All Things Religion Thread
It is almost inconceivable to imagine that many people in one place. What a spectacle it would be.
Holy Kumbh!!
yeh, I can't really fathom that amount of people hanging out in a temporary tent city with a third of the population of India for 6 weeks.
...a third of the population of Adelaide turned up to gawp at a Ringo-less Beatles in '64.. is that similar?
Why wasn’t Ringo in Adelaide?
just a lurgy, I reckon..
Ringo replacement for most of the tour was Jimmy Nicol, double-edged thing for him..
(from wikipedia):
Nicol played a total of eight shows until Starr rejoined the group in Melbourne, Australia, on 14 June. He was unable to say goodbye to the Beatles as they were still asleep when he left, and he did not want to disturb them. At Melbourne Airport, Epstein presented him with a cheque for £500 (equivalent to $12,798 in 2023) and a gold Eterna-matic wrist watch inscribed: "From the Beatles and Brian Epstein to Jimmy – with appreciation and gratitude."[6] George Martin later paid tribute to Nicol whilst recognising the problems he experienced in trying to readjust to a normal life again: "Jimmie Nicol was a very good drummer who came along and learnt Ringo's parts very well. He did the job excellently, and faded into obscurity immediately afterwards."[9] Paul McCartney acknowledged: "It wasn't an easy thing for Jimmy to stand in for Ringo, and have all that fame thrust upon him. And the minute his tenure was over, he wasn't famous any more." Nicol himself expressed his disillusionment several years later: "Standing in for Ringo was the worst thing that ever happened to me. Until then I was quite happy earning £30 or £40 a week.[19] After the headlines died, I began dying too."[16] He resisted the temptation to sell his story, stating in a rare 1987 interview: "After the money ran low, I thought of cashing-in in some way or other. But the timing wasn't right. And I didn't want to step on the Beatles' toes. They had been damn good for me and to me."
Ah that sucks.
Be surprised by Secret Beatles Goldie Surf Safari
This is a surf site...so...
Tuesday 30th June 1964 Paul & George detoured to Eagle Heights Mt Tamborine
https://www.facebook.com/7NEWSGoldCoast/videos/7news-takes-you-inside-th...
Then hooked up with John and Ringo at Goldie Lennons...
Could be they all went to Tamborine coz read somewhere John had a link...
All bodybashin' Broadie > Stones gave the same broadie beach bar a bash!
https://www.goldcoaststories.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Lennons-H...
Got their drinks served on the beach after their broadie bash.
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2024/06/the-day-two-beatles-visited...
Toured the Goldie in 2 Open Top Sports MGs
https://www.wattpad.com/510666824-beatles-fiendish-thingy%27s-and-other-...
https://www.beatlesbible.com/1964/06/30/live-festival-hall-brisbane-aust...
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php/?story_fbid=2120533371353520&id=2...
Pretty sure there is a photo of 2 Beatles in one of these Cars...on the Goldie.
Other Beach Safaris...Miami Beach Florida
Feb 1964> Check the Surfboard Rider/s around them
Guessing they might have had a crack at that..
https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/the-beatles-enjoy-the-s...
https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/ringo-starr-george-harr...
https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/the-beatles-enjoy-the-s...
Beatles Body bashin'
https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/the-beatles-news-photo/...
Water Skiing
https://www.facebook.com/BuskinWithTheBeatles/posts/february-17-1964-a-d...
Beatles are beach bums
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/9e/58/96/9e589695d7356d0e3a17b5c50b757390.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTMx2mEyEtHAPBLD7kF...
No good deed goes unpunished, hey?
YEAR OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST 2025
Happy new year…have a thoughtful and blessed one.
your lord, optimist.
He has shown you O mortal what is good,
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly
And to love mercy
And to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8 NIV.
It’s all about scale and authority …
I’ve recently had an issue with the ants…..
I love the little ants but have a rules based order that needs to be followed.
I have developed a well treed property with a reserve at rear and lots of structure, beautiful gardens etc etc…..
I have encouraged the ants to enjoy their environment and live well.
But some…aren’t happy with the rules….they persist in destruction and against a force so big they can’t fully perceive it…..
