I might shove that bit of fiction I was threatening to put on here up before I leave but don't hold your breath, you might not be able to release it till this time next year when I remember that I ever wrote it.
Love you all
Thais
xxx
Wednesday 25 August 2010
Goodbyes
It's only a few more days before I disappear off to China for six months, so (not that I update often) I won't be saying much for that length of time, not that I won't attempt to get on my blog from China, only that due to some of the more dubious rants I have probably inaccessible/disallowed content on here... oops.
Saturday 14 August 2010
Stones
As no one reading this will know, I am about to embark on a D&D campaign...yes I know uber geek here. Anyway the guy who was explaining to me the very baisics of how to play was warning me about paying too much attention to the DM (person who runs the campaign and baisicly invents the world and events) as it could mean ending up with pointless equipment which takes up space and weight. The example he used made me chuckle so I have decided to reproduce it for you :)
DM: *rolls* Frank, you trip over a stone.
John: Hey pick that up you never know it might be magical!
Tim: Can't someone cast identify on it?
DM: None of you are a Wizard
Frank: No because even after two of us chose Ranger and Barbarian someone chose to be a Bard
John: Look are you going to pick it up or not??
Frank: Fine, I pick up the stone.
*three weeks later*
DM: Your party come across a group of Goblins, you are severely outnumbered.
Tim: You guys know how to get out of this?
Frank: Hey maybe that stone I picked up will help, I won initiative, I throw the stone *rolls die* cool I got 19
DM: You sure you want to throw the stone at the goblins?
Frank: I got 19 of course I do!!
DM: Fine you throw the stone, it hits the lead goblin on the forehead stunning him.
Tim: That worked well, good roll!
John: Hey that must mean the stone you tripped over was a Stone of Stunning !
Frank: Cool, I'll use it again
DM: You guys are idiots...
DM: *rolls* Frank, you trip over a stone.
John: Hey pick that up you never know it might be magical!
Tim: Can't someone cast identify on it?
DM: None of you are a Wizard
Frank: No because even after two of us chose Ranger and Barbarian someone chose to be a Bard
John: Look are you going to pick it up or not??
Frank: Fine, I pick up the stone.
*three weeks later*
DM: Your party come across a group of Goblins, you are severely outnumbered.
Tim: You guys know how to get out of this?
Frank: Hey maybe that stone I picked up will help, I won initiative, I throw the stone *rolls die* cool I got 19
DM: You sure you want to throw the stone at the goblins?
Frank: I got 19 of course I do!!
DM: Fine you throw the stone, it hits the lead goblin on the forehead stunning him.
Tim: That worked well, good roll!
John: Hey that must mean the stone you tripped over was a Stone of Stunning !
Frank: Cool, I'll use it again
DM: You guys are idiots...
Wednesday 4 August 2010
Saturday 26 June 2010
On Corests and Contact Lenses
Deleted due to a change of heart....wait doesn't that imply that I own one of those?
Friday 4 June 2010
Aurora
I do not write very often, but this is one I wrote about 3 years ago, just found it and thought I would share my warped imagination.
Aurora’s sleep.
Aurora went to Mr. Linden’s house almost every day after school to help him clean his house. As well as a small wage, Mr. Linden allowed Aurora to borrow books from his library. On this particular day she was looking for a very particular book, which her mother had always joked about, saying that it was her story. For Aurora was named after a princess in a fairy tale, and as it was her sixteenth birthday on the next day she had decided to read her story for the first time in her life. She stepped into the library and was instantly engulfed by the familiar and comforting musty smell of old books. The light was dim as always, to protect the books. Mr. Linden prized himself on his care for the books he owned. The room had not been dusted, as she suspected it had not for over a decade. The dust hung thick in the air, which was barely thin enough to breathe, but it comforted Aurora. She was always much more at ease among stories full of magic and wonder then with people from the world that created her retreats.
She eventually found the book. It was old, but surprisingly it looked as if it had never been read. The pages were stiff and had no creases on them; the only thing that gave away its age was the yellow tinge around the edges of the paper. She went to tell Mr. Linden which book she was taking.
When she showed him the book a strange look passed over the old mans face, almost a look of worry, “Are you sure about that Aurora? It is not often people want to read their own story.”
