Wow, just wow. Read on.
Christian Children’s Fund provides “health care, day care, safe water, nutrition, education and training programs, and projects for handicapped children.” Thats nice. It was so nice, that even one of the biggest most influential gaming icons, the late Mr Gary Gygax, considered it his most favorite charity and apparently supported them now and then. But it seems, the CCF thinks such needy children arn’t so needy after all.
To quote the place I 1st saw this: Link
The fine folks at GenCon raised over $17,000 for this charity, which helps starving children in impoverished areas of the world–only to have that money actually turned down by the charity. The charity refused due to the fact that the money was raised partly by the sales of Dungeons and Dragons materials, which as we all know, puts an irrevocable taint of evil on the filthy lucre that us demon-worshipping gamers might want to use to, say, donate to starving children. Not only is this a slap in the face to every gamer, but it is especially insulting to Mr. Gygax himself, who I understand donated to their cause many times over the years. Plus, I’m sure the children who would have gotten food or clean drinking water with that money would be sort of upset, too.
As a gamer, I feel “those Christians” are pushing me away yet again. They spit on that which I cherish time and time again, and even giving donations to help the needed, seeing its from me, isn’t worthy enough to be accepted. As a Christian, I’m thinking, we need better PR representation here God. How are we to reach out if others keep slamming the doors?
As I read that article, I feel very sad. On so many levels. From the people who will reject Christ because of this article strengthening their resolve to not be like “those Christians”, to the kids who will not benefit from the aid they will need, especially with all this recession coming on. But before that, I KNOW any Christian worth their salt will ask, Weren’t they right in not accepting it?
Interesting question. This Link gives an interesting look:
Q:Mother Theresa accepted donations for her work from all sources – regardless of the background of the donors. She said that once the money was in her possession, she would put it to good use – its origin was irrelevant. Was Mother Theresa wrong to accept this money?
A:The only reasons I can imagine for it being wrong are consequentialist ones (i.e., the wrongness resides in the consequences such acceptances produce), and they strike me as weak reasons at that. First. the acceptance might encourage illegal or immoral activity, by creating a demand or outlet for such activity. Second, the acceptance could be interpreted by some as an endorsement of the activity — drug or arms dealing, gambling, prostitution, etc. But you’d have to show (1) that the acceptance really is being interpreted as endorsement, and (2) that the perceived endorsement is causing something bad to happen.
Now, in Mother Teresa’s case, I’d have to say these reasons don’t hold. Both of them constitute what Mother Teresa would have considered the serious sin of scandal, and I doubt that she would have willingly committed it.
By accepting the cash, would CCF have endorsed them? No, I don’t believe so, they accepted from Gary Gygax and did not, I believe, come up to refute or otherwise reject his claim that he liked them. So why now, when GenCon, who yearly holds a yearly charity auction, and having choose this particular organization in memory of the late Gary Gygax, that CCF decided that the money was suddenly not wanted? Note: PART of the money came from sold D&D products btw, not all.
Some of you may still be thinking, its “sin money”, its unacceptable. I don’t believe so:
Now, to clarify, before I started even touching D&D, I did about 3 months of research about it. I read stuff by Christians condemning it, I read gamers who counter condemned them back (equally pathetic arguments half the time), and I also read about Christian Gamers, they were the most insightful of all. But the killer, was about investigative reports to those who claimed their kids were killed by D&D and all such things. Yes, they were fake. Heck, it reeks of Jack Thompson, the “christian” lawyer who capitalizes the deaths of others by spouting his lies infront of national TV with unverified(or made up, whichever) stories. By the end of the 3 months, I felt I was read to make an informed decision. I started reading the 3.5th edition core books. All 900+ pages between a sem break. Why so long? I don’t want to have to feel guilty or insecure about the possibility of playing a “demonic satanic hell-bringing” game, I want to be able to enjoy it fully without no pangs of my consciousness, to play it openly and be confident of my decision. But thats a story for another day.
