Why do you feel sorry for me? (Page 9)

chronology: shadow, you have got to be joking 'religion played a major role in India's devellopment as a modern nation' . Really? so the Cast system has spirited India into a brave new era?

I don't want this to evolve into a 'anti India' post so I will end there.

shadowline: I wasn't referring to the Caste System, which was obviously retrogressive in the extreme. I meant that Mahatma Gandhi adopted the Jain concept of ahimsa to the Swarajist movement against British rule, and effectively ended it.

ghostgeek: If modern day non-believers aren't expected wash up in hell, where do the faithful expect them to go after breathing their last? Do they get a free pass into heaven?

chronology: Had to laugh at what a Gay lad said to me once. He said heaven was a Gay bar in London where he had none stop Gay sex all day and night with endless crowds of men. I said he would get bored with all that sex, he said he never would. Other people say heaven is all drugs and booze and rock music.

People don't think about hell ghost, they think it is a twisted idea to think of people being sadistically torchered endlessly. Nope, it is endless drugs sex and rock and roll in the afterlife they say.

Zanjan: Ghost: “See, everybody is a non believer from the perspective of somebody or other. Nobody can escape, not even you, Zanjan.”

So what? Most of them have poor judgement to begin with; they don’t even know themselves and what's for their own good, much less for anyone else. The saints and angels do because God’s judgment and their judgement is one, via the holy spirit.

Of course, that depends on what’s being judged. Ourselves? As I pointed out earlier, sometimes we don’t know how we’ll react to something until it happens. We can plan for it but that doesn’t mean our plan works. We'd never be convinced we had a particular weakness if we weren't put to the test. The same is true for our strengths - I can't begin to count the many times I've surprised myself.

Zanjan: Non-believers are already IN hell. What, you didn't think hell had grades? Been there - it's a hilly place, man, kinda like a bouncy house.

Look at it this way, if you're not in heaven, what's the alternative? If you land in hell, where did you come from? Some like to think there's a middle - limbo, but that's ridiculous; nothing in creation remains static. When did God say, 'I'll assign you to limbo - take that and be grateful!"? If you fell from heaven then you must remember what it was like.

Wherever you are, you should be able to describe your surroundings. Obviously, not knowing where you are means you're either lost or have a directional deficit. The former means 'looking but can't find'; the latter means 'inability to look'.

The fortunate are those who know they're in hell and see there's a way out. They have hope. The unfortunate are those who must wait until they die for their true place to be exposed. There's nothing worse than that.

chronology: Hmmmm Zan, are you telling us you have been to hell? that is quite a claim to make, should get you face time on Canadian TV at least.

Zanjan: LOL.......is there not enough moaning and groaning on TV now?

Yes, I was born there - that's how I know the kinds of people there so well. Had some as buddies, even relatives. We all know that Hell is the place for regret, sweat and toil, fears and tears. The common misconception is that ALL of hell is a lake of fire - not true. Lakes are special places, just like on earth. I was never a hypocrite.

Zanjan: Having said that, I just finished watching Hacksaw Ridge...true story. Highly recommend it. Warning, the director is Mel Gibson so you know it's extra- graphic.

chronology: So you still say you have been to hell?

ghostgeek: You certainly lead an eventful existence, Zanjan. Zipping off to heaven. Taking a stroll around hell. Having Jesus drop in for tea. Your memoirs, when they come out, will be a must-read sensation.

chronology: Yes Ghost, but I suspect we will read them in the National Enquirer not the Los Angeles Times.

ghostgeek: As the song says: "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls."

Crash: LOL...this stuff never gets old. Zan you are Hilarious...always good for a laugh. Thank you.

calybonos: For the profits of the prophets are sittin' in the Vatican's walls
Nervi hall

And echoes with the sound of salesmen...of salesmen...of salesmen.

Zanjan: Ghost, I have many more stories to tell you but I doubt you could handle it now.

Zanjan: Chron, you've reminded me of my dad. He was in WW2, in the merchant navy. All he brought back from that was a couple photos of a convoy and him on a boat with a duck, a jar of crab medicine, and a gutted aircraft bullet to use for a doorstop. No stories.

He'd come home drunk, saying to me "What do YOU know, you weren't in the war!". I finally responded, "Dad, I'll fight a bigger war than you ever did and, unlike you, I'll win it!"

Yes, out of the mouth of a babe..... that was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

chronology: 'Crab Medicine' ? did he have sick Crabs or something?

Zanjan: No, it was Navy issue to all the sailors. They'd hit the ports and return to the boat with genital parasites.

This story is for Crash:

Back when I was young, our family drove across Canada to visit our grandmother on the farm. Dad stopped at every dingy gas station along the way for a bathroom break. A week after we arrived, I confided in my mother I had a problem. Well, she laughed, went to her luggage and pulled out a dark glass apothecary jar with purple ointment inside. THAT was the same Navy issue from WW2. Who travels with this stuff??

chronology: Well Zan, I don't get drunk, I don't screw around, and no one gives me free medicine, so how I remind you of your beloved father I have no jdea Zan.

Zanjan: You didn't remind me of him, just the principle of the story.