Something about ‘Test of Faith’, I think. Trying to see if the devotees truly have Faith and test their ability to figure out His or Her Word or something like that.
Why God wants to test the devotees is another question entirely.
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It’s a path of trials, Ms. Ambrye. God’s set out a certain course, and the Amarr are to follow it-- and if they’re really worthy, they’ll find the way. It’s one of the reasons setbacks can be productive:
“Uh, turns out the Jove are a little bit of a tough nut to crack and the Gallente are sponsoring a revolt in the Minmatar worlds. Maybe God’s saying we’ve been going about His Reclaiming a little wrong?”
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Alternatively, “God is testing our resolve by putting these obstacles before us!”
Thinking otherwise means that you are doubting God.
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Yep. That’s why there’s not just one side to that issue here.
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What, like not telling the Amarr about the Federation, The State and the Jovians? So, the Amarr god is a bit of a dick is what you’re saying? Assuming it’s even real.
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In my opinion, no, God is not a bit of a dick. He is a massive dick. A Dickasaurus Rex if you will. Whatever Saurus Rex means, but I felt like saying it.
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And this is what the Theology Council and Empress are for. Figure out what God is telling us, and act accordingly.
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Maybe, or maybe stuff happens and it would have gone this way regardless because their god isn’t real? I mean, if things happen in such a way that they would have happened that way even without a god, that kind of puts a damper on the whole god notion.
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But, how do they know?
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One can make an argument that most anything spiritual we believe in isn’t real. From God, to Ancestral Spirits or Spirits in general to the whatever that the Luminaires are supposed to represent (Luminaires? Lumines? Loonies?). Doesn’t stop us from wanting to believe anyway, anything to make us feel like we are part of something greater and that the universe isn’t all (ordered) chaos as it seems.
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I wonder how many more Caldari I’ll have to kill before YOU start acting with a modicum of humanity and common sense?
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Amending the Scriptures, interpreting existing Scripture and using human rationale when no Scriptures exist for a situation, often with thorough and healthy debate with peers and advisors.
We’re not idiots, even if you revile the notion of a faith-based value system. The writers and actors do think about what they are dealing with if they are not directly inspired by the divine, which they often are for the most important acts. We are simply a very hierarchical society, and demand obedience from the lower echelons in order to keep order.
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I get the whole need to believe. It’s not like I’m immune to it, or never fall for baseless claims. The Amarr god doesn’t strike me as a particularly healthy belief though. My own parents are religious, the Intaki Way not Amarr, and though I have abandoned that belief I don’t tear them down as people for it. In fact, most religious people and I get along fairly well.
So yes, I get it.
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I don’t think you’re idiots, I think you’re wrong though.
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Being Minmatar means that every so often I am singing to the spirits of my machines when fixing them, without knowing for certain if there are spirits listening, to begin with. I still perform the rites of maintenance, instead of just maintenance, I still mark any new fabrications and give them all names. I still consult the shamans on matters regarding the spirits of my ancestors and still strive to bring my spirit towards the state of Andesh.
And frankly, I am doing these more out of habit than anything. Except for the rites. They are really useful mnemonic devices so performing them is deliberate. Occasionally I amend the rites for anything new and put up suggestions of amendments to the Skaldi Circle of my clan to make the rites more reflective of whatever sort of work we are doing, to make sure that nobody’s going to sing the wrong thing and end up doing something wrong.
Are the spirits real? No idea. Also irrelevant. The spirits haven’t told me to go shoot someone in the knee, and much of the experience is personal, so I am not really devoting that much time thinking about this too deeply. Especially when new fabrication plans need to be drafted, new designs need to be tested, complete arsehole needs to be disciplined with weapons fire, etc.
However, if I am a mystic or a shaman, well, thinking about these things will be my job and I will probably be writing essays about the matter.
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Why would they care? How would they care? They’re stars.
Perhaps for you. Clearly, I disagree.
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Sophistry for the sake of sophistry when one can be brief is a touch silly, y’know?
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I was taught that form denotes function, and function denotes purpose.
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Essentially, yes. The big difference here is that Aria’s looking at ‘purpose’ from a philosophical standpoint. I’m looking at it from a mechanical standpoint. Which one’s right? Well… we can demonstrate mechanisms exist in nature. So far, we haven’t demonstrated philosophy exists anywhere outside of our own desperate need to feel like more than just very tiny bits of the universal mechanics.
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Which is why the first iterations of the Reclaiming required FORCE to achieve it. After that, some communities encountered the Amarr, took one look at a multi-system spanning Empire with a large space fleet and decided that adopting someone elses religion was a small price to pay for the benefits accrued thereby.
Other nations didn’t.
Currently the Empire seems to have run out of potential candidates for Reclaiming that it can bring into the fold by force - which is causing some pressure on their society.
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