Is this mildly sacreligious?

[MH84]

Is playing this online game with these cards sacreligious in any way? I zoomed in to see see images on the cards more losely and now I am not sure if the pictures on the cards are angels or some heavenly representation. Please look at the images in the attachment. View attachment 2079

If it would help you can look at the image with inverse colours: View attachment 2080

 

[bpbasilphx]

It’s supposed to be an angel riding a bicycle, the trademark of the Bicycle Playing Card Company.

What’s your point?

 

[MH84]

It is not really appropriate to depict a heavenly creature on a deck of cards is it, let alone riding a bicycle.

 

[Lazerlike42]

It is not really appropriate to depict a heavenly creature on a deck of cards is it, let alone riding a bicycle.

At the risk of making too absolute a statement, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this in any way whatsoever.

We depict heavenly creatures like angels all the time, whether in religious art or in cartoons in the Sunday paper or on a deck of playing cards. Now if the depiction has the angel doing something wrong, or if the depiction is used for something sinful, then that would be a sin. That would be sacreligious. Hence, when South Park has angels saying or doing perverse things, that is sacreligious. When a strip club uses angels on their sign, that is sacreligious.

But there isn’t anything evil about riding a bicycle, nor is there anything evil about playing a card game. So using the angel on there wouldn’t be wrong. Imagine if someone came out with a deck of cards that had a picture of Christ on the back. In fact I am sure you can get thos. I would think most people would consider that great.

I like to ask people what sort of car Jesus would drive. They can be very offended and think that this is such a terrible question. However, it’s actually a very profound question. Jesus became man. He had a home and tools and customers, and He charged people to do carpentry for them, and all sorts of things like that. If He had become man today instead of 2,000 years ago, chances are He would have owned a car. If He didn’t, He may have had a bicycle.

Just because something is modern, it doesn’t mean it’s bad. Remember that angels often appeared to people at various time disguised as regular human beings. Should an angel do such a thing today, who’s to say the angel might not ride up to the fellow on a bike?

I hope that helps, but you might get better answers if you explain exactly what you think is improper about having a picture of an angel on a bike, or having a picture of an angel on a deck of cards.

 

[MH84]

I hope that helps, but you might get better answers if you explain exactly what you think is improper about having a picture of an angel on a bike, or having a picture of an angel on a deck of cards.

Yeah I think you pretty much know what I mean. I was thinking that this thread is a bit strange when I posted it .Your post makes me feel better actually.

I was playing online poker (for free, no real betting). I dont know, I am just thinking that I was playing a gambling game and Im clicking on cards with angels on them. Then I think, why would someone put a picture of a heavenly creature, that are painted in our churches on the back of pieces of cardboard riding a bike? Is it a joke, is the inventor a Christian? Is he an atheist who thought is would be “cool” to have a Christian symbol as a commercial logo? (Just like the heavy metal bands and so forth).

I guess I felt guilty that I was enjoying playing this game, and then I notice that there are are these images which I dont know what they mean.

Btw, if hypothetically, on the website, the cards had pictures of Jesus on them, I dont think it would be okay to use them. It would be like a priest going to a casino in his priestly vestments if you catch my drift.

In regards to this:

We depict heavenly creatures like angels all the time, whether in religious art or in cartoons in the Sunday paper or on a deck of playing cards. Now if the depiction has the angel doing something wrong, or if the depiction is used for something sinful, then that would be a sin. That would be sacreligious. Hence, when South Park has angels saying or doing perverse things, that is sacreligious. When a strip club uses angels on their sign, that is sacreligious.

What would you think personally about going to a casino, having a few drinks and having a bet and notice on the cards which you were playing with what you knew was an image a Christian symbol? Not an image of a plain cross, for instance, but maybe a saint, or the crucifix. Let us know if u can and if Im overreacting here.

 

[Lazerlike42]

Well, I think that the issue here is your feelings about the games themselves. In other words, I think somewhere inside you feel guilty about playing poker, as if that itself is somehow wrong.

Let’s try something else. Say there was a website where you could play Go Fish with someone and you had the option of choosing a deck, one of which had Jesus on the cards. Would you have a problem then? I’d personally be thrilled at that. It would be an example of the website company respecting Christians enough to want to provide the option of having cards they would enjoy being available. After all, there are plenty of sites where you can choose decks with animals or scantly clad women or the logo of your favorite university or something on them, for people who like those things. They’re made so you can customize your cards to have something that appeals to you. If someone did that for Christians, that would be fantastic!

So if this poker website had Christ on them, I wouldn’t have any problem with it, unless I thought poker was sinful.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this in regards to games of chance:

2413 Games of chance (card games, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice. They become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others. The passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement. Unfair wagers and cheating at games constitute grave matter, unless the damage inflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonably consider it significant.

So there isn’t anything wrong with playing a game of poker. There isn’t even anything wrong with getting a few friends over and playing a game of poker for actual money, provided that it’s not becoming an addiction for anyone involved and/or it’s not causing such a financial burden on anyone that it hurts their ability to provide for those they need to - including themselves, their families, and the poor.

The same goes for the casino in principal, but not necessarily in practice. Because we live in a fallen world, the motives of those involved with running casinos are rarely in accord with proper morality. In other words, having Jesus or a saint on a deck of cards at a casino would not necessarily be done with the motive of providing for Christians, but might be done for the motive of making some level of mockery of Christ or religion. On top of that, casinos tend to cross in to that area of depriving people of what they need to live, insofar as that the folks running most casinos just want to get as much of your money as they can, without regard to how it in fact affects the people going to the casino. So for that reason, they tend to be places that go outside of the moral neutrality that the Catechism is talking about there.

 

[rwoehmke]

I would opine that playing cards with Christ, or a Christian symbol on the back would be a load better than nude women or men. Kind of incongruous but hardly sinful.

 

[MH84]

Well, I think that the issue here is your feelings about the games themselves. In other words, I think somewhere inside you feel guilty about playing poker, as if that itself is somehow wrong.

I would agree with this.

So there isn’t anything wrong with playing a game of poker. There isn’t even anything wrong with getting a few friends over and playing a game of poker for actual money, provided that it’s not becoming an addiction for anyone involved and/or it’s not causing such a financial burden on anyone that it hurts their ability to provide for those they need to - including themselves, their families, and the poor.

Agree again. Ive played blackjack with friends before. Lost a bit

Believe me, Im a sinner, but continuing with the image of Christ on the playing cards example, I would not feel comfortable at all playing ‘snap’ for instance with those cards. I still think one needs to draw a line.

For instance, what if someone put an image of Christ (as a logo) on cans of beer. As with what you said when you quoted the Cathecism regarding gambling, drinking beer occassionally is not wrong or immoral. But I would not buy beer with an image of Jesus on it, it would feel right.

Anyway, after reading your posts regarding my OP, it has led me to think that its okay to play on that website. It just doesnt sound like something offensive was/is going on by the card company (Bicycle, apparently), I just wasnt sure exacty, and like you said, maybe I was also feeling a bit guilty that on top of this I was playing Poker, which I know a lot of addicted gamblers play. Maybe I was being scrupulous. btw thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut

 

[MH84]

I would opine that playing cards with Christ, or a Christian symbol on the back would be a load better than nude women or men. Kind of incongruous but hardly sinful.

I think you’re right. Could you give me another eg of what would be “incongruous but hardly sinful”?

 

[Mirdath]

I think you’re right. Could you give me another eg of what would be “incongruous but hardly sinful”?

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