Matthew Parris - don't miss.

One article this week stands out like an iceberg waiting to sink the Titanic. It is by Matthew Parris. A curious tale of divine guidance leading to a telling encounter. You will have to read it for yourself, but as an obiter dictum, one of the most memorable quotes is Matthew's description of Westminster Cathedral - if you have ever visited it you will know what he means.

"Westminster Cathedral: a vast, gloomy, late 19th-century, brick-built cavern combining memories of Byzantium with aspects of a biscuit factory."

Quite. People who can write one-liners like that end up writing columns in The Times.
The substance of the piece is even more of a revelation...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article6875245.ece

As he says, God help us.

12 comments:

bone worshippers said...

It's bizarre that seemingly intelligent people still believe in this superstitious nonsense from the dark ages. Worshiping bones for gods sake. Not surprised that Bliar was there. He's got the blood of 212 soldiers on his conscience and will use religion as a crutch to help him sleep at night.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Bone Worshipper - It's kind of creepy, isn't it, but in a very serious way.

bBone Worshipper said...

WW. Yes it's quite scary and undermines my confidence a bit. Our leaders joining in with the fantasy of bone worship.
I think Bliar was spooked at that remembrance ceremony the other day when the relative of a dead soldier recoiled in horror at Bliars attempt to touch him. Maybe Bliar thinks he has got a bit of the devil in him.
But for all his wealth Bliar still has to contend with his thoughts in the wee small hours as he tries to get off to sleep.

Anonymous said...

One of the reasons I left the catholic church was that I read the bible and realised the catholic church teaches the exact opposite of Jesus' commandments. This thing with the bones & other relics was condemned repeatedly in gospel of Matthew by Jesus himself. Moses' tablet on mount sinai also says that God commands we don't worship graven images (2nd commandment). The paedo report from Ireland was the last straw.
One of the reasons no one takes Christianity very seriously is because established churches have moved so far away from Jesus' simple message.
I went to the Vatican once as we had our honeymoon in Rome (ages ago) and the opulence built from contributions of very poor 3rd world inhabitants, disgusted me.
Book of Acts chapter 2 is the model for christian churches but none of them bothers.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

"A prole from 1984" - I know what you mean. Sadly I gave up going to church long ago. Being a Christian is a personal thing with me. Not that I don't want to share it - on the contrary, but as you say, the message of Jesus is very simple, and if people actually read it, rather than depending on hearsay, or using humans to mediate it,they might find it liberating.

Understanding God is something that God has to instigate, based upon the exercise of Grace and the power of the Holy Spirit. Hardly surprising then, that there are a lot of people running around who have no idea what it means or, even worse, write it off because they have not yet been the object of that Grace or taken time to stop what they are doing and listen to the still small voice within.

Here endeth the lesson!

bone worshipper said...

I wish the Christians had some evidence. Just a little would help. There must be millions like myself who just can't rely on blind faith. And why does every Christian have a different take on their religion ? The Archbishop telling Dawkins that there's no problem believing in Darwinism and being a Christian. Excuse me ? Evidence based tree of life evolution showing a link back billions of years between species. And now all proven with DNA. Against a virgin birth and man being created in Gods likeness about 10,000 years ago. How could they possibly be compatible ?
The fact that I think death means death ensures I make the most of each day. Be amazed at our beautiful world. But if the Christians could just show some evidence of a God then I would be keen to look at it.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

bone worshipper, rising from the dead is, I would have said a reasonably convincing bit of evidence, as is countless recordings of healings and other things.

The trouble is, nobody believes it.
Why not? Are you sure the Bible is just a collection of fairy stories? Are you sure that the life of Jesus, as recorded in the New Testament, is a pack of lies? Read it and decide for yourself. Ask God to show you. What have you got to lose?

The problem is not that there are a lot of people telling you it is not true, the problem is that people cannot be arsed to check it out for themselves. If you immerse yourself in the four Gospels, you may discern that the words of Jesus resonate.

Seek and you will find. That is all I can say, apart from telling you that it is as true to me as sunrise and sunset.

