This story is sad on many levels. I just came across an article on foxnews.com about Hasbro’s new pink Ouija board. According to Hasbro, the board is designed for young girls age 8 and up. There are so many angles one could approach this but I would like to take a statement from the article because I feel like there is a deeper lesson to learn here than just the darkness and deception of Hasbro (dark for making such a product targeting young children, deceptive for lying about the intended purpose of the product). There was one comment that stuck out in the news article and I feel like it might be the most shared view regarding the product.
Toy expert and consultant Chris Byrne said he found “absolutely nothing” wrong with any version of the game.
“And if something doesn’t fit your value or belief system, you don’t have to buy it,” Byrne said. “There’s absolutely nothing remotely Christian or un-Christian about it. I think people are projecting their belief system on it.”
Did you catch that? Read the last sentence from the resident toy expert and consultant (talk about dream jobs). He says, “I think people are projecting their belief system on it.” I would have to agree with Chris Byrne. I do believe people are projecting their own belief system on the board and I would have to say that Mr. Byrne is also projecting his own belief system on the board.
What Mr. Byrne would like everyone to believe is that he is unbiased and has carefully checked out and analyzed the Ouija Board from an uninfluenced and nonpartisan eye and it is indeed harmless and not specifically unchristian or Christian. It is everyone else that is applying their own belief system but not Mr. Byrne. He believes he is not applying a belief system to the board therefore his position is the default position. This is a fallacy that is becoming more and more prevalent in our secular age. A nonbelief of supernatural or spiritual realms is just as much a system of belief as an affirmation of such things. A belief system that is based on the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ is just as much a world view as believing there is no God or supernatural events. No matter what your college professor, doctor, senator, attorney, etc, may want you to believe, atheism or secular humanism is not the default world view in the public sphere.
The fact is, every single person has a belief system or worldview whether they can write it on paper or not. In the public sphere there are no default worldviews only individual understandings of the realities of this world. The Christian world view has just as much right to be the default worldview as an atheist or secular humanist world view. What folks like Chris Byrne are trying to do, whether knowingly or unknowingly, is disarm the Christian from their worldview so it can be dismissed. He paints a picture that Ouija Boards are only bad because people apply their world view to it while completely missing the fact that he perceives the Ouija Board as harmless because he is applying his own world view.
Don’t be pushed around by this pathetic secular age we are living in. Stand boldly for your faith in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Affirm the truth of the Word of God and proclaim it in the public sphere without fear and without shame. For the gospel is the power unto salvation and there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved than the name of Jesus Christ.