“It’s not my story, look: she is called Talia, that’s not my name,” joked Aurora.
“Yes, but in later versions Talia was given her daughter’s name, Aurora, and that is the Talia you where named after, but you are all the same person,” he could tell Aurora thought that he was just joking and let her go, hoping that his words would remain with her.
She left his house and the air around her changed immediately, from the stuffy atmosphere of the old man’s home to the cold, fresh air of the world outside. It was late so she hurried back home. Escaping the black night that danced and surrounded her, cloaking her in darkness as she ran towards the light and shelter of her own house.
After a hurried supper she rushed upstairs. She dived into her bed after getting changed, trying to escape the coldness that had seeped into her room through the window that had been open for most of the day. She picked the book up from her bedside table and started to read. It began as all fairy tales appear to, with ‘Once upon a time’.
Whenever she read a book, she always imagined herself as one of the characters, but with this book it was different; she did not need to pretend. For as she read the words seemed to come out of the book, surrounding her in their familiarity. It was as if she already knew the story, even though she had never read it before or seen the films or ballet based on it. The words seemed to want her to be in the book with them, to be part of the story alongside its inhabitants. She was not just masquerading as a character, she was one.
Time passed but Aurora did not notice, her story was consuming her and she let it. Before she knew it the church bell rang midnight, twelve muffled rings. Only then did she pause. Sixteen. Now she was sixteen, and almost at the same time, the princess in the book turned the same age. She turned the page and a small but sudden pain ran from her finger, she looked at the hurt and saw blood, only a small droplet though. She put the cut in her mouth, washing the blood away.
It was only then that she realised how tired she was, it was as if weights had been attached to her eyelashes, forcing her to close her eyes. Her arm was too tired to hold the book and it fell onto her bed, open. When she closed her eyes it was hard to open them again, almost like they had been glued tightly shut.
Aurora was so tired she did not notice the leaves brushing her cut finger. Did not notice the vines creeping from the page of the book, stealing over her body. She gave up trying to stay awake. As her eyes closed for the last time she remembered what Mr. Linden had said, ‘you are all the same person’. She remembered the curse put on Talia as a baby, and of the good fairy who changed the curse from death to sleep.
Her story had caught up with her, and had taken control. Even as her breathing slowed to that of a deep sleep, the plant growing from the binding of the book grew thorns. Her whole room was turned into a brier patch. Small roses bloomed, bright red against the dark browns and greens of the roots. Leaving the sleeping Talia stuck, asleep for a hundred years to come. Locked in her room, awaiting her prince charming. Mr. Linden had tried to warn her about the book. Now it was too late and Aurora had fallen into a story she had not realised she had spent her whole life trying to escape.
Aurora woke to sunlight playing on her eyelids. She put her hand out trying to find her book, but instead she felt someone taking her hand and holding it. She opened her eyes; she was looking into the face of a strange boy, a little older than herself and very good looking. He was wearing strange clothes, and a smile dancing around his lips as he raised her hand to meet them.
Talia meanwhile woke to find herself alone in a strange room. Definitely not the tower she remembered. On the bed beside her, lay a dieing rose and an open book.
I would put the picture which inspired this story up, but I can't find it.
Aurora’s sleep.
Aurora went to Mr. Linden’s house almost every day after school to help him clean his house. As well as a small wage, Mr. Linden allowed Aurora to borrow books from his library. On this particular day she was looking for a very particular book, which her mother had always joked about, saying that it was her story. For Aurora was named after a princess in a fairy tale, and as it was her sixteenth birthday on the next day she had decided to read her story for the first time in her life. She stepped into the library and was instantly engulfed by the familiar and comforting musty smell of old books. The light was dim as always, to protect the books. Mr. Linden prized himself on his care for the books he owned. The room had not been dusted, as she suspected it had not for over a decade. The dust hung thick in the air, which was barely thin enough to breathe, but it comforted Aurora. She was always much more at ease among stories full of magic and wonder then with people from the world that created her retreats.
She eventually found the book. It was old, but surprisingly it looked as if it had never been read. The pages were stiff and had no creases on them; the only thing that gave away its age was the yellow tinge around the edges of the paper. She went to tell Mr. Linden which book she was taking.