It cannot be more a waste of time than listening to people who write whole books on why they think it is rubbish. I think football is rubbish, but frankly, I barely think about it, let alone spend time on blogs telling people.

bone worshipper said...

WW. I did study the bible. At school and in the church. As I learned more about physics and natural history etc I realised that I would need blind faith to believe what the bible said as it went against all the evidence I was learning at school.
The bible is a collection of stories that you either believe or don't believe. There is no evidence that a man rose from the dead. Books have been written about the earth being flat and serpents attacking fishermen where subsequent knowledge have proven them to be untrue.
A virgin birth, people being in Gods likeness from day one and dead people coming alive would mean suspending medical science and the study of fossils of human origin going back millions of years..
The earth being made in 6 days would mean that the ancient fossils of dead homo sapiens must have been put there by God. Why ?
Oil originating from billion year old dead plants would be impossible.
jehovas witnesses realise that the dinosaurs etc make their religious ideas that the earth is less than 10,000 old impossible so simply discount the fact that fossils exist. At least they can see the problem I suppose. How can we have oil which takes billions of years to develop if the world is so young ?
But I'm not a total sceptic. Although I believe in evolution ( discounting the bible as an impossible fairy story ) I do wonder where all the planets came from and where the first bit of carbon and water came from to start the process of evolution on it's way. I mean how can something like the universe have come about ? It must go on for infinity as if it stopped what would be on the other side of it ?
So there are still doubts in my mind that it was all an accident.I just can't get my head around what the answer could be.

Jim Baxter said...

BW,

Why not try Weinberg's book, 'The First Three Minutes'?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Three-Minutes-Modern-Universe/dp/0465024378

The materials of planets are theorised to be the leftovers of early stars, as are we.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

BW, investitgate the doubts, and examine your senses.

I am, I believe a rational and functioning human being. I don't do bullshit, I don't have the time. Even if you think Jesus was made up, then who made him up? And why do his words have a ring of truth? Is somebody out there trying to contact us, and why?

You know the difference between right and wrong. That has to be more than a social construct - we inherently know that it is wrong to poke somebody's eye out (the exception being Gordon Brown). People who think it's ok to injure other people because, let us say, they are in the way, are classed as mad or even, evil.

Humanists will try and kid us that somehow, this very complex set of moral values is part of our evolution as humans. Where is the evidence for that? There is none. Besides, any anthropologist will tell you that most of it is cultural and arbitrary.

Take a look at your thumbs. Imagine how useless your hands would be without them. See the infinite universe in a flower. See the heavens and observe the power of the sea, a power so great no nation on earth can tame it. We are by no means at the top of the tree.

Anonymous said...

boneworshipper - being a Christian and respecting Darwin's theory isn't contradictory. Both Darwin and Genesis follow the same sequence of events. The bible's language is allegorical. A day isn't 24 hours. More a period of time. And Americans chose to date events in the Old Testament as many of them still share the mentality of those who brought the monkeys trial in 1925. Darwin explained how we came to be. He never discounted the actual causation of the universe being God. As you know he was a church of England cleric and wrote his theory after his daughter died when he was trying to make sense of everything. Sadly, his theory has been misappropriated by anti-religionists, Nazis and even believers in eugenics.

bone worshipper said...

Jim
I read the reviews of that book and it looks quite interesting. It still doesn't answer where the early stars came from though.

WW
I do think the bible was 'made up'. Just as with the Koran etc. Probably made up by a group of people trying to make sense of a confusing world and writing stories to provide the answers in a pre Darwinian era. Moral values have been crucial to our journey to the top of the tree. Getting along with each other and looking after each other isn't limited to humans though. It's seen in many different species and aids their success ( ants etc)

AProle

I don't see how you can believe in miracles and believe in Darwinism. Virgin births and humans rising from the dead would make evolution irrelevant if you can circumvent it at will.
Darwin couldn't get comfort from believing his daughter was in heaven as he knew there was no heaven. This created conflict with his wife who was a devoted christian.