The Last Prophet

It is more complicated with three people, but I don't think we need to institute more structure in the Institute. I suggest we let the discussion run wild for awhile and see what happens. Like that famous guy said, "When there is no need to change, there is a need not to change."

The question about being born insane, which Ken attributes to me, originated with Old Dog. I re-quoted it two posts ago and was trying to address it in my last post. I'm not sure that I understand the question, but that's never stopped me before.

I'm not sure that I understand Ken's statements about the world being meaningless either, and I have no idea who Mr. Natural is. I don't think the world is meaningless, but I suppose it depends what you mean by "meaningless". We've got this whole world teeming with all kinds of life forms that are dependent on each other for survival. Something has to die so that something else can live. Sometimes a whole species goes extinct, but then another species pops up to take its place. Seems pretty meaningful to me. I find it easier to believe that there is some kind of plan that is driving it all but, even if there isn't, it's hardly a trivial thing. There may be other worlds out there that are just as meaningful, but we don't know that for sure, so we'd better take care of the world we've got, just in case it's the only one.

I believe that the scriptural justification for the belief that there are no prophets nowadays comes from First Corinthians Chapter 13. I am familiar with the passage, and I don't get that out of it. The phrase "prophesy will cease" is frequently quoted out of context. If you read the whole chapter, Paul is trying to settle a dispute among the congregation in Corinth about what is more important, prophesy, or speaking in tongues. He asserts that both prophesy and speaking in tongues will pass away because "....our prophesy is imperfect and our knowledge is imperfect but, when the Perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away." The capitalization of "Perfect" indicates that Paul is talking about the Second Coming of Jesus, which he and most other early Christians believed to be imminent. When Jesus comes again, there will be no need for prophecy because all the prophesies will have been fulfilled.

Mohammed preached something like that back in the day. If memory serves me, he recognized five true prophets in history: Adam, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. Mohammed asserted that he was the sixth and final prophet, because the Apocalypse was going to happen in his lifetime and, after that, there would be no need for any more prophets.

I read somewhere that Joseph Smith had been interested in the story of Mohammed, and may have gotten some of his inspiration from it, although I doubt that most Mormons would agree. Last I heard, the Mormons were still calling the current leader of their church a prophet. We used to know some Mormons back in the 80s, and they told us that their prophet had recently advised them to stockpile non-perishable food because hard times were coming. I told them that, for us, the hard times were already here, and that we had enough to do just putting this week's groceries in the house. They said that, if I would quit drinking, smoking, and doing everything else that was fun, I could give ten percent of my income to their church and have money left over. They weren't being pricky about it, they were actually really nice people who had our best interests at heart. We went to church with them once and were in there for like five hours. I don't regret the experience, but I was happy to finally get out of there and light up a cigarette.