When she showed him the book a strange look passed over the old mans face, almost a look of worry, “Are you sure about that Aurora? It is not often people want to read their own story.”
“It’s not my story, look: she is called Talia, that’s not my name,” joked Aurora.
“Yes, but in later versions Talia was given her daughter’s name, Aurora, and that is the Talia you where named after, but you are all the same person,” he could tell Aurora thought that he was just joking and let her go, hoping that his words would remain with her.
She left his house and the air around her changed immediately, from the stuffy atmosphere of the old man’s home to the cold, fresh air of the world outside. It was late so she hurried back home. Escaping the black night that danced and surrounded her, cloaking her in darkness as she ran towards the light and shelter of her own house.
After a hurried supper she rushed upstairs. She dived into her bed after getting changed, trying to escape the coldness that had seeped into her room through the window that had been open for most of the day. She picked the book up from her bedside table and started to read. It began as all fairy tales appear to, with ‘Once upon a time’.
Whenever she read a book, she always imagined herself as one of the characters, but with this book it was different; she did not need to pretend. For as she read the words seemed to come out of the book, surrounding her in their familiarity. It was as if she already knew the story, even though she had never read it before or seen the films or ballet based on it. The words seemed to want her to be in the book with them, to be part of the story alongside its inhabitants. She was not just masquerading as a character, she was one.
Time passed but Aurora did not notice, her story was consuming her and she let it. Before she knew it the church bell rang midnight, twelve muffled rings. Only then did she pause. Sixteen. Now she was sixteen, and almost at the same time, the princess in the book turned the same age. She turned the page and a small but sudden pain ran from her finger, she looked at the hurt and saw blood, only a small droplet though. She put the cut in her mouth, washing the blood away.
It was only then that she realised how tired she was, it was as if weights had been attached to her eyelashes, forcing her to close her eyes. Her arm was too tired to hold the book and it fell onto her bed, open. When she closed her eyes it was hard to open them again, almost like they had been glued tightly shut.
Aurora was so tired she did not notice the leaves brushing her cut finger. Did not notice the vines creeping from the page of the book, stealing over her body. She gave up trying to stay awake. As her eyes closed for the last time she remembered what Mr. Linden had said, ‘you are all the same person’. She remembered the curse put on Talia as a baby, and of the good fairy who changed the curse from death to sleep.
Her story had caught up with her, and had taken control. Even as her breathing slowed to that of a deep sleep, the plant growing from the binding of the book grew thorns. Her whole room was turned into a brier patch. Small roses bloomed, bright red against the dark browns and greens of the roots. Leaving the sleeping Talia stuck, asleep for a hundred years to come. Locked in her room, awaiting her prince charming. Mr. Linden had tried to warn her about the book. Now it was too late and Aurora had fallen into a story she had not realised she had spent her whole life trying to escape.
Aurora woke to sunlight playing on her eyelids. She put her hand out trying to find her book, but instead she felt someone taking her hand and holding it. She opened her eyes; she was looking into the face of a strange boy, a little older than herself and very good looking. He was wearing strange clothes, and a smile dancing around his lips as he raised her hand to meet them.
Talia meanwhile woke to find herself alone in a strange room. Definitely not the tower she remembered. On the bed beside her, lay a dieing rose and an open book.
I would put the picture which inspired this story up, but I can't find it.
Tuesday 2 March 2010
Creation
So Beginning according to A - Once there was nothing, unto the nothing a unicorn was born, this unicorn waved his magic horn and the world was created. The world was perfect, and then God came along with good intentions but gave us free will... that’s when it all went tits up.
That is not quite word for word but you get where A was coming from. As you can see this entry is about creation stories, in particular the Christian as that is the one we are most familiar with. Back to free will...
So by giving us free will 'God' has instantly gone against the idea he is a kind god, as free will has obviously caused some of the most awful problems in this world, in fact all of them apart from natural disasters (but then that's God punishing countries for making deals with the devil a hundred years ago). However if he did not give free will it would be dictatorship which is also not kind, so God was really between a rock and a hard place with this decision.
