Banned AGAIN!

It wasn't but a moment after I landed on Lake Abyss in my black clothes [see picture on previous page], and started a conversation with a visitor, that head henchman and bigot Adonijah Eliphas dropped down on us wearing an enormous clipboard with warnings about sinners going to hell.

The conversation can be seen as an attachment below. What happened is that I was immediately pronounced a "slut", told I was a sinner going to hell, and that even if I claimed to be a moral person, I was LYING about that. Although Adonijah didn't know me at all in real life, he took one look at a pictorial representation of a computer game character, and summed up my spiritual condition purely from that (and from his prejudices).

THAT was exactly the attitude I had come to expose, and at the least I was gratified that I'd proven my point. I had expected some opposition, but without giving me time to change my clothes, Adonijah ejected me and banned me from the island.

Temporary Reprieve

A few days later, I discovered almost by accident that the ban had been lifted. I started to talk to Abner and the others there, and kept a check on myself to stay within the rules.

Calliope turned up frequently (as she had done on Truth) and complained that she and many others had appeared in skimpier outfits than the one I wore that day, but nothing had been said or done. I made the point again that "what I wear on SL is not what I am".

In voice Abner told me that I was "being watched to see if I prove myself" and that incensed me even more. This was some kind of court house, and I was on probation! For what?

I then tried to reason with Abner and Adonijah ( a hopeless assingment at the best of times!). I told them that they had overlooked the purpose of my experiment:

My Attempt At Reasoning

I tried to make a lot of really important spiritual points, but you didn't pick up on the inner truth of what I was doing and saying.

I started out at the first by telling you I had dressed that way on purpose. I said I'd come here, to this place, flouting a man-made rule for a purpose, and that purpose was to provoke the unrighteousness in your hearts, to bring it to the full...people do not actually care what my avatar wears when I tell them the truth about God. I am God's servant in whatever situation I find myself, all things to all men as Paul once said. If your lack of understanding and lack of love causes YOU to sin, then it must be demonstrated for others to see, and be warned.

What I did demonstrated that injustice and prejudice. I did not provoke. I merely landed on the island and said hello.

If Jesus Christ arrived on this island with a hooker on one arm and a drunk on the other, you would eject and ban Him! You wouldn't stop to consider His reasons and purpose in doing that. I have not broken any of God's laws, all that you are mad about is breaking YOUR petty laws. I was in fact fully clothed - there was none of my body showing, yet you accused me of leading others to sin. If the inclination to sin is in YOU, don't make it MY responsibility to shield you from it. If I had come blaspheming God, or naked, then okay, but I did not.

During all these comments, I was repeatedly being called a sinner, a liar, a slut and a whore, and condemned for my actions that day. I made no headway whatsoever.

Worshipping Idols, According to Abner

I stayed away from Lake Abyss, and let them think what they liked. When I did occasionally visit, nothing had changed - indeed it had grown in its inconsistency and added more violations of the "rules".

Now, there was a ban on wearing anything with the representation of a person, or a logo indicating your supposed allegience to it. A tee shirt with a picture of Elvis would denote, according to Abner, that you "worshipped" him, as a replacement to God. This was IDOLATRY.

I heard that Calliope was held in awe because of her supposed "griefing group" although she had plainly told everyone she had no group and they were "geeks" not griefers. Even so, Abner was terrified of what she had the power to do.

The final Straw

An acquaintance of mine from the old Truth days, Kelvin Rives, dropped by our treehouse home one day to tell us he had been on Lake Abyss and encountered Adonijah's boards et al. He too had been branded a sinner. They mentioned Calliope and said "we must live with the devil".

I told him my experiences of the place, and he was incredulous. He couldn't bring himself to believe that I'd been banned for wearing black.

Foolishly, I offered to prove the point. I said, let's all go there right now, wearing something black, and you will see what happens. I should have known that my probation would end in complete condemnation! I found something in my clothing folder that was innocuous, despite being black and made of leather. Kelvin and my husband also worse black clothes, a tee shirt and jeans, or something non-offensive. Then we ported out to Lake Abyss to await the inevitable.

It was a joke, really, and I should have known better. However, as soon as we all arrived we were told to change clothes, or else. It was a red rag to a bull, and in vain did I argue that we were decently and modestly dressed, all of us.

Black is Back, and NOT wanted

I'd had enough. This game wasn't worth the candle. First I'd been accused of griefing on Truth and permanently banned, and then I'd tried to make a new start on Lake Abyss and met with the same prejudice and injustice there, not to speak of gossipping.

I was willing to admit I wasn't the most conforming of people, ever ready to open my mouth when I should have kept it shut, especially when it came to unjust accusations. But did that make me an evil person who should be excluded from Christian company? In my books, NO.

When we three turned up on Lake Abyss to be immediately threatened with a ban if we didn't change our clothes, it got right under my skin. Why should we? What exactly was there about my appearance (see opposite) that was so offensive - to any sane person? To any Christian?

So I refused. That was the last straw for Abner and he immediately banned me PERMANENTLY THIS TIME. I had to laugh, even though the implication got to me. I'd had the last laugh in proving my case that night, that their rules were arbritary, unjust, illogical and partisan! Every time I visited the island after that, red ban lines stopped my progress.

Postscript: Lake Abyss sinks for ever

There was one small corner that remained free from ban lines, not that it made any difference whatsoever. From time to time I dropped by to see if anything had changed.

One day, and I like to think there was a purpose in this, I just happened to drop by and something was going on. Two men and Calliope (whom I'd seen there before) were chatting on the small unbanned piece of the island. Calliope flew away, saying as she did "watch".I don't know what their conversation was, but the island began to heave and change shape, and sink into the virtual sea. I saw a man hovering in the air, making changes to the island I supposed (I forget who he was, but I'd seen him before in Abner's company). I asked him what he was doing but he brusquely dismissed me.