this is from a series of real magic cards that were in a series to poke gentle fun at itself, but proves my point of those who would in and of itself, "evil": The card is called (gasp) "Spawn of Evil" ....but is a mouse drinking coco!!! and (gasp) does damage to another player. So would you call this card "evil"? Most would laugh at the idea and possibly just shows that it is what the card DOES in the context of the game that players concern themselves with, the pictures only being just that pictures.
No different then a Monopoly card is pulled.
As far as I am concerned, if you call Magic the Gathering evil, you better stay true to form and call these games evil:
--Monopoly -- teaches us that greed is good
--Settlers of Catan -- teaches us to horde all the land we can to conquer the opponent
--Sorry -- teaches false humility as, when you knock your opponent out, you say , "sorry" when you are REALLY NOT...not to mention that it does have the number 6 in there and you could accidentally pull three 6's in a row
--Scrabble -- can I use the words "masturbate", "screw", "devil", "worship" (with this "i" through the "i" in the word devil, of course)...better to avoid it so as to be a bad witness
--Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings -- mind you, they are not games, but they are books that have fantasy themes and (gasp) magical themes. Both of these written by Christian authors. Hmm....better to just avoid them so as to not be tempted to believe in elves.
Of course these are ridiculous examples but no different than the notion of a fantasy based game is, in and of itself, evil, is ridiculous,
I understand the concerns over some of the art work contained within the game.
Some are distrubing pictures, some of which I have even discarded as I didn't like the picture; however, if push came to shove and I needed the ability the card offers, I wouldn't hesitate to play it. Why? Because the PICTURE is NOT the card...what the card does is indicated in the bottom text...the picture is irrelevent and means nothing to Magic the Gathering players who are actually playing the game (other than possibly identifying the card itself). Do some of the Magic the Gathering players like the pictures: ABSOLUTELY!!! But the pictures are NOT the game.
Case in point: one popular acronym in the Magic the Gathering players is RTFC which stands for "Read the F***in card". While most Christians would not like the cursing in this acronym, I use this to share a point--the game is about what the card does in context of the game. Does anyone really believe they are able to cast spells and hope to do that--haven't heard that ONCE. Only what a card and its abilities and which cards can win the GAME--nothing more! The fantasy theme is just that--pure fantasy and not real or taken seriously by anyone with a sane mind.
This game is morally neutral and morally neutral territory is up to the mind and heart of the individual.
So my point is this: Christians, don't lambast someone simply for playing the game who feels the game is fine and aren't bothered by it and show a healthy interest in it....you will only make yourself the hypocrite the next time you decide to play Uno and you selfishly lay down the SKIP card, hurting your opportunity of "letting the first be last, and the last first" by allowing your neighbor to win.
