Notes on life, art, photography and technology, by a Danish dropout bohemian.
When you drink the water, remember the river.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Stob '99
Stob, circa 1979. I like the tones. The special look is due to my patented flash+long exposure+movement technique. (R) (I'm told it existed before I used it, but I haven't seen it.) Oh, it's a self-portrait by the way.
18 comments:
Anonymous
said...
are you bored or just on an ego trip with these kid photos of yourself?
He's not bored, he's actually hard working. See, this is a self-timer photograph, and there's not much time left to arrange the photo and act as being bored or on an ego trip before the picture is taken. Take it as a compliment, Eolake, that the photograph actually conveys this impression to lisa marie. A typical youth in a well-composed photograph (remember the genius was still young). Well done Eolake. I like the photograph. Gen.
Oh, here I seem to have missed Lisa's point (brain cells, don't let me down). I thought li/ma was referring to Eo's look/countenance in the picture. He does seem to be a bit bored here eh? But instead li/ma seems to object to Eo's publishing his youth photos in general, one by one over a period of time (which would indeed be an "ego-trip"). Ok, Eolake, please keep on publishing, because a the images of yourself you've published up to now are of a very high technical quality and b they are artful.
And Lisa Marie, I think you will come to like (the pics of) this wonderful and handsome man Eolake very soon.
This shows partly who you once were, and partly who you already were. The evolving and the constant.
Is it "ego trip" to gaze at one's past self? You could also call it "inside traveling"... Eolake isn't boring us with how his life was in the "good old times", only how his photographic methods were. (Um... not to say that they are boring... I mean... oh well, never mind!!!) Many envied people never look back, because they hate it that they once were something other ("lesser"?) than what they have become. It takes emotional maturity to accept that we were not always as knowing/ rich/ powerful/ wise as we are now... "Aw, mom!... Do you HAVE to show my baby pictures to my first girlfriend?!?" ;-) [Hint to the teenagers : when a mom does that, it normally means she likes the girl!]
"flash+long exposure+movement technique" Do you mean that you create a "clear over slightly blurry" effect by having the flash enhance a brief part of the faintly lit movement? I'm guessing, because I'm totally amateuristic at photographing.
Many envied people never look back, because they hate it that they once were something other ("lesser"?) than what they have become. It takes emotional maturity to accept that we were not always as knowing/ rich/ powerful/ wise as we are now... (Pascal said.)
Actually Pascal I often embrace my past because I had nothing but Christ and my loving family. I was so poor that once when I was a kid my Mom handed me four shiny new quarters for my birthday and I thought I was rich. And I was rich (not tangible) but deeply loved by my parents and siblings. I've had many dreams come true and some have not. In my youth I often went to bed hungry (not because of any punishment or anything like that) it was because we had nothing to eat in the house. I came from a large family. I'll never forget my roots. It wasn't all good but now I can deeply appreciate those things I never had when I was young. I've lived on the other side. I praise my Lord Jesus for all his blessings.
eolake said... Heck, Terry, when and where did you grow up?
Hi Eolake, I grew up in the sixties and early seventies in southwestern Ohio outside a small town called Sidney. Unemployment was staggering then. All my clothes came from the Salvation Army or Goodwill and thriftshops. At Christmas a sherriff would pull up and deliver toys to us from the charity league. Mom would beg any organization for help because she wanted her six children to have a Christmas. She would secretly cry in the bedroom over our poverty and strife. My father didn't even make minimum wage then working on tractors and combines out in the freezing cold just to pay our $50 rent. But my Father NEVER QUIT and worked his hands until they bled, even working in a gray iron foundry too. At times my eyes still mist up thinking about how rough he had to work to pay for an old farm house that should have been condemned. We had an "out house" also. But used a bucket indoors during the winter. We took turns emptying it. The stench was horrible. Four times a week we'd eat pinto beans and fried potatoes and in the spring the landmaster would let us have sweetcorn from his field. For entertainment we played card games like go fish or crazy eight. And once a week if we were lucky we'd get one bottle of pop. That pepsi tasted so good it'd bring tears to my eyes. Sometimes I wonder how we made it? I think it was because of Jesus holding us together. I know poor, I lived it, I breathed it, it was just who we were. Thanks for asking Eolake.
