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$20 to Mint Your Prayers on “The Blockchain”

eternalprayer.org

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Re: $20 to Mint Your Prayers on “The Blockchain”

#51

Post by [deleted] »

0xcde4c3db wrote: post #30
_aavaa_ wrote: post #2

I think we've reached that point (which I know has a name) where I honestly can't tell if this is a satirical gag or genuine.

Especially considering that there's a surprisingly on-the-nose analog in The Handmaid's Tale . I can't find the actual passage, so I might be mangling the details, but from what I recall there were printing companies that pivoted to printing prayers... only for the paper to be immediately recycled and used for the next order. The point of paying for it was basically to signal that one was pious and/or wealthy enough…

[deleted]

Re: $20 to Mint Your Prayers on “The Blockchain”

#52

Post by dddddaviddddd »

falcolas wrote: post #48
TimTheTinker wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that God is a Father - like a dad one has a great relationship with. No one with a good relationship with their dad spins a request wheel at him, or says the same thing 100 times in a row to him. If you ever did so, there's something wrong in your relationship with your dad -- same with God. So in that respect, a Christian's relationship with God ought to me markedly different from how many other religio…

> The point is that God is a Father - like a dad one has a great relationship with. Tell that to Job. Whose "Father" tortured him to win a bet.

The author of Job and the authors of Matthew and Luke obviously disagree about what kind of relationship humanity supposedly has with God. I think it's important to see the Bible as a collection of books from different times and places, each with their own rhetorical goals.

Re: $20 to Mint Your Prayers on “The Blockchain”

#53

Post by smitop »

ro_bit wrote: post #10
seattle_spring wrote: post #4

The support for pay-over-time is a nice touch. Praise be Him.

But if the blockchain is truly append-only, what stops me from paying the first payment and then disappearing? Even if I pay it all upfront, what if I charge back?

It seems you can't pay with cryptocurrencies; in order to use the pay later thing you need to be paying with a credit card. The pay later service is provided by a 3rd party, and usually they just give the full amount (minus whatever % they charge for the service) to the merchant right after the purchase.

If their attempts to charge your credit card fail then the pay later company can use the usual tactics to get you to pay loans, since they require some of your personal information when setting up the payment: sending threatening messages, adding a bad mark to your credit report, etc.

Re: $20 to Mint Your Prayers on “The Blockchain”

#55

Post by JNRowe »

0xcde4c3db wrote: post #30
_aavaa_ wrote: post #2

I think we've reached that point (which I know has a name) where I honestly can't tell if this is a satirical gag or genuine.

Especially considering that there's a surprisingly on-the-nose analog in The Handmaid's Tale . I can't find the actual passage, so I might be mangling the details, but from what I recall there were printing companies that pivoted to printing prayers... only for the paper to be immediately recycled and used for the next order. The point of paying for it was basically to signal that one was pious and/or wealthy enough…

Your recall looks to be pretty good ;)

"At the corner is the store known as Soul Scrolls. It’s a franchise: there are Soul Scrolls in every city centre, in every suburb, or so they say. [...] Ordering prayers from Soul Scrolls is supposed to be a sign of piety and faithfulness to the regime, so of course the Commanders’ Wives do it a lot. It helps their husbands’ careers. [...] The machines talk as they print out the prayers; if you like, you can go inside and listen to them, the toneless metallic voices repeating the same thing over and over. Once the prayers have been printed out and said, the paper rolls back through another slot and is recycled into fresh paper again."

Side note: I found the quote by searching my comment history¹ and then picking up the book, because that is faster than finding the text in the book without any hints. I really can't decide if that is good thing or not. Like some super weak version of Chiang's Remem²

¹ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25672286

² https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_of_Fact,_the_Truth...

Re: $20 to Mint Your Prayers on “The Blockchain”

#57

Post by woodruffw »

falcolas wrote: post #48
TimTheTinker wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that God is a Father - like a dad one has a great relationship with. No one with a good relationship with their dad spins a request wheel at him, or says the same thing 100 times in a row to him. If you ever did so, there's something wrong in your relationship with your dad -- same with God. So in that respect, a Christian's relationship with God ought to me markedly different from how many other religio…

> The point is that God is a Father - like a dad one has a great relationship with. Tell that to Job. Whose "Father" tortured him to win a bet.

The lord of the Hebrew Bible was clearly running on the testnet, and should not have been used for actual transactions.

Re: $20 to Mint Your Prayers on “The Blockchain”

#58

Post by krapp »

falcolas wrote: post #48
TimTheTinker wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that God is a Father - like a dad one has a great relationship with. No one with a good relationship with their dad spins a request wheel at him, or says the same thing 100 times in a row to him. If you ever did so, there's something wrong in your relationship with your dad -- same with God. So in that respect, a Christian's relationship with God ought to me markedly different from how many other religio…

> The point is that God is a Father - like a dad one has a great relationship with. Tell that to Job. Whose "Father" tortured him to win a bet.

And then when God explains himself, he goes off on a tangent about this awesome dragon OC of his and how badass it is.

Re: $20 to Mint Your Prayers on “The Blockchain”

#59

Post by falcolas »

dddddaviddddd wrote: post #52
falcolas wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The point is that God is a Father - like a dad one has a great relationship with. Tell that to Job. Whose "Father" tortured him to win a bet.

The author of Job and the authors of Matthew and Luke obviously disagree about what kind of relationship humanity supposedly has with God. I think it's important to see the Bible as a collection of books from different times and places, each with their own rhetorical goals.

> I think it's important to see the Bible as a collection of books from different times and places, each with their own rhetorical goals.

And yet that's not how the bible is taught at a vast majority of churches. "The bible is the word of God. Jesus changed his relationship with us, which is why his behavior is different between the old and new Testament. End of discussion."

I still recall the lecture I got when I once questioned whether Genesis was an allegory for the creation of the universe over billions of years. "No, it was 7 days, exactly as the bible says."

Re: $20 to Mint Your Prayers on “The Blockchain”

#60

Post by Thorentis »

falcolas wrote: post #48
TimTheTinker wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that God is a Father - like a dad one has a great relationship with. No one with a good relationship with their dad spins a request wheel at him, or says the same thing 100 times in a row to him. If you ever did so, there's something wrong in your relationship with your dad -- same with God. So in that respect, a Christian's relationship with God ought to me markedly different from how many other religio…

> The point is that God is a Father - like a dad one has a great relationship with. Tell that to Job. Whose "Father" tortured him to win a bet.

God wasn't the one doing the torturing. Yes, you could debate whether an omnipotent God is actually responsible for every single thing that happens given He can intervene. But I don't think anybody who takes Job literally simultaneously believes that God is the one doing the torturing.
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