The Very Many Questions-Not-Worth-Their-Own-Thread Thread XXXII

[hobbsyoyo]

Someone who hears your prayers, someone who cares.

Yes

 

[Lexicus]

What's this whole deal with "a personal God"? Either God exists or s/he doesn't and you already know what s/he is supposed to be like, so where does the 'personal' aspect come in?

It's not merely about personal relationship or friendship with God, but about a God for whom having a "personal relationship" even makes sense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_god

A personal god is a deity who can be related to as a person[1] instead of as an impersonal force, such as the Absolute, "the All", or the "Ground of Being".

No, Karen, the Creator of the Universe doesn't care about whether your football team wins the superbowl.

 

[Arakhor]

That's interesting. I've always viewed God as an impersonal force, one with specific attributes certainly, but not one with whom you could 'know' in any real sense.

I guess that's another item on the long list of why I'll never be an evangelical Christian.

 

[Commodore]

I guess that's another item on the long list of why I'll never be an evangelical Christian.

I don't know man, that prosperity gospel stuff has me considering being an evangelical Christian, and I'm an atheist.

For reference (Spoilers because of language that is not advertiser friendly):

Spoiler :

 

[Lexicus]

If I have to pick a personal god, I pick the classical Greek pantheon. At least there's no pretense that these are loving, infinitely benevolent gods.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I've decided to bag work tomorrow and do "pho and a movie" instead. Should I see The Last Jedi or The Post?

 

[Gori the Grey]

Oh, for sure TLJ. One of the newest characters is, get this, ordinary.

(Sorry, snark from another thread)

 

[hobbsyoyo]

See the last jedi

 

[EgonSpengler]

I saw The Last Jedi. No pho, though. Had pad thai, instead.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

What's this whole deal with "a personal God"? Either God exists or s/he doesn't and you already know what s/he is supposed to be like, so where does the 'personal' aspect come in?

Sometimes I've thought it must be like having a "personal head canon" for Star Trek or Doctor Who. For example, I utterly reject Enterprise, the Abrams movies, and Discovery as being false Star Trek and the character of Zephram Cochrane in "First Contact" is also false. Only the Zephram Cochrane in "Metamorphosis" and the novel "Federation" are the true Zephram Cochrane. All others are fake unless written by Greg Cox, who really knows how to write TOS characters.

Right on the nose.

You are meant to feel as if God and Jesus are close friends that you confide in and trust to guide you through life.

Isn't that how the PR line goes nowadays anyway? My Grade 1 teacher had us singing hymns in our music class about how Jesus loves us.

That's interesting. I've always viewed God as an impersonal force, one with specific attributes certainly, but not one with whom you could 'know' in any real sense.

You need to get with the 21st century, Arakhor. Nowadays, Jesus cares whether or not you win a challenge on Survivor or Big Brother. It's nauseating to see some of the people on those shows go into "thankyoujesus" mode. Last year's Big Brother had a cast member who shut herself in the bathroom and started babbling in tongues.

 

[Arakhor]

Since I'm essentially a modern Arian, I think I need to get with the 5th Century, let alone the 21st!

 

[metatron]

What's up with American flags in opinion show segments and on youtube?

So, on US opinion TV i frequently spot incorrect US flags.
Most common is certainly the flag with 48 stars, probably because it was used in WW2 and may easily pop up when some lazy intern googles for an image. Fair enough.

But, US flags with 51 star appear often enough as well. E.g. i spotted some on LWT in segments that had nothing to do with PR or territories in general.
At other times LWT uses the correct flag.
Maybe this is editorially sanctioned trolldom, maybe it's a pro statehood intern.
Whatever.

But i frequently see flags with all kind of star counts, even beyond 51.
Recently is saw a US flag on one of Simon Whistler's channels with - amazingly - 61 stars.
Which is largely inexplicable. But i would be vaguely concerned if i was Canadia Ball.

So:
1. How does this happen so regularly?
2. Do people not notice or not bother?
Cause i would imagine this would quickly become a thing that pedantic people preach all the time. You know... ending a sentence on a preposition etc.

 

[Commodore]

Why does Trump hate Amazon and Jeff Bezos so much? Is it because he can't stand to see someone who actually knows how to run a successful business?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Bezos bought a newspaper that has been super critical of Trump since he began to ran. I believe that is the root of the animosity.

