h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No offence but this festival sounds supremely dull. It sounds like a mass of Christians gathering together to try to 'keep the faith' when some of them may not be so committed.

For a spiritual festival try Glastonbury where there is no distinctions or prujudices toward lifestyles or religions, the whole introvertedness of Soul Survivor just shows even further how out of touch the Church is these days.

Otherwise, a well written article.

If God is God,

then getting to know him is not dull.

What a wonderfully thought out and coherent argument! I stand corrected on that one. Oh yes I do.

God is everywhere and all things and that isn't he? Well I had a massive turd this morning, it took nearly a quarter of an hour to expel. I really got to know God whilst doing that and 'brother' was it fun!

That's a poor joke. No - it really is.

Whoami?

That wasn't a joke. I was applying your argument to everyday life. You appear to be over sensitive to my criticisms. I'm sure you had fun though and that's all that matters. It really is!

god is everywhere and all things and all that, isn't he?
then if god is god, getting to know him can be fun. it can also be dull. it can be anything that we feel. i'm sure (if it exists) that god doesn't expect us to be ecstatic at all times.

(i challenge anyone who claims reading Numbers is fun)

So would you call child abuse 'getting to know god?' on the part of the victim?

working with the definition, yes.
not that this condones child abuse.
this is the problem of evil, isn't it?
if god is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, he therefore condones child abuse also.
if living is living in gods presence, then suffering is also living in gods presence.

assumptions may be wrong (no god; he is not all powerful; can't know him) or else some other problem beyond my ken. or maybe this is how it goes. ?

A child might be 'getting to know god' at the same time as being abused, but the abuse is not 'getting to know god'.

Whoami?

It's getting to know God is it? Some sort of friendly handshake I guess. Well thanks for the info, I feel truly enlightened.

No - that's not what I said. I said that child abuse did not constitute 'getting to know God'.

this is degenerating into a semantics argument (don't they all?).
What is 'god'? What does it mean to 'get to know god'?
bleeurgh.

It had to happen eventually, element42!

But then again you did say

'A child might be 'getting to know god' at the same time as being abused'

before contradicting yourself.

What's going on there then? A child is being abused whilst God sends the little kiddywink 'nice' thoughts about this pretty pretty marble he created and how he should be nice to all the kangaroos and wasps and turn the other cheek etc. etc.

Re: Semantics argument

I point you to the second post:

'If God is God,

then getting to know him is not dull.'

About as opaque a statement as can possibly be.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe you to be a real Reverend AT ALL, Mr Gentle...

I did not contradict myself.

When I say 'at the same time', I don't mean literally simultaneously. Abuse is an ongoing thing - it happens in specific incidents, but a child may be abused over a period of time.

Whoami?

As a Christian, I just wanted to drop two quick lines and then depart.

First, a nice article.. wish I'd been there.

Second, Perhaps it might be better if Rt. Rev. Leslie Gentle, rather than taking the time to start a thread solely to inflame arguments, could air out his opinions, clearly stated on another thread. Or perhaps he could go to the Christians on H2G2 forum and talk to some people there about faith.

Either way, it seems obvious that he has certain grievances which remain unspoken.

-Eagle 1

Big Mad Mr T (sXe) - well done Poirot I'm not really a man of the cloth, great guess. I'll hazard a guess that you were necer in the A-Team either!

Eagle 1 - I refer you to the first post I made, I made a point about thie article and the other posters have, as much as I have, started a lively discussion about other things still relevant to the article. Thanks for your comments though however ill thought out they may seem.

oh, it's not a dull festival at all. basically, u can do whatever u like. u can sing at worship times, lisen to talks, see really cool bands, watch movies, play games on the grass, skate in the skate park, basically u just do whatever u like to have fun while ur there.