What is LIMBO ?

When I was at Kordi's Funeral Mass I could see, off to my left the "Baptismal Font".
It stood in a small niche and was fronted by a huge wall painting , showing Jesus Christ on the Cross and at the bottom were depicted human figures burning in Hell Fire.

For a moment I was stunned at the juxtaposition of the baptismal area and the eternal agony of hell.
Then it occurred to me: According to Catholic Teaching you will burn in hell forever unless you are "borne again of water." 
(John 3:5). 

Now you must wonder: Why do we all burn in hell forever unless we are borne again of water ?
It's "Original Sin", baby, we are all saddled with because Adam and Eve, or maybe it was Eve alone, when in the Garden of Eden, ate of the forbidden fruit. The Bible does not tell us 'why' the fruit of this particular tree was forbidden, it just was.
But now, the Catholics had a bit of a problem: What should they do with all the new-borne babies who died before they could be sprinkled with water? You cannot just let them burn in hell forever. It's not their fault that Eve listened to a talking snake, and it surely is not their fault that they could not receive the Sacrament of Baptism. So they came up with a wrinkle: They invented a place, I don't believe is ever mentioned in the Bible. They invented "Limbo" for those little innocent kids, and no lesser man than Thomas Aquinas assured the parents that there, although they would not see the Lord, they would be well taken care of and exist in a relative state of contentment.

So, all these innocent babies, who could not possibly ever have sinned themselves, are, nevertheless, punished by never reaching heaven.

Some "Just God" we are dealing with here.

Let's just step back a bit: God, who is "all-knowing" knows the Past, the Present and the Future.
He created man in His image, created Adam and Eve and imbued them with a strong sense of curiosity.
So, they Had To Taste the forbidden fruit and God knew that they would... and when they did, He punished them cruelly. And not just them, but all of their descendants, including little kids, right up to now and forever into the future.

For doing what they were programmed to do, they got kicked out of Paradise and saddled with Original Sin, whose forgiveness could only be obtained by Baptism.

This entire story sounds preposterous. It sounds downright silly.

Please note: I am not a Bible Scholar! 

I am just

Bertstravels.

KORDULA

When I was a kid, age 8 to 12 I would spend every summer vacation in Feistritz an der Drau, a small town in Upper Carinthia. My mother's mother lived there in a small house, a garden with various fruit trees in the back, a small brook running past it and on the other side of the brook, once you crossed a small wooden bridge, there lived my Grand Uncle. He had a carpentry store and a small farm. 
A loving Grandmother, fruit trees in the garden, a brook, a Grand Uncle, the smells of fresh wood, two horses in a stable and some cows. Isn't this close to Paradise for a small boy?

I loved everybody there. But the person I loved most was my Cousin Kordula, the daughter of my Aunt Elsa. 

"Kordi" was five years older than I was and naturally I considered her pretty "grown up".
When you are 10 years of age, a 15 year old is "all grown up", No?

Kordi even then was a very funny girl. I sought her out every chance I got and listened to her tell stories. When Kordi told a story, you just could not stop laughing. She was "a riot."
She knew a hundred or more "Gschtanzln" which are short dialect songs, mostly 4 liners and all funny, some of them a little risque. I learnt a lot of those from her.
As we grew older we met only rarely, both of us having all consuming interests of our own. But now and then, at a birthday celebration of one of our family, I would meet Kordi again. Once, I remember, my brother Sigurd and Kordi were there and double- handedly entertained the whole party. All Assembled were in absolute stitches.

Once I tried to call my sister Inge from Canada, but her line was always busy. Finally I reached her and said: "I've tried to reach you for almost an hour, but got nothing but a busy signal"
"Yes", my sister answered, "for the last hour I've been chatting with Kordi and I have not laughed so much in a long time."

Since 2009 I've been living in Bleiburg, in Lower Carinthia, and Kordi lived in Spittal. This means we were only about 200km from each other. In all this time I saw Kordi but 5 or 6 times and I will always regret this neglect of an old friendship.

Several months ago I visited her for the last time. She had come down with a serious illness which prevented her from swallowing and robbed her of the power of speech. But we still had a good time. I did most of the talking and she used a paper and pencil for her questions or comments.

The illness was not able to rob her of her will to enjoy life nor of her sense of humor.

Well, today, just about an hour ago, I've returned from Kordi's funeral.
She had passed away on 31st July and I am certain she did so with a smile on her face and maybe she still whispered a "Gschtanzl"....

Bertstravels

Did I hit a nerve ?

This is most interesting!
On average, according to the counter,  I receive about 25 to 30 "hits" (visitors) to this Blog per day.  Very few leave a message directly on the Blog, , but several readers contact me via e-mail with some comments. Pro or Con...
This last entry about "Epicurus" must have hit a bit of a nerve. 
On the first  day  I received 8 emails commenting on the opinions expressed therein.
It is most revealing that 6 of the 8 criticized this Blog, and only two agreed with the statement that one should only accept statements presented as "factual" based on observable evidence or logical deduction. 
Those, who criticized the opinion expressed in the Blog, did so in the old "Bible Thumping" manner, and tried to show me up as wrong, by quoting passages of the Old and New Testament, totally disregarding the fact that not a single line in the Bible is based on "observed fact" nor on "Logical Deduction", but on so-called  hear-say evidence, which is no evidence at all..
In deed, as even Believers agree, the passages of the New Testament were written many years, some even hundreds of years after Jesus Christ's supposed life on earth.

