[TML] China Regulates Buddhist Reincarnation

[Megan Robertson]

In-Reply-To: <5aca9be50708261833t382ec2c1k4f21d0ce08a21646 at mail.gmail.com>
> I thought the Pope was God's direct representative on Earth.  At 
> least, he's
> the Spigot of Grace (as a history professor I had once put it).  So 
> the
> difference between that and a prophet would be that the former can 
> only
> interpret the existing Word of God, while latter can speak a NEW 
> Word of
> God?

According to the Bible, those who have the gift of prophecy (as in, one of 
the gifts of the Spirit) are probably more likely to actually manifest it 
as FORTHTELLING rather than FORETELLING - i.e., you say what needs to be 
said, telling it forth, rather than predicting things.

Oddly enough those branches of the Christian church who make a big deal 
out of the gifts of the Spirit (the 'born again' or 'happy clappy' sort) 
generally emphasize the gift of tongues while S. Paul said that the person 
who speaks in tongues 'edifies' (i.e. builds up or benefits) himself, 
while the person who manifests the gift of prophecy edifies the whole 
church (or at least, whoever hears what he has to say).

Now, this forthtelling may be presenting God's teaching on something new, 
or it may be reiterating something that is already known but appears to be 
being neglected by the faithful. It's basically whatever God wants said at 
the time.

And as for Traveller... it can always be amusing when the average cynical 
bunch of characters run into someone who really, really believes the 
religion he is peddling. If you have a party who take passengers, giving 
them a prophet and his entourage as passengers can be really amusing. 
Perhaps he starts to make pronouncements about the characters: things he 
really could have no way of knowing about them (you need to be the sort of 
GM who normally plays very fair to get away with this!), or predicting 
something which comes to pass, like the precise minute you come out of 
Jump.

If they begin to moderate their actions according to what he says, you can 
then have a bit of fun when what he directs them to do conflicts with what 
is acceptable on the planet they have just landed on...

Mexal.

Disclaimer: I am a born again Christian and do have the gift of prophecy.