Should Christians play Baldur’s Gate 3?

“You shall have no other gods before Me.
~ Exodus 3:3 NKJV

They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.” ’
~ Leviticus 17:7 NKJV

There is no Yahweh or Jesus in the fictional realm of Faerun. Instead, players are able to choose the gods they want their character to align with if they want to.

Therefore, BG3 to me is likened to the Old Testament without the God of Israel. There are warring gods, each with its personality. Gods, moral and immoral who grant supernatural blessings to the people who worship them.

Some of the gods I’ve encountered so far were:

• Selune – goddess of the moon, a good goddess of light.
• Shar – twin sister of Selune, an evil goddess of darkness, death and trickery.
• Lathandar – the good god of dawn, spring and birth of new life.
• Bane – an evil god of tyranny, hate and strife.
• Bhaal – an evil god of murder (Players are able to choose the Dark Urge origin to play as a spawn of this murderous god)
• Myrkul – an evil god of death

My point is that, BG3 represents a world ruled by pantheons.

As I played through the story, I encountered some disturbing choices. For example, in my play through Shadowheart’s (a cleric to Lady Shar) story in Lady Shar’s temple, I needed to pass the trials of Lady Shar. Where I needed to choose a character to slit their hand in order to spill blood into a basin to activate each trial.

One, pouring blood into a basin is worship, and two, for many players, there was no other choice except to commit this ungodly act to activate the trial.

Let us assume that a mature strong Christian was playing through this sequence: Perhaps he/she would be able to understand the context of the game but he/she should be disturbed.

But what if not so mature Christians or Christians ungrounded in Biblical morality play the sequence above? How would it inform their worldview when presented with immersive entertainment as such?

On top of this, there is a character who symbolizes Satan named Rapheal. He would constantly provide promises in return for the souls of his victims. Players can choose to accept his promises or not and choose to betray him later. No such thing when it comes to the Devil in real life.

Lastly, players are introduced to Mizora, a devilish fiend from hell who made a pact with a Warlock named Wyll. If players save her, she would give players the choice to dive into hell with her and have sex with her, yes, sex with a devil.

Giving in to demons and having sex with demons are a form of worship.

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion.
~ Leviticus 18:22-23

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
~ Romans 1:24-27

A reminder that I’m not citing these verses above to ask the question: Should everyone play BG3?

The question is, Should Christians play BG3?

A Christian has to be Christlike and Jesus the Messiah (aka Christ) lived a life with an utmost moral standard, according to the standard of God’s Law given to Moses. In fact, He embodied God’s way of life as the Son of God/God incarnate.

Not only did Jesus live a sinless life but His apostles followed in His footsteps after His resurrection and ascension into heaven.

The apostle Paul, a Jewish Pharisee who believed His Messiah after a supernatural encounter, further explains the moral Law according to God’s commandments in Romans 1:24-27.

Therefore Christians who are followers of Jesus the Messiah have to be able to:
1) Discern good from evil according to Gods’ Word
2) Live according to a lifestyle worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven

I chose to play as a male half-elf Bard in BG3. My orientation, straight. At least that was what I had in mind because the game didn’t ask me if I was straight. But I was horror-struck from allies like the vampire Astarion, the druid Halsin and the ‘catfish’ con alien – Mind Flayer Emperor.

Because Astarion tried to flirt with my character and I rejected him. Then Halsin revealed feelings for my character and I rejected him too. The last straw was the Mind Flayer, sitting half naked in a dream sequence who expressed romantic interest in my fully male, half-elf STRAIGHT bard. I rejected the advance in game too.

All I wanted if I continued to play BG3, was to be a straight male character who had a monogamous relationship with the cleric Shadowheart.

I also found out that Halsin turns into a bear to have sex with the player’s character when they consent to being in a relationship with him from a YouTube interview with the voice actresses of BG3.

Here lies the issue, the game doesn’t take into account your moral standards. In our case, the Christian’s upright moral standard according to God’s Moral Law. Instead, the game developers of BG3 are giving all players the same gameplay experience no matter if your character was straight or gay or lesbian or any other species.

We live in a shared world of different believes, sexual orientations and preferences. BG3 allows players to choose their preference of play so that every gamer in the world can play the game their own way.

Jesus said:

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
~ Matthew 7:13

Our lives were radically changed once we enter the Kingdom of Heaven by having our sins cleansed with the most costly blood of Jesus, the blood of the Son of God, blood of God Himself. We no longer follow the dictations of this earthly realm but the Word of God from a higher realm, from God Himself.

