6. Noah's Ark
Here is something the literalists can most assuredly not escape from. We are told that Noah and his family gathered at least 2 from each the species of animals into his Ark, and that they survived for 40 days and 40 nights in it.
Now, the estimates for the number of land species alone range from 6 million to 30 million. Further, fish and other marine organisms are sensitive to changes in salinity , pH and temperature, so most would have to be stored on the Ark. Could you store 12 million animals in an Ark? How about with food - and Koalas, for example, only eat Eucalyptus leaves so they wouldn't be able to feed off the main food supply, water and climate control (for the Polar Bears, among others)? Consider that the dimensions given for the Ark give a volume of 43,006 cubic meters. Assuming that we take the lower estimate of 6 million species, that gives each animal a box with sides of 15 cm. Perhaps in DNA form that'd be possible, but that's almost as silly as believing the earth is less than 10,000 years old.
How about gathering all the species of animals? Ah, maybe God told them all to go to the site of the Ark. Right. Mass stampedes of animals and a veritable zoo at Noah's doorstep would have alarmed no one, I'm sure.
Now about the flood. The 40 days and 40 nights of flooding supposedly covered the tops of all mountains. Mount Everest is 8,848m tall, so to cover it in 40 days of rain you'd need 9.21m of rain falling per hour. Whoa. Would the water pressure not crush the Ark like a tin can? Even assuming the Ark was protected - where did all this water come from and where did it go to later? And how come the massive weight of this water did not warp the ocean floors and the former land?
How about after the flood? Can you imagine re-establishing an entire species from just 2 animals? The inbreeding would quickly lead to the animal going extinct. And there�s the question of the dead animals - we don't see a sudden spike in the fossil record at a certain time.
7. The Age of the Earth
I have no wish to go too deeply into this. Suffice to say that, when presented with overwhelming evidence, those who believe the earth is less than 10,000 years old like to claim that the scientific constants (like the freezing point of water and the speed of light) may not have been the same always, that when God created the Earth he made it look old on purpose, or that scientific methods of dating have been proven wrong sometimes.
Now, just because Carbon dating and the like have been proven wrong before does not mean that they are inaccurate. A failure rate is always present, so just because dating gives the wrong result 1 out of a 100 times does not mean that it is wrong 100 out of 100 times. Further, most of the dating errors were discovered by scientists checking the results of their work � something theists often neglect to do. By the same logic, I could say that since God has been proven wrong before, and his word has been proven fallible et al, he is always wrong, or that he doesn't exist. Humph. And the suggestion that the scientific constants haven�t always been constant sounds like a flimflam explanation borne out of sheer desperation.
And as for God creating the Earth to look old - we can also propose that this God created the Earth 2 seconds ago and implanted all the memories we have into our minds.
A short list of Biblical Contradictions:
Exodus 20:13 "Thou shalt not kill. "
Leviticus 24:17 "And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. "
Ephesians 2:8,9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith . . . not of works. "
James 2:24 "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. "
Ezekiel 24:14 "I the Lord have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent. "
Exodus 32:14 "And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. "
James 1:13 "Let no man say . . . I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. "
Genesis 22:1 "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham. "
II Kings 8:26 "Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign. "
II Chronicles 22:2 "Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign. "
Hebrews 6:13-17 "For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself . . . for men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. "
Matthew 5:34-37 "But I say unto you, swear not at all; neither by heaven . . . nor by the earth . . . . Neither shalt thou swear by thy head . . . . But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. "
Genesis 7:15 "And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. "
Genesis 7:2 "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. "
I Kings 4:26 "And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. "
II Chronicles 9:25 "And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. "
Matthew 2:1: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, " (Ed: Herod died in 4 BC)
Luke 2:1-2: �And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) � (Ed: Judea only came under direct Roman Rule in 6 AD)
Matthew 1:16: And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Luke 3:23: And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,
Matthew 27:46: "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? "
Luke 23:46: "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. "
John 19:30: "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. "
I trust that that is more than enough to convince anyone that the Bible is not infallible. Could a Perfect God have written such an Imperfect Bible? Incidentally, one explanation offered for contradictions in the first 5 books of the Bible is that 2 versions existed originally, and one person reconciled the two and combined them, ergo the discrepancies.
With such an imperfect Bible, is it safe for anyone to rely on its word as the supposed Word of God, infallible, eternal (when he has changed his mind so often) and totally accurate? I think not.
In JC 1, we had lessons on Thinking Skills, and some propositions were posited to us, urging us to question:
It is in the newspapers, so it must be right.
It is in the Bible, so it must be right.
Lee Kuan Yew says it, so it must be right.
Food for thought, indeed.
I suspect the reason why most literalists cling on so stubbornly is that they have built in their minds a whole fortress of thoughts and beliefs about their religion around the cornerstone of Biblical infallibility. Remove it, and they will be incapable of preventing the whole edifice from crashing down around them. So even faced with undeniable proof of the fallibility of the Bible, cognitive dissonance ensues and they resort to arguments and explanations so ludicrous that only a 6-year-old child - or a convinced literalist - could believe them.
6) Disingenuous arguments - being trapped by the circular logic of religion
Let us examine some Catch-22 situations in religion.
Finding God
People often ask how to find God, and the answer given is frequently that if you search for him sincerely, you will find him (or rather, he will find you). This passage was quoted to me: Jeremiah 29:13-14 - "You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart. I will be found of you". From there, it is but a simple step to concluding that if you can't find God, it must be because you aren't looking hard enough, or with all your heart.
There are many assumptions here (among them being that there is a God and that he wants to be found, and that he will let himself be found - basically that this passage is the infallible and eternal word of God), but the problem is that there is no escape route! If someone is not touched or found by God, he can be told that he is not looking hard or sincerely enough. He can then spend his entire life searching and die a broken, disappointed man. Hell, I can make up my own God, or use a pre-existing one - Baal, say, and insert this clause into my Holy Text. Then my adherents will be locked in forever! How fortuitous. For those very strong in their faith, on the other hand, they will "feel" the presence of my "God" psychosomatically, due to their mind conjuring up mirages and will feel vindicated. Their faith will lead to their perceived existence of my God being a self-fulfilling prophecy!
Getting God to work through you
Another instance of this fallacy can be seen in an argument I had with Timothy about whether homosexuality was abhorred by God. I cited instances where, even under Church programmes including praying, homosexuals were unable to change their sexual orientations. He dismissed these instances, claiming that it didn't work because the priests were "doing it wrongly", or trying to "cast out the demon wrongly". So it is impossible for a gay to become straight if the praying et al is done correctly - while the criterion for whether the praying is done correctly is that of the gay person becoming straight. A wonderfully circular argument, if you ask me. God is supposed to understand our prayers, and in other instances, we do not tell him HOW to do what we need, just what we need. We are supposed to just pray, and let God do all the work, so how come we need to do the rituals correctly? When you go to a carpenter you tell him what sort of chair you want, but you do not tell him how to construct the chair and poke your nose into his work. He knows how to do it better than you do.
On faith
Adherents of religions are frequently told to have faith. With faith, nothing is impossible. There is a problem with this argument, however. Faith means belief and trust in something. However, one can have faith in many things. I can have faith that the Moon is made of Green Cheese, that NASA didn't really visit the Moon, or that Jews are evil and were behind the September 11th attacks, or even that God is a rabbit. What makes religious faith so different from other types of faith, apart from the traditional air of sanctity given to it?
What is needed is vindication of faith. If that is not present, how do we know what we have faith in is true? I could come up with my own religion, and exhort adherents to have faith, and they would be worshipping a false god all the way.
What we need, then, is the divine spark. The Godly touch to know that the generalities are correct (and who cares about specifics? Let theologians argue till thy kingdom come) - a vindication of faith. A spark which many believe has come, but many more have never felt.
L'origine de Bert
Wednesday, April 02, 2003
7) Fundamental Precepts
Sin
I was lead to believe, at the retreat, that Sin was singularly the most important thing in (Catholic) Christianity. Perhaps that isn't strictly true, but definitely it seems that Sin is grossly overrated.
The appeal of asceticism in religion, that God wants us to feel bad, probably stems from people�s assuaging of their guilt, and perceived building of self-virtue through self-flagellation. The worse you feel, the more God will reward you in the afterlife! The priest said that suffering was good as it would orient you towards God. To this I reply: How about those who despair, curse �God� and turn the other way? Why does God like us to suffer, if he is so good, kind and merciful? Could it be that he is sadistic?
Sin is a fact of life. If you want to survive in the Modern (or even the Ancient world), it is necessary to commit some form of sin, especially in the fields of business and politics. To do other would to be trampled upon. For example, when people ask questions, we usually respond with a degree of tact. Another name for that would be "lying" - a form of sin. "These six things doth the lord hate: Yea, seven are an abomination unto him... a lying tongue... a false witness that speaketh lies" - Proverbs 6:16,17,19. It is also written by David, "I hate and abhor lying" - Psalms 119:163. But how about when colleagues or friends tell us to tell callers looking for them that they aren�t around? Even monks, living in communities, have the potential for sin. Unless one retreats to a cave and lives as a hermit, it is almost impossible to live sin-free - with the Church's broad definition of Sin, that is.
Perhaps even harder to escape - Original Sin. Even when babies have just been born into the world, they have already been tainted by Original Sin.
Let us step back and examine the boundaries of Sin. How are we to know what is sin? Subjective and flawed human interpretations of Holy Text aside, let us look at Natural Conscience. Now, we are, almost all of us, born with an endowment of Natural Conscience. For Christians, let's say it came into the race when our ancestors partook of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. If we imbibed the knowledge present in the fruit, then would we not know what is sinful, and what isn't? In many societies, polygamy - both polyandry and polygyny - is practised, and in some African tribes, free sex is the norm. Homosexuals are highly valued in some societies for, with no children of their own to take care of, they can aid in the parenting of others' offspring. Now, it can be argued that social norms have distorted the Natural Conscience. So if we give this argument the benefit of the doubt, we can still see that in babies, sexual instincts are present. Some male babies are born with erect members, and some female ones lubricating, and one reason why swaddling is so popular is that it stops babies from touching their gonads - something that comes naturally to them. If that is the case, why is "self-abuse", something eminently and obviously natural, so condemned?
The priest proclaimed that, however good a life you try to live, unless you have divine help, it is impossible to lead a sinless life. And I agree, for with his Universal, Puritan, all-encompassing definition of Sin, it would be impossible to even breathe without sinning! For it seems to follow human, congenital, totally natural desires is to sin, and all along we are already burdened with Original Sin. Isn�t following our Natural Conscience (implanted into us when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil) and following the Golden Rule and its corollaries is surely insufficient! Methinks that it is best not to focus too much on inevitable, omnipresent sin but instead to concentrate more on moderating the sin and being a positive force.
But why is Sin so bad? If it does not destroy or control you, or hurt others, what is so bad about a moderate amount of �sin�, especially since we are all tainted already by Original Sin? We are told that God hates Sin, but not why. In fact, Sin humanises us.
It is necessary to sin somewhat to survive in the real world, and if someone has such an obsession with eradicating sin, that person will lose all sense of perspective, and this obsession will destroy him. Perhaps that is the greatest sin. We were told, too, to dig out the roots of our sin, and the priest gave the analogy of grass growing in a field - if you just trim the grass, it will grow back. I counter: If the grass is sin, imagine that the field is a person - if you dig out the roots, the field will erode and the place will become a desert. Are we enslaved by sin? More like enslaved by religion.
In summation, I found this quote very meaningful: God and Christians are analogous to an abusive husband and his wife. The husband beats the wife relentlessly, but has instilled such fear in the wife that she cannot possibly conceive of her husband being wrong. Thus, she believes that it is her fault that she is being beaten, and that her husband has no other recourse. This is not tolerated in today's society, but, when God does it, it's perfectly alright. This is what Christians who accept the belief of Hell do to themselves. They've been brought up to fear God from birth. This fear forces them to accept the completely illogical and unbacked statement that God is perfect. Thus, whenever they question the existence of Hell and how just it can be, the leash of God�s perfection tightens around their necks. They simply recite the above mantra and put all the blame on themselves, absolving God of all responsibility for his actions, allowing them to live comfortably with their illusory belief in the biblical God being perfect.
Accepting the Word
Christianity is founded on the idea of Love - God loved us so much, he sent his only Son down to die for us. Whoever believes in him will receive Eternal Life. So, a question comes up - what about those who don't? In the deepest heart of Africa reside pagan tribes which have never been visited by Missionaries. So when they die, they will not be able to receive Eternal Life - just because the news never got to them? Even when people have been preached too, they may not believe, as there is no compelling reason for them to. Perhaps what the missionaries say sounds like the words of Snake Oil salesmen (and who believes them, anyway?) - what makes one so different from another, and which faith should they believe in, then, with so many clamouring for their souls? Or how about those who want to believe, but who are never touched by Divine Grace and die bitter and cynical? Or even people in religions which punish apostates - some with death, even, resulting in the rate of conversion being low due to the fear of punishment? Is it fair to all of these people?
God is good
A generally accepted notion is that God is good. A cursory observation of the world will show that this does not seem to be the case - misery is widespread. This is explained off with reference to quotes from scripture, and various excuses, that Evil comes from Man through his free will, God is trying to mould people, misery is good for the character, the Universe being God�s creation and not his plaything and so on. However, how can the deaths of innocent people in natural disasters, say, be justified then? God is good, God is merciful and God is kind, after all. If we take the view that God should not intervene in his creation, then why are there still so many instances of supposed miracles? Or why, indeed, has God even appeared in this world, to mess around with it? Even if he does want to appear, it is suspicious that he chooses such indirect and doubtful means to do so. And how about the Evil supposedly arising from the hearts of men? Many people become �evil� because of their circumstances - poor neighbourhoods tend to have higher crime rates, say, so this �evil� does not really come from men, but from what happens to men, since most people are born good.
When good things happen, we are supposed to praise God. If bad things happen, we are supposed to do the same. But why should we praise someone who is doing bad things to us? The logic behind this is ultimately very fishy. Why should it not be the other way around?
If God is so good, why do we have a Vengeful/hateful God who urges genocide (and this after �thou shalt not kill�):
Exodus 34:17: I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Take care, therefore, not to make a covenant with these inhabitants of the land that you are to enter; else they will become a snare among you. Tear down their altars; smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their sacred poles.
Genesis 7:4: For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. [Ed: Even the surely guiltless children?]
Specifically, it seems the Unchanging, Eternal God makes himself out to be spiteful, vindictive, cruel and sadistic in the Old Testament.
Perhaps the notion of God being good can best be rebutted simply and succinctly in the Riddle of Epicurus.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?
God is perfect
God is supposed to be perfect, all knowing, eternal, infallible and the like. If that is the case, then why is his creation, the Universe so imperfect? Just one example would be extinction - if the Earth was created perfect, then species needn�t die, need they? Or how about the supposed Great Flood?
God repenting as he has made a mistake: Genesis 8:21: �I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. �
Jesus doubting God: Matthew 27:46: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Many other examples can be found in the Bible. Just look.
8) Christianity as interpreted by Man
Since I was at a Catholic retreat, the thoughts and reflections below will inevitably by somewhat biased towards (or against, if you prefer) Catholic doctrine and practice.
Ave Maria
A common accusation levelled at Catholics by other Christians is that they are obsessed about praying to Mary. Catholics might protest, but a casual observation of their method of prayer puts paid to their protests. When Catholics wield their Rosaries and start praying, the amount of prayers to the Virgin Mary outweigh those to the Holy Trinity combined, due to the former being recited in a decade. Hell, maybe it's not a Trinity after all, but a Holy Quartet. What I want to know is, why is appealing to Mary to intercede so important? The Son was supposedly sent to Earth to die to breach the gap between the Father and his creations. So why is the additional help needed? And why is so much time devoted to it? As far as I know, in fact, nothing in the Bible exhorts believers to pray to Mary, and if the Bible is the Eternal, Unchanging and Complete Word of God, it takes a Catholic not to see that we have a problem here. John 14:6, "Jesus said to him, �I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.�"
Besides the unseeming obsession with praying to the Virgin Mary, Catholics also have a whole host of other rituals and practices that other denominations frown on. Now, it's not good for a religion to stay still and not adapt to the times, but some people take the Bible as the eternal and infallible word of God, so addenda are reviled - someone once told me that she decided to stop being a Catholic because "they practice a lot of rubbish that isn't in the bible", and you should have seen my former superior ranting about how Catholics are wrong to pray to Mary.
Sin
I was lead to believe, at the retreat, that Sin was singularly the most important thing in (Catholic) Christianity. Perhaps that isn't strictly true, but definitely it seems that Sin is grossly overrated.
The appeal of asceticism in religion, that God wants us to feel bad, probably stems from people�s assuaging of their guilt, and perceived building of self-virtue through self-flagellation. The worse you feel, the more God will reward you in the afterlife! The priest said that suffering was good as it would orient you towards God. To this I reply: How about those who despair, curse �God� and turn the other way? Why does God like us to suffer, if he is so good, kind and merciful? Could it be that he is sadistic?
Sin is a fact of life. If you want to survive in the Modern (or even the Ancient world), it is necessary to commit some form of sin, especially in the fields of business and politics. To do other would to be trampled upon. For example, when people ask questions, we usually respond with a degree of tact. Another name for that would be "lying" - a form of sin. "These six things doth the lord hate: Yea, seven are an abomination unto him... a lying tongue... a false witness that speaketh lies" - Proverbs 6:16,17,19. It is also written by David, "I hate and abhor lying" - Psalms 119:163. But how about when colleagues or friends tell us to tell callers looking for them that they aren�t around? Even monks, living in communities, have the potential for sin. Unless one retreats to a cave and lives as a hermit, it is almost impossible to live sin-free - with the Church's broad definition of Sin, that is.
Perhaps even harder to escape - Original Sin. Even when babies have just been born into the world, they have already been tainted by Original Sin.
Let us step back and examine the boundaries of Sin. How are we to know what is sin? Subjective and flawed human interpretations of Holy Text aside, let us look at Natural Conscience. Now, we are, almost all of us, born with an endowment of Natural Conscience. For Christians, let's say it came into the race when our ancestors partook of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. If we imbibed the knowledge present in the fruit, then would we not know what is sinful, and what isn't? In many societies, polygamy - both polyandry and polygyny - is practised, and in some African tribes, free sex is the norm. Homosexuals are highly valued in some societies for, with no children of their own to take care of, they can aid in the parenting of others' offspring. Now, it can be argued that social norms have distorted the Natural Conscience. So if we give this argument the benefit of the doubt, we can still see that in babies, sexual instincts are present. Some male babies are born with erect members, and some female ones lubricating, and one reason why swaddling is so popular is that it stops babies from touching their gonads - something that comes naturally to them. If that is the case, why is "self-abuse", something eminently and obviously natural, so condemned?
