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Barbara Kingsolver, Christianity, Church, Guanyin, Jesus, Poisonwood Bible, Serbia, United States
Depiction of Jesus, BBC series “Son of God”, source wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Race_of_Jesus.ogv
I was appalled by a blog post of someone Caleb, an American missionary in Serbia: http://calebgoodnight.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/first-day-in-belgrade/ You are in your right to believe whatever you want (as long as it’s not in breach of your local legislation that is), but if going on a mission to a foreign country, do you really believe that WhateverYouCallYourGod wants you to be THAT DUMB? Are you certain the Deity you profess is behind your efforts, while you are making a fool of yourself – and more so, all over www?
I have no idea who is the blogger in question, more so he seems to be rather innocent guy of a fervent faith – i also do not know which Christian sect he represents, but the post he made is… hilarious.
He came to convert people whose religion he doesn’t know – he calls it “dead religion”, he went to Church and laments about listening to chants in Serbian
– for goodness sake, is it possible that you traveled all the way from US, without even reading the Wikipedia article about your destination and religion practiced there?! The services in Orthodox Churches are held in Old Church Slavonic, is it possible, being a missionary, not to know that? Why exactly did you come to a country which history you don’t know? He writes – a communist country… Well, not so. A comment added later on: “Well I meant the buildings were built while under USSR rule which was communist.” The thing is that Yugoslavia NEVER was under Soviet rule.
So, you don’t know neither the history nor the believes of these people, and yet you came to convert them? Into what exactly? Presumably you believe in Jesus, maybe (just maybe) you could do a bit of research and – SURPRISE ! – you would have found out that they do too!
More so, you would have found out that these people, whose religion you call “dead” are the founding fathers of Christianity – which, in its turn – on the moment of its foundation, was merely one of some 20+ JEWISH SECTS IN JERUSALEM.
Who knows, maybe – if you dig deeper – you would have also found out that Jesus was in fact Yehoshua, an observant Jew and, most probably, a Kabbalist.
Further on, it would turn out the apostles were Jews too – and you would have found out that these righteous souls were merely Yehoshua’s bodyguards. (it’s not that you think they would let him turn the tables in the synagogue upside down, without his being escorted by fully armed bodyguards, right?)
And… he wasn’t a blond hippie as you imagine him, he was middle Eastern, right?
What he was prophesying is everyone’s guess, given that all of it was written many years later. Obviously, there is a fairytale-ish touch to it all – and i am not referring to the walking on water part, i have no problem with imagining that at all.
I’d stay away from the theological implications of the story because i believe that Christianity with time became a religion in its own right and i do know people for whom it does wonders. Let alone that i know ‘immaculate conception’ to be a Hebrew word for young woman which got lost in translation – combined with pre-Christian myths of “Gods” impregnating humans – check out the evidence of Faith Healing at Lourdes, that story does work for many and i believe that’s what matters.
On another level, i believe all these stories and images to be merely a tool to activate your own archetype of miracles , it’s not InsertWhicheverApllies who heals you – you do, by activating the potential we all have within us; whether the image of Jesus does it for you – or of Guan Yin, is none of my business, i only keep my fingers crossed that some of it works for you.
But, if seriously – what exactly you came to profess in these foreign to you lands? I recall ‘The Poisonwood Bible’, an amazing novel by Barbara Kingsolver about a missionary family from Georgia in Congo – i believe every single missionary crossing the border should be obliged to recite it by heart, prior to departure – and kept by authorities in case they don’t know it.
Serbs don’t need your religion, trust me – they have their own and for better or for worse they’ve proved generation after after generation that they are ready to die for it in a blink of an eye. Not that it has done them much good in my opinion, but hey, who am i to judge?
And i read the comments posted by this guy’s family – they are cheering him up as if he is in the midst of WWII , fighting the fascists … Wasn’t the money invested into this guy’s meaningless trip – better donated to one of the Serbian orphanages? Just saying. I am neither Serbian, nor Christian – but how stupid you need to be to write that these people are ‘nonbelievers’?! It’s easy to be a “believer” where you come from, with all the religious freedoms and the living standard you have back home – but to survive Balkan reality, it takes more than believing in God, it takes CERTAINTY that He exists.
