solve anything,
so we are commanded to fight the spiritual forces.
Hence, war.
Christians (ideally) do not attack people with other
beliefs in the manner of this world, either with
weapons or harsh words. Instead, we use spiritual
means to fight whatever forces are affecting a person.
There are many, including prayer and friendly
discussion. We don't believe in forcing anyone to
believe what we do (at least ideally), but we try to
explain the reason for the hope that we have, and let
God be their judge.
Unfortunately, I'm sure you've met Christians who
haven't lived by these ideals. As much as it could
mean, I'm sorry for that. Please know that I, and, I
bet, others on this list, would love to have friendly
discussions about our mutual beliefs.
-steve b.
--- Kurt McCoy <sheliakbob@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> --- Aaron Siddall <asiddall@tds.net> wrote:
>
> > > Occultists are not a small group at all.
> Wiccanism
> > alone has enough pull to
> > gain members as Chaplains in the US military. And
> > wiccans are just one
> > group, many of which work together. Most
> Christians
> > as a whole are
> > uninformed, and outmaneuvered as a matter of
> course
> > when dealing with the
> > occult, through willful ignorance and complacency.
> >
> > It is far to easy to forget this is war!
> >
> > -Aaron
> >
> As a Sinanist Pagan who happens to like
> DragonRaid, I really got to say something.
> "War?"
> While I respect your beliefs and your right to
> work
> toward furthering those beliefs with your brethren,
> I
> really must hope that you do realize that whatever
> you
> may believe about MY faith, I still have the right
> to
> practice it, to receive Constitutional protection
> for
> my beliefs, and to seek out the Divine in the manner
> that calls me, as you feel you have been Called.
> I have never lifted a finger to restrict or even
> belittle your faith. Please keep that in mind. Even
> if
> you do believe that I'm an Agent of Diabolical
> Powers,
> or some such.
> And really.
> "War"?
> I do, fervently, hope that you perceive this as a
> War against those entities and powers that you
> mention
> and not against the human practitioners of religions
> and faiths contrary to your own.
> I am not at War with you. I wish you nothing but
> peace and happiness, and applaud DragonRaid as an
> imaginative (and more importantly, fun) tool for
> presenting and teaching Christian ideals.
> Ideals that, in many regards, I actually share
> with
> you. (in my either "misguided" or Diabolically
> Cleverly Inspired sort of way. 🙂
>
> Oh. And my two cents worth--I think I'd avoid
> using
> Dwarves and Elves as player characters. Those beings
> DO have origins in pre-Christian belief systems--and
> represent supernatural powers in those systems. The
> very divisiveness of the issue on this list is a
> sure
> indicator of the difficulty many of your target
> audience would have with the concept. For DragonRaid
> to be successful in both its recreational and
> pedagogical missions, it should be acceptible and
> "harmless" to as wide a cross-section of Christian
> beliefs as possible. The goal should be to include
> as
> many and exclude as few as possible.
> Halflings are a somewhat different matter. They're
> really just congenitally short human beings. As an
> allegory, they should probably represent innocence
> and
> childhood.
> I'd use Elves as allegories for the hubris of
> knowledge and Lore--beings who believe that they are
> Wise enough to know and practice Truth, without the
> benefit of the Overlord's teacings--not evil, per
> se,
> but blinded by their confidence in their own wisdom.
> (heck, they'd make great teaching tools for dealing
> with Non-Christians such as myself--in allegorical
> form, of course.)
> Dwarves I'd use in much the same way as their
> folkloric origins, they are allegories for greed and
> the acquisition of material goods for their own
> sake.
> Again, not inherently "evil" but so focussed on
> gaining wealth that they have blinded themselves to
> the Truth of the Overlord's teachings and need to be
> led to more correct behavior.
> They'd be allegories of the driven Yuppies,
> people
> who have given their souls to their careers, as it
> were.
>
> In any regard, my best wishes are with you.
>
> Kurt McCoy
>
>
>
>
>
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