The End of the World...

Although I laugh with everyone else as the end of the world fails to happen yet again, and know perfectly well that the latest prediction (October, I'm told) will also fail, I feel sorry for many of my Christian friends.

The Christians I know are perfectly well aware of the bits of the Bible that say no one will know when the end is due.  They don't pay any attention to these prophecies of doom, but every time another 'End of the World' fails to materialise, they lose a bit of credibility simply because the act of one Christian cult becomes a brush to tar all Christians with. They have my genuine sympathy.

Do I feel sorry for those who sold everything in expectation of the end? No.  A quick bit of research would have shown them just how many failed predictions there have been in the last 2000 years.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if we average at least one a decade.

It's so much easier being an atheist.  All I have to look forward to is peaceful oblivion.  No risk of hell fires.  No risk of being left behind on an Earth being torn apart by earthquakes. 

I have no fear of death.  (dying might be nasty and painful - one reason why I'm firmly in the voluntary euthanasia camp)

I wonder if those who make predictions of the End of the World are afraid of death?

Blast from the Past

Thanks to a top from on_idle_moor, I've just re-contacted an old friend from university.  Theo, bless him, is alive and living in Sheffield.  When I couldn't find him on the electoral roll, I assumed the worst.  (He has a unique name, there's only one of him in the whole UK)

We just had a brief chat, but the phone line was terrible and my voice is pretty ropey right now, so it was a short conversation.  However, I hope he'll be able to be with us when we next have a games weekend.

Sadly, he doesn't normally have internet access apart from at work - and they don't like it used for personal emails.

I may actually have to resort to writing a letter... On paper...