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

Didn't make my screen wide.

True or not, it was a very entertaining book. That's all that really matters to me. I doubt I would've finished it if it was dry and academic and full of absolute facts (as factual as anyone can get about events two thousand years in the past.)

John does look very feminine, yes.

Am putting 'Angels and Demons' on hold as we speak. I'm number 28! And we only have 3 copies.
If anyone wants a bit of a look, go here: http://catalogue.yprl.vic.gov.au/uhtbin/webcat/0/49/X and do a search for angels and demons. (Choose the one that says FIC BROW) Click 'details' and then click the 'A look inside' tab. It gives you a summary, review and a link to chapter one!
You can do the same with the da vinci code if you like.

Thanks jazzme, now if I see the inscription, INRI I can impress people by telling them what it means! The piece of wood does have a name, does it not?

'The da Vinci Code' is the first really popular novel I've read. I usually find the novels at work that have huge amounts of people waiting for them aren't really my cup of tea. Glad this one was different.

I am soooooooooooooooo jealous. My catalog can't do that.

nah nah

Would it make you feel better if I told you the software is American?

My book club selection this month advertises a new book entitled 'Cracking the Davinci Code' by Simon Cox
Michael O'Mara paperback. A non-fiction companion to Dan Brown's 'The Davinci Code'

I haven't seen it yet.

I bought this for the library, Jazz, but haven't personally read it yet. It is written to debunk all of Brown's theories. I haven't had time to track it, so I'm not sure if it is circulating or not.

I expected something like this would come out when the DaVinci code became so popular. Christians view it as a threat, even if it is fiction. So they feel compelled to defend the faith. Not having read the new book, I'm not sure how Cox goes about doing this. Probably by quoting scripture. That's always the fall back position. They can't seem to get it through their heads that the inaccuracy of scripture is the problem in the first place. Odds are he'll even be using he King James Bible which has been proven to have thousands of mistakes in translation. And that of course doesn't take into account the deliberate misrepresentationof the facts in the first place.

I'll try to find time to look at the book and tell you what I think. But it can't be until Friday. I'm still on the a merry-go-round of meetings and programming until the first of August.

H

I'll look forward to your observations - I intend to send for the book so we can trade ideas on it, but your thoughts on the Christian religion are so close to mine I cannot see any disagreement.

Apart from the errors in the King James version of the bible, so much of the new testament (Preserved only by word of mouth for the first 20 years or so) was written in Hebrew, translated into Greek then into Latin, then selectively re-written by the early church to incorporate the mis-representations to which ou refer.

My interest is purely in the beautiful calligraphy of the medieval
texts, and I always have to look up how to spell medieval !!!!

Jazz

Jazz, I was mistaken about the book I have in the library. It is Breaking the Da Vinci Code by Darrell Bock. Apparently Dan Brown created a cottage industry when he wrote his book. I went to Amazon to get an ISBN for the book you're getting so I could buy a copy and here is what I found.

The Da Vinci Hoax by Carl E. Olson
Cracking Da Vinci's Code by James Garlow
Depth and Details: A Reader's Guide to Dan Brown's the Da Vinci Code by Betsy Eble
Secrets of the Code by Dan Burstein
Fact and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code by Steve Kellmeyer
The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code by Richard Abanes
Da Vinci Code Decoded by Martin Lunn
De-Coding Da Vinci by Amy Welborn
The Da Vinci Deception by Erwin W. Lutzer
Da Vinci Code by Hank Hanegraaff

Having read some of the reviews for these books it is clear that Brown's book has stirred up a real hornet's nest. Apparently mainstream Christianity is terrified by this book. Some of the titles above support Brown and some of them attack him.

Sometimes I wish I had become a psychologist. Maybe then I could understand why people would rather believe a lie, even when presented with evidence to the contrary, than to face the truth. Since religion is so personal and permeates so much of our family and cultural traditions, I suppose that information discrediting religious beliefs leaves people with nothing. So they simply refuse to believe it.

Years ago when we lived in Texas there was a radio station that had several religious call-in programs. It was practically the only radio signal we could get in the car when we were in West Texas, which was part of Frank's sales territory. So we wound up listening to it.

I remember one night when the subject was creationism and evolution. I don't remember the exact exchange, so I am paraphrasing. A man called in to challenge the radio preacher's views that the earth and man were created exactly like Genesis said they were. He was talking about geological evidence concerning the age of the earth and the finding of dinosaur bones. How did the preacher explain those, he asked. The preacher smugly told him that God had deliberately planted the bones and the geological evidence to confuse nonbelievers and to weed them out so he could send them to hell.

This preacher was incapable of accepting the truth. He couldn't even bear to think about it, so he created a scenario where he didn't have to. I was so appalled that I have never forgotten it.

I'd better stop ranting and get back to work. I'll write soon....promise. I have a council meeting tonight. I'll give you an earfull about it tomorrow.

Hyp

In "Angels and Demons", one of the Swiss guard is confused about the 'omnipotent-benevolent thing' and asks the camerlengo about it. He says that it means God is all-powerful and well-meaning. The guard is still confused, how can He be both all-powerful and well-meaning if he lets things like war and famine happen? The camerlengo makes an analogy. If the guard had a son, would he let him skateboard? Of course. What happens if he falls off? He would learn to be more careful. So as a father, you give good advice then let the child go off and make his own mistakes.