They have a feeling there is something bigger,…
… they know not to go where they shouldn’t but do it anyway.
The rebels seem to be the same ones over and over and in the end ….destruction.
A power and authority much greater than them has had enough….
I wish I could become an ant so I could go down and reason with them….
But….even if I did ….would they listen?….or just continue to rebel.
Fear controls the ants. God forbids you to rebel. Can you claim your church is any different?
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/escaping-utopia
I’d have to agree.
JESUS …..THE VISITOR…..
He was in the world…
and the world was made by Him..
and the world knew Him not.
He came to His own and His own received Him not…
…but as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become sons of God,
…..even to those who believe on His name….
Which were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man…
…but of God.
….note..(A spiritual re birth or awakening, then an adoption)
John 1 KJV.
an agnostic gift (ralph vaughan williams loved the world but was not religious) from st marks, fitzroy; had a bellow of this in 33 degrees this arvo. our heritage. love it, or they'll decry us as unworthy non-understanders. bastards. we've always understood.
India's Maha Kumbh Mela festival is underway..
again, 400 million people (still can't comprehend it).
cool celebration message from Sadhguru:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg7gzzx3gno
https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-largest-gathering-how-india-plans...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/13/india-maha-kumbh-mela-fest...
(quote from the guardian article above):
The festivities are also said to be among the most polarised in memory. Muslim vendors said the authorities had barred them from setting up stalls for the first time, and Muslim taxi drivers said they had explicitly been told they were not allowed to take custom from Hindu pilgrims.
Mahant Durganand Brahmachari, one of the festival’s most senior priests, described the Kumbh Mela as “a great convergence of humans, gods and our sacred rivers” and condemned attempts to sow religious divisions.
Hindu devotees take a holy dip in the Ganges during Shahi Snan at Kumbh Mela
“What bothers me this time is how some people are trying to polarise the atmosphere on communal lines,” he said. “There has to be peaceful coexistence and hate should have no place. We see some people are trying to create Hindu-Muslim tensions.”
John hey? KJV?
Hmmm wonder what Yesu’s version said.
STAN …..THE GATECRASHER…..
He was in the house…
and it was the wrong house,
not the one made by His Dad..
and the people knew Him not.
Stan came accidentally to the party and the party received Him not…
…but as they got to know Him, (and saw He'd brung Vodka), He got a few Pashes.
…..even from those who didn't partake of the Vodka....
And Stan stood tall and recalled an advert, thinking it befitting of a Biblical pisstake:
"Blood and Guts and Grease..
off the Rod"…
….note..(Sard Wonder Soap was indeed needed, there was a fall, a vomit, and a bashing... and later, a divorce)
holy cow!
seeds wrote:Kumbh Mela
https://www.youtube.com/live/aWhyN_C8PVQ?si=KdEIWOjiRao0ptca
Sard wonder soap be a big seller for the punters after a stint at Kumbh Mela. Dirty Stan could be the CEO of the fledgling sub continent start up Sadhus Wonder Soap.
^ haha, superspreader event fer sure. @burleigh should hand out public health leaflets.
Haha, he’d be infected and dead before too long once he left the 95% vaccinated western world.
Sylvia Plath…..
Tulips
Sylvia Plath
The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here.
Look how white everything is, how quiet, how snowed-in.
I am learning peacefulness, lying by myself quietly
As the light lies on these white walls, this bed, these hands.
I am nobody; I have nothing to do with explosions.
I have given my name and my day-clothes up to the nurses
And my history to the anaesthetist and my body to surgeons.
They have propped my head between the pillow and the sheet-cuff
Like an eye between two white lids that will not shut.
Stupid pupil, it has to take everything in.
The nurses pass and pass, they are no trouble,
They pass the way gulls pass inland in their white caps,
Doing things with their hands, one just the same as another,
So it is impossible to tell how many there are.
My body is a pebble to them, they tend it as water
Tends to the pebbles it must run over, smoothing them gently.
They bring me numbness in their bright needles, they bring me sleep.
Now I have lost myself I am sick of baggage ——
My patent leather overnight case like a black pillbox,
My husband and child smiling out of the family photo;
Their smiles catch onto my skin, little smiling hooks.
