What a Brain!

Of course people change their ideas and views throughout life. Don't most intelligent people do this? Einstein was an intelligent person. In my thirties I was a committed Christian, now I am not. Who knows, as life progresses and I read more and talk to people I may change again. That doesn't mean I am a hypocrite!

Perhaps we could discuss the reasons why it is thought there is a such a sea change between the two posted statements of Einstein.

1) Was he `two-faced` simply pandering to the `culture` he was in communication with at the time?

2) Did he have a change of mind between the 30s and the 50s?

3) Was the fly-leaf comment in the Bible inspired more by his wife? (after all behind every good man there is....)(Stephen Hawkins wife is a C of E
evangelical).

4) Does it matter? Seeing that Religion was not his field anyway!

5) Are we sure that both comments are genuine? (Plenty of Art dealers have egg on their faces after declaring works of art `genuine`.)

I meant to be friendly at the same time as not accepting a put down. Difficult to get the tone right in print, obviously.

Perhaps I had meant to be funny. I don't think you do when you say these things.

You do have an amazing memory for these things. Buggered if I can remember that!

Probably not. I didn't mean funny haha. But I was remembering a similar exchange between you and Josie a long while ago when she didn't find something you said as 'amusing' as you intended. Her reaction when you sent a sense of humour alert was to reboot hers forthwith. They're good like that, HQ

Wonder how she's getting on in Germany, or wherever it was?

Have I missed something funny?!

Oops. Forgot the

PS sense of humour needing rebooted, perhaps, jings?

Racing green, actually.

"Tough luck mate"?! That is pathetic!

Sounds like some yobby man talking.

Do you drive a white van Bags?

BTW, if I siezed every opportunity, there'd be a lot more. Gransnet is my atheism outlet. Tough luck mate.

It was relevant.

I'm afraid you're absolutely right, Bags. I can't stop you (or anyone else) from seizing every opportunity to make a negative comment about God, whether relevant or not. Good thing he loves you anyway.

Are you always that bossy?

I'm afraid you'll have to put up with my making whatever comments I wish, lily, so long as I don't attack people in a personal way.

No.

Give it a rest, Bags. I won't say 'for Heaven's sake' for obvious reasons.

Those days too, petallus. They only brought god into it to make themselves feel self-righteous.

Sounds like Einstein's thinking may have changed between 1930 and 1954.

Who has demonstrated any bile?

Well now, it is good to get all that bile out of the system rather than keep it locked in!

These days we can kill our enemies' babies by the thousand without any help from God!

Oh I know feetlebaum. Some of the things those early Jews asked their God to do with their enemies were blood-thirsty, to say the least.

Such were the times I suppose.

Petallus - Yes there's that psalm about sitting down by the waters of Babylon, that ends up with the enjoyment of smashing babies against walls...

The 1611 "King James" bible was extraordinary in that it was the work of a committee, and yet has some passages of real literary worth. It was not actually a new translation as was claimed - more of an editing job, and a poor one at that. (One chapter appears twice - in two separate books!)
The Gospels in particular are a mess of hearsay and plain fiction, and some of the more popular bits didn't appear in the manuscripts until the 5th and 6th Centuries.

I have enjoyed reading many parts of the bible, mainly for the beauty of the prose, which might be a tribute to the translator. I am glad I had to study it at school, as so many of our well-used phrases are derived from it.

I think my "Wow" was more an appreciation of the thought of a bible with Einstein's written message to his friend in the front of it. I found it a bit awe inspiring. Perhaps but still.