The priest proclaimed that, however good a life you try to live, unless you have divine help, it is impossible to lead a sinless life. And I agree, for with his Universal, Puritan, all-encompassing definition of Sin, it would be impossible to even breathe without sinning! For it seems to follow human, congenital, totally natural desires is to sin, and all along we are already burdened with Original Sin. Isn�t following our Natural Conscience (implanted into us when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil) and following the Golden Rule and its corollaries is surely insufficient! Methinks that it is best not to focus too much on inevitable, omnipresent sin but instead to concentrate more on moderating the sin and being a positive force.
But why is Sin so bad? If it does not destroy or control you, or hurt others, what is so bad about a moderate amount of �sin�, especially since we are all tainted already by Original Sin? We are told that God hates Sin, but not why. In fact, Sin humanises us.
It is necessary to sin somewhat to survive in the real world, and if someone has such an obsession with eradicating sin, that person will lose all sense of perspective, and this obsession will destroy him. Perhaps that is the greatest sin. We were told, too, to dig out the roots of our sin, and the priest gave the analogy of grass growing in a field - if you just trim the grass, it will grow back. I counter: If the grass is sin, imagine that the field is a person - if you dig out the roots, the field will erode and the place will become a desert. Are we enslaved by sin? More like enslaved by religion.
In summation, I found this quote very meaningful: God and Christians are analogous to an abusive husband and his wife. The husband beats the wife relentlessly, but has instilled such fear in the wife that she cannot possibly conceive of her husband being wrong. Thus, she believes that it is her fault that she is being beaten, and that her husband has no other recourse. This is not tolerated in today's society, but, when God does it, it's perfectly alright. This is what Christians who accept the belief of Hell do to themselves. They've been brought up to fear God from birth. This fear forces them to accept the completely illogical and unbacked statement that God is perfect. Thus, whenever they question the existence of Hell and how just it can be, the leash of God�s perfection tightens around their necks. They simply recite the above mantra and put all the blame on themselves, absolving God of all responsibility for his actions, allowing them to live comfortably with their illusory belief in the biblical God being perfect.
Accepting the Word
Christianity is founded on the idea of Love - God loved us so much, he sent his only Son down to die for us. Whoever believes in him will receive Eternal Life. So, a question comes up - what about those who don't? In the deepest heart of Africa reside pagan tribes which have never been visited by Missionaries. So when they die, they will not be able to receive Eternal Life - just because the news never got to them? Even when people have been preached too, they may not believe, as there is no compelling reason for them to. Perhaps what the missionaries say sounds like the words of Snake Oil salesmen (and who believes them, anyway?) - what makes one so different from another, and which faith should they believe in, then, with so many clamouring for their souls? Or how about those who want to believe, but who are never touched by Divine Grace and die bitter and cynical? Or even people in religions which punish apostates - some with death, even, resulting in the rate of conversion being low due to the fear of punishment? Is it fair to all of these people?
God is good
A generally accepted notion is that God is good. A cursory observation of the world will show that this does not seem to be the case - misery is widespread. This is explained off with reference to quotes from scripture, and various excuses, that Evil comes from Man through his free will, God is trying to mould people, misery is good for the character, the Universe being God�s creation and not his plaything and so on. However, how can the deaths of innocent people in natural disasters, say, be justified then? God is good, God is merciful and God is kind, after all. If we take the view that God should not intervene in his creation, then why are there still so many instances of supposed miracles? Or why, indeed, has God even appeared in this world, to mess around with it? Even if he does want to appear, it is suspicious that he chooses such indirect and doubtful means to do so. And how about the Evil supposedly arising from the hearts of men? Many people become �evil� because of their circumstances - poor neighbourhoods tend to have higher crime rates, say, so this �evil� does not really come from men, but from what happens to men, since most people are born good.
When good things happen, we are supposed to praise God. If bad things happen, we are supposed to do the same. But why should we praise someone who is doing bad things to us? The logic behind this is ultimately very fishy. Why should it not be the other way around?
If God is so good, why do we have a Vengeful/hateful God who urges genocide (and this after �thou shalt not kill�):
Exodus 34:17: I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Take care, therefore, not to make a covenant with these inhabitants of the land that you are to enter; else they will become a snare among you. Tear down their altars; smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their sacred poles.
Genesis 7:4: For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. [Ed: Even the surely guiltless children?]
Specifically, it seems the Unchanging, Eternal God makes himself out to be spiteful, vindictive, cruel and sadistic in the Old Testament.
Perhaps the notion of God being good can best be rebutted simply and succinctly in the Riddle of Epicurus.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?
God is perfect
God is supposed to be perfect, all knowing, eternal, infallible and the like. If that is the case, then why is his creation, the Universe so imperfect? Just one example would be extinction - if the Earth was created perfect, then species needn�t die, need they? Or how about the supposed Great Flood?
God repenting as he has made a mistake: Genesis 8:21: �I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. �
Jesus doubting God: Matthew 27:46: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Many other examples can be found in the Bible. Just look.
8) Christianity as interpreted by Man
Since I was at a Catholic retreat, the thoughts and reflections below will inevitably by somewhat biased towards (or against, if you prefer) Catholic doctrine and practice.
Ave Maria
A common accusation levelled at Catholics by other Christians is that they are obsessed about praying to Mary. Catholics might protest, but a casual observation of their method of prayer puts paid to their protests. When Catholics wield their Rosaries and start praying, the amount of prayers to the Virgin Mary outweigh those to the Holy Trinity combined, due to the former being recited in a decade. Hell, maybe it's not a Trinity after all, but a Holy Quartet. What I want to know is, why is appealing to Mary to intercede so important? The Son was supposedly sent to Earth to die to breach the gap between the Father and his creations. So why is the additional help needed? And why is so much time devoted to it? As far as I know, in fact, nothing in the Bible exhorts believers to pray to Mary, and if the Bible is the Eternal, Unchanging and Complete Word of God, it takes a Catholic not to see that we have a problem here. John 14:6, "Jesus said to him, �I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.�"
Besides the unseeming obsession with praying to the Virgin Mary, Catholics also have a whole host of other rituals and practices that other denominations frown on. Now, it's not good for a religion to stay still and not adapt to the times, but some people take the Bible as the eternal and infallible word of God, so addenda are reviled - someone once told me that she decided to stop being a Catholic because "they practice a lot of rubbish that isn't in the bible", and you should have seen my former superior ranting about how Catholics are wrong to pray to Mary.
Post ID: 91825286
Sin
All the sermons we got were about Sin, so it seems that Sin is one of the most important concepts in Catholicism. Somehow, it seems to me that instead of forbidding everything that is not expressly allowed, the Church should allow everything that is not expressly disallowed.
Give me chastity and continence, but not yet - Augustine of Hippo, later St Augustine
Sexual Sins
It seems that sex is a universal taboo. Probably this is because the puritan and ascetic side of us grimaces whenever we enjoy ourselves - what feels good is not good. Isn't sex totally natural? The birds and the bees partake in it with no thought of Sin. Humans are born with sexual instincts - it is as natural a part of us as eating, drinking and sleeping. We were supposedly made as such. If sex was so sinful, then perhaps it was made so appealing as a test - a cruel test, like putting spiders into a jar and waiting for them to kill each other. A test with dubitable motives. But I was always under the impression that he wasn't supposed to test us unduly. If anyone is able to control their sexual desires as well as the priest said we should, then they should take up the cloth! If they�re male, at least.
All sex is supposedly sinful. That is why Jesus Christ was allegedly born of a Virgin, so that he wouldn�t be tainted by the Sin of his mother. On the other hand, sex within marriage is supposed to be permissible, so why could Mary not have been a Virgin? Especially since she was wedded to Joseph. So we see we have a problem, again. This could be solved by accepting that the generally accepted interpretation of Isaiah - �A virgin shall conceive�, actually was meant to read �a young girl shall conceive�, but then this is blasphemous to most. Oops.
The priest was very conservative regarding various sexual sins. He condemned Oral Sex because it didn't lead to babies being conceived. "If God had meant you to have Oral Sex, babies would be born from the mouth". This brought to mind a similar argument bandied around by conservatives when the Wright Brothers were experimenting with flying - "If God had meant for us to fly, he'd have given us wings".
Perhaps most amazingly, he condemned all positions but the Missionary Position. What century he is living in, I don�t know, but this is the 21st Century and to be puritan to that extent is so ridiculous that only Mormons would fain comply. It is no wonder that Catholic Priests need to be single, unlike their Orthodox brethren, for to advocate such unrealistic and puritan practices betrays a severe disconnect from reality that can only come from not having any � nor ever having the chance to have any - experience. Of course, the priest claimed that Catholic priests are not allowed to marry because they need to devote their lives to God, but then isn�t everyone supposed to do that? So everybody should take up the cloth!
Homosexuality and contraception
Of course, any Catholic priest worth his salt would revile homosexuality, and this one was no exception. Homosexuality is unnatural, he said. Sure. Then why has homosexuality been observed in so many species of animals? Or if you abhor comparisons with mere animals, how about vegetarians? Humans were made to be omnivores - you can see it by our tooth structure. Isn't is an abomination, hated by Heaven, for Man to reject the fruits of the earth and indulge in Unnatural Eating Habits? Or how about going to the doctor? If God has seen fit to let you get sick, shouldn't it be left to his will whether you get well? Why pervert the course of nature by trying to defy his will and fill your body with all manner of chemicals, besides? Or how about wearing clothes? We aren't born with clothes, so why should we wear any? Adam and Eve ran around naked in the Garden of Eden the whole day, so that is our natural state. How can we deviate from it?
Contraception is reviled. Why is this so? Apparently it is because it is unnatural and perverts the purpose of sex - to procreate. Ignoring the many examples of modern practices which pervert nature yet are not condemned by the Church, let us consider what happens if contraception is disallowed. Now, consider a couple who are very religious, and do not practice contraception. What happens if they, as normal couples do, maintain a normal physical relationship? It can be seen that the female will conceive endlessly until one of 2 ends come to pass - she dies in childbirth, or she reaches menopause. Somehow, I think the former is much more likely, and that will leave a single, lonely (since he�s not supposed to remarry) father with a gigantic brood to take care of. The children will grow up without the love of a mother, and the father might go crazy. Is not such an infinitely greater sin than simply using a condom? It could be said that the couple could stop copulating, but isn�t marriage a God sanctioned form of release? It is no wonder that most of those who oppose contraception are those who are likely never to have the chance to use it! Anyhow, if God is upset at the sin in the world, and if the sin is increasing with the population of the Earth, then why not use birth control to reduce the amount of sin in the world and make him happy?
Self-abuse and porn
"The history of professional and popular opinion about masturbation has been one of ignorance, pseudo-science, and hysteria" (R.E. Butman in Benner 1985:687-688)
Masturbation, or self-abuse, was also bashed. Supposedly, this is because it defiles the temple of the Holy Spirit, and indulging in it creates a hunger that cannot be stopped - like fuelling a fire. However, in response to the first point, since self-abuse pleases the temple of the Holy Spirit so much, shouldn't it be encouraged? The body itself recognises the need for periodic relief - that is why males have wet dreams. Furthermore, it is but a response to urges we were supposedly created with. As for the second point - perhaps it is not so much as an act of fuelling a fire as of releasing water from a dam; if the dam overflows, good luck to the people in the town below.
Safety valves are in place for a reason. Just witness what happened with the Catholic Priests who cooped everything inside and then went to rape their altar boys. We can also see what happened in the Victorian era, when women went to doctors with "hysterics" and were treated with vibrators to relieve their tension. Of course, it can be said that prayer can overcome the instincts which God has given us, but what of those for whom it cannot - and many of such cases abound?
Of course, finding more dubious evidence to back his case up � since �self-abuse� is not talked about anywhere in the Bible, the priest talked about Onan and how this supposedly showed that masturbation was bad.
Genesis 38:6-10: �And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Er, Judah's firstborn was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew him. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew him also. �
So YHWH committed murder, and then smote someone else. That aside, I think any unprejudiced reading of the above would reveal that was God was displeased at was not the spilling of seed, but his refusal to impregnate his brother�s widow. If he wants to quote the Old Testament so much, perhaps we should, unlike Onan, impregnate our brothers� widows (all the while ignoring the circumstances in which this habit, gross to modern sensibilities, was practised). Also, following his interpretations, females are free to have fun with their fingers and joy-sticks. I thought the Old Testament was nullified anyway, in any case. To be lazy and quote someone else, �I have no idea why ancient scholars decided to use the story of Onan to condemn masturbation. I can't believe that they didn't understand about levirate marriage � it's all there in print. I'm afraid they were victims of the medieval loathing of the flesh, which taught that spirit was good, body was bad, man was good, woman was temptress, pain was purifying, and pleasure was evil. What a perverted way to look at the world! Those who believe in God should profess that He made all things holy, and pleasure and joy and love are the components of heaven on earth. And though I'm no expert on masturbation (though I do study diligently on a daily basis), I'd say it's a good part of our world. �
Perhaps to conclude, he related an anecdote, of this 70-year-old man who told him that he couldn't stop masturbating, and that he hated himself for doing so. Perhaps he would feel better if he wasn't indoctrinated with a guilt complex.
Peripherally related is the topic of nocturnal emissions, also known as wet dreams. The priest was so hopelessly out of date that he even tried to condemn this!
Deuteronomy 23:10-11: If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp: But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again.
Well done. Laying aside the question of what �uncleanness that chanceth him by night� actually means, what is a boy to do once he starts having wet dreams, I ask? I wonder what the priests who actually live by these 2 verses do every time that time of the month (or week or fortnight) comes along. Do they have to leave their church buildings and wash themselves and return at night? Or maybe they secretly go to harlots once a month.
And then we have pornography. Personally, I think that it is rather pointless, but if people want to do something in the privacy of their own homes, I don�t see what�s wrong with that. Blue movies were bashed repeatedly, but I find it interesting that Romance Novels weren�t. Where blue films merely have purely carnal content, romance novels corrupt and taint the reader�s notions of love - supposedly a gift of God - by transmogrifying, distorting, mocking and mutating the way real life relationships work. Is that not worse?
To support some of his proscriptions, the priest used the Book of Leviticus to back him up. Thanks. Leviticus is so ridiculous and contradictory that even the Jews don�t follow it. And if he likes it so much, what about the lengthy instructions on rituals and dietary restrictions? If he wants to throw the book at us, I can throw it back at him.
Leviticus 15:19-24: And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even. And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.
Leviticus 21:17-20: Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Or a man that is broken footed, or broken handed, Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken
Perhaps to end sexual sin once and for all, we should follow the noble example of Origen of Alexandria who, determined to not sin sexually, castrated himself. Unfortunately this also disqualified him for sainthood as he was then incomplete (what about circumcision - genital mutilation - then, I ask?). Pity. But then some eunuchs do have sexual desires too and some can be induced to produce a form of ejaculate, so perhaps we can never be free.
Divorce and other attacks on the sacrament of marriage
The institution of marriage is present in all modern societies, but Catholicism seems to place particular emphasis on it.
Marriage supposedly has been sanctioned by God as a union of a male and a female for life. However, looking at the animal world, we can see that the one male partnering one female for life concept is hardly the dominant form of mating. In some human societies, those not swayed and overpowered by the dominant moral paradigm, we can see too that the traditional institution of marriage is not extant. These are not, in and of itself, overwhelming evidence against marriage, but do consider them.
Marriage is supposedly sanctioned by God as an outlet for sexual desires. However, sex in and of itself is a sin, which was why the Mother of Christ had to be virginal. So why not everyone abstains and the whole religion die out? Also, with contraception banned, masturbation forbidden and nocturnal emissions sinful (see above, on the �sin� of spilling one�s seed), where does that leave us? A marriage at a young age which will likely later break down? A marriage at a young age, with the couple having children every few years till the female dies in childbirth, then the male having to purify himself every time he has a wet dream until the day he dies? Praying to God which often does not work? Or is a more likely explanation that he is not as strict about trivialities as he is made out to be?
Peace in marriage was advocated during the retreat. Now, in and of itself, that is not a bad thing but the priest seemed to be advocating totally friction-free marriages. The wife is supposed to submit (read: be a slave) to the husband and the husband is supposed to love his wife. That way, no quarrels will ensue. I disagree - healthy disagreement and quarrels are part of a healthy marriage, for without them, how will effective and sound decisions be arrived at? The priest recommended that men look for submissive wives � a sexist statement if I ever heard one. What�s wrong with spunky women? They�re quite fun. I wonder indeed how people who have never been married can lecture on how a marriage should be lived (me included, but then I merely offer suggestions and opinions, and do not mount a bully pulpit and proclaim something to be Holy Writ)
Divorce is frowned upon. This issue has been a bone of contention in the Catholic Church before - if not for this, England might still be in the Catholic fold. Now, most people get married in their 20s. This is hardly a sufficient time for someone to search for his life partner, but then compromises have to be made - we can't expect people to spend most of their lives searching. Perhaps they believe, at that point in time, that they have found true love. Or peer pressure induces them to get married. So, some years into the marriage, problems crop up. The Church preaches that the holy institution cannot be broken, and that the couple should pray and try to repair their marriage. But what if the couple are not suitable for each other? Or if one has met someone infinitely more suitable for him and has found true love at last? What then? Do the two stay in a loveless marriage? What if prayer and counselling do not work? Surely the Church does not expect the two to waste the rest of their lives together, bound only by peer pressure, moral suasion and religious dictate? I would think that leaving the marriage to continue as a sham would be the greater sin (and that's why I support cohabitation - which is another topic).
All the sermons we got were about Sin, so it seems that Sin is one of the most important concepts in Catholicism. Somehow, it seems to me that instead of forbidding everything that is not expressly allowed, the Church should allow everything that is not expressly disallowed.
Give me chastity and continence, but not yet - Augustine of Hippo, later St Augustine
Sexual Sins
It seems that sex is a universal taboo. Probably this is because the puritan and ascetic side of us grimaces whenever we enjoy ourselves - what feels good is not good. Isn't sex totally natural? The birds and the bees partake in it with no thought of Sin. Humans are born with sexual instincts - it is as natural a part of us as eating, drinking and sleeping. We were supposedly made as such. If sex was so sinful, then perhaps it was made so appealing as a test - a cruel test, like putting spiders into a jar and waiting for them to kill each other. A test with dubitable motives. But I was always under the impression that he wasn't supposed to test us unduly. If anyone is able to control their sexual desires as well as the priest said we should, then they should take up the cloth! If they�re male, at least.
