I like the King James KJV version of the Bible. It was written in seventeenth century English by the translators. "Verily verily I say unto you" of course aren't the words, in English, that Jesus would have used. But there is a legend that he came to England as a youth with Joseph of Arimathea. "And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green" refers to that. If so, he would probably have known some Latin, as the Romans ruled Britain then, as well as Palestine. But he might have picked up the local British language, which eventually became Welsh and Cornish. It's good to think that when the Welsh sing their beautiful hymns, Jesus is hearing one of the languages he might have known on Earth. I don't suppose I am the only person this has occurred to. Do the Welsh ever consider it?

Life in a computer

This was from a discussion on Facebook. Somebody suggested that we could become immortal, living in a computer. This is my post in answer. Living inside a computer would not be easy. Consider the problems of living inside your identical twin. A body that is genetically made from the same embryo as yours, split off early in development. (Would his consciousness be removed to put yours into his body?) So there you are in a body genetically identical to yours. Do you think you could adjust to life in there? Think about it. Then think, suppose instead of an identical human body, your consciousness is living in a machine. I wouldn't want that. Would you? After all, what would happen in a sudden power cut? Would you start up again when power is restored? Or just be a lost program? Perhaps in the future a brain transplant will become possible. But who will then be living in your body after the transplant? You, the original person, with a new improved brain, or the brain's donor in your body? With you in the discarded brain, just medical waste? We could write a book about this, couldn't we? "Fifty Shades of Human Machine Hybridization"

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Perhaps the best cure for the fear of death is to reflect that life has a beginning as well as an end. There was a time when you were not: that gives us no concern. Why then should it trouble us that a time will come when we shall cease to be? To die is only to be as we were before we were born. -William Hazlitt, essayist (1778-1830) .............. There isn't a time when we were not, except the time when life on earth didn't exist. Our genes have existed for millions of years in many creatures. And if we leave offspring, our genes will go on into the future. But of course regarding existence as individual conscious beings, Hazlitt was quite right. And with all our science and technology, we can't defeat death. Those people who have themselves frozen are deceiving themselves. Even if they can be thawed out alive, isn't it better to be raised incorruptible than thawed out soggy? (No, I don't believe in the Resurrection of the Body. Or conscious life after death).

from alt.history,ancient-egypt

Of course our view of religion in ancient times is inaccurate. The further back we go, the fewer facts are available.
There are some written sources for the Roman religion. But the Druid religion of Britain and Gaul was passed on by word of mouth, and all we know about it was written down by the Romans, who abolished it.

And what exactly was the religion of Crete? We know it involved bulls. The Minotaur probably had some religious significance, but what?

Egypt had hieroglyphics and papyrus, and as translations become available we can learn more. But unless we were Egyptians of those times how could we understand?
e.g.They used to cut one leg off a living calf. What was the purpose of that? (Has anyone found out recently?)

Further back in the Palaeolithic, all we have are the Venus figurines and the cave art. What is the significance of the Trois Freres Sorcerer? It is unlikely that we will ever know.

The Jews do have a record of their early religion, going back to Moses in Egyptian times. But before that most would be legend.

Christians do know much of their history after Nicaea. But the earlier days, back to Jesus himself, may be myth.

So I say, believe what you like, or nothing at all. But don't persecute others for their beliefs.
Our descendants may have to make a choice between Christianity and Islam.
Let's hope it doesn't come to a religious war.

thoughts from nz.general

>> I see the creation story as some kind of allegory.
>
> Care to enlighten me? Do you have a theory?

I'll give it a go.

"God said "Let there be Light" is as good an explanation of the Big Bang as
any.
Something suddenly appearing out of nothing.(Well, a singularity, whatever
that is. God himself, perhaps?)

The daily creations follow more or less the stages of evolution of the Solar
System and life on Earth. Man is a comparatively recent species.
Adam in Eden would have been rather like an early Australopithecine, (Lucy),
or a gorilla today. (Not a chimp.)
A harmless creature well adjusted to its environment.

