savetheearth | Entry #A-4: "Ante" [February 21, Text]

Though the police and the Blood Keys obviously represent a threat to many numbered individuals, I have a question about organized religion, and what pulses might mean when framed within certain philosophical contexts. No matter how natural it might feel, if there really is another being nudging its way into an existing consciousness, changing a person's aptitudes, physical attributes and even their personality... there have to be at least a few churches that would consider that demonic possession, right? Has anyone tried to reconcile what's happening with influential religious practices, and do we have any resources for assisting anyone who might wind up the subject of an attempted exorcism? Those still happen today, they can be extremely dangerous, and I'm concerned about the possibility of frightened numbered people seeking out such assistance, or being subjected to it by their families and communities. Thinking you're crazy is one thing, but sincerely believing that the devil is wielding you as an instrument is another entirely. Probably not something that the FAQ page can successfully assuage, for the most tenaciously convinced.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's fair enough. It's probably safe, but there's no such thing as too careful, so... I try to make sure people know they have the option to give a nickname, if they're more comfortable doing so. Do you remember anything about the "angels" that person killed?

[Asuka has the oddest feeling that something about this guy's turn of phrase is familiar, but if there was an Echo forthcoming, she didn't see what it was.]

One of the things I killed looked like a giant four-legged spider with enormous eyes, there was a big black and white hunchback-looking thing with flexible blades for arms, and one of them was some kind of black humanoid monster with extending arms. Oh and all three of them were like skyscraper-sized. We're talking John of Patmos shit if we ARE talking actual angels.

Edited 2014-02-23 05:55 (UTC)

[That's a lot of detail, but L's hardly complaining.]

If they were actual angels, though, why would you want to kill them? Aren't angels supposed to be good?

Assuming you believe the Bible, "good" depends on if you're the people God likes this century, at least as far as smiting is concerned. But no seriously I think they were aliens that just got called Angels because they're really hard to kill or something.

That sounds more plausible. Without meaning to belittle the belief systems of those who buy into them, I'm more willing to accept aliens than the idea of a literal God. I have read the Bible, incidentally, and I find your assessment of a fickle God both canny and accurate.

It's why I prefer science to religion. Science is perfectly consistent with respect to time and how much you're screwed if you do something wrong. And anyway, we're already apparently dealing with aliens HERE, so it seems pretty likely it's what I was dealing with over THERE.

Do you find it comforting to think that we're not alone in the universe? Even if the beings you fought were hostile, is it better than nothing else existing?

Well yeah, I don't recall hating the things for existing. Even fighting aliens in this world or life or whatever has made things a lot more interesting. It'd be nice if we could all hold hands and make Carl Sagan googly eyes at the universe together, but as far as it goes I don't mind fighting alien invaders either.

But with a reason right? Such as that the aliens attacked you, first?

That's kind of implied in "alien invaders". Although I guess humans might have done something to piss aliens off before the stuff I remember...

The truth is usually somewhere in the middle. It's unusual for the blame of instigating to fall wholly on one side.

You think so? One of my memories was a conversation a little like this. I think what I said was that it didn't really matter WHY the aliens wanted to kill us, they just needed to be stopped. Can't argue with myself, that's pretty practical.

I think so. That being said, it's not impossible for one person to be entirely at fault for something bad, and those are the cases that tend to stand out the most vibrantly in one's memory. It's very practical. Hitting back at the person hitting you is one of the simplest rules of survival that can possibly be defined.