Dr Johnson’s desk is up for sale. It is not to be venerated and is probably a fake.
Which brings me to Jesus. There are lots of relics of Jesus and saints, including enough bits of the True Cross to build a fleet of ships. These are to be venerated because they’re full of spirituality and not at all fake.
https://mega.nz/file/w7V1jbwT#Jr6qgabsGLO3vixDGL6SiaezgALWwclhA22JiwDecNA
Platitude of the Day 
Does this include the Sacred Appendage Party Pack?
Stonyground.
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I remember as a young teenager the impression that the BBC ghost story the Stone Tape had on me in 1972. Could it really be that stone or other materials could retain an echo of past events? Over subsequent years it became obvious to me that the story was well written as a piece of drama but that there was no scientific basis for its premise. If bad memories could be stored in the stone then why not every memory that the stone was exposed to?
Hurley’s suggestion that “The material world around us might also be charged with the love of god”, is typical of the nonsense that professors of theology throw out to make themselves sound profound, but has no basis in reality.
By the time I had reached my late teens I had outgrown any belief that ghosts or the supernatural existed. There were too many good explanations for not believing in them. I suggest Hurley watches the Stone Tape again and tries to explain its absurdity to himself. He could also do with watching the episode of Blackadder that Stonyground quotes from to realise how comical the idea that relics are anything but charged with anything related to god.
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This is the sort of piece that reminds us that Christianity is based on magic. Miracles, resurrections, angels, holy relics; evil spirits, witches, curses. The idea that a piece of wood or a desiccated finger-bone can hold within themselves a mysterious essence that provides a direct link to a long-dead holy person is pure magic. And when Christians come up against what appears to be rival magic, their first instinct is to destroy it: look at the reaction of some American fundies to the Harry Potter books and films, for instance. Makes me glad to be a Muggle.
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Badrick: Moving on to relics, we’ve got shrouds from Turin, wine from the wedding at Cana, splinters from the true Cross…then of course there’s all the stuff made by Jesus in his days in the carpentry shop. Pipe racks, coffee tables, cake stands, book ends, crucifixes, nice cheeseboard, waterproof sandals, fruit bowls; oh I haven’t finished this one yet.
It is a brand new, uncompleted thing.
Percy: But this is disgraceful my lord – all of these are obviously fake!
Edmund: Yes.
Percy: But how will people be able to distinguish between these and the real relics?
Edmund: They won’t: that’s the point.
Percy: Yes, well, you won’t be able to fool everyone. Look: I have here a true relic.
He very dramatically reveals a wooden box.
Edmund: What is it?
Percy: A bone from the finger of our Lord. It cost me thirty-one pieces of silver.
Edmund: Good Lord: is it real?
Percy: It is my lord. You stand amazed Baldrick.
Baldrick: I am. I thought they only came in boxes of ten. I could have let you have one for a couple of groats. Fingers are very big at the moment.
Percy: What?
Baldrick: Mind you, for a quick sale you can’t beat a good nose. Here’s the sacred appendage party pack.
Courtesy of Stonyground.
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