So if we assume that giving humanity was the good and kind thing to do, why create an eternal Hell/Heaven knowing people will be punished for all eternity for something you did doesn't sound particularly kind or all loving to me.
A: Hell is in Uranus...Lets ignore A's contribution.
Some people say that 'No one gets into Hell, they choose to go there', yes sign me up to an eternity burning in the depths of hell, wait that doesn't sound that good a holiday, so who is willing to CHOOSE to go to Hell, this is just people trying to put blame onto individuals and away from God, Hell is an unjust system.
Again, we hit the subjective problem, everyone has an idea of justice different from others. But in my book I don't believe that someone should burn for all time without relief for petty theft.
All creation stories are people from different cultures and times trying to rationalise why we are here and why good and evil exist. They are just metaphors and should not be taken seriously, we are saying our world was created by a system thought up 6000 years ago... I am stopping that train of thought there.
Ok so the story of Adam and Eve came from the mouth of the creator, so either you make yourself oblivious to or ignore the evidence to the contrary. All creation stories are world centric; there is very very rarely any mention that a god created the other planets. These stories are from a time where the existence of the universe was not known, so if it is a story from the all knowing creator, why didn't he mention them? A: Leprechauns made the planets from the blueprints the Munchkins made...again ignoring.
When people claim that the world and stars are 6000 years old they completely contradict what we know of natural laws and the fact that it takes billions of years for the light from certain stars to reach us, are all scientists wrong?
A: Why can't there be something like Chubaka on other planets?
Sam Idarnis (that might be wrong) says that 'If someone claimed that they were speaking to God though a hairdryer, everyone would say they were mad, but no one thinks that if you claim you speak to God through pray. The only difference is the hairdryer.'
If God created us as special, specifically humans no other beings, then why bother making the rest of the universe????? And quite honestly, he could have created something better than the earth we have, if we are all made in his image, quite honestly I dread ever meeting him!
The concept of creating a 'perfect' world is impossible, one persons Utopia could be another's Dystopia, it doesn't help matters that utopia means 'nowhere' in the first place.
Evolution is a huge thing here; there is so much evolutionary evidence against the bible that I am not even going to begin to go into it. I don't see how people can believe that dinosaurs are dragons from the medieval times, when the knight won his spurs? A: Yes, but where are his spurs?
Thanks to everyone in this conversation, particularly A, with her... unique view of the world.
Thais
xxx
That is not quite word for word but you get where A was coming from. As you can see this entry is about creation stories, in particular the Christian as that is the one we are most familiar with. Back to free will...
So by giving us free will 'God' has instantly gone against the idea he is a kind god, as free will has obviously caused some of the most awful problems in this world, in fact all of them apart from natural disasters (but then that's God punishing countries for making deals with the devil a hundred years ago). However if he did not give free will it would be dictatorship which is also not kind, so God was really between a rock and a hard place with this decision.
So if we assume that giving humanity was the good and kind thing to do, why create an eternal Hell/Heaven knowing people will be punished for all eternity for something you did doesn't sound particularly kind or all loving to me.
A: Hell is in Uranus...Lets ignore A's contribution.
Some people say that 'No one gets into Hell, they choose to go there', yes sign me up to an eternity burning in the depths of hell, wait that doesn't sound that good a holiday, so who is willing to CHOOSE to go to Hell, this is just people trying to put blame onto individuals and away from God, Hell is an unjust system.
Again, we hit the subjective problem, everyone has an idea of justice different from others. But in my book I don't believe that someone should burn for all time without relief for petty theft.
All creation stories are people from different cultures and times trying to rationalise why we are here and why good and evil exist. They are just metaphors and should not be taken seriously, we are saying our world was created by a system thought up 6000 years ago... I am stopping that train of thought there.
Ok so the story of Adam and Eve came from the mouth of the creator, so either you make yourself oblivious to or ignore the evidence to the contrary. All creation stories are world centric; there is very very rarely any mention that a god created the other planets. These stories are from a time where the existence of the universe was not known, so if it is a story from the all knowing creator, why didn't he mention them? A: Leprechauns made the planets from the blueprints the Munchkins made...again ignoring.
When people claim that the world and stars are 6000 years old they completely contradict what we know of natural laws and the fact that it takes billions of years for the light from certain stars to reach us, are all scientists wrong?
