Contradiction is balance. [entries|archive|friends|userinfo] Axver [ website | U2-Vertigo-Tour.com: for all your U2 setlist needs! (Got a question, suggestion, or addition? Feel free to leave me a comment! I co-maintain the site.) ] [ userinfo | livejournal userinfo ] [ archive | journal archive ]

The Bit Torrenters' Creed [2 March 2008|02:07 am] [ Tags | bit torrent, interference, internet, religion ] [ Current Mood | tired ] [ Current Music | 'Lazarus (live)' by Porcupine Tree ] As I am on the tired side of life, I thought that today I would simply share something from the "postwhore-a-thon" over on Interference, which has managed to exceed 15,000 posts in the space of a week. I'd like to record this here so that it doesn't just vanish into the mountain of posts over there. We had two topics of discussion going at the same time, one about theology and one about downloads. I happened to remark that "I might reconsider my stance on Christianity if you can get an ecumenical summit to elect bit torrent as the new God", and after major_panic replied that he would love to see what creed would be created to conform with such a move, I produced this revision of the Apostles' Creed. I don't know about you, but if you ask me, this is the sort of religion to suit our modern Internet age! I believe in Bit Torrent, the downloader almighty, Seeder of heaven and earth, And in torrent trackers, its only distributor, our Lord, Which were conceived by the power of the Internet, Born of the virgin nerds, Suffered under the RIAA, Were banned, blocked, and sometimes arrested. They descended into hell. On the third day they rose again from being offline. They ascended into heaven and are seated at the left mouse button of Bit Torrent, the downloader almighty. From thence they shall come again to distribute the music and the movies. I believe in the torrent protocal, The holy torrent client, The communion of seeders, The forgiveness of leeching, The resurrection of the dead torrent, And the download everlasting. Amen. Link 5 comments|Leave a comment

The value of doubt [30 December 2007|09:27 pm] [ Tags | agnosticism, christianity, doubt, faith, knowledge, religion, truth ] [ Current Mood | contemplative ] [ Current Music | 'Mordet i Grottan' by Sörskogen ] Just about a fortnight ago, I confessed to the obvious and wrote about my agnosticism. In that entry, I made one mildly curious statement that I promised to write about later: "I also believe that there is a place within some conceptualisations and frameworks of Christianity for agnosticism, and indeed that agnosticism can be edifying for the Christian". I would now like to give this statement some extended treatment, though I shall leave the placement of agnosticism within any sort of Christian framework for any sufficiently interested reader to do, as its placement would vary from person to person. One of my favourite U2 songs, Hawkmoon 269, contains the lyric that "faith needs a doubt". You can quite easily make the case that Bono was simply stating the obvious. Faith is not objective knowledge; religion would become spectacularly useless if God revealed himself and his existence, like that of the sun, became commonplace knowledge discernable to anybody on the planet. Faith requires an element of doubt; to believe in God is a willingness to affirm the claim that he exists while implicitly acknowledging that he may not. It is for this reason that I believe agnosticism can be useful for the Christian. It is imperative that I clarify what I mean by agnosticism. I am not referring to the strand of agnosticism that believes the existence of a deity or deities cannot be proven or disproven. I am referring to the strand that neither affirms nor denies the existence of a deity or deities, but rather views the evidence as insufficient; God is not proven or disproven but there is the possibility that he could be proven or disproven. It is not a claim that God does not exist; it is a claim that "on the basis of the knowledge and evidence I currently possess, I do not know whether or not God exists". It is intellectual honesty. Agnosticism cherishes the doubt of faith. This doubt, this uncertainty, is - to lift another U2 line, this time from Zooropa - a guiding light. It stimulates a rigorous, enlightening, and fulfilling process of questioning, of seeking answers, of testing answers, of verifying evidence, and so forth. Agnosticism is not an excuse to give up, to throw one's hands in the air and say "that's it!" or to be lazy and state "well, since it can't be known; why bother?" Some agnostics may subscribe to this kind of apatheism and I don't blame them. But agnosticism can also be a prompt to delve further into theology - and into history, sociology, politics, and all else that is connected and seeks to understand the human condition. While faith can often devolve into an acceptance of the current answers with no effort to investigate further, as demonstrates by hordes of Christians content with their middle class Sunday Christianity, doubt inherently challenges the answers. This aspect of doubt is of the highest value in the quest for a deeper, richer grasp of many aspects of life. As the doubt of agnosticism and the doubt required by faith exist on the same continuum, the edifying role of doubt in the agnostic's intellectual life can also be useful and edifying for the believer to delve further into theology. The agnostic perspective on doubt can be used by the Christian to more fully understand faith, to flesh it out and examine its many facets more broadly. Agnosticism and Christianity are not irreconcilable, opposing forces. The Christian need not look upon the agnostic as a theological opponent, but a theological companion. I am and I hope always will be the same Axver that I was before, dedicated to the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of knowledge in a search for truth and understanding. Agnosticism does not change that; it propels me, and at an even greater speed with a heightened curiosity. An appreciation of doubt need not be and is not a concession of defeat or confusion or an act of renunciation (or to use a term I find insulting, "backsliding"), but a valuable opportunity for intellectual discovery. Link 8 comments|Leave a comment