Holy crud. Just goes to show how snug I was growing up in comfy little Denmark (also in the sixties and seventies), I actually was not aware that such poverty existed in the western world in my lifetime. Not really aware, anyway, I never saw any evidence of it.
"Actually Pascal I often embrace my past" Hey, Terry, it's not MY fault if you're one of the mature few! (But I didn't know you were one of those envied celebrities.) ;-)
"once when I was a kid my Mom handed me four shiny new quarters" At 35, I still like shiny new coins. :-)
"And I was rich (not tangible) but deeply loved" Yeah, I know the feeling... I play daily with a two½ year-old who worships me. And his 3 months-old sister beams as soon as she sees my face! With THAT happening, who needs the power to command the sun to rise, huh? (Unless it's the sun from the Teletubbies show!) I should have guessed from your working experience (in the foundry) that you hadn't exactly been classmates with the US President since kindergarten. (Although... at least, YOU graduated from kindergarten! Your school must've been better than his.) My father sacrified his time with us so he could make a decent living for us in wartime Lebanon. We weren't rich at all, but we never went hungry. I've had good parents. And I still have them! :-)
"eolake said... Heck, Terry, when and where did you grow up?" I wasn't too far off. My initial guess was in the Thirties' Depression. Or in today's USA, thanks to You-Know-Who... (No, not Lord Voldemort, the OTHER "You-Know-Who"!)
"We had an "out house" also. But used a bucket indoors during the winter." It's still like that at my gradma's house today. That damn mayor had promised to have sewers installed in the village by the end of 2001. He did... just far enough for them to reach his own house! But the creep lost the last elections. ):-P
"For entertainment we played card games like go fish or crazy eight." Hey, I know crazy eight! I like it. :-) Both my parents had little to no toys, so they improvised. Here's a hint : if you tie a feather to a bolt with a string to make it fly, make sure there's nobody in the direction where you're throwing!
"Sometimes I wonder how we made it?" Simply because you never know how resilient humans can be until you make them walk the gauntlet. Which I don't exactly advise : they may survive, but often get hurt. "What doesn't kill you OR CRIPPLE YOU makes you stronger." (But nobody mentioned happiness.) Terry, now I understand better your relationship to religion. Believing definitely helps to survive. Especially if in religion you seek courage, not utopic miracles that are always "just around the corner, they have to be". (This is probably why it didn't sink in with me. Poorly taught.)
Now I'm even more glad I wasn't making fun of your hard work. And to think even you had it easy compared to some "extreme" testimonials I read! But these were about families under the Red Khmers regime, and most of them didn't survive starvation.
Causing poverty or letting it happen when you have the power to prevent it is a crime. And a cause of crime, too! For some, there's litterally going to be "Hell to pay" in the Afterlife. I'm sure there are no believers among the corrupt leaders, only hypocrites.
Eolake, I'm a little surprised you still had things like that to learn after the Katrina disaster. Or maybe not watching TV leaves you a bit too ignorant about the world? Most countries still have some grave poverty issues they can't -or won't- resolve yet.
The other day, my parents were talking, and acknowledging that in spite of everything, their generation had it easier than mine. Even putting aside global warming and threats, I hope they weren't TOO right. Because these days, a new civil war in Lebanon seems all BUT unlikely. I smell something foul brewing about.
I am reminded of a proverb they have in Martinique : "Others have war in their countries. Here, we have a volcano." :-/
You could be right, but at least I'm functioning, instead of stewing in my bed in depression, well-informed but unwashed for weeks. (I am not saying everybody would react like that.)
How are you doing now, and your siblings? (Eolake asked)
I've been blessed with two homes, a nice car, a mototcycle, stereos, some money in the bank, a decent 401 K retirement plan. The luxury of AC in my home. I didn't know air conditioning existed growing up or even color televisions. I am super blessed (Today) compared to my youthful days. I don't go hungry anymore. I can buy almost anything I want anymore. I live comfortable. My siblings live comfortable too now. New homes, good credit. I appreciate your interest Eolake and thank you for asking.
