I love Grandma E.

She's fantastic! And she's all excited becaus she has wireless broadband now and can do more on the internet.

Her sister is the mother of the Southern Baptist Ministers (Obnoxious and his brother who is nice) and Grandma E clashes with their beliefs. They are literalists, but Grandma E feels they are too close minded and quick to judge. They also love the Left Behind series which she just doesn't get. The bad writing bugs her more than the shoddy theology I think.

Plus Grandma E is more the type to hang out with the sinners and help the poor and sick because Jesus did that and she wants her life to emulate his.

ita, you're going to hell. But that's your choice, and I'm not going to try and talk you out of it. Want to do lunch?"

I wonder if I should say, "Neither Heaven and Hell exists, so neither of us will be going anywhere", If I run across someone who is worried that I'm a non-believer."

The biggest problem I have with Intelligent Design, is how do you prove it? Merely saying that stuff is too complex isn't enough, it must able to be tested.

Most of us, hopefully, live our lives Not Judging (lest we be judged), Loving Our Neighbor as Ourselves, and just trying to be good examples of Christ on Earth. (Not saying I/we do a good job of it, but this, hopefully, is the aim).

If this was the standard, then we'd all have Ascended already. Sadly, here we are.

I did see a PBS TV series some years back that assembled various religious and historical eminences to discuss why the first 2-3 books of the Bible are so hard-nosed. They talked a lot about the ambiguities and difficulties of worshipping a god who would, e.g., play chicken on an instance of human sacrifice. The program was really worthwhile.

Other religions I have studied some offer instances of incredibly petty and lame gods, but in those cases there are several gods, and they duke it out occasionally, and gods' fighting like a bunch of rowdies in a bar is a pretty good explanation for why bad things happen to good people. I mean, maybe not much comfort for Hecuba, but a story that makes sense out of the experienced world.

But if such a God does exist, wouldn't the moral choice of every person be to fight against his power, no matter how hopeless such a fight would be?

This sounds like a 5-volume science fiction epic in the making.

Grandma E is more the type to hang out with the sinners and help the poor and sick because Jesus did that and she wants her life to emulate his.

She's making everybody else look bad. God bless her.

This sounds like a 5-volume science fiction epic in the making. (20 volumes if Robert Jordon was writing it).

I wonder if I should say, "Neither Heaven and Hell exists, so neither of us will be going anywhere", If I run across someone who is worried that I'm a non-believer.

I guess you could. Rachel, however, wasn't worried. She was sad, and there was no changing that, but not worried. She knew I thought there was neither Heaven nor Hell -- she was Christian, not stupid.

Eh. My kid will probably grow up believing in the lineage of Slayers.

Hmm. Self-Sacrifice for the good of others. Protecting the helpless (even the ones you don't like) Standing up for yourself. Doing what you believe is right and accepting the consequences of your actions.

Pretty good things to grow up believing in from where I'm standing.

I know people who go to a liberal church, work for liberal causes, live in liberal neighborhoods, only have liberal friends.

Boulder, Colorado can get like this. I have friends (dyke folksingers ferchrissakes) that couldn't deal with the practically intolerant level of "tolerance" there.

Pretty good things to grow up believing in from where I'm standing.

And necrophilia. Don't forget sleeping with the dead.