Hi Joe,

Talking about Satan... I think it was Mark Twain who said
you go to Heaven for the weather, and Hell for the company.
;-)

Brilliant ! Then I know where I'm going, Lexi. Will you be up there with the angels instead or will you be keeping me company ?

Cheers,

Joe

Loudmouth

I agree planet Earth will be fine no matter what we do - it'll take our sun going supernova, before this planet ceases to exist - even if we went all out with nukes, the planet would still go on, just without us and other similar life-forms. Pays to remember that there have been very long periods where this planet was not a friendly place for mammals. Also, even if we fail to take action, I think humans will manage to survive. However, I would rather live than just survive and we can actually do something instead of sitting around arguing about it.

We have the technology..... which was more than we had during the era of JFK's vision of reaching the moon.

Dear Joe,

I'll definitely be where you are.
Looking forward to it.

Hi Lexi,

Yeah, we'll probably have many (infinite ?) furious arguments - great fun ! And so many of our friends will be down there too, to kick everything along. Sweet !

The existence in the Christian narrative of Satan has puzzled me - if he punishes evil-doers, wouldn't that be what a hypothetical god would approve of ? So in the narrative, is Satan working for God ? So is Satan good ? If not, does he rule over his own independent realm, untouchable by god, and does he still punish evil-doers (forgive the Bushism) - and if so, why ? Is he some sort of sadist, who likes whoever falls into his clutches to feel eternal pain ? Does god have any power over all that, to stop it ? Can people migrate from hell to heaven, in remission for their sins or whatever, and if so, do god and Satan come to some sort of agreement on terms ?

Too confusing ! I'll stay an atheist, thanks.

This is not so off-topic as it might seem: the Greens after all do have their own version of heaven and hell - a Green-designed Utopia, without production, human use of materials or impact on any part of the environment; versus a capitalist-inspired hell, an Armageddon, a thoughtless eating-up of the Earth Mother, a fate which is certain unless people mend their wicked ways and heed the preaching of the Green saints. Not all that different really .....

Here's a thought for Arjay: what if the Greens are really all secret Christians, all obsessed with how to bring about a heaven on Earth, and to avert the hell which mankind is inevitalby bringing on around its own head through its heedless non-belief ?

And what if God is a secret Green, striving to take the world back to its Edenic purity, and - free will aside - has programmed his adherents to support Bob Brown in order to achieve His vision ?

Hmmmmm ....... worth thinking about, Arjay, don't you agree ?

Hi Joe,

I've just remembered an old joke about Satan:

A few minutes before the church service was about to start, the villagers were sitting in their pwews and talking. Suddenly Satan appeared at the front of the church. Everyone started screaming
and running for the front entrance, trampling each other in a
great effort to get away from evil incarnate.

Soon everyone had exited the church except for one elderly gentleman who sat calmy in his pew without moving, seemingly oblivious to the fact that God's ultimate enemy was in his presence. Satan walked up to the old man and said, "Don't you know who I am?"
The man replied, "Yep, sure do."

"Aren't you afraid of me?" Satan asked.

"Nope, sure ain't, " said the man.

"Don't you realize I can kill you with a word?" asked Satan.

"Don't doubt it for a minute," returned the old man, in an even tone.

"Did you know that I could cause you profound, horrifying, physical
agony...for all eternity?" persisted Satan.

"Yep," was the calm reply.

"And you're still not afraid?" asked Satan.

"Nope." More than a little perturbed, Satan asked, "Well, why aren't you afraid of me?"

The man calmy replied, "Been married to your sister for over 28 years."