What each of us here in Balkans calls Him/Her – is our own business – so please, just go home, kay?
Archetype of Miracles! Utterly brilliant! Fabulous post.
I am afraid i exaggerated 😦 I made some wonderful people – my own friends – uncomfortable, yet fundies at whom it’s targeted will never get it… Meh, i should have known better than to post when upset 😦
Well, I thought it was a lovely rant… I’m sorry some people couldn’t see it for it was … or you for who you are. Blessings.
Thank you, dear one! After 2h of sitting in Vipassana today – i am ok with everything, even with my own rant lol!
Love&Light
xxxx
Lena –
I just read this gentleman’s blog. He sounds young, and he sounds arrogant. He also sounds elitist, and you are right, he does not understand his history well. The truly sad thing is that because of his ignorance, he will get nothing from this trip.
The good thing … we have no fear of this missionary “converting” anyone! 😉
Blessings,
Bonnie
Bonnie, you are wise, my friend ❤ I am in awe of your understanding! I confess i reacted too harshly – basically now that i calmed down, i just think: Goodness, in times of economic crises, somebody sacrifices their hard won bucks, this guy makes a difficult journey – it's a long travel and obviously they are on a budget. staying in dorm and all… And it's good for nothing 😦
it is always not a nice thing when religion is being used or abused by people. in China we have a saying similar to ” it is better to be lazy and lazy than being hardworking and ignorant”, because the later usually does more damage
Thank you for commenting, Chloe! Oh, yes – that i learned in China – better not to to do anything, then being diligent – 100 miles per hour in the wrong direction! 😉 (Albeit i am also still guilty of it too, from time to time! ;))
A wonderful saying! On my birthday too!
Happy BDay, yakut! Many happy returns of the day!
The fellow seems to represent a North Carolina bred sort of Evangelism to his missionary witness. Unfortunately they spend so much time reading the bible and commentaries that tell them what its literal meaning is, that taking notice of contemporary history that is not biblical salvation history does not enter their mind. It is a simplistic, vaguely legalistic witness that faith may become implanted with the sincere affirmation that “Jesus is Lord!” by ones voice and within ones heart. That agreed upon, then the literal, ahistorical witness of Scripture explains everything. Needless to say, sacramental acts and prayer and the Eucharist presence of Christ is not very well developed in this “word is the presence of Christ theology”. But to say such sacramental exercise of Christianity is dead Christianity displays too much preprogrammed prejudice and too little open hearted witness.
Actually by World Council of Churches standards, a major Ecumenical body of Christian witness based in Geneva Switzerland, which includes many mainline Christian churches that affirm to “confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfil together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit;” such a understanding another Christian church is foolish and may well be a sin against the Holy Spirit. As a fundamental point, this fellow’s Evangelism is not in the midst of dead Christianity but in the living vigor of Christianity as fully committed to the Jesus is Lord as they are. At best, their witness might demonstrate that religious Americans are as ugly as American tourists and business people and just as arrogant. But it is good to forgive the young their excess of vigor in faith for their lack of wisdom and humility. In due course they may well learn something other than what they were taught to expect.
Dear Paul- i am biting my fingertips that i posted this – i usually don’t make angry posts… 😦 But anyway, i am (obviously ;)) human as well – and albeit i do relate to my brethren’s weakness, sometimes – like last night i just want to scream to their faces WTF?! 😉 You know, there is only so much blame one can take – for as long as i know, i’ve been apologizing for stuff someone else committed – albeit i personally and all my family fought against it and had lost in these wars more then most who are complaining, then in one moment you say WAIT… And i feel guilty now that i inflicted that kind of feeling on my own friends … Agh! 😦
Hey Lena… it’s OK to have passionate thoughts 🙂 and it’s OK to express them, and it’s more than OK to be a woman! No-one ‘s gotten hurt by what you wrote have they? (except maybe you 😦
Someone somewhere once said/wrote once (don’t remember where offhand, maybe it was me ;)) (I don’t think it was, lol,……… as an analogy about decisions/actions:
They are like an automatic pistol, pull the trigger, the bullet is fired, the shell is spent, you cant reclaim that shot, the pistol is now ready for the trigger to be *metaphorically pulled again. (I’m NOT a gun person, this one just stayed stuck in my head)
Let it go, don’t go looking for a bit of spent lead that probably hit no targets anyway…
(me thinks it ricochet back and stung you in the butt 😉
Your intent was impeccable and all you did was manifest it through through the word.
