NW – Clearly avid enough to want to post on a thread on religion on the off-topic section Mountain Bike forum!

Spin – any document from that long ago surely has questions over what the motivation for writing it was?

I’m suprised to hear that Police carry their weapons made ready all the time. Can a copper confirm this? When I was in NI in the Army our pistols were loaded but not made ready i.e mag on, not cocked. Before we entered any buildings on a base or police station they were always unloaded i.e mag off,no rounds in chamber.

I’d agree that the unload/make safe is the most likely time for an ND, especially when tired. A colleague of mine once had an ND on camp, I was the first one to get to him after the shot. I was expecting the worst, but when I got to him he was standing up, white as a sheet with his pistol pointing at the ground and a hole in the tarmac literally a centimetre from his toe. He lost a month’s pay for that.

Spin – if you’re talking abou the New Testament -the Gospels & Acts, and the Epistles – then they are likley to have been written within the lifetime of those who were about whem Jesus was. There is a hypothetical source known as ‘Q’ which which would predate the Gospels. Mark was probably written first in the 60s, then Mattew and Luke, with John being written in stages up to about 90ish. A Christian tradition dating right back has it that John was very old, in his 90s when he died. It’s very possible that there we subsequent redactions, e.g.some respected female theologians suspect Paul’s epistles were tampered with, as they don’t seem to reflect Jesus’ attitude to women. Personally I thnk it all comes back to context.

If you’re talking about the OT then dating is much harder. Probably by the time of Jesus the stories have been redacted and pretty much finalised. About 40% of the Dead Sea scrolls which date from about 400BC to 300AD are recogniseable as being from the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) and whilst there are some differences they pretty much match what we have now. As I said, we are talking about ancient ancient stories, passed down by word of mouth out many centuries befoer being written down.

Mr. W – No spiritual element at all to being a human? No ghosts? No unexplicable shivers down the spine? No deeper connection with the universe when out on a bike ride? No unexplained coincedences? Surely even the most avid atheist must admit there’s something more to life than physical sensory environment we inhabit?

Euro –

Hi, yes it’s vital to know about other religions in order to have a proper understanding of the Bible. It’s been suggested that the Genesis 1 creation story was written by Jews living in exile in Babylon. If we understand something of the Babylonian religions; their obsession with astrology for example, it give us a deeper understanding of the meaning and purpose of the story.

There’s historical evidence to suggest that whilst the Exodus may not have happened quite the way the Bible has it, there was a group of people who were expelled from Egypt by the Pharaoh at around the timescale of the Exodus in the Bible. It’s important therefore to know something of the Egyptian religions and how that might have influenced Judaism. Some of the Proverbs in the Bible appear to have been copied and pasted directly from texts which predate even Egypt.

Once we get into the New Testament a knowledge of Greco-Roman beliefs is important. For example, as I said in an earlier post, knowing the place that sex played in Greco-Roman cultic ceremonies helps us put the apparent condemnation of homosexual acts in a very different context to that which we live in today.

Being British, it’s important to understand how Christianity interacted with other European religions. As part of a module on Christianity in Europe we spent the day in Glastonbury interacting with leaders from various what you might call ‘pagan’ faiths

I’d also point out that Judaism, from which Christianity sprang, is one of the most ancient religions in the world. Some of the Bible stories, such as Noah’s flood and the story of Job predate Judaism and are probably among the most ancient stories known to humanity.

Crankboy –

Firstly, even if you don’t believe in the Bible you must ascribe it some historical value. Even if some of the stories have been embellished/elaborated they are still a valuable insight into the lifestyles and mindsets of a broad spread of people, from a broad geographic area across abroad time-span. There is archaeological evidence which supports some of the Bible stories. We have Egyptian manuscripts which describe a people group who call themselves the family of David for example.

So whilst from a purely secular perspective the Bible cannot be considered wholly reliable, it must be respected as a valid historical source, and treated the same way as any other historical document.

You may know that shortly after the time of Jesus was a Jewish-Roman historian called Josephus. Some parts of his surviving manuscripts are not considered authentic, but scholars there are authentic passages where he refers to James the brother of Jesus and to the imprisonment and execution of John the Baptist. There is a section about the Crucifixion of Jesus, but scholars question its authenticity.

We also have surviving manuscripts from very early Christian leaders, such as Clement, Polycarp and Ignatius all dating from about the same time as Josephus, 70-100AD ish.

