Arch-Mage Solberg

Originally Posted By: FnordCola To put it another way, there is a distinction between believing in a deity and worshiping said deity. To me, a lot of Gods as defined by various religions (though certainly not all) don't really sound like very nice people, let alone entities worthy of reverence and religious awe. And then there's that whole pesky problem of evil, along with various related issues. I like how Ernst Bloch puts it: "It would ill become the distorted system that somehow guides the transformations of things as they exist in nature to tolerate every earthquake, shipwreck, war, and then be distressed only by the sinful perplexity of the human heart." Considering the fact that we do live in a sort of "distorted system", we just have to live with the fact that we do live with a lot of calamity and still have to worry about morality. We live in a world of conundrums. Why do bad things happen to good people or good things happen to bad people. All I know is that since the Fall of Adam and Eve at the Garden of Eden, Satan has ruled this world. The world is being controlled by the evil one. Man was created by God to have dominion over the world, but in sinning he handed dominion over to Satan. That should explain the conundrum I mentioned earlier. Originally Posted By: Let me Alorael that for you. But, you see, believing in God as an atheist is likely to mean believing in an eternity of torment after that. That's a really good point Alorael, the Bible is really clear on that part. If you don't believe that the Only Begotten Son of the Living God came to Earth, lived a perfect sinless life, sacrificed Himself on the Cross, and then rose from the dead three days later...you will go to Hell. Jesus preached on Hell several times always describing it as a place of torment. Originally Posted By: Let me Alorael that for you. So for atheists, it's really much more comforting not to believe! Comforting! Living in fear of the tiniest chance that we might be right. So let me get this straight, you believe that the universe came into being by chance and that when you die, nothing happens (by nothing I mean spiritually). Is this correct? I believe it would be a lot more comforting to be a believer. (I'm just stating my opinion) Post #535

I remember playing this scenario many years ago. It really does have a nice storyline. One thing I found weird was that even though the people of Independence City had abolished magic, when your characters get in the fight at the theatre...nothing happens. When I say nothing happens I mean that no one is running around for the guards to catch the characters for using magic. Everything goes on as normal. I was expecting a little something more. Anyway, still a great scenario. Post #534

I wonder if Jeff has used names from the British TV show Last of the Summer Wine? If he hasn't, I wonder if he has any plans to do so? Post #533

Originally Posted By: CRISIS on INFINITE SLARTIES Again, I suggest leaving this subject alone. Message received! Originally Posted By: CRISIS on INFINITE SLARTIES Again, I know you're not trying to attack anyone's religion. But evaluations of the "devotion to good" or "damage-dealing" of any religion, past or present, simply don't belong here. That's like kerosene for a flame war. I have absolutely no plans to start flame wars. I will try to watch what I say from now on. How about I get us back on topic from which I derailed us from? Originally Posted By: Lier Beneath the Silent Skies Well, then what's the big deal about believing? I, personally, find my faith in God rather comforting and stable. I feel a scense of ease knowing that God hears my prayers. I feel secure knowing that one day when I shed my mortal coil and arrive in Heaven and meet Jesus, it was worth it. Of course, this is just how believing in God is to me. Individual results may vary! Post #532

Re-reading the Harry Potter series. Post #531

Originally Posted By: *i Solberg, I think the part that is subjective and could be construed as an attack on Catholicism is where you stated it has done the most damage. Since you have no objective way of quantifying damage to science or other smaller Christian sects, this becomes merely a matter of opinion. I don't think you crossed any line, but you are starting to encroach into that gray zone where discussions could easily turn into offensive. I definately do not want to offend anyone. My previous remarks refer to the Catholic church as it was run many years ago. The Catholic church today is better run and devoted to good. Maybe when I said earlier that they 'the most damage' I should have said 'some damage'. Post #530

My main party I usually used during the game consisted of 2 fighters, 2 mages, 1 priest and 1 lockpicker/trap disarmer/alchemist. My LP/TD/A was a pacifist. He did not fight which hurt his experience on that part, but he picked locks and disarmed traps for his experience. The levels between that guy and the other five were ridiculous. The other five would be around 25 and the other guy would be around 17. All I'm saying is that the pacifist trait isn't entirely bad. Although, I would have to say that it does hurt the character more than it helps. Post #529

Originally Posted By: CRISIS on INFINITE SLARTIES That's a pretty subjective appraisal. Also, it is pretty easy to read that as an attack on Catholicism. I don't think that's your intent, but regardless, it's not cool here. Please move the topic AWAY from criticism of specific religions, so it doesn't need to be locked. I'm sorry if my post seemed to attack the Catholic church. My intent was never to attack. Whether subjective or not, my intention was merely a brief history lesson. I don't see how it could be subjective when you look back at the history and can read about what happened. I will use better judgement in the things I write from now on on these matters and also make my intentions clear. Post #528

My nephews and nieces had their last day of school yesturday. It was only an hour long just to get their report cards and then come back home. Post #527

