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

Hi Andrew.
You're right,of course; there are passages that could be taken to support the idea of hell. But I'm kinda sure that the idea *did* come from somewhere else as well. I need to do research & get back to you.

I'm not going to jump into the deep end here. Just a couple of thoughts. Probably of more interest to those who accept the authority of the Bible than to those who don't, but anyway.

1. God said to Adam about the tree, "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," and did not say anything about eternal punishment afterwards. It would seem a tad unfair of God not to mention this little point. (Gen. 2:17.)

2. In fact, the whole concept of eternal punishment for non-eternal sins is regarded as unfair by almost anyone who doesn't believe in it.

3. To be punished forever one must live forever. "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. ... Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest." (Eccl. 9:5, 10.)


American Standard Version http://ebible.org/asv

In numerology how did everything get to be the way it is? i.e. where do we come from, how was the universe made, where do wights come from?


"if you are prepared to define other people's gods by what their sacred writings say about them, rather than what the Bible says about them"

I'm not sure on this, (and I'm sure you'll put me right) but I think that your beliefs & view of the gods, their relationship to you, the world & each other is very different to those prevelent in palestine at the time of the Isrealite's invasion. By all accounts those pagans had child sacrifice rituals/festivals. The God of the Bible got very angry with the Isrealites for taking up some of these habits, which he (rightly in my view) called disgusting. As I said to you about the god of the bible: "Either he doesn't exist, or he is as described there." And as already stated, I don't believe your gods exist.

Trig siad he wasn't going to jump in the deep end, but I've been thrown in! Well it is of my own doing.
As with other questions, I need to do more research on this one. I will get back to you.

The first place I remember coming accross the word 'heathen' was in the book Children of the Oregan Trail', where they refer to their unbaptised baby sister as one, and lament the fact that she may die in that state. I was rather confused, thinking 'whats a heath got to do with it?'!

That sounds like an interesting book, Moke...

I may indeed mean 'Beltane', especially as I've never heard of it before. But it sounds like the Irish for May: Bealtina.

& as i mite hav menshionned, spalin neva was me fortay.

It was a true story, reported in a newspaper about these children whose parents died on a pioneering trail accross America. They went along with the rest of the party for a while, until these were persuaded that they didn't want to go where they were going. The children carried on & eventually made it, with some pretty close scrapes along the way. Some author read it in the paper & wrote the book. I dunno if he talked to the children first.

I remember that this was a good place to put random links, and... I kinda liked the company here, so I thought I'd ask if anyone has seen this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles/index.shtml

See if you can spot a genuine smile.

I'm quite impressed, actually - I got 17/20. I've always suspected that I could tell when someone was really smiling, but my natural caution would make me say no.

Any other great scores to make me feel bad?

Oh, and hi, moke! Didn't see you when I was around here!

- Jordan

I was under the impression that, although the people who actully went on the crusades were motivated by a false religious fervour (false cos they claimed to follow Jesus, who said to love your enemy, and certainly never told anyone to reclaim Jerusalem), the idea was actually cooked up by papal advisors or the man himself in an effort to replenish Vatican coffers. I may have gained this impression from the book mensioned earlier: 'The Dark Side of the Papacy'.

Moke, master of the incredably long sentance for no very good reason.

Child-sacrifice? I hadn't heard that before (other than the story about Abraham, but that's not really pagan now is it). Not pretending that back in the day pagans were necessarily a peaceful lot (the Romans obviously show otherwise) or even particularly more peaceful than the Christians and Jews of the day for that matter, but child sacrifice stretches belief a bit. Do we have evidence?

"Druidry, for many of its practitioners, is not a form of religion. It is a philosophy and a way of life."

Shouldn't any religion guide us in our way of life? If we believe something, shouldn't it be our way of life?

Just me picking nits (not gnats!) again.

Not sure what you take for evidence, Bouncy, but the bible definatly mensions them passing their own children through the fire. The passage is actually another argument against hellfire, as God says that this is something he had never thought of. I think it's in Isaiah, but I can't find it at the mo.
I think there may also be archealogical evidence, I seem to remember something about clay pots being found with human ashes or something. Not that that proves they were sacrificed, I know. I can't really remember the details.

I remember finding the interview interesting & educating. Of course, I may have been young at the time & missed subtle ways in whitch the whitch was treated badly, but I will say that that's not the way I remember it. I'm thinking now: it may have been on Irish radio, not BBC.
(I'm going on the theory that if you don't know whitch letters should be there when, just put them all in.)

"Jesus may or may not have been a sexual deviant whatever that is, but I reckon there's a pretty good chance Paul was."


If so, why would he have written such hard-hitting passages against homosexuality as Romans 1:26,27 & 1 Corinthians 6:9,10?

I wouldn't take the Bible's opinion on Pagans too seriously...

Back to Paul, just a little stereotype about vocally moralistic men and dirty little secrets.

"I wonder why Christians are so insecure about their religion that someone poking some fun at it makes them get defensive to the extent that they start issuing death threats to children. Any ideas?"

Please insert the word 'some' before 'Christians'. I rekon there's some from every persuasion who would do similar in comparible suituations. As they say, 'there's always one', but when it's the biggest general persuasion in the country, all the ones find each other & encourage each other.
My grammer/syntax is rather questionable there, but I'm sure you can work out waht I mean if yo try hard enough!

<>

A rather asinine stereotype, if you ask me, and put about by people I can only regard as jealous in some way...

If you don't accept stereotypes about other groups, why accept a silly one about "moralistic" people?

Thought I'd make use of Trig's link above. So these are also from the ASV.

Romans:
1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature: 1:27 and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due.

1 Corinthians:
6:9 Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, 6:10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

The practice of child sacrifice has been associated with the Phoenicians/Carthaginians, but the archaeological evidence is, shall we say, open to interpretation. It gets a passing mention in Roman sources, but since the two were at war at the time it could be just propaganda.

Noggin