I am really not attempting to change anybody's mind about this issue and ask only to "use your head" when making pronouncements concerning the two statements: 
1:) There is a God !
2.) There is no God !
I suggest that neither can be proven by (here we go again) "Observable Fact" or "Logical Deduction"...

How did I get into this ? All I did was read about Epicurus, a Greek Philosopher who lived about 350 years before Christ. and about 2350 years before 
Bertstravels

Epicurus

Epicurus,
who lived from 341 to 270 B.C. was a Greek Philosopher.
I recently became interested in his thoughts and began to read as much as I could find about him.
The following is a short, very short summary of his Philosophy: (not my observations)

"Do not fear God
Do not worry about death
What is good is easy to get and
what is terrible is easy to endure."

but I was most impressed by this:

"...nothing should be believed, except that which was tested through direct observation and logical deduction."

This latter truly reflects my belief system, which, of course totally prevents me from becoming a Theist or an Atheist, given that both directions demand the same level of belief. That is, that both statements: "There is a God" and "There is No God" cannot be demonstrated by "direct observation" nor by "logical deduction."

It seems, therefore, that the only acceptable form is that of the Agnostic.

Bertstravels is and has been for a long time  a confessing Agnostic.

Paradise

This image taken from the door to my studio.
Will you argue with me, when I say that I live right
next door to Paradise ?

from this elevation one cannot see the "Petzen"
(House mountain)
But sitting on the balcony for breakfast,
the mountain is there in all its grandeur.

The arched door leads into my studio,
of which I shall show you some pictures
at the next posting.

 

This is Hyperbole of the finest kind

The background:
Mr. Snowden is in Moskau, as is the Bolivian President, Evo Morales, who is on a state visit with Mr. Putin.
The USA suspects that Mr. Morales might assist Mr. Snowden to leave Russia and fly to Bolivia on board of his craft and therefore convinces several European countries to withhold the right to enter their territory by the Bolivian Jet.
Before entering French or Belgian air space the Bolivian has to turn around and asks and is given landing rights in Vienna.

A Bolivian News Agency reports, according to "The Kleine Zeitung" , that  Evo Morales, telephoned the President of Austria, Heinz Fischer, and expressed his gratitude claiming that Fischer "saved his life" by allowing the Bolivian Plane to land in Vienna.
"What would have happened, had the plane not been allowed to land in Vienna" ? so asked Morales.
By implication Mr. Morales suggests that his craft, having run out of fuel, would have crashed and all aboard, including Senior Morales might have been killed. 
I cannot fathom another reason why the Bolivian would thank the Austrian for having "saved his Life".
Is this just South American enthusiastic hyperbole, or is it a clumsy attempt to paint the USA and Mr. Obama as potential killers?
In fact, the Bolivian plane could have landed on at least a dozen German, Swiss or Austrian airfields, so that really nobody saved Mr. Morales' life.
But hey, what a lovely story it makes.
A thriller in the air.
Get 007
or
Bertstravels.

Kinda silly, ain't it ?

Luxemburg is a very important member of the European Union.
Luxemburg is one of the smallest European Countries: 2,586 sq.km.
Luxemburg has about 525,000 inhabitants.
Luxemburg has some very interesting financial laws, which attract many other Europeans, who want to hide some income from their respective Tax Departments.

Luxemburg is a Parliamentary Democracy, headed by a "Grand Duke", a constitutional Monarch.
The head of Government is Prime Minister Jean Claude Junker.

The smallest Canadian Province, Prince Edward Island, with 5,660 sq.km is more than twice the size of Luxemburg.

There are more than 10 times the number of people living in Greater Toronto than in all of Luxemburg.

But, boy, do they ever store Billions of Euros coming from all directions into their Banking Institutions.

When my daughter was very small, she and one or two of her little girl friends played "House".
That meant that they would find an out sized hat, a stole and their mothers' shoes. Then they would invite each other for "tea" in the afternoon. They used a doll sized tea pot and cups, sit down and have very "grown up" conversations. It must have been loads of fun, since they played "grown up" frequently and long.

Well, it seems that there are whole countries which play "Grown Up"

Luxemburg has not only a Parliament with Ministers and political parties, but, Get This.....
Luxemburg also has a Secret Service, spying on their own people and Goodness knows on whom else.

Now Mr. Junker is in deep trouble, because the Chief of his country's Secret Service, has spied on him and on the Grand Duke. In true "James Bond"  fashion, the Chief, with the help of a microphone embedded in his wrist watch, recorded State Secrets discussed between the Prime Minister and the Grand Duke.
It is surmised that he wanted to black mail Mr. Junker and maybe also the Grand Duke.
I am waiting for the Chief of the LSS (Luxemburg Secret Service) to fly to China and then to Russia and ask those two countries and everybody else on the Globe for Asylum. 
One thinks that the Grand Duke lives in a Castle, surrounded by a moat and with a dungeon deep in the basement. So the Chief of the LSS has every right to fear for his safety and maybe even for his life.

Spies, Spies, Spies... everywhere are spies...

Kinda silly, ain't it ?

Bertstravels thinks it's silly...