All sex is supposedly sinful. That is why Jesus Christ was allegedly born of a Virgin, so that he wouldn�t be tainted by the Sin of his mother. On the other hand, sex within marriage is supposed to be permissible, so why could Mary not have been a Virgin? Especially since she was wedded to Joseph. So we see we have a problem, again. This could be solved by accepting that the generally accepted interpretation of Isaiah - �A virgin shall conceive�, actually was meant to read �a young girl shall conceive�, but then this is blasphemous to most. Oops.
The priest was very conservative regarding various sexual sins. He condemned Oral Sex because it didn't lead to babies being conceived. "If God had meant you to have Oral Sex, babies would be born from the mouth". This brought to mind a similar argument bandied around by conservatives when the Wright Brothers were experimenting with flying - "If God had meant for us to fly, he'd have given us wings".
Perhaps most amazingly, he condemned all positions but the Missionary Position. What century he is living in, I don�t know, but this is the 21st Century and to be puritan to that extent is so ridiculous that only Mormons would fain comply. It is no wonder that Catholic Priests need to be single, unlike their Orthodox brethren, for to advocate such unrealistic and puritan practices betrays a severe disconnect from reality that can only come from not having any � nor ever having the chance to have any - experience. Of course, the priest claimed that Catholic priests are not allowed to marry because they need to devote their lives to God, but then isn�t everyone supposed to do that? So everybody should take up the cloth!
Homosexuality and contraception
Of course, any Catholic priest worth his salt would revile homosexuality, and this one was no exception. Homosexuality is unnatural, he said. Sure. Then why has homosexuality been observed in so many species of animals? Or if you abhor comparisons with mere animals, how about vegetarians? Humans were made to be omnivores - you can see it by our tooth structure. Isn't is an abomination, hated by Heaven, for Man to reject the fruits of the earth and indulge in Unnatural Eating Habits? Or how about going to the doctor? If God has seen fit to let you get sick, shouldn't it be left to his will whether you get well? Why pervert the course of nature by trying to defy his will and fill your body with all manner of chemicals, besides? Or how about wearing clothes? We aren't born with clothes, so why should we wear any? Adam and Eve ran around naked in the Garden of Eden the whole day, so that is our natural state. How can we deviate from it?
Contraception is reviled. Why is this so? Apparently it is because it is unnatural and perverts the purpose of sex - to procreate. Ignoring the many examples of modern practices which pervert nature yet are not condemned by the Church, let us consider what happens if contraception is disallowed. Now, consider a couple who are very religious, and do not practice contraception. What happens if they, as normal couples do, maintain a normal physical relationship? It can be seen that the female will conceive endlessly until one of 2 ends come to pass - she dies in childbirth, or she reaches menopause. Somehow, I think the former is much more likely, and that will leave a single, lonely (since he�s not supposed to remarry) father with a gigantic brood to take care of. The children will grow up without the love of a mother, and the father might go crazy. Is not such an infinitely greater sin than simply using a condom? It could be said that the couple could stop copulating, but isn�t marriage a God sanctioned form of release? It is no wonder that most of those who oppose contraception are those who are likely never to have the chance to use it! Anyhow, if God is upset at the sin in the world, and if the sin is increasing with the population of the Earth, then why not use birth control to reduce the amount of sin in the world and make him happy?
Self-abuse and porn
"The history of professional and popular opinion about masturbation has been one of ignorance, pseudo-science, and hysteria" (R.E. Butman in Benner 1985:687-688)
Masturbation, or self-abuse, was also bashed. Supposedly, this is because it defiles the temple of the Holy Spirit, and indulging in it creates a hunger that cannot be stopped - like fuelling a fire. However, in response to the first point, since self-abuse pleases the temple of the Holy Spirit so much, shouldn't it be encouraged? The body itself recognises the need for periodic relief - that is why males have wet dreams. Furthermore, it is but a response to urges we were supposedly created with. As for the second point - perhaps it is not so much as an act of fuelling a fire as of releasing water from a dam; if the dam overflows, good luck to the people in the town below.
Safety valves are in place for a reason. Just witness what happened with the Catholic Priests who cooped everything inside and then went to rape their altar boys. We can also see what happened in the Victorian era, when women went to doctors with "hysterics" and were treated with vibrators to relieve their tension. Of course, it can be said that prayer can overcome the instincts which God has given us, but what of those for whom it cannot - and many of such cases abound?
Of course, finding more dubious evidence to back his case up � since �self-abuse� is not talked about anywhere in the Bible, the priest talked about Onan and how this supposedly showed that masturbation was bad.
Genesis 38:6-10: �And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Er, Judah's firstborn was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew him. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew him also. �
So YHWH committed murder, and then smote someone else. That aside, I think any unprejudiced reading of the above would reveal that was God was displeased at was not the spilling of seed, but his refusal to impregnate his brother�s widow. If he wants to quote the Old Testament so much, perhaps we should, unlike Onan, impregnate our brothers� widows (all the while ignoring the circumstances in which this habit, gross to modern sensibilities, was practised). Also, following his interpretations, females are free to have fun with their fingers and joy-sticks. I thought the Old Testament was nullified anyway, in any case. To be lazy and quote someone else, �I have no idea why ancient scholars decided to use the story of Onan to condemn masturbation. I can't believe that they didn't understand about levirate marriage � it's all there in print. I'm afraid they were victims of the medieval loathing of the flesh, which taught that spirit was good, body was bad, man was good, woman was temptress, pain was purifying, and pleasure was evil. What a perverted way to look at the world! Those who believe in God should profess that He made all things holy, and pleasure and joy and love are the components of heaven on earth. And though I'm no expert on masturbation (though I do study diligently on a daily basis), I'd say it's a good part of our world. �
Perhaps to conclude, he related an anecdote, of this 70-year-old man who told him that he couldn't stop masturbating, and that he hated himself for doing so. Perhaps he would feel better if he wasn't indoctrinated with a guilt complex.
Peripherally related is the topic of nocturnal emissions, also known as wet dreams. The priest was so hopelessly out of date that he even tried to condemn this!
Deuteronomy 23:10-11: If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp: But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again.
Well done. Laying aside the question of what �uncleanness that chanceth him by night� actually means, what is a boy to do once he starts having wet dreams, I ask? I wonder what the priests who actually live by these 2 verses do every time that time of the month (or week or fortnight) comes along. Do they have to leave their church buildings and wash themselves and return at night? Or maybe they secretly go to harlots once a month.
And then we have pornography. Personally, I think that it is rather pointless, but if people want to do something in the privacy of their own homes, I don�t see what�s wrong with that. Blue movies were bashed repeatedly, but I find it interesting that Romance Novels weren�t. Where blue films merely have purely carnal content, romance novels corrupt and taint the reader�s notions of love - supposedly a gift of God - by transmogrifying, distorting, mocking and mutating the way real life relationships work. Is that not worse?
To support some of his proscriptions, the priest used the Book of Leviticus to back him up. Thanks. Leviticus is so ridiculous and contradictory that even the Jews don�t follow it. And if he likes it so much, what about the lengthy instructions on rituals and dietary restrictions? If he wants to throw the book at us, I can throw it back at him.
Leviticus 15:19-24: And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even. And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.
Leviticus 21:17-20: Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Or a man that is broken footed, or broken handed, Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken
Perhaps to end sexual sin once and for all, we should follow the noble example of Origen of Alexandria who, determined to not sin sexually, castrated himself. Unfortunately this also disqualified him for sainthood as he was then incomplete (what about circumcision - genital mutilation - then, I ask?). Pity. But then some eunuchs do have sexual desires too and some can be induced to produce a form of ejaculate, so perhaps we can never be free.
Divorce and other attacks on the sacrament of marriage
The institution of marriage is present in all modern societies, but Catholicism seems to place particular emphasis on it.
Marriage supposedly has been sanctioned by God as a union of a male and a female for life. However, looking at the animal world, we can see that the one male partnering one female for life concept is hardly the dominant form of mating. In some human societies, those not swayed and overpowered by the dominant moral paradigm, we can see too that the traditional institution of marriage is not extant. These are not, in and of itself, overwhelming evidence against marriage, but do consider them.
Marriage is supposedly sanctioned by God as an outlet for sexual desires. However, sex in and of itself is a sin, which was why the Mother of Christ had to be virginal. So why not everyone abstains and the whole religion die out? Also, with contraception banned, masturbation forbidden and nocturnal emissions sinful (see above, on the �sin� of spilling one�s seed), where does that leave us? A marriage at a young age which will likely later break down? A marriage at a young age, with the couple having children every few years till the female dies in childbirth, then the male having to purify himself every time he has a wet dream until the day he dies? Praying to God which often does not work? Or is a more likely explanation that he is not as strict about trivialities as he is made out to be?
Peace in marriage was advocated during the retreat. Now, in and of itself, that is not a bad thing but the priest seemed to be advocating totally friction-free marriages. The wife is supposed to submit (read: be a slave) to the husband and the husband is supposed to love his wife. That way, no quarrels will ensue. I disagree - healthy disagreement and quarrels are part of a healthy marriage, for without them, how will effective and sound decisions be arrived at? The priest recommended that men look for submissive wives � a sexist statement if I ever heard one. What�s wrong with spunky women? They�re quite fun. I wonder indeed how people who have never been married can lecture on how a marriage should be lived (me included, but then I merely offer suggestions and opinions, and do not mount a bully pulpit and proclaim something to be Holy Writ)
Divorce is frowned upon. This issue has been a bone of contention in the Catholic Church before - if not for this, England might still be in the Catholic fold. Now, most people get married in their 20s. This is hardly a sufficient time for someone to search for his life partner, but then compromises have to be made - we can't expect people to spend most of their lives searching. Perhaps they believe, at that point in time, that they have found true love. Or peer pressure induces them to get married. So, some years into the marriage, problems crop up. The Church preaches that the holy institution cannot be broken, and that the couple should pray and try to repair their marriage. But what if the couple are not suitable for each other? Or if one has met someone infinitely more suitable for him and has found true love at last? What then? Do the two stay in a loveless marriage? What if prayer and counselling do not work? Surely the Church does not expect the two to waste the rest of their lives together, bound only by peer pressure, moral suasion and religious dictate? I would think that leaving the marriage to continue as a sham would be the greater sin (and that's why I support cohabitation - which is another topic).
Post ID: 91825279
On False Gods
Most religions preach that there is only one path to God - their own, and all who don't follow it are screwed. However, there are literally thousands of denominations and religions out there. How are we supposed to know which one to believe in? Do we choose the one which promises the most benefits in the afterlife, or the one which dictates the most self-flagellation, reasoning to ourselves that the more we suffer now, the more we enjoy ourselves later? Can it be that all of them are wrong but one? More likely that more than one are correct, or all are correct, or even, dare I say, that none are correct.
A roommate claimed that if you believed in a false God, you�d know. So why do so many people believe in so many different Gods? Can they all be correct, if most proclaim the rest to be wrong? And how about atheists (I presume if you don�t believe in a real God, you�d know too)? This leads me to the same conclusion as above.
Tim�s father offered another view - you must look at the fruits the religion brings. A true, good God would bring good fruits. So looking at it that way, Buddhism must be the true religion, for it advocates peace and I don�t think anyone has ever killed anyone else in Buddhism�s name. Many atheists lead perfectly virtuous and happy lives, so is not atheism also a true religion (or lack of, rather)? The same could be said of the much-reviled Wiccans, even. Christianity, on the other hand, has resulted in wars, murder, and hate, the Spanish Inquisition and assorted other iniquities.
Christ on the Throne?
Have you heard of the Four Spiritual Laws? Law One says that: "God LOVES you and offers a wonderful PLAN for your life. [Christ speaking] "I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly" [that it might be full and meaningful] (John 10:10)". I find the interpretation for this to be extremely suspect. But let's just assume, for the sake of argument, that he *does* have a plan for our life. We are urged to follow this plan and surrender to the inscrutable divine will. We are to let Christ be on the throne and submit to him in all things.
This idea of servitude rankles me - it sounds like a euphemism for slavery. Is it good to be mindless automatons, zombies controlled by God? If that was our purpose in life, to be puppets with him pulling the strings, then why were we created in the first place? If we should submit to his "plan", then why were we put on this earth? To be expensive, semi-intelligent playthings? The question of free will comes up, and the prepared refrain is that God gave us free will so that we could choose him without compulsion. However, religious representatives tell us to "do this and be happy forevermore or burn in hell for all eternity", so is there really no compulsion or coercion? Furthermore, we are told that our body comes from God, and belongs to God, so whither and wherefore Free Will?
Even putting all our doubts aside, we are told that we were given free will just to have it taken away from us. That sounds like he is putting us here to play with, and test us. Life then sounds like a cruel, inane divine game. A more plausible explanation given to me was that submitting to him, we realise that his plan is the best for our life. Put that way, it doesn't sound like we have a choice. Is submitting to a pre-determined plan and going to a pre-destined fate really what we want?
Also, how do we know just what is in the Plan? Supposedly, if we have accepted him, we will know what to do. But what about the murderers who thought that voices were telling them to kill their fellow Men? What if that was really the voice of God? Who's to say?
I am growing increasingly disillusioned with organised and human-interpreted religion, what with its inconsistencies, hypocrisies, flaws, obvious errors which are glossed over, false promises, contradictions and misleading logic. I wonder if even another Thomas Aquinas would be able to reconcile all the paradoxes, as a reading of some parts of the Summa Theologica didn�t leave me very impressed. Who's to say which interpretation is right, with the number extant? They have proved wrong before, like when the Catholic Church proclaimed the truth of a Gaia-centric universe, justifying it with passages from Scripture, and when it prohibited usury - what if they are wrong again? And if Original Sin has stained Man forever and ever, has not the sins of the Church stained it irredeemably?
Deism
Disillusioned with Organised Religion, Thomas Paine (of "The Age of Reason" fame) followed the philosophy of Deism, which is truly appealing in its precepts.
RELIGION has two principal enemies, Fanatism and Infidelity, or that which is called Atheism. The first requires to be combated by reason and morality, the other by natural philosophy.
The Universe is the bible of a true Theophilanthropist. It is there that he reads of God. It is there that the proofs of his existence are to be sought and to be found. As to written or printed books, by whatever name they are called, they are the works of man's hands, and carry no evidence in themselves that God is the author of any of them. It must be in something that man could not make that we must seek evidence for our belief, and that something is the universe, the true Bible, -- the inimitable work of God.
Contemplating the universe, the whole system of Creation, in this point of light, we shall discover, that all that which is called natural philosophy is properly a divine study. It is the study of God through his works. It is the best study, by which we can arrive at knowledge of his existence, and the only one by which we can gain a glimpse of his perfection.
Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensity of the Creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible WHOLE is governed. Do we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance with which he fills the earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We see it in his not withholding that abundance even from the unthankful. In fine, do we want to know what GOD is? Search not written or printed books, but the Scripture called the 'Creation.'
--- Thomas Paine. The Existence of God, A Discourse at the Society of Theophilanthropists, Paris, circa 1810
9) Six Nights In Sabah
Wherefore Scepticism?
Scepticism is necessary in the realms of religion, where the intangible reigns. For without scepticism, are we to follow gullibly the first religion we come to know of? Most intelligent people desire the truth, and they don't want to live lies, or they might as well worship man-made idols. At the same time, we must try to be sceptical without being contemptuous.
Why does God not come to all who ask for him? He has a long and proven track record of appearing to people - Noah, Moses, the Apostles, Doubting Thomas, St Paul (a vision converted him from a hater of Christians to one himself) Muhammad and others. Why is it that modern day credited manifestations of him and his power are all of events that were ambiguous and not witnessed by a large group, including sceptics? Why does he not resolve the doubts of those looking in vain for him, and lose faith and die cynical and broken - or worse, continue seeking and die deluded? In short, what gives?
It seems to me that as the intelligence and developmental level of peoples and societies goes up, the proportion of people with no religion, who are sceptical about religion or who are just not very devout goes up in tandem. Many of the most intelligent and prominent people in the past century or more have been atheistic or agnostic. The naysayers reply that these people have tried to rationalise God and religion, and so have not found either. But to trust in blind faith in something that might be false would be folly, as I've already shown at length. Real religions are supposed to make people feel fulfilled and touched by God - those who are are jubilant and become very devout, but what about those who aren't? They then inevitably become sceptical, cynical and disillusioned and disavow the existence of worship of God, where more gullible people might be tricked into continuing on their futile path.
Personally, I am half-sceptical. Indeed, Bien Kiat said of me � �He�s a very tough customer. If you can convert him, you will go to heaven. Guaranteed.� (But then he also said that I was �Very intelligent, but very blur and stubborn�, so) During the retreat, I found my scepticism rising till the last day, when it subsided somewhat, but since returning from Sabah, I have found it rising to unprecedented levels.
I want to keep an Open Mind (both ways), for fear of missing something through intransigence. I saw some things - healing, tongues, slaying and the like, but they can all be explained, as belief can work wonders and push the human body to do things not thought possible, though some are harder to rationalise than others. I feel a sense of peace once in a while, and feel twinges and vague emotions sometimes, but it could be a product of my own imagination and hope - my skin positively prickles and crawls whenever I hear my School Anthem being played (from the memories and some degree of pride), and even when the National Anthem is played (though whether this is because of the years of attempted indoctrination, the mysterious substances they put in our drinking water or my disgust and intense emotions at my Slavery I know not).
Agnosticism and faith both have their appeals. On the one hand, I just want to surrender, and not to question. Like Milder, I want to believe (though I don't watch the X-files). At the same time I know, on the other hand, that I could never live with myself believing in a sham, living a lie and wasting my time being a fool. In other words, I'm not playing Devil's Advocate just for the heck of it. Both choices are liberating in their own ways. I was accused of not wanting to open up, and trying to rationalise something that cannot be rationalised, but I think I tried as best I could, and really � the sheer ridiculousness of it all stuns me sometimes and turns me off, and if I didn�t enquire, I might as well join the Raelian sect or Heaven�s Gate.
Mysterious Sessions
Most of the retreat consisted of talks and Praise and Worship, but there were some sessions where the Power was turned on. The Power of mass hysteria.
