[Antoninus]

Then I understood, and came back to my faith, and now fight against your kind because I know personally just how damaging you are to people's faith, everything you accuse D&D and fantasy metal and HP of being is what you are, you send people away from the faith, you send people to investigate the occult in search of some alternate way that doesn't have people that condemn others for fun.

I can see it's pointless to debate this point with you. You are clearly a victim of evil Christians who scorned you in your youth. A societal outcast, if you will. You have managed to channel your rage at this unjust intolerance into a heroic mission--to defend fandom against all those evil Fundies and Catholics who would dare critize it. In the dark of night, you don your spandex suit with the giant "T" embroidered on it--you are Tolerance Man.

Sorry bud. As I said, I was in your shoes once. But I escaped from the pathetic escapism and conformist vapidity that rules the world of fandom. It's amusing now to remember how seriously I took it all at the time.

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child."

Someday, perhaps you will too.

[discostu]

I was clearly a victim of dorks that love to condemn people and called themselves Christian. But the truth is the constant condemners aren't really Christians, they don't follow any of the rules. They pretend to know God's will by telling people what kind of music He will and won't accept you listening to, they judge constantly and react very aggresively when judged, they don't attempt to teach.

No I wasn't a societal outcast, I found myself a society, gamers and metal heads. No I chanel my annoyance at the constant condemners in a simple mission: to point out what a bunch of hypocritical assholes they are. I have no problem with Fundamentalists or Catholics, so long as they actually understand the teaching and don't constantly condemn people just because they have different tastes in entertainment.

No you were never in my shoes, you were one of those screwed up kids I mentioined a while ago. You were a wreck going down the wrong path before you ever discovered gaming or metal and now you blame the gaming and the metal, but if you honestly assessed you'd aknowledge the truth, you were on that path before. And I can see it in one sentence " It's amusing now to remember how seriously I took it all at the time", I don't take it serious, it's fun stuff to pass the time, enjoyable music to keep me energized at work, and the method I've used to develop most of my important friendships in life. I listen to Spinal Tap just to make sure I DON'T take it seriously. The only part of the whole thing I take seriously is how people like YOU drive metal fans and gamers away from the faith, people driving others away from the faith is serious, harmless forms of entertainment are not, and anybody that took them serious was a screwed up kid on the path ruin.

I'm 35 years old, married for 13 years, well respected in the local area of my field for my skills, paid hansomely, and not in debt. I think as a man, I understand as a man, and I entertain myself with things made by men. Deal with it.