(or a few words)
Rest easy Lena, as Bonnie said … this missionary isn’t going to be converting anyone anyway 🙂 Balance will soon be restored, if it in fact it isn’t already…
Chloe & Paul put forward some good points too.
You have said you believe you made a mistake… then you acnowledged it… Ypo can’t do any better than that (by the way I don’t think you made a mistake).I say now.. let it disolve and write something else… when ‘you’ feel like it.
Thank you for taking the time to reply, dear Jim! I am cranky last couple of days because of several things at once: i have flu , am on 5x Fervex daily and yet have to take care of two places – mine and parents’ and cook too, which usually i love doing, but right now i can hardly stand (and yet we can never agree on house help so it is what it is); besides – decluttering is highly traumatic and my folks interchangeably make me feel as if i am spilling their own blood – and not kicking away 25y old dish washer which doesn’t work for last i dunno how many years!
On a funnier side – you mention guns and shooting etc., LMAO, you did hit the nail on the head here! I am strongly opposed to guns, probably am the only Montenegrin under the sun who never got permit to carry one – more so, i gave away all the pistols and stuff i was gifted throughout years (my father among else collected pistols and rifles for years). But – LO AND BEHOLD – there is Maccabiade next year and GUESS WHAT i’d probably be part of?! Ahahhha!!! The other option is triatlon – and albeit that was my first choice and i got myself RX90 work out program and had started doing it couple of months ago… i believe i’ll enroll shooting classes in the autumn lol! xx
What a wonderful piece of writing -restrained if anything! As someone who has been to ex-Yugoslavia a few times in the 1990s I certainly feel the words resonate strongly. Considering what the Serbs went through and made others go through in the name of their religion I find this story astonishing – but we all know of relatively similar instances, if not as dramatic as this one.
Very good research in initially finding the blog. Will read it but am worried about my blood pressure.
I thought the comments were very good to – the Chinese thoughts seemed immediately apt.
What happened in Sarajevo, Srebrenica and Tulsa is an advertisment against Christianity. That is the position I take with me when I will open your link to his blog. What happened in Mostar, when the ‘Catholic’ Croats indulged in similar, and the infiltration of hard-line Islamic fighters in Bosnia are all related to formal religion. When NATO bombed the Serbs out of Kosovo, to help turn everyone’s heads away from the ‘Lewinsky’ affair (the tail wags the dog), causing the Serbs to drastically increase the killing of Albanian Kosovars in response was not about two communist enclaves battling each other. It was about 1 religion murdering another, of course.
But the difference between NATO causing an increase in mass murder and a totally ignorant ‘mssionary’ is not very different.
Hi, thanks for stopping by and commenting! Yours is an interesting blog too! I am still “Yugoslav” in my heart – my parents are communist and we were brought up NOT to divide people by ethnic or religious affiliation, none of it mattered back then and i am really happy that’s the attitude i kept throughout my life. Trust me that i still don’t know what had happened back in the 90ies and how come people got so brainwashed and manipulated, so to go on war… Indeed it was ethnic – whatever they tell you – and it’s such a SHAME on all of us, even those who, like me , were fervent opposition to the wars! I really think the last thing we need anywhere on the territory of ex Yu – is some idiots spreading their own fanatic believes; sadly these people have proved to have enough of their own…
Well to me reading your blog is what I hoped blogging was all about when I started. I wonder if I would substitute ”cultural” for ”ethnic” about the Yugoslav conflicts/wars. I agree about shame on us all, and I think your point about still not knowing what happened/how it happened is really pertinent: Surely some of the steps were just fate, or coincidence (such as having both Milosovics and Trudjman of Croatia around at the same time), other things revealed strange and horrible things about human nature, while other steps were clearly destined to unleash horror – the use of a criminal like Arkan and his ”Tigers’ as a ”military force” was a war crime by decision alone. But what on earth were the Serbs thinking as they pounded Sarajevo. I agree with you again: how can it be that they all ”followed orders?’ Did they really think passing around bottles of slivovics as they manned their guns was representative of Serb culture? I will stop, as this is only a reply to your kind reply to your wonderful blog, and I certainly agree that the very last thing Serbs need now is ignorant and unqualified idiots spreading their own fanatical beliefs from abroad.
