Messages

"Ask them about dinosaurs and fossil remains and they will say that they are there to fool you and test your faith.God works in mysterious ways etc.The ultimate cop out answer to any awkward question you may ask them.Pathetic."

I agree, but look at it from their perspective for a moment. Faith is a vital part of their belief system, so it's reasonable for them to assume that God is going to test their faith from time to time. On that basis, it's a reasonable answer. And don't forget, the scientists might just be bullshitting us when they say they've carbon dated the fossils. Have we done the tests ourselves? Proven the technology? Checked the maths? Nope, most of us just put our faith in the scientists and the peer review system.

"There is a connection between born again christians and mental illness."

There's a connection between mental illness and genuis, too. I'd be interested to know what you base your statement on, as I've not heard it before.

Regards

Robin

"Well, we have an inherent sense of right and wrong surely,"

I'd love to believe that, but I find it increasingly hard to. This week in Norwich, a father and son were convicted of kicking to death a young lad in McDonalds just because he'd asked them to stop leering at his pregnant girlfriend. They claimed it was self-defence, even when it was clear from CCTV that they inniated the attack. We're also celebrating the great news that "NHS Security Management Service data showed there were 58,695 physical assaults against NHS staff in England in 2005/06, down 1,690 from 2004/05."

I'm sure we could each provide numberous examples of people having absolutely no sense of right and wrong whatsoever. I'm left thinking it's only fear of retribution (whether from God, the Law, or vigilante neigbourhood watch groups) that make most people behave decently, not any inherent sense of right and wrong. I'm left wondering where my own sense of morality comes from - would be kind of depressing if it was entirely because of the way my parents brought be up, and not because I was tapped into some divine reality.

"As the creator of the Sceptics' Annotated Bible says, the thing about Christians is that they don't actually read The Bible,"

Just because the creator of the Sceptics' Annotated Bible says so, doesn't necessarily make it wholly true, though I wouldn't entirely dismiss the idea. There are certainly some Christians who do read the bible, and some of them even think while they're doing it, too.

"The idea that Christianity is all about peace and forgiveness is really just a recent hippy slant."

Hardly that recent. I think Jesus mentioned the subjects once or twice.

Regards

Robin

'Something that does bother me about a universe without a God: there's no final arbiter. Right and wrong just become matters of majority opinion (not always bad, granted, but often a long way from good... in my opinion, of course).'

**The way I see it, that's what the religious concept of right and wrong is anyway.**

I wouldn't disagree, but that's missing the point I was trying to making. I prefer to believe (or at least hope) that my sense of right and wrong is driven by an innate connection to something profound, rather than a practical selfishness that says, for example, "If it's illegal to stab people, I'm less likely to be stabbed."

**If Christians were still truly following the example of the Biblical God, they'd still be running round sacrificing their children, stoning immoral women, not eating shellfish and killing anyone who worships false gods."**

I'm hardly an expert on the Bible, but to the best of my limited knowledge, child sacrifice isn't advocated by God, either in the Old or New Testaments. I assume you're referring to God telling Abraham to scarifice one his sons to him. Although he is willing, he's stopped by an angel - it's a test of faith not something God is advocating.

I don't think there's anything about killing those who worship false gods, either. There is an instruction to the Jews that they "shall have no other gods before me [the guy with the beard]", but that's not an instruction to kill gentiles.

You'er probably right about the stoning women, though. And as for the shellfish, well, best left in the sea, I reckon.

Regards

Robin

"It would be a shame to see churches and Cathederals fall into disrepair .They are worth preserving even if the religion isnt."

That depends on what you see as the core tenets of Christianity. Much as I love York Minster, I'd gladly see it fall if it mean that peace, love and care for the less fortunate were preserved and perpetuated in its stead.

Regards

Robin

Something that does bother me about a universe without a God: there's no final arbiter. Right and wrong just become matters of majority opinion (not always bad, granted, but often a long way from good... in my opinion, of course).