So although as a ‘believer’ I don’t actually feel the need for historical evidence of Jesus outside the Bible, there is some there.

Why would the Romans execute Jesus? Have you read the Gospels? He was a trouble maker, his teaching and activities were hugely subversive. Under the Pax-Romanica, the Romans licensed certain religions throughout the Empire; Judaism was one of these licensed ones. By and large the Jews obeyed Rome and caused no trouble. Yet along comes Jesus, this peasant, and other peasants start following him, they start questioning the Jewish religious leaders, disobeying them. He teaches that money and wealth are nothing, that you are to give everything to God. He admits to being the son of God, God Himself. All four of the Gospels record Jesus entering the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and ransacking the place. The Temple was such a sensitive area that the Roman barracks were next door. At his birth wise men come looking for a king, at his death his charge is that he was the King of the Jews, a charge which he would not deny. Only Caesar is King, and in fact Caesar is god also.

Although the Jews were by and large peaceful, they were a very large group of people there had been a history of rioting and any large uprising by them would be a huge challenge for Rome; better to execute one man then have a full scale rebellion on your hands. Not long after Jesus, the Jews did rebel against Rome; the great revolt lasted from AD66-AD73. It cost the Romans 20,000 dead soldiers, out of a force of 60,000 and Josephus records that 1 million Jews died. According to the Bible, Pilate was reluctant to execute Jesus, yet he was no doubt acutely aware of the volatility of the Jews. If Jesus really was as dangerous as the Gospels portray him, it’s no doubt Pilate would kill him to keep the peace.

I haven’t got a sermon to preach tomorrow, so I’m rather enjoying all this attention, any more questions?

Sorry NW, managed to miss the humour in your post! He sounds like my wife, complete nightmare in the real world and hugely frustrating at times. But utterly brilliant, intelligent and very spiritual.

Northwind – Sounds to me like you and this guy had a pretty serious personality clash. I’d imagine you are a ‘J’ whereas he was a ‘P’. There are plenty of people in the world who would disagree with your definition of what is ‘useful’. Would you be so condemnatory of his values and passions if he had been doing another subject you consider to have no use, perhaps art or philosophy?

Besides which, the point I was making, as you well know, was that many believers of any faith do approach that faith critically and analytically. My knowledge of ancient languages, history, other religions etc enables me to be far more technically critical of Christianity than you are able to be. As I said to Cougar you cannot assume that people of faith hold that faith out of blind ignorance and stupidity.

Spin and Cougar – By nature I am a scientifically minded individual, and I’d imagine you can see from my posts and the essay of mine Cougar read that I apply a critical methodology to my faith. However, that all being said I’d be the first to admit that the basic foundation of Christianity is unreasonable and irrational – I believe in God. I believe that 2000 years ago that God came to earht as the illegitimate son of a Jewish peasant girl. As an adult he was executed by the Roman state, came back to life and that now his spirit lives inside me to guid and assist me. There is nothing rational about that at all. Many older Christians get very upset when I point this out to them!

Whether they realise it or not, Christians generally allow four things to influence their faith – scripture, tradition, reason and experience. I could recount to you several deep spiritual experiences I have had, you would think I am barking mad and I would probably have to agree.

Cougar – yes we did take a look at other faiths during my degree course. In particular those that we were likley to interact with in this country. Also, before I became a Christian I was quite interested in Druidism and that sort of thing. Indeed,even now I like to engage with Celtic Christian tradition which has a far more ‘earthy’ feel than that which came from Rome.

The thread of humanity needing salvation runs through most of the world’s faiths. My littlest daughter loves watching the Disney film Hercules at the moment – the son of God comes to earth, lives as a human among humans. Dies, enters the underworld to save the one he loves and comes back to life. Sounds familiar.

In regards to strength of faith – psychologists recognise several stages of faith, not just religious faith. I can’t remember the exact stages off the top of my head, and I may have had a pint or two of Ringwood’s finest 49er. However, stage 4, let’s say,is where one’s faith is externally very strong. One is convinced that it is absolutely correct and it cannot be questioned. A lot of older Christians in this country remain at that stage indefinetely. The problem comes when that faith is really challenged by people who know what they’re talking about. Stage 5 appears to be a loss of faith; here is where difficult questions are asked and the result can either be a complete loss of faith, or as was in my case, a move on to stage 6 where any question can be asked, truths can challenged and open debate can be had without rocking one’s own faith.I went through this challenge stage very early on in my Christianity, less than a year after coming to faith. Most of the questions and criticisms of Christianity, I have thought about and dealt with myself. And yet my faith remains strong.

