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

a little while agou you wrote that you "respect all choices of religion except agnosticism, atheism (hope I spelled that right) and satanism, of which I believe Wicca to be a female sect."

Sorry to take this to your homepage, but it wasn't terribly appropriate to the conversation of the others there, so I felt I should start a new one...

If you want to learn some aspects of the truth of Satanism, see this edited entry: http://www.h2g2.com/A230211. While you're perfectly at liberty to say that you do not respect it, I suspect you may be thinking of Devil Worshippers, rather than the somewhat (only somewhat) more genteel truth.

Wicca is most certainly NOT a female sect of satanism - it's not exclusively female, and Wiccans (or witches) don't believe Satan exists. I'll simply direct you to the "Wiccan Forum" at http://www.h2g2.com/A196300 and the short entry on Wicca itself at http://www.h2g2.com/A19423. There's also a piece in the edited guide at http://www.h2g2.com/A317305 on one of the principle books.

For completeness, the edited entry on atheism is here: http://www.h2g2.com/A254477, and there's an unedited entry on agnosticism here: http://www.h2g2.com/a371873

If you do not respect these four, then perhaps I should bring another religion to your attention that you are unlikely to respect: Discordinism. The edited entry's at: http://www.h2g2.com/A258608

Understanding brings Peace.
Love, Xanthia

dearest lucinda,
Your name is very appropro, Lucinda. Sorry about all that appropriate stuff, I guess that Freedom From Faith, forum heading, kinda got me going. Especially since I live by faith as most of we mortals do. I hope you have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN, and this posting on my page is, again, coming in OCTOBER very apropro. One never knows Do ONE?
As for the sites you reccomend, considering my previous opinions stated, how devilishly prankish of you to plaster these links, again,
Happy Halloween. Rest peacefully that I will not have occasion to visit the first four sites listed, and if anyone out there is listening I don't reccomend them (just because they are on my site, not my doing and all that) My opinion, and everyone is entitled to one is that as far as these subjects are concerned: Sometimes... IGNORACE IS BLISS!
Then again, FORWARNED IS FORARMED.
Worlds of Love,
JLC the TTP

Hi, JLC, glad to see you're still well. The "Freedom From Faith" forum that you've been visiting now and again was started by me on Colonel Sellers' User Page. Me and the Colonel had a bit of a discussion previously, so I went to his page to see what he was all about. Me, I happen to think faith is not such a bad thing, so I'm trying by various subtle means to soften the Colonel's stance on the issue, and hopefully enlarging my own perspective as well in the process.

I was raised a Christian, but since then I have read and heard so much other stuff that made sense to me that I am no longer so sure of myself. I don't think ignorance is such bliss - I think it is wrong to fear knowledge. If I was afraid of being corrupted by other people's viewpoints, I wouldn't read any book, I wouldn't even talk to anybody. There are degrees of "difference"; for instance, a book by someone of a different Christian church can be very acceptable, but a book by an agnostic is less acceptable, a book by a Buddhist even less, and a book by a satanist even less. I'm still wary of satanists, as the very thought of naming a religion after the supposed ultimate incarnation of Evil strikes me as being just a tad negative. But I have read lots of stuff by Buddhists and Hindus, and I find that there is much that sounds very reasonable to me, that I agree with; I haven't read much written by Muslims, but in my community I often deal with Muslims and they sound like reasonable people, they find value in their religion, I have no cause to argue with them or to call their beliefs into doubt.

I can even get along with atheists - I do have atheist friends; their only crime, as far as I can see, is choosing to withold belief in something they find unbelievable. There are lots of things I find unbelievable - for one thing, I refuse to give any credit to (most) conspiracy theories. That makes me an "unbeliever" to a conspiracy theorist, but of course there are other things I DO believe in, that I consider to be more important. The same goes for an atheist - in many cases they have values similar to those of religious people, they just base them on different foundations. I believe we can all get along, we must try to be tolerant and accommodate several different viewpoints. See, that is MY opinion.

Anyways, like you said, you are entitled to your opinion, and I admire your outspokenness! Keep it up!

Accept my virtual hug and my real blessing: wherever you be, may love and light and happiness be there as well.

Trick or treat? I could tell you that I'm no relation, but then, being as another of my many names is Luke, I doubt you'd believe me...

I can find CS and TG a little overharsh at times - but I guess they've had different experiences to me - mortals do tend to get effected by such things dreadfully...

I did think you might genuinely want to know - might prevent you from making similarly illinformed statements in the future... and the very fact that you were in that forum implies that you were at least a little interested in adding to your knowledge, or at least in reading the opinions of others with such.

That's no justification, though - I apologised before for taking this to your home space, and I apologise again now that I know that the intrusion was unwarranted and unwanted.

