quote:

---

The sad thing is, the propaganda machine isn't even particularly strong -- it's just that there is absolutely no resistance to it.

---

quote:

---

I realize that arguing with you is futile because everything I say is obviously wrong.

---

quote:

---

Originally written by Kelandon:

The left agrees on far too little.

---

quote:

---

Originally written by Ash Lael:

I was looking at the "shift" (real or imagined, suit yourself) from an objective point of view, and in response I get a personal attack. That, my friend, is a staggering act of dickheadery.

---

quote:

---

Originally written by Tyranicus:

porking a turkey.

---

quote:

---

Originally written by Hanttiworker:

Wait, Eragon? They're making that awful, badly written Tolkien-rip into a movie? And you're expecting to see it?

What the hell is wrong with you people?

In case it's not the same story, excuse upper remark.

---

quote:

---

Originally written by Wikipedia:

There has been much criticism of Eragon, regarding everything from word usage to the marketing techniques (critics deride the labelling of the author as a "prodigy" or "wunderkind"). The book's most frequent criticism is that it uses far too many clichés. Paolini employs stock characters, such as Elves, Dwarves, and a pseudo-orcish race known as Urgals, complete with an elite sect known as the Kull, comparable to Saruman's uruk-hai.

There has been much debate over whether incorporating Elves and Dwarves similar to Tolkien's is derivative or honorific. On the subject of Tolkien, it has also been pointed out that many names in Eragon resemble those in Tolkien's work, such as Arya (comparable to Arwen), Isenstar (comparable to Isengard), and Mithrim (comparable to mithril). The name Eragon itself closely resembles Aragorn. There is also mention of Angrenost, the Sindarin name for Isengard. There is also a note of the naming of the Beor mountains coming from Beorn, which is another word for bear. In The Hobbit, there is a character known as Beorn, who has the ability to transform into a bear. On the map of Alagaësia, the spelling of the place name Melian is identical to the name of the character Melian the Maia of Tolkien's The Silmarillion. The Grey Folk, said to be the first few magical beings resemble the Sindarin, who are the Grey Elves. These are a few examples of what is believed to be a wider occurrence.

Yet another criticism is that the plot closely resembles that of the original Star Wars saga. Characters are also similar, down to Brom who is supposedly the last of his order. Paolini countered these two remarks by stating that most fantasy is derivative, and that Star Wars has heavy ties to Buck Rogers and Dune. Furthermore, he also believed Tolkien to echo a famous Norse myth about a ring that made a dwarf invisible, made popular by Richard Wagner's epic opera series "Der Ring des Nibelungen", or "Ring of the Nibelung," despite the fact that Tolkien himself once said; "Both rings were round and there the rescemblance ceased."

Critics also conjectured that Paolini had the characters of Eragon act unrealistically while performing a myriad of fantasy clichés, such as "shedding a single tear" or reflecting in needless arcane speech: "When he would return, he knew not."

---

quote:

---

Even with pure social justice, there would still be that pesky Entropy, always spiraling towards our inevitable doom. Physical existence is inherently unjust. Pain exists. If all people were to drop religion and capitalism in its tracks, pain would still exist. People would stub their toes. People would strain muscles during over-enthusiastic coitus. People would be crushed by machinery. People would get sick. Regardless of their worth as human beings.

---

quote:

---

In an absurdly unjust, and unchangable, physical situation, why not believe in metaphysics.

---

quote:

---

God as a sentient entity isn't quite necessary as part of a just metaphysical existence, but a concept of good, independent of human consciousness, is.

---

quote:

---

IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, IT JUST SO HAPPENS THAT THE MASCULINE PRONOUN IS USED IN SITUATIONS WHERE THE GENDER OF THE ANTECEDENT IS NEUTRAL. I TRIED, BUT IDIOM SNUCK UP ON ME. SO SUE ME.

---

quote:

---

(Did the reforms of the civil rights movement disappear after King died? I think not!)

---

quote:

---

An objective reason? No. Guess not. I think it'd be considerably less statisfying if there was, too.

---

quote:

---

I don't think you can back that one up. You can make arguments that it has solely practical value, which would be irrelevant or redundant in an abstract, ideal situation. But working has value simply based on our biological makeup (production of endorphins comes to mind). Biologically, we are put together to be able to do work.