[27 December 2007|10:48 pm] [ Tags | gold coast, high school, life, queensland, religion ] [ Current Music | 'Seeds of the Desolate' by Solitude Aeturnus ] Today, Jamie and I met up with Johnno and Mr Falcke, two of our teachers from high school. Johnno - Mr Johnson - was my Study Of Religion teacher, the only class that was regularly intellectually stimulating (which isn't to say anything bad about my other favourite teachers, but rather a critique of the statewide curricula). I never had a class with Mr Falcke, but he taught the maths class that Jamie topped and Jamie thought quite highly of him. We met at a cafe in Robina and talked for roughly 1.5 hours; had our time been unlimited, I'm sure we could have kept going until dinnertime! We had one moment of brilliance that I am going to have to fight tooth and nail to execute in the future. Well, it was mostly Johnno's idea. We were discussing university, e.g. how Johnno disrupted lectures that he found intolerably boring and how I'm going be a nerdy professor one of these days. So we settled on how to make a course really interesting. It's quite simple, really. At the start of the course, announce that "There are twenty lectures in this course. Six of them will be pure bullshit." Anyone who can correctly identify the six bullshit lectures passes and does not need to take the exam. The exam also contains fake questions on the fake subject matter, and anybody who actually answers them fails, as they have failed to show the intellectual discernment required to separate fact from fiction and still simply believe everything that they hear. I think that would be pretty brilliant and teach an important lesson. I'd love it if Johnno applied that to his SOR class too. He could present a number of religious movements and see if his class could identify the fake one. You could have your unlikely-but-true movements, and not just your rabid loons like Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church but cargo cults and the Prince Philip Movement that worships the Queen's husband. And then create something fictitious, such as a liberal Islamic cult that does not accept Muhammad as a prophet, a kind of Messianic Islam, "Muslims for Jesus". I thought that idea was hilarious and I would love to see how many people would genuinely think that the Prince Philip Movement is the fake one rather than Muslims for Jesus. Well, in any case, I can certainly say that I have had a good day. It's interesting to meet your old teachers as an adult rather than as a student. I wonder how many people even go and catch up with their old teachers, but Johnno was such an exceptional bloke - and though I didn't get to know Mr Falcke much due to never being taught by him, he's a pretty good guy too and it was nice to see him, particularly for Jamie. I miss barely anything of high school, most of it was intellectually stifling and socially awkward, but today brought back good memories of the bits I did enjoy, and added onto it in a new way. Link 29 comments|Leave a comment

