Question by Ms. Swan SFECU: I find it hard to believe that Dungeons and Dragons can make people become possessed?
I had a substitute teacher today who went on a rant about how the Devil can possess people through certain things, like tarot cards and Dungeons and Dragons. My question is: How can tarot cards and Dungeons and Dragons get people possessed? What qualities do these things have that make them more dangerous than, say, a Monopoly game or some Pokemon cards?
Or, where do people get these ideas from?
Best answer:
Answer by Odoomsayer2
I can’t believe it’s not butter!
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
He’s still pissed that some jocks level 3 Barbarian kicked the butt of his level 17 Bard in 10th grade. Give him a 20 sided die and tell him to throw a saving roll (with -3 modifier for a charisma penalty)
Dungeons and Dragons is a LARP game. It is in no way a ritual. Tarot cards do NOT posses people.
I find it hard to believe people can become possessed at all.
He or She is probably a Fundamentalist. They are crazy.
You are correct, there are no such things as people who are possessed. You should point out that once modern medicine came around, people stopped believing in said craziness.
ooookay…danks to you!
Wow, how inappropriate of your teacher. If my child came home and told me about those lunatic rantings that teacher would not be back in the classroom. Those things are games, your sub needs to see a mental health professional.
So do I. I don’t see how they get that out of D & D. Tarot cards is the occult though, so is astrology, Ouija, seances, etc. God told us very clearly to stay away from that stuff, I don’t know if it’s because of a danger of possession or what but I’m gonna just take him at his word and leave it alone. The occult can influence your life and that influence comes from the dark side. Monopoly and Pokemon and Dungeons and Dragons do not influence your life. You don’t ask them your future or what action you should take or anything. See the difference?
They can’t.
D&D is simply a game.
My brother played D&D in high school and college. He’s 39 and fine. Fundies see demons everywhere.
If you don’t tell him/her that she/he is insane you will regret it for the rest of your life.
i believe anything can be used as a weapon…. the one you mention about is just a weapon of choice….
if you think about it … whichever one is most excepted… is the one prefer… but card in general and other stuff can do just the same…
I don’t know where these people get their ideas from, but I have noticed they generally tend to be completely ignorant about the things they accuse of being portals to possession (as if there were such a thing to begin with).
I believe there is an undercurrent of evangelical christianity that teaches that the devil is real and amongst us and that it can physically enter people and cause harm. This is, of course, absurd, but they believe it all the same, and like to point out that all of the things they don’t like makes this easier (perhaps as a cloak for their irrational prejudices).
I would say that your teacher, in saying that, has clearly identified herself as ignorant, and she doesn’t belong at the head of a class, perhaps she should seek a job where her ignorance and superstition wouldn’t be such a liability.
Well, at least they didn’t tell you watching movies with demonic themes (ie horror movies) or witchcraft (ie harry potter) could cause you to get possessed. It’s happened to me, and I can’t say I trusted much of what they said from that point on.
Jesus said “Where a man’s treasure is, there is his heart also.” I remember I used to enjoy playing a certain video game, and when I was away from it, that game consumed my mind. It is the same with pornography or any other thing that you spend a great deal of time and effort on. Tarot cards or whatever.
Well people use tarot cards for telling the future…. But you can use an ordinary deck of cards to do the same thing…….. As for D&D, it’s because some idiot kids got carried away and acted out their campaign, down to the combat….. I can’t remember if any of them actually died, but it was pretty bad from what I remember hearing. A lot of people consider D&D to be an entry way into the occult, simply because it has magic and monsters and elves and that you pretend to be things you aren’t….. That’s a total crock about being an entry way into the occult. It’s just a game, nothing more, nothing less…. I’ve even talked to my priest about it, he has stated there is nothing wrong with D&D. Of course if you are not mature, or you are not mentally capable to handle it, then you shouldn’t play it, but for the majority of people it’s fine……..
Elf/Halfling 9th level Rogue/Sorcerer
I used to play D&D when I was younger. The idea that it can possess you comes from an old 80’s movie called “Mazes and Monsters,” in which one guy who was mentally unstable became too involved in the game and thought it was real. I don’t know if it’s based on a true story or not. A lot of times movies have an undue influence on our culture. Like in the first “Halloween” movie, there’s a scene of a boy in an emergency room with a razor blade in his mouth that he got from eating a candy apple. Since then the urban legend has risen up that says Halloween candy is poisoned or has harmful items in it. If you go check out snopes.com you’ll find that there have only been 2 known cases of poisoned Halloween candy, and that they were shown to have been relatives of the children poisoning them. But, the urban legend remains. It’s all scare tactics by candy companies that don’t want you to make homemade sweets.
But I digress. D&D is a game. I think some fundamental Christians don’t like the fact that the characters supplicate to made up gods, but it is really just a game, as long as you don’t take it too seriously. At any rate, as a RCIA candidate and soon to be Catholic convert, I would agree with someone’s point about where you put your treasure. Is it better to spend 6 hours playing a video game or D&D or to spend that 6 hours making the world a better place, like volunteering at a homeless shelter or picking up trash at your local park?
No, no no. That’s just ridiculous. That’s just an over-literal reaction to a perfectly legitimate concern…. that magical fantasies can distract or draw one away from their religion. Instead of using any nuance to examine the issue, they go overboard and try to scare people into thinking they’ll get possessed by the devil. Looks like it worked with your sub.
Sheesh!
allecat is right. D&D is just a game. My mom thinks it’s evil too and so does one of her friends but as allecat said our priest says there’s nothing wrong with it. it’s just a game nothing more nothing less. i also agree that if you are not mature enough or mentally stable enough to handle it then you shouldn’t play it.
That sub sounds like a major tool and has no business trying to impose personal beliefs on students to begin with. I’d report him/her to the principal – no telling what other drivel they might be trying to pass along to students.
I have played D&D for nearly 30 years, and I can guarantee no one gets possessed through the game.
It does sound like this person is A) misinformed, and B) seriously over religious. I, too, would report this to the principal, but I would take a witness or 3 to corroborate the story. It does sound like he’s trying to push religious beliefs to kids in an arena he should not be doing so.
Your sub had no right to go on a rant like that, do report him. At least tell your parents about the incident. D&D is a game, its no big deal. Tarot cards may be a different story, as the use of them is trying to know things that really aren’t supposed to be known…who knows! But possession? Ridiculous!