Re: Excellent article - gameplay vs glitz etc

Thusly Nostromo <nostromo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Spake Unto All:

>WOW! You tell a mean tale MC! Shame you have no proof for your conjectures,
>only that you spin this yarn from what you know of (semi)modern day cults &
>can piece together on the basis of the axiom you've started with + a healthy
>dose of cynicism thrown in for good measure ;)

I have the bible, some ancillary historical info, and I have the
present-day cults. You can of course disagree with my interpretations,
e.g. say that Jesus really did hear the voice of God, not just had
hallucinations as schizophreniacs do, or that the early christian
church was nothing like a charismatic cult, but I don't think there's
anything in there that's factually wrong.

>Btw, Nietzsche started with the same premise - & ended up miserable &
>insane.

Yes, and Hitler was a christian who ended up torching europe (although
to be fair, as his insanity grew he became less christian and more
pagan).

>It's not a pretty world where meaning is only in the things we can
>see or touch or get our hands on imho.

Oh, I disagree. In the words of Douglas Adams: "Isn't it enough to see
that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are
fairies at the bottom of it too?"

>Where there is no Faith, there can be
>no meaning.

Depends on what one puts into the concept of 'meaning'.
For a christian, the meaning of life is to overcome the trials and
temptations put before him in this short miserable life, to live
righteously and after death be rewarded by an eternity in Heaven.
According to me, the _ultimate_ meaning of all lifeforms is as simply
vehicles to propagate genes. The _proximate_ meaning of life, as it
concerns MY particular life, or any individual humans life, is to
enjoy my life as best I can, and to do what I want to do as long as it
doesn't cause suffering or harm to others.
We're only here for a very short while and we're little more than
sock-puppets of our genes, so why not make the best of it?

Now, I would _like_ to believe in an afterlife. Our lives are so very
short, eternity is so very long, and it annoys me to think of all the
things I will never get to see or know. It would be nice to meet
departed loved ones again.
And I would _like_ that we weren't left to our own devices, that there
was a God to catch us if we fall.

But to me that's all it is: a pleasant, comforting, fantasy.

>Emperor Augustine said "Faith does not proceed from
>understanding; understanding proceeds from Faith". Of course, you cannot
>accept this (or even fully understand this) from your vantage point.

Oh yes, many prominent christians have said words to this effect, e.g:

"Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the
aid of spiritual things, but -more frequently than not- struggles
against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from
God." [Martin Luther]

This position (that the Faith is right and any contradictory evidence
necessarily wrong), is my biggest problem with christianity, because
it is the reason that something like 60% of the US public still think
that the Earth was created in 7 days some 4000 years ago, and it is
the sole motivator behind the present scientifically bankrupt but
heavily funded 'irreducible complexity' movement in the US.

Because, in the words of Galileo Galilei:
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin
not with the Scriptures, but with experiments, and demonstrations."

>favourite passage btw ;). I will remember you in my prayers, so long as you
>remember me in your flames occasionally, or this place may become a very
>dull place indeed! ;)

Oh, I'm an equal-opportunity flamer, so there's little risk of me
forgetting to gently barbecue you from time to time.

>Now, Resident Evil - sequel good as original if not better. I mean, what's
>better than one hot chick with guns & lotsa bad tude? Why TWO hot chicks of
>course! >8^D

Very good point.

>>(The worst in this regard was surely the Matrix movies. The first one
>>had soooo many possibilities, but they ended up doing nothing at all
>>with it. Shame.)
>
>Yuppers. Damn shame. Animatrix was 10 times better than the last 2 movies
>rolled together. Someone should redo them as an animated flic & re-release
>as "The Matrix: The True Story".

IMO they should release The Matrix IV: The Awakening, where it's found
that Neo was kidnapped by the Machines, and everything since then has
happened in a simulated reality to get him to give up the position of
Zion.



--
Prediction 1: The US will be found to have covert prisons in Macedonia,
Poland and Romania. Those in Egypt and Pakistan will not be found.
.

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