Tailsteak is an interesting logic

[Plane]

Those of you who know your Christian denominations probably aren't surprised that Jamie (who grew up Pentecostal) thinks that the psychological sensations experienced during a worship service are intense enough and euphoric enough to keep Christendom afloat.

I think it's interesting that, when discussing whether or not Christianity will endure, neither of them are bringing up whether or not it's correct. That's an entirely different discussion, after all.
-Tailsteak

Note- that I need not agree to find him interesting.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Religion was obviously excluded from Star Trek because it would have caused unnecessary controversy. How could a show with a logical character like Spock or Data manage to land on some planet where there had been a visit from Jesus? How logical would it be for a Jesus to appear on Planet Omincron-5 in the Crab Nebula known by his English name?  And if the Messiah had bore a different name, that would have been heresy. There were machines and individuals that ruled this or that planet based on myth and programming, and they were invariably exposed and deposed by the end of the show.

I do not expect religion, including Christianity to vanish, ever. They fulfill a need that some people have to be ruled by something other than logic and reason, especially because logic and reason vary rather widely between cultures when you get into political and social issues. Everybody can agree on the square root of 144, but not everybody can agree on "being their brother's keeper".

Religion will continue to change, but it will never disappear. Humanity will never live in a Perfect State, because change is an inseparable part of existence, beginning at the subatomic level.

If I were a Sci-Fi writer, I would not mess with any of the Earth's religions in any profound way.

[Plane]

     This didn't seem to bother C. S. Lewis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Hideous_Strength

[Xavier_Onassis]

C.S. Lewis was more of a fantasy writer than a Sci Fi writer.  He was heavy on the Fi and shallow on the Sci.

The main religious Sci Fi writer was, of course, L. Ron Hubbard. He was certainly the best known.
His wacky religion is pretty awful as sci fi goes, but quite similar to Elijah Mohammad, in that space aliens were divine or semi divine beings.

Hubbard said before he came up with Scientology that if a man wanted to make a fortune in America he would invent a religion. It is a well known quote.
Then Hubbard invented a religion and became very wealthy. Strangely, this does not seem to be much of a handicap to his winning converts.

[Plane]

Just a thoughtful guy.

almost too thinky

Again, a couple of things I want to touch on with this one.

1) Strangers having incorrect opinions does not affect me - this is something I've had to drill into my own head repeatedly over the past decade or so. Seven billion people with differing ideas on everything from economic policy to the afterlife to the shape of the planet - I'm never going to be able to chase everyone down and cram them full of logic and evidence until they all agree with me. The most I can do is say my own thing with my own megaphone and signal boost stuff I agree with. Am I preaching to the choir, reinforcing my own personal echo chamber? Perhaps I am, but perhaps that's inevitable. Like will always attract like.

2) Curating your own online presence is essential these days, especially if (like me) you make a significant portion of your living from the Internet. I do feel bad sometimes that I'm not better at it, or at least more diligent. There are a lot of things I've left in my wake that I could go back and tidy up - or, at least, put a date on them, so people know they were written by a version of me from 2005 - but I just haven't bothered (I like to tell myself I'm being "authentic"). There are dead links on my old pages. Heck, there are dead links here in the Leftover Soup archives. I don't even have the password to access ComicGenesis to modify the page for my first webcomic any more. It's in my nature, though, to push forward, and not to look back. That's part of being an artist, for me. I feel bad for those who'll have to clean up after me when I'm gone.

3) I am (as of this writing) in my thirties, and most of my friends are as well, and we still say things like "ah, I have to be an adult! Being an adult is hard" when we have to file paperwork or set up doctor's appointments or drive somewhere. I'm not sure if that's something peculiar to our generation or today's culture - it's hard to imagine my grandfather saying it while running a bakery and raising three kids. I think "adulthood" is being pushed further and further back these days, more and more of our lifespans are being subsumed into adolescence, sometimes a permanent adolescence. Certainly, Wallace's statement that sex is for adults is becoming more and more untrue, I think. There are plenty of pop songs on the radio today that file coitus and alcohol under "never growing up". The eloi and morlocks from The Time Machine come to mind.

4) This is comic #800. Yay me!

http://leftoversoup.com/

[Xavier_Onassis]

Note that JK Rowlings was lambasted for writing the Harry Potter books because magic was presented too realistically. They didn't say so, but Hogwart's is far more believable than any of the Jesus tales in the NT, and any of the tales in the OT as well. Better written and more credible.

Any Harry Potter movies is better than any Jesus movie, especially that horrid Mel Gibson mess. Why? Because it is a BETTER STORY.

And her Christians critics recognized this and that is why they went off on her.

[Plane]

Because it is a BETTER STORY.

  That makes the whole thing entirely subjective.

    But truth is not subjective and is often stranger than fiction.

        I read the Harry Potter series, not any worse than the Bewitched tv program.


          By the way, Voldemort is Gay, it is obvious.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The old adage about how there is a novel in everyone's  life story is bogus. Most real lives are too complicated for this.  Dr Zhivago (the novel) was a good example of this. In the novel, Zhivago marries at least twice after Lara leaves, and his life is described in some detail. It would have ruined the movie to have included this.

It is also true that there is a great difference between what we consider a great novel, and what is a great RUSSIAN novel.

The Bible as literature is a valid premise mostly for some excellent turns of phrase. But plotting and character development are quite weak. Conan the Barbarian is a better  heroic figure than any of the characters in the Bible, and Conan is hardly a great work of literature.

[Plane]

The old adage about how there is a novel in everyone's  life story is bogus. Most real lives are too complicated for this. ....

   Wouldn't that mean that there are multiple good stories in most lives?

        Perhaps an anthology.

      The Bible is a lot of books , including a song and poetry collection that started in another language.

         

[Xavier_Onassis]

There may be good stories in any lives. But writing a good novel will involve omitting tons of detail and altering many of the actions and characters.

The King James Bible is more often quoted because it was translated by people with a lot of literary talent.
Said to be done by the King, but almost certainly not. King James took credit for it, but the translators were hired scholars.

Other translations are often more accurate, but less poetic.

I don't think Voldemort is actively gay, but he is certainly not heterosexual.