Saturday, 31 December 2011
MADPRIEST'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
If I have a go at a Christian who is persecuting gay people, I am a hero. If I have a go at a Muslim who is persecuting Christians, I am unfriended. If I have a go at a reactionary Christian for failing in their Christian duty, I am applauded. If I have a go at a liberal Christian for the same, I am unfriended.
Friday, 30 December 2011
DON'T BLAME MADPRIEST, BLAME MAD DAD
A lady goes to the bar on a cruise ship and orders a Scotch with two drops of water. As the bartender gives her the drink she says, 'I'm on this cruise to celebrate my 80th birthday and it's today.'
The bartender says, 'Well, since it's your birthday, I'll buy you a drink. In fact, this one is on me.'
As the woman finishes her drink, the woman to her right says, 'I would like to buy you a drink, too.'
The old woman says, 'Thank you. Bartender, I want a Scotch with two drops of water.'
'Coming up,' says the bartender
As she finishes that drink, the man to her left says, 'I would like to buy you one, too.'
The old woman says, 'Thank you. Bartender, I want another Scotch with two drops of water.'
'Coming right up,' the bartender says.
As he gives her the drink, he says, 'Ma'am, I'm dying of curiosity. Why the Scotch with only two drops of water?'
The old woman replies, 'Sonny, when you're my age, you've learned how to hold your liquor. Holding your water, however, is a whole other issue.'
The bartender says, 'Well, since it's your birthday, I'll buy you a drink. In fact, this one is on me.'
As the woman finishes her drink, the woman to her right says, 'I would like to buy you a drink, too.'
The old woman says, 'Thank you. Bartender, I want a Scotch with two drops of water.'
'Coming up,' says the bartender
As she finishes that drink, the man to her left says, 'I would like to buy you one, too.'
The old woman says, 'Thank you. Bartender, I want another Scotch with two drops of water.'
'Coming right up,' the bartender says.
As he gives her the drink, he says, 'Ma'am, I'm dying of curiosity. Why the Scotch with only two drops of water?'
The old woman replies, 'Sonny, when you're my age, you've learned how to hold your liquor. Holding your water, however, is a whole other issue.'
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
WE ARE HOLY BUT NOT ONE OF US IS INNOCENT
The story of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents not only tells of the cruelty we humans are capable of it also makes the point that the mission of Jesus Christ would be a shared mission. Yes, Jesus suffered and died, but he did not do so alone. From the very beginning of our redemption ordinary human beings would be caught up, often without their consent, in both the joy (Christmas) and the pain (Holy Innocents) of Christ's work. This is still the case. Throughout the world today Christians are suffering because of their faith and its proclamation - from the losing of employment to imprisonment and, far too often, death.
There are many Herods in our world today, there always have been and, no doubt, there always will be until Christ returns to bring in the Kingdom of God. But we should be wary of judgementally demonising the Herod of the Bible. Each time we spend or vote selfishly we are no better than he was.
Every four seconds a child dies because of poverty, hunger, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes. Around 7600000 holy innocents each and every year and the number is growing. On top of this, in the last decade, at least two million children have died in acts of warfare.
We could stop this obscene carnage. But we don't.
We are all Herods.
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
MADPRIEST'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
The Episcopal Church of Sudan's retraction of their invitation to the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the USA is like the Jew set upon by robbers, upon his recovery, telling the good Samaritan to fuck off because he worships the same God in a different way.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF SUDAN DISTANCES
ITSELF FROM CHRISTIAN RELIGION
This sums up the spiritual priorities of so much of the Church in Africa:
In its December 15 letter to Jefferts Schori, the Episcopal Church of Sudan stated: "We acknowledge your personal efforts to spearhead prayer and support campaigns on behalf of the ECS and remain very grateful for this attention you and your church have paid to Sudan and South Sudan. However, it remains difficult for us to invite you when elements of your church continue to flagrantly disregard biblical teaching on human sexuality."