Originally Posted By: CRISIS on INFINITE SLARTIES It's one thing to say that many Christians supported the advance of science. And it's easy to argue that the spirit of Christianity is very compatible with honest, objective science. Pope John Paul II made that argument at length, for example. However, it's a little silly to suggest that the Catholic Church is the only organized Christian religion to ever stand in the way of science. I know that the Catholic church was not the only organized Christian religion to stand in the way of science, but it is the largest and has done the most damage...to science and other smaller Christian sects. Post #526

Originally Posted By: Locmaar Please note that there was and is a good deal of Christianity involved in refusing to believe what scientists found out about our macroscopic and microscopic world. You make it sound as though scientists halted progress due to disbelief. That's twisting what happened quite a bit. I wasn't saying that science was halting itself. I was just making a list of past events. Also it was not Christianity that attemted to halt science, but the hierarchy (sp?) of the Roman Catholic Church to be exact. Originally Posted By: CRISIS on INFINITE SLARTIES Originally Posted By: Arch-Mage Solberg For years, people believed the world to be flat, that has been proven false. Actually, _this_ has been proven false. The world was understood to be round going back to classical times, and this knowledge became fairly widespread by the mid-first-millenium CE. So I should've said "that while 90% of the people 'knew' the world to be flat, the other 10% of people 'believed' that the world was round and those 10% were eventually proven right". That's what I thought I said, but without so many words. Post #525

Originally Posted By: Harehunter Check out my maps at my Avernum 4 Annotated Maps. Wow...simply amazing work Harehunter! Have these been around for a while, I believe I've seen them before? Post #524

Originally Posted By: loyal servile of sasuke uchiha Another question I should add on. What is jeff rewriting? I mean the movment in avernum 1 was pretty awful, I like the ^>v< keys movment for exile three. It was pretty annoying to have to move with either the mouse or 7 9 1 3 on the keypad That's weird, I only use the numeric keypad for movement of the characters. Very simplistic. Post #523

Originally Posted By: Wordplay Kills Download at night when nobody wants the phone? —Alorael, who could also suggest looking for other places to download and a handy USB drive. No internet access at school, at work, or at a library? The other problem is that it isn't my computer or phone line or house for that matter. It's my aunt's house. I live next door, but when she goes to bed I have to leave so she can lock the door. Post #522

Originally Posted By: Frozen Feet Reading this thread, I feel atheism is applied too broadly. It's a feeling I have often, really. The kind of atheism mostly discussed here, the kind which is concerned with proof or evidence, would be more accurately called "skeptical atheism", or perhaps "rational atheism" in my opinion. (Yes, the implication is that there are unskeptical and irrational atheists. That's why I feel the need to make the distinction.) Atheism is just "disbelief in or denial of God or gods". It doesn't tell anything else of the belief set held by a particular atheist. Atheism isn't even necessarily areligious - some sects of buddhism, for example, count as atheistic. (Others count as miso- or apatheistic, taking the stance that whether or not there is God or gods, they are useless to the salvation and enlightment of human beings.) As such, there could indeed be an atheist whose creed does require him to preach his own views, to the same extent a Christian might be "required" to preach his. For example, some "militant atheists" (as I've heard them called) consider religion detrimental to human reasoning, and thus systematic purification of such delusions is necessary. To such a person, advocating atheism is an important facet of their beliefs. *cough* I think that's it for my tangential ranting for today. On other things, I often get the same feeling as FnordCola about atheists "losing something". Generally, it's the dismissal of cultural and narrative wealth based on religion, because they're founded on "wrong" things. It's like religious nature of some things makes them "invalid" for their attention - which might cause them to miss aspects of history, culture, or just good stories. Fortunately, not all atheists are like that. Especially within roleplaying communities, I've met people who are atheistic yet very interested in religious and mythological practices - in general, it makes them more understanding (if not mora accepting) of such things, and ironically enough many have been better versed in them than many actually religious people. (Maybe because they don't have a burden of "tainting" their faith? Who knows?) Just because there's no scientific proof of God (yet) does not mean that there isn't one! Over the past 1,000 years, science has seen many of its 'truths' turn out to be eventually proven false. Alternatively, many things thought to be 'false' have been proven true. For years, people believed the world to be flat, that has been proven false. When scientists theorized the existence of atoms in the early 1800's, many refused to believe because they couldn't see them. When Einstein introduced his theory of relativity, many scientists thought that he was wrong, but he proved his theory to be correct. There may not be any tangible proof to God's existence right now, but I believe that one day we (Christians) WILL be proven right! Post #521

That's just it isn't it. That is how some or even most Athiests view us Christians. When we say that we believe in God but yet can not provide scientifically sound proof of our beliefs, they veiw us as totally insane. But when you get down to the nitty gritty of it, all of the evidence shows that something brought the universe together. All of this just couldn't have come together by chance. Cause and effect. I believe that God is the Great First Cause. It's like a tornado blowing through a junkyard and leaving behind not a huge mess but reassembled appliances, cars and stuff. That's just how I see it. Post #520

