What to believe ?

I have a friend who claims to be a good Christian, goes to Mass now and then, confesses his sins at least once a year and is a “liberal” from a political point of view.

He does, however, not ( with a capital N ) believe in a life after death.

“When you are dead”, he says, “you're dead.” .. finish... that's it... the end...

no heaven, no hell !

Heaven, he believes, was invented by those who really wanted to stick around some more, maybe for ever.

Hell is a concoction of evil, dreamed up by those who wanted to frighten the rest and force them to do their bidding... or else...

When you are dead, you are dead. Forever...

But, he claims, he is a good Christian.

I know that he is a good man. Would not harm the proverbial fly, gives generously to every drive for “good causes”, honors his parents and loves his wife and children and is honest to a flaw.

But, and I simply could not stop myself, had to tell him, he is no Christian, no Jew, no Muslim, he is, I was sad to tell him, a 

“good man, nothing”....

Why not a good Christian?

He asked, obviously not interested to be any of the others I had listed.

Because, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven ( or Hell ) after one's death is THE fundamental tenet of the Christian and almost every other faith.

To be resurrected, to enter heaven or hell, as the case may be, is the alpha and the omega of Christ's teaching.

“I am the resurrection and the Life. He, who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.”

(John 11:25)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 )

I have never been able to understand this last one: Why did God sacrifice his son, so that everyone who believes in him have eternal life ?

Where is the connection ? Why was this necessary? Could God not just have said:

Everyone who believes in him shall have eternal life ? What is the purpose of the sacrifice ?

Should there not be a logical connection between Cause and Effect ?

The Cause being the brutal, cruel crucifixion and the Effect eternal life ?

Why and How does this demonstrate God's love for the world ?

Come now, whom are you trying to kid ?

Back now, to my lovely friend, who thinks he is a good Christian, but does not believe in Life after Death. The Bible, however, is full of such promises, and the Bible is the Book, written under the inspiration of God, therefore it must be the Truth. Or so Christians try to make you believe.

In fact, however, I believe that the Bible ( O.T. And N.T.) was written by men, uninspired by God, and is, therefore, full of error, contradictions, cruelty and blatant nonsense.

Therefore it is perfectly acceptable, in fact, it is recommended, to decide for yourself what to believe and what to reject.

You, my good friend, are a Good Man indeed, but you are no Christian until you accept this most important tenet.

You may, in fact, simply accept the “Golden Rule”... (do unto others as you would like them to do unto you) and toss the rest onto the junk pile of “Religion” where it truly belongs.

But then, who is

Bertstravels

to judge ?

Regensburg

 The Cathedral of Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany.

The "Cathedral's Sparrows"

They sing like a jubilation of nightingales.

Their voices had been filling the cavernous expansion of the Cathedral of Regensburg, in Bavaria since 975 A.D.

They are called the “Sparrows of the Cathedral of Regensburg.” The "Regensburger Domspatzen."

Some people insisted that they are as good as, or better than the “Vienna Sängerknaben”, the singing boys of Vienna.

When the “Sparrows” had completed their part of the High Mass on Sunday morning, they, however, returned to their quarters with trepidation.

Because there hell awaited them.

It is now documented that sexual molestation, rape and physical beatings for the slightest transgression awaited them. The Priests, assigned to the young boys, knew no love, nor mercy. They did know brutal repression.

The first revelations appeared in 2010 with accusations going back to 1958.

Who knows what happened between 975 and 1958.

It is most interesting to note that between 1964 and 1994, Georg Ratzinger, the older brother of Pope Benedict XVI, was the famed “Kapellmeister” of Regensburg and in charge of the Choir.

He admitted to have known about the physical beatings, but denied any knowledge of sexual transgressions. 

To accept that within the space of 30 years he knew nothing of the multiple sexual transgressions is, to say the least, stretching the belief system to bursting.

He also admitted to have remained silent in spite of his knowledge of violence and asked for forgiveness from the victims.

This is the beauty about the Roman Catholic church. You may do as you like, as long as afterwards you ask for forgiveness and go to confession. Then all is well.

Except for the victims of these crimes, who likely remain traumatized for the rest of their lives.

Can we truly say that we are surprised ? Of course not !

After the drive to survive, the sexual drive is the second most firmly embedded drive in the human mind and body. When this second most important drive is suppressed, and is classified as sinful, it is no wonder that feelings of blame, shame and fear beset the victims of such suppression.

Priests of the R.C. Church are, indeed, challenged and ordered to suppress all such impulses, which seems inevitably to lead to sexual excesses, including pedophilia. It is, of course, difficult to say which came first: The chicken or the egg.

I wonder whether George told his younger brother about all of this and whether this or the knowledge of similar transgressions lead to the Pope's instructions that such abuse is not to be reported to the authorities ( police ) but is to be dealt with within the administration of the church.

This usually resulted in the transfer of an offending priest to a new parish, where he could find new victims.

Apologists for the RC Church will say, that there are pedophiles in all walks of life.

True ! These are, however, not protected by their association, but are, in most cases, dealt with by the courts. Furthermore the percentage of pedophiles and other sexual transgressors are considerably higher within the Priesthood than in any other profession.

By the constant protection of priests, bishops and other members of the clergy in regard of sexual transgressions, by the demonstrated practice of “money laundering” through the Vatican Bank, by the avoidance of payment of various taxes, the Church, as a total administrative body, is guilty of serious criminal activities, no different from the Mafia and should under the law be treated like the “Cosa Nostra”.

Instead we sign and continue to respect “Concordats” and behave as if the Church were man's best friend.