Not only is this in itself unbiblical and downright unchristian to the extreme, it is also rude. I wonder how many gay Episcopalians contributed their hard earned cash to the refugee relief effort when Northern Sudan was kicking the living daylights out of our biblically based brothers and sisters in Southern Sudan.
In its December 15 letter to Jefferts Schori, the Episcopal Church of Sudan stated: "We acknowledge your personal efforts to spearhead prayer and support campaigns on behalf of the ECS and remain very grateful for this attention you and your church have paid to Sudan and South Sudan. However, it remains difficult for us to invite you when elements of your church continue to flagrantly disregard biblical teaching on human sexuality."
Not only is this in itself unbiblical and downright unchristian to the extreme, it is also rude. I wonder how many gay Episcopalians contributed their hard earned cash to the refugee relief effort when Northern Sudan was kicking the living daylights out of our biblically based brothers and sisters in Southern Sudan.
GENOCIDE BY ANY OTHER NAME
The Armenian Genocide, also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime, was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was implemented through wholesale massacres and deportations, with the deportations consisting of forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees. The total number of resulting Armenian deaths is generally held to have been between 1 million and 1.5 million. Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians and Greeks, and some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination.
The starting date of the genocide is conventionally held to be April 24, 1915, the day when Ottoman authorities arrested some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. Thereafter, the Ottoman military uprooted Armenians from their homes and forced them to march for hundreds of miles, depriving them of food and water, to the desert of what is now Syria. Massacres were indiscriminate of age or gender, with rape and other sexual abuse commonplace. The majority of Armenian diaspora communities were founded as a result of the Armenian genocide. (WIKIPEDIA)
It was a political act informed by the ideology of a perverted Islam in the same way the Nazi genocide against the Jews was a political act informed by the ideology of a perverted Christianity/paganism.
It was the first modern genocide, in fact the term was coined to describe it. Yet the Armenian people have never had their suffering truly acknowledged by the world community because both Turkey and Israel have a policy of vehemently denying that an act of genocide took place (Turkey, as the successor of the Ottoman Empire, for obvious reasons and Israel, because they do not want the word "genocide" to describe anything other than the Holocaust as they feel it would lessen the uniqueness of their suffering as far as the rest of the world is concerned). On the whole, other countries have selfishly kept very quiet about the atrocity for strategic, military and diplomatic reasons. Turkey has been a very useful ally of western governments since the birth of the state of Israel and, traditionally, western governments are fearful of upsetting the Israeli government. They are, of course, applying the same double standards here as they are currently applying in their relationships with human rights ignoring China.
I applaud the French government's recent decision to join nineteen other nations in officially recognising the Armenian Genocide. But it is not enough. In fact, no piecemeal recognition of the atrocity will ever be enough. What is more it is an abhorrence that the Armenian people have had to wait nearly a hundred years for healing. To make them wait for the nations of the world to one by one recognise the true nature of their suffering just adds to this obscene miscarriage of justice.
What is needed is the setting up of a commission by the International Criminal Court tasked to decide on whether or not the massacre of Armenians was an act of genocide. The commission should consist of atheists from countries not closely aligned to Turkey or Israel or predominantly Christian, Islamic or Jewish in their religion. It is extremely unlikely that any such commission would have any official status or gain worldwide recognition. But the decision of such a commission would be used by many democratic countries as a reason for them to officially concur with the findings of the commission.
And for the sake of the Armenian people and for the sake of world peace I hope that, in this case, a spade is most definitely called a spade. It is important for the Armenian people that the genocide committed against them by the Ottoman Empire is universally condemned in the same way that the Holocaust was condemned by, at least, the democratic countries of the world. It is also important that the Islamic world should be told unequivocally that their religion has been hijacked and corrupted to validate acts of supreme terror against Christians, and not that long ago. The common belief among Muslims that only they have sufficient cause for grievance gets in the way of any true reconciliation between Islam, Christianity and Judaism. It will not be until we have all publicly accepted the atrocities most of our nations have committed in the past including, most of all, the atrocities committed by our own countries, that there can be any movement towards a more peaceable world.
And for goodness sake, Israel! Letting people suffer by arguing over who has suffered the most is the most absurd stupidity there can be. Stop it!