A: Why can't there be something like Chubaka on other planets?
Sam Idarnis (that might be wrong) says that 'If someone claimed that they were speaking to God though a hairdryer, everyone would say they were mad, but no one thinks that if you claim you speak to God through pray. The only difference is the hairdryer.'
If God created us as special, specifically humans no other beings, then why bother making the rest of the universe????? And quite honestly, he could have created something better than the earth we have, if we are all made in his image, quite honestly I dread ever meeting him!
The concept of creating a 'perfect' world is impossible, one persons Utopia could be another's Dystopia, it doesn't help matters that utopia means 'nowhere' in the first place.
Evolution is a huge thing here; there is so much evolutionary evidence against the bible that I am not even going to begin to go into it. I don't see how people can believe that dinosaurs are dragons from the medieval times, when the knight won his spurs? A: Yes, but where are his spurs?
Thanks to everyone in this conversation, particularly A, with her... unique view of the world.
Thais
xxx
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Well to be honest... Sex
This did start out life as a perfectly innocent conversation about homosexuality and homophobia but gradually descended into a discussion about sex. No don't get me wrong, it was a discussion about the church's view on sex, yeah this is my friendship group no normal teenage discussions about sex lives for us, well seeing as half of those in this discussion are celibate homosexuals and the other two boyfreindless means there really isn't a sex life between the four of us. But we can always revert to our normal irritant... the church. So without further ado my blog.
The thing with homophobia is that people have (once again) tried to apply the fear/misunderstanding from a long time ago onto a modern, much more liberal country. Now the problem with this is that we are modern, liberal thinkers, (well most of us[I'd like to think]) who generally accept those people in society who are not the 'norm' in their sexuality. The thing is the church is obsessed with the 'sanctity of marriage', don't believe me? Watch Bryan Safi, 'That's Gay', http://current.com/items/90228258_marriage-is-gay.htm Now before we confuse the children lets get onto something every underage teenager in this country knows something about...sex.
Oh wait, I forgot, sex ed is so badly taught in this country that we have the highest teen pregnancy rates in Europe. My friends had the cursory put the condom on the banana, I didn't even have that, although I did have a really good lecturer come in to my old school and give a talk on underage sex, no seriously it was good and engaging and I actually learned something. That can not be said for every embarrassed teacher who drew the short straw and just puts on yet another useless video which everyone (teacher included) sleeps through. Also if teens are educated properly then it could stop some of the rape that happens, because quite honestly, boys are taught to see girls as a possession, if they see us as nothing but something they own then it does not matter if the girl doesn't want, I mean girls are the inferior sex obviously...hmmm. Come on guys it is obvious that real men are feminists!!!!
Now onto the church. So the church sees women as baby machines, 'walking wombs' to quote THT. Paul says in Timothy that we 'shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety' so in order to atone for what some woman apparently did thousands of years ago, I have to have children, right. But wait to have a baby I'd have to have sex right, that means I have to be married as well, come on it's obvious why, no wait is it? Sex is seen as rather taboo, I mean healthy, loving sex is sort of seen as shameful, why do you think people are so often drunk when these things happen? Because it has been drilled into us that sex is something to be ashamed about. Really in my book, the only time sex is wrong is if one party doesn't consent, as long as the people involved love each other it doesn't matter what sex they are, whether they are married, anything really as long they both love each other. Right, there must be a reason that the bibles laws on sex were made, there is of course the one that unmarried woman have no income, so they need a husband in order to support the child, most women now work, so that’s one reason gone. They may have been in a period of time where there was a high rise in STIs, of course we are in one of those at the moment, well now we have condoms, and no matter how dangerous the Pope may think they are they do work if used properly (and not for water fights). I would use another example if I wasn't quiet so tired, so back onto homosexuality to round this up.
There are now laws which allow homosexuals to be together, civil partnerships, which are in all but name marriages, so what’s the church's problem with that, it is a legally binding contract, the same institution which straights have entered into for millennia, O I forgot, nothing in the history of the world ever changes, but why say this is so unholy? There are now laws against discrimination according to sexuality, so no matter where you are, you will eventually meet gays, what people should understand is that gayness is a joyful and lovely natural thing which should be celebrated!