Sorry Mr. W, in future if I write the words ‘Jesus says…’ you are free to assume that what I actually mean is ‘One or more of the four Gospel writers that we commonly refer to as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and/or subesquent redactors of their material, claims that Jesus said words to the effect of…’

Cougar – for the reason that I put ‘first hand’ in inverted commas see above. I wonder what you imagine happens on a Theology Degree course? The Bible is stripped apart, criticised far more heavily than anyone on here is capable of doing, by theologians, historians, archaelogists, language experts etc. The very first essay I wrote for my degreee was ‘Was there ever a united Israelite Monarchy?’ The only answer you can really come up with, is there was no exodus, no King Saul, no David and that Solomon might just be based on a real historical figure. In my first year at Bible college a quarter of the class dropped out because they couldn’t handle the level of criticism we were expected to examine our faith with.

I do firmly believe that Jesus was a real person, I even believe that he is God. But please don’t you fall into the trap of thinking that I hold my beliefs uncritically or naively.

Yes, JY I am!

Really Mike? Jesus says that in cases where one partner has committed sexual immorality the other is not committing adultery if they get remarried – Matthew 19:9. Additionally when he meets the woman at the well, who has been married 5 times and is currently living with a man she is not married to, he says nothing at all to condemn her, instead he has a spiritual conversation with her – John 4.

Mike and NW, do you actually know what the Bible says about those issues and the context in which it says it, or are you just quoting someone else’s ignorance?

Anyway, to drag us back onto the topic of Christianity/religion/governtment/homsexuality –

I don’t believe that Christianity in and of itself can be used to justify homophobia. However, it is clear to me that ignorance of what the Bible actually says, and the context in which it says it, lead to all kinds of phobias and ‘isms’ that were never intended.

The four Gospels and the book of Acts make no mention of homosexuality; given that these five books are the only ones in the Bible that give a ‘first hand’ narrative of Jesus’ and the early church’s teaching and activities, wouldn’t they deal with homosexuality if it was an issue for God? It frustrates the heck out of me that Christians get uptight about an issue that isn’t even mentioned by Jesus, and yet completely fail to get uptight about things he bangs on and on about, such as respect, tolerance, equality, justice, poverty, suffering, death etc etc.

Most of the references to homosexuality in the rest of the Bible are set in the context of religious cults. What the Bible condemns is straight people going to pagan temples and having sex with prostitutes. We’re not even certain of some of the words used in the New Testament that are translated as ‘homosexual’. One of the words literally means ‘man-beds’, which could mean ‘a man who beds other men’, or it could equally mean ‘a promiscuous man’. The other main word literally means ‘soft’, it could refer to effeminate men, or it could refer to a person who is morally weak.

Plucking sentences out of their Biblical context in order to justify cultural and anthropological responses to homosexuality and to oppress people groups is an abuse of scripture.

That being said, we must realise that here in the UK we are at the forefront of Western liberal thinking, more forward looking than most of Europe and the USA even. Remember a few years ago when the French government debated homosexuality? There were riots on the streets. Over here a few people wrote letters or signed petitions, but among the general population changes to British law have been welcomed.

Remember also that homosexuality was only decriminalised in England & Wales in 1967, Scotland in 1980 and N. Ireland in 1982. The ban on homosexuality in the British Forces was only lifted in 2000. The aversion to homosexuality, much like racism, can be explained as an anthropological/evolutionary response. But that doesn’t mean that homophobia is acceptable; we are not animals controlled by our instincts, we have intellect and imagination and can use those to overcome our instinctive responses.

No one could go through a mainstream Bible college in this country today without questioning 19th/20th Century Christian attitudes to sexuality. But whilst the UK is charging headlong into post-modernity (perhaps even post-post-modernity!) much of the rest of the world, especially religious people, is stuck in modernity. In modernity, rules and regulations and oppression of dissent is good, and there can be one single moral ‘right’, with no tolerance or respect for other people’s views and experience. Whereas in post-modernity dissent and individualism is tolerated and respected, and ‘your opinion’ is just as valid and relevant as ‘my opinion’.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that many Christians fall into the trap of reading their cultural expectations into the Bible, rather than allowing it to speak into their culture. An individual’s sexuality really has nothing to do with anyone else, and certainly nothing to do with government. Sadly though it will be a long time before much of the world arrives at the point of tolerance and respect that the UK has. Perhaps I should stick all the above in an email to the Catholic Bishop of Nigeria, do you think he’d listen?

