Forgiveness and Witnessing to Touhou Fandom!

[TheMewster]

I just got back into Touhou. My story:
I had grudges with 3 things- Neopets for wasting five years of my life, tv tropea for it's sacrilegious parts, and most of all, Touhou for it's bad spiritual content.

Tonight, God told me to do 3 things- visit the neopets homepage, go to Tv tropes, and listen to some good old Touhou Vocal Arrange. Ironic huh? Actually, God had me do this as proof of my supposed forgiveness towards these things. So I did them all.

As I listened to Christina Vee's cover of Bad Apple, God had me pause the loverly song so He could tell me something. It went somewhat like this-

"Get into the Touhou community and show them that Jesus loves them even though they watch a series most Christians would flame to no end. After all, if you claim to be preaching love to the lost but can't love those who were more lost than you think, isn't that hypocrisy? However, don't go in when it violates your conscience. Don't worry, I have chosen and trusted you.
Some will condemn you for making this move. Don't worry, you're doing the right thing-spreading the Gospel to all ends of the Earth. And I have trusted you to do this and not be influenced into the magic of this series."

So, any advice? Any radical stories of forgiveness? What would YOU do in this situation.

I myself think I will heed the call from the Lord. Any ways I can ease into it? Any good Touhou communities I can start on? Any I should avoid for now? After all, God told me countless times through my life to dream big and start small. Anyone have any encouragement and ideas? Anyone else wanna do this? (Not forcing you, as it may or may not be your calling, but it's still nice not to be the only one on the job, hehe.) God bless you guys and good night!

[Nate]

though they watch a series most Christians would flame to no end

Wait, what? Why would anyone flame Touhou? And it's a bunch of shooting games, there's no anime... o.O

I'm...confused by this thread. I really don't get it.

[Yamamaya]

Wait...wut?

Touhou is a....video game...much like...galaga....except with magical girls and stuff.

I guess some Christians might flame it, but uhhhh

[Lynna]

Cool! though I'm kind of confused about what others are saying about Touhou...
TV Tropes has sacreligeaos content? That's sad, since I've been looking around on that site and thought it was interesting...
I think this is just awesome though!!

[Peanut]

Wait, what? Why would anyone flame Touhou? And it's a bunch of shooting games, there's no anime... o.O

There is an "anime" of sorts made by fans of the series. Touhou and its fandom has made it into more then just shooting games.

[Atria35]

tv tropea for it's sacrilegious parts

AH, but at least it's sacreligious all across the board

Besides, one should be able to poke fun (or at least take lightheartedly) their own relgion. To recognize it as rather ridiculous and yet be able to believe it and hold it close is (to me) a mark of maturity.

Of course, I am going by the definition of

Grossly irreverent toward what is or is held to be sacred.

[Nate]

Every time I hear the word "sacrilegious" all I can think of is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUnH9NECSUU

[bkilbour]

I think this might help -
I had a friend once who was a wiccan. He hates Jesus, blames all of the world's problems on Christianity, and wants to see us all die. Somehow, I ended up being able to be his friend, perhaps because I kept buying him food XD
The guy said a lot of hurtful things, tried his best to harm my faith (and failed), and couldn't get along with me for quite a while. Well, I swallowed hard, and decided to do what God wanted me to.
That is, as much as I wanted to get away from this guy, God didn't let me, and He didn't let me stop trying to witness to him. By the time I had to transfer duty stations, he didn't mind Christians anymore, and even had what looked like a seed that might grow in his heart towards the Lord. All of the times I hung out with him, as hard as they could be sometimes, ended up being for good; at the very least, someone around us may have been witnessed to without me knowing it.

God worked through the whole situation, and He had control. I will pray that God will give you persistence and strength, and that you will bear fruit for Him in this.

As to the confusion of whether it's a series or not.... Well, it's a series of dojin, it has a continuing series.... and you watch what you play. Understood.

anyway.... God bless you in this, and may you thrive.

[Davidizer13]

Wait, what? Why would anyone flame Touhou? And it's a bunch of shooting games, there's no anime... o.O

There are shmups with more "sacreligious" content out there than Touhou - they're better-looking ones, too. (I've never played one, so I'm not sure how good they are gameplay-wise.)

Radiant Silvergun, for example, puts you up against a God-figure who wipes out humanity, Noah's Flood-style, then sends you back in time, kills you, and then clones you to restart humanity again and again until it breeds out its worse traits, and then Ikaruga sends you back in to eliminate said God-figure, doing so by sacrificing yourself. That's just my interpretation of the stories, and RS is still a pretty good game, but it's potentially a little more offensive than magical girls flying around and shooting lots of pretty pink bullets at each other.

Not that I can't handle it - like Atria said, a sign of a mature faith is being able to poke a bit of fun at your faith and to brush off the more frivolous criticisms of it. Personally, I don't really care that some game designers (ZUN, Treasure or anyone else) say that God is evil or ineffectual in their games, because I know the true nature of God, and He is neither.