Many times, the retreatants were whipped up and encouraged to �talk and pray to the Lord�, and a ear-shattering cacophony ensued. People cried. People screamed. People shouted different things at different tempos at the same time. People talked nonsense (�tongues�). All in all, it sounded like what Hell is supposed to be. Or maybe everyone was possessed by demons. I think the Chinese Communist Party would be overjoyed if it could tape a session like that - it�d just claim that this was a Falungong session, and vindicate its branding of it as an Evil Cult.
While trying my best to participate fully in these sessions, hoping in vain that my years of semi-belief would be gloriously vindicated, I couldn�t but help make some observations. The pastor conducting the retreat was skilled indeed. He wore at our resistance throughout the day, yelling diatribes and abuse, planting suggestions and admonishing us, tiring us with long hours, hinting at things, and scheduling Praise and Worship before and after most sessions to soften us up so our resistance would be lower, making us castigate ourselves and each other to implant a sense of shame, and the Spartan environment didn�t help the Rational-o-meters. During the sessions themselves, he manipulated the volume of the microphones, whispered for emphasis so we had to listen more carefully, co-ordinated his actions and words with the band, and the band sometimes played discordantly to stun us or sung the same lines again and again to hypnotise us with their soporific effect.
Somehow, I was put in mind of that case a few years back, when children throughout Japan suddenly went into fits because of a sudden series of bright flashes during an episode of Pokemon. No one blamed Satan then, as I recall.
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
Not to be outdone by Saddam, the Priest had some Weapons of Mass Destruction of his own up his sleeve, each more powerful than the last, not least in making people cry.
The first was when he got his helpers to lug a giant cross into the prayer hall, and asked all of us to write a letter to Jesus confessing our sins, even dictating how it should go, and then to go to the cross on our knees, prostrate in front of it, tear the letter up and reflect. I could not, in good faith, write the letter he dictated, so the one I wrote was slightly... different, asking for faith, and all through the ceremony I felt nothing.
The second WMD was a forgiveness ceremony, where people had to bathe each other�s feet and pretend that they were bathing the feet of people whom they had a long-standing grudge against. On reflection, I decided that I did not have any outstanding grudges and did not hate anybody, though some degree of dislike is inevitable, so I declined to participate, but it was quite touching to see some of the people taking part in the ceremony, especially when one Brother bathed one Priest�s foot and when one nun from Hong Kong was asked to act as a surrogate for 2 Hong Kong-ers, but bathed their feet back in return and kissed them to boot. 2 of the Priests, however, were not asked to act as surrogates for the ceremony. I guess they weren�t charismatic enough.
On the last full day, the third WMD came out. Well, it wasn�t exactly a WMD, but it was something other than the usual talks, mass, prayer and Praise and Worship � morning meditation. Except that most were sleeping during it.
Crucifixion
The next-to-last WMD that he unleashed came on the last full day. For 40 minutes, we had kneel while holding our arms out horizontally, like we were on the Cross, all the while in front of the Blessed Sacrament and hearing someone from the Music Ministry reading out the 12 Stations of the Crucifixion, with music sung in between each station. The pain was horrible. Now I know a tiny, little bit of what crucifixion is like!
People cried. I sort of cried too, a half-cry with no tears � not because I was overwhelmed by emotion, but because my arms were hurting too much, and a few times the boundary between half-crying and laughter blurred and I laughed, kind of like the times I fall down and, though my tush hurts, I start laughing. I was very tempted to slay myself and end my misery, but during the many times I looked around the room, no one had collapsed, given up or been slain, so I didn�t want to feel pai seh (embarrassed). To distract myself, I started jerking around and swaying wildly � jerking to and fro, back and forward and humping the air, among other things - in some part to redistribute the weight on my knees, which wasn�t that bad really, but more to distract myself from the terrible aching in my arms, especially around the shoulder, and to uncramp the area. I did cheat a little, though, by wiping my sweat 2-3 times, looking around the room to see if anyone had given up, drooping my arms very low on occasion and letting my arms down to massage them once. This went on for at least 15mins, and apparently all this while the priest was looking at me as if to ask, �What is this fella trying to do?�. Others who saw me said after they saw me they felt like laughing, even if they had been about to cry, and some asserted that if not for my antics, they wouldn�t have been able to keep in that tortuous position.
After the whole thing was over, people told me that I was in a trance, and that I looked like a �tan kee� (medium) in a Taoist temple or I had what the priest had referred to as a �Muhammad Ali� spirit in me. Since I was in full control of my actions, was conscious of them, felt nothing inside of me and did not smell, taste, see, hear or touch anything special during that time, I naturally didn�t believe them. How does one tell if one is in a trance anyway? However, they were so insistent in their claims that I suppose there was some modicum of possibility. However, if I truly was in a trance, the fact that it was a Taoist trance doesn�t bode very well, does it? :) Later I asked a priest how someone could tell he was in a trance, and he said that that person had to be pure of heart and had confessed all his sins. That didn�t describe me, so I suppose it wasn�t a trance! Perhaps it was an, err, experience.
Most religions preach that there is only one path to God - their own, and all who don't follow it are screwed. However, there are literally thousands of denominations and religions out there. How are we supposed to know which one to believe in? Do we choose the one which promises the most benefits in the afterlife, or the one which dictates the most self-flagellation, reasoning to ourselves that the more we suffer now, the more we enjoy ourselves later? Can it be that all of them are wrong but one? More likely that more than one are correct, or all are correct, or even, dare I say, that none are correct.
A roommate claimed that if you believed in a false God, you�d know. So why do so many people believe in so many different Gods? Can they all be correct, if most proclaim the rest to be wrong? And how about atheists (I presume if you don�t believe in a real God, you�d know too)? This leads me to the same conclusion as above.
Tim�s father offered another view - you must look at the fruits the religion brings. A true, good God would bring good fruits. So looking at it that way, Buddhism must be the true religion, for it advocates peace and I don�t think anyone has ever killed anyone else in Buddhism�s name. Many atheists lead perfectly virtuous and happy lives, so is not atheism also a true religion (or lack of, rather)? The same could be said of the much-reviled Wiccans, even. Christianity, on the other hand, has resulted in wars, murder, and hate, the Spanish Inquisition and assorted other iniquities.
Christ on the Throne?
Have you heard of the Four Spiritual Laws? Law One says that: "God LOVES you and offers a wonderful PLAN for your life. [Christ speaking] "I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly" [that it might be full and meaningful] (John 10:10)". I find the interpretation for this to be extremely suspect. But let's just assume, for the sake of argument, that he *does* have a plan for our life. We are urged to follow this plan and surrender to the inscrutable divine will. We are to let Christ be on the throne and submit to him in all things.
This idea of servitude rankles me - it sounds like a euphemism for slavery. Is it good to be mindless automatons, zombies controlled by God? If that was our purpose in life, to be puppets with him pulling the strings, then why were we created in the first place? If we should submit to his "plan", then why were we put on this earth? To be expensive, semi-intelligent playthings? The question of free will comes up, and the prepared refrain is that God gave us free will so that we could choose him without compulsion. However, religious representatives tell us to "do this and be happy forevermore or burn in hell for all eternity", so is there really no compulsion or coercion? Furthermore, we are told that our body comes from God, and belongs to God, so whither and wherefore Free Will?
Even putting all our doubts aside, we are told that we were given free will just to have it taken away from us. That sounds like he is putting us here to play with, and test us. Life then sounds like a cruel, inane divine game. A more plausible explanation given to me was that submitting to him, we realise that his plan is the best for our life. Put that way, it doesn't sound like we have a choice. Is submitting to a pre-determined plan and going to a pre-destined fate really what we want?
Also, how do we know just what is in the Plan? Supposedly, if we have accepted him, we will know what to do. But what about the murderers who thought that voices were telling them to kill their fellow Men? What if that was really the voice of God? Who's to say?
I am growing increasingly disillusioned with organised and human-interpreted religion, what with its inconsistencies, hypocrisies, flaws, obvious errors which are glossed over, false promises, contradictions and misleading logic. I wonder if even another Thomas Aquinas would be able to reconcile all the paradoxes, as a reading of some parts of the Summa Theologica didn�t leave me very impressed. Who's to say which interpretation is right, with the number extant? They have proved wrong before, like when the Catholic Church proclaimed the truth of a Gaia-centric universe, justifying it with passages from Scripture, and when it prohibited usury - what if they are wrong again? And if Original Sin has stained Man forever and ever, has not the sins of the Church stained it irredeemably?
Deism
Disillusioned with Organised Religion, Thomas Paine (of "The Age of Reason" fame) followed the philosophy of Deism, which is truly appealing in its precepts.
RELIGION has two principal enemies, Fanatism and Infidelity, or that which is called Atheism. The first requires to be combated by reason and morality, the other by natural philosophy.
The Universe is the bible of a true Theophilanthropist. It is there that he reads of God. It is there that the proofs of his existence are to be sought and to be found. As to written or printed books, by whatever name they are called, they are the works of man's hands, and carry no evidence in themselves that God is the author of any of them. It must be in something that man could not make that we must seek evidence for our belief, and that something is the universe, the true Bible, -- the inimitable work of God.
Contemplating the universe, the whole system of Creation, in this point of light, we shall discover, that all that which is called natural philosophy is properly a divine study. It is the study of God through his works. It is the best study, by which we can arrive at knowledge of his existence, and the only one by which we can gain a glimpse of his perfection.
Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensity of the Creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible WHOLE is governed. Do we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance with which he fills the earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We see it in his not withholding that abundance even from the unthankful. In fine, do we want to know what GOD is? Search not written or printed books, but the Scripture called the 'Creation.'
--- Thomas Paine. The Existence of God, A Discourse at the Society of Theophilanthropists, Paris, circa 1810
9) Six Nights In Sabah
Wherefore Scepticism?
Scepticism is necessary in the realms of religion, where the intangible reigns. For without scepticism, are we to follow gullibly the first religion we come to know of? Most intelligent people desire the truth, and they don't want to live lies, or they might as well worship man-made idols. At the same time, we must try to be sceptical without being contemptuous.
Why does God not come to all who ask for him? He has a long and proven track record of appearing to people - Noah, Moses, the Apostles, Doubting Thomas, St Paul (a vision converted him from a hater of Christians to one himself) Muhammad and others. Why is it that modern day credited manifestations of him and his power are all of events that were ambiguous and not witnessed by a large group, including sceptics? Why does he not resolve the doubts of those looking in vain for him, and lose faith and die cynical and broken - or worse, continue seeking and die deluded? In short, what gives?
It seems to me that as the intelligence and developmental level of peoples and societies goes up, the proportion of people with no religion, who are sceptical about religion or who are just not very devout goes up in tandem. Many of the most intelligent and prominent people in the past century or more have been atheistic or agnostic. The naysayers reply that these people have tried to rationalise God and religion, and so have not found either. But to trust in blind faith in something that might be false would be folly, as I've already shown at length. Real religions are supposed to make people feel fulfilled and touched by God - those who are are jubilant and become very devout, but what about those who aren't? They then inevitably become sceptical, cynical and disillusioned and disavow the existence of worship of God, where more gullible people might be tricked into continuing on their futile path.
Personally, I am half-sceptical. Indeed, Bien Kiat said of me � �He�s a very tough customer. If you can convert him, you will go to heaven. Guaranteed.� (But then he also said that I was �Very intelligent, but very blur and stubborn�, so) During the retreat, I found my scepticism rising till the last day, when it subsided somewhat, but since returning from Sabah, I have found it rising to unprecedented levels.
I want to keep an Open Mind (both ways), for fear of missing something through intransigence. I saw some things - healing, tongues, slaying and the like, but they can all be explained, as belief can work wonders and push the human body to do things not thought possible, though some are harder to rationalise than others. I feel a sense of peace once in a while, and feel twinges and vague emotions sometimes, but it could be a product of my own imagination and hope - my skin positively prickles and crawls whenever I hear my School Anthem being played (from the memories and some degree of pride), and even when the National Anthem is played (though whether this is because of the years of attempted indoctrination, the mysterious substances they put in our drinking water or my disgust and intense emotions at my Slavery I know not).
Agnosticism and faith both have their appeals. On the one hand, I just want to surrender, and not to question. Like Milder, I want to believe (though I don't watch the X-files). At the same time I know, on the other hand, that I could never live with myself believing in a sham, living a lie and wasting my time being a fool. In other words, I'm not playing Devil's Advocate just for the heck of it. Both choices are liberating in their own ways. I was accused of not wanting to open up, and trying to rationalise something that cannot be rationalised, but I think I tried as best I could, and really � the sheer ridiculousness of it all stuns me sometimes and turns me off, and if I didn�t enquire, I might as well join the Raelian sect or Heaven�s Gate.
Mysterious Sessions
Most of the retreat consisted of talks and Praise and Worship, but there were some sessions where the Power was turned on. The Power of mass hysteria.
Many times, the retreatants were whipped up and encouraged to �talk and pray to the Lord�, and a ear-shattering cacophony ensued. People cried. People screamed. People shouted different things at different tempos at the same time. People talked nonsense (�tongues�). All in all, it sounded like what Hell is supposed to be. Or maybe everyone was possessed by demons. I think the Chinese Communist Party would be overjoyed if it could tape a session like that - it�d just claim that this was a Falungong session, and vindicate its branding of it as an Evil Cult.
While trying my best to participate fully in these sessions, hoping in vain that my years of semi-belief would be gloriously vindicated, I couldn�t but help make some observations. The pastor conducting the retreat was skilled indeed. He wore at our resistance throughout the day, yelling diatribes and abuse, planting suggestions and admonishing us, tiring us with long hours, hinting at things, and scheduling Praise and Worship before and after most sessions to soften us up so our resistance would be lower, making us castigate ourselves and each other to implant a sense of shame, and the Spartan environment didn�t help the Rational-o-meters. During the sessions themselves, he manipulated the volume of the microphones, whispered for emphasis so we had to listen more carefully, co-ordinated his actions and words with the band, and the band sometimes played discordantly to stun us or sung the same lines again and again to hypnotise us with their soporific effect.
Somehow, I was put in mind of that case a few years back, when children throughout Japan suddenly went into fits because of a sudden series of bright flashes during an episode of Pokemon. No one blamed Satan then, as I recall.
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
Not to be outdone by Saddam, the Priest had some Weapons of Mass Destruction of his own up his sleeve, each more powerful than the last, not least in making people cry.
The first was when he got his helpers to lug a giant cross into the prayer hall, and asked all of us to write a letter to Jesus confessing our sins, even dictating how it should go, and then to go to the cross on our knees, prostrate in front of it, tear the letter up and reflect. I could not, in good faith, write the letter he dictated, so the one I wrote was slightly... different, asking for faith, and all through the ceremony I felt nothing.
The second WMD was a forgiveness ceremony, where people had to bathe each other�s feet and pretend that they were bathing the feet of people whom they had a long-standing grudge against. On reflection, I decided that I did not have any outstanding grudges and did not hate anybody, though some degree of dislike is inevitable, so I declined to participate, but it was quite touching to see some of the people taking part in the ceremony, especially when one Brother bathed one Priest�s foot and when one nun from Hong Kong was asked to act as a surrogate for 2 Hong Kong-ers, but bathed their feet back in return and kissed them to boot. 2 of the Priests, however, were not asked to act as surrogates for the ceremony. I guess they weren�t charismatic enough.
On the last full day, the third WMD came out. Well, it wasn�t exactly a WMD, but it was something other than the usual talks, mass, prayer and Praise and Worship � morning meditation. Except that most were sleeping during it.
Crucifixion
The next-to-last WMD that he unleashed came on the last full day. For 40 minutes, we had kneel while holding our arms out horizontally, like we were on the Cross, all the while in front of the Blessed Sacrament and hearing someone from the Music Ministry reading out the 12 Stations of the Crucifixion, with music sung in between each station. The pain was horrible. Now I know a tiny, little bit of what crucifixion is like!
People cried. I sort of cried too, a half-cry with no tears � not because I was overwhelmed by emotion, but because my arms were hurting too much, and a few times the boundary between half-crying and laughter blurred and I laughed, kind of like the times I fall down and, though my tush hurts, I start laughing. I was very tempted to slay myself and end my misery, but during the many times I looked around the room, no one had collapsed, given up or been slain, so I didn�t want to feel pai seh (embarrassed). To distract myself, I started jerking around and swaying wildly � jerking to and fro, back and forward and humping the air, among other things - in some part to redistribute the weight on my knees, which wasn�t that bad really, but more to distract myself from the terrible aching in my arms, especially around the shoulder, and to uncramp the area. I did cheat a little, though, by wiping my sweat 2-3 times, looking around the room to see if anyone had given up, drooping my arms very low on occasion and letting my arms down to massage them once. This went on for at least 15mins, and apparently all this while the priest was looking at me as if to ask, �What is this fella trying to do?�. Others who saw me said after they saw me they felt like laughing, even if they had been about to cry, and some asserted that if not for my antics, they wouldn�t have been able to keep in that tortuous position.
After the whole thing was over, people told me that I was in a trance, and that I looked like a �tan kee� (medium) in a Taoist temple or I had what the priest had referred to as a �Muhammad Ali� spirit in me. Since I was in full control of my actions, was conscious of them, felt nothing inside of me and did not smell, taste, see, hear or touch anything special during that time, I naturally didn�t believe them. How does one tell if one is in a trance anyway? However, they were so insistent in their claims that I suppose there was some modicum of possibility. However, if I truly was in a trance, the fact that it was a Taoist trance doesn�t bode very well, does it? :) Later I asked a priest how someone could tell he was in a trance, and he said that that person had to be pure of heart and had confessed all his sins. That didn�t describe me, so I suppose it wasn�t a trance! Perhaps it was an, err, experience.
Post ID: 91825273
Saving the best for last
The priest�s final weapon was powerful indeed. It involved the priests going around to bless people, and by the end of the session between a third to a half of the room had been felled and was out cold on the floor, and some people were running around the room chattering in tongues. I didn�t experience anything, though *shrug* I think I�m condemned :)
It's a miracle! Praise the Lord!
People love to look on the incidences of "miracles" as evidence of Divine touch and presence. In fact, many of them can be easily explained. Also, more than one religion has miracles - what are the implications of this for there being one True religion? Or none, even?
Further, it seems God has become less powerful in recent years. All the miracles attributed to him have been becoming steadily less powerful and observable. Coincidence, or conspiracy?
- Healing
This is a perennial favourite. Notice that most times, the miraculous healing is of a most subjective ailment - pain. Now, as all knows, pain is all in the mind. To a large extent, pain is psychosomatic - if you think you're going to hurt, you will. One could get a hypno-therapist to plant suggestions in your head, and a similar result would be achieved. The power of this placebo effect is recognised by scientists, which is why in drug trials, the control group is always given a placebo. Now, if the promise of a mere drug can dull and deaden pain, imagine what unshakable, firm faith in one's healing can bring?