[21 December 2007|05:29 pm] [ Tags | books, christmas, holidays, literature, persecution, religion ] [ Current Music | 'Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde' by Alcest ] So I am apparently the voice of pessimism at Christmas. It's been a long time since I ever really got into the season. Probably when I was 12 or 13. It no longer feels like a special time of year, and it doesn't help that I lack anybody to play cricket with. It's just not Christmas if you don't go outside in the afternoon, have a barbecue, and play some backyard cricket. Here, I don't even have a tree; I supposedly have a miniature tree for my coffee table somewhere, but I sure can't find it and I've looked high and low. Perhaps I should've made some crepe paper chains. Yesterday, I posted - a bit late - five Christmas cards. I've never sent so many in my life. It felt excessive. I'm sure that for some of you, though, sending out five cards would be a monumentally low figure. But my close friends and I have a standing rule that we don't give each other anything, going back to when Sam and I were 14; his birthday is three days before mine, so I gave him $20 and got the very same note back three days later. I am completely incompetent at buying presents anyway, and this lack of present-giving seems to extend to cards. I'm also completely incompetent at writing worthwhile messages in cards, so this is a great thing from my perspective. Unfortunately, certain family members feel a bit unloved if I don't send them anything. That said, two of the cards I sent to my Mum and Nan on the Gold Coast as a bit of a joke, to see if they beat me there. I'm flying up on Christmas Eve. I must admit to being considerably amused by the predictable furore that eminates mainly from the US every year over "Merry Christmas" vs "Happy Holidays" and some supposed "War on Christmas" that Christians with a persecution complex have invented in their minds. You know, when you have an overwhelming statistical majority, over 80% of the population, then your cries of "persecution" just sound like you have no idea what genuine persecution is. I want some of these irritating fundie extremists to spend a month in Saudi Arabia just so they can experience a bit of real persecution firsthand. For the time being, I think this animated diagram is fitting: I suppose some people enjoy storms in teacups. I, for the record, say "Merry Christmas" because that's the name of the bloody holiday. It has the religious significance of "Happy Australia Day". That said, I have grown up with Christmas being essentially devoid of religious significance or meaning. I remember when I first realised that "Christmas" referred to Jesus Christ; after all, it's pronounced more like "Chrissmas", so the connection was not immediately obvious even though I knew the spelling. In my childhood naivety, I thought the carols mentioning Jesus were sung just because it was one of the things that happened at that time of year, just like how Northern Hemisphere carols mention snow, and the day itself was simply a time of peacefulness, generosity, and family. I don't think I really realised it had any inherent religious significance until I was six and I learnt a couple of my cousins were going to church. I thought that was kind of odd because it wasn't a Sunday! Certainly in the social context within which I grew up, Christmas had evolved prior to my birth from a religious holiday into a secular and inclusive one. I just wish I still felt the magic that I remember it had when I was younger. Now I just grumble about having to find people presents when I don't know what the recipient would like and I haven't much money to buy anything good, or having to figure out what to write in a card, or having to hang out with family I don't like while eating food that doesn't appeal to me and listening to music that's stuck in a mundane timewarp. Oh well. That's my Christmas whine and I'll say no more (except in response to any direct replies on the topic, of course). I am looking forward to going to the Gold Coast and seeing family I haven't seen for 6+ months. I'm really looking forward to my mother's delicious fruit mince pies. Alan also makes fantastic turkey; I normally don't like turkey as it's too frequently dry like cardboard, but his isn't. Perhaps I can convince him to do duck next year, though. I'm also kinda proud of how I found my mother a present she probably wouldn't expect at all; it's just a book but the fact I managed to find something without any prompting or assistance is truly remarkable. I'm the worst present-buyer you'll ever meet, I assure you of that. I walk into a bookshop (because books win as presents), gravitate towards the history, politics, and theology sections, and then stand there thinking "but nobody else in my family would like any of this! And I don't know where to find books they would like. Oh, I give up. But before I go, let's see if they have any Søren Kierkegaard or G. K. Chesterton here!" Ah well, at least this time around I had a good discount voucher, so I bought Mum's present and some books for myself, including Les Miserables by Victor Hugo and War And Peace by Leo Tolstoy, both of which I have been meaning to acquire for bloody forever. At the moment, I am currently reading Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime And Punishment, and it is truly nothing short of brilliant. Dostoevsky thoroughly deserves the reputation he has. I cannot decide whether to proceed onto either one of my recent purchases or Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov once I am done. Perhaps I shall read something completely different instead, as a kind of interlude. Well, this became much longer than I intended. I shall continue tomorrow, for the sake of brevity. Have a good longest/shortest day of the year, depending on where you live! Link 18 comments|Leave a comment