Now, a Christian can definitely reject the offers to get into a homosexual/lesbian relationship or sex with other species when playing BG3. Like what I did. But the content allows the players choice, it pushes the choice to the player. All I could do is choose a response that rejects the offer. What I could NOT do was choose a response like, “I’m sorry, I’m Christian.” or “No thanks, I’m Christian.”

I can’t even preach the Gospel to these characters in game to tell them that Jesus loves them.

Therefore I was genuinely offended by the advancement of these characters stated above because they assumed that my sexual orientation was free to any gender asking for it. I certainly knew that if I was playing a female character then it wouldn’t be awkward for male personalities to advance but the game didn’t ask me for my beliefs or orientation.

The danger then is for upright believing Christians who need to struggle through the immoral advances when playing BG3.

A young in faith Christian unschooled in the Word of God would not know the difference between moral and immoral standards when it comes to sex according to the Word of God if they played BG3. How would they choose wisely? Or would they just try all the different options out of curiosity to make deals with devils and watch the sex scenes play out?

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
~ Galatians 5:19-21 NIV

The list above summarizes all the content in BG3 yeah?

Continuing from the previous point, BG3 has a host of characters that players can choose to have a relationship with and trigger a sex scene with these characters.

The era of gaming and streaming has given folks liberality to consume sexual content that the previous generation never had immediate access to. Kids had ‘to go a mile’ behind their parent’s back just to obtain pornographic material in the 90s and early 2000s. But after the advent of streaming, porn is just a Netflix away and for some reason, I don’t hear or see many Christians championing against the media giants.

I taught in a Secondary School in Singapore (High School equivalent). 14 year old kids were watching shows like Squid Game and Alice in Borderland. Shows with adult ratings on Netflix. How? Via a simple 4 digit pin.

Content in movies is one thing, where I don’t have a choice but to follow the story. But a game like BG3 has definitely changed the way sex is consumed. Because now, players have an open world choice to choose the characters they want to have a relationship with. You might say to me, “Mark, this is not new! Sex was already in games from Mass Effect to The Wither games!”

Ok, I agree with you, but I played BG3 until a point where I found myself in a prostitute establishment. In it, I was given a choice to sleep with a female or a male as a reward for one of the quests. If I wanted more, I could pay up and sleep with the prostitute.

A game is very different from screenplay/shows because the player makes a conscious choice to perform an act through the avatar they are controlling. Even though the act isn’t real, the players have made a decision to follow through with the act out of the intent of their heart.

What did Jesus say?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
~ Matthew 5:27-30 NIV

Therefore providing players the experience to have a relationship with various characters, have sex with the opposite gender, same gender, an animal (Halsin transformed), an alien, a devil and a prostitute, is exactly everything that God will judge and condemn as sin to hell in His wrath.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
~ Colossians 3:5-6 NIV

Playing BG3 doesn’t put to death the above but brings the most ungodly intentions above to life. Leading to death of the soul without repentance.

But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
~ Revelation 9:20-21 NKJV

I only played BG3 once in a way that tries not lead my half-elf Bard into a life of dishonor. But like any gamer in the 21st century, I read up gaming articles on the various types of playthrough and watched countless YouTube videos on this ground-breaking RPG.

One style of playthrough that caught my attention was the Dark Urge playthrough.

In the Dark Urge playthrough, players become a child of the god of murder in the game’s lore, Bhaal. That meant the player’s character becomes an amnesiac with an urge to murder. Players are either given no choice in murdering some characters in the game or given the choice to murder at various junctures. Players can even give into the Dark Urge entirely which has an ending on its own. Or players can play through and resist the urge later, much later.

There are two problems here for Christians whose sins are cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Again, I stress that gaming is a form of entertainment that is an extension of you and I, the gamer!

The two problems in this Dark Urge option are:

1. Players must be murders as the game tempts players to murder. Players may be able to resist murdering with dice rolls but they have no choice but to watch the character they are ‘controlling’ enter into murder mode.
2. Players are a child of and bounded to the god of murder. That is not only idolatry, but satanic in itself.

You may retort with, “But Mark! It’s just a game!”

Think about it. If a Christian player plays BG3 for hours and hours, immersing themselves in the story and absorbing every detail of it. Even thinking about the game before they sleep at night.

Wouldn’t that consist of meditating on it’s contents?

The average playtime of BG3 is between 75 hours to 100 hours. Therefore, if a Christan chooses the Dark Urge origin, that would be equivalent to 75 to 100 hours of meditation on the Dark Urge playthrough! That is 37.5 times the hours we spend watching a 2-hour film!

