The Atonement

I know some people like this blog because it kinda veers from one subject to another: in this cases if from tits to the nature of sin. Some of the discussion among Anglicans about what is central to Christian faith has got me thinking about what the mean by atonement.

I think that the substitionary atonement theory of why "God became man" is barbaic. The theory argues that the ONE God sets up an system in which any sin against him is infinite, and so sends his own son to pay the debt of many sinners (because only an infinite sacrifice can pay an infinite debt...)

All I have to say to this is "why did God not set up somthing more reasonable?" A thirteen year old boy jerking-off to a mental image of a naked women is simply not rationally equal in sinfulness to someone who stalks and murders five innocents. Make no question I think all can be saved but also that sin is possible, but in Evangelical theology, and some forms of Catholic theology all kinds of sin (or mortal sin in the case of Catholics) have the same result - eternal damnation.

Even if I go to hell, this is nonsense.

I do believe Jesus was God incarnate, but not so much as atonement as a kind of apology. In other words I think Christianity is as much about theodicy as atonement. God could have made a better world, but in this one he introduced chance and suffering, and perhaps need to make an apology. Or less controversially, he ight have a perfectly good reason for having created a world in which suffering occurs, but understands that it is hard for us to comprehend why.

He could have sat back and just watched what happened. I think the Christian myth of the incarnation is this: God did not sit back and express "compassion" but became human in order to get covered in excrement, sweat, and pain like the rest of us. He really went through it - although he bowed out early: six hours bleeding and uncontrolled loss of body fluids while naked on a cross was a lot, but others have suffered more. But he did enough to demand humanity's trust and love.

God could have atoned for out sins ( and I have a few ) by decree, but he did it by being tortured naked in public and screaming for relief. He was no Buddha looking how to be compassionate. If Jesus is not the eternal expression of God into the world, damn GOD.

I don't understand the world at all, I'm afraid, but I think he alone (of all the worlds fake gods) can speak to us without shame.

English Newspapers

The Daily Mirror is read by the people who think they run the country. The Guardian is read by the people who think they ought to run the country. The Morning Star is read by the people who think the country ought to be run by another country. The Independent is read by people who don't know who runs the country but are sure they're doing it wrong. The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country. The Financial Times is read by the people who own the country. The Daily Express is read by the people who think the country ought to be run as it used to be run. The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who still think it is their country. And the Sun's readers don't care who runs the country providing she has big tits.

Sourced by tvheaven.ca to the Yes Prime Minister series.

America Goes Gay

...following similar moves by Ghana and Chinese women.

On the newest (so awful its good) TV hit - America has Talent - most of the male acts stripped their shirts off within 10 seconds of getting on the stage. The bodies they showed were all sculpted to the oppressive aesthetics of gay gyms.

And then the biggest queen since Liberace, a 6ft 9 gay Russian sword balancer known as Leonid the Magnificent was explicit on stage about being gay, insisted he was there to show "who he was," and then skipped off the stage.

This is possibly a time to invest in body-glitter futures.

Vive Le Pamplemousse!

Let me stress that the Daily Telegraph is a conservative newspaper. But it's obituaries are the funniest, and frankest. For example today's:

Robert Carrier (Filed: 28/06/2006)

Robert Carrier, the restaurateur, food writer and bon vivant who died yesterday aged 82, introduced luxurious Continental cooking to a nation in which ingredients such as garlic and spaghetti were regarded as foreign and treated with deep suspicion.

Theatrical, camp and with a penchant for superlatives ("Gooorgeous… Adooorable… Faaabulous!"), he became the first celebrity chef on British television; his series, Carrier's Kitchen, attracted viewers as much for his drawling American vowels and shameless self-promotion as for his dishes.

++++++++
PS:

The convention wisdom about the British Press used to be

-The Times is read by those who govern Britain
-The Finanicial Times by those who own Britain
-The Mail by the wives of those who own and govern Britain
-The Daily Telegraph by those who thing Britain should be run like it used to be
-The Express by those who think Britain is run like it used to be
-The Guardian by those who think they should govern Britain
-The Sun by those who dont care who runs Britain, as long as thh girl on Page Three has big t**s.

Goal Post

The best world cup blog around seems to be Goal Post at The New Republic. The funniest one though, is at Slate and is called Dispatches from the World Cup.

Polari

Polari was a gay language (or cant) in 1950s and 1960s England. Such languages/cants exist in many other areas (for example both Greek [Kaliarda] and Turkish gays have a distinct language.

