Christians and DnD

[rich]

I like Lasagna.

It's really quite yummy.

Some folks like it with Eggplant, but I prefer ground beef. The amount of Ricotta to be used is a point of debate, of course, and whether to use those precooked noodles or not.

Some folks prefere Manicotti, and don't even like Lasagna.

Heck, some folks doen't even like pasta.

Me, I really like Lasagna.

Like I said: it's yummy.

Of course -- everyone should like Lasagna!!!
The people who like it with Eggplant are in serious need of psychotherapy
Those who don't even like Lasagna should be locked up -- there is no hope for them!
You are a good person for liking Lasagna.

 

[drnuncheon]

Why the dissing for Chaotic? This is something that annoys me, not just from him, but from within the RP community, too. I fail to see how Chaos, as listed in the books, is any less Good than Law. Yet, he presents this idea without any rationale or explanation.

In the old Basic D&D books, where they only had one alignment axis, 'chaotic' basically included 'evil'.

J

 

[Dimwhit]

That guy cracks me up. The comic almost made me laugh.

D&D is as dangerous as any hobby. If you spend to much time with it, you can start neglecting the more important parts of your life (like friends, family, spirituality, etc.). Unless, of course, D&D IS the most important part of your life.

I'm Christian, and quite active in my church. Never had a conflict.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

True that, brother. True that. The only TWO things better then "Meat and Potatoes" (What's 'taters, precious?) is "meat and meat" or "meat, potatoes and corn".


In regards to topic. I always find it iritating that D&D (they can't even really distinguish that there are other RPGs for the most part, notice that) gets a bad wrap when there's millions of screaming idiots devoted far more to Football (both the U.S. version and the version the rest of the world cares about), Basketball, Baseball, WOmen Synchronized Swimming and Hockey (and Dodgeball!) then even thier own family, friends and any religion they might choose to go for.

They paint themselves, lose thier lives to gambling on them, quote statistics and players better then they can the 10 Commandments & the names of the Apostles. They ditch work, lie and cheat to get to games. In some cases they destroy stadiums, kill people and riot in the streets. Look at that idiot who was basically marked for death in Chicago because he reached out and touched the ball at that Cubs game.

AMEN! Woooo! Testify!!! WOOOOOO!

(Avid Sports-Atheist)

 

[WizarDru]

In the old Basic D&D books, where they only had one alignment axis, 'chaotic' basically included 'evil'.

Which, it should be noted, was taken primarily from Moorcock's Elric, where Chaos' goal is to destroy the universe. Of course, one could argue that Law isn't really at that nice in Elric's world, either....but that's another topic entirely.

 

[RFisher]

The problem with Chick is that he's so afraid to live for fear that anything might lead him astray. Yes, just about anything can get between you & God, but that doesn't mean you should hide in cave. We (Christians) are not called to be of the world, but we're called to be in the world.

D&D can also be a tool for exploring, exercising, & discussing faith. And, gee, it's dripping with as much Christian trappings as non-Christian, they just aren't explicitly labelled as such. For most people, D&D is more often about Good vs. Evil as defined by our heavily Judeo-Christian influenced culture than anything else.

Chick & co. then go on to use any logical flaws they can come up with to try to convince the rest of us that we should be as cloistered & paranoid as them. Fortunately, they're a very teeny minority & the flaws in their logic are easy to see.

 

[Kesh]

If a holy text says "suffer not a witch/sorcerer to live" then there should be no debate.

Actually, there's still some room for debate. Not everyone agrees on the translation for this particular passage.

 

[DonaldRumsfeldsTofu]

All I have to say to Jack Chick and all of the people at Chick Publishings, or whatever the hell it's called are the words of a very wise man.

"Judge not, lest ye be judged"~Matthew 7:1

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I think what people call 'extremism' is the only real form of belief. Far to many religions try to soften thier message to get more belivers in the modern era. It is almost as bad as sqeemish people who pick and choose parts of religeons that don't go against thier spineless modernism. I don't want to think of just how irate gods get when people invoke them and then fail to give proper sacrifices.

If a holy text says "suffer not a witch/sorcerer to live" then there should be no debate.

hmmm... troll, joke or serious? The debate lives on. On the off chance this is serious (though I vote troll), I'd just say that the only thing more inapropriate than pushing your religion where it's not wanted is trying to tell people how they should be practicing their own religion. All religions are living and changing (or dying out) and all are to one extent or another, personal. It is not for you or anyone to say where a person's understanding of their religion should stop.

Kahuna Burger

 

[Dr. Harry]

I am a practicing Catholic, gamer, scientist, and teacher. According to Jack Chick, I may well *be* the antiChrist. (Don't tell my mom, though.)

There are so many little things wrong with this piece, that it would be a waste to list (though some bits, like "Perhaps Hitler and rape are no longer praised." stand out as especially offensive) but as far as the question of the original poster goes, note that most, if not all, of us are on a completely different page than the writer.

Note part of Mercule's post:

5) He says, "They make this mistake because they equate Roman Catholicism and its robed clerics for Christians," which is downright insulting. For someone who likes waving his Bible around and making reference to it (not that there's anything wrong with that), he might want to have an understanding of which group stapled together the first copy.

I should note that I've got some pretty big disagreements with Catholicism, but to call them non-Christian without any rationale (do I see a pattern?), is a pretty big stretch for this guy to make.

or, from the article

The arguments I get from those defending D&D (Christians or otherwise) are similar to those from people defending their favorite cult (Mormons, Masons, etc.).

In short, what they call "christian" is not what most of the rest of us would call Christian. There is an idea of a tiny trickle of "true christians" among the rest of us hell-bound types

6) He discusses the absence of Christ as a power in the default D&D game. Personally, I see this as a strength of the game. As DM, I have to determine the motivations and actions of the "powers that be". If that power happens to be Christ, it becomes a catch 22 -- I can't imagine NPCing Jesus as a holy and respectful thing.

If you're a Christian, it is a simple thing to say "for some reason, unfathomable to me or anyone else, this particular universe was set up a bit differently and God does not make His presence known directly. He exists and is superior to anything you'll be interacting with, though." I should know. That's been the statement in my game for two decades.

This is also the approach taken by the very religious Tolkien with regards to Middle Earth, but JRRT would not have counted as a Christian to Schnoebelen. I certainly don't mind being in this boat myself.

I would consider it to be tremendously problematic to play in Christian world as I can get five-six people to agree on a common moral basis, gamewise (for short periods of time, at any rate) while trying DM Christian morality when each player has a different idea of what that means in practice would be a nightmare, not to mention legitimate concerns about trivializing religion. The times when it looks like it might work are in cases like Green Ronin's Testament or Midieval Player's Handbook when the interpretaion is explicitly established as just part of the game.

A search on the ENWorld message board turns up a number of interesting threads in which Jack Chick came up, some of which weren't even closed by the moderator!