Yakut – those who were thinking were not part of it… None of my family or friends was, many had to emigrate and seek refuge, our family included. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories, i think some made big mistakes and let’s work on that it never happens again – anywhere.
Love & Light
L.R.S.
“But what on earth were the Serbs thinking as they pounded Sarajevo.”
Your comment here shows much ignorance and that you only got your information from CNN, which was known to deliberately lie about Serbs. For instance, Stella Jatras, American Greek, writes “…Another big CNN story early in the Bosnian conflict was the killing, allegedly by Serb snipers of two “Muslim babies” on a bus. Who could not have been horrified by the tragic sight of the funeral service for those innocent Muslim babies?…If it had not been for French 2 TV that covered the funeral, this writer would never have known that the babies were Serbian (not Muslim) killed by a Muslim sniper, as was made painfully clear by the presence of a Serbian Orthodox priest conducting the funeral service. . . before it was interrupted by a grenade attack. However, in the CNN coverage the priest had been cropped out, leaving the American audience to believe that Serbs were not only the assassins, but were also responsible for the grenade attack.”
So CNN deliberately cut out the Orthodox Priest and other Christian symbols (people besides Greek Orthodox Stella Jatras noticed the Christian symbols (crosses), but most probably couldn’t distinguish between an Orthodox or Catholic priest), in order to use these dead Serbian children against Serbs. Any such news organization which deliberately switches the perpetrators and victims looses ALL CREDIBILITY to EVERYTHING THEY REPORT ON THAT WAR. Furthermore the grenade attack of the funeral was likely why the camera was there in the first place – to film a set up atrocity for the news. It was a war much pushed on the news, atrocities were constantly created to push the agenda.
Camera crews were at the scene and set up at perfect distance (far away enough to be safe, but close enough to film the bomb attacks as they happened or the immediate aftermath). That shows FOREKNOWLEDGE of the attacks and it was done for propaganda – to put on the news to demonize Serbs. It WAS THE MUSLIM OR WESTERN CREWS WHICH WERE AT THE READY. The “Breadline massacre” was one such incident. What’s more no one heard the sound of an incoming missile before the explosion, and the injuries to the people were more to their lower extremities, leading investigators to believe it was a planted nail-bomb or thrown off a nearby roof. And the place where it happened had been roped off by the Muslim government/forces BEFORE the incident. Some of the identified dead were Serbs, said to be “tame Serbs” – and I believe those were civilian Serbs who were in custody of the Muslims – ones arrested/detained/jailed.
You also must be ignorant that the Muslim forces had 40,000 in Sarajevo alone (total was 200,000) and that number is greater than the Bosnian Serb forces in ALL OF BOSNIA during the war. (Croatia had 40,000 troops in Bosnia throughout the war, but were not sanctioned. It was an open secret (to the UN/international community) that they were there.) The line of confrontation in Sarajevo ran through the middle of the city, nearby the infamous Holiday Inn and THAT is were most of the damage was to the city: where the two forces met. That was testified to by UN officials who were living there during the war.
The UN forces also testified of Muslims deliberately provoking attacks: initiating shelling from just outside the UN compound in Sarajevo (Ukrainian UN officer inside playing a ping-pong game said it was definitely an OUTGOING attack). A few minutes later the Serbs bombed back, but the UN personnel were all angry at the Bosnian Muslim/Government forces, according to his testimony, because the realized the Muslim forces wanted to bait the Serbs into hitting the UN – more PR against the Serbs which was the Muslims M.O.
In “Sharp End: A Canadian Soldier’s Story” by James R. Davis. He writes of the Canadian soldiers in Sarajevo witnessing the Muslims staging attacks. He says how they had to dodge set-ups by the Muslims all day when they were giving Lord Owen a tour. He writes that they timed a missile attack just as he was getting out of his car then went up to him and said the Serbs did this to him all the time.
