Neirai the Forgiven
Christian Guilds List Manager
<The following story is fictional, but it is based on some totally non-fictional events>
The group of twenty-eight wounded raiders breathed a sigh of relief, brushed themselves off, and quickly and happily began to cast resurrection abilities on their twelve fallen comrades.
Onyxia was dead. Again. Now all that remained was to distribute her loot. Each raider dreamed of a shiny purple epic that for some reason none of the other raiders would want. Would a Bloodfang Hood drop? Maybe a Ring of Binding? Or, as the raiders all feared, double Nemeshards?
All waited with bated breath, as the Raid Leader approached the dragon and announced the loots.
"Nothing"
The Dragon's loot list was empty --- the raiders' hard work had been wasted, swallowed by a glitch in the game.
The Raid Leader knew what to do -- it was his only option. He ticketed an in-game GM and waited for the result.
The first result was very unsatisfactory:
This could not possibly be the cause of the problem. Did the GM even read the post, or was this simply an automated responce based on certain key words? The raid leader sent out another ticket. This time he received a different responce:
The Raid Leader was now completely confused. What did this have to do with Onyxia? Frusterated, he sent out another ticket.
This time he was contacted by a new GM. A real person! Soon, his band of brave raiders was rewarded for their hard work.
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So, what does this have to do with God? Well, not much. But it does have a lot to do with how we view God.
Many people view God as a system. They pay lip service to the idea that God is a person, but by their actions, they act as though God was simply an automated response system, incapable of rationally reacting to real life and instead acting irrationally, shoving all problems into a black-and-white set of 'cases' that don't actually fit the real world and then spitting out an automated judgement that confuses and frusterates us.
In fact, the view of God as an automated GM is so very prevalent in the world and even the church, that most non-Christians believe that this is exactly the way that Christians view God, and indeed that this is Who God Is.
Symptoms of a "System" God
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So what's the solution? Simply, treat God as the amazing person He is. God's not a Game Master who is simply killing time. He is a Guild Master, and He's interested in getting His Guild -- the Body of Christ -- to see the Ultimate Content of them all: Heaven!
If God is a person, indeed, a friend, and we are His guildies, His friends, we will totally treat Him and others differently. We will stop worrying about how He is represented to the world and whether or not He is doing the right job, and instead we will fall totally head-over-heels in love with Him as He crafts us into the team of raiders that according to Jesus "The Gates of Hell will not prevail against." That means we'll have Hell on farming status, y'all.
So, here's a new list of symptoms: Enjoy!
Okay, I know that was overly long, but you can read it while you wait for the servers to come back up. And really, people, we --- Christians everywhere, not just The Forgiven --- are the Guild of Christ, the Body of Christ. We are engaged in God's greatest Game, the World of God. The stakes are high, the rewards are legendary, the Guild Master is divine. If we follow His Will, we will persist, and the Gate of Hell will get their victims farmed right out of them.
Fine, kind of hokey, but still true. God bless,
John "Jr." den Otter,
Neirai the Forgiven
The group of twenty-eight wounded raiders breathed a sigh of relief, brushed themselves off, and quickly and happily began to cast resurrection abilities on their twelve fallen comrades.
Onyxia was dead. Again. Now all that remained was to distribute her loot. Each raider dreamed of a shiny purple epic that for some reason none of the other raiders would want. Would a Bloodfang Hood drop? Maybe a Ring of Binding? Or, as the raiders all feared, double Nemeshards?
All waited with bated breath, as the Raid Leader approached the dragon and announced the loots.
"Nothing"
The Dragon's loot list was empty --- the raiders' hard work had been wasted, swallowed by a glitch in the game.
The Raid Leader knew what to do -- it was his only option. He ticketed an in-game GM and waited for the result.
The first result was very unsatisfactory:
This could not possibly be the cause of the problem. Did the GM even read the post, or was this simply an automated responce based on certain key words? The raid leader sent out another ticket. This time he received a different responce:
The Raid Leader was now completely confused. What did this have to do with Onyxia? Frusterated, he sent out another ticket.
This time he was contacted by a new GM. A real person! Soon, his band of brave raiders was rewarded for their hard work.
---------------------------------------------------------------
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------------------------------------------------------
So, what does this have to do with God? Well, not much. But it does have a lot to do with how we view God.
Many people view God as a system. They pay lip service to the idea that God is a person, but by their actions, they act as though God was simply an automated response system, incapable of rationally reacting to real life and instead acting irrationally, shoving all problems into a black-and-white set of 'cases' that don't actually fit the real world and then spitting out an automated judgement that confuses and frusterates us.
In fact, the view of God as an automated GM is so very prevalent in the world and even the church, that most non-Christians believe that this is exactly the way that Christians view God, and indeed that this is Who God Is.
Symptoms of a "System" God
- Legalism: This is a real killer of would-be Christians and a real binder of current Christians. In short, Legalism reduces God to a set of rules and then forces us to try to meet them. It blames all possible misfortunes on not being 'Good Enough for God'. It stops us from worshipping God and instead makes us worship those who are 'more perfect' than us. Here's an example of this that could really hit home:
Tinie, cute gnome warrior and loving mom and wife, gets into a car accident. Instead of praying for her and trusting God for help and healing, and instead of praising God for her survival, a Legalistic Christian will instead say something like:
Thankfully, none of our guildies reacted like this. But you get the point, right? This responce has NOTHING to do with the actual situation. Instead, it simply got spit out because it sounded like it sort of fit, and didn't require any thinking. This is also the thinking that condemns Christian WoW players because they are playing a fantasy game.