A theological revision; a clarification, if you will. [19 December 2007|11:50 pm] [ Tags | agnosticism, christianity, conversion, deconversion, religion, theology ] [ Current Mood | nervous ] [ Current Music | 'Leper Jerusalem' by Melechesh ] In about a week, I'll be catching up with Johnno. Those of you who've been reading my journal since 2004 will remember Johnno - Mr Johnson - as the teacher of my Study Of Religion class at high school, the one class that was actually intellectually stimulating and a ground for considerable debate. I held and still hold Johnno in the highest respect, and I am very much looking forward to seeing him for the first time in over three years. There is a lot to talk about. There's just one thing that may surprise him, and that I am a bit nervous about saying. I am indeed nervous about saying it here too. I have always written about religion nervously, concerned with what people may think. Some of you have encouraged me in such a selfless - and intellectually stimulating - manner that I owe you an immense debt of gratitude. The only problem is that I have headed in a direction opposite to what may have seemed apparent in, say, 2004. I think this started to be made manifest in late 2005, and certainly my theological entries from 2006 and especially this last year have pointed in one clear direction; they have revealed a clear loss of faith and a movement from pretty mainstream Protestantism to the outer agnostic fringes of Christianity. To be honest, over at least the last half a year, the only thing keeping me attached to Christianity in any way has been people who I hold in the absolute highest regard and profoundly respect. I do not wish to let them down. I do not want to feel that they have wasted time, energy, and a lot more. Most of all, I do not want to cause any deterioration in any friendships. But I have to be honest. Since July, I have claimed to be an "agnostic Christian". This has evolved into "an agnostic in the Christian tradition" or, in the last couple of months, simply "agnostic" to those receptive towards it. So, with sincere nervousness and apologies to those I may disappoint, here goes: intellectually, I do not accept the most basic claims of Christianity and find the evidence to be insufficient and largely unpersuasive. I am agnostic towards the existence of a deity as I believe this is the only position I can affirm in full intellectual honesty. My interest in theology is not at all weakened, and I still wish to engage in discussions that I have enjoyed for the last few years - indeed, they may be even more rigorous and enjoyable exchanges of ideas and perspectives than before. I am definitely still interested in reading Christian literature; I am not a man of only one perspective. I still feel a connection and a debt to Christianity; for example, although my ethical and political systems of ideas can and intentionally do function independently, their development was of course influenced by Christianity. I also believe that there is a place within some conceptualisations and frameworks of Christianity for agnosticism, and indeed that agnosticism can be edifying for the Christian; I will write about this more at a later date. I do not consider myself to be a former Christian or an ex-Christian. I consider myself an intellectual who continually investigates ideas and, upon encountering new evidence and propositions, re-evaluates presently held positions. This is by no means the end of my Christian, religious, or theological journey. This is in fact just the beginning. I look forward to many more years - indeed, decades - of fruitful exchange between myself and others about theology and religion of all kinds, and I especially look forward to these exchanges with those of you who have been such invaluable companions and friends these last few years. I am not leaving anything behind. I am just following academic principles and attempting to pursue intellectual honesty. I am, nonetheless, sorry. This has been something that has been extremely difficult for me to acknowledge and deal with, and writing this entry has not been easy either. I now have a very profound respect for those who have departed from one theological community to another, as what they experience must be considerably more internally tormenting than what I have experienced. I have comparatively few ties to religion. For example, none of my close family members are particularly religious and I have never belonged to a church. The only struggle for me has been a nervousness and a fear of rejection or disappointment from people I hold very dear. Right now, as I post this entry and wonder how people will reply, if anybody will reply, those feelings are really at their peak. Again, I am sorry. However, I cannot be intellectually dishonest. I simply cannot. Link 45 comments|Leave a comment