Sounds logical. Except as a father, if your child was hanging by one arm from a tree about to drop, wouldn't you move to catch him? If the child was about to run out on a road in front of a car, wouldn't you stop him?

Hmm.

Well, and a loving father doesn't deliberately set up his children and trick them into doing something wrong to give him the chance to punish them. Besides, we're talking about eternal damnation here.

The difficulty comes in assigning human traits and motivations to the almighty. Have you noticed that people who are cruel and unforgiving themselves see god as vengeful and punishing? And people who are kind and loving view god as forgiving and benevolent?

H

Anthropomorphism I believe? Hope I spelled it right.

The book Eats shoots and leaves has an interestig point on eternal damnation based on the comma in Jesus comments to those crucified with him. "Verily I say unto you, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise" ie straight there, no punishment.

Compared with "Verily I say unto you this day, thou shalt be with me in paradise" I'm telling you now,Buster, you shall join me in paradise - some time - after you've had your punishment.

The first is the Church of England translation, the second the Roman Catholic translation. And the original latin manuscripts didn't have any spaces between the words, much less anything so useful as punctuation !!!

Was man moulded in the image of his creator? Or was the creator God, moulded in man's image? Or were the Egyptians/Greeks/Romans closer to the truth with their multiple deities? Or even extra terrestials as some suggest?

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same door as in I went.

Pesky things, commas.

Since I'm showing my ignorance on things metaphysical, please explain to me why the almighty chooses some redneck named Bubba or Billy Joe Bob to use as his spokesman to humanity? Sort of like a highly evolved, superintelligent alien race deciding to visit earth and contacting a coon hunter in Taney county instead of landing in Trafalgar Square at rush hour.

And while I'm at it, if we are required to do certain things/believe a certain way on pain of eternal punishment, then why doesn't the almighty just appear in the sky and say her piece in language that can't be misinterpreted? But no.....everything has to be cryptic and requires us to display faith. What a crock. Anything that doesn't make sense is put down to mankind's ignorance and we just have to trust Billy Joe Bob who talks to angels and have faith.

All very good points H!

I like your reference to the almighty as 'her' hypatia.

I've got the book and busy reading it.

It's an A to Z of ideas, places and people referred to in Brown's book. And references to the books that Brown based his story on.

A section on Goddess worship that interested me - going back to 35,000 BC.

More later

Jazz

My copy has been ordered and should arive sometime this week. I'll let you know when it comes.

H

Your point, Hypatia, about having to trust Billy Joe Bob (who talks to angels) and have faith was well expressed by old Omar too :-

Then to the rolling heav'n itself I cried
Asking, what lamp had destiny to guide
her little children stumbling in the dark?
And - 'A blind understanding!' heav'n replied.

The church does not want us to ask questions - nor to disagree.
But at least we don't get burned at the stake any longer.

Jazz

Funny how this book should gain so much attention when others are ignored.

Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice had God creating man as an experiment to see where he began how he had become all powerful

The His Dark Material series by Phillip Pullman had God trapped by evil angels and finally released to die in peace.

The Ancient Future Trilogy is hardly any better with its Druidic pagan thoughts and insistance that those interested in such things are of a select group called the Chosen.

Why should Da Vinci Code be any different from these? From my practical Christian perspective, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.

Miztres, in Pullman, for example, god is just another character in what is a clear fantasy. Rice's books are so fantastic that no one takes them seriously. I imagine that the reason the Da Vinci Code is taking so much heat is because it talks about Jesus and Mary Magdalene, both of whom actually exsisted and gives an interpretation of events that contradicts what they consider to be absolute truth.

No one is going to alter their religious beliefs because of a vampire novel. And while I consider Pullman a cut above, again, the thread theory is still speculative and it's unlikely that it will be considered as anything more than fantasy.

Persons reading the Da Vinci Code, on the other hand, might actually be persuaded to rethink some of the long-standing teachings and traditions of the church. Which I think is healthy. Let's look at religion with the same critical eye we use for everything else. If it holds up - then good. If it doesn't - then that's ok too.

The backlash from this book is enormous. They're circling the wagons.

The Harry Potter controversy is still alive and well in Middle America. Last week a woman canme in and spend 10 minutes ranting to me about the books. She demanded to know why Satan is allowed in schools (Harry Potter) but not Jesus. And did I know that by providing these books and films to the public, I am doing the work of the devil? I have a staffer who checked the top of my head for horns after she left.

H

Hypatia love - did they find any horns?

'Cracking the Davinci Code', gives lots of factual evidence about the early religions and ideas. It provokes serious thought and questions -even more so than the 'Davinci Code' did for me - but then I've always been a sceptic of the established churches.

I don't have cloven hoofs though.

Jazz

It amazes me that people would rant and rave so much. People must be very insecure in their beliefs if Harry Potter is a threat to them

I've never come across that sort of attitude in Australia. I guess we're just too laid back.

Jazz, my Cox book is here. I'll give it a look this evening. I'm looking forward to discussing it with you.

I'm really enjoying this conversation. It's nice to have sensible people to talk to.

H