Religious views of Magic the Gathering--PLEASE HELP!

You raise an interesting question though one that needs clarification for me. What is "occult imagery"?I personally think the imagery is broader than that but I will address the question that I find there and that is why are dragons, witches, demons, vampires, on and on of such dramatic interest to us? Tolkien uses "occult imagery" I believe. When I was younger I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy. My first answer is that "occult imagery" if I understand what you mean by that is very useful for story telling. I don't believe that demons, dragons, goblins, sorcery, etc. exists yet I can enjoy images, stories, movies that feature them.Since I'm not a literalist I will say it's because of what they can signify or psychologically capture and figure. I don't believe that demons can explain Adolf Hitler, but in writing about Adolf Hitler using demonic metaphors can help communicate the evil and menace of the man. Stories require protagonists and antagonists and these are to some extent culturally determined. "occult imagery" is part of our cultural heritage.I'm wondering if Macbeth would has as much impact without the witches even though they have few lines. I've no problem with the Bible as literature or the occult as literature and some literature is better than others. I don't take it literally though. Taking it literally is what mystifies me.lfen

Okay back from the meeting and the agreement is what I thought would be fine all along. No Magic playing in the morning but they can bring their decks and they can play Magic with me in the afternoon.There is one little caveat that I'm a little suspicious about and that is something about a review if there is problems or complaints. I mean that is always true of anything so I'm wondering if there is perhaps a plot but I'm not going to worry at this time. As I hear it other people have had problems. And I think part of the problem is that the game is so complex that someone like myself who knows the game is needed to keep things in bounds. The only problems I've had are very typical kid problems and they been much more intense over playing four square of even chess than over playing Magic.Thanks for all the responses. It's been a helpful process for me. This is the first thread I've ever proposed to have had so much participation.lfen

There really isn't. Players are interested in card interaction and mechanics which are very mathematical. So there is a card with a picture of a wild looking horse called Nightmare. The power and toughness are given as */* where the stars are the number of swamp lands one controls. The more swamps you have in play the more powerful and tough is the Nightmare. This has the implication that the card is best in a deck that only plays swamps that is a mono black deck.Players are analyzing cards like this and mechanics trying to come up with decks that will dominate. The game is like a very complex rock, paper, scissors. No deck can beat every other deck. Every deck has weaknesses and there are decks that exploit that weakness. Players are interested in all these possibilites which are really deck mechanics or mathmatical permutations. I sometime liken it to a complex kit to build virtual Rube Goldberg machines. The fun is building and tuning your deck against your friends decks. It's your cleverness vs. theirs which is sort of one model of game playing. Well it's not necessary. Necessary is something else. Still I think it's an interesting question about people. The answer might also provide insight as to why soap operas are so popular. To me it says something about human psychology and culture and I find it interesting though I have no taste for soap operas at all. Actually so called horror films bore me stiff also. But I loved LOTR.lfen

That sounds right. I think I understand that well enough to have it help me in any discussion.Thank you,
lfen