Christianity, Ever and Always Twisted.

Christianity is not only one of the most evil religions ever dreamed up, it’s also by far the stupidest. Christianity has all the clarity of a cement block, and does that ever show. There’s a reason there are so damn many types of christianity, all of them at war with the rest. Each and every brand of christianity, over 33,000 of them, are absolutely positive they are the real, true christians. Christians happily plug up their brains about this, lacking the courage to address this big ol’ elephant in the room. If “christianity” is the real, true religion, why in the hell can’t you all agree on just what constitutes christian belief? Why the constant infighting and outfighting? Why are there always corpses on the ground when christians decide to fight over real, true christianity? The constant infighting is always on display, too. Every time I’m traveling home from town, I pass a billboard with “REAL Christians believe in Jesus’s teachings” with a phone number. Still doesn’t sink into all those brains pickled in Jesus juice, ever terrified of actual thinking.

Then there’s the bible, a pastiche of stories, most of them borrowed from earlier cultures and beliefs, badly edited time and time again, with near endless translations. Christians can’t agree on this elephant, either, but each different brand is positive their choice of translation is the real, true one. Along with being a manual on how to be the very best psychopath you can be, the bible is an exercise in contradictions and vagueness. It’s made so you can twist anything at any time, in any direction. And if there’s one thing christians excel at, it’s twisting the fuck out of an already twisted religion.

Chuck Baldwin, an independent baptist, is more than happy to  contribute  to the ongoing twisting.

Citing a passage from 1 Timothy, Baldwin asserted that every adult has “a duty to provide for your family, but you cannot provide protection for your family without being equipped to do so.”

Let’s take a look. 1 Timothy 5:8 reads: But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. Yeah, okay that’s pretty basic, take care of your family, with the standard threat attached. As for whether or not christians should be all wrapped up in material goods and such, it’s 1 Timothy 5:8 up against Matthew 6 31-34: Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Oh, what’s a christian to do? Provide for yourself and yours, pay attention to material goods enough to ensure a good future, or trust Jehovah? Chuck Baldwin decides to ignore all of that in favour of twisting provide into protect.

“Therefore, you must have the means of self-defense,” Baldwin said. “And in our society today, that means a firearm in the similitude of an AR-15. Without that, you are not in a position, you are not even able to protect not just your family and your house, but your neighbors, your community around you; that we, as a community of people—that’s the militia—are given the God-given responsibility to protect our communities. That is a biblical requirement.”

Personally, I’m pretty damn sure that whole “provide for your own” business has to do with the everyday prosaic things, like shelter and food. I note that Mr. Baldwin seems to think that community and militia mean the same thing. They don’t. And while I’m grateful that Mr. Baldwin is in the next state over from me, I would not ever want some lunatic yahoo to up and decide to “protect” me with their arsenal.

And no, having guns is not a fucking biblical requirement in any way, no matter how much you twist things around to fit your personal evil. Get a slingshot, dude, worked out well for David, yeah? Or spears! You could have a whole bunch of spears. And of course, there are always swords, since you can’t seem to find your way around a weapon filled life. Mr. Baldwin is working ever so hard to turn the AR 15 biblical, and there’s a good reason for that, Mr. Baldwin’s membership and staunch support in and of the NRA. Gee, what a surprise. Mr. Baldwin is also of the the Christian Reconstructionist Constitution Party, who are in favour of repealing all federal gun laws.

If I could, I would ask Mr. Baldwin what happened to trust and faith? One thing which is biblical is trust in Jehovah; I doubt Mr. Baldwin has problems with the whole “in god we trust” business, so why would he need to be bristling with guns? Isn’t the biggest “gun” in the arsenal of a christian supposed to be prayer? O ye of little faith.

RWW has the full story.

YouTube Video – Putting the Middle Ages in Perspective

I really like videos made by Ian LaSpina who goes under the handle Knight Errant on Youtube. They are short, to the point and are packed with well researched information (at least as far as I can tell). In this video he explains how Middle Ages were not stagnant from technological point of view and progress was being made.

K Is For Käytöstä poistettu.

Käytöstä poistettu.

Finnish for “no longer in use”. The pictures are from spring 2017 and taken in the Vallilanlaakso park (in English: Vallila Valley). This is what was left of the one-track unelectrified railway to the port in Sörnäinen. The port facilities were relocated to Vuosaari in the southeastern corner of Helsinki and the rails and sleepers had been removed and junked. The tunnel leads to Pasila railyard and railway station, where various shunting operations for the trains from the port were done.

