There's something that kind of bugs me about D&D's magic system. Most of the time, you cast a spell for a specific amount of energy and it produces a specific effect. Most of the time, I'm okay with that. After all, if a wizard learns how to produce a magical flame, he should be able to produce a magical flame consistently, as long as he has the energy for it. But what of those who get their magic from the gods? In D&D, divine magic works pretty much exactly the same way as arcane magic. If you've got enough energy, you cast the spell, and then the spell takes effect. What bothers me here is that the gods seem to have no say in the matter. They don't seem to be able to temporarily withhold their power, nor do they seem to be able to grant extra power in addition to the amount normally granted by a deity. If a cleric wants to waste magical power trying to heal someone who wasn't injured, the gods would let him, and if he ran out of magic just before he got seriously wounded, the gods wouldn't help him, no matter how badly he needed their help. I understand that D&D has to have strict rules like that to keep everything fair, and that the DM can intercede on behalf of those deities and bend the rules a little bit, but most of the time, divine magic works just like arcane magic -- predictably, regardless of the will of the gods who supposedly grant that power, and could revoke it or grant more if they wanted to.
Real life doesn't work like that. God has the power to bless His children, whether they ask for it or not, whether they deserve it or not, and whether they have any energy left in them or not. At the same time, God isn't obligated to give us specific blessings, even if we pray for them and have been living worthily enough to receive them. Sometimes, God is wise enough to withhold blessings that we ask for, but don't need or would be better off without. Sometimes, God is generous enough to give us blessings we don't know we need and didn't think to ask for. I'm thankful that God is in control of how He blesses His children. The clerics and paladins in D&D may get away with it, but I don't think it'd be wise for normal people to be given the ability to control the actions of God.
Then again, maybe I'm giving D&D too little credit. Maybe D&D's divine magic system does make sense, and I've just been misinterpreting it. Perhaps it's not that clerics can control gods, but that they can control the small portion of power the gods gave them. Being given an apple and throwing it at someone is different than forcing someone to throw an apple at someone else. Perhaps it's not that clerics can demand blessings from the gods, but that they're granted, entrusted with, a small portion of power, so use as they see fit, so they can learn how to wisely wield that amount of power before they're given more. After all, that's basically what God did when He sent us here, gave us our abilities and the agency to use them as we see fit. God may not grant us extra strength for throwing apples at people, but He won't take back the strength He already gave us unless He has a very good reason to.
I like how D&D helps me think about how God works His magic in the real world. Unlike in D&D, God maintains His right to grant and withhold blessings as He sees fit, but He has already seen fit to grant us each at least a little bit of power, just to see what we would do to it. It's sobering to think of God giving someone any amount of power and complete freedom over how to use it, but that's basically how the Plan of Salvation works. God gave us a certain amount of power and absolute authority over how we use it. Now it's our responsibility to learn to use it well.
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