If Touhou really bothers you that much, it's hardly the only game in its genre; if you want great games with lots of bullets to fly at you, without any dubious theology, play Batrider or Battle Garegga, or something from early-years Cave (before they got obsessed with score systems and Touhou-ish little frilly girls).

[TopazRaven]

Alright, what exactly IS this whole Touhou thing? I'm hearing about it a lot latley. It's a game, I get that, but what is it that's so bad about it? And dude...there is nothing wrong with Neopets.

[Atria35]

And you know, the thing is that I don't see how much of TV Tropes is sacreligious. Could you perhaps PM with some links to parts that you find particularly offensive?

[Yuki-Anne]

Every time I hear the word "sacrilegious" all I can think of is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUnH9NECSUU

I needed that laugh.

[goldenspines]

If you're referring to the communities focused around the doujinshi manga and anime of Touhou, bad spiritual content/magic is the least of your worries...

I speak honestly when I say the whole thing sounds fishy to me, but good luck all the same.
I encourage you to pray and read your Bible more concerning this before you jump headlong into a mission like this. God is not one to just say "do this" and leave the rest for you to figure out. He'll be there every step of the way, so He can answer your questions (on "where do I start?", etc) better than anyone could here.

[Davidizer13]

Alright, what exactly IS this whole Touhou thing? I'm hearing about it a lot latley. It's a game, I get that, but what is it that's so bad about it?

From what I've heard, it's got elements of Shintoism scattered through the series, and monsters from Japanese mythology, plus the associated magic you'd expect from a "magical girl"-type series. Other than that, the games themselves seem pretty tame.

The fanworks, though, are a very different story, containing all sorts of potential unpleasantness. You could say that about pretty much any fandom, really, but it's just that the fan community is a huge part of Touhou's appeal, especially since the games themselves are pretty hard to find (this happens with a lot of shmups nowadays, being a niche genre, but especially since the guy doing it doesn't seem to have the money to do big print runs).

[Wallachia]

Alright, what exactly IS this whole Touhou thing? I'm hearing about it a lot latley. It's a game, I get that, but what is it that's so bad about it? And dude...there is nothing wrong with Neopets.

The best way to show you what Touhou really is, fanbase aside, is simply to show you this:

Touhou 08 Imperishible Night Stage 5 Lunatic Mode (This fast forwards to the boss battles.)
Touhou 11 Subterranean Animism Perfect Stage 6 Lunatic Mode (jump to the 2:35 mark or so.)
Failing at Touhou.

Of course, you don't need to watch all three. I think the first one alone is enough.

[ShiroiHikari]

From what I've heard, it's got elements of Shintoism scattered through the series, and monsters from Japanese mythology, plus the associated magic you'd expect from a "magical girl"-type series.

Sounds like practically every anime from the 1990s. If anyone has problems with Shinto elements, well...it's Japan. It's part of their culture. dealwithit.jpg

Also nobody should visit TV Tropes. Not because it is "sacrilegious" but because it's a big freaking waste of time and they like to stuff everything into neat little categories and slap labels on them, and I just feel the whole thing is completely unnecessary and blah blah blah *mutter, mutter*

[Nate]

I'm on TV Tropes like all the time. It's probably one of the biggest time-wasters ever invented because you just keep clicking related links and stuff and then...oh I'll just get the picture.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

I'm on TV Tropes like all the time. It's probably one of the biggest time-wasters ever invented because you just keep clicking related links and stuff and then...oh I'll just get the picture.

This, so much!

[Wallachia]

I'm on TV Tropes like all the time. It's probably one of the biggest time-wasters ever invented because you just keep clicking related links and stuff and then...oh I'll just get the picture.
<Image Snip>

I like using them to find other shows with tropes I really enjoy, but it's easy to end up wasting hours reading content that sounds interesting instead of actually watching something.

That image though... It sums up what happens perfectly.

[TopazRaven]

From what I've heard, it's got elements of Shintoism scattered through the series, and monsters from Japanese mythology, plus the associated magic you'd expect from a "magical girl"-type series. Other than that, the games themselves seem pretty tame.

The fanworks, though, are a very different story, containing all sorts of potential unpleasantness. You could say that about pretty much any fandom, really, but it's just that the fan community is a huge part of Touhou's appeal, especially since the games themselves are pretty hard to find (this happens with a lot of shmups nowadays, being a niche genre, but especially since the guy doing it doesn't seem to have the money to do big print runs).

The best way to show you what Touhou really is, fanbase aside, is simply to show you this:

Touhou 08 Imperishible Night Stage 5 Lunatic Mode (This fast forwards to the boss battles.)
Touhou 11 Subterranean Animism Perfect Stage 6 Lunatic Mode (jump to the 2:35 mark or so.)
Failing at Touhou.

Of course, you don't need to watch all three. I think the first one alone is enough.

Ah, okay, I gotcha now. Thanks for the info guys.

[Yamamaya]

I'm on TV Tropes like all the time. It's probably one of the biggest time-wasters ever invented because you just keep clicking related links and stuff and then...oh I'll just get the picture.

