Religion? Nah, I'll pass...:(

Religion. There, I have started, and so I'll finish. What is this 'religion' thing? Point by point, if anyone would ever look at it, it fails, miserably. You are not born a Christian person, anymore than you are born an Islamic person or a Jewish person, or any one of the hundreds of other flavours of Religion. You are, most likely, someone who is born with complete innocence, a total lack of understanding of hatred, bigotry, and Religion. What are these things to you, when you have just been born? They are nothing. Unfortunately, whatever household you are born into will have its own history of 'sheeple' - no-one really analyses it, or gives it any kind of rational explore. Your father may well be Christian, as his father was before him, and so on, for as long as the records will show. You are then exposed to the Church, and effectively brainwashed for the next few years. You will be told that this is the right way to do things. In fact, you will be told that this is the only way to do things! The exposure to the Bible will be selective - you will not get to see the Dark Side of the Bible, unless you actually sit down, and read it through, cover to cover. You will certainly not be told of the many inconsistencies within those pages - how one book tells you one thing, and then that is contradicted by somewhere else. Back when I was growing up, we only had Christianity, and in the sleepy suburbia that I got to know there was virtually no exposure to anything other than Christianity. We had school assembly, all sang lahdida, said the prayers, etc, etc, much as we did in Church. So, what is this Bible? The version we have - version! That's a good start. The word of God, and we are looking at a particular version of the word of God! Anyway, the version we mainly use is this King James one - http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/. This is where we get into muddy waters. Point number one - the Bible was most definitely NOT written in English! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Version. The Bible is a collection of various texts, all from various sources. Whatever happened to this, then? Talk about selective editing! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_apocrypha I really doubt that the translators would have been impartial, as they were all (I don't doubt) extremely intelligent people, obviously capable of dealing with more than just English, but they were of the Church! Since they were all Clergy, how accurate and impartial would their translations have been? Seriously, if you think for a moment that they would have done a good professional job of translating, then you are a fool! So we have a Bible that has been translated from previous translations, possibly quite a few times, by different people, in different centuries, each with different ‘reasons’, so how accurate is this Word of God? Since we have some of the history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vetus_Latina is shocking reading, as it outlines some of the starting points which eventually lead up to the current Bible. Then came http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulgate and along the way http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexapla, and http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11765-origen#374 and http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_%281913%29/Hexapla We clearly have a Bible which has grown over centuries, been changed, added to (and one must assume deleted from?) by many, many people. How can you truly say that the modern interpretation of the writings that amount to the current Bible can be even remotely the Word of God?

Amicable separation? Divorce? Ha! Sort that paperwork out!

Many years ago my wife and I split up. After wasting my time for 9 months going to Relate it turned out that she had already made her mind up. I was appallingly down, so miserable and most likely depressed, and she walked all over me. She took 75% of everything - we sold the house, she moved into a 250,000 house, with no mortgage, and the salary that she had been siphoning away for over a year, and I walked away with about 90,000. I then had to get a mortgage of around 88,000 to get a small house. After three years of this I had had enough, and filed for divorce. What elese? She wants nothing to do with me, nor do any of her family - not a single person called me, dropped me a line...nothing. They just left me to drown. Having been trampled at the separation, I though I had put the paperwork in place so that no-one would be making claims later on - I have my pensions to take care of! She remarried, and then after a while I did, too (not to each other!) A word to the wise, for anyone who has separated or divorced, and left a joint life policy running. Cancel it. It may be that you lose out on quite a bit of money, but the alternative is that you let it run for the duration of the policy, and then find out that the ex-partner is still entitled to half of the payout! That ex-partner may very well have paid nothing into the policy for its time (never paid a penny in premiums) but they are on the policy, and therefore 'entitled' to half. It all depends on what your solicitor may (or may not) have done, should have tried to sort out the finances at the separation or divorce. Did they get the right phrasing in - no future claims, that sort of thing? How good at grabbing your money can your ex-partner be? Was it a 'civilised' separation, or did they take you for almost everything, and then still want more? It's very sad, the way some people behave. I have contacted my solicitor, but from what I can find on the web I am not optimistic.

It's a very difficulat time for so many people across this tiny planet. In the last few days we have heard that the UK and other countries (USA among them) are considering some form of military intervention in Syria. Say what? They have been having civil war in Syria for ages, killing and being killed on all sides. Not too many year ago and various governments lied to their populations over the so-called WMD in Iraq (there were none) and here we are thinking of going in to yet another Middle East country! While I symathise with the thousands who are caught in the middle of that unholy mess I can't look forward to more of our soldiers getting shipped off to Syria. What will the body count be over there? :(

Maestro Domingo...:)

I must just mention that this man - one of my heroes - deserves your kind thoughts. Not so much your prayers (we all know how much they get answered...) but a kind thought, wishing him well. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23252042

2013 is not getting better than 2012...:(

This'll be interesting - I've been away for some time, and generally too busy to maintain this. But now I'm back! Where shall I start...? The current nonsense from the British C of E, or the nonsense from the new-ish Pope? Still worried about women getting ordained? Well, you saddo, you! Or any other bits of nonsense from other places around the planet? The civil war in Syria? The raging battles in Egypt, where (I hate to say it) it can only get worse. Train wrecks in Canada? Plane crashes in the USA? China, where they have some very dangerous weather which floods square miles, and washes whole areas away? India, where it seems buildings are still collapsing! A potential good news item may be that both Koreas are still talking, although I am not sure who is doing the talking, or what they are talking about - the weather? Who won the weekend football...? Watch this space - Rio is holding the World Cup next year, closely followed by the next Olympics. Given that they can't get rid of the crime waves it promises to be a security nightmare! In the Middle East (yes, I had to get in to that, didn't I...) Beirut is being blown up daily, and Afghanistan people seem to delight in raising the casualty rates on a weekly basis - we don't care who we kill or maim; it just has to be LOTS! These are seriously sick people. Iran, Iraq, Syria...the list just gets longer, and the fatality rate just climbs and climbs. Get this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23207168. As someone mentions, how could someone do this on the first day of Ramadan. This kind of misses the point - how could anyone do this, PERIOD! The timing is irrelevant. Chile: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23253296. You are serious? An 11 year old cannot decide this! Finally, this is rich: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23249080. I don't know what he thinks he is doing, forgiving them their sins, when he can't even get his own child-abusing house in order! Atheism is as much a faith as not going bungee jumping is a sport. Have a nice day! :)

Church of England? What Crossroads...?

Watching some drivel day-time TV (Jeremy K...) with the audience all pro this and pro that...why is the CofE having some crisis now? All faiths have been at crossroads for centuries... Just grow up, and convert to the only true faith - Atheism! :):):)

Nice thought for the day...

I have just come across this gem: if we think it's bad in Syria now (and it is - I know that it is) then think back to the nightmares of the WWII times. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre
Staggering, unbelievable, and yet it happened! Disgusting.