Jamie123

We don't even know that there were three of them, any more than we know that they were kings, or that their names were Melchior, Casper and Balthazar. I think the idea that there were 3 comes from the gold, frankincense and mur (can't be bothered to look up the spelling) but we don't know that all of then didn't bring all 3. When I was in infants school I was in the Nativity play as Mur. I really wanted to be Gold, but they said no I could only be Mur. P.S. there are so many versions of this joke:

I like Jordan Peterson. He doesn't mind standing up to the demands of political correctness. (That's something that takes a lot of courage these days!)

22:16 - I have created the smith... I wonder if that's a coincidence

This brings back memories. 3 Nephi was the first part of the Book of Mormon the missionaries had me read. I couldn't believe the violent things Jesus seemed to be saying, and since I had also been reading about blood atonement, Danites and the Mountain Meadows Massacre, when they came back a week later I told them theirs was "a very violent and disturbing religion". I was somewhat aware even then of the violence in the Old Testament (which is far worse than anything in the Book of Mormon) but I never quite connected it with "gentle Jesus meek and mild". The sisters gave me the "same yesterday today forever" thing, but I couldn't really get that. I vaguely saw the "Gods" of the Old and New Testaments somehow in opposition to each other (an idea which you find in Gnosticism and William Blake) but I was an atheist back then anyway.

Absolutely right of course. "A weight only humility can bear and the backs of the proud will be broken."

I'm not sure what you mean by the second part of your question, but a carol service is an extra church meeting where the congregation sings carols. (Sorry its the autocorrect which makes it come up as Carol and not Carol. It thinks I'm talking about a person called Carol.) A christmas carol is a hymn sung at Christmas like Once in Royal David's City or While Shepherds Wash their Socks...err...Watch their Flocks by Night or Hark the Herald Angels Sing or...well you know the sort of thing. The carols are interspersed by "lessons" which are usually Bible passages read out, or else other poems or readings to do with Christmas. Back in the day we had a choir and I used to sing tenor in it. ( It took me ages to learn the tenor lines, but once you learn them they stick.) Back in the day it was also by candlelight. The electric lights were turned off and everyone held a candle - we're not allowed to do that any more because the church is an ancient heritage site and there's a fire risk.

Wife texted to say she's coming to the church Carol service next Sunday and would I have a problem with that? Then she tells me how important it is to her and she's coming whether I have a problem or not. I told her that she has as much right to come to church as anyone and I have never tried to stop her coming to church. Which I haven't. She has not come to church since May, but that is her choice not mine. I have not stopped her. But none of that changes the fact that I don't want to see her, so I've a good mind not to go, but if I don't go to the Carol service I will come over as a churlish ingrate who stays away from church Carol service just because he can't bear the sight of his wife. And anyway I am down to read one of the lessons. But a lot can happen in a week. Maybe I'll have an accident and spend next weekend in hospital. Not that I would pray for an accident but if God could arrange for me to have one without it being my fault and without me actually praying for it (which would be wrong) I would owe him a big favour.

Well yes - debatable. If an American comes from German immigrant stock (like Oppenheimer) do we still refer to him/ her as "German"?

It does seem incredible to me that my father, who is still alive (and still drives even!) lived right through World War II and can remember rationing, evacuations, air raids and friendly American GIs sharing out their chewing gum with the kids. Yet even back when I was at school, Nazi Germany belonged to comics, war movies and history books. It was not at all connected with the colourful modern Germany that school trips sometimes went to.

Only partially relevant I know, but I recently watched a video that argued it was not the bomb that caused Japan to surrender, but the fact that the Soviet Union chose that same moment to declare war. The Japanese knew they would need to surrender to someone (bomb or no bomb) and the Americans seemed like the softer option. The US promptly rewrote history to make their glorious bomb the big deciding matter. One could say that the Soviet invasion was triggered by the Americans' use of the bomb, but it was going to happen anyway whatever. Had Truman not given the order to drop it, that would only have delayed the inevitable. Another thing (not in this video): the Manhattan project was an international effort, not just purely American. There were British scientists at Los Alamos. After the war, Truman broke the agreement and made the bomb "USA only" - which achieved absolutely nothing except to make him look like a jerk. The British scientists just developed their own bomb at Harwell.