Truer words have never been spoken. Tvtropes is a very addicting website. I can't count the number of times I've said, "Wait how did I get from Power Rangers to Getting Crap Under the Radar?"

[TheMewster]

OK, I have a responsibility to clear up some stuff.

First, I wasn't just bothered by the Shinto in Touhou, it was also the sorcery (and I'm not just talking wave a wand around, I'm talking Yukari Yakumo (formerly one of my favorite characters, how ironic) possessing shikigami (SPIRITS DOING HER WORK!) However, God wants me to at least forgive the series and not be so afraid to touch it with a 10-foot pole. Also, I think He can teach me things like discernment, which I learned A LOTS of first time in Touhou, and witnessing to a random fandom. Hey, I rhymed!
Second, just go to the Religion and Wild Mass Guessing sections on TV Tropes. I understand some of it may be PARODYING sacrilege, but WMG is just... well, I'm sure no one wants to see Jesus and God thrown around in there. Our poor Lord. Anyway, God wanted me to visit it again as an act of forgiveness towards it. (And it feels nice to see Christians touching that site with more than a 50-foot pole.)
As for Neopets, I was addicted for 5 years. I got out of my addiction LONG before becoming a Christian, though it was still an act of God gently nudging me toward Him. I had very bad experiences with their nonexistent customer service, and Neocash was shoved down our throats and STILL is today. It probably was purely God changing me that caused me to forgive the site for wasting my childhood. No way I could have forgave Neopets without divine intervention.
I've found that as I typed those things, it became even EASIER for me to forgive them! Thanks! It's the magic of CAA!
Anyway, can you reread my 1st post and answer my questions? BTW, thanks a bunches goldenspines for actually giving me advice.
Now if it were a voice out of the blue, it would be fishy. God is guiding me, though, and if He didn't want me in Touhou, I would be feeling SO GUILTY right now. I don't think He wants me to get as involved in Touhou as I once was or that would DEFINITELY raise an alarm!
Darnit, I was gonna ask something else but I forgot. OH WELL. God bless you guys!

[mechana2015]

Wild Mass Guessing is there for the wierdest theories... I'd suggest reading... any other part of the site that doesn't involve people just being arbitrarily random. You'll find it's quite different than you've described.

[Atria35]

WHat Mechana said about Wild Mass Guessing.... that's only for the wildest of theories. They aren't saying that those theories are true, just that they're out there.

I love clicking around that section. There is very little that is actually sacreligions- I myself haven't found it yet. I mean, unless you're just looking at the names, they could be taken that way. But actually reading the sections makes it pretty clear they aren't being disrespectful.

[Davidizer13]

Wait a minute, Mewster, what do you mean when you say you have to forgive websites and video games? The way I see it, if some gray-area thing causing me to sin, it's not that thing that has offended me, it's myself. From that standpoint, trying to forgive an inanimate object for the things that it's done to me just seems pointless.

[Lynna]

Wait a minute, Mewster, what do you mean when you say you have to forgive websites and video games? The way I see it, if some gray-area thing causing me to sin, it's not that thing that has offended me, it's myself. From that standpoint, trying to forgive an inanimate object for the things that it's done to me just seems pointless.

True, but aren't inanimaite objects, such as websites, sometimes personified? for example, if I say, "I'll never forgive Twilight for being so horrible!". If you hold bitterness towards someone, aren't you often saying it was all their fault and none of yours? Even if it's true, blaming them prevents you from moving on., and gives a false sense of "I was right and it's all their fault"
ugh...I can't even figure out what I'm trying to say...
Well, anyways, forgiveness, even if it is unjustified (like forgiving an inanimate object) helps you let go of the bitter feelings. So that's what she did, even if technically all these things did wrong was exist

[GrubbTheFragger]

EDIT: Unneeded post that could have come across judgemental, but not meant that way

[Kung_Fu_Master]

Wait, TvTropes and Touhou are a bad things?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw

[Sapphire225]

Touhou!? I still don't get it.Isn't Touhou just a shmup game with ludicrously huge amount of bullets and a vampire little girl as the final boss?

[ABlipinTime]

My comments on touhou can be found in this previous thread:
http://www.christiananime.net/showthread.php?t=58080&highlight=touhou


From what I'm reading, most of you guys view touhou as being just what it is: a game; you're not paying attention to the spiritual aspects infesting the game as Mewster sees. "To each their own" as the saying goes. I'm more than skeptical about the spiritual aspect of the game - I don't like it, period. However, that hasn't prevented me from giving it a shot every so often.

What draws people to the game? - the genre (vertical scroll shooter??) presented with awesome graphics manifest in swarms of bullets and accompanied by upbeat music. Heck, I like it, so I've been working on my own version of the game WITHOUT all the spiritual crap. (Currently in coding stage, but it'll progress farther than that I guarantee.)


I don't know what God's telling you, Mewster, but I'm praying that He'll guide you and protect you from all evil.