Better reasons to quit Christianity

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

I wouldn't know; I never bothered with it past the almost criminally boring pilot.

I watched one other episode: Dean Stockwell played a couple of evil Cylons (they get airlocked) In one scene Dean murders a small boy by stabbing him. I found that disturbing,so did not bother watching any more.

I actually liked the original,especially the scenery-chewing John Colicos as the baddy. Sad to see Ray Milland looking so old and bloated in the pilot.


The pilot was released in cinemas here,and was terrific to watch.

Have been unable to watch "Caprica'. The pilot was OK,then it got very silly very quickly.

[Cyberman]

Don't forget Patrick Macnee, uncredited as both the opening announcer and of course the "Imperious Leader" (!) Also, according to IMDB, he played Count Iblis but I don't remember him.

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

Hey Stimbo and Padraic, how many times have you shouted "Get off my lawn!" today?

[Anomalocaris]

Vulcans may be geeks, but they are no strangers to pon farr.

It's not the pon farr, it's the seven years of drought in between.

[Cyberman]

Hey Stimbo and Padraic, how many times have you shouted "Get off my lawn!" today?

Only twice, then I shook my fist at a couple of 'teddy boys' with their tatty trousers and their silly haircuts and their so-called music that you can't even hear the words. After that I tried for a motion then had a nap while Diagnosis Murder was on.

Vulcans may be geeks, but they are no strangers to pon farr.

After seven years of drought anyone would lose his head.

Or hope for some.

[spockrates]

If God has total omniscience, it is indeed probable that this abrogates our freewill.

The Catholic position is that God is infinite, as are his qualities of omnipresence,omnipotence and omniscience.

Does it not follow that an infinite being can only possess infinite qualities?
Not a rhetorical question,I really want to know. I'd be grateful not to hear from any theist apologists.

I keep thinking of Epicurus and the problem of suffering:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?

Yes, but I believe both you and Epicurus, wise as he was and you indeed are, are thinking of total omniscience, rather than inherent omniscience. I'm thinking there is a difference between possessing something and using that thing one possesses to it's fullest extent. Some of us have been talking about various aspects of Spock, so let me use him as an example to illustrate my point: Let's say Spock chose to arm wrestle Dr. McCoy. Spock, being Vulcan, has vastly superior strength, but he decides to let McCoy beat him. Does this mean Spock is not stronger than the doctor? No, it means he chose not to use all of his strength to overpower him.

Now let's say an alien race gave Spock infinite omniscience. Becoming omniscient, Spock realizes that were he to use his new ability to its fullest extent, freewill would cease to be. Rather than overpower all who freely choose, he decides not to use his omniscience to it's fullest extent. He decides to see only so much as he is able to see while still allowing freewill to be.

In both examples, Spock decides to limit his ability so as to not overpower others. His limiting his ability does not mean it is less than it is; it simply means it is under his control. Spock's muscular strength was inherently greater than McCoys, but it was not totally greater. For Spock did not use his total strength to overpower McCoy. Spock's omniscience was inherently infinite, but it was not totally infinite. For he did not use his omniscience to overpower our freedom of will. See the difference between an inherent ability and a total ability?

---

Hey Stimbo and Padraic, how many times have you shouted "Get off my lawn!" today?

Only twice, then I shook my fist at a couple of 'teddy boys' with their tatty trousers and their silly haircuts and their so-called music that you can't even hear the words. After that I tried for a motion then had a nap while Diagnosis Murder was on.

After seven years of drought anyone would lose his head.

Or hope for some.

Indeed.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Hey Stimbo and Padraic, how many times have you shouted "Get off my lawn!" today?

I don't have a lawn.I ripped it out soon after I moved in 20 years ago and put in roses. We often have stage 4 water restrictions here in summer; lawns are a self indulgence,but roses are drought tolerant.

I never yell at the neighborhood kids,yelling is crass.. I just turn the hose on them. If they get in the back yard,my Pit Bull eats them.

Tea; whatever you do,don't blink.If you do,you will look in the mirror,get a shock,thinking "Who the hell is THAT old prick and what is he doing in my house?"

With any luck,you will become like Me,Min and Stimbo; We are old fucks,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDUxq1JtOhI

[Cyberman]

On the subject of the aforementioned Count Iblis, I just found this on the wikipedia page for the character. I don't remember him at all but apparently he was supposed to be the actual Devil in rather a familar storyline of the original BSG series. Anyway, on the possible origins of the name, the article has this to say:

Possible Origins of the evil

Iblis: Iblis (Arabic إبليس ) or Enais is in Arabic and according to the Islamic faith is the actual name for the Satan who is also in the Christian and Judaic faiths. The name 'Shaitan', which directly corresponds with "Satan" in English, appears more often in the Qur'an, 'Iblis' occurring 11 times, whereas 'Shaitan' appears in 87 passages. Iblis is known as the leader of all the devils and was cast out of God's favour when he failed to accept the first human, Adam.

According to Encyclopedia Galactica (a non-canonical piece of merchandise published in 1979): In the Book of the Word, Iblis is described as a "fallen Angel (sic), known variously as Diaboles (Diabolos|Devil) or Mephistopholes [who] repeatedly attempts to lead the humans astray, but is bested always by the intervention" of the Beings of Light.

Diabolis: the Greek word diabolis which is the root word for the English words diabolical and the devil, may also be the root of the Arabic word Iblis used in the Koran.

Interesting tangent I thought. Count Iblis was also supposed to have something to do with the origins of the Cylons' Imperious Leader, which was meant to account for why he and they all sound like Patrick Macnee. Unfortunately the character apparently never appeared in the rebooted version, so we may never really know.

---

Tea; whatever you do,don't blink.If you do,you will look in the mirror,get a shock,thinking "Who the hell is THAT old prick and what is he doing in my house?"

Too true. There's an exchange in the genius comedy series Father Ted in which Ted, fretting about getting old, says that he'd looked in the mirror that morning and seen a sad, white-haired old man looking back at him; to which Father Dougal replies, inevitably, "Who was that then, Ted?"

Anyway, I'm only 43 in a couple of weeks; it's not all that old. I feel that old, but chronologically I don't suppose I'm doing so bad.

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

I rather liked the new Star Trek cast but their voices I'm still not use too. Actor's voices back in the 60's and before sounded so strong and bold. Voices now from almost all actors I see in today's media sound so raspy and weak. I don't know why.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Anyway, I'm only 43 in a couple of weeks; it's not all that old. I feel that old, but chronologically I don't suppose I'm doing so bad.

43? Imposter! You are not even approaching old fuckery. You may however be an old fart,which is a state of mind.


PS I solved the mirror problem by unscrewing it from my dressing table and moving it to the spare room,where it sits facing the wall. I replaced it with a 50inch plasma. The only other mirror in the house is a small shaving mirror in the bathroom,which only shows my face, and that's bad enough. The entire body is just too much,especially first thing in the morning.i