What is wrong with legalism? Simple: It makes God out to be unthinking and less intelligent than, well, a demented lab rat. Moreover, it ties Christians down, making them seem like, well, a family of demented lab rats. Or maybe a bunch of Blizzard GMs that just want to go home or make a buck without helping anyone.
Yikes! that sounds like the way a friend of mine once described Christians: A bunch of people who just want to make a buck without helping anyone. Ouch.
- Judgementalism: This one is a real downer, and it goes hand-in-hand with Legalism, but it doesn't need Legalism to survive. Judgementalism happens when we set ourselves up as some sort of printer to spit out pamphlets showing that we are better than God at getting His message through to sinners. That's right -- judgementalism is a sin. And we are all very good at it. Including me, seeing as I just said "That's right -- judgementalism is a sin" instead of letting the Holy Spirit tell you.
Judgementalism just makes Christians, and as a result God, look stupid and 'backwards'. Here's another example, and once again, watch out -- it is hard-hitting.
Last year, Hurricaine Katrina hit New Orleans, causing widespread destruction and the death of many. Flipping on the TV, I was shocked to hear a preacher say:
One preacher even implied that this infringement was caused, not by God's wrath on wrong sexual orientation, but on wrong Racial orientation. This pronouncement implies that God 1) is nasty, 2) abusive, 3) acts without thinking, and 4) is Racist. Owowch!
- Having God at our own convenience: A third, serious result of viewing God as a lazy GM is that it puts us above God. Instead of seeing Him as being the one we worship, we see Him as an automated help system. We only pray when we need to "ticket" God. We ask Him for Epics, but decide He won't notice when we Ninja our way through life. We pester Him for Gold, but we refuse to give him any of ours. We prefer to solo as much as possible, then whine at him when life hands us any Elite problems.
It isn't like non-Christians can't see this and it is no wonder that they say to us "Why do I need God? I've got friends to get me through my quests and I have all the Gold I need to buy my Epics. You just use God as a crutch to get you up to level 60." OWCH!!!
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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So what's the solution? Simply, treat God as the amazing person He is. God's not a Game Master who is simply killing time. He is a Guild Master, and He's interested in getting His Guild -- the Body of Christ -- to see the Ultimate Content of them all: Heaven!
If God is a person, indeed, a friend, and we are His guildies, His friends, we will totally treat Him and others differently. We will stop worrying about how He is represented to the world and whether or not He is doing the right job, and instead we will fall totally head-over-heels in love with Him as He crafts us into the team of raiders that according to Jesus "The Gates of Hell will not prevail against." That means we'll have Hell on farming status, y'all.
So, here's a new list of symptoms: Enjoy!
- Acceptance and Rationality: When we believe that God is capable of rationally seeing the truth in the gray areas, as well as the black and white, we stop caring about spitting out automatic answers to life's problem and instead point people to God to find the answers to their problems.
God is capable of reasoning with you, and He has all the answers. Lonely? God has the answers. In a car accident? God has the answers. In a cancer ward? God has the answers. Homosexual? God has the answers. Unrepentant? God has the answers. Happy? God has the answers. Wealthy? God. Playing WoW? God. Playing Hooky? God. Playing God? God has the answers. Raising Kids? God. Getting Parole? God. Terrorist? God. Counter-Terrorist? God. The list goes on and on and on and the only answer we need to give is God. And not what we think God would say --- God! Any question can be answered by just trying to get to know God. So, how do people know how to find out about God?
- Living for God: Instead of trying to use judgementalism to get God's message accross to sinners, instead we just live for God! Who can be offended by people who keep their mouths shut but turn heads everywhere as they exhude God's Love? Yes, some people will take offense, but much less than if we spit stupid judgements at people. "Leave Judgement to Me" says God. Instead, live YOUR lives in such a way as to let people know what God wants out of them. It is a much better system!
- Being in God's Guild: Finally, instead of us running the show and treating God like a GameMaster, we should realize our own position as followers of God. Just like a raid group executing an Onyxia-hunting strategy, instead of a PuG group running around Onyxia's Lair aimlessly, when we follow God's will, we get further, and we win the ultimate loot of all --- souls for Christ, which will become new guildies in short order!
Okay, I know that was overly long, but you can read it while you wait for the servers to come back up. And really, people, we --- Christians everywhere, not just The Forgiven --- are the Guild of Christ, the Body of Christ. We are engaged in God's greatest Game, the World of God. The stakes are high, the rewards are legendary, the Guild Master is divine. If we follow His Will, we will persist, and the Gate of Hell will get their victims farmed right out of them.
Fine, kind of hokey, but still true. God bless,
John "Jr." den Otter,
Neirai the Forgiven
I enjoyed the read...Did you post this on any other forums? Because I think (perhaps with a miniscule tweaking) that it would be a very interesting outreach message about who God is.