Lucinda - horny horny horny? {ok, ok, so I'm overdoing it now...}

Hello My Dearest Willem,
so God, oops, Good to hear from you again as well. And so its you and your scientific mumbo jumbo that is involved in the distribution of such trite as Freedom from Faith. (Get you sense of humor out here, cause you know I love you) In any Case, I have read so many things on so many religions and being from New Orleans actually posessed a real Grimoire, which is a witch's Bible. Speaking from experience, there is no white magic, and everything you come in contact with has an effect upon your existance. I have chanted with the Buddists and had my Gohanzan, I have read the BadghaVita and practice hatha and raga yoga,
I have been intimately involved with muslims but just tend to shy away from SATAN. Getting involved with the Grimoire, more than taught me the power of association.
I know who I am, I am a Christian. I have read about the Essences and the Dead Sea Scrolls from which the Book of Revelations is believed to have been taken, the armies of good and evil, black and white, or as the Taoists believe Yin and Yang, (I practice T'ai Chi) I would find it hard to stay out of almost any posting advocating Freedom from Faith; as I must cast my lot to the army of white, of good and of Faith. It is strange that you say you have read and heard so much stuff that doesn't make SENSE, and this ancient culture, called the Essences are postulated to be the ones who Jesus lived amongst when he disappeared between the years of his childhood until he emerged to show himself as the son of God made Man, his purpose to unite us again in harmony with God. The key is Faith in him, the key to Faith is that it does not make sense, it comes from the Holy Spirit which fills you and through Grace bridges that distance between the seemingly senseless and the Truth, Christ Jesus and our Faith in him as our Savior. If one is Free from Faith then it would follow that one is condemned to never be united in Christ with God. Religion may seem like the Opiate of the Masses, but do you want to risk it? As for the varieties of Faiths out there, judge not lest ye be judged, I believe God made us all and it is up to each individual to choose. Never would I want it on my conscience to lead another astray. Think about it.
Worlds of Love,
JLC the TTP

Dear Happy,
Guess that religious hype really got you going, huh? Thanks for not leaving a question mark. It was just something I needed to say on a lonely night positive affirmation does work.
Worlds of Love,
JLC the TTP

I just wanted to keep an eye on this forum so I posted a blank so it would show up on my page - I nothing to add to the debate at the momment but the future ?

> I have been intimately involved with muslims but just tend to shy away from SATAN
As I think I said, Satanists don't believe in or worship Satan - he's just a mascot. Kinda like the duracell bunny, but less cuddly.

> Religion may seem like the Opiate of the Masses, but do you want to risk it?
Obviously I do...

I must compliment you on having thought about these things, and having looked at the many different answers people have had. While I clearly disagree with your conclusion, I respect the integrity and thoughtfulness of your methods - you show an openness in them that few people of any outlook share.

God bless,
Martin

Dear JLC, I am not free of faith. You misread me. I never said that I read things that didn't make sense. Everything makes sense to me. There is no such thing as nonsense.

I am not the originator of the name nor the concept Free from Faith. That is merely the name of the club that Colonel Sellers promotes on his page, and I had (and still have) some comments about it. I am not Free from Faith - I am Free from Fear, and so I never hesitate to tackle difficult and confusing issues head on, even if I risk talking a lot of nonsense in the process. Just compare this paragraph with the previous one, and you'll see.

I believe in Evil; I believe that there might be real incarnations of things that some people consider to be abstract concepts. Reality is not a single, unitary thing: it has many levels; at every level, things have different natures. But even so, reality is a single, unitary thing, and our divisions, our perceptions of distinctions, are illusory.

I also believe I know who I am. I am a Christian, but also I am not a Christian. I am not a single, unitary thing. At different levels I have different natures. I am Willem, a guy sitting in front of a computer screen in South Africa, but I am also the Unmentionable Marauding Pillowcase, a wide and varied jumble of information coursing over the phonelines and sattellite links and residing in the memory banks of computers all over the world. And I am also the single, unitary, ultimately real I, the union of all fragmented I's. And also much more, and much less, than that.

And also, Christ is not a single, unitary thing. At different levels, Christ has different natures. There is the conceptual Christ, taught differently in different kinds of churches. Then there is the actual Christ, who may have had a number of different physical natures in conjunction with his ultimate Nature as the Son of God. Christ is the Way, but just how many manifestations does this Way have? Can there be an understanding that rises above the separate, different understandings of different religions? Can Christ Himself not transcend the limited understanding that people have of Him?

If Faith can transcend sense, then it might not matter that there are differences in the "sense" taught by different religions, or even irreligions. The "essence" might come from the same source.

But even so, not all religions are the same, some can be very harmful, some can turn out to be monumental wastes of time, some can even be evil. It all comes down to the individual. But it also comes down to God. What is the nature of God, and what is our own nature? God is Love. What reigns supreme, Faith, or Love? Can Love not do what even Faith is powerless to do?

Where there is Love, there is Trust even in the absence of Understanding. God loves his entire creation, and it is Love that bind his creatures to Him. Christ was an expression of God's Love. This Love is unconditional. So must our Love be, too. Faith is a means to an end: to unite us with God. But Love is not a means to an end. It is an end in itself. It is The End.

Dearest Case,
Please don't talk about love tonight. The greatest commandment is Love thy neighbor as thyself, this is the one true commandment which encompasses all. Granted. Thank you for bringing that disertation to a fitting conclusion.
Romantic love is the problem that I seem to have and the illusion of happily ever after which inevitably turns into a tragedy. I keep hearing the lyrics of Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell: "Do you love me? Will you love me forever? Do you need me, will you never leave me? I got to know right now before we go any further! Do you Love me?"
He replies "Baby, baby let me sleep on it, let me sleep on it, and I'll give you an answer in the morning." She keeps on haranging the poor adolescent boy until he shouts out "Then a feeling came over me, I started praying to my God and swearing that I would love her till the end of time! And so I'm praying for the end of time, So I can End My Time With You!"
How's that for a Topic Drift.
Anyhoo the type of love you are speaking of is AGAPE. There is a place for that in all of our lives. It is the love I speak of when I sign off.
Worlds of Love,
psst: Thanks for listening to the mad ranting that haunt my soul at times.
JLC the TTP