[alatar]

Originally Posted by Folwren

I've never heard of Caligula, Alatar. Sorry.

Hmmm...anyway, he was a Roman emperor known for less than moral living.

We've receeded a long, long ways from real Christianity (and other moral things). The pioneers (I use 'em because someone mentioned them earlier in this thread) didn't go around dressed as we do, they didn't go around talking about the things we do, they didn't go around thinking like we do, they were probably ten times as smart as most of us. We've deteriorted a long way in a matter of two hundred years or so...

I would disagree. I tend to believe that we are not much different than we ever were - there's more of us, and if a subset of the population, say 5%, is loco, then you will find more examples of them today (that and the whole media thing). And then there's California...

Not sure how you conclude that people were smarter 200+ years ago. I might cite the giants that wrote the U.S. Constitution, as they were a pretty smart bunch and make many of today's pols look like dolts. However, these were not average people, and what they created was not your average document.

Today you can read what greater and lesser people write as it's all on the internet. You're reading what I've written, and I'm no Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, Tolkien, etc. I'm not even in the same zip code as these greats (well, not all of the time - see repdrunk).

In regards to morality and Christianity, one might think that, though we may have fallen somewhat when compared to our recent past (the pendulum always swings one way then back), but if you consider Cain (kills brother), the reason for the Flood (humanity minus eight beyond redemption), Babel (another intervention), Gemorrah and Sodom (these cities aren't on Google maps), the Roman gladiators (man vs man or animal for entertainment), the Dark Ages, witchcraft trials (more about torturing people than redemption or evil), WWI, WWII, ad nauseum, then you might see that it's the same tired old story with new names and toys.

That was a pretty long sentence - phew! Sorry.

But then you might argue that we've also become a lot more efficient and smarter in the fact that we have tons of machines that do every little thing for us (even eat, in some cases) and our technology that we have now wasn't even dreamed of a hundred years ago...I think, though, that even these great accomplishments have helped to corrupt us.

Tools and trinkets are just extensions of our souls. If there's evil within you, a knife might be for more than cutting bread. And I consider us two-legged apes with shiny toys that most of us use yet don't understand.

Have considered what would happen if the world fell apart and we started to live in post-apocalyptic movie worlds. You would see just how human we are on that day as sometimes you can catch a glimpse when the weather channel predicts a more than light snow fall ("I need to get milk and bread - out of my way!").

We are yearning for immortality. That's what these life supporting machines in hospitals, all the drugs that are out, and just about everything else are made for. Of course, people don't use the term 'immortality', but all in all, that's what we're searching for. And wasn't that what caused the destruction of Numenor? Wasn't that what ended up ruining everyone?

Dunno. I try to keep in mind that the Numenorians were looking to add years to their allotment yet did not enjoy those that they had. We have today, and I've learned that a good day is one where I spend time playing with the kids not worrying about what's not getting done.

And, like Tolkien, I get tired of hearing the same old story and want to go somewhere where litter, TV, cell phones and headaches haven't found and dragons, elves, magic rings and kindly old wizards haven't left.