So no, IMHO, it isn’t a sin. I have done many sinful things, D&D isn’t one of them. Its like music, it can worship the devil, it can worship God(Christian Rock is NOT an oxymoron!). In D&D, they gear the game towards “good overcoming evil”, especially in the 4th edition(so I heard). Music is easier to use for demonic purposes than D&D imo, infact i can confidently say, more people use music for less than “holy” purposes than D&D does. So, it is not so much as Music(like say rock) is unholy, but more its use is. In D&D, I myself stay away from including much religious stuff in, be it Clerical deities, or from real life influence. It will always be about good overcoming evil, Good clerics vs Bad clerics, etc etc. I made up my mind, no evil necromancer games for me.
Now the other thing that pissed me off:
This reminds me of a very recent trip of Mr Burlew’s comic, This , where basically she asks: …So, the real question is: Is your financial outlook so rosy that you can afford NOT to accept this money based solely on the assumption that all said about D&D is right?
CCF is saying, they do not wish to use that money to help provide “health care, day care, safe water, nutrition, education and training programs, and projects for handicapped children.” I promise you, if i needed healthcare, water, education and all that, and some stranger on the street offered me them, I really don’t care who gives it to me, I’ll take it, say thank you, and use it wisely.
Is CCF really so well funded and the kids so well taken care off that they can say no? Amazing, I know they won’t be a charity I will support nor seek to go under. If I see starving kids around me, and I ask CCF for money, the last thing I would want to hear is a “No, but we were offered some money but unfortunately part of it is possibly demonic, so yea, Amy there is going to die of starvation after all. Pity.”
I would smack that person, and scream SHOW ME THE MONEY!
Maybe it is because my family background is one of less than stellar financial status, I dunno. Saying no to money to the needy? If a friend won a lottery and gave me one million, ill accept it, and most probably use most for donation, but still, its one million towards a POSITIVE change.
Rome 13:14 says: Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
You not only hurt the kids, you hurt one of the (imo)hardest to reach people groups, atheist gamers.
Ahhh, I have so much more to say, my heart feels so heavy. So I’ll end it early.
I believe in WWJD, Its a good idea to keep it in mind. Thus, when I read this, I see myself in this scenario:
I am standing on a hill, a guy on my left, a malnourished kid on my right, and Jesus standing infront of me. The man, he won the lottery and wishes to give me part of it to donate to some kids who are lacking basic necessities. I know he may gamble the rest away, maybe invest it instead, maybe even give it all away, but I know how he received it, and he is offering it with sincerity. The kid, she lack proper food, clean water, probably education and love. She is reaching out to me, her skin dirty, her smile filled with yellow unkept teeth, but her eyes, they look into my soul with sharp clarity. As tears well down her cheek, it begs of love and acceptance. I really want to help her, so I turn to Christ for counsel. When I look at Him, I feel the need to look at the man once again. When I turn to look at him, I finally notice his eyes, they too are crystal clear. Just like the child’s eyes, it begs of love and acceptance, they are both wanting the same thing deep down inside, the needs manifest differently. I look down and ponder, what I should do. Do I tell the girl to go away, unfed, unwashed, with no one to look after her, and then tell the guy, I don’t want his money, it is dirty? Or do I go against the Book, take the money give it to the child, and hug both of them really really tight…. then have my Peers condemn it as a sin? As i look up back to God, I am reminded about the bible verse on breaking the Sabbath day to help others. I know what the real question at stake is. How important is keeping Sabbath to you?
Note: longer question for those who did not get it, Is your love for these people greater than the need to keep the law? Or is love the overriding factor? Is it the root of the reason God gave us such Law?
Updates: Link
Right, they couldn’t sort things out with the GenCon people, especially seeing that all previous receivers of the charity auction money was considered beneficiaries. But like the post says, good of them to reply so quickly.
God, Games and Girls 