Guess when I said this was about sex you weren’t expecting that! I now leave you with these words of wisdom from 'The Gospel According to J'
GAYNESS IS NORMAL AND GAY PEOPLE EXIST. LIVE WITH IT!
hehe
The thing with homophobia is that people have (once again) tried to apply the fear/misunderstanding from a long time ago onto a modern, much more liberal country. Now the problem with this is that we are modern, liberal thinkers, (well most of us[I'd like to think]) who generally accept those people in society who are not the 'norm' in their sexuality. The thing is the church is obsessed with the 'sanctity of marriage', don't believe me? Watch Bryan Safi, 'That's Gay', http://current.com/items/90228258_marriage-is-gay.htm Now before we confuse the children lets get onto something every underage teenager in this country knows something about...sex.
Oh wait, I forgot, sex ed is so badly taught in this country that we have the highest teen pregnancy rates in Europe. My friends had the cursory put the condom on the banana, I didn't even have that, although I did have a really good lecturer come in to my old school and give a talk on underage sex, no seriously it was good and engaging and I actually learned something. That can not be said for every embarrassed teacher who drew the short straw and just puts on yet another useless video which everyone (teacher included) sleeps through. Also if teens are educated properly then it could stop some of the rape that happens, because quite honestly, boys are taught to see girls as a possession, if they see us as nothing but something they own then it does not matter if the girl doesn't want, I mean girls are the inferior sex obviously...hmmm. Come on guys it is obvious that real men are feminists!!!!
Now onto the church. So the church sees women as baby machines, 'walking wombs' to quote THT. Paul says in Timothy that we 'shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety' so in order to atone for what some woman apparently did thousands of years ago, I have to have children, right. But wait to have a baby I'd have to have sex right, that means I have to be married as well, come on it's obvious why, no wait is it? Sex is seen as rather taboo, I mean healthy, loving sex is sort of seen as shameful, why do you think people are so often drunk when these things happen? Because it has been drilled into us that sex is something to be ashamed about. Really in my book, the only time sex is wrong is if one party doesn't consent, as long as the people involved love each other it doesn't matter what sex they are, whether they are married, anything really as long they both love each other. Right, there must be a reason that the bibles laws on sex were made, there is of course the one that unmarried woman have no income, so they need a husband in order to support the child, most women now work, so that’s one reason gone. They may have been in a period of time where there was a high rise in STIs, of course we are in one of those at the moment, well now we have condoms, and no matter how dangerous the Pope may think they are they do work if used properly (and not for water fights). I would use another example if I wasn't quiet so tired, so back onto homosexuality to round this up.
There are now laws which allow homosexuals to be together, civil partnerships, which are in all but name marriages, so what’s the church's problem with that, it is a legally binding contract, the same institution which straights have entered into for millennia, O I forgot, nothing in the history of the world ever changes, but why say this is so unholy? There are now laws against discrimination according to sexuality, so no matter where you are, you will eventually meet gays, what people should understand is that gayness is a joyful and lovely natural thing which should be celebrated!
Guess when I said this was about sex you weren’t expecting that! I now leave you with these words of wisdom from 'The Gospel According to J'
GAYNESS IS NORMAL AND GAY PEOPLE EXIST. LIVE WITH IT!
hehe
Wednesday 13 January 2010
Miracle
Right so my friends and I are pretty much, to some level, socially inept (as they read this they will acknowledge the fact). We can not have a conversation without it turning into some really deep discussion about religion/politics/religion/religion or religion, I have decided it is time to share our collective view, which often is quite similar, this conversation started off as a discussion on miracles and digressed to other things along the way, so without further ado, the collective view of yesterdays double 'study period' chat.