A rare meeting

In a pub in Dublin two men were enjoying a Guinness Stout when one of them turns to the other:
"I heard you talking to  the waiter and I hope you don't mind my asking where might you be coming from ?
" I'm from Londonderry" he answers.
" Well now, isn't that just great, so am I.. and where, may I ask in Londonderry did yous live ?"
"On St. Patrick street, all me life"
"Well isn't that just grand, so did I, On St. Patrick street and to school I went and graduated from St. Mary's in 1964.
" You don't say, me lad, the Good Lord must be smilin' down at us, havin' so much in common: I too graduated from St.Mary's in 1964
and now we're  meetin' here in this small Pub in Dublin"
"Sure and begorrah, that's the Lord's truth... He sure must be smilin' down at us.:
A third man comes into the pub and orders a beer.
The waiter brings it to him and, shaking his head, he says:
"It'll be a long night tonight. The Murphy twins are drunk again.

Bertstravels
has been drunk once
but he never had a twin

Prince Eugene, the noble knight.

Prince Eugene (Prinz Eugenius)

His Statue in front of the Hapsburg Royal Winter Palace

Prince Eugene of Savoy

was a French Nobleman, whose military services were rejected

 by the reigning French King Louis XIV, because, it is surmised,

Eugene was not sufficiently tall, 

nor did he show sufficient respect for the King.

Eugene, no slow poke, 

recognized his limitations in the French Court 

and hired himself out to the Austrian Hapsburg Dynasty, 

where he proved himself as an outstanding military commander, 

defeating the Turkish Invaders, 

as well as an accomplished diplomat and, 

as if the above were not enough, 

as a generous patron of the Arts.

I think we may take it for granted, that Louis often said:

"What a mistake I made with this guy from the house of Savoy !

Each time I hear of another of his victories or other noble deeds, 

I could bite my ass! "

He may have used slightly different terminology, 

but the sense was surely the same.

********************

The statue shows the Prince's horse with both front legs off the ground, indicating, so the fable goes, that the rider died in battle.

WRONG ! The Prince died in his sleep, in bed, peacefully, having just reached 72 years, on the 21st April 1736.

**************************

Bertstravels

knows a song about the Prince 

which cannot be sung in polite company.

Epiphany and The Star Singers

Epiphany : A moment of sudden and great revelation or realization. 

In most areas of  German speaking countries this 

"Three King Festival"

is celebrated on the 6th day of January.

In memory of the alleged "Three Kings" or "Wise Men"

who came from the Orient, 

carrying gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.

Although there is of course no mention in the Bible 

of their number or names,

tradition has it  (6th Century) that there were three of them

 and they called themselves

Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar.

Their initials C,M,B together with the year, inscribed above the homes of the faithful, are also interpreted as meaning: 

Christus Mansionem Benedicat.

Today, children, dressed in what they believe to be 

the dress of Kings in Christ's time

come to the homes of neighbours and sing traditional songs.

Of course they receive payment for this performance 

which is used for good causes.

The Star Singers and their Chaperon

Melchior (Zala)

Balthasar (Fanny)

The Bearer of the Star (Nicole)

Kaspar (Leonie)

The three Kings would be very  very happy

if they looked half as lovely as these girls.

Is this crazy ? Or: Is this crazy.

What is this ? Lunacy ? Or just simple stupidity ?

At the very least it is a clear sign that Governments of all levels should stay out of “business”.

Research by the reporter Andrea Bergman of the “Kleine Zeitung” revealed (issue 4th January 2016) the following:

In several (32) of Carinthia's communities, developers refused to build additional apartment buildings, since, according to their market studies, there was not sufficient call for those.

The elected officials, mayors and sundry economic miscreants, insisted that new apartments were to be built in order to prevent young people from leaving the Municipality.

In order to convince the developers to build such unneeded accommodation they promised to pay the rent for any empty units, in some cases under contracts lasting for 99 years.

Some of these contracts date back to the 1960 and only recently did one of the mayors speak up, after having received an invoice for “vacancy payment guarantee” for three apartments in the amount of €38,000 (Can.$55,100.-)

As stated above, the reason for such lunacy, for such gambling with tax Euros was “to keep young people from leaving the respective community.”

Even the most perfunctory, the most superficial use of whatever counts for brains in these mayors' chairs, should have revealed that young people leave their home communities in search for WORK and not in search for comfortable accommodations.

These empty apartments are, so it is revealed, heated with expensive electrical energy, are old fashioned in design and are further burdened with drafty windows and other deficiencies.

Now, one of the mayors demands that the Province (Carinthia ) must find a Province-wide solution to this boondoggle. These empty units, almost ruins, he demands, must be refurbished and made “renter attractive” and no further subsidies are to be paid for the building of new accommodation, until all now empty units are rented.

Now, after having paid collectively probably hundreds of thousands of Euros in “Vacancy-Guarantees” they come up with the brilliant idea which private enterprise told them 50 years ago:

“Do not build unless the market demands it.”

Do not produce widgets or submarines until there is a buyer.

So, please tell me: “Who pays for this lunacy?”

As always: “The Taxpayer”

Hyppo leaving pond.

Hyppos are, as you know, vegetarians.

When night falls, they leave the protection of their home pond,

and graze in the surrounding land.

Just before sun-rise they return to the protection of the pond or lake or river, 

whichever they may call "home"

Protection from what ? you may ask.

Mostly from the blazing rays of the sun, which might quickly damage their sensitive skin.

This one spent the day in a pond, overgrown with "purple weed"

and some of the plant still adheres to his (her?) back.

I deliberately did not brighten this image,

since this was exactly how it appeared to my eye.

... dark and a little forbidding...