THE PRAYER LIST: 27TH. DECEMBER 2011
THANKSGIVING:
It must have been a truly joyous Christmas in the It's Margaret household this year. Our friend, who has been living with the uncertainty and anxiety that accompanies unemployment for many months following a painful separation from her previous church job, received, just days before, the wonderful news that she had been chosen by a new parish to be their priest. And what a brilliant and different parish it is too! The following was posted on her blog, LEAVE IT LAY WHERE JESUS FLANG IT, on the twentieth of December:
As soon as we are able, we will move, and I will begin the work of Priest for the Episcopal Mission on the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota, home to Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, bands of Mnicoujou, Siha Sapa, Oohenumpa, and Itazipco peoples. There are six churches and more "stations" in an area approximately the size of Connecticut.
We will live in Eagle Butte, on the Reservation, in the rectory of St. John's and I will be a circuit rider to the other worship places, sometimes doing up to three or maybe more services on a Sunday --gathering with the people of Emmanuel in White Horse, --Ascension, Blackfoot and St. Peter's Thunder Butte --to give thanks to God and share bread and wine.
Well done, Margaret and thanks be to God!
***
From THE MIRROR:
The Duke of Edinburgh will leave hospital this morning following his heart scare. He will be rejoining the Queen and other members of the royal family at Sandringham.
FOR YOUR PRAYERS:
On Christmas Eve, Moose, the five year old, black labrador who lives with Tim of the LIFE IS FULL OF SURPRISES... blog, was taken ill and rushed to the emergency room at his local animal hospital. Tim has not yet posted an update and so we really do pray that all is now well with Moose or, at the least, he is making a speedy recovery.
***
Do remember in your prayers the people of the Christchurch, New Zealand, and the surrounding area, whose Christmas was marred by the continuation of seismic activity in the region. Susan, at LETTERS FROM A MALVERN VICARAGE writes:
Following the four major aftershocks on 23 December, 5.8, 5.3, 6.0, 5.0, there is more damage to buildings and homes, more silt pushed up through the surface by liquefaction, more weary and worn out people, and more amazing work done by ordinary folk helping one another out.
***
From THE TELEGRAPH:
Iranian, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was sentenced to be stoned for alleged adultery in 2006 had her sentence suspended last year after an international outcry. However, under a judicial review being carried out she still could be hanged.
"There is no rush ... our Islamic experts are reviewing Ashtiani's sentence to see whether we can carry out the execution of a person sentenced to stoning by hanging," said Malek Ajdar Sharifi, head of judiciary in the East Azerbaijan province.
From CHRISTIAN TODAY:
There are unconfirmed reports that an Iranian pastor sentenced to death for apostasy may have to spend another year in prison. The case of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani has twice been referred to the Supreme Leader of Iran, who has yet to issue a decision.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide said that a final ruling is expected at anytime and that it had received unconfirmed reports indicating that execution may be delayed for up to a year to allow time to convince the pastor to renounce his faith.
We pray for all people, muslim and non-muslim, who are suffering at this time due to cruel and unjust interpretations of the Islamic faith.
***
From AFP:
A Chinese court said Monday it had jailed veteran activist Chen Xi for 10 years for subversion, one of the longest sentences yet to be handed down in this year's crackdown on dissent. The court in the southwestern province of Guizhou convicted Chen, who was involved in the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protest movement, after a trial lasting just a few hours.
Activists believe the charge was related to essays the 57-year-old had written on advancing political reform and improving human rights in China.
We pray for an end to the human rights abuses inflicted on the Chinese people by their government and that the rest of the world stops being so bloody greedy, cowardly and self-serving and desists from turning a blind eye to the suffering of Chinese dissidents.
***
From THE BBC:
Almost 1,500 people are now known to have died in flash floods that struck the southern Philippines more than a week ago. Officials say more bodies had been found in the waters south of the island of Mindanao. It is not clear how many people are still missing but officials say the search for bodies will continue.
