How do you solve a problem like Maria?

September 4, 2004 4:20 PM

Google Answers: Managing a wayward nun
posted by bitpart (14 comments total)

Where can I rent a pig?
posted by quonsar at 4:58 PM on September 4, 2004

How to pick up and carry your iMac G5
posted by elwoodwiles at 5:08 PM on September 4, 2004

I've been a Google Answers Researcher since it started (although I haven't posted an answer in a few months) - and it has amazed me what sort of bizarre questions people choose to ask...

The most amusing that I actually answered was WTF is "sampfag"?
posted by sycophant at 5:26 PM on September 4, 2004

Is there funk after death? (I was pretty disappointed in the answer, for more reasons than one.)
posted by gleuschk at 6:26 PM on September 4, 2004

Huh?

In gleuschk's Q, the answerer says: "According to the bible there is not life after death: "Man’s fate is
like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies,
so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over
the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all
come from dust, and to dust all return” (Eccl. 3:19-20)"."

I thought Christianity is about finding your way to heaven?
posted by Gyan at 7:22 PM on September 4, 2004

How do you know if you're in love?

Or failing that, how do you know if you're living in a computer simulation but destined to save everybody in it?
posted by weston at 8:10 PM on September 4, 2004

Ecclesiastes is pretty much at odds with the whole rest of the Bible (except Job) on this point, and some others (though counting internal contradictions in the Bible is only for those with lots of free time). Personally, I'd say Solomon comes down on the right side of most every issue, but that's a preference.
posted by gleuschk at 8:16 PM on September 4, 2004

how can i get random beautiful women to sleep with me immediately for free, with no commitment, no questions asked, all the time?
posted by Melinika at 8:47 PM on September 4, 2004

Seriously OT
Ecclesiastes is pretty much at odds with the whole rest of the Bible (except Job) on this point
No, Solomon is just at odds with the misinterpretation of the bible by the majority of christians.
The dualism of soul and body is a Platonist interloper of a doctrine and one that is at odds withe the idea of resurrection as recorded in the teachings of Jesus and elsewhere.
BTW Those are two of my favorite books in the Bible; precisely because they both reject a rosy view of the world.
(set a course back to the real discussion, engage!)
posted by Octaviuz at 11:45 PM on September 4, 2004

quonsar, I don't think any of us wants to live in a country where you can't rent farm animals. For whatever reason.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:07 AM on September 5, 2004

They Died Of AIDS
posted by Pretty_Generic at 6:45 AM on September 5, 2004

Gyan: Yes, that is the generally accepted view. That's an Old Testament verse though, and Judaism is a little bit more conflicted on its opinion of the afterlife. In Christianity, in the case of the majority that accept the Old Testament, I think it's regarded as meaning that Earthly life is so transient, not life itself. Ecclesiastes 3 does pose several problems with its nihilistic "unto dust" message - it's used quite commonly since its message is so poetic and stirring, but like the rest of the Bible it needs to be interpreted rather liberally to avoid contradictions.
posted by abcde at 10:19 AM on September 5, 2004

Either that Alejandro guy was being equally facetious in his answer or is both overly serious and some kind of radical biblical scholar (two things that tend to come together, come to think of it).
posted by abcde at 10:21 AM on September 5, 2004

I posted the nun question. I couldn't be happier to see it here.
posted by e.e. coli at 5:11 PM on September 5, 2004