He writes of the Canadian soldiers witnessed the Muslims mortaring their own children – killing them right before the soldiers’ eyes. The soldiers were in a building and talking and giving candy to a group of kids on the street below their window, when the children were then killed by mortar fire. He says the observers reported that nothing had been fired by the Serbs, and they traces the trajectory to Muslim-held territory.
James Davis says the (Muslim) Government forces – TO (Territorial Defense) – were ANIMALS.
Also, French Marines traced some persistent constant sniping in June 1995 to Muslim forces using the former parliamentary building. This surprised them, because they had just been ASSUMING it was the Serbs (which the Muslim snipers/forces counted on). But in the few times that the UN personnel would actually get involved in finding and tracing the sniping attacks: it turned out to be Muslims.
The first deadly ethnic attack in Sarajevo was on a Serbian wedding party, when the Muslims sprayed bullets on them, seriously injuring the groom and killing the father of the groom. After that incident, Serbs started putting up barricades in certain areas.
It should also be mentioned that the front lines were pretty much the same throughout the war. The Serbian forces only wanted to hang onto their sections.
A UN officer from New Zealand testified at the ICTY how, for a long spell when he was there, things were silent every morning, but then at 6 a.m. there would be outgoing fire from the Muslim side.
The Muslims were also putting Serbs in concentration camps and illegal prisons there. And many of their paramilitary forces were headed by ex-cons and gangsters from before the war.
They put Serbs in a grain silo concentration camp at Tarcin and it was still operating for months after Dayton.
Also, Muslims arriving in Boston in 1993, and interviewed by David Mladinov, a Jew who escaped Yugoslavia/Croatia during WWII as a boy, and was asked to interpret for the Jewish center there, says the Muslims told of how they and the Croats MURDERED AND ETHNICALLY CLEANSED ALL THE SERBS FROM CAPLJINA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR. He says they had no remorse for that, but were bitter at how their former allies, the Croats, then turned on them and put them in concentration camps – the same ones that the Muslims and Croats had had Serbs in.
David further accuses in his “Open Letter” to the Jewish people (written in 1999 on the internet) the director of the Jewish Center, Sheila Decter, of shelving the interviews, because they didn’t fit in with the “evil Serb” propaganda. And in fact she is covering up for self-admitted Muslims who murdered and ethnically cleansed Serbs.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mimagazin/message/96
But as the U.S. State Department is the key player in the breakup of Yugoslavia and sponsoring separatists (covertly, overtly, diplomatically, etc.), they’ve actually condoned the ethnic cleansing and murders of Serbs.
It is the Serb population which has fallen the most; and Serbs who have the most refugees, and longest lasting, and still living in refugee camps 15-20 years later.
IT IS ALSO THE SERB REFUGEES WHO’VE EXIBITED ACTUAL SCARS AND SIGNS OF TORTURE, NOT THE MUSLIMS WHO HAVE WILD STORIES BUT DON’T SHOW SIGNS OF TORTURE.
JJ, approved your comment – because i see that you really put an effort in it and i appreciate it – albeit i didn’t even read it carefully; we had fire in Podgorica last night, and we were in the first line of it, i a m still in shock; but please guys – i am not taking sides, to me all ex Yugoslavs are still my brothers and sisters – that’s how i grew up and it will not change. I never made difference between people according their ethnic or religious status/affiliation and PLEASE, PLEASE, don’t fight on my blog, kay? Love and Light, Lena
Hi
Everyone is entitled to their opinion JJ (if allowed to by Lena this blog of course!!) My comment definitely still stands about the Serbs (those ones..those) who were pounding Sarajevo, having been a personal witness to my statement both there and the Nagyatad refugee camp afterwards. Should have your own blog when writing so long? I’d be happy to read it but you might reconsider how you address your fellow commentators – ie me!
Will humanity ever evolve? I am saddened by what I see happening to America. She is falling down. There are 84,000 doors to liberation, and one in not better than another. I was fortunate to visit Yugoslavia just before all came down. A beautiful country.
Livvy, i keep my fingers crossed for America, i am as pro-American as it gets! (And for many valid reasons ;)) I believe in American people – and i support with all i can what they stand for as a nation; i do believe US is a torchbearer of progress – in all fields and especially the human rights. And you are right, Yuga was beautiful… sigh.
Please check my post on Inspired Blogger Award. You are nominated!