This however may be the strangest fact (perhaps the strangest sentence) in Wikipedia

In 2002, Palestinian hip hop act Juha released an album called Polari, with the chorus of the title song written entirely in the slang.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari

Ann "Dead Head" Coulter

http://www.jambands.com/Features/content_2006_06_23.06.phtml

Ref from Andrew Sullivan.

Fact. The distribution of LSD was organized around Grateful Dead concerts.

Fact: I never liked acid-heads.

Fact (no reference to me, but from a friend): "Acid was fine, if you like the melting oil painting scene in What Dreams May Come. But got boring after 2 hours. Thank God for ecstasy to bring me down."

Fact: Disco rules. On average, the average gay man will enjoy Gloria Gaynor and Donna Summer over any Grateful Dead song.

Dynastic wealth

http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/06/gates_and_buffe.html

Warren Buffet's donation to the Gates foundation (i.e. not setting up a foundation in his own name) is truly gob-stopping (a Lancashire phrase with no US cognate).

Hey, Trey (one of my readers), given that Buffet has already (a/c the religious right) given up his soul because he funds abortion-rights organizations, this is an ulimate test of theories of the meaning of existence. He clearly wants a "near-life" effect (since Gates is 25 years younger, and really one of the people most immune to quotidien corruption in the world, and has to spend Buffet's money).

Even if the universe has no ultimate meaning (which I do not believe), Buffet has shown you can still insist that there is a meaning now.

Gay Origins

In response to the story below, I was asked what I thought about the issue.

I think culture affects the expression of a variety of genetic variations. Basketball players are clearly impacted by their genes, but being tall and fast would not really have been that useful before a society that had invented basketball had come into existence. At least it would not make you a multi-millionaire (or equivalent).

In agricultural societies where the family was the prime unit of production (as opposed to post-1950s Capitalism where the family is a unit of consumption), people really could not be openly gay in the way they are today.

It's really capitalism, which promotes individuation and the individual as both worker and consumer that has allowed both women and gays to pursue lives outside of the family unit.

Ways to Tease Younger Brothers

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Sexual-Orientation.html
Men With Older Brothers More Likely to Be Gay

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 26, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Men who have several older brothers have an increased chance of being gay, researchers say, a finding that adds weight to the idea that sexual orientation has a physical basis.

I should tease my younger brother! [He's straight.]

I Love Ronaldo

OK, perhaps it's surprised some people that I like football (soccer).

It's a tough love for a gay boy. As a kid I always felt I was a fake, as an adult, I always thought I liked it simply because the players are not physical freaks, but simply beautiful. But now I admit I actually do like to watch football matches.

I remember watching Manchester United as a kid. [I'm from Manchester, I was born within 2 miles of the stadium (Old Trafford), every single member of my family except my mother (Manchester City, god knows why) has been a Manchester United supporter, and I paid with my own money to get into the Stretford End (and walked to the stadium) as an 11 year old.] I remember watching MU beat Bayern Munich at Barcelona, and literally reach ecstasy as Manchester United achieved the "Triple" without having any American to explain why I was so (thanks Ghana) "gay."

Watching football when you support a team as a virtual religius obligation is almost an orgasmic experience. As a fan you have a major dopamine wash if Manchester United or England approach the goal. A goal by the other side is a major crash. Crack has nothing on the elation or depression of really supporting a footbal team!

I may be as gay as a gander, and sometimes have felt like I was supporting a team as a way to avoid gayness, but it ain't true. I love watching football. A 0-0 score has nothing to do with how much you enjoy a game. [And hell, England has made it to the last 8: I was at Fordham (former coach, Vince Lombardi) long enough to yell at the English Press, "winning isn't the main thing, it's the only thing." "we won" dammit.]

Meanwhile, my hero in Germany is Ronaldo. [He's way cuter than Ronaldinho, but not at Beckham's 10 rating.] They keep calling him fat. He equalled the most goals scored in the world cup. And they keep callin him fat.

Personally, I have always argued that "love handles" is an accurate discription. [You have to be able to grab something.] Ronaldo scores 2 goals (200% more than the USA), and still gets attacked. If he is fat, I am Mt. Everest.

Watch the next Brazil game. Ronaldo will become the World Cup's highest ever goal scorer.

Of course I want England to win. But, with the most important relationship of my life having been with a Brazilian, I feel justified in, like the rest of the world, adopting Brazil as my "second favorite team."

PS: The real problem is that Argentina is playing better, and looks sexier....

Chinese Women Join Ghanaians in Going Gay

It's very normal. It's not cheating, because it has nothing to do with love; I can easily separate sex and love. I just do it for the sex.

The Observer, June 25, 2005

"where the men are tall "

"where the men are tall."

I expect they mean "big."

The Observer, June 25, 2006