"Eating the apple" would be the gradual development of ideas, language and
then a conscience. An animal slowly becoming human. The need for clothing,
not just for practical reasons but for social ones.
"Being turned out of Eden" would be the descent from the trees and living on
the savannah among predators. Needing to kill prey to survive. The
Pleistocene droughts after a life in the lush forest. Laborious early
agriculture.
The angel with a flaming sword may have been a comet. Or possibly an
erupting volcano?

Cain and Abel may be the conflict between the hunters and the early crop
growers. (Like the American West.)

And now we come to the scary part.
Until the Industrial Revolution, life went along much as it always had. Even
as late as sixty years ago, I hand milked cows, used horses, stooked corn,
used a scythe, pitchfork and billhook etc, much as my West Country ancestors
in Britain had done for centuries. We had made a second Eden of our world.
Now the hedgerows have gone in many places leaving big open fields, and
everything is mechanised.
Here in New Zealand where the bush has gone, heavy rains cause erosion.

But the rest of the world has changed too. Much of the tropical rain forest
has gone, and the climate is changing, whether from man made global warming
or natural causes. The planet itself is changing, and it may not be for the
better. Desertification may be on the move.
For a second time, Adam is leaving Eden, or rather Eden is leaving Adam. The
changes may be irreversible.
But where are we to go? Some people think we can all take off in spaceships
for some other planet!

The other end of the Bible, Revelation, may be much nearer than we think,
especially the Four Horsemen.
But that's another story. Perhaps the asteroid due in 2028 will end our
civilization and maybe kill us all, leaving Earth free to develop new
inhabitants. But will they be intelligent human-like creatures, or some kind
of invertebrates?
Insects?

Well there you are. I've rambled on a bit. Perhaps these ideas have occurred
to others. If there is a book or website about it I would like to know.

from nz.general re underclass

There will always be an underclass, though how far under may perhaps be
altered by wise political decisions.
The Americans said (Declaration of Independence):
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Noble sentiments, over two hundred years ago. But is that true? Are we
created or have we evolved, is there really a Creator, are all babies born
with equal physical and mental abilities, and just what rights are
unalienable if the government decides otherwise?

Life? There are wars and the death penalty. (And abortion of course, but
that is opening a can of worms.) Liberty? There are prisons, and the draft
when a war starts. Everyone pursues Happiness, but do they really have a
right to it? And what is happiness, anyway?

And did they consider women, blacks and native Americans as the equal of
themselves? I wonder. The Declaration calls the natives "merciless Indian
Savages" in the list of King George's wrongdoings.

I'm not knocking the Declaration of Independence. It was astonishingly
advanced for its day.
But I wonder what would have happened if the Americans and Britain could
have sorted out their differences and continued together.

But to return to the underclass, there will always be around half below
average in anything you are measuring.

As the Heckler said, "Half the population are of below average intelligence,
and what is the government going to do about it?"

"For ye have the poor always with you", as true today as two thousand years
ago.

written for nz.general but not posted there.

The French are England's traditional foes.

William the Conqueror took the country from Harold, and we had French Barons
and Lords for centuries.
Henry V fought the French at Agincourt.

The French took Calais from Britain, though it had been ours for centuries.

French Catholics persecuted the Protestant Huguenots, many of whom came to
England.

French had a bloody revolution. They seem to have conveniently forgotten
that Holocaust, from the hypocritical way they celebrated it recently.

It was followed by Napoleon. Trafalgar and Waterloo sorted him out!

We were allies in World War I, but although there were many brave Resistance
fighters in WWII there was that disgusting Vichy government in charge,
collaborating with the Nazis.

The last straw here was the Rainbow Warrior affair.

But I expect the French can make a long list of England's misdeeds.
And individual French people are not responsible for their governments.
They are nice folks, like most people when you get to know them.

Let's hope for a good game this weekend, with a good referee, and may the
best team win!