Insanity from Sudan [3 December 2007|05:40 pm] [ Tags | darfur, islam, religion, sudan ] [ Current Music | 'Shattered Sky' by Psychotic Waltz ] I thought I'd share my thoughts on one of the stories currently achieving prominence in the media. I'm sure the majority of you will have heard of the Sudanese teddy bear blasphemy case. For those of you who haven't, here's a brief summary. A British teacher working in Sudan let her young students vote on the name of a class teddy bear. The winning name was that of a popular 7 year old, Muhammad, one of the world's most popular names and that of the Islamic prophet. This poor teacher suddenly found herself on the receiving end of a charge of insulting religion (!) and was sentenced to fifteen days' jail. Meanwhile, groups of Sudanese have protested this verdict as too lenient - yes, lenient, and they are demanding her execution. Yes, there are people in this world stupid enough to want somebody executed simply because of the name they permitted to be given to a teddy bear. Suddenly, the Danish cartoon controversy seems thoroughly sensible in comparison to this absolute lunacy. Look, if you're so sensitive about your religion that you perceive an insult in a teddy bear's name, then maybe your personal faith is a flimsy piece of junk without a leg to stand on. I don't mean to say that the Islamic religion in general is a "flimsy piece of junk" (though I would contend it doesn't have a leg to stand on, like most institutionalised religion), but that the individuals who have a problem with this teddy bear's name have such a poor faith that they cannot defend it with logic, reason, or even subjective arguments/experiences, but have to employ the weight of legal institutions and the threat of death to maintain its power. I must admit, I wonder how many of these people sincerely believe this women should die, and how many have just fallen victim to the propaganda of religious leaders who want to keep their population focused on everything but the real issues, or have been prompted to protest at the behest of a government they dare not disobey. This is Sudan, after all. In the west, Darfur is still in the throes of conflict, repression, and genocide with state support. In the south, tensions between Christians and Muslims have caused considerable bloodshed since the 1980s and currently have a shaky truce. Living conditions in general are horrible. There is so much wrong with this country, and the first thing they could do to fix things would be to overthrow the political and religious elite who have a vested interest in keeping it this way. But the elite aren't stupid, so a manufactured controversy like this conveniently keeps people occupied. Redirect their anger about poor living conditions, substandard education, and a miserable economy towards something that doesn't threaten the status quo but reinforces it. This really is so incomprehensibly ridiculous. I am a typical leftie, I advocate respect for foreign cultures, and I will vigorously defend minorities in Australia who are accused of being insular, unassimilated and "un-Australian". But this isn't a matter of respecting culture. This is sheer stupidity, encouraged and manufactured by an elite because it suits them. It has precious little to do with religion as it should be practiced. I'm sure all intelligent Muslims with common sense do not think somebody should be prosecuted, let alone executed, for naming a teddy bear Muhammad (which, I repeat, was after a boy in the class, not the prophet, and why is the teacher being sentenced when the Sudanese children themselves - likely Muslims - chose the name?). In any case, an umbrella body representing British Muslim organisations has come out vehemently against the prosecution. And reports that get beyond what the Khartoum regime wants the media to see state that most of Sudan is quiet, free from protests, and not in favour of execution. But of course, those aspects aren't getting much air time. It's far easier for the media to focus on minorities: terrorist organisations, protestors burning embassies over cartoons, and people demanding execution because of a teddy bear's name. Islam's image really has taken a horrible hammering. I can't say I understand why somebody would grant intellectual assent to the claims of Islam, but they are fully entitled to have their beliefs and they should be able to practice them without an idiotic minority making them look like intolerant extremists, and certainly not a minority sponsored by a government. Link 10 comments|Leave a comment

