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.
This Yahoo news page has the best title: Ex-stripper does new turn — in missionary position.
Basically, an ex-stripper and two other ex-sex industry workers have set up a ministry aimed at people in their former industry. They’re kind of hot but married now.
Anyway, the JCs girls’ web site is: www.JCsgirls.com.
This is a follow up post to this blog entry.
I really don’t think much of this article since it doesn’t have much to it at all. Whichever “journalist” wrote this didn’t try very hard. He/she didn’t even follow up on the juiciest part of the story: “One performance ended with real fighting, real cursing and a repentant participant stretched-out face-down in the ring weeping.” That’s the bit I wanted to know more about! Since there’s nothing substantial there, can I assume, on behalf of me demons-obsessed friends from my last small group, that some dude got exorcised?
The “journalist” also couldn’t be bothered to google for Ultimate Christian Wrestling. Check out the photos section. The guy with the pink tights with hearts on them probably is a token gay bad guy. This reminds me of Andrew Bumthorne of IWA who perform at Slam Fest II (see my previous post about Slam Fest).
I found this interview with feminist Naomi Wolf interesting.
I guess the quotes that you’ll want to skim down to are:
She describes this mystical experience which happened a few years ago as “terrifying, inexplicable and completely not the appropriate spiritual experience of someone of my background”.
Too right. According to Judaism, Jesus is not God made flesh, or a Messianic vision. In a profane world, for anyone of Wolf’s publicly acknowledged intellect to confess to achieving spiritual fulfilment through Jesus is to invite mockery. In America, where inter-faith rivalry informs all politics, it is a highly volatile admission. Typically of a writer who has spent a lifetime self-dramatising her experiences, Wolf’s epiphany seems to have been of Damascene proportions.
“I was completely dumbfounded but I actually had this vision of, of Jesus, and I’m sure it was Jesus.” Anticipating a raised eyebrow, she adds quickly: “But it wasn’t this crazy theological thing; it was just this figure who was the most perfected human being, full of light and full of love. And completely accessible. Any of us could be like that. There was light coming out of him holographically, simply because he was unclouded. But any of us could become that as human beings.”
Although disturbed, she was also elated. “On a mystical level, it was complete joy and happiness and there were tears running down my face. On a conscious level, when I came out of it I was absolutely horrified because I’m Jewish. This was not the thing I’m supposed to have confront me.
“I wasn’t myself in this visual experience,” she continues. “I was a 13-year-old boy sitting next to him [Jesus] and feeling feelings I’d never felt in my lifetime, of a 13-year-old boy being with an older male, who he really loves and admires, and loves to be in the presence of. It was probably the most profound experience of my life. I haven’t talked about it publicly.”
Well, no wonder. She confesses she still feels awkward speaking about it. “It’s very embarrassing. We’re intellectuals, we’re on the left, we’re not supposed to talk like that,” she says later.
The experience has made her happier than ever. She’s anxious about the repercussions of going public on her life-altering moment, but insists that her commitment to feminism remains as strong as ever.
“I don’t want to be co-opted as the poster child for any religion or any agenda,” she adds. “There are a lot of people out there just waiting for some little Jewish feminist to cross over. I so much want to distance this from Christianity. It has nothing to do with any religion whatsoever.”
I find this epiphany so interesting because Wiccans and other pagan religions often slag-off Christianity for being male-centric and not being able to relate to women. From the early church to current day, women have played an important role. Coincidentally, a couple of months ago, Esther was discussed in a sermon and in small groups. She saved the Jews from genocide.
Well, I really can’t be bothered to enter my testimony because I doubt anybody is reading this on any regular basis.
Although I’ve always had really good Christian friends (eg Robyn, Belinda and Therase) in my life, it was one particular friend, Dave, a friend/co-worker, who rekindled my relationship with God. He used to invite me to LAN parties and “Slamfest” (an occasional form of outreach featuring local professional wrestlers from International Wrestling Australia). These were held at his church, North Shore Christian Centre.
Anyhow, I thought this article was awesome. Basically, a Christian wrestler in Southern USA has started a travelling Christian wrestling show to get new converts.