Terry, now I understand better your relationship to religion. Believing definitely helps to survive. (Pascal said)
I don't have a religion Pascal. I have a real Saviour whose name is Jesus Christ who's sacrifice on the cross redeemed me from all my sin and kept me from going to hell. Religion is man's idea, Christ is God's answer. Jesus Christ is the greatest Person in my whole life. He loved us so much he literally died for us and he intercedes for me on my behalf to God the Father. Without him I am nothing.
(Pascal said) Now I'm even more glad I wasn't making fun of your hard work. And to think even you had it easy compared to some "extreme" testimonials I read!
Thank you Pascal. And yes I guess in some ways I did have it better than others. (In my youth.) My father taught me the meaning of hard work and dedication. That's why I embrace my past. I never want to forget where I came from.
"I don't have a religion Pascal. I have a real Saviour" Does this mean you see great importance in Jesus but little interest in the cult? That's a side of you I hadn't seen. Mea culpa, I'm slightly influenced by the stereotypes of what I've seen around me. In this country, when you're very much "into Jesus" (figuratively speaking), usually you'll focus a lot on going to church, listening to the priests, and the like. Religion.
"Jesus Christ who's sacrifice on the cross redeemed me from all my sin and kept me from going to hell." I've never been too keen with that idea. Isn't it totally unfair to consider that all those who lived and died before Jesus were deprived of redemption, at least until he came? (Homo sapiens has been around for 50 to 100.000 years, that's a lot of time for some to spend in Purgatory or Hell awaiting salvation...) And why all the delay since Abraham and Moses?... I see the sacrifice on the cross as a "necessary evil", the expectable social price to pay for questioning the clergy of the time, not some necessary bloody holocaust to apease a spiteful divinity or something. Why would forgiveness of the sins depend on Jesus dying on the cross? I don't get it! I've never accepted this "original sin" arbitrary conviction either. Are we all "guilty at birth"? Of WHAT? Being human? Or having an ancestor who once screwed up and bit the apple? Even after the Flood eradicated all the evildoers? It's already enough to be born in debt nowadays, I'm sure God is better at planning than Bush/Cheney. ;-)
A lot of today's teachings seem to very likely be the naive notions of clerics who've had a hard time distinguishing between the spirit and the pre-existing pagan customs. And of their successors, who are too rigidly dogmatic and will never admit there was some very silly stuff said.
My own attitude is : Jesus' message was great in itself, and it doesn't matter to me whether he was the divine son of God or just a mortal man with a lot of wisdom, this is not the source of my respect for him. It's not about the miracles and the feats, to me it's about the spirit, the attitude, the principles, the love. This is why I'll never fear some "sensational" archeological discovery, or some "fateful" Da Vinci code. I'm not worried about the facts and what really happened, I believe in an idea, which has nothing to fear from any historical truth.
Just as I don't care whether his mother conceived while remaining a virgin, or not. Any normal mother deserves respect, and sexuality doesn't "maculate" anybody. (Otherwise, God would be a real pervert for forcing this on us as a condition for the existence of our species, wouldn't He?) It is only the clerics' archaic beliefs that are tainted with weirdly perverted arbitrary notions like "pleasure is sin" (what about the pleasure of praying then?) or "sex is dirty". The "sacred" aspect of virginity is yet another example of ancient well-known pagan customs that contaminated the spiritual character of Christiannism. Halloween (All Hallows' Eve) was deliberately set at the date of Samhain, the celtic Day of the Dead. Christmas "recycled" the Winter Solstice celebrations, while Jesus was most likely born around the Spring. Etc. (Can you imagine the Romans ordering all citizens to travel to their hometowns in snow season? These hebrews were known to revolt at any given motive, by Jove!)
At the limit of this argumentation, it doesn't matter whether the one bringing us these ideas was named Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius, Lao-Tse, Vishnu, Baha'ullah, or whatever. He who is sincere doesn't do such things to have people chanting his name in praise, but because the principle is the only thing that really matters. For instance, who knows the names of Nelson Mandela's parents? Not me. But they sure did a good job in raising that kid of theirs! :-) And this is all that really counts. True generosity is anonymous and entirely uninterested. Even among us poor imperfect humans...