As for the more visible types of healing, Bien Kiat told me that he saw a show exposing fake Healings, and it was rather shocking how the tricksters managed to fake the regeneration of a hand, gore and all. All in all, I will not totally dismiss this �miracle�, but I must make the observation that we hear so much about those who are healed - but what about those who aren't? Ah, it must be God's will that they are not healed. And that the people who go to faith healers, trusting in His Power and casting themselves at his feet but later sicken and die should die.
- Tongues
From time to time, people will begin spouting gibberish. They are said to have been given the �Gift of Tongues�.
A cursory analysis of the tongues spouted reveals that they follow a certain pattern, the tongues actually consist of a very few words (one I heard just consisted of �Lalalalala�) and that certain words and phrases occur very often. This makes me wonder what they are actually saying, and how extensive their vocabulary is. Perhaps it is just �Praise the Lord�, and if that is the case, this gift is not very good, for what good is a language if your vocabulary is limited? I might as well learn curse words from various languages and then proclaim that I know a million and one tongues!
Cases have been documented, I believe, of people suddenly speaking weird languages when they suffer brain damage. One case I am certain of is of this Chinese scientist who, when he suffered brain damage, suddenly lost the ability to speak in English and reverted to his native Mandarin. In any case, when someone is emotionally overwhelmed, it would not take too much for him to suddenly spout a few nonsensical words and imagine that he was speaking a new language.
Perhaps the simplest explanation for Tongues � possession by demons. Tada. So much for it being a divine gift.
- Slaying
I suppose people�s minds can become overwhelmed by everything, or they experience a sudden release of built-up tension. And they thus collapse when touched by the Priest but my choir junior - a non-believer - told me he got slain at the Festival of Praise at the Indoor Stadium, and my room mate Clarence told me he got slain before the retreat too, so I will accept that Slaying might not be due to personal, internal influences.
- Walking on Hot Coals
This is not a miracle attributed to Christianity, but can be used as an example showing how so-called miracles can actually have a rational explanation.
Basically, people can walk on hot coals yet not get injured because of the Leidenfrost effect. When liquids are placed onto surfaces at high temperatures, they do not vaporise as quickly as one might think because the part of the liquid in contact with the hot surface vaporises and acts as an insulator, protecting the liquid from the heat of the hot surface. Globules of water can thus remain on the surfaces of hot skillets for up to 3 minutes. Now when the coal walkers run across the hot coals, they either wet their feet or, because they are nervous, sweat around their foot area. Thus, when they run quickly across the hot coals, they can escape injury.
- Sights and Sounds during adoration
Nightly adoration was supposed to be the most powerful time of the retreat. People related being healed, feeling various sensations and smelling scents.
Now, adoration was held at odd hours during the night, when the retreatants were dazed, tired from a lack of sleep and disoriented after waking up. They�d have been psyched the day before, and all the proceeding days, and in the quiet of the adoration chamber, who knows what they might have thought they saw?
One woman claimed that, during mass adoration, she smelled roses around the Blessed Sacrament. Bah. The Sacrament was surrounded by bowls of scented oil!
Others claimed that they experienced many things during mass adoration. Perhaps they were short of oxygen, or affected by the mass hysteria and all the psyching. See below also for more on how we were emotionally and psychologically manipulated.
Praise the Lord, ye bright angelic choirs with Holy songs of joy...
During the retreat, there was much Praise and Worship. Most sessions started and ended with Praise & Worship. Indeed I sang so much my jaw hurt from all the unconscious dropping of it - a habit inculcated in my 4 years in the RI Choir.
I've never really liked Praise and Worship. For one, it is musically uninteresting. The simple melodies are short and all sound similar, most Praise and Worship songs sound like Country Music and the songs can be classified into one of 2 groups - happy and sad. All the songs end the same way - by repeating the last lines of the last stanza or chorus. Perhaps what's worse is the gestures - clapping, raising of hands, turning around and jumping (though there was none of the latter in Sabah, perhaps in deference to the Middle Aged people. The tunes were so boring that I started trying to harmonise with them (but not very well) � I never thought I would �degenerate� to the level of Zhuomin and friends!
The priest conducting the retreat scolded people who dislike Charismatic worship, lauding it, but everyone has their own way. What makes raising your hands and clapping to Country Music tunes more virtuous or pleasing to God than wearing hair shirts and standing in the middle of rivers like the Irish monks used to do, Gregorian Chant, sitting alone on a pillar in the middle of the Egyptian desert for 20 years, or flogging yourself like the people who, during the Black Death in the 14th Century, used to go from town to town practising self-flagellation?
I was thinking about the purpose of all the song singing, and the shouting the priest did from his pulpit. The former is meant, through the �fun�, loosening up and relaxation to break down your defences and inhibitions and make you more receptive to the messages preached, and to implant suggestions into your head which you will now be more susceptible to, and the latter is meant to wear your defences down and likewise plant suggestions. The shouting was nothing compared to BMT, though, so I have a degree of acquired immunity to this sort of thing and was happily unaffected (I think). Alternately, the songs and shouting were meant to prepare the retreatants spiritually, so it depends on how you look at it. Probably both answers are correct.
The priest�s final weapon was powerful indeed. It involved the priests going around to bless people, and by the end of the session between a third to a half of the room had been felled and was out cold on the floor, and some people were running around the room chattering in tongues. I didn�t experience anything, though *shrug* I think I�m condemned :)
It's a miracle! Praise the Lord!
People love to look on the incidences of "miracles" as evidence of Divine touch and presence. In fact, many of them can be easily explained. Also, more than one religion has miracles - what are the implications of this for there being one True religion? Or none, even?
Further, it seems God has become less powerful in recent years. All the miracles attributed to him have been becoming steadily less powerful and observable. Coincidence, or conspiracy?
- Healing
This is a perennial favourite. Notice that most times, the miraculous healing is of a most subjective ailment - pain. Now, as all knows, pain is all in the mind. To a large extent, pain is psychosomatic - if you think you're going to hurt, you will. One could get a hypno-therapist to plant suggestions in your head, and a similar result would be achieved. The power of this placebo effect is recognised by scientists, which is why in drug trials, the control group is always given a placebo. Now, if the promise of a mere drug can dull and deaden pain, imagine what unshakable, firm faith in one's healing can bring?
As for the more visible types of healing, Bien Kiat told me that he saw a show exposing fake Healings, and it was rather shocking how the tricksters managed to fake the regeneration of a hand, gore and all. All in all, I will not totally dismiss this �miracle�, but I must make the observation that we hear so much about those who are healed - but what about those who aren't? Ah, it must be God's will that they are not healed. And that the people who go to faith healers, trusting in His Power and casting themselves at his feet but later sicken and die should die.
- Tongues
From time to time, people will begin spouting gibberish. They are said to have been given the �Gift of Tongues�.
A cursory analysis of the tongues spouted reveals that they follow a certain pattern, the tongues actually consist of a very few words (one I heard just consisted of �Lalalalala�) and that certain words and phrases occur very often. This makes me wonder what they are actually saying, and how extensive their vocabulary is. Perhaps it is just �Praise the Lord�, and if that is the case, this gift is not very good, for what good is a language if your vocabulary is limited? I might as well learn curse words from various languages and then proclaim that I know a million and one tongues!
Cases have been documented, I believe, of people suddenly speaking weird languages when they suffer brain damage. One case I am certain of is of this Chinese scientist who, when he suffered brain damage, suddenly lost the ability to speak in English and reverted to his native Mandarin. In any case, when someone is emotionally overwhelmed, it would not take too much for him to suddenly spout a few nonsensical words and imagine that he was speaking a new language.
Perhaps the simplest explanation for Tongues � possession by demons. Tada. So much for it being a divine gift.
- Slaying
I suppose people�s minds can become overwhelmed by everything, or they experience a sudden release of built-up tension. And they thus collapse when touched by the Priest but my choir junior - a non-believer - told me he got slain at the Festival of Praise at the Indoor Stadium, and my room mate Clarence told me he got slain before the retreat too, so I will accept that Slaying might not be due to personal, internal influences.
- Walking on Hot Coals
This is not a miracle attributed to Christianity, but can be used as an example showing how so-called miracles can actually have a rational explanation.
Basically, people can walk on hot coals yet not get injured because of the Leidenfrost effect. When liquids are placed onto surfaces at high temperatures, they do not vaporise as quickly as one might think because the part of the liquid in contact with the hot surface vaporises and acts as an insulator, protecting the liquid from the heat of the hot surface. Globules of water can thus remain on the surfaces of hot skillets for up to 3 minutes. Now when the coal walkers run across the hot coals, they either wet their feet or, because they are nervous, sweat around their foot area. Thus, when they run quickly across the hot coals, they can escape injury.
- Sights and Sounds during adoration
Nightly adoration was supposed to be the most powerful time of the retreat. People related being healed, feeling various sensations and smelling scents.
Now, adoration was held at odd hours during the night, when the retreatants were dazed, tired from a lack of sleep and disoriented after waking up. They�d have been psyched the day before, and all the proceeding days, and in the quiet of the adoration chamber, who knows what they might have thought they saw?
One woman claimed that, during mass adoration, she smelled roses around the Blessed Sacrament. Bah. The Sacrament was surrounded by bowls of scented oil!
Others claimed that they experienced many things during mass adoration. Perhaps they were short of oxygen, or affected by the mass hysteria and all the psyching. See below also for more on how we were emotionally and psychologically manipulated.
Praise the Lord, ye bright angelic choirs with Holy songs of joy...
During the retreat, there was much Praise and Worship. Most sessions started and ended with Praise & Worship. Indeed I sang so much my jaw hurt from all the unconscious dropping of it - a habit inculcated in my 4 years in the RI Choir.
I've never really liked Praise and Worship. For one, it is musically uninteresting. The simple melodies are short and all sound similar, most Praise and Worship songs sound like Country Music and the songs can be classified into one of 2 groups - happy and sad. All the songs end the same way - by repeating the last lines of the last stanza or chorus. Perhaps what's worse is the gestures - clapping, raising of hands, turning around and jumping (though there was none of the latter in Sabah, perhaps in deference to the Middle Aged people. The tunes were so boring that I started trying to harmonise with them (but not very well) � I never thought I would �degenerate� to the level of Zhuomin and friends!
The priest conducting the retreat scolded people who dislike Charismatic worship, lauding it, but everyone has their own way. What makes raising your hands and clapping to Country Music tunes more virtuous or pleasing to God than wearing hair shirts and standing in the middle of rivers like the Irish monks used to do, Gregorian Chant, sitting alone on a pillar in the middle of the Egyptian desert for 20 years, or flogging yourself like the people who, during the Black Death in the 14th Century, used to go from town to town practising self-flagellation?
I was thinking about the purpose of all the song singing, and the shouting the priest did from his pulpit. The former is meant, through the �fun�, loosening up and relaxation to break down your defences and inhibitions and make you more receptive to the messages preached, and to implant suggestions into your head which you will now be more susceptible to, and the latter is meant to wear your defences down and likewise plant suggestions. The shouting was nothing compared to BMT, though, so I have a degree of acquired immunity to this sort of thing and was happily unaffected (I think). Alternately, the songs and shouting were meant to prepare the retreatants spiritually, so it depends on how you look at it. Probably both answers are correct.
Post ID: 91825263
On Polytheism
Some people offered the opinion that all monotheistic religions were acceptable, as they were all worshipping the same god. This logic is rather suspect, as I could start my own religion which would worship one God, but it wouldn't necessarily be a real God. This logic also smacks of discrimination against polytheists - who's to say there isn't more than one God, or that he has only one aspect? To the uninitiated, in fact, Christianity appears to be a religion with 3 Gods - or 3 1/2 in the case of Catholicism.
Besides, I can't think of a monotheistic religion which isn't exclusive - John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me". No fervent adherent of a major monotheistic religion worth his salt would tolerate the blasphemous suggestion that he was actually worshipping the same god as those of another faith. So if all of them are worshipping a true God, yet all of the religions are exclusive, then we must assume that there has been a major breakdown in communication between God and his creations. More likely is the fact that, societal development wise, the Primary tier consists mainly of Animistic religions, the Secondary tier of Polytheistic and the Tertiary tier of Monotheistic religions (perhaps the post-Tertiary tier holds but Atheism?).
Luohan Lee
The priest conducting the retreat, whom I have referred to many times, likes to refer to Luohan in his sermons, so some of us called him �Luohan Lee� affectionately.
He bashed some topics merrily, but evaded others. One of countless examples: if murder is bad and we should love our fellow men, what about conscription? As an aside, I really admire the Jehovah�s Witnesses for standing up for their faith even though they have to go to DB for 5 years.
He kept impressing on us that he had a lot of experience and had seen a lot of things, but does that mean he has a monopoly on the truth, as he led us to believe? According to him, this god is rigid and inflexible, and he justified his preaching by taking certain passages from Scripture and then interpreting them as he liked. The ossified beliefs and fundamentalist stances alienated people like me who were not mindless sponges for senseless rhetoric, a pity really.
A roommate and I decided to corner him one night to ask him pertinent questions. Unfortunately, we came away disappointed due to his non-committal, non-intellectual, politically correct answers. Apparently he didn�t look at other religions more than cursorily, yet he was convinced of the superiority of his own, dissembling about how the others were somehow lacking. He claimed that one must search to find the truth, and gave his 2 criteria for a true religion - holiness and love. Which hat he pulled these 2 subjective and contentious rabbits out of he didn�t say, naturally. He said that you must believe - but then belief presupposes God�s existence, so you�re proving something by assuming it - a circular argument. He said what mattered was not doctrine but sanctification - but then the criteria for sanctification seems to be whether someone or something conforms to the doctrine he practices (to him, everything is a sin!). He also revealed that he desired women and wealth too, but he held out for eternal life, something which rather disappointed me and a few others. And in the end, for all his evasive answers, he was still able to preach fierily.
Other priests were a lot more helpful. Most appeared open minded, and the consensus seemed to be - God finds everyone in his own way and in his own time. Well, good for him. If he ever needs me, I�ll be where I always have been. If he doesn�t want me, then I�ll just mind my own business. If he�s so merciful and loving, then why torment people looking for him?
At the end of the retreat. Luohan Lee was asking for testimonies. I was thinking of offering mine, but I didn�t want to be a wet blanket, get stoned or get shouted off by him for being �off point�, so I refrained. Bien Kiat, however, managed to give a testimony while deftly avoiding the issue of religion or �god� so praise be to him :)
Picayune Details
It seems that most people who went were middle aged Chinese - from Singapore, KL, Hong Kong, Miri and Labuan. Before and during the flight there, I was thinking that me and 2 others (one a Raffles Guy GEP) who were born in 1982 were the only Singaporean participants under the age of 40! While flying, it occurred to me that I've been on Ma-laysia Airlines flights so often that I recognised 1-2 of the Air Stewardesses on either trip.
F&N apparently does not wish to unleash its full Alliteration line of Drinks (e.g. Freaky Fruitade) on Singapore - Smashing Strawberry (which tastes like Cough Syrup) and Lucky Lychee are only available in Malaysia. They are all advertised as containing �Real Juice� but most only have Grape Juice. Bah.
Adrian pointed out that from our vantage point on the fourth floor of the Retreat Centre, Mount Kinabalu looked like Mount Doom, sans the Eye of Sauron and the brimstone. And being in the middle of a cloud (when the weather conditions are right) is just magical!
Most of the people who were on the bus I was assigned to send us to the Retreat Centre and back to the Airport were very religious. So religious, that they prayed for even the simplest of things - namely, a bus ride. "We pray that you may keep us safe on our journey to the retreat centre..." This left me speechless. To pray for such a simple thing would be insulting, to say the least. I wonder if any of these people pray before going to the toilet in case a snake comes up the sewage system and nips them while they are sitting on their throne. I would imagine that God isn't a babysitter and we do not need to go to him for every trivial matter, or he wouldn't have put us on this earth.
The vegetables we ate were not bad, the meat less so. The fruit, especially the Sabah Pineapple, was excellent though! Many priests (especially the Indian ones) ate bread at every meal though, so maybe they didn�t like the food (or else we now know why they mostly are quite plump).
I was discussing with one roommate how very religious and devout people can be the most horrible of people - hypocritical, mean and backstabbing. I guess it's Real Life, causing them to rationalise and ignore their actions.
Tim had remarked before that Priests have bad senses of humour, and from the few times I'd heard priests or pastors joke, I got that impression too. Perhaps the reason why they make lame jokes is that they are not supposed to make crude or vulgar jokes - it's sinful to do so!
It seems bass guitarists like genuflecting. And female ones like humping their guitars too :)
�I�m always right� � Elaine. She sounds like my sister!
The Music Ministry people played a song during the Last Dinner, and it was the song that Auntie Mary at Monty�s always listened to! I�ve finally found out that it�s called Jambalaya. And they also played the song used for the Singapore Kindness Movement � I should have known the government would never have composed a new song for the Campaign. Later, one group at another table (rather, floor mat) started singing the Zurangeni (I�ve no idea how to spell it) song that they Malays and Indians in my BMT platoon liked so sing so much. I noticed that they did omit the English lyrics though � �Once the papa met the mama under the mango tree. Then the papa asked the mama, �Will you marry me?�. Then the mama said, �I don�t want�. Then the papa rape the mama under the mango tree.� I related the lyrics to one of the middle aged Chinese aunties, and she was quite scandalised :0
Paul, Timothy�s Uncle, was among those most helpful to me. His efforts seemed to have failed, but I appreciate them, and at least he introduced me to Super Milo � Milo where more than half the cup is filled with Milo powder. Oh, this stuff is potent.
I and some others were at one of the shops near the retreat centre when we saw a male dog nuzzling a female dog, and a drop of liquid fell from its member. Ooh.
Clarence told us that he�s actually featured in the Total Defence commercial that has people in a large group making an arcane symbol near the end. Heh heh.
There were adoration sessions held nightly, but on the first night, my whole room didn�t go due to miscommunication, on the second I fell asleep for most of the adoration, on the third I slept through my alarm, on the fourth I felt like shit for most of the session and on the fifth I was apparently woken up but sat up and went back to sleep, though I have no memory of this at all. I suppose it must be, ah, �God�s Will�.
The priest recalled this email he got, about the importance of not being consumed by work. BUSY - Bound Under Satan's Yoke. How kind of him to offer such a cute acronym. In return, I have a proverb for him - "The Devil finds work for idle hands".