Regards

Robin

"It's also worth pointing out that the government makes far more out of the Monarchy than they pay out via the Civil List. Stupid, inbred and over-privileged they may be, but the Royals are no way near the massive drain on resources that certain people would have you believe."

And, as others have noted, they feed part of the tourism industry, hence jobs and taxes. They also serve as ambassadors, too - we may think them a joke, but a lot of other countries buy into their, ahem, mystique.

Something else that occurs to me is all the land they own. Imagine if that was handed to the state - we could look forward to even more countryside lost to cheap, low quality housing and more bloody Tescos. Frankly, I'd rather have a load of upper-class twits maintaining land as countryside (even if it is only for their personal hunting, shooting and fishing), than losing it to bloody developers.

Regards

Robin

"The world is better off without religion,"

More often than not, religion is an excuse rather than the primary cause of most problems.

It's also worth remembering that a great deal of social reform, in the UK at least, has been driven by rich Christians who have simply wanted to alleviate the suffering of others.

You might be right, but given human nature I think it unlikely.

"but we need the royal family for our amusement, tourism which brings in alot of income for our country (although it goes straight into the govt coffers),"

What, all of it? The tea-towel sellers and B&B operators must make something.

"There are a lot more richer people and organisations in the UK making us poor. The church of England for one. Lets see how much hate I get from this statement. "

Not so much hate, more confusion. How exactly is the CoE making us poorer? They're selling off churches, rectories and land left, right and centre, and vicars are paid worse than public sector employees. And they haven't had any money off me since I paid to go up the top of York Minster a couple of months ago. Unless it gets its act together, I can imagine the CoE being dead within my lifetime.

Regards

Robin

"Christianity is older than Islam or earlier recorded?"

Christianity is older, although the second paragraph of the Wiki introduction offers an interesting perspective:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam

Regards

Robin

This is perhaps an odd thing to notice and comment on, but I think you draw hands and wrists exceptional well!

Your style comes under a heading that I normally dismiss as 'scratchy', which in theory I'm not meant to like, but I really think the pictures you've posted to this thread are superb.

Regards

Robin

I wasn't entirely sure where to post this, but Links seems as good a place as any:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=264472&page=3652

(The rest of this amazing thread with its 36,511 posts (and counting) probably won't mean anything unless you're a roleplayer, but there is some funny stuff here if you have the time.)

Regards

Robin

Interesting to hear Killing Joke's been recoloured - I'll definitely pick up a copy for comparison.

This is a complete thread-jack, but I'd be interested in seeing a lot of people revise various classic and not-so classic stories. Imagine:

John Wagner's 'Inferno!'
Carlos Ezquerra's 'Final Solution'

Regards

Robin

"I totally agree, although I wonder how much of an improvement it would've been if Bolland had coloured it himself. IIRC, I read that he *hated* Higgins' colouring on it, especially as he wanted (and maybe even requested) the colouring be quite subdued and the flashbacks to be entirely in sepia tones."

Yes, he's expressed his intense dislike of Higgin's colouring several times. Personally, I loved the colouring, and I'm not sure it would have been improved had Bolland coloured it in a more subdued manner.

Regards

Robin

"Abortion of healthy pregancies is illegal in MC1"

Is it? I'm not disputing the point, I just can't remember ever reading it.

Regards

Robin

While in theory this is the sort of thing I like to get involved in, I think taking 400 million as an ongoing average makes more sense than anything else. Just say the periodic disasters balance the high population growth. Best leave it at that.

Regards

Robin

"Really didn't like Neverwhere, and only thought American Gods was ok."

I quite liked the original TV version of Neverwhere, although it could have done with being shot on film and having a slightly bigger budget and a few better actors. I may read the novelisation at some point. American Gods wasn't bad, but nothing I hadn't seen in The Sandman or various home-grown roleplaying games I played in during the early 90s.

Regards

Robin