The discovery of heaven

[Anathema]

No, it's not a news article ::), it's a book.

I just finished it- it's the best book I ever read! Anybody else read it?

[Terror]

guess not :) i do remember that there's a movie called the discovery of heaven, but can't exactly remember what it was about, can you post a summary here?

[gryphon]

Didn't read the book, nor have I seen the film. And I'm not planning to do either any day soon....

[Anathema]

Both the movie and the book are great. The story in short:

God and his angels are pretty upset about the developments mankind is making. They are harnessing nuclear power and starting with genetic manipulation- all part of Satans master plan.

They want to send an emmisary to Earth for a particular purpose, wich I will not elaborate because it would spoil to much.

They bring the required grandparents together, then the parents and then create the conditions in wich the child will grow up to become their emmisary.

Max Dellius is the coming father of the child, and is an astronomic scientist. Ada Brons is the coming mother. There's one more character worth mentioning, Onno Quist. He is somehow required to let the child grow up the way he has too. The story is elaborate, but Ada gets pregnant while she had a relationship with Onno- but she cheated with Max. Onno marries Ada and as far as he knows the child is his.

I could tell what happens next, but you'll just have to read yourselves ;).

[Terror]

hmm sounds nice, but i guess i prefer fantasy/war/sci-fi books like Rhapsody, Saving Private Ryan, Star Wars/Alien and

[Anathema]

I used to think Dune was the best book ever, maybe LOTR. But this beats all :). Give it a try- it's only 900 pages ;D

[Terror]

Hah, star wars had 1200 pages :P

I don't think LOTR was one of my best, i think it was to simply written and i didn't realy felt close to the story, i've read many books that were much more fun IMHO. Still LOTR has a cool universe, and the heroes are pretty kewl.

Dune is pretty cool at times, but can be quite depressing sometimes because of all that sand :)

[Anathema]

I heard there were over 20 star wars books- wich one do I start with ???

[nampigai]

the thrawn trilogies, the best SW ever made IMO Thrawn is my absolute fav person in SW. I can't remember the names of the books though :P

[Terror]

here let me see, i have it right here, the bundle is called: Shadows of the Empire (In de schaduw van het Rijk)

And the individual books in this triology are called: Heir of the empire (Erfgenaam van het Rijk), The power of the dark side (De macht van de Duistere kant) and The last order (Het laatste bevel)

together they are 1200 pages, this is my all time favorite Star Wars book, and one of the best i've ever read. You realy recognize Luke, Han and Leia and all the other main characters from the movies in this book

[nampigai]

yea Timothy Zahn did a good work

[Caid Ivik]

When was "Discovery of Heaven" released?

[Anathema]

The book? The first (Dutch) print was in 1992.

[Caid Ivik]

And who wrote it? Sounds interesting.

[Anathema]

The writer is Harry Mulisch.

[DjCiD]

Has the book changed your position or made you do a double take on the religions out there?

EDIT- Sorry I dont know why I quoted that ;D

[Anathema]

I'm not sure what you mean with double take- and why did you put that quote there?

It didn't really change my views- IMO it's "just" an excellent book.

[DjCiD]

I dont know why I put that quote there... I will go edit it... maybe I ment to quote something else or ment to hit reply... I could be stoned again... I just dont know...

anyway what I meant by double take is like saying "Oh maybe these guys are on to something" not as in "Oh I am converting to this religion". Does it read like the book is trying to convert you or is it reading like a sci-fi book?

[Anathema]

Well, the book is written in the assumption that God exists. There are several conversations between two angels in it. But you can't conclude wich God it is- the angels mention Mozes being sent by them, but don't say a word about Jesus, so the God could be jewish as well as christian.

A small spoiler:

[hide]Max, the astronomical scientist, discovers heaven later in the book. The angels decide to kill him to prevent him from spreading that knowledge.[/hide]

If that's sounds like something, wait till you get to the end. It's a good book, but it didn't convert me.

[DjCiD]

isnt the jewish and christian God the same? both have different views of Jesus thou.

WOW about the spoiler!! gonna have to head out to Barnes and Nobles ;D

SO have any of you read the Left Behind series?

[Acriku]

The Gods both religions have, are similar - not the same, and one thinks Jesus to be just a teacher, and the other thinks to be the Messiah the Jews have been waiting for.

[DjCiD]

yes thats their view on Jesus, but what about God. arent they the same God. Yes the Jews deny Jesus as the Messiah, they see him as just another prophet.

[Acriku]

I was just reading http://www.tcpc.org/resources/articles/many_voices_heschel.htm and it's absolutely fascinating. It talks about how Jesus actually taught Judaism, not Christianity. Christianity was a mistake, and is a mistake, and will always be a mistake until they realize that if you want to follow Jesus and his faith, you follow the Pharisaic Judaism faith - which is what Jesus actually taught. It vanished in the 19th century and the Reformed Judaism faith claims to be of the Pharisaic Judaism faith. So you follow Jesus? Now truly follow Jesus and become a Pharisaic Jew.

[Anathema]

I meant that he doesn't tell wich religion is right...the islam could also be correct, since they also have Mozes in it I suppose.

[death angel]

No matter any religion you are in.Every religion teaches people to be good.The trick is to scare people............."Hell".Hell is to scare people into being good.But others say is heaven.