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

[fusangite]

I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a conservative Christian. In fact, by conservative Christian standards, I'm probably not a Christian at all. I have spent the past year developing a medieval Christian system so it's not as though I'm the theology police.

However, the idea of statting Jesus is, not to put too fine a point on it, absolutely ridiculous for the following reasons:
- Unlike the vast majority of historical fantasy that is merely silent on the truth of Christianity, statting Christ as an NPC is a direct denial of Christianity. Period.
- Unlike medieval and antique Christian theories of pagan gods as demons or fallen angels, there exists no pagan theory that recognizes Christ as a divinity, with the possible exception of polytheistic Buddhism. In the opinion of the pagans and Judeans of the Roman world, Christ was just a guy who might or might not have had a little magical mojo.
- Gaming that incorporates Christian magic is based on the interaction between Christianity and local theories of religion and magic. Thus, Syriac Christianity in South India was based on pre-existing Hindu magical traditions whereas Anglo-Saxon Christian magic was based on Christian ideas interacting with pre-existing Germanic magical traditions. When you're doing the life of Christ, you cannot operate this way. The idea that Jesus, himself, was part of a Judean or Roman pagan magic system is a direct denial of Christianity itself. While one can portray the magic of Jesus' followers within a pre-Christian context, it is sacreligious to portray Jesus that way.
- Finally, what's the point of statting Jesus? So he can cast Flame Strike on people? So he can die?

I'm a big fan of gaming in the early medieval period. I could even see myself running a game set at the end of the Book of Acts; but involving a not yet ressurrected Christ in the game -- offensive and silly.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Why has this thread not been closed?

 

[BOZ]

some folks are itching to get it there.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

The best in game use of christian religion I've seen was from one particular GM who ran a couple of Ars Magica games. He wove biblical material into the setting very neatly, although it was a large dose of history in with the religion... Was a lot of fun. Except for our brush with St. Dominic. That still gives me the creeps.

Ah, yes.

"I kick ass for the Lord!"

One of the best lines ever.

An excellent line, but from that film I think I prefer: "Leonard, your mother ate my dog!". Even if it has little to do with the current discussion.

 

[Henry]

Why has this thread not been closed?

I'll take, "because we just recently saw it, Alex."

A few points to take to heart:

FIRST, we do not take kindly to people restarting thread topics after they've been closed for policy violations, especially in other threads.

SECOND, it's bad form to call out the mods in public, and has been for the five years this community has been in existance. Questioning general policy in Meta is OK, e-mailing the mods to ask why something is so is OK, calling them out in a post is not.

THIRD, I agree with Fusangite about all the reasons why statting the central basis in a real-world religion is distasteful. We don't allow threads statting Buddha, Mohammed, or Lao Tzu, and this is another.

FOURTH, this thread was about drawing inspiration from Biblical references to include in games, not about defining or statting religions, nor discussing their pros and cons. Some threads skirt the line, but they're neat idea threads, and we as mods make the call to let them run their course or not; some we close because they're far too likely to start the VERY thing we're seeing here.

Because this thread has now ventured too far into territory that is against forum policy, it's now closed. Sorry, all.