The problem with miracles is our knowledge and understanding has progressed so much from what we knew in the bronze ages, obviously otherwise we'd still be hitting each other with bendy swords and putting toads on boils, but because of this we can now rationalise and work out how or why something happened. So by believing in miracles we are taking accounts from a time long passed and trying to preach them in our current state in time, progression has made us sceptics but in this case I think this is perfectly acceptable. However recently a nun in Australia is said to be 'on the path' to becoming the nations first saint. She supposedly cured a woman of cancer who wore a relic from this 18th century nun and prayed to her regularly, the Catholic Archbishop has said that praying 'obviously' cures cancer, he did go on to say that it is a long shot, but it is still unbelievable that in this day and age people can still eat this superstitious nonsense (a bit strong I know but it makes me a little upset). This is supposedly the second miracle to be attributed to Mother Mary Mackillop since her death over a hundred years ago. The problem I have with this is that all the advances in medicine, everything doctors do to save lives, are completely forgotten the moment 'God' decides to step into the breach.
Moving on before I make myself too angry. One of the things we talked about was how babies are born today, and always have, with huge disabilities, some born without skin, blind, deaf, die no matter what anyone does, after birth or from cot deaths, but if one survives this, if say the parents were told it was unlikely they would have children, or after a long line of miscarriages, then God had to have a hand in it. What we couldn't see is why if one thing causes thousands, millions to die, why God is in no way to blame for that, but if one thing good happens, and the odds are that it has to happen at some point, then people loose all their common sense and say that it was the cause of supernatural intervention, and forget the doctors, nurses and medicine which have been helping them the whole time.
At this point J started name dropping, one philosopher mentioned was Richard Swinburne, he says something along the lines of, humans are naturally honest and therefore if one says that they witnessed a miracle they should be believed... so if one of my friends came up to me a week after her great aunt died and said that they had seen her, I would believe that they had seen something, maybe not a ghost, or the aunt raised from the dead, but something. After all humans are not by any means perfect creatures, we have defects, this I suppose could at this point be called the imagination, however it is because of this we can convince ourselves that so called miracles exist. However there is one view, that you can not say God exists and say it is a truth, because it is not known, everyone has their own opinion on it, however if you say that an elephant is red this can be denied without a doubt. Saying this, that view has been put down because it itself can not be said to be definitely true.
One of the problems is that people over complicate things, a 'why choose the obvious answer when there is something far more convoluted to turn to', like with the miracle babies, it could have just been a lucky sperm, why does the praise have to go up to something no one understands. As William Ockham said a very long time ago, 'The most productive and most efficient form of philosophical inquiry is the simplest' perhaps it's because he said it so long ago that people seem to have forgotten it.
Now of course in Christianity we come across the problem of Jesus, there is actual evidence that there was a man called Jesus, more evidence than for some of the Roman emperors, but whether he was the son of God, a doctor, a psychopath or history's greatest con artist is still unknown, and we are constantly told what he did and said, never what he thought. We also come across the problem of his birth, I mean Virgin Birth? It's the oldest trick in the book!!! "I'm sorry my love, I know we aren't married yet, but I am pregnant, it is a gift from *insert deity*" Surly if we discredit Heracles then we discredit Jesus in the same breath. Saying this, the one convincing thing about Jesus is of course his Resurrection, which this eighteen year old feels is a concept she is not entirely sure she is capable of discussing. We have to question faith, people who believe blindly don't really believe, questioning faith has been done for millennia, however at this time we are in transition, some clinging desperately to the old beliefs, others telling us it is all lies. As in the Handmaids Tale those in transition find it the hardest, as a group the majority of us hope that in the future there is no religion. Apart from this taking away our only topic of conversation and giving the rest of the common room a break, it would stop a lot of conflict. And it does seem to be heading that way, or is that my wishful thinking, as, with increasing birth-rates, the amount of Christian believers is proportionally decreasing, I am not sure of what is happening with other religions, but if the decrease in Christians or any other religion causes a deacrese in extreemist or homophibic acts, it is from my point of view, a reasonably good thing.
We are in no way atheist, as we all believe there is something, but we can only see that if God created the world, he was either incredibly creative, sadistic, or an exceptional scientist, which if the later was true would raise question to why the church fears progression so much and prosecuted scientists in years back, and probably will again in years to come.
One of the things J wrote for me is 'It can be argued that our definition of natural laws can preclude the possibility of anything being termed a miracle. John Hick defines natural law as "Generalisations formulated retrospectively to cover whatever has in fact happened" Bearing in mind that a miracle is defined as a breach of natural law, "We can declare a priori that there are no miracles"' So the apple falling may in itself have been a miracle, however now it is called a law, so a miracle is as likely as gravity stopping for moment.