At the airport, I saw the Millennial Edition of the Malaysia Book of Records being sold. I�d always wanted to get this so I can have a picture of the guy who walked backwards, the woman who lived in a room with snakes and the Oldest Man In The World (older, in fact, than the Oldest Person In The World according to the Guinness Book of World Records, but whose claim is recognised only in Malaysia). It was 99 Ringitt but I didn�t mind spending that sum as I was in an impulsive mood. Too bad the book was damaged when I opened it to have a look. At least I saw that there is a record for the first Palm Oil Based Cosmetics (and many other Palm Oil related records too). Malaysia Boleh!
At the airport, too, there was this bookstore with an Islamic section. None of the books had informative blurbs on the back, telling the browser what they were about � especially important since the books were all wrapped up. Instead, the back covers listed the authors� credentials. Bah. There was also a book savaging Evolution, and called Evolutionary Theories �prverted�. Bah x2. Actually I was thinking of getting �Islamic rules on Menstruation and Post-natal Bleeding� but it was 18 Ringitt, so.
The Sabah Song
This was actually supposed to be performed by the Singapore group, but we withdrew at the last minute to avoid offending sensibilities.
To the tune of �Jesus Saves�:
Lyrics by Clarence :)
Father Lee said My People
Come to Sabah
Leave �Sex� Centre
When we come here, find no water
Aiyoyo! should have brought Newater
We thought we were sharing Queen-sized beds
Instead we shared toilets
Although we had a clear, cool wide view
The cow dung stuck to shoes
Chorus:
Monkey see, monkey do
That�s how sin ensnares you
We are healed, blessed and renewed
Jesus saves our people, God bless you
We waited for 72 positions
But we were taught only one *singer kneels*
We stirred and moved when we felt the spirit
Till he said �Hello�
Chorus x2
Some people offered the opinion that all monotheistic religions were acceptable, as they were all worshipping the same god. This logic is rather suspect, as I could start my own religion which would worship one God, but it wouldn't necessarily be a real God. This logic also smacks of discrimination against polytheists - who's to say there isn't more than one God, or that he has only one aspect? To the uninitiated, in fact, Christianity appears to be a religion with 3 Gods - or 3 1/2 in the case of Catholicism.
Besides, I can't think of a monotheistic religion which isn't exclusive - John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me". No fervent adherent of a major monotheistic religion worth his salt would tolerate the blasphemous suggestion that he was actually worshipping the same god as those of another faith. So if all of them are worshipping a true God, yet all of the religions are exclusive, then we must assume that there has been a major breakdown in communication between God and his creations. More likely is the fact that, societal development wise, the Primary tier consists mainly of Animistic religions, the Secondary tier of Polytheistic and the Tertiary tier of Monotheistic religions (perhaps the post-Tertiary tier holds but Atheism?).
Luohan Lee
The priest conducting the retreat, whom I have referred to many times, likes to refer to Luohan in his sermons, so some of us called him �Luohan Lee� affectionately.
He bashed some topics merrily, but evaded others. One of countless examples: if murder is bad and we should love our fellow men, what about conscription? As an aside, I really admire the Jehovah�s Witnesses for standing up for their faith even though they have to go to DB for 5 years.
He kept impressing on us that he had a lot of experience and had seen a lot of things, but does that mean he has a monopoly on the truth, as he led us to believe? According to him, this god is rigid and inflexible, and he justified his preaching by taking certain passages from Scripture and then interpreting them as he liked. The ossified beliefs and fundamentalist stances alienated people like me who were not mindless sponges for senseless rhetoric, a pity really.
A roommate and I decided to corner him one night to ask him pertinent questions. Unfortunately, we came away disappointed due to his non-committal, non-intellectual, politically correct answers. Apparently he didn�t look at other religions more than cursorily, yet he was convinced of the superiority of his own, dissembling about how the others were somehow lacking. He claimed that one must search to find the truth, and gave his 2 criteria for a true religion - holiness and love. Which hat he pulled these 2 subjective and contentious rabbits out of he didn�t say, naturally. He said that you must believe - but then belief presupposes God�s existence, so you�re proving something by assuming it - a circular argument. He said what mattered was not doctrine but sanctification - but then the criteria for sanctification seems to be whether someone or something conforms to the doctrine he practices (to him, everything is a sin!). He also revealed that he desired women and wealth too, but he held out for eternal life, something which rather disappointed me and a few others. And in the end, for all his evasive answers, he was still able to preach fierily.
Other priests were a lot more helpful. Most appeared open minded, and the consensus seemed to be - God finds everyone in his own way and in his own time. Well, good for him. If he ever needs me, I�ll be where I always have been. If he doesn�t want me, then I�ll just mind my own business. If he�s so merciful and loving, then why torment people looking for him?
At the end of the retreat. Luohan Lee was asking for testimonies. I was thinking of offering mine, but I didn�t want to be a wet blanket, get stoned or get shouted off by him for being �off point�, so I refrained. Bien Kiat, however, managed to give a testimony while deftly avoiding the issue of religion or �god� so praise be to him :)
Picayune Details
It seems that most people who went were middle aged Chinese - from Singapore, KL, Hong Kong, Miri and Labuan. Before and during the flight there, I was thinking that me and 2 others (one a Raffles Guy GEP) who were born in 1982 were the only Singaporean participants under the age of 40! While flying, it occurred to me that I've been on Ma-laysia Airlines flights so often that I recognised 1-2 of the Air Stewardesses on either trip.
F&N apparently does not wish to unleash its full Alliteration line of Drinks (e.g. Freaky Fruitade) on Singapore - Smashing Strawberry (which tastes like Cough Syrup) and Lucky Lychee are only available in Malaysia. They are all advertised as containing �Real Juice� but most only have Grape Juice. Bah.
Adrian pointed out that from our vantage point on the fourth floor of the Retreat Centre, Mount Kinabalu looked like Mount Doom, sans the Eye of Sauron and the brimstone. And being in the middle of a cloud (when the weather conditions are right) is just magical!
Most of the people who were on the bus I was assigned to send us to the Retreat Centre and back to the Airport were very religious. So religious, that they prayed for even the simplest of things - namely, a bus ride. "We pray that you may keep us safe on our journey to the retreat centre..." This left me speechless. To pray for such a simple thing would be insulting, to say the least. I wonder if any of these people pray before going to the toilet in case a snake comes up the sewage system and nips them while they are sitting on their throne. I would imagine that God isn't a babysitter and we do not need to go to him for every trivial matter, or he wouldn't have put us on this earth.
The vegetables we ate were not bad, the meat less so. The fruit, especially the Sabah Pineapple, was excellent though! Many priests (especially the Indian ones) ate bread at every meal though, so maybe they didn�t like the food (or else we now know why they mostly are quite plump).
I was discussing with one roommate how very religious and devout people can be the most horrible of people - hypocritical, mean and backstabbing. I guess it's Real Life, causing them to rationalise and ignore their actions.
Tim had remarked before that Priests have bad senses of humour, and from the few times I'd heard priests or pastors joke, I got that impression too. Perhaps the reason why they make lame jokes is that they are not supposed to make crude or vulgar jokes - it's sinful to do so!
It seems bass guitarists like genuflecting. And female ones like humping their guitars too :)
�I�m always right� � Elaine. She sounds like my sister!
The Music Ministry people played a song during the Last Dinner, and it was the song that Auntie Mary at Monty�s always listened to! I�ve finally found out that it�s called Jambalaya. And they also played the song used for the Singapore Kindness Movement � I should have known the government would never have composed a new song for the Campaign. Later, one group at another table (rather, floor mat) started singing the Zurangeni (I�ve no idea how to spell it) song that they Malays and Indians in my BMT platoon liked so sing so much. I noticed that they did omit the English lyrics though � �Once the papa met the mama under the mango tree. Then the papa asked the mama, �Will you marry me?�. Then the mama said, �I don�t want�. Then the papa rape the mama under the mango tree.� I related the lyrics to one of the middle aged Chinese aunties, and she was quite scandalised :0
Paul, Timothy�s Uncle, was among those most helpful to me. His efforts seemed to have failed, but I appreciate them, and at least he introduced me to Super Milo � Milo where more than half the cup is filled with Milo powder. Oh, this stuff is potent.
I and some others were at one of the shops near the retreat centre when we saw a male dog nuzzling a female dog, and a drop of liquid fell from its member. Ooh.
Clarence told us that he�s actually featured in the Total Defence commercial that has people in a large group making an arcane symbol near the end. Heh heh.
There were adoration sessions held nightly, but on the first night, my whole room didn�t go due to miscommunication, on the second I fell asleep for most of the adoration, on the third I slept through my alarm, on the fourth I felt like shit for most of the session and on the fifth I was apparently woken up but sat up and went back to sleep, though I have no memory of this at all. I suppose it must be, ah, �God�s Will�.
The priest recalled this email he got, about the importance of not being consumed by work. BUSY - Bound Under Satan's Yoke. How kind of him to offer such a cute acronym. In return, I have a proverb for him - "The Devil finds work for idle hands".
At the airport, I saw the Millennial Edition of the Malaysia Book of Records being sold. I�d always wanted to get this so I can have a picture of the guy who walked backwards, the woman who lived in a room with snakes and the Oldest Man In The World (older, in fact, than the Oldest Person In The World according to the Guinness Book of World Records, but whose claim is recognised only in Malaysia). It was 99 Ringitt but I didn�t mind spending that sum as I was in an impulsive mood. Too bad the book was damaged when I opened it to have a look. At least I saw that there is a record for the first Palm Oil Based Cosmetics (and many other Palm Oil related records too). Malaysia Boleh!
At the airport, too, there was this bookstore with an Islamic section. None of the books had informative blurbs on the back, telling the browser what they were about � especially important since the books were all wrapped up. Instead, the back covers listed the authors� credentials. Bah. There was also a book savaging Evolution, and called Evolutionary Theories �prverted�. Bah x2. Actually I was thinking of getting �Islamic rules on Menstruation and Post-natal Bleeding� but it was 18 Ringitt, so.
The Sabah Song
This was actually supposed to be performed by the Singapore group, but we withdrew at the last minute to avoid offending sensibilities.
To the tune of �Jesus Saves�:
Lyrics by Clarence :)
Father Lee said My People
Come to Sabah
Leave �Sex� Centre
When we come here, find no water
Aiyoyo! should have brought Newater
We thought we were sharing Queen-sized beds
Instead we shared toilets
Although we had a clear, cool wide view
The cow dung stuck to shoes
Chorus:
Monkey see, monkey do
That�s how sin ensnares you
We are healed, blessed and renewed
Jesus saves our people, God bless you
We waited for 72 positions
But we were taught only one *singer kneels*
We stirred and moved when we felt the spirit
Till he said �Hello�
Chorus x2
Post ID: 91825247
Other thoughts
It's been a while since I had vigorous debate, and I wish to thank all who engaged me, most notably my room mates :)
If God is looking for us all, then why is there no religion that claims even 40% of the world's population? It seems that the majority of the world is damned.
One reason why this retreat was supposed to be so �powerful� was that there were many people praying and fasting for it and interceding on behalf of the retreatants. That brings to mind the question of why this god requires people to fast and pray to him to work his stuff. If he is so good, kind and benevolent, would he not do the same regardless of the number of intercessors? This all puts me in the mind of magical rituals, where dozens of channelers are needed to power the sorcerer, and once the Mana is depleted, nothing can be done.
Didn't the descendants of Adam and Eve, and Noah and friends commit Incest? Ooh.
It seems that a lot of people go through their own crises of faith. I'm hardly unique. How dismaying :)
Supposedly, we should praise our Creator because he created us and provides for us and is good to us. However, while the priest was admonishing parents who merely provide for their children - they are merely doing their duty, not loving them - it occurred to me that if we were created, our Creator has the same duty to provide and care for us that our parents has. We should be grateful, yes, but while keeping it in perspective.
There seems to be power in numbers - if you have few adherents, you're a cult. If you have many followers, you have a religion. Just look how the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Raelians are laughed at. All religion involves a degree of incredulity and suspension of disbelief - so why should some be more derided than others? If we really were created by Aliens who came from UFOs, well. The Raelians would be laughing all the way to the bank.
The priest talked about this guy who killed a Japanese soldier who was raping a villager, and related how this tormented him for 40 years. I got the impression he didn't condone the killing, but I would think that not stopping the rape would have been worse - and a worse sin.
We were told that St Paul said we should have no more anger - but we were continually railed at. Hmm.
Since sexual sins are evil, guitars should not be used in Praise and Worship, since the guitar is meant to be shaped like the body of a woman.
I could have jotted many quotes down, mainly of Bad English, as I am wont to do, but I already had too many notes for this essay, so to have gotten the quotes would have driven me crazy. :0
People went there to get healed. I got injured - my right shoulder and my lower back hurt for a few days after carrying the biggest cross (there *are* disadvantages to being big).
The puritan strain of Catholicism preached caused a great reaction in me, but apparently other religions are not as obsessed with sin as Catholicism, and Catholicism has the problem of having to uphold what all the past popes have said, even if they are patently ridiculous. The damage, of sorts, is done already, (un)fortunately. I guess that�s the way the cookie crumbles.
Christ supposedly died for us, but isn�t it very easy to die, and harder to live? Just like it is easy to get married but harder to live married past the Silver Jubilee.
One Indian Priest said that we should choose the religion most comfortable for us. For example Gandhi wanted to become Christian, but was disgusted by Apartheid in South Africa, but he included elements of Christianity into Hinduism. So I ask - what�s the point of religion, and of doctrine, then, if we go shopping for one and choose the least ascetic one, say? Especially since most religions are exclusive and condemn the others.
Perhaps if we were create by a god, this god didn�t care much for us after initiating the Big Bang and setting in place the laws of the Universe. Who knows, this god may even hate being worshipped, like the Lady of Pain.
10) So what happens now?
And now, the part we�ve all been waiting for. The end. I hope I didn�t confuse anyone too badly, and I assure you, it hurt me a lot more than it hurt you! I got a splitting headache after every writing session.
If you�ve got to here, then I encourage you to think upon some of the issues raised with an open mind.
Most people, however, are already entrenched in one school of thought or another, though, so all this might not have any effect. It's rather sad to talk to people who won't even give alternate truths a thought, and carry on the way they are blindly - indeed deliberately, because they are addicted to this drug. "I'm happier with faith, so there". Right. I could be happier with marijuana, but does that mean I should consume it? (I don't think soft drugs are all that bad, but for the sake of argument I'll assume that I am) People refuse to challenge their faith, because, deep down inside, they have a nagging suspicion that they might be wrong.
It's good to try to spread the gospel of truth though, nonetheless.
I did learn some things about forgiveness, letting go and reflection at the retreat, but that wasn�t really the purpose of it. The feeling of liberation is, however, quite unique.
My beef isn't really with the putative god or his existence. More, it's the vagaries of man-made, organised and interpreted religion, which often is used to manipulate people, imbibe them with illiberal and/or conservative beliefs and use their money for questionable causes, all under the guise of following the will of this god. I am revolted. So if you have to follow a religion, keep an open mind and do not follow unquestioningly whatever the demagogue at the pulpit is yelling about. What makes their opinions and views any more right than yours?
So as of now, I leave open the possibility that there might be a divine being, but I do not profess to know how he works, or believe that anybody might; I doubt that he is especially benevolent, loving, have any ideas as to what he might want us to do and perhaps most pertinently, that he wants all of us to worship him and is looking for all of us. So I will carry on living freely, unbound by (m)any superstitions. Perhaps this state of existence for the world is for the best.
What was suggested to me was that God reveals himself in his own way to each of us, and for those who can't feel his presence or don't get touched, he grants them his grace in another way. Sincere, upright people are supposedly taken care of by him even if they are not believers. I was assured that I'd find eventually - but what about the tonnes of people who don't, and die without having done so? There was no satisfactory answer to that.
So do you choose to take the Blue Pill, or the Red Pill? (Yeah, the Matrix is overrated, but this was appropriate, so) Life inside the Matrix may be more palatable, but it isn�t real.
The truth shall set you free.
Further reading � some sites I found useful:
http://members.tripod.com/~rhatheist/quotes2.html
http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/
http://whatsthisthen.netfirms.com/bob.html
http://mythofjesus.org.uk
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com
http://www.daltonator.net/durandal/religion/
http://www.godlovesfags.com
http://mindprod.com/noah.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/christ.htm
http://www.answering-christianity.com/jeremiah8_8.htm
It's been a while since I had vigorous debate, and I wish to thank all who engaged me, most notably my room mates :)
If God is looking for us all, then why is there no religion that claims even 40% of the world's population? It seems that the majority of the world is damned.
One reason why this retreat was supposed to be so �powerful� was that there were many people praying and fasting for it and interceding on behalf of the retreatants. That brings to mind the question of why this god requires people to fast and pray to him to work his stuff. If he is so good, kind and benevolent, would he not do the same regardless of the number of intercessors? This all puts me in the mind of magical rituals, where dozens of channelers are needed to power the sorcerer, and once the Mana is depleted, nothing can be done.
Didn't the descendants of Adam and Eve, and Noah and friends commit Incest? Ooh.
It seems that a lot of people go through their own crises of faith. I'm hardly unique. How dismaying :)
Supposedly, we should praise our Creator because he created us and provides for us and is good to us. However, while the priest was admonishing parents who merely provide for their children - they are merely doing their duty, not loving them - it occurred to me that if we were created, our Creator has the same duty to provide and care for us that our parents has. We should be grateful, yes, but while keeping it in perspective.
There seems to be power in numbers - if you have few adherents, you're a cult. If you have many followers, you have a religion. Just look how the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Raelians are laughed at. All religion involves a degree of incredulity and suspension of disbelief - so why should some be more derided than others? If we really were created by Aliens who came from UFOs, well. The Raelians would be laughing all the way to the bank.
The priest talked about this guy who killed a Japanese soldier who was raping a villager, and related how this tormented him for 40 years. I got the impression he didn't condone the killing, but I would think that not stopping the rape would have been worse - and a worse sin.
We were told that St Paul said we should have no more anger - but we were continually railed at. Hmm.
Since sexual sins are evil, guitars should not be used in Praise and Worship, since the guitar is meant to be shaped like the body of a woman.
I could have jotted many quotes down, mainly of Bad English, as I am wont to do, but I already had too many notes for this essay, so to have gotten the quotes would have driven me crazy. :0
People went there to get healed. I got injured - my right shoulder and my lower back hurt for a few days after carrying the biggest cross (there *are* disadvantages to being big).
