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Sol, happy new year. We have a returning user (whatta) whose account was created in 2006. He can post chapters and short stories, and the posted works show on my home page, but when I look in his portfolio, the book (Tropical Cancer) doesn't show up. Any idea why this might be?

Thanks
Dirk

Do you mean you finished reviewing a story?

Congratulations, Randy. Terrific accomplishments.

I just read up on it. The similarities are cool. I guess if you're going to invent an afterlife based on Revelation there will be similarities.

Yup, looks like it's accessible and posted in Premium. You're good to go. I'll try reviewing it shortly to make sure there are no glitches.

1. I prefer to continue calling it the lake of fire instead of purgatory, primarily to remain consistent with Revelation. I treat the lake as symbolic; mortal sinners go into the lake of fire, where there is some burning based on the number and gravity of your sins, after which you come out on some alien world elsewhere in our galaxy, which I consider to be part of (inside) the lake. The worse your sins, the worse the planet. The original mortal sinners (and their descendants?) will never be allowed to leave, but they will be allowed to die (once they become holy enough) and their souls can then rest, although they remain connected to their planets. The more holy souls a planet has, the more paradisical it becomes.

2. Your point number 2 is problematic from a Catholic perspective. As I've written before the 1000 years is not literal to them. It merely represents a really long time. And Christ is already present in the form of the Eucharist, so the 1000 years is the Church age and is well underway. Given that, Satan must already be chained and locked up in the Abyss, which is a bit weird considering he's still considered to be active in the world today. That's why I gave De Rosa stigmata every time he kills or orders the death of a clergyman. It's sufficiently painful that it limits his ability to do it.

3. Don't forget, this story takes place on a different timeline. God actually helped create the Antichrist, not just by providing a soul but also by helping Satan breed all of Connor's powers over two millennia. Otherwise it could never be done in that short amount of time. The reason God does this is that he needs Connor to rule the lake of fire (the planets) and guide all mortal sinners and their descendants to holiness. Thus, every power Connor has and every challenge Connor faces are all part of preparing him for that task.

The one fly in the ointment is that there is a big separation between humans who made it to heaven the first time around, and those who didn't, including the latter's descendants. Seems unfair that the descendants would be excluded from heaven. Perhaps the way I should do it is that the holy souls of the descendants who contributed to turning their planet into paradise will get to heaven when that task is done. And the holy souls of the original sinners remain connected to their planets and maintain it as a paradise for their descendants, which is no longer a punishment but a privilege. This means the mortal sinners never leave the lake of fire, which is also consistent with Revelation.

I think the above works while still conforming to Revelation, at least symbolically. Technically, then, Connor should never be allowed to leave the lake of fire, either, although I'm willing to bend Revelation in his case (remember, different timeline) so he can someday get to heaven. The alternative is that he doesn't get to heaven but becomes increasingly holy as the planets he rules become holy. Ultimately, he could turn into a Lesser God, although that would happen way beyond the end of book three, so it'll probably never happen, except perhaps in an epilogue.

It shouldn't.

Joseph sailed over his mother's desk and cowered behind her, his head under her skirt. Alexander grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and scourged him senseless for being such a wuss. Joseph wailed, terrified and in pain. His mother grabbed the Royal Sledge Hammer and hit Alexander in the nuts before tearing out both of his eyes with her fingernails.

When I was really young, my father took us to see his mother for the first time. I still remember looking up at her face and asking her why she had a moustache?

My cousin managed to top that one though. I won't repeat the actual words, but there's a rather offensive expression in German about Polish people, and I guess someone used it in front of my cousin when he was maybe 4 years old. One day, my aunt took him upstairs to see a neighbour, who happened to be... Polish. My aunt said she almost died when he said it. Lucky for her, the woman barely spoke German.

From the mouths of babes.

Will do. Can you please resend me the link and login details? For some reason they're not in my password manager.

Check out my last big post near the end of page 52 since my thinking on some of these issues have evolved. Also, I'm pretty sure the 1000 years is a symbolic number in Catholicism, meaning a "very long time", and the rule of Christ is already well underway through the institution of the Eucharist.

Coffee's on. I only have decaf, I'm afraid.