A Thread For Absurd And Absurdist Questions Of A Questionable Nature

[Laudate_Dominum]

QUERY I.

Some of the old demonologies mention goblins, hobgoblins, werewolves, and various other legendary creatures as though they are real. Could a Catholic believe in such things or might they be explicitly condemnations somewhere? I know that some churchmen have condemned belief in some legendary creatures but I can't recall anything that is other than private opinion on the matter.

If belief in, say, werewolves, is in fact heretical, isn't it a crime to pretend with kids that such things are real? T'would be somewhat like pretending that Martin Luther is a saint only to spring the terrible truth on them when they're deemed "old enough." Similarly, if belief in goblins turns out to have been condemned as vile heresy or pagan devilry, should not the Lord of the Rings books be placed on the Index?

If belief in the fairies of folklore and legend is not condemned, I must, for fun's sake, entertain the possibility of their reality; at least goblins, werewolves, brownies, gnomes and pixies.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='06 April 2010 - 04:03 PM' timestamp='1270587799' post='2087876']
QUERY I.

Some of the old demonologies mention goblins, hobgoblins, werewolves, and various other legendary creatures as though they are real. Could a Catholic believe in such things or might they be explicitly condemnations somewhere? I know that some churchmen have condemned belief in some legendary creatures but I can't recall anything that is other than private opinion on the matter.

If belief in, say, werewolves, is in fact heretical, isn't it a crime to pretend with kids that such things are real? T'would be somewhat like pretending that Martin Luther is a saint only to spring the terrible truth on them when they're deemed "old enough." Similarly, if belief in goblins turns out to have been condemned as vile heresy or pagan devilry, should not the Lord of the Rings books be placed on the Index?

If belief in the fairies of folklore and legend is not condemned, I must, for fun's sake, entertain the possibility of their reality; at least goblins, werewolves, brownies, gnomes and pixies. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/mellow.gif[/img]
[/quote]

This doesn't answer the question for Catholics, but the old English Book of Common Prayer (please don't ask me which version) contained this prayer as part of the litany:

From goblins and ghosties, and longlegged beasties, and things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us.

Unfortunately the prayer has been removed from modern versions of the litany.

[Marie-Therese]

I believe in brownies. They are tasty.

[Hilde]

Let's say a prayer to guard us from the forest creatures.

[Nihil Obstat]

Here's a better question: Can you ask a question without questioning? Can you answer a question without a question being asked? Can a question be an answer? If everyone believes a question is an answer, do the answers become questions? Is this one question, or many?

Edited April 6, 2010 by Nihil Obstat

[Marie-Therese]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' date='06 April 2010 - 05:32 PM' timestamp='1270589543' post='2087907']
Here's a better question: Can you ask a question without questioning? Can you answer a question without a question being asked? Can a question be an answer? If everyone believes a question is an answer, do the answers become questions? Is this one question, or many?
[/quote]

How much of that whiskey HAVE you had today??

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Marie-Therese' date='06 April 2010 - 04:34 PM' timestamp='1270589698' post='2087910']
How much of that whiskey HAVE you had today??
[/quote]
None.

[laetitia crucis]

Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' date='06 April 2010 - 05:32 PM' timestamp='1270589543' post='2087907']
Here's a better question: Can you ask a question without questioning? Can you answer a question without a question being asked? Can a question be an answer? If everyone believes a question is an answer, do the answers become questions? Is this one question, or many?
[/quote]
how-dare-you-one-up-me-so

[Hilde]

[img]http://static.freak.no/forum/customavatars/avatar40096_2.gif[/img]

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='laetitia crucis' date='06 April 2010 - 05:50 PM' timestamp='1270590619' post='2087925']
Which came first: the chicken or the egg?


[/quote]
I'll bet there are old phatmass threads about that very question.

[Nihil Obstat]

Interestingly, someone I know on FB had their status about chickens and eggs today.

Person XYZ: it is my thinking, that if most major genetic and physical mutations occur in embryo... that the egg must have come before the chicken.


Personally, I don't know what on earth she's talking about. Sounds like a brutal non sequitur to me.

[Laudate_Dominum]

1. What actually caused the Dancing Plague of 1518?
2. Why is it that when I search my feelings I believe that Leonard Nimoy is my father?
[s]3. Was the "kiss of shame" placed on the devil's butt-cheeks or worse? When proxies were used, such as goats, where [u]exactly[/u] did they kiss the goat?[/s] Okay, maybe I don't really want to know.
4. Did Pythagoras condemn the eating of beans or not?

These are very important questions.

[Nihil Obstat]

[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J5Ribm2Pk0w/Sd8LbxgSqRI/AAAAAAAAAMg/cET4jlTKK7w/s400/Philosoraptor_human_or_dancers.jpg[/img]

[Nihil Obstat]

My personal favourite: (this one could be called a triple- or even quadruple-meme)
[img]http://benisawesome.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/philosoraptor_-_has_anyone_really_been_as_far_as_decided_to_use_even_go_want_to_do_look_more_like.jpg[/img]

Edited April 6, 2010 by Nihil Obstat