---

quote:

---

I just know I see and experience something of God in it when I encounter it. When it is coupled with a heightened link to the heart and mind of God, it is all the more potent and reliable.

---

quote:

---

The privilege is to serve humankind with greater capacity, ability, and authority. It’s about service, not to rule over any other in any coercive way.

---

quote:

---

For the body to be healthy, the cells need to be working harmoniously with and for each other. It’s not done till every last one of us from every time and place gets there. That’s the scale of the goodness of God I know.

---

quote:

---

Our training, growth, “work” as you call it, is so that we all grow up and learn to take care of ourselves, each other, this earth and everything in it, and then we’ll see what we have to tend beyond that.

---

quote:

---

If some “grow up” into the ways of love secured by relationship with God sooner than others, it is only for the privilege and purpose of helping the other siblings to get there too.

---

quote:

---

Is there any human endeavor that is noble, necessary or worthwhile to you?

---

quote:

---

We train to excel at something which is a blessing to others and a joy to us and God. We train to become able to heal and help each other on whatever level of need that is. We train to become strong defenders against enemies of lies and selfishness and false ideas which seek to steal our life and joy and ability to nurture others from us.

---

quote:

---

If you mean insight or knowledge for one’s own sake,

---

quote:

---

If you mean be enlightened so that we can shed selfish and hurtful behavior and really begin working together as people setting aside all the petty crap, I’m with you. The means aren’t the point of it,

---

quote:

---

We, as the living agents of our Father will be the ones to save ourselves from ourselves because of the resources at our disposal through our connection to the Father and within ourselves as the offspring in the nature of the Father. How can we separate the two? The very nature of being human is to be of the divine family with its capacities as we grow into them. We can’t do it as independent children who have departed from the resources and protection of the Father. We have to learn to work as family.

---

quote:

---

I truly am not trying to [answer the question] in the least.

---

quote:

---

You despise Christianity for the same sorts of reasons that I despised and rejected the institution at age 16.

---

quote:

---

Part of the grand lesson of the ages we are experiencing is how the very same situation which blights our earthly experience is the one which takes and twists the pure lovely truths of Who God is and What God does and seeks to comprehend it apart from the actual relationship with God which gives actual insight.

---

quote:

---

It seems like you’re dying to find attitudes in me which just aren’t mine, based on belief.

---

quote:

---

There is only God’s good.

---

quote:

---

Slarty, I can’t win. If I more humbly throw in “I believe” and “I think” like my first post did, then TM chides me for stating the obvious.

---

quote:

---

What the pot said. That's not really a Christian or even religious phenomenon. Just what people do, really.

---

quote:

---

-Why you should care-

With the pre-qualifier that God exsists,

---

quote:

---

The best thing is: IT'S FREE, AND ANYONE CAN HAVE IT RIGHT NOW!

---

quote:

---

You don't have to work for it. You don't have to change. All you have to do is accept it.

---

quote:

---

That example is really incomparable.

---

quote:

---

I'm embarrassed for you.

---

quote:

---

Again, there is no room for 'if's' or 'could's' here. Either you have or you haven't.

---

quote:

---

Ephesos - There is a HUGE difference between 'trying Christianity' and having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

---

quote:

---

I already know what common ground we have. We are both human, imperfect, fallible, mortal.

---

quote:

---

With the qualification of God,

---

quote:

---

1. Do you believe there is a God (a perfect supernatural being that created and is ultimately in control of everything in existence)?

---

quote:

---

2. If so, do you believe that you have ever violated this God's will in any way, shape, or form?(hint: if you have ever felt guilty, you have)

---

quote:

---

3. If so, have you made amends with God over all of these violations? (let's not get technical here, let's just say that you believe everything to be all good)

---

quote:

---

If you answered No to any of these three questions, you are in violation to the will of God and must serve out justice by being punished for eternity.

---

quote:

---

f you answered Yes to all three questions, there are a few technical requirements that need to be confirmed and/or completed

---

quote:

---

and you no longer need worry about punishment because someone else volunteered to take it for you.

---

quote:

---

This all came from the Bible and should be what every Christian believes.

---

quote:

---

You have an answer.

---

quote:

---

Right. “Him” is for convenience and out of the usually depicted father role. One could call God “El-Shaddhai,” (the breasted one,) just as correctly. God is all that is male and female and more.

---

quote:

---

God does say, “My thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and my ways are higher than your ways.”

