Rivers of blood that fall from religion

17 September

Regular readers of this blog will know that a lot of stuff goes missing here in Jaronland. Well, I’ve just managed to knock my reading specs off my very cluttered desk; what I need to do now is to try to find them before I forget and think I’ve lost them. The problem is that the floor beside and behind my desk is as cluttered at the desk itself. Ah well … … …

I’ve been using Facebook now for around eight years, any yet I’ve never thought of looking for a group of users here in Nuneaton, or Dorktown as I usually call it. I looked for them yesterday and the one I joined has over 10,000 members. I’ve not seen any names I know on there yet, but I’m sure I will do at some point. That membership number is just short of 6% of the town population. I wonder how other towns will stack up to that.

One of the posts on Facebook this morning is a picture of Enoch Powell, along with the words along the lines of, ‘I told you so.’ And indeed he did, however, he was referring more to black and Asian people than the Arab peoples who are now attempting to flood Europe. The fear now is not on racial grounds but that of extremist religious grounds. Sadly religion has always been divisive, and has been the cause of so many people being killed in the name of God, whoever the killers claim to be God.

It’s not the religion itself that causes the problems though is it? No, its how some followers interpret their regions beliefs and teachings. Even within just one religion there are so many different versions. Christianity cannot say, ‘We are different,’ cos it enna. Now let me see, here in Dorktown we have C of E, RC, three versions of Baptist, Methodists, Primitive Methodist, URC, Congregationalist, and a few other independent churches too. In the past both C of E and RC burned at the stake many non-believers in their version of Christianity.

So what causes all the hate and divisions? Basically it’s all down to just two things; power and money. Whoever controls the people controls the money. Whenever mankind gets involved, the purity of the religion is lost amongst the hate and greed power and money. These days we see it more clearly set out in ISIS and the horrendous way they treat those under their power.

Again we Christians are not blameless here. When Communisis collapsed in Russia and Central Europe, many Christians were heard to claim that now Communism was defeated, it was time to turn to Islam. I remember attending a meeting here in Dorktown where such views were expressed. The hospital chaplain quickly pointed out the saner heads had already said that such a move must be resisted. Were they right I wonder?

I think they were, and they were also wrong. No matter what happens when humans get involved it all breaks down. Lawful or not, the overthrow of Saddam and Gadhafi without planning for the future is what has led to the current situation across North Africa and the Middle East. Add in the hate and distrust the Arab tribes against each other, is it any surprise that there are problems.                    

 

I absolutely love Morning Coffee biscuits, and right now I’m finding them very hard to find, and have done for a few weeks now. The Co-op was always a guaranteed source but even they don’t have them, and they are moving out anyway. Tesco might have them but I think I would need to go to Tesco Area to look for them. Anyway … for years I’ve had it me head that I don’t like Garibaldi biscuits.

The other day Jan bought me some by mistake, so I thought I’ve give them a go, and blow me, I liked them. Those biscuits are not the only food items that I’ve changed my mind about. As a kid I love the stew that my mother used to make, but only if she sat and picked out all the onion bits out it first. Mushrooms is another item I wouldn’t touch, along with cheese, baked beans and any sort of peas. Now I eat them all, so maybe 12 years in the army did some good after all.

    

Today’s photo …

 … is the one that wouldn’t load yesterday and shows the turning of the season.

And today’s funny …

A couple in their nineties were having trouble remembering things so they went to their doctor for checkups. The doctor told them that they were both physically fine and advised them to write things down to help them remember. Later that evening while watching television, the husband got up from his chair to go to the kitchen for a snack. He asked his wife if she wanted anything. "Could you bring me a bowl of ice cream?" she asked.

"Sure," he replied.

"Do you think you should write that down to remember it?" she asked.

"No, I can remember that," he said.

"I'd like some strawberries on it, too. Do you need to write that down?" she said.

"No, I can remember that, too. Ice cream with strawberries," he said, becoming a little irritated.

"I'd like some whipped cream on it, too. Can you remember all that? The doctor said you should write things down," she said.

"For goodness sakes, I can remember that. I don't need to write it down. A bowl of ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream," he said, now more than a little irritated.

Off he went to the kitchen. About 20 minutes later he returned with a plate of bacon and eggs. The wife stared at it for a moment and said, "Where's my toast?"