I have it really badly most of the time as part of having menieres disease. The following helps. Cut out alcohol, caffeine and salt (haven’t found a definitive answer to why salt makes it worse, could be it raises the blood pressure or perhaps interferes with the fluids in the inner ear). Do lots of exercise – ensure that you’re knackered by the time you go bed to help fall asleep despite the noise.

It does make you grumpy and irritable and to be honest there are occasions when just MTFUing and fighting it is the only option. One of the hardest things is trying to convince loved ones that it’s actually not just unpleasant but has a big impact on quality of life. Both my mum and my granny have it, so at least I have their sympathy (and their crappy genes unfortunetly).

Hi, I have a 20 mile route I ‘think’ I’ve created a GPX file of! Not sure if there’s any overlap with the hillasaurus route though. Rode it on Thursday and it’s pretty dry, few nice rocky descents and great views. Email me and I’ll see if I can sent you it. kenthebaptist AT btinternet DOT com

Harry, I’d suggest that your brush was not spotlessly clean and that the thinners in the clearcoat picked up some dried paint. I prefer to use the Games Workshop Acrylic varnish as it seems to behave itself a bit better.

She wouldn’t buy me the galactica as she didn’t like the series!

Airfix Mosquito NF Mk2. Four 20mm cannon, four .303 machine guns, top speed of 370mph and onboard radar. You didn’t want to be a nazi pilot over the UK with these about at night. Built whilst watching 633 sqn the other day. Brush painted with Tamiya Acrylics.

Also got given a Revell USS Voyager by the wifey, which is going to be huge when built up.

Regards the quality/buildability of Airfix kits – the newly tooled stuff is superb, if you fancy a Spit then model no A02010 is great. Or there’s a new Mustang, Tomahawk, ME109, Typhoon etc etc. If using one of the starter kits stir the paint really really well and dilute with about 30% water.

Apologies if I offended you TooTall, I’m not bitter about the fact I wasn’t an officer, if that’s what you mean. Perhaps the REME and RE are different, but in the RSigs all the technical work gets done by the rankers, apart from TOTs who have come up through the ranks.

Whatever one’s moral and ethical feelings about the armed forces, and mine are significantly different than when I was in my late teens, I can say hand on heart that being in the Army made me a far better person, in terms of confidence, ability to cope with stress and adversity, and it stripped away much of the naivety I had about life.

Just my tuppence worth regarding your choice of capbadge – I was a Corporal in the Royal Signals, my job was Systems Technician. I cannot understand why anyone would want to be an officer in one of the technical Corps, RSigs, REME or RE. All they do is man-management, they have no technical skill or ability (except those who have come up through the ranks.

FWIW if you’re set on being an officer, my suggestion would be to go for Infantry or Armoured Corps. Or if you want a technical trade then consider joining the ranks. RSigs techs and some REME trades come with automatic promotion to L/Cpl after trade training and I was a full Corporal less than a year after that.

Whereabouts in the UK are you? I might be able to put you in touch with people who could give you an idea of what it’s really like as an officer today.

As per wilko, storm controls in 2.0 are bigger than mud X and far more pleasant to ride on.

Just shown the vid to my 6 year daughter, oh dear I can see a few trips to A&E as she grows up!

When I bought my first ‘proper’ mountain bike a few years ago, I thought I’d save a few quid and get one with v brakes. However within a few months I wanted discs. This meant new wheels as well as brakes. Even if you do get one with cheapy mechanical discs, it will be much cheaper just to get hydraulic brakes later, rather than needing wheels as well. V brakes just don’t cut it when the going gets wet, muddy and steep.

The grand or pines hotels are both very nice, not really b&bs though!

Whilst the 2013 Revs require a different air spring assembly to change the travel, according to the manual Solo Air Sektors continue to be adjustable with internal ‘all travel’ spacers.

Rev manual page 10
Revelation

Sektor manual page 11
Sektor

I had an early Piglet which cracked in a similar way. Unfortunetly as I bought the frame secondhand (but unused) Ragley wouldn’t do anything. Anyway, after not getting on with a couple of-off-the-shelf bikes I eventually bought a secondhand Soul frame and built it up a few months ago.