My Christmas Poem (writted by me for English class at the age of about 11): On Christmas Day was Jesus born In a stable dry and warm Sung by angels from the sky Seen by shepherds from the hills And the magi travelled far Led to the stable by a star

It's strange - the idea of decapitating the teacher (or throwing them to the sharks) stays funny even when you are the teacher. That's about the level of my ukulele playing: a five minute interval during each chord change. Not bad for a wee girl though.

In Dune, the still-suit reclaimed all bodily excretions and recovered the water in drinkable form (which the wearer could sip from a tube around the neck). I've often wondered how that would work, and if anyone will ever invent such a thing.

https://youtu.be/1AJmKkU5POA?si=509M2spbwAtEHx-g Michael Bubble* later married the blonde girl in that video and they now have 4 kids. She's Argentinian, though I wouldn't have said so looking at her. Yes I know it's Buble - with an accent on the e - but I enjoy being perverse. If Michael doesn't like it he can come and punch me in the gob.

Ozymandias "king of kings". I think Galadrial said "all shall love me and despair".

This is more like me at the moment: Long dreary text-debate with my wife this afternoon left me with little enthusiasm for life. Then thinking about the Gadianton robbers got me thinking about Adolf Hitler. Thinking about Adolf Hitler got me thinking about chocolate cake. Bought and ate an entire chocolate cake. Now feel very like the man in the picture (without the actual vomiting). The best I can say in my defence is I haven't actually turned to drink. That's even worse than chocolate cake. You wake up next morning with all your troubles still there, plus a splitting headache. You Latter-day types have the right idea about drink. P.S. Feeling a bit better now...

Maybe you're right in theory. But if a robber were to break into my house in the middle of the night, I wonder what the best method of repelling him would be? a. Singing songs of praises, to fill him with the terror of the Lord. b. Fooling him into thinking I was a 6ft tall body builder and had an 18 inch machete in my hand. (Assuming, of course, I had a means to pull this off.)

("Earth! render back from out thy breast...") Never seen that movie! It reminds me very much of Kenneth Branagh's Henry V:

You've set me a bit of a challenge here - to find an example of where the unrighteous were "scared away" by the righteous for any other reason than their righteousness. I can't help thinking that two thousand sword-wielding, spear waving stripling warriors bearing down on you would have been a fearsome sight whether they were righteous or not... But you could be right.

Woe be unto me for that too. ( In fact woe be unto me for a lot of things. My name is Legion.)

I think even God would agree that you cannot win a war without risking frightening the enemy.

Like I said, I'm not suggesting they were good guys. Do you think it would be OK to wear war paint made out of...ummm...whatever they made regular paint out of in those days to terrify your enemies in war? Or is it the very idea of terrifying your enemies in war that bothers you? Henry Vee would not agree... Woe be unto me then... Many a time I've had a steak when I could have gone for the vegan option.

Sorry Zil - I imagine this topic grosses you out (and I don't blame you) but if use of blood as war paint is wrong, we ought at least to ask why. Leviticus 17 clearly prohibits the drinking of blood, but... Exodus 12:7 - In the Passover, the blood of the sacrificed lamb is to be places on the sides and tops of the door frames. (When I did confirmation classes many years ago, some bright spark suggested that the "top and the sides" - being at 90 degrees to each other were a prefiguring of the cross. The priest teaching us admitted he had never thought of that before.) Leviticus 4:6-7 - The blood of the sacrificed bull is to be sprinkled in front of the sanctuary curtain, then placed on the horns of the altar. Blood was not to be imbibed, but it had its ceremonial uses. As for wearing blood as war paint, I can't help thinking of Revelation 19:11-16. Here Jesus appears and defeats the beast, and we know this is a reference to Jesus because "his name is the Word of God" ("Logos" from John 1). Verse 13 says "He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood" (presumably his own). I'm not saying the Gadianton robbers were good guys - I just don't see that their going to war smeared with blood is necessarily a black mark against them.

It probably won't be the last time. "Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!"