***
From THE HERALD:
Scotland is to take another storm battering tomorrow, with more gale-force winds and heavy rain bringing severe disruption to most of the country. The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning, saying the Central Belt will be hit by gusts of up to 80mph and that transport links such as the Forth Road Bridge and the Erskine Bridge could be affected. The warning comes after 101mph winds were recorded in Shetland early yesterday and severe conditions in much of northern Scotland left thousands without power.
If you would like to light
a candle as part of your
prayer, please click HERE,
then click on BEGIN and
follow the instructions.
Our group name is
Laika (case sensitive);
please type this into
the appropriate box
when requested.
It must have been a truly joyous Christmas in the It's Margaret household this year. Our friend, who has been living with the uncertainty and anxiety that accompanies unemployment for many months following a painful separation from her previous church job, received, just days before, the wonderful news that she had been chosen by a new parish to be their priest. And what a brilliant and different parish it is too! The following was posted on her blog, LEAVE IT LAY WHERE JESUS FLANG IT, on the twentieth of December:
As soon as we are able, we will move, and I will begin the work of Priest for the Episcopal Mission on the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota, home to Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, bands of Mnicoujou, Siha Sapa, Oohenumpa, and Itazipco peoples. There are six churches and more "stations" in an area approximately the size of Connecticut.
We will live in Eagle Butte, on the Reservation, in the rectory of St. John's and I will be a circuit rider to the other worship places, sometimes doing up to three or maybe more services on a Sunday --gathering with the people of Emmanuel in White Horse, --Ascension, Blackfoot and St. Peter's Thunder Butte --to give thanks to God and share bread and wine.
Well done, Margaret and thanks be to God!
***
From THE MIRROR:
The Duke of Edinburgh will leave hospital this morning following his heart scare. He will be rejoining the Queen and other members of the royal family at Sandringham.
FOR YOUR PRAYERS:
On Christmas Eve, Moose, the five year old, black labrador who lives with Tim of the LIFE IS FULL OF SURPRISES... blog, was taken ill and rushed to the emergency room at his local animal hospital. Tim has not yet posted an update and so we really do pray that all is now well with Moose or, at the least, he is making a speedy recovery.
***
Do remember in your prayers the people of the Christchurch, New Zealand, and the surrounding area, whose Christmas was marred by the continuation of seismic activity in the region. Susan, at LETTERS FROM A MALVERN VICARAGE writes:
Following the four major aftershocks on 23 December, 5.8, 5.3, 6.0, 5.0, there is more damage to buildings and homes, more silt pushed up through the surface by liquefaction, more weary and worn out people, and more amazing work done by ordinary folk helping one another out.
***
From THE TELEGRAPH:
"There is no rush ... our Islamic experts are reviewing Ashtiani's sentence to see whether we can carry out the execution of a person sentenced to stoning by hanging," said Malek Ajdar Sharifi, head of judiciary in the East Azerbaijan province.
From CHRISTIAN TODAY:
There are unconfirmed reports that an Iranian pastor sentenced to death for apostasy may have to spend another year in prison. The case of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani has twice been referred to the Supreme Leader of Iran, who has yet to issue a decision.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide said that a final ruling is expected at anytime and that it had received unconfirmed reports indicating that execution may be delayed for up to a year to allow time to convince the pastor to renounce his faith.
We pray for all people, muslim and non-muslim, who are suffering at this time due to cruel and unjust interpretations of the Islamic faith.
***
From AFP:
A Chinese court said Monday it had jailed veteran activist Chen Xi for 10 years for subversion, one of the longest sentences yet to be handed down in this year's crackdown on dissent. The court in the southwestern province of Guizhou convicted Chen, who was involved in the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protest movement, after a trial lasting just a few hours.
Activists believe the charge was related to essays the 57-year-old had written on advancing political reform and improving human rights in China.
We pray for an end to the human rights abuses inflicted on the Chinese people by their government and that the rest of the world stops being so bloody greedy, cowardly and self-serving and desists from turning a blind eye to the suffering of Chinese dissidents.