It's just a trick of the light ... [25 September 2007|11:27 pm] [ Tags | agnosticism, christianity, life, media, news, politics, religion ] [ Current Music | 'Don't Fall' by The Chameleons ] I haven't posted in too long, and now screendoor3 is insisting I should. I suppose I do need to put some stuff into words, but articulating it is the hard part. That's why I haven't written much. What do I say? How do I say it? There are so many tensions in my mind, no resolution ... every search for a resolution leads to new tensions. There's too much frustration in those tensions, frustrations with the world and with myself and with the complete lack of any real answers or happiness. A couple of people whose opinions I take seriously say I might be depressed. I don't think so. I think I just grew up and became a cynic because I realised that what life looks like from when you're seven is completely at odds with our worthless fucking reality. It's all so horrible, whether you take a shallow or deep perspective. Look at the news. The shallow news media lately have reported on a depressing murder and child abandonment story that makes for sensational headlines; the breakdown of a famous marriage in Aussie sport and harassed the parties involved just to rub in how unpleasant it must be; and the usual political mudslinging that focuses not on policy but scandalous soundbytes and hollow promises. Then the more serious news media is a brutal dose of reality - unprecedented protests in Burma that are sure to end in a tragically harsh military crackdown; horrific flooding in sub-Saharan Africa; inaction on climate change because some people seem incapable of reading data or co-operating; and, as usual, the Middle East, from semi-anarchy in Iraq to increasing tensions in the delicately balanced Lebanese political system to women's (lack of) rights in Saudi Arabia. It's just so miserable. And we sit in our cosy Western cuccoon and think nothing's in a hurry to change, we haven't personally been affected. It's all stuff that happens to other people. I'd like to see a change in the world, but it's all idealistic nonsense and nothing will ever happen. Well, something will, but I doubt it'll be positive. It might be an improvement, but that's a very relative thing, you know. I'm wondering when the next great paradigm shift in international organisation will happen. A lot of us think the territorial state system has lasted forever, but it really hasn't, it's a very new, European invention with origins in the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. We need a world system beyond borders. Borders enforce the "other people" thing. Other people living in other countries on the periphery, and we don't notice them, or when their existence is raised, we don't care because they aren't one of "us". I hate it when people say we need to worry about our own country before doing anything for people being oppressed. It just makes me think of "well, yeah, it'd be nice to end racial discrimination and do something for those impoverished blacks, but we need to worry about us whites first". It's just a new form of discrimination, a more politically acceptable form due to our current international organisation that privileges state sovereignty. I cannot help but think of a British editorial from the 1930s that stated, and I paraphrase, "what Germans do to other Germans is none of our concern". And International Relations realism, with its emphasis on sovereignty, just furthers that sort of rubbish. We won't see much improvement in the world if we continue to see borders as something more than arbitrary lines on a map. I'm dodging the issues. I'm not getting to the point. Instead of putting things into words, I'm taking every opportunity to deviate, to talk about the news and politics and history. I'm passionate about those topics, but I don't have to confront my innermost ... somethings. Fears, not really. Worries, that's not right either. Who knows. But it's all so dismal, you know? I feel like I've lost or I'm losing my religion. Sometimes I experience something that feels real, but only briefly and only rarely. Intellectually, I'm agnostic in a Christian tradition, I know religion's largely a sham and I don't believe in any kind of personal deity; sometimes I think no intelligent person with a sincere devotion to truth and knowledge really would in this day and age when we can disprove just about every claim of organised religion to anybody willing to wrench themselves from the suffocating clutches of cultural tradition. But on ... some other level, I feel something occasionally and used to draw a lot of very deep comfort and a feeling of, perhaps, love or contentment. I'm sure it was just a nice chemical release in the brain, and it'd be a huge fucking letdown if that's all life really is, but it damn well meant something and I'd like some more of it. It's certainly hard to reconstruct a purpose. I wish I hadn't picked up a religion at that crucial formative moment in my teenage years when I was finding my place in the world, because now that religion has been intellectually smashed to pieces, I'm struggling to fill a void. Religion is bad for children, folks. Let them find God once they've found their place in the world first; if they do the reverse and then lose God, they lose their place in the world and finding a new one is much harder. Ha, I did it again. I started to get to the point and then I went off on a tangent. I've wasted enough of your time today, whether it's actually reading this or just scrolling a wee way past it. Have a good one. Link 10 comments|Leave a comment

Religious fundamentalists can be a seemingly endless source of amusement [18 August 2007|11:57 pm] [ Tags | chick tracts, christianity, fundamentalism, fundies, hilarity, insanity, jack chick, religion, stupidity ] [ Current Music | 'A Place Like This' by Terraces ] Some of you are probably familiar with Jack Chick. He is a Christian fundamentalist best known for his "Chick tracts" that aim to proselytise and are full of all kinds of paranoid conspiracy theories, exaggerations, distortions of the truth, rabid anti-Catholic and anti-Islamic rhetoric, and outright lies and blatant misrepresentation. It's rather disturbing when you realise there are actually people in the world who take this nonsense seriously and hand out copies of the tracts in the hope of converting people; personally, I think those tracts do more to put people off Christianity than anything. However, when you block that reality from your mind, the tracts can be absolutely hilarious in their terribleness. And I think I just found the tract that tops the lot: The Last Generation. Besides the usual traits of Chick tracts, such as conversion appeals that come across as offensive and everything appearing to be set in some bizarre 1950s alternate reality, this one really goes all out on the "complete absurdity" front. It seems to be on a mission to include as many ill-conceived Jack Chick stereotypes that can possibly be squeezed into one tract. The "new age healer" made me burst out in laughter, as did the "free drugs" sign on the desk in one scene, but the best part is one little footnote that "Bobby won't live long". Priceless. Honestly, I can't believe this kind of moronic crap even exists. I suppose the best thing to do is simply to dismissively laugh at it. Link 21 comments|Leave a comment