The puritan strain of Catholicism preached caused a great reaction in me, but apparently other religions are not as obsessed with sin as Catholicism, and Catholicism has the problem of having to uphold what all the past popes have said, even if they are patently ridiculous. The damage, of sorts, is done already, (un)fortunately. I guess that�s the way the cookie crumbles.
Christ supposedly died for us, but isn�t it very easy to die, and harder to live? Just like it is easy to get married but harder to live married past the Silver Jubilee.
One Indian Priest said that we should choose the religion most comfortable for us. For example Gandhi wanted to become Christian, but was disgusted by Apartheid in South Africa, but he included elements of Christianity into Hinduism. So I ask - what�s the point of religion, and of doctrine, then, if we go shopping for one and choose the least ascetic one, say? Especially since most religions are exclusive and condemn the others.
Perhaps if we were create by a god, this god didn�t care much for us after initiating the Big Bang and setting in place the laws of the Universe. Who knows, this god may even hate being worshipped, like the Lady of Pain.
10) So what happens now?
And now, the part we�ve all been waiting for. The end. I hope I didn�t confuse anyone too badly, and I assure you, it hurt me a lot more than it hurt you! I got a splitting headache after every writing session.
If you�ve got to here, then I encourage you to think upon some of the issues raised with an open mind.
Most people, however, are already entrenched in one school of thought or another, though, so all this might not have any effect. It's rather sad to talk to people who won't even give alternate truths a thought, and carry on the way they are blindly - indeed deliberately, because they are addicted to this drug. "I'm happier with faith, so there". Right. I could be happier with marijuana, but does that mean I should consume it? (I don't think soft drugs are all that bad, but for the sake of argument I'll assume that I am) People refuse to challenge their faith, because, deep down inside, they have a nagging suspicion that they might be wrong.
It's good to try to spread the gospel of truth though, nonetheless.
I did learn some things about forgiveness, letting go and reflection at the retreat, but that wasn�t really the purpose of it. The feeling of liberation is, however, quite unique.
My beef isn't really with the putative god or his existence. More, it's the vagaries of man-made, organised and interpreted religion, which often is used to manipulate people, imbibe them with illiberal and/or conservative beliefs and use their money for questionable causes, all under the guise of following the will of this god. I am revolted. So if you have to follow a religion, keep an open mind and do not follow unquestioningly whatever the demagogue at the pulpit is yelling about. What makes their opinions and views any more right than yours?
So as of now, I leave open the possibility that there might be a divine being, but I do not profess to know how he works, or believe that anybody might; I doubt that he is especially benevolent, loving, have any ideas as to what he might want us to do and perhaps most pertinently, that he wants all of us to worship him and is looking for all of us. So I will carry on living freely, unbound by (m)any superstitions. Perhaps this state of existence for the world is for the best.
What was suggested to me was that God reveals himself in his own way to each of us, and for those who can't feel his presence or don't get touched, he grants them his grace in another way. Sincere, upright people are supposedly taken care of by him even if they are not believers. I was assured that I'd find eventually - but what about the tonnes of people who don't, and die without having done so? There was no satisfactory answer to that.
So do you choose to take the Blue Pill, or the Red Pill? (Yeah, the Matrix is overrated, but this was appropriate, so) Life inside the Matrix may be more palatable, but it isn�t real.
The truth shall set you free.
Further reading � some sites I found useful:
http://members.tripod.com/~rhatheist/quotes2.html
http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/
http://whatsthisthen.netfirms.com/bob.html
http://mythofjesus.org.uk
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com
http://www.daltonator.net/durandal/religion/
http://www.godlovesfags.com
http://mindprod.com/noah.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/christ.htm
http://www.answering-christianity.com/jeremiah8_8.htm
Post ID: 91825237
Who would make a better president Bush or a box of Tic-Tacs? An objective analysis.
Heh.
How to become an obnoxious internet cam whore in five easy steps.
LOL!
"1. Never smile.
2. Write bad poetry, and lots of it.
It's easy, here's a sample to get you started:
fire... burning... agony...
sultry shivers of a dark essence
why am i tortured with this nihilistic existence?
bitter... darkness... despair.
notice the constant lower case? i added that touch to be unique. unique people type in lower case.
3. Turn up the brightness and contrast to hide blemishes in your complexion.
4. Wear stupid trendy box-framed "EMO" glasses.
5. Make a wishlist and sell yourself for it."
On people who are vegetarian because they want to be "humane" (bah) to animals and some more on how vegetarians cause animals to die
The rest of the site's pretty funny too.
Heh.
How to become an obnoxious internet cam whore in five easy steps.
LOL!
"1. Never smile.
2. Write bad poetry, and lots of it.
It's easy, here's a sample to get you started:
fire... burning... agony...
sultry shivers of a dark essence
why am i tortured with this nihilistic existence?
bitter... darkness... despair.
notice the constant lower case? i added that touch to be unique. unique people type in lower case.
3. Turn up the brightness and contrast to hide blemishes in your complexion.
4. Wear stupid trendy box-framed "EMO" glasses.
5. Make a wishlist and sell yourself for it."
On people who are vegetarian because they want to be "humane" (bah) to animals and some more on how vegetarians cause animals to die
The rest of the site's pretty funny too.
Post ID: 91824031
My material is all entered in!
Now for some perfunctory editing and polishing up.
He Who Must Not Be Named's comments on an earlier version:
your skepticism is essentially neo-Jansenism of the Lutheran school
- ie. distaste at orthodoxy, a return to a more mystical
understanding, personal comprehension and moral srepsonsibility
otuside of religious constraint
yes, but your essay actually talks a lot about personal experience and understanding of the divine basis for moral conduct, which is pretty much in line iwth the mystical experience (ie. Sufiism, some of the Waldensian heresies, etc)
Now for some perfunctory editing and polishing up.
He Who Must Not Be Named's comments on an earlier version:
your skepticism is essentially neo-Jansenism of the Lutheran school
- ie. distaste at orthodoxy, a return to a more mystical
understanding, personal comprehension and moral srepsonsibility
otuside of religious constraint
yes, but your essay actually talks a lot about personal experience and understanding of the divine basis for moral conduct, which is pretty much in line iwth the mystical experience (ie. Sufiism, some of the Waldensian heresies, etc)
Post ID: 91782311
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
Saturday, March 29, 2003
Last Sunday wasn't a very good day to do duty. The MO from the other unit was around, so we were all a little nervous, not having the Medical Centre to ourselves. The Medical Centre was swarming with reservists for the first half of the day, and they had problems with the computer network. The person who'd done duty the day before hadn't done his job properly, so I had to help him do what he was supposed to do. People were watching TV until almost 1AM, making it was hard for me to sleep, all the while walking about my freshly mopped floor, and hen my bucket toppled later and the dirty water went all over the floor of the waiting area. And to top it off, when I slammed the door of the documentation room, the Milo in a packet that some idiot had put behind the door splashed onto the floor and I had to mop it up. And to think I'd been looking forward to a nice quiet Sunday to work on my essay... Monday wasn't very pleasant either - I got scolded for something rather trivial - diverting a phone line. And on Tuesday I had to run around the whole morning, busy doing various things.
I've no problem with slacking. Hell, when there's nothing important to do, and slacking won't shift the work to other people, slacking is good. But when there are few people around, or especially when you're on duty...
We're getting a lot of arrows now and we are totally maxed out and our strength is taxed daily. Argh. I hope we get new medics in June, or we're definitely dead after Yong Siang, Allan and Boon Huat ORD.
Due to the Army's obsession with safety (at least better than neglecting it), we're being forced to come up with Safety Slogans. I have some choice ones to share:
- Be safe, don't train
- Don't run, no sprain
- Know your limits. Downgrade.
This slogan thing is darn familiar. Dare I say 'Communist'?
SARS is here. Our lips are sealed. Did someone say 'Communist' again?
We went to SAFTI to cover the COC for the Chief of Defence. We were required to cover the reception. Wth. Anyhow the canteen serves very nice fruit juice. I especially liked the Sarawak Pineapple and Mango Juices. The Mess also has nice Root Beer floats, which at $1.50 for a can of Root Beer and 2 scoops of Ice Cream is very cheap. Big pity it's Swill and not A&W though!
We had to wear masks today which look like sanitary pads and smell like fish. I wonder if there's a connection :0
I have a new motto for BMTC. "Excel Through Basics" doesn't quite describe BMTC's mission well enough. I think "Knock it Down!" is much better :)
Someone else has started using an electric toothbrush in camp! Influenced by me, no doubt!
Many Regulars in the Army like to bully the NSFs and come up with ways to waste our time. I think 'Professionalism' shouldn't be a Core Value, at least not of the Army.
Our Unarmed Combat Instructor said he was going to ORD, and somehow he seemed very enthusiastic to show us parts of the new UC syllabus which we will hopefully escape. It looks awfully tough, wearing boots and standing on the field, and with lots of throws.
I think I haven't gotten release for too long. I was knocked down in a semi-friendly way, and the knocking down served as a catalyst, and I started crying for no reason, so I had to go to a corner to hide. Tim claims twas the physical exercise under coercion, but I had rather strenuous company PT the day before and apart from weird antics brought on my exhaustion, nothing untoward happened.
There was this advertisement on TV, with 2 girls with long hair. They looked very happy, and one went onto another's bed and then they started playing. I was guessing that this was an ad for either hair products or sanitary pads. In the end, it was for contact lenses.
I collected my customised insoles from Tan Tock Seng on Monday. They feel rather odd - the support is a new feeling. I suppose this is what getting a bra for the first time feels like. Too bad the insoles have a lifespan of but one year.
I wasn't feeling very upbeat on Monday, but after some time out of camp on my aforementioned Medical Appointment I began to feel better. Novena must have good vibes for raising the spirits (or maybe it was the hormones in the chicken I ate). It is said that town air makes you free - in Medieval Times, serfs who ran away from their masters and lived in towns for a year and a day became free men. In Singapore, doing that with the slavemasters makes you a deserter. Oh well.
Ban Xiong came up with a hypothesis about Vanilla Coke - it only tastes nice Virgin, and not On The Rocks. I'd tend to agree!
I seem to be growing senile in my dotage. I keep repeating certain catchphrases and telling people things I have told them aleady!
I was rather heartened to see an article in Monday's Today, by Ravi Veloo. The article is headlined, "For the sake of S'pore the PAP should split" and the blurb says, "When you crush alternative opinions steadily with a sledgehammer in the name of pragmatism and social unity, you encourage people not to have any strong opinions". Indeed. Just look at what happened to the all of 6 people who protested the Iraqi War outside the US Embassy. They try to impose conformity and uniformity and then scratch their heads wondering why the youth are either ignorant and/or apathetic. And they lambast us for not caring and avoiding politics! On a side tangent: It is popular to villify people like me for being ungrateful and the like. At least I still care. Sometimes, I wonder why I still bother.
I was in Popular bookstore and I saw a book - "How to write Romantic Fiction". Hah! I would've bought it but for the price. I also saw an Omega Megazord - $80! That's daylight robbery. What I actually bought during that visit, after browsing through all the items, was this book called "Butch and Girl Talk". It is published by VJ Times and though I couldn't find the name of the author/editor anywhere, it says "Sabariah" on the back so I assume that is her/its name. The book has no blurb, no preface, no editor's note - in fact, almost nothing, except for publication information, the main content of the book and an appeal for help for the next book. The cover shows 2 stylised female forms carved in bas-relief leaping lithely.
By now you'll probably have guessed at the content of the book - it's about butches. This book seems to comprise stories from butches - fragments from their lives. Most stories are sympathetic, but a few give the idea that being butch is unnatural and wrong. The bulk of the stories are very short, inconclusive and satisfying, like snippets from a conversation, which irked me immensely, but since the stories are real and presumably written by the protagonists themselves, who aren't skilled at writing and expanding their retellings, I'll have to be more tolerant. As with much Singapore fiction, the standard of English in this book is not up to par. I found myself cringing at many points in the book - on every paragraph, sometimes. I hope the impression I get of shoddy editing is warranted because the editor didn't want to spoil the stories - and not because he/she sucks. A few stories are only peripherally related to butches - the conflict is acutually about something else, like gossip - it's just that the main character happens to be a butch, but her butch-dom has no bearing on the story.
All in all, I wouldn't recommend this book as a good way to spend $12.48 unless you've exotic tastes, like me.
I'm not some way more into Fast Food Nation. The book's overwhelming message seems to be that the Fast Food industry is exploiting everyone. The key in my opinion, however, is that most people and groups *choose* to be exploited, so you can't blame the Fast Food companies totally.
Quotes:
Now I don't dare to go out. Everywhere I go, someone knows me... "Sir!"... One company, 190 recruits.c
Yay, yay, yay, yay! [Claps hands] [Me: Why're you so happy?] I see you then I'm happy. You're very cheerful. You're a happy baby
People with names like 'Judith' are usually debaters
[On the AJC Class Photo] They don't look like horses. I don't know what horses look like... They don't have tails... They're wearing skirts.
You're the only person I dare to speak Mandarin to... You're the only one who can understand my Mandarin.
[Me: Why are Army females all chubby?] The army makes them chubby so they'll be ugly. Maybe the Army Recruitment Centre only accepts chubby females so the males won't be distracted.
[On IVing pateints] It's for you all to practice. If he really needs a lot of fluid we will send him to hospital.
[Me on his handphone wallpaper: Why does your Jap girl like to do this? *I lean forward and use my upper arms to compress my chest so my cleavage is enhanced*] Don't do that! Don't do that!
You laugh like a schoolgirl
What's a better word for underlings? [Me: Minions]
I've no problem with slacking. Hell, when there's nothing important to do, and slacking won't shift the work to other people, slacking is good. But when there are few people around, or especially when you're on duty...
We're getting a lot of arrows now and we are totally maxed out and our strength is taxed daily. Argh. I hope we get new medics in June, or we're definitely dead after Yong Siang, Allan and Boon Huat ORD.
Due to the Army's obsession with safety (at least better than neglecting it), we're being forced to come up with Safety Slogans. I have some choice ones to share:
- Be safe, don't train
- Don't run, no sprain
- Know your limits. Downgrade.
This slogan thing is darn familiar. Dare I say 'Communist'?
SARS is here. Our lips are sealed. Did someone say 'Communist' again?
We went to SAFTI to cover the COC for the Chief of Defence. We were required to cover the reception. Wth. Anyhow the canteen serves very nice fruit juice. I especially liked the Sarawak Pineapple and Mango Juices. The Mess also has nice Root Beer floats, which at $1.50 for a can of Root Beer and 2 scoops of Ice Cream is very cheap. Big pity it's Swill and not A&W though!
We had to wear masks today which look like sanitary pads and smell like fish. I wonder if there's a connection :0
I have a new motto for BMTC. "Excel Through Basics" doesn't quite describe BMTC's mission well enough. I think "Knock it Down!" is much better :)
Someone else has started using an electric toothbrush in camp! Influenced by me, no doubt!
Many Regulars in the Army like to bully the NSFs and come up with ways to waste our time. I think 'Professionalism' shouldn't be a Core Value, at least not of the Army.
Our Unarmed Combat Instructor said he was going to ORD, and somehow he seemed very enthusiastic to show us parts of the new UC syllabus which we will hopefully escape. It looks awfully tough, wearing boots and standing on the field, and with lots of throws.
I think I haven't gotten release for too long. I was knocked down in a semi-friendly way, and the knocking down served as a catalyst, and I started crying for no reason, so I had to go to a corner to hide. Tim claims twas the physical exercise under coercion, but I had rather strenuous company PT the day before and apart from weird antics brought on my exhaustion, nothing untoward happened.
There was this advertisement on TV, with 2 girls with long hair. They looked very happy, and one went onto another's bed and then they started playing. I was guessing that this was an ad for either hair products or sanitary pads. In the end, it was for contact lenses.
I collected my customised insoles from Tan Tock Seng on Monday. They feel rather odd - the support is a new feeling. I suppose this is what getting a bra for the first time feels like. Too bad the insoles have a lifespan of but one year.
I wasn't feeling very upbeat on Monday, but after some time out of camp on my aforementioned Medical Appointment I began to feel better. Novena must have good vibes for raising the spirits (or maybe it was the hormones in the chicken I ate). It is said that town air makes you free - in Medieval Times, serfs who ran away from their masters and lived in towns for a year and a day became free men. In Singapore, doing that with the slavemasters makes you a deserter. Oh well.
Ban Xiong came up with a hypothesis about Vanilla Coke - it only tastes nice Virgin, and not On The Rocks. I'd tend to agree!
I seem to be growing senile in my dotage. I keep repeating certain catchphrases and telling people things I have told them aleady!
I was rather heartened to see an article in Monday's Today, by Ravi Veloo. The article is headlined, "For the sake of S'pore the PAP should split" and the blurb says, "When you crush alternative opinions steadily with a sledgehammer in the name of pragmatism and social unity, you encourage people not to have any strong opinions". Indeed. Just look at what happened to the all of 6 people who protested the Iraqi War outside the US Embassy. They try to impose conformity and uniformity and then scratch their heads wondering why the youth are either ignorant and/or apathetic. And they lambast us for not caring and avoiding politics! On a side tangent: It is popular to villify people like me for being ungrateful and the like. At least I still care. Sometimes, I wonder why I still bother.
I was in Popular bookstore and I saw a book - "How to write Romantic Fiction". Hah! I would've bought it but for the price. I also saw an Omega Megazord - $80! That's daylight robbery. What I actually bought during that visit, after browsing through all the items, was this book called "Butch and Girl Talk". It is published by VJ Times and though I couldn't find the name of the author/editor anywhere, it says "Sabariah" on the back so I assume that is her/its name. The book has no blurb, no preface, no editor's note - in fact, almost nothing, except for publication information, the main content of the book and an appeal for help for the next book. The cover shows 2 stylised female forms carved in bas-relief leaping lithely.
By now you'll probably have guessed at the content of the book - it's about butches. This book seems to comprise stories from butches - fragments from their lives. Most stories are sympathetic, but a few give the idea that being butch is unnatural and wrong. The bulk of the stories are very short, inconclusive and satisfying, like snippets from a conversation, which irked me immensely, but since the stories are real and presumably written by the protagonists themselves, who aren't skilled at writing and expanding their retellings, I'll have to be more tolerant. As with much Singapore fiction, the standard of English in this book is not up to par. I found myself cringing at many points in the book - on every paragraph, sometimes. I hope the impression I get of shoddy editing is warranted because the editor didn't want to spoil the stories - and not because he/she sucks. A few stories are only peripherally related to butches - the conflict is acutually about something else, like gossip - it's just that the main character happens to be a butch, but her butch-dom has no bearing on the story.
