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

Cheers for slipping me into the eternal bliss party, AJ... but I'm working hard to make my own blissful nirvana here on Earth. I'm not doing a bad job at it either.

I'll slip you a few karma points when you let me in, though. Instant karma, if you like. If not, there are plenty of other John Lennon songs out there.

Merry Christmas (War Is Over).
S.T.U.B

Don't you find it immensly difficult to keep up with this forum unless you keep an eye on it 24/7? Anyway, after ignoring it for a while, I felt I should say one word that should provoke a healthy response from everyone and possible unite our views.
As they say, in the beginning (of this new subject) was the word, and the word was.......



.......Scientology

(Had a confrontation today - see my Journal. I'm now planning a Guide Entry on it, especially after finding a scientologist researcher. Once up, please free to pop a visit and add your bit. You are welcome to post replies to my journal entry).

Alright, don't even start with me.

There's an awful lot of talking going on, that the Second Coming is upon us. Jesus will walk among us when the world is on the brink of Armageddon. He will preach a way of understanding and love, and will cause the world to notice him simply by advocating understanding and tolerance. He will have kings and leaders look up to him as he walks in lowly clothes. He will sacrifice his life for his beliefs against an empire that has oppressed his people and he will lose his life in the process. Those with closed hearts and closed minds will find prejudice against him, and will reject him. Those with an open mind, no prejudice towards the poor man from the East and a willingness to make a leap of faith will look up to his teachings and use them to guide them.

People are still looking for this man. Sounds like he's already been.

One word.

Gandhi.

Very true, and as he said "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians, Your christians are so unlike your christ".

Good luck finding your messiah. Wouldn't it be ironic if Bob Geldof was the messiah?

Hey, are you saying people are hiding their heads in their faith, Psyduck. (giggle)

Wouldn't it be ironic if Bill Gates was the messiah? Me and my Mac would go straight to hell....

lol - I like it!

Ahhh, so the world has tackled the y2k bug very well. Now, are we ready for the next one???

Ah, yes, we THINK we've tackled the Y2K bug.... until I get my phone bill which says that the 5-minute call to England at just after 1am GMT actually lasted 1000 years.....

My cat was sufficiently unimpressed with all the hoopla. I think she's got the right idea. Sleep a lot, wash yourself once a day, have someone bring you some nice food and clean water, and watch the world go by. I say that for the new millenium, we all live like cats.

What, you mean we should all lick ourselves clean?
Apart from that, it sounds like a fine plan.
Happy new year... if you like that sort of thing...

...well, maybe not ourselves, but...

Going slightly on-topic, the British ones among us that see the Telegraph newspapers on train seats would've seen the Gallup poll concerning Christianity. One in seven people that said they were Christian in the country did not believe in God. I kid you not (there might be something about it in www.telegraph.co.uk ...but I'd have to check).

One word. Whu-...?

...back again. It's in the features section but you have to give some details to access the page. It's not a bad read, though...

That doesn't surprise me in the least.
I've got a friend who said "...after all, I'm a Christian". And I said "you WHAT? How did you work that out? You don't even believe in God!". To which he replied "well, England is a Christian country, and I go to Church with the Scouts" etc. etc.

I don't mind people being 'religious', but it does annoy me when people say they are but haven't a clue what they're talking about.

I used to quite readily call myself a Christian until just recently, when all of my Church friends started pointing out quite beligerenttly that i don't believe in God.
"Uh.. Yes I do." I stammered, "Most of the time, anyway."
I have a couple of friend who have called themselves Christians for the "This is a Christian counrty and I went to Church that time, remember?" reason, and I just laughed at them (which I guess wasn't a very Christian thing to do) but some of my more Christian associates skip Church on a regular basis, so they can deal with God, and not the politics.
(It says in the Bible that when 2 or more Xtians come together, you have a church, but it is admitted, even by my minister, that when 2 or more Presbytarians come together, you have a committee.)
-Jack.

Oh, indeed you do have a Church when there are 2 or more of us. But, although Church is not the thing which makes you a Christian, is there not something wrong when a Christian does not go to Church regularly? I can't remember exact places, but I do know that the Bible reccomends regular fellowship for support and learning, and that Church can often play an important role in the lives of Christians. Not because of the superficial 'politics' but because of the real reasons for its existance in the first place.

Saying I heard once; Going to Church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makes you a hamburger.
You're very right, T, my faith couldn't have happened without some seriuos Church time. But after a while, the bigotries and stupidity started clouding my view of God and Jesus, so I had to take some time off. The time away from the Church was even more important for my spiritual development than the time in it.
(By the by - please don't think i'm insulting Christians in general w/ the above crack - i'm only calling the ones at _my_ church bigoted idiots.)

See what "serious Church time" does to the mind!

Oh yeah. It's not as if Churches are infallable. Just look at some of the freaked-up ones (such as the racist suprimes etc) who are totally false and just use the Church as cover. That's pretty extreme, but I just want to make sure people don't see the Church(es) as being what Christianity's about. However, the Church, when not corrupt, is very important. But that's already been said.

I just want to know one thing for this week...

All of those people that went to see the return of Jesus for the year 2000... did you get a good look at him...?

They'll probably claim they got it wrong and the new Millennium actually begins January 1st 2001. When it will be a no-show then they'll claim they got it wrong again and post up another date and so on...
The concept of a messiah coming down is ridiculous enough for me but to expect to find him - ha! Wouldn't he be reborn or do they expect a full grown man to come out of the sky? And if he was reborn, when will this baby saviour start preaching? Will he need to be potty trainied?

Well, if I remember my Bible correctly, the next time he comes will be at the end of the world, to raise the dead from their graves and so on and so forth. He will be preceded, I believe, by the Seven Horsemen of the Apocalypse. One of whom is surely Bill Gates.

Of course you, Psyduck, are not a Christian background, so your religion will teach that he hasn't come 'round yet at all....

Perhaps we misinterpreted the whole thing, and what the prophets foretold was the coming of Jésus. If that's the case, I've seem lots of them.... ironic if what the Bible was foretelling was the coming of lots of illegal Mexican immigrants into the States.