I have let things slip, a thirty-year-old cargo boat
Stubbornly hanging on to my name and address.
They have swabbed me clear of my loving associations.
Scared and bare on the green plastic-pillowed trolley
I watched my tea-set, my bureaus of linen, my books
Sink out of sight, and the water went over my head.
I am a nun now, I have never been so pure.
I didn't want any flowers, I only wanted
To lie with my hands turned up and be utterly empty.
How free it is, you have no idea how free ——
The peacefulness is so big it dazes you,
And it asks nothing, a name tag, a few trinkets.
It is what the dead close on, finally; I imagine them
Shutting their mouths on it, like a Communion tablet.
The tulips are too red in the first place, they hurt me.
Even through the gift paper I could hear them breathe
Lightly, through their white swaddlings, like an awful baby.
Their redness talks to my wound, it corresponds.
They are subtle: they seem to float, though they weigh me down,
Upsetting me with their sudden tongues and their colour,
A dozen red lead sinkers round my neck.
Nobody watched me before, now I am watched.
The tulips turn to me, and the window behind me
Where once a day the light slowly widens and slowly thins,
And I see myself, flat, ridiculous, a cut-paper shadow
Between the eye of the sun and the eyes of the tulips,
And I have no face, I have wanted to efface myself.
The vivid tulips eat my oxygen.
Before they came the air was calm enough,
Coming and going, breath by breath, without any fuss.
Then the tulips filled it up like a loud noise.
Now the air snags and eddies round them the way a river
Snags and eddies round a sunken rust-red engine.
They concentrate my attention, that was happy
Playing and resting without committing itself.
The walls, also, seem to be warming themselves.
The tulips should be behind bars like dangerous animals;
They are opening like the mouth of some great African cat,
And I am aware of my heart: it opens and closes
Its bowl of red blooms out of sheer love of me.
The water I taste is warm and salty, like the sea,
And comes from a country far away as health.
The cross marks the spot.
In the history of mankind since our birth on this planet, the cross of Christ is the most important event ever.
The creator of all things is sacrificed in the most inhumane manner by the global regime.
But it wasn’t just the Roman’s that killed Him, nor the chief priests…..it was our sin…..The sin of the world ….the darkness in mankind.
We all killed him…..our rebellion, the darkness in our souls….the world in general.
….and God the father allowed it…..even planned it as He knew it would happen when His son walked amongst us.
So, He allowed His son to suffer….the one who created all things would now bear the punishment for those whom He created…..blood for blood life for life.
When Satan and his fallen allies saw what the humans were doing to Gods son they must have been nervously thrilled by what they were seeing.
Surely God would destroy the earth after this….for murdering His son…surely we have won the souls of men…..surely they will joins us in the abyss.
But no…..Jesus rises from the dead…..His blood shed for the forgiveness of everyone’s sins…..He forgives all those who come to Him….the innocent for the guilty……the judge of all the earth takes the sentence for us.
The powers of darkness never saw that coming.
Because evil people just can’t understand the love and forgiveness of God…..and how much He wants us to be with Him……
Cheers for posting that @seeds, I have had a really good slow read. I am very sorry she struggled, and I think she had talent.. certainly leant into whatever lack of happy-brain-chemicals allowed her to feel-too-much, like many obviously do.. her writing kind of worked well in a USA context.
a shame she couldn't see the banal loveliness in the bluebells and the ice-skating and the every-day joy in howarth and hebden.. she was so busy looking for her own personal 'meaning' and desperately trying to have a dense and dark bronte religious experience.
If there are 2 camps (and of course there aren't) - camp 1 being philosophers that are disgusted by humanity but like people. camp 2 being those who don't get along with others but think there's a greater human good...
(and of course a few who don't like anything about us..)
there's also the sylvias, who repel me, cos they gaze the hell out of their navel, and I can't see the interesting things they are saying, cos they are always so fucking in the way.
That being said, she did some magnificent writing. Compared to @Opti's post, which sounds like an Infancy Gospel of Thomas fever dream from a guy who should be making sheds for the needy.
THE WORD FOR TODAY….Vision Christian Media.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in a daily short read.