 

[Arakhor]

The same reason Trump hates everything Obama did - because Obama made a joke at Trump's expense some years ago and therefore the sane and rational response is to Destroy Everything Forever.

 

[Hrothbern]

If I have to pick a personal god, I pick the classical Greek pantheon. At least there's no pretense that these are loving, infinitely benevolent gods.

Ahh
that sounds good
But if you go back to the ancient greeks, they had other opinions about it, although it did took some time to free themselves from those gods.
(bear in mind that these gods caused a lot of fear and anxieties for humans)

• Many of their heroic stories, like Hercules, Perseus, in fact almost all..... are about humans that defied those irrational and brutal gods invading the peace of mind and lifes of ordinary humans. Sensing that it would be too much to expect a normal human to be that heroic, they constructed the demi-gods, meaning that most of these heros where offspring of some god and a human.
• The big success of the Atomic theory was not the natural science progress, but the fundamental concept that IF everything was made of Atoms, and everything the result of Atom interactions, the Gods did not play a role anymore. When the important philosopher Epicurus (the main greek philosophical conviction after the the greek golden age with Aristoteles), constructed his philosophy, also based on the Atom theory, and worded that to the point: "because gods are subject to the atoms as well, there is no reason to fear them". In general Epicurus was the first real utilitarian philosopher, highlighting that the normal citizen was foremost interested in peace of his own small world, freedom from violence, freedom from anxiety for gods, freedom from overcooked expectations about character building and being an asset to the citystate (like Aristoteles and Plato and so many others formulated in the era that Greek was a powerfull culture). He was very much condemned by christianity, because his simple "enjoy life as it is", was exaggerated by Rome as an evil hedonism. Rome favored Aristoteles and Epicurus was marginalised by the power of Rome and christianity. (It is only in the line Epicurus -> Machiavelli -> Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx and then 20th century philosophers, that Epicurus was somewhat rehabilitated)

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Are Japanese role playing games the traditional style of role playing games?

 

[Ajidica]

Are Japanese role playing games the traditional style of role playing games?

They come from their own traditions, but are distinct from "Western" RPGs which had their start in pen and paper role playing games (like the original Dungeons and Dragons).

However, the question is sort of like asking "Which is the traditional style of strategy games - turn based or real time?". Both JRPGs and WRPGs have been around for a long time and have seen a lot of cross-pollination.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Yesterday I was told about trends in modern western RPGs and how older traditional RPGs lacked these trends. I said that older games like in the Ultima series had these same kind of trends but I was told these weren't found in traditional RPGs and then that the Japanese RPGs are the traditional RPGs.

 

[Ajidica]

Without knowing what the alleged trends are, all I can say is that games change a lot in an intervening 20 year period. For western RPGs a good example are the games released by Spiderweb Software - a one man studio that has been making RPGs since 1993. The mechanics of those games have changed a lot, going from very "hard-core" mechanics (like no automap or quest indicators, no regenerating health, character decisions concentrated at the beginning, permadeath, etc) to much more "streamlined" mechanics (automap and quest markers, out of combat health regen, spreading character decisions out over the course of the game, etc). He has talked in his blog about this and explained that many of the "traditional" mechanics don't really facilitate the core of RPGs which is exploring and advancing the story but instead only provide roadblocks.
WRPGs have borrowed some JRPG elements, like cutscenes and increased focus on character relations, but that is about it.

JRPGs, because they have traditionally been console-focused, have generally been rather insular and since I'm not very familiar with JRPGs, I can't really comment on what cross-pollination has occurred with them. (Plus, Japanese games as a whole tend to be rather insular.)

In other words, a JRPG today is likely to have more similarity in mechanics and styles with a JRPG released 20 years ago than a comparison between two WRPGs, but does that mean anything? Unless your friends telling you these things can say why we should care about these things, you can safely ignore them.
Think about the differences between Rogue 1 and Murnau's Nosferatu. There is very little similar between the two and by the standards of Nosferatu, Rogue 1 is not a very traditional film but in no way does that mean Rogue 1 is a bad film. It only tells us that styles have changed.