But I have this against you: You let that woman Jezebel do what she wants. She says that she is a prophetess. But she is leading my servants away with her teaching. Jezebel leads them to take part in sexual sins and to eat food that is offered to idols.
~ Revelation 2:20 ICB

Jesus said in Revelation 2:20 that the evil Jezebel leads His servants away with her TEACHING. Teaching means DOCTRINE.

The content that we fill ourselves with is never harmless. Once we are hooked to the content, especially in a highly autonomous game like BG3, we allow ourselves to freely consume the content presented to us. We open up ourselves to it. Playing BG3 for hours means meditating and meditating on the ungodly content it provides us with.

If the Dark Urge run is not disturbing enough to gamers who are believers in Jesus to question the contents of the game, then I urge Christian gamers to spend more time reading and meditating on God’s Word to renew their minds towards following the Spirit – Whom God gave us to guarantee our redemption.

And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
~ Romans 8:3-4 NLT

I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us!

Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?
~ 2 Corinthians 6:13-15 NLT

The title header in the New Living Translation before 2 Corinthians 2:14 reads: The Temple of the Living God.

My stance is that gaming allows us to be an extension of ourselves because unlike movies where we are unable to control the fate of the characters, a game like BG3 provides us full autonomy in determining the kind of characters we choose to play and how to play our characters, with a massive degree of autonomy that out rivals other games.

And BG3 rewards players with great power when playing as a Warlock. By power, I mean the ability to deal damage and bring the battlefield into chaos with powers that are only available to a Warlock class.

Why am I picking on the Warlock class instead of the Wizard or Sorcerer class? The Wizard is a good student and the Sorcerers need to muster their innate magical abilities.

But Warlocks have made a pact with demon buddies to give them immense power. This alone should make Christians shudder with disgust.

But you might say to me, “But Mark! It’s just a game!”

Then I would retort with: “How would Jesus want you live?“

BG3 is not just a game. It’s doctrine enveloped into a game.

But I have this against you: You let that woman Jezebel do what she wants. She says that she is a prophetess. But she is leading my servants away with her teaching. Jezebel leads them to take part in sexual sins and to eat food that is offered to idols.
~ Revelation 2:20 ICB

Jesus said in Revelation 2:20 that the evil Jezebel leads His servants away with her TEACHING. Teaching means DOCTRINE.

The content that we fill ourselves with is never harmless. Once we are hooked to the content, especially in a highly autonomous game like BG3, we allow ourselves to freely consume the content presented to us. We open up ourselves to it.

Therefore a game like BG3 provides more power to players who choose the Warlock class because of the mechanics of D&D.

In other words, what message/doctrine is BG3 providing to players?

That partnering with demons will make you more powerful.

When a Christian chooses to play as a Warlock, not only would he or she have virtually partnered with demons in the game but also give the Christian permission in his subliminal conscious to think that partnering with demons is ok. When scripture clearly says that children of God should have no partnership with demons in reality or virtually by intention.

“And if any native Israelite or foreigner living among you eats or drinks blood in any form, I will turn against that person and cut him off from the community of your people, for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible. That is why I have said to the people of Israel, ‘You must never eat or drink blood—neither you nor the foreigners living among you.’
~ Leviticus 17:10-12 NLT

BG3 only allows one playable character to satisfy his Vampiristic appetite, the sassy Astarion.

In one scenario, my party met a lady in Kethorics castle named Araj. Who wanted Astarion to bite her. I was given a choice as the leader of my party whether to allow him to bite her in exchange for a powerful potion or deny her request because Astarion disliked the smell of her blood.

Playing as Astarion allowed players to bite enemies to regain some lost hit points. You could have him bite anyone to watch their reaction towards him. Having him bite the party dog will have animal lovers in the party responding violently murder him.

I once again ascertain that gaming is an extension of the player’s intentions no matter how entertaining it might be. The intention is very real. The threat is the numbing of the conscience.

When Gentile believers of the Jewish Messiah Jesus first sprang up, the early Apostles had a discussion with the Jewish believers who were Pharisees on what Mosiac Laws Gentile believers needed to adhere to as documented in Acts 15. The verdict below:

“And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.”
~ Acts 15:19-21 NLT

Gentile believers of Jesus must not consume blood according to Leviticus chapter 17 and Acts chapter 17.

Therefore content with explicit vampirism and allowing players to entertain themselves with the choice of sucking the blood of others is a serious violation of this Torah Law.