I have to say I don’t like it as much as I liked the Piglet. It’s nice, and I’ll be keeping it, but it doesn’t quite have the same zinginess that the Piglet had and doesn’t feel quite as ‘right’. It’s difficult to put my finger on it, but the Piglet just seemd to have more energy about it.

I think if I was looking for a new bike again, I’d be thinking about a steel Genesis frame.

I camped at a couple of Youth Hostels this summer. Okehampton, which was nice but probably a bit remote, and Burley in the New Forest. Both had nice indoor shower facilities, self catering kitchens and lounges with TVs. Both also had pretty decent canteens where you could buy a hot meal. Cheap too, about 6 or 7 quid per person per night. Obviously Burley gives you access to the Forest, but also isn’t that far from a few beaches and Moors Valley Forest park is great. Also V nice pub next to hostel

The vast majority of the RNLI beach lifeguards are paid. Councils have a legal obligation to provide lifeguards on certain beaches and sub-contract this out. The RNLI are just about the best there is which is why so many councils use them.

This is seperate from the Lifeboat side of things which is paid for by charitable donations and the majority of crewmembers are not paid.

I built up a ragley Piglet when the first came out, first ride up the road it instantly felt perfect and it loved it. Shame it snapped a few months later. Got a soul now, it’s nice but not as ‘right’ as the Piglet was.

Yep, I find 2 or 3 days a few times a year is plenty for me to recharge and become ‘me’ again. I’m off to dartmoor with the bike at the end of the month. Wife is similar but less self aware, so I order her to go every now and again! She’s off on a trampolining coaching course this weekend. Also very important that the two of us get away without the children for a few days, thankfully my mum and/or sisters are usually happy to take them.

Poor pics, but this is my recently built up one out on the local trails. Gone for the ‘stealth’ look which I kinda like. Forks are Sektor R set to 130mm which works nicely. Have now got a cheapy TMARS dropper post which makes the bike even better.

Heartbreak ridge? Clint versus the commanding officer. Not really slapping though.

The explanation given to me by US soldiers was that if you were running forwards carrying a flag that’s the way it’d naturally fly. Having the flag the other way around would make it look like they were running away.

Given the amount of nonsense they used to come out with, it doesn’t suprise me that that’s not the official explanation!

I’ve persevered with the new Hotmail /outlook but have finally given up. Set myself up an account with my IP and set the Hotmail account to auto forward all emails. Transferring contacts turned out to be quite easy and I’ve added a signature block at the bottom of all emails I send which says ‘please note my new address.’

I honestly think Microsoft have purposely made it rubbish to drive people away!

Americans?

Having spent nearly three years of my time in the army working with American forces personnel I think it best if I keep my views of them to myself!

Any idea why the hurri has different roundels?

I know I’m a bit late to the party, but as stated this Hurri was in South East Asia and the concern was that in the heat of battle certain of our allies might mistake the red in the centre of the standard British roundel for Japanese markings.

Is the plug black with oil or with soot? If it’s soot then the fuel/air mixture is too rich, that is there’s too much petrol in it. There may also be petrol on the plug, if the plug’s wet sniff it to check if it’s oil or petrol. Choke could be sticking as said, and/or the carb could probably do with a strip down and clean.

If it’s oil on the plug then you probably have worn piston rings and sump oil is getting into the combustion chamber.

TBH I’d start with checking the choke cable is not getting stuck and spray carb cleaner in the carb. Unless it’s a very old and abused engine, I doubt it’d be worn rings,

Google play store knows all the apps you have and will allow you to download them onto a new phone.

Courier just delivered some shiny new Sektor R forks, which I will take great pleasure in stripping down this evening to put some all travel spacers in. Unfortunetly the Superstar wheels I’ve got on order were only dispatched this morning, so doesn’t look like I’ll be using the new forks this weekend as I have no wheel for them :(

White spirit or petrol. You might want to polish the spot afterwards as it can dull the paint. Acetate is a bit too strong imo.

I think green is the only realistic option for me too. Would usually vote liberal but they’ve proved to be a complete irrelevance. Green on the other hand have been doing pretty well in Brighton and Hove and I certainly think their policies are far more just and ethical than anyone else.

Myhermes do collection from various newsagents etc. You book on their website and drop off at you nearest place.