[16 August 2007|11:33 pm] [ Tags | concerts, generork, israel, judaism, muse, public lectures, religion, university ] [ Current Mood | really fucking tired ] [ Current Music | 'Mekong Delta Blues' by Scorched Earth Policy ] Highlights of Axver's day: 1. This morning, I bought a ticket to see Muse here in Melbourne on the 15th of November. Got a pretty good seat too. As much as I enjoy most of Muse's music, I don't like them (or the sack of shit that is Black Holes And Revelations) enough to be bothered with the whole "lining up for ages to get a good spot in General Admission" thing. Plus, since I'm going alone, a seat suits me better anyway. 2. Ate far too much food with Kate this afternoon. At least I do a fair bit of walking these days in comparison to past standards of laziness and inactivity. 3. Indulged in generorky fun this evening by going to a public lecture at university. It was given by Michael B. Oren (perhaps best known for his book on the Six Day War) on the topic of "Jews, Statehood and Power: Israel and the Challenges to Jewish Morality". One of the courses I'm doing this semester is the History Of The Arab-Israeli Conflict, so this tied in rather nicely, especially as this week's focus was on the differing Israeli and Palestinian narratives of the creation of the state of Israel. Oren, who has not just studied Israeli history but served in the IDF, provided a rather interesting perspective and was a very engaging speaker. I won't try to provide an analysis of what he said or provide arguments about its validity, as I'm dead tired and no good could come of it. However, I will mention one side matter that struke me: the way in which Oren used holy texts such as those regarding Moses. It was interesting for someone such as myself, who has grown up in two countries where such texts are used to advance religious, theological purposes. Oren, of Jewish background, used them for a cultural purpose, something I have a hard time relating to but that I enjoyed hearing. It was nice to hear someone quote a religious text without then proceeding to force it down my throat. I was also surprised that when he was discussing figures such as Moses, Joshua, and Nehemiah, he spoke of the "Bible", not of the "Tanakh". Perhaps to cater to his audience? I don't know. If I can get my lazy arse into gear, I have a few politically flavoured entries to write. Or maybe I'll just talk music. I've been enjoying plenty of new stuff lately. Link 19 comments|Leave a comment

A rejection of the concept of sin. [24 July 2007|10:54 pm] [ Tags | christianity, explanatory tools, human rights, religion, sin, theology ] [ Current Music | 'The Genuine Pulse' by Borknagar ] In religious discourse, especially the Christian discourse with which I am quite familiar and shall focus upon in this entry, there is a heavy emphasis on the idea of "sin". It is taken as a given, as a self-evident reality that requires no explanation or justification. We are all sinners; we have all fallen short of the glory of God; we all deserve to be punished for our sins - how many times have each and every one of us heard religious people tout such claims? At least in my experience, it is commonplace for this to be uncritically accepted as true. I have even had family members who are almost totally unconcerned with religion state that "yeah, we all stuff up, we're sinners". This has illustrated to me the pervasiveness of the idea of "sin". ( You are not a sinner. ) Link 8 comments|Leave a comment

The death of religion [23 July 2007|10:23 pm] [ Tags | agnosticism, atheism, christianity, politics, religion, theology ] [ Current Mood | contemplative ] [ Current Music | 'Mordet i Grottan' by Sörskogen ] ( I ponder theology too much, but it keeps me out of trouble. ) Link 1 comment|Leave a comment

[27 June 2007|11:25 pm] [ Tags | agnosticism, atheism, christianity, new zealand, religion ] [ Current Mood | rushed ] [ Current Music | 'Pink Frost' by The Chills ] I would like to write a bit of a reflective follow-up to my recent theological post. I think a bit of history might be necessary though. This is the condensed version. ( History: the apatheism of young Axver. ) ( Reflections: the Christo-agnosticism of present day Axver. ) Link 8 comments|Leave a comment

[24 June 2007|11:26 pm] [ Tags | agnosticism, belief, christianity, disbelief, god, justification, religion, theology ] [ Current Mood | tired ] [ Current Music | 'Code/Anticode' by Gordian Knot ] I am currently working on a couple of politically themed entries, but I can't get them to a standard where I'm happy to post them, especially as I feel one is too inflammatory. So, in the meantime ... ( Attack of the theology! Perhaps not what you'd expect from me, though. ) Link 33 comments|Leave a comment

Twisting religion to justify hate. [31 December 2006|10:48 pm] [ Tags | christianity, crime, death penalty, hell, hypocrisy, iraq, jesus, justice, law, religion, saddam hussein ] [ Current Mood | tired ] [ Current Music | 'Bridge Across Forever' by Transatlantic ] I would like to continue on from yesterday's post about the execution of Saddam Hussein by addressing a topic that hits particularly close to home for me. I have been absolutely flabbergasted by some of the hate-filled bile that has come from the mouths and fingers of right wing Christians. ( This entry is targeted directly at those who think Christianity allows them to be completely tasteless pricks. ) And with that written, I shall depart for bed and ignore midnight. Stuff New Year's Eve. I just want it to be 2007 already. Link 6 comments|Leave a comment