The port areas in Helsinki peninsula, apart from passenger and vehicle terminals for car ferries, high-speed passenger ferries and cruise ships to Sweden, Russia and Estonia are now in the process of being redeveloped into residential areas. This process has resulted in two railways becoming “käytöstä poistettu”.

Click for full size!

© Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved.

Jack’s Walk

It’s snowing here today with high winds (gusts up to 90 km/hr) and I just can’t bear to take one more wintry photo this spring. Instead, I give you this beautiful old willow tree that caught my eye the day Jack and I went to the lake. It looked so sculptural silhouetted against the blue, blue sky. I’m actually very fond of the look of bare trees in the winter. You can see how unique each one is and that they all have their own personality. Normally, I don’t find them depressing at all. Today, though, I would give a lot to see a tree fully dressed. Heck, today just a few leaf buds would thrill me.

Willow tree

©voyager, all rights reserved

 

 

I’m Fully In Favour of Fivity.

Count lascases — Since sixt week j learn the Englich and j do not any progress. Six week do fourty and two day. If might have learn fivity word four day I could know it two thusands and two hundred. It is in the dictionary more of fourty thousand; even he could must twinty bout much of tems for know it our hundred and twenty week, which do more two yars. After this you shall agrée that to study one tongue is a great labour who it must do into the young aged.

The Public Domain has a fascinating article up about Napoleon’s attempt to learn English, which he disliked and had some trouble with, to say the least.

…His English teacher was Count Emmanuel de Las Cases, an historian and loyal supporter who had been allowed to voyage with him to Saint Helena. The Count would later turn their fifteen months of conversations into a publishing sensation, Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène (1822–23). The book recorded Napoleon’s day-to-day life on the island, his sentiments on religion and philosophy, his argument that the ideals of the French Revolution had lived on in the empire. It would be printed and reprinted throughout the century, and do much to turn the perception of Napoleon from a dictator into a liberator — a slayer of tyrannical dynasties more than a founder of his own. It is also the primary window through which we can view the development of Napoleon’s English.

According to Count Las Cases, his pupil “had an extraordinary intelligence but a very bad memory: this latter particularly upset him.” As a result, Napoleon grasped English grammar with an impressive ease but vocabulary with a painful slowness.

When it came to speaking English, the Count relates, “The pupil wished only to recognise [French] pronunciation.” Perhaps the former emperor could not bear to do his vanquishers the honour of speaking their language their way. Perhaps his approach to English mirrored his general approach to foreign territory — he liked to make it his own:

Click on over to The Public Domain for the full story!

The Drolatic Dreams of Pantagruel (1565).

The Drolatic Dreams of Pantagruel is an accompanying work of François Rabelais’ The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel. The woodcuts are wonderfully creepy, and well worth a look even though they were most certainly not done by Rabelais.

The Public Domain has an article up about this work, and there’s an excellent post about it at Poemas del río Wang. Or, you can head right to the original images at Gallica.

J Is For Juoni.

Juoni.

The Finnish word juoni has multiple meanings. Plot (of a book or a play) or intrigue. As a geological term it means a dike. This dike is (I think) a magmatic intrusion, probably thousands of millions years old. This rock is in Kaivopuisto, Helsinki and the (otherwise) paved seaside way/path for pedestrians goes over it.

Click for full size!

© Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved.

Word Wednesday.

Meretricious / Vapid / Poppycock

Meretricious

Adjective.

1: of or relating to a prostitute: having the nature of prostitution, meretricious relationships.

2a: tawdrily and falsely attractive. b: superficially significant: pretentious.

-meretriciously, adverb.

-meretriciousness, noun.

[Origin: Latin, meretricius, from meretric-, meretrix prostitute, from merēre to earn.]

(1626)

“I’ll say you’re right,” said Mark. “Unfortunately, Miss Marple, we didn’t realize that. We wondered what the old boy saw in that rather insipid and meretricious little bag of tricks.”

Vapid

Adjective: lacking liveliness, tang, briskness, or force: Flat, Dull.

-vapidly, adverb.

-vapidness, noun.

[Origin: Latin vapidus flat-tasting; akin to Latin vappa flat wine and perhaps to Latin vapor steam.]

(1656)

“His face grim, Conway Jefferson lay remembering and thinking. Before his eyes he saw again the pretty, vapid face of Ruby.”

Poppycock

Noun: empty talk or writing: nonsense.

[Origin: Dutch dialect pappekak, literally, soft dung, from Dutch pap pap + kak dung.]

(1865)

“And she didn’t care tuppence for Mr. Jefferson. All that play of affection and gratitude was so much poppycock.”

All quotes from The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie.