The Dark Side of Nerdom

Nerds and geeks are not all fun and games. There is a high degree of sexism in comic books and at conventions, and a lot of over-sexualization as well. With people's imaginations completely unhinged, some engage the darkest parts of the human mind, and experiment with ideas like satanism and the like. You see similar problems in Dungeons and Dragons and other role playing ventures. I have seen people give themselves over to the darkest parts of the human soul and the world, and create images and generate ideas that I consider genuinely dangerous.

People must learn to guard their hearts. There are some things you want to expose yourself to sparingly, and some things you don't want to expose yourself to at all. The film THE EXORCIST actually has an important message: about the sacrifice priests make for those in their charge. But there are two scenes in this film I wish I'd never seen at all. They could've just edited them out, or I could've done it myself. They haunt me and they have left a darkened corner of my soul. On balance, I wish I'd never seen the film. There are a few other films and shows that are like that.

These lines are hard to draw and no one can draw them for you. Generally, I'm a freedom guy, I don't like to build too many boxes for people to just sit in. But I say to you: be careful what you let within the confines of your heart. Darkness can creep in like a disease and rot your soul, and there is no easy cure for it. Sometimes it can leave a mark that lasts forever, and makes it that much more difficult to hear and obey the voice of the Lord.

Yet the Christian answer of just rejecting all this stuff tout court is self-defeating. If we refuse to ever play Dungeons and Dragons (which is a blast), then we cede control of the storytelling to those who don't share a love of Jesus Christ and the good. When I Dungeon Master a D&D game, it has morals and Christian themes, almost like LORD OF THE RINGS. So my fun is not morally neutral, and neither is the fun of those who are playing. Are the moral rules looser? Yea, they have to be for the game to proceed as they should, and really they are in stories like RINGS. But the Christian themes are there, as any of my players can attest to.

This weekend we have a LARP game in my youth group. Some Christians would be appalled by this, and indeed there are plenty of LARP games that are appalling. But they need not be, and I don't think mine will be. Will it be all about telling the Gospel story? No. Is the Gospel story in there somewhere? You bet it is. I won't cede one of the funnest activities nerds engage in to the dark side.