---

quote:

---

God is Source/Father/Creator, so yes, a “higher force.”

---

quote:

---

God’s the only force, and we have force by virtue of our having come out of Him, yet also remaining a part of Him. Don’t ask me to explain the paradox

---

quote:

---

but we have the earthly genetic/family experience to give us a conception of it. God is a family, not a caste-system. Honor and privilege come with maturity and demonstration of ability.

---

quote:

---

Fighting people is in your thinking. I was picturing a weight-lifter.

---

quote:

---

But the reality is that there is something in the spiritual realm which opposes life and truth, and we are to grow up and overcome it by virtue of wrestling with it and recognizing it and rejecting it until we do.

---

quote:

---

The “gauntlet” is training.

---

quote:

---

I’d call it something more like learn to “choose the right way in wisdom” (rather than in naiveté,) “learn some self-discipline,” and “learn why love is the law.”

---

quote:

---

You gotta train to win the medal, save lives as a doctor, fight in the army. Training shows us approved and stronger than our opposing forces we encounter in training.

---

quote:

---

God is relevant whether we acknowledge it or not, because God continues to do what God wills and His spiritual laws continue to operate.

---

quote:

---

God becomes consciously relevant to us when we begin to know God for ourselves.
...
You shouldn’t and won’t until you do. God doesn’t put the burden of proof in our hands. He takes the responsibility to open our eyes to His Being.

---

quote:

---

We can then become more of an agent of God’s will rather than merely a recipient of God’s will.

---

quote:

---

Humanity is not my god.

---

quote:

---

It is the family of God with the qualities of God in process of being refined and remembered.

---

quote:

---

You mentioned severing limbs. Re-membering is bringing back to our awareness our connection with God and His nature, as well as the reattaching of that which, at least in our imagination, has been cut off from us.

---

quote:

---

Spirit is energy (isn’t everything?), attitude, the wind no one can see but the affects of which can be readily seen and heard. It’s lots of things I don’t understand. One person walking into a room can change its atmosphere with her spirit. A heart caught up in love can be mightily transformed by that spirit.

---

quote:

---

We cut ourselves off by deadening our thinking and developing our own faulty conscience and estimation of “good and evil.”

---

quote:

---

You would like all things showered upon you as free gifts?

---

quote:

---

Many things must be earned by demonstration of our capacity to handle them responsibly.

---

quote:

---

We don’t have dominion over ourselves yet. Ain’t no way we’re going to have dominion over the world outside.

---

quote:

---

God doesn’t punish in the capricious sense.

---

quote:

---

Again, even literal death need not be a permanent end.

---

quote:

---

We’re impatient and unaware of many things out of our sight and knowing.

---

quote:

---

I mean that loving humanity shows deference, respect, and trust for the Father Who is pleased when his children learn to get along and love each other.

---

quote:

---

By describing one of His roles as Father, God tells us something about His desires and drives in that role. We are given earthly fatherhood to demonstrate it for us. Wise fathers don’t demand love from children like tyrants...they foster it and earn it.

---

quote:

---

What makes you think that all of earth’s history and all personal experience hasn’t been contributing exactly what has been appropriate so far for us towards our learning the ways of love and truth?

---

quote:

---

Christianity has turned it backwards.

---

quote:

---

The obliteration has already taken place when we got the thick notion in our head that we were alienated from God and that we lack somehow.

---

quote:

---

Awakening and restoration of spiritual relationship is what we can expect.

---

quote:

---

We are living our obliteration, our hells right now. Sucks, don't it?

---

quote:

---

Why do you think so many people ARE in torment right here right now? It's not punishment. We did it to ourselves. God is gracious enough to be patiently working to save us from ourselves. It's simply a work not yet complete.

---

quote:

---

Becoming greater means becoming mature and proven enough spiritually to be granted further responsibility and authority to bless people. Nothing becomes more satisfying or rewarding.

---

quote:

---

In the Christian canon, God surrendered his omnipotence upon the creation of humanity. The entire idea is that God wanted humanity to love God and be happy of its own accord.

---

quote:

---

I don't find the rampant parent-child relationship analogies very pertinent, because it vexes parents to no end that immature children have free wills, and they do everything they can to correct that particular vexation.

---

quote:

---

As to the real thrust of your point, the assertion that an omnipotent God permitting suffering is morally bankrupt, I will offer a semi-mathematical rebuttal.

