Christianity or Bust

I find it hilarious that a t-shirt at http://www.christianshirts.net uses the Def Leppard font.

See:

and

As part of my continuing rant about how stuffed up things are in the male-female relations world, here is a post from Overheard in New York:

Guy #1: Dude, that chick is so hot.
Guy #2: Yeah, I would so pee in her butt.
Guy #1: Oh yeah, I’d pee in her butt, too.
Random dude, passing by: What the f###?

–Times Square

I’m glad to say that I don’t think like that.

I’m glad I’m not the only one getting a laugh out of these.

Here, The Age has a blog about this phenomenon.

Puevf came to Sunday’s service. I think everyone was surprised but happy to see him. I was happy too. Also, he knows so many people here too, including those who have the same shoes as him.

The night was pretty cool. I passed a couple of crèche kiddies in the time between the 5 pm and the 7:15 pm service. The service was pretty cool and I trained one of Barney’s new PowerPoint volunteers - she’ll be great at the job.

Also, the music was really groovy that night. It makes me feel glad that many churches have been making progress making music that’s more accessible to young folk. Now, I look forward to when things go speedcore.

Afterwards, Puevf and I decided we’d have pizza. At the pizza shop, the TV was on and I commented about how poor Thorpey couldn’t win: when he was in his prime, the media and world speculated that he was gay but now that he’s put on weight, the media is accusing him of being overweight.

Back at my place we talked about stuff. Well… something happened after that service that wasn’t catastrophic - just the typical experience - but reminded me of how much I hate being around human beings and sometimes hate being alive, which is not the same thing as wishing I was dead. I hope I made that last sentence clear.

I’m thinking of disappearing off the face of the earth (yet still talking to my parents) for a year and living without a mobile phone. Puevf said it was a really bad idea.

PS: Amusingly I was asked what message would appear in a spotlight sign (i.e. like Batman’s) if I did vanish and someone needed to contact me. I said it’d be “on the rivers of Babylon” like that Boney M song. (That’s an in-joke.) Seriously though, I need a superhero name like “Ghostbear” or something. Maybe “Rain Dog” would be cool. For I am a rain dog too

As part of my program of rest and recuperation from the cold, I watched some really awful television on Sunday afternoon such as Celebrity Survivor.

Side note: I anticipate that Fiona Horne (“white witch” and author of “white witchcraft” books+) will be labelled “the white bitch” for her bossy nature and for trying to get rid of Imogen Bailey (model).

During the program, it rained heavily on the island and Wayne Gardner (former World 500CC motorcycle champion) joked that maybe Horne had cast a spell.

You’re thinking “so what?” I find it interesting because white witchcraft is meant to be only for good and not evil. Thus, rain making to make people cold and miserable really isn’t supposedly part of her powers. OK. Wayne was just joking but do you ever wonder what sort of stuff white witches actually believe in because they sure don’t go about openly admitting it all in the mainstream media.

Futhermore, it reminds me that false religions often seem mysterious, their own secrets (sometimes dirty). Whilst Christianity has

Footnotes:
+ = Someone said that Horne doesn’t really deserve to be called a celebrity, stating that her band Def FX were genuinely s**t, that she didn’t make much inroads as a mainstream pornographic and swimsuit model and no one reads her s**tty books anyway.

* = As long as I am just a human being on Earth, I don’t think I will ever truly understand how God has always existed as one God yet three parts.

some pretty bizarre beliefs*, at least they are out there in the open and you have the same holy book (with different translations) openly available.

Late on weekend nights, Channel 7 has been playing re-runs of a television program “Meet My Folks”. In each episode, three prospective dates meet the parents of one partner and attempt to win a date on a holiday. The shows have the format of:

• The contestants go to the date’s parents’ home.
• The contestants having dinner with the date and the date’s family and have to pull some pranks during it. If they fail any of the pranks or the date or date’s family realise they are pranks, some of their dirty secrets are revealed.
• The contestants and date flirt around in the family pool until the parents get a fax telling them they can spy on them from a television set.
• The recent ex-girlfriends or ex-boyfriends of the contestants having lunch with their exs and meeting the parents and telling embarrassing sexual stories.
• Via video recordings, the best friends of the contestants telling embarrassing sexual stories of the contestants.
• The date choosing one of the contestants to be eliminated from the contest.
• The highlight of the show has the final two contestants being subjected to a lie detector test with the questions asked by the parent who had the same gender as the contestants. Questions that regularly arise are “if I send you away on a holiday with my daughter, will you try to sleep with her?”, “Have you cheated on more than one boyfriend?”, “Do you think I would make a good father-in-law/mother-in-law?” and the typical “Is it true that you <insert sexual tryst>?”
• The parents choosing which contestant will go on the date.

In a strange way, it’s a really funny show. In another way, it reminds me how completely screwed up human sexual relationships are.

For example, in the first episode I watched, the daughter, who clearly wore a crucifix, wanted to go out with the guy who wanted to sleep with her on the holiday (according to the lie detector test), over the guy who she felt had less chemistry with and the father let her. Of course, it’s entirely possible that the “boring” guy had the same attitude towards her.

In the most recent episode I watched, the father choose to send his daughter on a date with a guy who had a reputation for having sex in alleyways and recording his “conquests” on the walls… 8 of them… because the father felt he made a better connection with that guy. The worst thing I remember about the other guy is that he once lead someone on so she would do his university assignments. It was so weird because the alley-guy felt regret about what he had done and the father was not impressed by the way that guy had treated women.

Although I know it’s entirely likely that the producers of this television series choose the most abrasive contestants, everything is so stuffed up. It is still certain that a microcosm of society, at least, is captured here.

I don’t think this post captures my feelings that so many things are so stuffed up in how humans relate to sex. I guess just reading the news headlines from the last couple of months after reading Every Young Man’s Battle really has made me aware of such things.

I don’t think this post captures my feelings #2 and the generalisation I once believed in “Chicks dig jerks”. (I know it’s not fully true.) I still don’t get why I am still single and these jerks spend most of their lives in short periods of singlehood.

Everything makes me sick of the human race. I’m so sick of everything.

I’d like to end this post with one of my favourite pre-choruses:

I got nothing to do
you got nothing to say
everything is so fucked up
I guess it’s natural that way
- Husker Du, Everything Falls Apart

On the weekend, Barneys had its Search Conference, which involved discussion of the past Barneys church building and the development of the future church building. From all reports, it was extremely productive and well organised.

Unfortunately, I was sick from the cold and stayed home.

In this article, a couple claim to be able to see the face of Jesus in their ultrasound.

Anyway now that the couple feel that Jesus is watching, would that couple marry already? (Sure, call me old fashioned if you want)

Furthermore, there is this: “‘The pregnancy has been fairly difficult so to see a likeness of Jesus in the picture gives me a lot of comfort.” Isn’t there something that surpases the comfort generated by a freak picture?

Here’s the video to one of my favourite songs of all time: Devo’s Beautiful World.

During a period of slacking off today, I restored a bit of the Wikipedia article on Dave Mustaine, who used to be lead guitarist of Metallica then formed Megadeth then became born again.

Coincidentally, Megadeth are touring Australia next month.

PS: I’ve never actually heard any Megadeth. I wouldn’t complain if someone bought me some post-born-again Megadeth.