This position of mine is quite relaxing when things like those scandals happen in the Church. I don't need the Clergy, or their prayers, to deliver me some "visa for Heaven", it can only be God's exclusive privilege. And so I can consider the Pope, or Pat Robertson, or the Great Patriarch of my Orthodox Community, or self-appointed muslim teacher Bin Laden, as humans who can very well err and speak nonsense, without feeling that therefore I MUST "convert" to atheism like some people I've met.
But I'm ranting against the "merchants of the Temple" and the likes, while you and I are probably in agreement on most things. At least the fundamentals.
"Religion is man's idea, Christ is God's answer." There. As I was just saying... :-) You and I can discuss about anything, I doubt we'll one day see the debate become a dispute.
"Jesus Christ [...] died for us and he intercedes for me on my behalf to God the Father." I wish it could be done without sacrifice, but a perfect world this is not. I believe our beloved ones also intercede for us from Beyond. And this, even though I'm essentially skeptical about nearly all ghost stories! :-) That's precisely why I enjoy the occasional horror movie as "recreational nonsense".
"I never want to forget where I came from." Honestly accepting yourself as you are, in whole? Man, people like you are the bane of shrinks and cult preachers, you'll lead them all to bankruptcy! ;-)
Isn't it totally unfair to consider that all those who lived and died before Jesus were deprived of redemption, at least until he came? (Pascal said)
My friend Pascal, They were not denied. Before Christ came they sacrificed animals with no blemishes among believing that the messiah would come. When they died they were kept in paradise (safe) until Christ actually came and died then they were permitted access to heaven. (Luke Chapter 16) Please read Romans 10:9. I want to see you in heaven my good friend.
Terry, It's a date, then. ;-) You bring the chocolate peanuts and the nectar, and I'll bring the ambrosia and some angels.
(Forgive me, but it wouldn't be Heaven if you couldn't make jokes there and have a good laugh, right? A place of joy.)
Since Jesus loved the children so much, I think he'd agree with me regarding the importance of laughter.
P.S.: As you had probably guessed, I'm not REALLY a drunken party animal. The thing is, I've got a cold, and the worse I feel, the more I joke. It's a lebanese cultural "thing".
I'll read your references when I'm feeling a bit more valiant.
Stob, circa 1979. I like the tones.
18 comments:
are you bored or just on an ego trip with these kid photos of yourself?
He's not bored, he's actually hard working.
See, this is a self-timer photograph, and there's not much time left to arrange the photo and act as being bored or on an ego trip before the picture is taken.
Take it as a compliment, Eolake, that the photograph actually conveys this impression to lisa marie.
A typical youth in a well-composed photograph (remember the genius was still young).
Well done Eolake. I like the photograph.
Gen.
Lisa, you don't like them?! I'm shocked, *shocked*, I say.
LOL Very nice picture, though I like the subject, too. :)
Oh, here I seem to have missed Lisa's point (brain cells, don't let me down).
I thought li/ma was referring to Eo's look/countenance in the picture. He does seem to be a bit bored here eh?
But instead li/ma seems to object to Eo's publishing his youth photos in general, one by one over a period of time (which would indeed be an "ego-trip").
Ok, Eolake, please keep on publishing, because a the images of yourself you've published up to now are of a very high technical quality and b they are artful.
And Lisa Marie, I think you will come to like (the pics of) this wonderful and handsome man Eolake very soon.
Well, there are not so many left.
Thanks, Hannah.
This shows partly who you once were, and partly who you already were. The evolving and the constant.
Is it "ego trip" to gaze at one's past self? You could also call it "inside traveling"... Eolake isn't boring us with how his life was in the "good old times", only how his photographic methods were. (Um... not to say that they are boring... I mean... oh well, never mind!!!) Many envied people never look back, because they hate it that they once were something other ("lesser"?) than what they have become.
It takes emotional maturity to accept that we were not always as knowing/ rich/ powerful/ wise as we are now... "Aw, mom!... Do you HAVE to show my baby pictures to my first girlfriend?!?" ;-)
[Hint to the teenagers : when a mom does that, it normally means she likes the girl!]
"flash+long exposure+movement technique"
Do you mean that you create a "clear over slightly blurry" effect by having the flash enhance a brief part of the faintly lit movement? I'm guessing, because I'm totally amateuristic at photographing.
Yes, that's it.
Many envied people never look back, because they hate it that they once were something other ("lesser"?) than what they have become.