I’ve found it recently and it’s a free read with audio as well.
Worth a look…..really well done.
Condemn not others lest you be condemned. Do not give yourself to the notion of a transactional God. He keeps no ledger, there are no ticks nor crosses for deed or for righteousness. Santa Claus was created to fulfil such a need. Our Lord loves every person, of every faith. Chasing righteousness and enlightenment is a vanity. Live in thoughtfulness, generosity and kindness.
Logical words b6.
Opti has condemned himself to a life of self righteous silliness. And vanity or is that arrogance in the belief of the righteousness of HIS GOD.
He seems sensible on other matters.
he does , doesn't he? and seems to have had a major thing go down, that he has bandaided with his faith, which I'm probably a fan of (whatever gets you up in the morning and saying g'day to a few people..). It's often a great fall or loss, so I've not been one to judge @Opti.
Like if someone is struggling due to kiddyfiddling and wants to cut their willy off, I'm all for it, long as they're sure, and have adequately thunk on it; it'll be a long time gone. I'd buy them a beer and talk about the weather, anytime.
I had a read of @Opti's suggested Word For Today thing (I try to give @Opti that respect if it is kinda endurable..) before posting above,
sorry to hear Bob Gass passed, @Opti, he seemed like a nice and genuine bloke, mad as the lovechild of a stick and a cut snake, of course, (he coulda got the same depression-antidote, confidence, validation and fellowship - and 'grooming and Grundig recordings' - via singing, sport or secular volunteer work, but that's just my view). is Debbie still going strong @Opti?
(around ^29:30 sums up how it is possible to drag, thump, fertilise, prune, expose, instil in a child a Doctrine, be it Bible or Quran, leading to a child who by 12, all his 'heroes were preachers' and laughs happily about it.)
I like Bob Gass' (in the context of being a chosen believer, mind) humility, and his old-school use of pen, paper, reading, etc.. I was just in melbourne and bought some paper, pens and pencils, and had a nice time trying to draw shit. I reflected: if I had a Phone (or even a guarantee of good wifi) I wouldn't have bothered. But gee it was nice, and made me absorb aspects of my trip.
Big Hugs, @Opti and @seeds, you funny, fellow monkeys!
Cheers for putting up that interview with Bob Gass.
One of the great interviews of all time…..hadn’t seen it before.
An amazing guy ….full of wisdom and insight.
thank you for saying that, @Opti.
I do my best to meet people half-way.
How’s your journey going?
As humans we get so wrapped up in achieving our targets, goals , visions, that we forget how important just being on the journey is.
From the day of our birth we are on this journey to somewhere and God Himself would like it to be toward Him and with Him.
There seems to be a time in life where we turn from being an influenced kid to being self aware and having a personal goal.
It’s at this point that if you listen carefully, very carefully, there is a soft gentle voice in your soul……” and your ears shall hear a voice behind you saying…this is the way walk ye in it….when you turn to the right hand or to the left”…….(Isaiah).
Every one of us has heard that voice at some point…..did we listen?….or did we not and suffer the consequences.
But even the consequences are part of the journey.
The lessons we learn that make us better and wiser people.
At the end of the day, enjoy your journey,.learn its lessons ….listen to the still small voice… and hopefully at the end , you will be with the one who loves you more than anyone….your creator…. ….Jesus Christ.
Here you go optimist
Not sure my motivation...my instinctive need to stick up for the underdog...my secret desire to be one day honoured rightfully with the role of Forum moderator (expecting a call any day)...
But anyway I couldn't help but read your troubles on another thread...unfortunately I found myself siding with everyone's posts...other than your own...except for the part where you were told you can't post here!
So I put my low IQ mind to coming up with a solution that suits all...and here it is...a safe place if you like
You can post anything you like about your beliefs...and no one has to read it unless they want! Easy peasy...
maybe you could even get Jesus, fat Buddha, Mohammed, and friends to converse in adult conversation here
Solving the world problems, one at a time...call it taking a shovel as a way of moving that mountain
All the best...brother
PS...I actually was born again once, but I grew up, and grew a brain of my own...and realised it was all a load of shit!