All in all, I wouldn't recommend this book as a good way to spend $12.48 unless you've exotic tastes, like me.
I'm not some way more into Fast Food Nation. The book's overwhelming message seems to be that the Fast Food industry is exploiting everyone. The key in my opinion, however, is that most people and groups *choose* to be exploited, so you can't blame the Fast Food companies totally.
Quotes:
Now I don't dare to go out. Everywhere I go, someone knows me... "Sir!"... One company, 190 recruits.c
Yay, yay, yay, yay! [Claps hands] [Me: Why're you so happy?] I see you then I'm happy. You're very cheerful. You're a happy baby
People with names like 'Judith' are usually debaters
[On the AJC Class Photo] They don't look like horses. I don't know what horses look like... They don't have tails... They're wearing skirts.
You're the only person I dare to speak Mandarin to... You're the only one who can understand my Mandarin.
[Me: Why are Army females all chubby?] The army makes them chubby so they'll be ugly. Maybe the Army Recruitment Centre only accepts chubby females so the males won't be distracted.
[On IVing pateints] It's for you all to practice. If he really needs a lot of fluid we will send him to hospital.
[Me on his handphone wallpaper: Why does your Jap girl like to do this? *I lean forward and use my upper arms to compress my chest so my cleavage is enhanced*] Don't do that! Don't do that!
You laugh like a schoolgirl
What's a better word for underlings? [Me: Minions]
Post ID: 91603025
Thursday, March 27, 2003
The Story of Bob by David M. Payne
A little rambly at times but this piece is incisive and shows many of the problems with consuming the Opiate of the Masses.
Someone's comments:
'Parody and satire can be a most effective way of pricking the balloon of irrational doctrine. Reaching the mind of the believer is a daunting task at the best of times, but exposing absurdity is often achieved by presenting it in the context of a different kind of absurdity�one designed to force re-examination of those beliefs. Religious dogma is usually an insult to the thinking person�s intelligence, whether it be creationism, original sin through eating an apple, or the claim that the appearance of one man at a single time and place is the sole source of universal salvation. Parody and satire are themselves a form of reciprocal insult to jolt the believer into seeing his ideas in a different light and bring home the irrationality of it all. Clever pieces of parody like �The Story of Bob� (and they have to be clever, and well-written) can sometimes do more to effect that jolt than even a good academic book on the subject. The truth is, we need both.
I enjoyed David�s wit and ingenious repetition of motifs, and I applaud his treatment of the �Isms��those modern bedevilments of atheism which the believer likes to throw in our faces. Nicely neutralized and deflated in a couple of paragraphs. And yes, the �call to Bob.� Too bad it weren�t that easy, we could all go home and do something else. It would all be so funny, if it didn�t reveal the truly tragic situation the human race has managed to mire itself in as part of a process of evolution that really has no intelligent mind behind it. Rather, evolution, in its own mindless wisdom, has thrown up its own intelligence to create the needed direction. In David�s Story of Bob, that force is 'the freethinkers.'"
If you're grounded by SARS, you can also try this:
Historical Jesus or Jesus Myth: The Jesus Puzzle
More stolen stuff:
The Age of Reason
"Today, parents, churches and even some schools teach our children irrational views on the history and age of the earth, the development and diversity of life. Sending them to university to obtain any kind of science degree while believing that the world is less than 10,000 years old, or that evolution is an atheist plot, is like sending them to study obstetrics or gynecology still believing that the stork brings babies... People are cast adrift from the one secure basis of knowledge and laid open to superstition and outlandish ideas, to an emotional dependence on otherworldly delusions. Dogma based on ancient petrified writings discourages the development of our own wisdom to determine proper ethical behavior. It fosters prejudice and discrimination against homosexuals; it works to deny women the right to control their own bodies and life choices; it endangers a wide range of human rights. Proscription against the practice of birth control as being a contravention of "God�s law" threatens to dig the grave of the planet through overpopulation. Belief in angels and devils and supernatural forces fosters superstition, mental instability, the undermining of scientific and rational views of the world. Faith systems which regard this life as of lesser importance, an antechamber to some other, unseen and undetectable dimension, outlooks which denigrate the life and world and bodies we live in as evil, fraught with dangers and temptations which jeopardize our eternal fates�such things cannot help but impede the improvement of our existing world and the progress we could be making in social and intellectual advancement. Not to mention the development of a healthy human spirit.
When beliefs and attitudes toward the world are not based on evidence and scientific investigation they can never be universal. Not all people and societies will come up with the same irrational beliefs. This variety of irrationalities sows division, conflict, even war and terrorism. It fosters prejudice and racism (since specific races tend to have specific religious beliefs). Science and rationality, on the other hand, are the great levelers, the great unifiers. Natural laws demonstrable in the laboratory, views based on logic and reason, will be true anywhere in the world, in any society."
INGERSOLL'S VOW
Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899) was a famous attorney and orator whose brilliant lectures drew thousands. As a political figure, he came close to achieving the Republican party's nomination for governor of Illinois, but prejudice and intolerance denied him the opportunity because he was an atheist.
When I became convinced that the universe is natural�that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world�not even in infinite space.
I was free�free to think, to express my thoughts�free to live to my own ideal�free to use all my faculties, all my senses�free to spread imagination's wings�free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope�free to judge and determine for myself�free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the "inspired" books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past�free from popes and priests�free from all the "called" and "set apart"�free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies�free from the fear of eternal pain�free from the winged monsters of the night�free from devils, ghosts, and gods.
For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought�no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings�no chains for my limbs�no lashes for my back�no fires for my flesh�no master's frown or threat�no following another's steps�no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.
And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain�for the freedom of labor and thought�to those who proudly mounted scaffold's stairs�to those whose flesh was scarred and torn�to those by fire consumed�to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still.
Most people, however, are already entrenched in one school of thought or another, though, so all this might not have any effect. It's rather sad to talk to people who won't even give alternate truths a thought, and carry on the way they are blindly - indeed deliberately, because they are addicted to this drug. "I'm happier with faith, so there". Right. I could be happier with marijuana, but does that mean I should consume it? (I don't think soft drugs are all that bad, but for the sake of argument I'll assume that I am)
It's good to try to spread the gospel of truth though, nonetheless.
A little rambly at times but this piece is incisive and shows many of the problems with consuming the Opiate of the Masses.
Someone's comments:
'Parody and satire can be a most effective way of pricking the balloon of irrational doctrine. Reaching the mind of the believer is a daunting task at the best of times, but exposing absurdity is often achieved by presenting it in the context of a different kind of absurdity�one designed to force re-examination of those beliefs. Religious dogma is usually an insult to the thinking person�s intelligence, whether it be creationism, original sin through eating an apple, or the claim that the appearance of one man at a single time and place is the sole source of universal salvation. Parody and satire are themselves a form of reciprocal insult to jolt the believer into seeing his ideas in a different light and bring home the irrationality of it all. Clever pieces of parody like �The Story of Bob� (and they have to be clever, and well-written) can sometimes do more to effect that jolt than even a good academic book on the subject. The truth is, we need both.
I enjoyed David�s wit and ingenious repetition of motifs, and I applaud his treatment of the �Isms��those modern bedevilments of atheism which the believer likes to throw in our faces. Nicely neutralized and deflated in a couple of paragraphs. And yes, the �call to Bob.� Too bad it weren�t that easy, we could all go home and do something else. It would all be so funny, if it didn�t reveal the truly tragic situation the human race has managed to mire itself in as part of a process of evolution that really has no intelligent mind behind it. Rather, evolution, in its own mindless wisdom, has thrown up its own intelligence to create the needed direction. In David�s Story of Bob, that force is 'the freethinkers.'"
If you're grounded by SARS, you can also try this:
Historical Jesus or Jesus Myth: The Jesus Puzzle
More stolen stuff:
The Age of Reason
"Today, parents, churches and even some schools teach our children irrational views on the history and age of the earth, the development and diversity of life. Sending them to university to obtain any kind of science degree while believing that the world is less than 10,000 years old, or that evolution is an atheist plot, is like sending them to study obstetrics or gynecology still believing that the stork brings babies... People are cast adrift from the one secure basis of knowledge and laid open to superstition and outlandish ideas, to an emotional dependence on otherworldly delusions. Dogma based on ancient petrified writings discourages the development of our own wisdom to determine proper ethical behavior. It fosters prejudice and discrimination against homosexuals; it works to deny women the right to control their own bodies and life choices; it endangers a wide range of human rights. Proscription against the practice of birth control as being a contravention of "God�s law" threatens to dig the grave of the planet through overpopulation. Belief in angels and devils and supernatural forces fosters superstition, mental instability, the undermining of scientific and rational views of the world. Faith systems which regard this life as of lesser importance, an antechamber to some other, unseen and undetectable dimension, outlooks which denigrate the life and world and bodies we live in as evil, fraught with dangers and temptations which jeopardize our eternal fates�such things cannot help but impede the improvement of our existing world and the progress we could be making in social and intellectual advancement. Not to mention the development of a healthy human spirit.
When beliefs and attitudes toward the world are not based on evidence and scientific investigation they can never be universal. Not all people and societies will come up with the same irrational beliefs. This variety of irrationalities sows division, conflict, even war and terrorism. It fosters prejudice and racism (since specific races tend to have specific religious beliefs). Science and rationality, on the other hand, are the great levelers, the great unifiers. Natural laws demonstrable in the laboratory, views based on logic and reason, will be true anywhere in the world, in any society."
INGERSOLL'S VOW
Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899) was a famous attorney and orator whose brilliant lectures drew thousands. As a political figure, he came close to achieving the Republican party's nomination for governor of Illinois, but prejudice and intolerance denied him the opportunity because he was an atheist.
When I became convinced that the universe is natural�that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world�not even in infinite space.
I was free�free to think, to express my thoughts�free to live to my own ideal�free to use all my faculties, all my senses�free to spread imagination's wings�free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope�free to judge and determine for myself�free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the "inspired" books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past�free from popes and priests�free from all the "called" and "set apart"�free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies�free from the fear of eternal pain�free from the winged monsters of the night�free from devils, ghosts, and gods.
For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought�no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings�no chains for my limbs�no lashes for my back�no fires for my flesh�no master's frown or threat�no following another's steps�no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.
And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain�for the freedom of labor and thought�to those who proudly mounted scaffold's stairs�to those whose flesh was scarred and torn�to those by fire consumed�to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still.
Most people, however, are already entrenched in one school of thought or another, though, so all this might not have any effect. It's rather sad to talk to people who won't even give alternate truths a thought, and carry on the way they are blindly - indeed deliberately, because they are addicted to this drug. "I'm happier with faith, so there". Right. I could be happier with marijuana, but does that mean I should consume it? (I don't think soft drugs are all that bad, but for the sake of argument I'll assume that I am)
It's good to try to spread the gospel of truth though, nonetheless.
Post ID: 91470865
Sunday, March 23, 2003
Gah. Every time this happens, I tell myself - never again, but a few months later I inevitably succumb to temptation again.
I fell asleep at 9:00pm or so, see, and woke at around 4am. Gah.
Luckily my mother had helped me to do some things, so I'm grateful to and for her.
I went swimming with Yiliang, Andrew and Nigel yesterday. I haven't been swimming for a while - since my BMT categorisation test (aqua-jogging doesn't count), so it was nice to frolick for a while in the water... until the security guards came to chase us off, that is. Maybe they didn't like our 'Hiroshima's and 'New World Order's (I've no idea what the hell those terms refer to, but Yiliang claims that those who have watched Cradle 2 The Grave will know). Nigel's friend lives in the condo whose pool we were using, but he wasn't around at the moment, see.
So after being unceremoniously shooed off the premises, we had a spot of early lunch, then went down to Bugis. Somehow, I started feeling very drained on the train, and a malaise afflicted me for the rest of the day, and I was uncharacteristically laconic, even.
The basement of Bugis Junction was filled with all manner of Japanese outlets selling assorted snacks. There was one shop selling 'Japanese Sponge Cakes' and when I saw that they were made from 'Japanese flour', 'Japanese honey' and other 'Japanese' ingredients, alarm bells started ringing in my head. Now a general rule for Japanese things is that they are nice, but come in small quantities. This is especially evident with food products made in Japan, thanks to the sky-high tariff protection that the lazy and spoilt Japanese farmers (but aren't most rich world farmers that way, demanding protection as if it were their birthright?) enjoy. Yiliang bought two packs of 15 sponge cakes, and indeed they weren't as nice as the free samples, while being comparable in price to his cigarettes!
From then till I left, Andrew was shopping for the best price on a Clie SJ22 / SJ30/ SJ33. And he kept cajoling me into buying one! I did not give in to his blandisments, though. I did get to try out some Clies through the course of the day, however. The profusion of models is really overwhelming. I think Sony wants to try to overwhelm the consumer so they can't compare models effectively :) Clie buttons all suck, especially the Up/Down buttons. Palm buttons are much easier to depress. I might understand if the application buttons were depressed so the unit would not turn on accidentally, but why did Sony make the Up/Down buttons so hard to press? Argh. The Clie styli are also pathetically small. I also don't like the brushed metal lookof Clies. Maybe I'm conservative. Or maybe I'm just too used to Palm models. I tried writing on Nigel's Clie but it seems my Grafitti skills have deteriorated after a year of atrophy. Oh well.
Later we went to Sim Lim to look at even more toys (and to try to find freebies for Andrew's Clie). On the way we had dessert at a hawker centre - the heat was even worse than if we were in the sun. No wonder air-conditioned places can afford to charge such a high premium. I asked for an Ice Jelly, but the stupid hawker gave me an Ice Jelly cocktail, but by then I was too dazed to complain.
YMCA was conducting a blitz on Saturday, and students with their cans were all over Singapore. Earlier Andrew had graced one girl with $2 at Choa Chu Kang, a most generous donation, ad on the way to Sim Lim I donated $0.50 to a Raffles Guy (which earned me a rebuke, of sorts, from the former - "Donate to your own school right!"), but refused the sticker she proferred, as I have decided to forswear these stupid flag day stickers.
At Sim Lim, there were many nice things - not only PDAs - that I want to get, like a CD-RW drive and MP3 player, but I'm just too lazy. Maybe after I ORD. Also, in a secluded corner near the top, there was this girl selling pirated CDs with Application Software from the top of a carton. Looks like the raids can't deter the hardcore sellers from ths hallowed haven of priacy!
As I work laboriously on my tract (which few will start on and even fewer will finish), bringing it slowly to completion, I realise that my beef isn't really with the putative god or his existence.
More, it's the vagaries of man-made, organised and interpreted religion, which often is used to manipulate people, imbibe them with illiberal and/or conservative beliefs and use their money for questionable causes, all under the guise of following the will of this god. Bah.
I fell asleep at 9:00pm or so, see, and woke at around 4am. Gah.
Luckily my mother had helped me to do some things, so I'm grateful to and for her.
I went swimming with Yiliang, Andrew and Nigel yesterday. I haven't been swimming for a while - since my BMT categorisation test (aqua-jogging doesn't count), so it was nice to frolick for a while in the water... until the security guards came to chase us off, that is. Maybe they didn't like our 'Hiroshima's and 'New World Order's (I've no idea what the hell those terms refer to, but Yiliang claims that those who have watched Cradle 2 The Grave will know). Nigel's friend lives in the condo whose pool we were using, but he wasn't around at the moment, see.
So after being unceremoniously shooed off the premises, we had a spot of early lunch, then went down to Bugis. Somehow, I started feeling very drained on the train, and a malaise afflicted me for the rest of the day, and I was uncharacteristically laconic, even.
The basement of Bugis Junction was filled with all manner of Japanese outlets selling assorted snacks. There was one shop selling 'Japanese Sponge Cakes' and when I saw that they were made from 'Japanese flour', 'Japanese honey' and other 'Japanese' ingredients, alarm bells started ringing in my head. Now a general rule for Japanese things is that they are nice, but come in small quantities. This is especially evident with food products made in Japan, thanks to the sky-high tariff protection that the lazy and spoilt Japanese farmers (but aren't most rich world farmers that way, demanding protection as if it were their birthright?) enjoy. Yiliang bought two packs of 15 sponge cakes, and indeed they weren't as nice as the free samples, while being comparable in price to his cigarettes!
From then till I left, Andrew was shopping for the best price on a Clie SJ22 / SJ30/ SJ33. And he kept cajoling me into buying one! I did not give in to his blandisments, though. I did get to try out some Clies through the course of the day, however. The profusion of models is really overwhelming. I think Sony wants to try to overwhelm the consumer so they can't compare models effectively :) Clie buttons all suck, especially the Up/Down buttons. Palm buttons are much easier to depress. I might understand if the application buttons were depressed so the unit would not turn on accidentally, but why did Sony make the Up/Down buttons so hard to press? Argh. The Clie styli are also pathetically small. I also don't like the brushed metal lookof Clies. Maybe I'm conservative. Or maybe I'm just too used to Palm models. I tried writing on Nigel's Clie but it seems my Grafitti skills have deteriorated after a year of atrophy. Oh well.
Later we went to Sim Lim to look at even more toys (and to try to find freebies for Andrew's Clie). On the way we had dessert at a hawker centre - the heat was even worse than if we were in the sun. No wonder air-conditioned places can afford to charge such a high premium. I asked for an Ice Jelly, but the stupid hawker gave me an Ice Jelly cocktail, but by then I was too dazed to complain.
YMCA was conducting a blitz on Saturday, and students with their cans were all over Singapore. Earlier Andrew had graced one girl with $2 at Choa Chu Kang, a most generous donation, ad on the way to Sim Lim I donated $0.50 to a Raffles Guy (which earned me a rebuke, of sorts, from the former - "Donate to your own school right!"), but refused the sticker she proferred, as I have decided to forswear these stupid flag day stickers.
At Sim Lim, there were many nice things - not only PDAs - that I want to get, like a CD-RW drive and MP3 player, but I'm just too lazy. Maybe after I ORD. Also, in a secluded corner near the top, there was this girl selling pirated CDs with Application Software from the top of a carton. Looks like the raids can't deter the hardcore sellers from ths hallowed haven of priacy!
As I work laboriously on my tract (which few will start on and even fewer will finish), bringing it slowly to completion, I realise that my beef isn't really with the putative god or his existence.
More, it's the vagaries of man-made, organised and interpreted religion, which often is used to manipulate people, imbibe them with illiberal and/or conservative beliefs and use their money for questionable causes, all under the guise of following the will of this god. Bah.
Post ID: 91195678
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