Thoughts covering the 24th to 26th of December period. [26 December 2006|10:03 pm] [ Tags | boxing day, christmas, cricket, family, religion, tangiwai disaster, trains ] [ Current Music | 'Gospel According To IEM' by Incredible Expanding Mindfuck ] Yesterday, I had a fair bit I wished to say but no desire to really write much. Today, I feel like writing but can't recall much of what I want to say. Typical. Well, let's see where this goes. ( Impressions of Christmas this year. ) ( The Boxing Day test. ) ( And while I didn't want to, it seems I can't help but chime in on the stupid annual Christmas debates. ) I guess I actually had more to say than I realised. Well, that's about it for today, except to say that I feel bad for not doing my annual entry on the 24th in memory of the victims of the Tangiwai disaster on 24 December 1953 (which my grandfather survived and two uncles did not) and other New Zealand railway disasters, such as the 1943 Hyde disaster in which I lost four relatives. I also lost a relative in a dreadful railway accident in the UK in 1952, so I guess that given this unpleasant family history with trains, it's a little perplexing why I'm a railfan. I guess I was born late enough to not have my attitudes towards rail transport adversely affected by the disasters, but early enough to still be strongly emotionally affected by the memory of them. To this day, my grandfather has not ridden a train since Tangiwai. Anyway, although it's a couple of days late, there's my annual thoughts and reflections on the disaster. RIP Douglas and John. Link 2 comments|Leave a comment

Woo, theology! It's what all the cool kids do on a Friday night! [4 November 2006|01:29 am] [ Tags | belief, christianity, faith, genocide, history, new testament, old testament, religion, theism, theology, war ] [ Current Music | 'Once' by Blackfield ] Wow, it's November already. Where does the time go? I'm struggling to keep up with this year. I do recall asking for a fast year back at its start, and I quite delightfully seem to have gotten my wish. This coming month is going to be chaotic. I'm excited and nervous, and I probably won't be on LJ much, so I apologise if I take forever to respond to comments. If I don't reply to you until late November, now you know why. I find myself compelled to write some more theology, partly because I'm in the mood to do so and partly because I wish to tie up some loose threads from my previous entry. ( So here we go ... ) Let's hope that makes sense. I'm not normally awake at such a late hour! Oh, and I would just like to say that Transatlantic's Stranger In Your Soul is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever made by anyone. Link 18 comments|Leave a comment

More of that theological pondering. [28 October 2006|12:17 am] [ Tags | atheism, belief, christianity, doubt, existence, faith, god, religion, theology ] [ Current Music | 'Stranger In Your Soul' by Transatlantic ] So, I'm finally continuing the theological pondering that I began a month ago. Wow, has it really been that long? University seems to speed up time. ( Contradictions and context. ) Link 23 comments|Leave a comment

Early October's Theological Ponderings, Part I [7 October 2006|11:21 pm] [ Tags | annihilationism, belief, christianity, doubt, eternal damnation, faith, heaven, hell, justice, religion, theology, universalism ] [ Current Mood | contemplative ] [ Current Music | 'Day For Night' by Spock's Beard ] Alright, so this is the continuation of late September's theological ponderings, appropriately renamed for the new month. In this issue, I'm going to write about problems with the notion of faith, and then universalism. I also wished to address historical context, metaphors, and Scriptural inerrancy, but I ran out of room and will tackle those matters later. ( Let's get going then! ) Link 2 comments|Leave a comment

Late September's Theological Ponderings, Part I [22 September 2006|11:14 pm] [ Tags | belief, christianity, creation, god, religion, theology ] [ Current Mood | contemplative ] [ Current Music | 'Australasia' by Pelican ] ( We interrupt the lack of programming on Axver's journal to bring you the More Theological Ponderings Show! ) Link 19 comments|Leave a comment

A rant about the wilfully ignorant and other irritating types. [27 August 2006|09:42 pm] [ Tags | christianity, faith, fundies, god, knowledge, reason, religion, stupid people ] [ Current Music | 'The Apostle In Triumph' by Opeth ] ( A rant about some fellow Christians. ) Link 25 comments|Leave a comment

navigation [ viewing | most recent entries ] [ go | earlier ]