Hi Nicol,
Well,talking about someone's religious views, opinions, and beliefs is a
sensitive issue for this list. We have specific guidelines in place to
prevent listers, including the moderators, from flaming anyone based on
his or her race, religion, or gender. So I'll try and tread carefully,
and I hope I don't step on anyones toes when i do.
As you are probably aware there are several different opinions out there
what defines living a good, moral, religious life. I've met my share of
Christians who lead very laid back liberal lives, and I have met my
share of Christians who are extremely rule bound. Based on what I've
read in your e-mail your mom is the very rule bound type who sees sin,
evil, in everything and anything that isn't specifically religious.
Especially, games she doesn't like. Believe me when I say I know all too
well what that is like.
My wife's family, my in-laws, are a lot like your mother. I love Star
Wars, and my in-laws claim it is Satanic. I like the Harry Potter books,
and my in-laws say that is Satanic. I like a mixture of Country and Rock
music, and my in-laws say all music that isn't religious in nature is
sinful. Since they view most television shows as sinful the only
stations you can watch at there house is Home and Garden, DIY, Trinity
Broadcasting, and anything else with religious or home repair type
programming. You wouldn't catch them dead with programs such as Law and
Order, CSI, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, whatever. In my personal opinion I
think people like my wife's parents are obsessed and fanatical about
religion. However, it is their choice to live that way and I must
respect them for it even if I completely disagree with them about their
point of view.
So here is the point of this message. In regards how to handle your mom
regarding your choice in games weather it is Shades of Doom, Mysteries
of the Ancients, or something else you are not going to be able to
convince her to see things exactly your way. Having dealt with my
in-laws, which have a similar view about video games, she's already made
her mind up that these games are bad, sinful, evil, whatever name you
want to call it. The best thing you can do in a case like that is try to
agree to disagree. Try to look for areas you can compromise on without
totally surrendering to her views.
For example, your mother asked you not to play these kinds of games on
her computer, read e-mail about them on her computer, whatever. Since
that is her computer, she finds the material offensive, respect her by
not putting that kind of material on her computer. However, if you
download and play games on your own personal computer then your mom
needs to respect your right to do so provided it is on your own computer
not hers. You are a fully grown adult, and your mom not only needs to
respect that, but needs to learn she is no longer responsible for your
choices and decisions. I think most Christians would agree with me that
your mom and the elders of your church have absolutely no right to
invade your privacy, remove stuff from your computer they disagree with,
all in the name of religion. That's just flat out wrong, and falls under
the category of religious abuse.
Anyway, as for the deeper question, "is Mysteries of the Ancients sinful
to play," I'm pretty sure it is not sinful. Your mother's opinion that
Mysteries of the Ancients has to do with idolatry is simply ridiculous,
and is pretty far fetched. This is a perfect example of someone who
shoots off their mouth and haven't a clue what they are talking about.
All the while believing themselves to be holier than thou.
First of all, idolatry by definition is the worship of idols. If I made
you a statue and told you to pray to it that would be idolatry. If I
made you a cross, a picture of Jesus, or anything else religious and
told you to pray to it, worship it, instead of God that would be
idolatry. If I told you I was a god, told you to worship me instead of
God, that would be idolatry. Since you don't worship my game, at least I
hope you don't, that isn't idolatry. It is simply entertainment. Nothing
more and nothing less.
As for your mother getting upset over the word tomb in the title that is
irrational as it gets. Sure tombs are burial places for the dead, but
many are very interesting to study and explore. The Egyptian pyramids
once were used as tombs, and thousands of people have explored them over
the years. They have stood on the Giza plateau for the passed 4,000
years and still are marvels to study and explore. There are plenty of
other tombs equally as interesting, and there is nothing sinful, evil,
or wrong with studying ancient tombs. As someone who has a deep love of
history, archeology, and ancient myth I personally find it interesting
to step back in time and find out how people lived, what they believed,
what they ate, and how they died.
Unfortunately, there will always be people who are so personally
obsessed with their own religion that they condemn everything else they
believe is contrary to their religious point of view. We saw this with
the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, the mass burning of bibles
during the reformation, and countless other cases of where books and
other written materials were destroyed because of someone's religious
view that this or that was sinful and therefore needed to be destroyed.
One Islamic general put it this way, "if it agrees with Allah it is not
required. If it disagrees with Allah it is not desired."
In other words he was justifying the mass burning of books and other
written documents because his religion, his opinion, his views were the
only ones that counted. So all documents that didn't agree with his
religion had to be burned in almighty Allah's name. I've met people like
my in-laws that would do the same to Star Wars, Harry Potter, and any
other book or game they felt was sinful or evil. I'm suspecting from
what you wrote in your message your mother is another one who doesn't
appreciate ancient works like the Iliad, Odyssey, etc because it wasn't
written from a Christian point of view, and would happily toss it into
the trash or fire instead. That's a real shame, and a very narrow minded
point of view.
In conclusion I honestly don't know what to tell you that will help with
your mother. In my personal experience people like her aren't very
rational or open minded to start with. As long as she is convinced this
is some great evil invading her home, drawing her son away from the
Lord, etc she is going to continue to fight you on this regardless if
she is right or wrong by doing so. If this continues to be a problem the
best advice is to move out of your mother's home and live somewhere
where you can make those kind of decisions without being constantly
punished for it.
HTH
---
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