Hey
My personal opinion is that it is wrong for Christians to play Magic: The Gathering, but to explain this best I'll use an article from Doug Gray's excellent website (
http://www.bright.net/~gray0013/).
[size=+1]MAGIC: THE GATHERING®[/size]
"And now, dear friends, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you have learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you." Phillipians 4:8-9, New Living Bible Translation
Many people have asked me, "Will I go to Hell if I play Magic®?" The answer obviously is "No". Yet I believe this question requires more of a response. If you ask any Christian what his/her greatest struggle as a Christian is, he/she will say something like this, "The toughest battles I wage every day are in my mind." Whether the person is thinking about cheating on a test or watching something they shouldn't, the battle initially starts in the mind. There is no person who understood this better than Jesus. Look what He had to say to a group of his followers about one's mind.
"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matthew 5:27-28, New King James Version
Say what? The person didn't even touch a woman! How could he have committed adultery? But he did. Jesus knew that every sin starts with a thought in the mind. He realized that if you control your thoughts, you will control sin. Going Back to Magic®. Look at the cards. What thoughts enter your mind? Are they good ones? Are they thoughts that help lead you closer to Christ or farther away Him? Getting past the cosmetics of the cards, the philosophies and religions that the cards are based on are those that oppose Christianity. Most cards are based on ancient pagan religions: Eastern Mysticism (New Age), Egyptian and Druid worship. Many of the Druid and Eastern beliefs are quoted at the bottom of cards. These beliefs center around gods/godesses with their powers coming from the hills, swamps, mountains, trees, skies, etc. They believe power also comes from one's inner self. I find it interesting that Magic is based on ancient religions yet Christianity, the world's largest religion, is hardly used as a source. My closing thougth, as the verse at the beginning of this passage stated, you become what you put into your mind. If you think about only good things, you can't be anything but good. If you put in negative things, they will corrupt the good. Period.
I think this is a good article to explain this, and it supports my personal views. But getting back to the gameplay, I have another article (
) from Redemption CA:
Many people have converted from playing Magic: the Gathering to Redemption, for several reasons. Redemption is more fun and less expensive. It is easier to collect and has a much better point to it. Redemption is based on the characters, artifacts, sites, and attributes from the Bible. It has been available since 1995. An original set and 4 expansion sets have been printed. New 2nd Edition Starter Decks have been released. So far, there are over 800 (edit: there are now over 1200) different cards in the game (and growing). It is a superb game. It has an incredible amount of variety in deck construction and plays very well even with a starter deck. The game is growing and builds in complexity and excitement with each new expansion set. I heartily recommend it (in case you hadn't already discovered that).
Following is an attempt to compare the game mechanics of Redemption to those of Magic the Gathering:
In Magic, you try to decrease your opponent's life points from 20 to zero. In Redemption, you try to be the first to rescue 5 Lost Souls (or 7 in a long game).
In Magic, you basically play one army, with which you attack and defend. In Redemption, you play two different armies: a hero army and an evil army. On your turn you use your hero army to try to rescue a lost soul. On your opponent's turn, you use your evil army to block your opponent's hero army.
In Magic, there are 5 different "colors". In Redemption there are 7 different hero colors (called brigades), and 6 different evil brigades.
In Magic there is a "casting cost" to play a card. In Redemption, there is no casting cost.
Both Magic and Redemption can be played 2-player or multi-player.
In Magic and Redemption there are #/# abilities for strength and toughness.
Both Magic and Redemption have special */* cards whose abilities vary by situation.
Both Magic and Redemption have Artifact cards.
There are "first strike" cards in Redemption, which is a term also seen in Magic.
There are also many unique abilities in Redemption, which are described in the rulebook.
Here are some comments from a former Magic: the Gathering player:
"I am used to playing magic the gathering, but my wife and other church
friends have aversions to it. I understand why, just couldn't find another
game out there that was fun and morally fit for me. I have now found
Redemption.
"I was a heavy magic player, also another little known one called ultimate
combat. Magic is very versatile and far more complex ( you have over 14,000
cards to use for decks, if you can afford them). I have been playing
Redemption for a couple weeks and found it to be simple and direct. I only
have a couple hundred cards so far but I love the principle. I am also
recruiting the youth of my church to play with me. Redemption is like a tag
team game. You have good and bad guys in your deck. Hero's and villains.
Hero's attack to try to rescue a "lost soul" card. The villains of course are
there to prevent that. There are hundreds of variations in enhancement cards
to play on your hero or villain to pump them up, beat them down, and remove
them entirely. It is very strategic and worthwhile. And it is cheaper right
now than MTG . . ."
I hope this info helps you out and gives you some info on Redemption. If you get round to playing it, please send me a PM!
God Bless
Noddingdog