Originally Posted By: Randomizer Craftmaster Nicodemus is an NPC in Avadon:The Black Fortress who makes mostly useless items for the player. So in theory, he is almost like the X of Avernum in making useless items? Post #519

The only eggs I remember from the Exile/Avernum series are the GIFTS eggs and Fire Lizard eggs from E2/A2. These were not food however. Maybe there might have been an egg (Easter Egg egg?) in E3/A3? Maybe someone else here might know of that. Post #518

Originally Posted By: Applied Deconstruction Atheism doesn't explicitly require belief in anything (that's the point!), It's all about choice isn't it? You either choose to believe in something or to not believe in something. Either way faith has to be present. If you believe in God, you have faith that God exists. If you don't believe in God, wouldn't you have some sort of measure of faith that He doesn't exist? I'm not at all any good when it comes to debates or all of that stuff. I just ask some questions and try to answer others questions as best I can. Also, this guy (whatever his name is) retooled his calculations and came up with the date of 10/21/11. I wonder what he will say when his latest 'prediction' falls through. Post #517

Originally Posted By: Applied Deconstruction Alorael, who agrees that the skill system isn't perfect yet. It's also far from terrible, and it's a nice change of pace from the usual system for sheer novelty. Download the demo and see how it works for yourself! I would very much like to download the demo. But it being 106 MB and me using dial-up service, it would take at least 3 hrs to download. I can't tie up the phone line for that long. I'll just have to wait and come up with the money to buy the disk. Post #516

I did not mean to infer that the teaching of the rapture dated back to St Jerome. I was merely stating where the word was coming from. I'm not trying to argue theology. I just wanted to put the information about the Rapture out there. Post #516

I have played all of the Avernums. I have beaten all of them except for the sixth (unregistered). Avernum 1- Starting out with fresh storyline. You can do a lot of exploring. At the start of the game is a little tough to gain levels but once you get the hang of it you'll get a lot in no time. Avernum 2- Storyline is the consequences of some of your actions from the end game of A1. New race introduced. Gameplay is about the same as A1. Exploring is cut back a little due to clearances and badges and other stuff. Some areas that were traveled in A1 are blocked. Avernum 3- Storyline achieved from the end of A2 and is a little linear. Game area is totally new. Many restrictions on exploring such as plagues and time. Avernum 4- New game engine and graphics. Some of the storyline comes from end of A3. New enemy introduced. Has the same areas as found in A1, but different look. Storyline is somewhat linear. Avernum 5- Just like A4 except for game area. Old enemy from A4 is back. A little more than somewhat linear. Avernum 6- New game engine and grapics. Same areas A4 with a few exceptions. (I can't give too much detail on this game because I've only played the demo). Post #514

So the skill traits took a hit on Avadon? It would be nice if the future games had the skill traits of Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. I haven't played the other Elder Scrolls games but Morrowind was awsome! I also miss the openess of Exile and the early Avernums. The look of the newer games make the game world seem way too small. Post #513

I believe in the premillenial reign of Christ, his sacrificial death on the cross, Jesus' imminent return (Rapture), Jesus' Virgin Birth and many other fundamentals of the Christian faith. I don't know all of the answers to why or how things in the Bible happen the way they happen. There are some out there who have way more knowledge about this than me. I know that some of you scoff at us Christians for being 'close-minded' or 'believing in fairytales'. You scoff at us when we say that we have faith in what we believe in. What do you believe in? Do you believe that the entire universe (of its own accord) blasted into existence by the Big Bang? Do you believe that we are living in a multiverse instead of a universe. No matter how you think the universe came to be, you have to take it on faith. Specifically, let's talk about the Rapture. We get the word Rapture from the latin word raptus. Why Latin? From the Latin version of the Bible, the Vulgate mostly written by St. Jerome around 400 AD. This version was very popular and widely used during its first millenia. The word is found in First Thessalonians 4:17. In the King James version we see the words 'caught up'. The Rapture is people being caught (lifted) up from the ground and rising into the air where we will meet Jesus. We don't have to do anything, we will rise at His presence. About the timing of the Rapture, no one knows. It has been mentioned several times in this forum about the timing or our lack of knowing the timing so I won't go into that one. I'm sorry if I talked too much. There seems to be a lot of confusion about the Rapture and I want to help clarify if I'm able. Somehow I believe I'll catch some flack for this. Post #512

It's true! I've been playing the Exile/Avernum series since 1998. I've played the first Geneforge and thought it was nice. But recently I decided to download the 2nd and 3rd Geneforges just to play for fun. I must say that I find them rather enjoyable. (I still prefer Exile/Avernum ) I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually want to buy the other four Geneforges, since I already have the 1st on disk. Post #511