***
From THE BBC:
Almost 1,500 people are now known to have died in flash floods that struck the southern Philippines more than a week ago. Officials say more bodies had been found in the waters south of the island of Mindanao. It is not clear how many people are still missing but officials say the search for bodies will continue.
***
From THE HERALD:
Scotland is to take another storm battering tomorrow, with more gale-force winds and heavy rain bringing severe disruption to most of the country. The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning, saying the Central Belt will be hit by gusts of up to 80mph and that transport links such as the Forth Road Bridge and the Erskine Bridge could be affected. The warning comes after 101mph winds were recorded in Shetland early yesterday and severe conditions in much of northern Scotland left thousands without power.
If you would like to light
a candle as part of your
prayer, please click HERE,
then click on BEGIN and
follow the instructions.
Our group name is
Laika (case sensitive);
please type this into
the appropriate box
when requested.
Monday, 26 December 2011
AN EVIL WORLD
Killing is evil.
All killing is evil. This truth is a central tenet of Christ-centred morality. Even the killing of another person that is for the "greater good," or is merciful, or is defensive is an evil act from a Christian point of view. If we as individuals or in community are attacked and we kill to protect ourselves and each other we still have, although arguably innocent, to accept that we are somehow part of of the pervading evil inherent in our temporal existence that gave rise to the attack against us in the first place. We rejoice if we are victorious in a defensive war but we also know that we have, in total contriteness, to ask our God to forgive us for the evil we committed in achieving such a victory.
The killing of animals, for whatever reason, is also evil. We know this to be true because no creature will kill another creature in the Kingdom of God that is to come and which is our primary hope as Christians. The Kingdom is the perfection of creation that God strives for. Therefore, anything now that is not the same as it will be in the Kingdom, is less than perfect. It is tainted by the evil which will not be present in the g(o)odly Kingdom of the perfect God.
An argument can be made (and often is) that all acts of evil are equivalent. There are definite, strong hints in the Gospels that Christ ascribed to this view. Certainly, if we view evil from the point of view of the consequence of an evil act this appears to be true for specific types of evil. For example a soldier killed in battle is still just as dead as an innocent bystander killed in the collateral damage inflicted by a battle. But the human mind cannot help but include the perceived intentions in, or the lack of care of, an aggressive act in its categorisation of evil. The killing of a psychopath to stop him killing a child, to us, does not appear as evil as the killing of a child by a psychopath.
This is why the killing of Nigerian Christians as they celebrated the most joyous day of their year in their places of worship and sanctuary by Nigerian, Islamic terrorists yesterday fills us with the most acute abhorrence possible. The cynicism, the lack of empathy, the cold-heartedness of the perpetrators of these acts of carnage, compels us to despair at what we humans are capable of.
Non-Muslims throughout the world (the religious and those without any religious conviction alike) have shouted out their condemnation of these acts of barbarity. I assume that a high proportion of individual Muslims throughout the world have also condemned the atrocities in their hearts and have felt shame that they were committed in the name of their god.
However, this is not enough. When Christian Serbs committed obscene acts of mass murder against the Muslims of Bosnia, the governments of predominantly Christian countries not only condemned the acts of their fellow Christians but they actively sought to stop them committing more genocidal crimes or profitting from the crimes they had already committed. At this present moment, the governments of those Christian countries are supporting the democracy seeking, Islamic citizens of Syria who are being murdered on the streets or tortured in hidden prison cells everyday on the orders of the cruel dictator of their country. These countries are doing so even though they know that a true democracy in Syria will, more than likely, result in less of a Christian influence in Syria than was previously allowed.
The governments of the Christian nations are not perfect in goodness and good intention. Far from it, they are mostly self-interested to the extreme. But most of them are prepared to condemn evil that is committed by those who claim Christian allegiance as quickly as they are prepared to condemn the evil committed by members of other religions (although a government condemning itself for acts of evil is an extremely rare occurrence, of course). If there is to be any lessening, let alone the complete ridding of, acts of terrorist violence in the world, such as yesterday's bombings in Nigeria, then it is the governments of Islamic nations and those in clerical authority within the Muslim faith, who need to, not only loudly condemn acts of evil committed in the name of Allah, but also constructively act to stop further incidents of such violence.
