I have to appear on a tortilla in Mexico

[vovat]

The Bullshit! episode about Holier-Than-Thou religious figures finally showed up On Demand, so bethje and I watched that last night, along with another one on religious icons. The former dealt with Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and the Dalai Lama. They found the most dirt on Mother Teresa, although there were some interesting facts about the Dalai Lama and Tibet as well. The Gandhi segment was probably the weakest, considering that even Penn admitted his faults (racism being the main one) were pretty typical for people in his day, and that he accomplished a lot of good stuff. The overall point of the whole show, however, seemed to be that there are no perfect people, even among those that various religions consider to be saints. I already realized this ahead of time, but it was still interesting to see. The punchline at the end was amusing, too, but I won't give it away.

The other episode featured the Shroud of Turin, a door that some woman thought looked like Jesus, and the now infamous Virgin Mary cheese sandwich. I'd heard most of the arguments against the authenticity of such things before (and really, I don't think anyone but a handful of gullible eBay bidders would even need to hear an argument to be convinced that the sandwich was ridiculous). I think one of the most interesting things about that episode was that it featured the famous skeptic James Randi. I really don't know much about him, but I'd seen mentions of him several times, and knew about his One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge. On the show, he pointed out that the human brain is basically wired to see faces and other human features on objects, which pretty well explains all of the Mary and Jesus sightings. So I guess I didn't learn much of anything new from the episode, but I still liked it.

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. </td> Emergent/Postmodern 75% Classical Liberal 71% Modern Liberal 68% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 46% Roman Catholic 39% Neo orthodox 32% Charismatic/Pentecostal 25% Reformed Evangelical 25% Fundamentalist 7% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

I finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last night, and I've posted about it, but most of you probably won't be able to see the post. At least, you SHOULDN'T be able to see it. I followed zaph's lead in creating a custom filter for people who have finished the book. I've added everyone that I know has finished it, but I'm sure I left some people off. If you're done reading it and you can't see my post, or you haven't read the book but want to be added for whatever reason (Maybe you WANT the ending spoiled? Maybe you aren't interested in the book, but want to see every word that spews from my fingers?), leave me a comment and I'll add you. It's probably just going to be the one post, and I'll probably just make it public in a week or two, but I really don't want to spoil it for anybody.

EDIT: All of the Harry Potter entries are now public.

Comments

[colleenanne.livejournal.com]

I finished it last night. Add me to the filter. :)

[majellen.livejournal.com]

add me! Not that I've even gotten around to buying the book yet, but knowing the ending doesn't spoil it for me. It just makes me want to read it more!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'll add you. Honestly, I usually don't mind knowing the ending of something before reading or watching it. I'll often read ahead in a book. Even with Harry Potter, I'll usually glance at the later chapters before reaching them, and have occasionally come across a bit of information that I really shouldn't know yet. Since they're out of context, though, there's always the possibility that I'm interpreting them incorrectly. Still, I made sure to avoid spoilers for Half-Blood Prince until I'd finished it. I'll go ahead and add you to the filter shortly, though.

[revme.livejournal.com]

I really liked the Icon One (the Shroud of Turin one, I mean). It was mainly stuff I knew, sure, but it was pretty fun. And I like that the guy who did the mock crucifixions was all "Well, who cares that everyone says that people were crucified through their wrists and not their hands! My test with big leather gloves and everything PROVES that the shroud is right because like what is leather but skin, and what's skin but on the hands, so therefore IT IS REAL!" Whee.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was pretty funny. I have to wonder why that guy was so eager for the Shroud to be real, anyway. From what I've heard, the image on the Shroud is very much in the vein of how artists draw Jesus, but not much like how he probably actually looked. (Of course, we don't really know what Jesus looked like, but I've heard stuff to the effect that most Jewish men of that era didn't have long hair, which Jesus is pretty much always depicted as having by artists, and which the Shroud also shows.)

[bethje.livejournal.com]

I liked Christopher Hitchens in the earlier episode. He's pretty interesting. A few years ago, I read an article he wrote for Vanity Fair of Dubya and alcoholism. It was prtty good.

You hate me so much you blocked me from your other post, because you hate me. :(

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I liked Christopher Hitchens in the earlier episode.

Wait, who was he again?

You hate me so much you blocked me from your other post, because you hate me.

No, I blocked it out of love. I love you too much to spoil the ending of the book for you.

[obsessical.livejournal.com]

I finished it the first day :P
Add me, por favor!

HP post

[yosef.livejournal.com]

add me, add me!

Re: HP post

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Sure, I'll add you in a minute.

[secretnthewings.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I want to read your HP post! POST HASTE!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

As I mentioned in a post yesterday, I've gone ahead and made my two Potter posts public. You can read them here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/vovat/146984.html) and here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/vovat/147763.html).