It takes emotional maturity to accept that we were not always as knowing/ rich/ powerful/ wise as we are now... (Pascal said.)
Actually Pascal I often embrace my past because I had nothing but Christ and my loving family. I was so poor that once when I was a kid my Mom handed me four shiny new quarters for my birthday and I thought I was rich.
And I was rich (not tangible) but deeply loved by my parents and siblings. I've had many dreams come true and some have not.
In my youth I often went to bed hungry (not because of any punishment or anything like that) it was because we had nothing to eat in the house.
I came from a large family. I'll never forget my roots. It wasn't all good but now I can deeply appreciate those things I never had when I was young.
I've lived on the other side. I praise my Lord Jesus for all his blessings.
Heck, Terry, when and where did you grow up?
eolake said...
Heck, Terry, when and where did you grow up?
Hi Eolake,
I grew up in the sixties and early seventies in southwestern Ohio outside a small town called Sidney.
Unemployment was staggering then.
All my clothes came from the Salvation Army or Goodwill and thriftshops. At Christmas a sherriff would pull up and deliver toys to us from the charity league.
Mom would beg any organization for help because she wanted her six children to have a Christmas. She would secretly cry in the bedroom over our poverty and strife.
My father didn't even make minimum wage then working on tractors and combines out in the freezing cold just to pay our $50 rent. But my Father NEVER QUIT and worked his hands until they bled, even working in a gray iron foundry too. At times my eyes still mist up thinking about how rough he had to work to pay for an old farm house that should have been condemned.
We had an "out house" also. But used a bucket indoors during the winter. We took turns emptying it. The stench was horrible.
Four times a week we'd eat pinto beans and fried potatoes and in the spring the landmaster would let us have sweetcorn from his field.
For entertainment we played card games like go fish or crazy eight.
And once a week if we were lucky we'd get one bottle of pop. That pepsi tasted so good it'd bring tears to my eyes.
Sometimes I wonder how we made it? I think it was because of Jesus holding us together. I know poor, I lived it, I breathed it, it was just who we were. Thanks for asking Eolake.
Holy crud.
Just goes to show how snug I was growing up in comfy little Denmark (also in the sixties and seventies), I actually was not aware that such poverty existed in the western world in my lifetime. Not really aware, anyway, I never saw any evidence of it.
How are you doing now, and your siblings?
"Actually Pascal I often embrace my past"
Hey, Terry, it's not MY fault if you're one of the mature few! (But I didn't know you were one of those envied celebrities.) ;-)
"once when I was a kid my Mom handed me four shiny new quarters"
At 35, I still like shiny new coins. :-)
"And I was rich (not tangible) but deeply loved"
Yeah, I know the feeling... I play daily with a two½ year-old who worships me. And his 3 months-old sister beams as soon as she sees my face! With THAT happening, who needs the power to command the sun to rise, huh? (Unless it's the sun from the Teletubbies show!)
I should have guessed from your working experience (in the foundry) that you hadn't exactly been classmates with the US President since kindergarten. (Although... at least, YOU graduated from kindergarten! Your school must've been better than his.)
My father sacrified his time with us so he could make a decent living for us in wartime Lebanon. We weren't rich at all, but we never went hungry. I've had good parents. And I still have them! :-)
"eolake said...
Heck, Terry, when and where did you grow up?"
I wasn't too far off. My initial guess was in the Thirties' Depression. Or in today's USA, thanks to You-Know-Who...
(No, not Lord Voldemort, the OTHER "You-Know-Who"!)
"We had an "out house" also. But used a bucket indoors during the winter."
It's still like that at my gradma's house today. That damn mayor had promised to have sewers installed in the village by the end of 2001. He did... just far enough for them to reach his own house!
But the creep lost the last elections. ):-P
"For entertainment we played card games like go fish or crazy eight."
Hey, I know crazy eight! I like it. :-)
Both my parents had little to no toys, so they improvised. Here's a hint : if you tie a feather to a bolt with a string to make it fly, make sure there's nobody in the direction where you're throwing!
"Sometimes I wonder how we made it?"
Simply because you never know how resilient humans can be until you make them walk the gauntlet. Which I don't exactly advise : they may survive, but often get hurt. "What doesn't kill you OR CRIPPLE YOU makes you stronger." (But nobody mentioned happiness.)
Terry, now I understand better your relationship to religion. Believing definitely helps to survive. Especially if in religion you seek courage, not utopic miracles that are always "just around the corner, they have to be". (This is probably why it didn't sink in with me. Poorly taught.)
Now I'm even more glad I wasn't making fun of your hard work. And to think even you had it easy compared to some "extreme" testimonials I read! But these were about families under the Red Khmers regime, and most of them didn't survive starvation.
Causing poverty or letting it happen when you have the power to prevent it is a crime. And a cause of crime, too! For some, there's litterally going to be "Hell to pay" in the Afterlife. I'm sure there are no believers among the corrupt leaders, only hypocrites.
Eolake, I'm a little surprised you still had things like that to learn after the Katrina disaster. Or maybe not watching TV leaves you a bit too ignorant about the world? Most countries still have some grave poverty issues they can't -or won't- resolve yet.
The other day, my parents were talking, and acknowledging that in spite of everything, their generation had it easier than mine. Even putting aside global warming and threats, I hope they weren't TOO right. Because these days, a new civil war in Lebanon seems all BUT unlikely. I smell something foul brewing about.
I am reminded of a proverb they have in Martinique : "Others have war in their countries. Here, we have a volcano." :-/
You could be right, but at least I'm functioning, instead of stewing in my bed in depression, well-informed but unwashed for weeks.
(I am not saying everybody would react like that.)
How are you doing now, and your siblings? (Eolake asked)
I've been blessed with two homes, a nice car, a mototcycle, stereos, some money in the bank, a decent 401 K retirement plan.
The luxury of AC in my home. I didn't know air conditioning existed growing up or even color televisions.
I am super blessed (Today) compared to my youthful days. I don't go hungry anymore. I can buy almost anything I want anymore.
I live comfortable. My siblings live comfortable too now. New homes, good credit. I appreciate your interest Eolake and thank you for asking.
Terry, now I understand better your relationship to religion. Believing definitely helps to survive. (Pascal said)
I don't have a religion Pascal. I have a real Saviour whose name is Jesus Christ who's sacrifice on the cross redeemed me from all my sin and kept me from going to hell.
Religion is man's idea, Christ is God's answer. Jesus Christ is the greatest Person in my whole life. He loved us so much he literally died for us and he intercedes for me on my behalf to God the Father. Without him I am nothing.
(Pascal said)
Now I'm even more glad I wasn't making fun of your hard work. And to think even you had it easy compared to some "extreme" testimonials I read!
Thank you Pascal. And yes I guess in some ways I did have it better than others. (In my youth.) My father taught me the meaning of hard work and dedication.
That's why I embrace my past. I never want to forget where I came from.
"I don't have a religion Pascal. I have a real Saviour"
Does this mean you see great importance in Jesus but little interest in the cult? That's a side of you I hadn't seen.
Mea culpa, I'm slightly influenced by the stereotypes of what I've seen around me. In this country, when you're very much "into Jesus" (figuratively speaking), usually you'll focus a lot on going to church, listening to the priests, and the like. Religion.
"Jesus Christ who's sacrifice on the cross redeemed me from all my sin and kept me from going to hell."
I've never been too keen with that idea. Isn't it totally unfair to consider that all those who lived and died before Jesus were deprived of redemption, at least until he came? (Homo sapiens has been around for 50 to 100.000 years, that's a lot of time for some to spend in Purgatory or Hell awaiting salvation...) And why all the delay since Abraham and Moses?... I see the sacrifice on the cross as a "necessary evil", the expectable social price to pay for questioning the clergy of the time, not some necessary bloody holocaust to apease a spiteful divinity or something. Why would forgiveness of the sins depend on Jesus dying on the cross? I don't get it! I've never accepted this "original sin" arbitrary conviction either. Are we all "guilty at birth"? Of WHAT? Being human? Or having an ancestor who once screwed up and bit the apple? Even after the Flood eradicated all the evildoers?
It's already enough to be born in debt nowadays, I'm sure God is better at planning than Bush/Cheney. ;-)
A lot of today's teachings seem to very likely be the naive notions of clerics who've had a hard time distinguishing between the spirit and the pre-existing pagan customs. And of their successors, who are too rigidly dogmatic and will never admit there was some very silly stuff said.
My own attitude is : Jesus' message was great in itself, and it doesn't matter to me whether he was the divine son of God or just a mortal man with a lot of wisdom, this is not the source of my respect for him. It's not about the miracles and the feats, to me it's about the spirit, the attitude, the principles, the love. This is why I'll never fear some "sensational" archeological discovery, or some "fateful" Da Vinci code. I'm not worried about the facts and what really happened, I believe in an idea, which has nothing to fear from any historical truth.
Just as I don't care whether his mother conceived while remaining a virgin, or not. Any normal mother deserves respect, and sexuality doesn't "maculate" anybody. (Otherwise, God would be a real pervert for forcing this on us as a condition for the existence of our species, wouldn't He?) It is only the clerics' archaic beliefs that are tainted with weirdly perverted arbitrary notions like "pleasure is sin" (what about the pleasure of praying then?) or "sex is dirty". The "sacred" aspect of virginity is yet another example of ancient well-known pagan customs that contaminated the spiritual character of Christiannism. Halloween (All Hallows' Eve) was deliberately set at the date of Samhain, the celtic Day of the Dead. Christmas "recycled" the Winter Solstice celebrations, while Jesus was most likely born around the Spring. Etc. (Can you imagine the Romans ordering all citizens to travel to their hometowns in snow season? These hebrews were known to revolt at any given motive, by Jove!)
At the limit of this argumentation, it doesn't matter whether the one bringing us these ideas was named Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius, Lao-Tse, Vishnu, Baha'ullah, or whatever. He who is sincere doesn't do such things to have people chanting his name in praise, but because the principle is the only thing that really matters. For instance, who knows the names of Nelson Mandela's parents? Not me. But they sure did a good job in raising that kid of theirs! :-)
And this is all that really counts. True generosity is anonymous and entirely uninterested. Even among us poor imperfect humans...
This position of mine is quite relaxing when things like those scandals happen in the Church. I don't need the Clergy, or their prayers, to deliver me some "visa for Heaven", it can only be God's exclusive privilege. And so I can consider the Pope, or Pat Robertson, or the Great Patriarch of my Orthodox Community, or self-appointed muslim teacher Bin Laden, as humans who can very well err and speak nonsense, without feeling that therefore I MUST "convert" to atheism like some people I've met.
But I'm ranting against the "merchants of the Temple" and the likes, while you and I are probably in agreement on most things. At least the fundamentals.
"Religion is man's idea, Christ is God's answer."
There. As I was just saying... :-)
You and I can discuss about anything, I doubt we'll one day see the debate become a dispute.
"Jesus Christ [...] died for us and he intercedes for me on my behalf to God the Father."
I wish it could be done without sacrifice, but a perfect world this is not. I believe our beloved ones also intercede for us from Beyond. And this, even though I'm essentially skeptical about nearly all ghost stories! :-)
That's precisely why I enjoy the occasional horror movie as "recreational nonsense".
"I never want to forget where I came from."
Honestly accepting yourself as you are, in whole? Man, people like you are the bane of shrinks and cult preachers, you'll lead them all to bankruptcy! ;-)
Isn't it totally unfair to consider that all those who lived and died before Jesus were deprived of redemption, at least until he came? (Pascal said)
My friend Pascal,
They were not denied. Before Christ came they sacrificed animals with no blemishes among believing that the messiah would come. When they died they were kept in paradise (safe) until Christ actually came and died then they were permitted access to heaven. (Luke Chapter 16)
Please read Romans 10:9. I want to see you in heaven my good friend.
Terry,
It's a date, then. ;-)
You bring the chocolate peanuts and the nectar, and I'll bring the ambrosia and some angels.
(Forgive me, but it wouldn't be Heaven if you couldn't make jokes there and have a good laugh, right? A place of joy.)
Since Jesus loved the children so much, I think he'd agree with me regarding the importance of laughter.
P.S.: As you had probably guessed, I'm not REALLY a drunken party animal. The thing is, I've got a cold, and the worse I feel, the more I joke. It's a lebanese cultural "thing".
I'll read your references when I'm feeling a bit more valiant.
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