The Bible--Wars, Culture, Faith, and Inspiration

[S'mon]

Absolutely. Epigraphical evidence for Mithraic doctrines and rites postdates Christianity.

I'm not disputing that - the two were both active as growing religions at the same time. I just don't see any basis for eg Jesus as a martial deity in early Christianity, whereas Mithras seems much closer to post-Constantine Christianity in its attitudes re eg women or fighting. Obviously I am not an expert in this field, I just read a few things.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

As a Roman Catholic who took a course called "Biblical Themes in Literature," I wholeheartedly fall into the "Why the hell wouldn't you use the Bible and Church history for inspiration?" camp.

There are the periods when Christianity was underground in Europe...and in places like Japan, China and Russia over the ages. How does a monotheisitc religion function when it must hide?

Then there was the time when the term "Christendom" arose- and the Church was THE DOMINANT religious/political force in the known world. And with that power came corruption.

Or consider the Dark Ages: some branches were notoriously anti-scientific, while others secretly warehoused the very works being burned elsewhere.

And boring? How? Look at Ireland where Protestants and Catholics have intertwined their politics and religion for hundreds of years. And consider that Judaism, Christianity and Islam all spring from the same fount of belief in one particular God...and yet they most DEFINITELY have not gotten along peacefully throughout the years.

WHY NOT bring in Christian elements if you've got Wiccan or Druidic elements? Automatically, you'll have culture clash, and of a kind that does not involve good vs evil, but rather, competing views of what GOOD actually is.

Then there are all the elements of Christianity already present in the game or in sci-fi/fantasy literature. Angels and Devils. The 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse. The concept of the Paladin?

In case you don't understand...I say "Go for it!"

 

[Rashak Mani]

Heh, this thread remembered me of this t-shirt here:

http://www.jinx.com/scripts/details.asp?affid=-1&productID=283

So his favored weapon is a Mace ?! :\ I thought he was a sheperd... and therefore favored the staff.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

So his favored weapon is a Mace ?! :\ I thought he was a sheperd... and therefore favored the staff.

I've always wanted to have a character with a martial crozier.

 

[sword-dancer]

Darnit! For a minute there, I truly thought SHARK had resurfaced. I miss that guy! sniff.

Yes his threads were very interesting and inspires your thinking.

 

[Alzrius]

I think that I might use the false assumption that Jesus is a pacifist teacher as a part of my campaign. That the thought of his appearance in the world would not change anything. And so few actually fear reprisal. Yet the priests discover the text of revelation whuich depicts a militant Jesus, and being long long ago and worlds away all the prophecy has come to pass, so its now seen as history. This causes the priests to decide that they are the vangaurd in the world, and thus the orders of the clerics are born. This is looking like a really fun campaign to play... You could do a lot with the races and their take on the Hebrew God.

Interesting take! I'm curious though, what would you have Jesus's stats be (or do you know of any existing supplement that has them)?



(Most people will probably recognize my statement above is being an ironic reference to the D&D stats for Jesus? thread I started a day ago. This is intentional on my part. The reason for this, however, is not to stir up trouble; I'm not trying to be a troll, nor trying to "get revenge" for that thread having been closed.

I opened that thread because I found this one to be inspirational (despite having lodged a complaint previously ). Obviously, while religious discussions are still prohibited here at EN World, discussing it within the context of the game we all know and love seemed to be tacitly allowed. The moderators never closed this thread, and the people who protested it did so calmly and respectfully, and in the end this thread flourished into a rousing and interesting one.

Given that, I posted the above thread with hope that it might be allowed to survive as this one had. My question there was genuine; I really wanted to know if any such stats existed, and knew of no better place to ask than EN World.

The closing of the above thread, therefore, seems odd, if not hypocritical, in comparison. I can understand if both this thread and that one had been closed (though again, I'm not trying to torpedo this thread). Likewise, I had hoped that because this thread survived, that one would also. That one was condoned while the other was locked, however, seems to strike a blow against what makes EN World so much better than other internet forums.

I'm aware this may well result in my being suspended, and that this message may be deleted before long. Nevertheless, I felt this had to be said.)

 

[MulhorandSage]

I suspect it wasn't the initial question that got the other thread closed, but rather the sacrilegious replies from people who thought they were being funny, but whose remarks had all the "humor" of hearing a poorly retold Monty Python routine for the thousandth time.

And while it's interesting on an intellectual level to come up with stats to model Jesus, I think it's more useful to ask: (a) how can you involve Jesus in a historical game and make it interesting, and (b) how can you prevent a game where PCs interact with the historical Jesus from either offending religious players, or turning into a sacrilegious self-indulgent farce (while still making it an involving gaming experience?) Once you succeed in solving those dilemmas, then you can work on stats for Jesus.

In my game, he'd be a three class multi-class: (a) commoner; (b) base class variant on Testament's Prophet; (c) rabbi (a teaching bard variant customized for the era) with a mythic feat that ensures that he only dies his Biblically appointed death, and a second mythic feat to cover the man/divine paradox.

 

[Alzrius]

I suspect it wasn't the initial question that got the other thread closed, but rather the sacrilegious replies from people who thought they were being funny, but whose remarks had all the "humor" of hearing a poorly retold Monty Python routine for the thousandth time.

It's true that there were one or two replies that weren't in very good humor. But no one seemed to be truly trying to offend anyone else, or start flaming people. In other words, I didn't see anything worse there than here, and this thread has survived (two thread-necromancies and counting!).

And while it's interesting on an intellectual level to come up with stats to model Jesus

And how. I admit that the things I do in regard to the game on an intellectual level by far outstrip any actual gaming I do.

 

[the Jester]

...the closing of the above thread, therefore, seems odd, if not hypocritical, in comparison. I can understand if both this thread and that one had been closed (though again, I'm not trying to torpedo this thread). Likewise, I had hoped that because this thread survived, that one would also. That one was condoned while the other was locked, however, seems to strike a blow against what makes EN World so much better than other internet forums.

I'm aware this may well result in my being suspended, and that this message may be deleted before long. Nevertheless, I felt this had to be said.)

Dude, it's all about the attitude of the people who post. When someone's ire gets up, and they bring it into a thread, they are likely to get it closed.

Shame, really- I have enjoyed many threads that ended up closed.

 

[S'mon]

I'd stat Jesus as a 9th level Cleric with Good & Healing domains.
- He can cast Raise Dead but I didn't see any level 6+ powers.

>>The closing of the above thread, therefore, seems odd, if not hypocritical, in comparison<<

Different moderators have different views of what's acceptable - compare Plane Sailing to Henry - and higher-status posters get more leeway in what they're allowed to post (compare SHARK to Alzrius) C'est la vie
That said I wasn't surprised the other thread was closed, it seemed to bring out the worst in people.