Quite honestly the only miracle here is the fact that I have remembered to write this all down, so goodbye until I get round to writing what other people say again.
Thais
xxx
The problem with miracles is our knowledge and understanding has progressed so much from what we knew in the bronze ages, obviously otherwise we'd still be hitting each other with bendy swords and putting toads on boils, but because of this we can now rationalise and work out how or why something happened. So by believing in miracles we are taking accounts from a time long passed and trying to preach them in our current state in time, progression has made us sceptics but in this case I think this is perfectly acceptable. However recently a nun in Australia is said to be 'on the path' to becoming the nations first saint. She supposedly cured a woman of cancer who wore a relic from this 18th century nun and prayed to her regularly, the Catholic Archbishop has said that praying 'obviously' cures cancer, he did go on to say that it is a long shot, but it is still unbelievable that in this day and age people can still eat this superstitious nonsense (a bit strong I know but it makes me a little upset). This is supposedly the second miracle to be attributed to Mother Mary Mackillop since her death over a hundred years ago. The problem I have with this is that all the advances in medicine, everything doctors do to save lives, are completely forgotten the moment 'God' decides to step into the breach.
Moving on before I make myself too angry. One of the things we talked about was how babies are born today, and always have, with huge disabilities, some born without skin, blind, deaf, die no matter what anyone does, after birth or from cot deaths, but if one survives this, if say the parents were told it was unlikely they would have children, or after a long line of miscarriages, then God had to have a hand in it. What we couldn't see is why if one thing causes thousands, millions to die, why God is in no way to blame for that, but if one thing good happens, and the odds are that it has to happen at some point, then people loose all their common sense and say that it was the cause of supernatural intervention, and forget the doctors, nurses and medicine which have been helping them the whole time.
At this point J started name dropping, one philosopher mentioned was Richard Swinburne, he says something along the lines of, humans are naturally honest and therefore if one says that they witnessed a miracle they should be believed... so if one of my friends came up to me a week after her great aunt died and said that they had seen her, I would believe that they had seen something, maybe not a ghost, or the aunt raised from the dead, but something. After all humans are not by any means perfect creatures, we have defects, this I suppose could at this point be called the imagination, however it is because of this we can convince ourselves that so called miracles exist. However there is one view, that you can not say God exists and say it is a truth, because it is not known, everyone has their own opinion on it, however if you say that an elephant is red this can be denied without a doubt. Saying this, that view has been put down because it itself can not be said to be definitely true.
One of the problems is that people over complicate things, a 'why choose the obvious answer when there is something far more convoluted to turn to', like with the miracle babies, it could have just been a lucky sperm, why does the praise have to go up to something no one understands. As William Ockham said a very long time ago, 'The most productive and most efficient form of philosophical inquiry is the simplest' perhaps it's because he said it so long ago that people seem to have forgotten it.
Now of course in Christianity we come across the problem of Jesus, there is actual evidence that there was a man called Jesus, more evidence than for some of the Roman emperors, but whether he was the son of God, a doctor, a psychopath or history's greatest con artist is still unknown, and we are constantly told what he did and said, never what he thought. We also come across the problem of his birth, I mean Virgin Birth? It's the oldest trick in the book!!! "I'm sorry my love, I know we aren't married yet, but I am pregnant, it is a gift from *insert deity*
We are in no way atheist, as we all believe there is something, but we can only see that if God created the world, he was either incredibly creative, sadistic, or an exceptional scientist, which if the later was true would raise question to why the church fears progression so much and prosecuted scientists in years back, and probably will again in years to come.
One of the things J wrote for me is 'It can be argued that our definition of natural laws can preclude the possibility of anything being termed a miracle. John Hick defines natural law as "Generalisations formulated retrospectively to cover whatever has in fact happened" Bearing in mind that a miracle is defined as a breach of natural law, "We can declare a priori that there are no miracles"' So the apple falling may in itself have been a miracle, however now it is called a law, so a miracle is as likely as gravity stopping for moment.
Quite honestly the only miracle here is the fact that I have remembered to write this all down, so goodbye until I get round to writing what other people say again.
Thais
xxx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)