If this is a fair characterization of what your instructor said, the
description of "cynical" is right, in the sense that this is "scornful of
the motives and virtues of others, bitterly mocking, sneering."

That the Church has changed is certainly true, but it was never quite as you
have portrayed it here. We must remain cognizent that the Christian message
as been subject to historical process, and that the view of a twentieth
century liberal (in the classical sense) must differ from the 15th century.

Kenneth Gauck
c558382@earthlink.net

- -----Original Message-----
From: Tim Nutting
To: birthright@MPGN.COM
Date: Saturday, February 20, 1999 4:31 AM
Subject: Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - Religion in Role-Play (was Elven Longevity)


>>Gee, I didn't know god had gold in his heart... ;)
>>My, that missionary sure must've had a heart of gold if he had more gold
>>in his heart than god... ;)
>
>
>hehehe
>
>Well, one thing that will stick with me is a characterization by a cynical
>teacher, being that the original explorers (read "exploiters") of the New
>World had three things in their hearts: God, Glory, Gold.
>
>In reality the order for most was Gold, Glory, God...
>
>In history there have been a great many atrocities committed in the name of
>God, and that is the unfortunate misrepresentation of God by the flawed
>character of Man. Some will try to fault Christianity based on this, and
>point to the Old Testament, but they fail to understand that the God of the
>Hebrews was not a God of love and forgiveness, but of justice and
judgement.
>That incarnation of God required intermediaries and sacrifices in order for
>his children to be welcomed. After the Messiah, that changed.
>
>It almost seems demeaning to suggest that this event can be used to further
>role-playing, rather I should say that attention to history and events and
>impressing those elements into your game can make the game for enjoyable.
>In example, I can hardly imagine that the events at Deismaar allowed the
>religions to remain unchanged. So what changed? What was different
between
>worship of Haelyn and worship of Anduiras? The text already does a great
>job of incorporating ideological and political schism, as in RL, so who
>knows... perhaps we can learn from the past.
>
>Tim Nutting
>
>
>************************************************* **************************
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>