All killing is evil. This truth is a central tenet of Christ-centred morality. Even the killing of another person that is for the "greater good," or is merciful, or is defensive is an evil act from a Christian point of view. If we as individuals or in community are attacked and we kill to protect ourselves and each other we still have, although arguably innocent, to accept that we are somehow part of of the pervading evil inherent in our temporal existence that gave rise to the attack against us in the first place. We rejoice if we are victorious in a defensive war but we also know that we have, in total contriteness, to ask our God to forgive us for the evil we committed in achieving such a victory.
The killing of animals, for whatever reason, is also evil. We know this to be true because no creature will kill another creature in the Kingdom of God that is to come and which is our primary hope as Christians. The Kingdom is the perfection of creation that God strives for. Therefore, anything now that is not the same as it will be in the Kingdom, is less than perfect. It is tainted by the evil which will not be present in the g(o)odly Kingdom of the perfect God.
An argument can be made (and often is) that all acts of evil are equivalent. There are definite, strong hints in the Gospels that Christ ascribed to this view. Certainly, if we view evil from the point of view of the consequence of an evil act this appears to be true for specific types of evil. For example a soldier killed in battle is still just as dead as an innocent bystander killed in the collateral damage inflicted by a battle. But the human mind cannot help but include the perceived intentions in, or the lack of care of, an aggressive act in its categorisation of evil. The killing of a psychopath to stop him killing a child, to us, does not appear as evil as the killing of a child by a psychopath.
This is why the killing of Nigerian Christians as they celebrated the most joyous day of their year in their places of worship and sanctuary by Nigerian, Islamic terrorists yesterday fills us with the most acute abhorrence possible. The cynicism, the lack of empathy, the cold-heartedness of the perpetrators of these acts of carnage, compels us to despair at what we humans are capable of.
Non-Muslims throughout the world (the religious and those without any religious conviction alike) have shouted out their condemnation of these acts of barbarity. I assume that a high proportion of individual Muslims throughout the world have also condemned the atrocities in their hearts and have felt shame that they were committed in the name of their god.
However, this is not enough. When Christian Serbs committed obscene acts of mass murder against the Muslims of Bosnia, the governments of predominantly Christian countries not only condemned the acts of their fellow Christians but they actively sought to stop them committing more genocidal crimes or profitting from the crimes they had already committed. At this present moment, the governments of those Christian countries are supporting the democracy seeking, Islamic citizens of Syria who are being murdered on the streets or tortured in hidden prison cells everyday on the orders of the cruel dictator of their country. These countries are doing so even though they know that a true democracy in Syria will, more than likely, result in less of a Christian influence in Syria than was previously allowed.
The governments of the Christian nations are not perfect in goodness and good intention. Far from it, they are mostly self-interested to the extreme. But most of them are prepared to condemn evil that is committed by those who claim Christian allegiance as quickly as they are prepared to condemn the evil committed by members of other religions (although a government condemning itself for acts of evil is an extremely rare occurrence, of course). If there is to be any lessening, let alone the complete ridding of, acts of terrorist violence in the world, such as yesterday's bombings in Nigeria, then it is the governments of Islamic nations and those in clerical authority within the Muslim faith, who need to, not only loudly condemn acts of evil committed in the name of Allah, but also constructively act to stop further incidents of such violence.
Sunday, 25 December 2011
GOOGLE IS THE GRIFTER'S FRIEND
The following report appeared on the GHANA MMA website today:
If you move the screen capture slightly
to the left of the report you get this:
So, if you feel like taking up a career in nun impersonation (now there's a vacancy due to the sudden retirement of a certain lady from Owerri), you know where to get the work clothes you will need for the job.
If you move the screen capture slightly
to the left of the report you get this:
So, if you feel like taking up a career in nun impersonation (now there's a vacancy due to the sudden retirement of a certain lady from Owerri), you know where to get the work clothes you will need for the job.
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