---

quote:

---

Assuming a metaphysical component to humanity which survives physical existence into eternity, the ratio of physical suffering to whatever happens post-physical-existence is necessarily infintessimal.

---

quote:

---

Now, that's not a reason to believe, but I think it is a logical way of seeing the situation that at least moves the concept of God above the level of scorn.

---

quote:

---

I hold that the core human impulse behind religion is an innate desire to rationalize an innate desire to be good to one another.

---

quote:

---

People use it to explain fear-inducing natural phenomena, as the contempuous scientists and logicians will have you know, and the chic 'net-liberals on this board would be right to say that many people simply want to be smug in their self-righteousness.

---

quote:

---

Still, is it so horrible to believe that we were created so that we might learn to love one another (or "act for the benefit of one another," whichever you prefer) in our time on Earth?

---

quote:

---

Furthermore, is it not more just to believe that there will be a time free of suffering when loving like we've learned to will truly make us happy?

---

quote:

---

(And, conversely, when those without a deep and abiding respect for humanity as a whole will be miserable?)

---

quote:

---

That's why I've come to believe in a Christian God

---

quote:

---

despite being a math/science type of guy.

---

quote:

---

For the universe to be just, the people that live their lives for others and get crap in return need to be rewarded.

---

quote:

---

What's the difference [between "think" and "believe"]?

---

quote:

---

Originally written by Ash Lael:

Following Christianity because you think it's true is a more sensible thing to do, I think.

---

quote:

---

Originally written by 7 per day keep the doctor away.:

It's a DeLorean.

Everyone has ideas for how to make a good game. Just look at Blades forums to see how many people would love to design a game as long as someone else will do the implementation for them. Ultimately, nobody really wants to make someone else's world unless that someone is paying for it.

---

quote:

---

2/19/03 - Louvre by BB established.
3/17/04 - Blades of Avernum is released.
3/18/04 - Comprehensive BOA Scenario Rankings established.
4/3/04 - Beta Call for Roses of Reckoning by TM
4/7/04 - Roses of Reckoning by TM is released. (20 days post-BoA)
4/27/04 - Beta Call for Cave of No Return by Eldiran
5/25/04 - High Level Party Maker by Kelandon is released. (58 days)
5/30/04 - Babysitting by Khoth is released. (63 days)
6/2/04 - Blades of Avernum is released for Windows.
6/18/04 - Cave of No Return by Eldiran is released. (82 days)
8/5/04 - Beta Call for Emerald Mountain by TM
8/9/04 - Beta Call for Xerch'de by Zxquez
8/10/04 - Emerald Mountain by TM is released. (145 days)
8/17/04 - Artifacts Hall by TM is released. (152 days)
8/17/04 - Death at Chapmans by Eric Westra is released. (152 days)
8/22/04 - Beta Call for A Perfect Forest by Stareye (157 days)
9/5/04 - A Perfect Forest by Stareye is released. (171 days)
10/17/04 - Beta Call for Canopy by TM.
12/25/04 - Canopy: Manufactured Womb by TM is released. (282 days)
12/27/04 - Beta Call for Bahssikava by Kelandon.
12/28/04 - Xerch'de by Zxquez is released. (285 days)
2/1/05 - Beta Call for Backwater Calls by Smoo.
2/20/05 - Bahssikava by Kelandon is released. (339 days)
2/28/05 - Backwater Calls by Smoo is released. (347 days)
3/25/05 - Beta Call for The Darkness by Kelandon.
3/29/05 - Lord Putidus by Kelandon is released. (376 days)
4/7/05 - Nine Variations on Point B by Alec is released. (385 days)
4/16/05 - Cresent Valley by Michael Slack is released. (394 days)
5/15/05 - Beta Call for Mad Ambition by TM.
5/24/05 - Undead Valley by Archimagi Micael is released. (432 days)
6/5/05 - Druids of Krell by Ephesos is released. (444 days)
6/6/05 - A Large Rebellion by Otto Halmén is released. (445 days)
6/9/05 - Mad Ambition by TM is released. (448 days)
10/17/05 - Proving Grounds by Michael Slack is released. (578 days)

---

quote:

---

Attitudes like these are snobby and unproductive.

---

quote:

---

It's already been superseded in both technical and story terms by Av4

---

quote:

---

Originally written by Synergy:

Everyone knows a bear's spigot is on the top of its head. My bear has honey in it.

---