Random thoughts

You've probably seen OKCupid by now, and either joined if you're going to or worked out that it's the kind of thing that you absolutely despise. Me, I found myself signing up because personality quizzes are one of my vices. That would be why my u/n on the system is 'livredor'; I was expecting one of those LJ memes, or I'd have chosen a more sensible handle.

A few thoughts, because I'm being self-indulgent, mainly. ( Ramblings )

That said, within a couple of hours of joining, I was having interesting conversations with strangers. And thanks to OKCupid, I have a new Moomin on my friends list! *waves to mummimamma*

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My P'tite soeur is just starting to appreciate the potential of the internet now that she's at uni (though she'll probably always be rather less geeky than I am). Anyway, I decided to google for her just to see how much of a presence she now has, and I was surprised to find that someone (entirely random) has published a poem that P'tite Soeur wrote for some children's poetry competition (she was one of the winners, which is how the poem ended up being published at all) when she was in primary school. I really should stop being surprised by what turns up on the web!

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And finally, Du hast sounds really, really silly in English. It quite possibly sounds silly in German too, but I'm less likely to be aware of that in a foreign language. Also, some of the associations that I have, as an English person, with German possibly make it seem rather apt for that style of song, with lots of shouting and too much beat. And I was so proud of myself for figuring out the German puns that I really can't tell whether it's any great loss that they aren't present in the translated version.

Edited 9.2.04: corrected song title; thanks for spotting that, rysmiel.

Christianity confuses me!

So, months ago, rysmiel asked me to go into detail about what it is about Christianity that I find so off-putting. I've been thinking about this in the intervening months, and I think I'm about at the stage where I can try to write it up.

I am aware that there are a number of Christians (of various flavours) reading this. This isn't a disclaimer, as such; if you want to take offence at this little essay, you're probably entitled to. To a very large extent, I'm shelving all I have learnt in over a decade of serious commitment to Jewish-Christian dialogue, and reverting to my eight-year-old self who got into trouble for complaining to my form teacher, But your religion makes no sense! I do want to point out, though, that I don't mean this in any way as a personal slight against any Christian individual. I am also very well aware that Christianity isn't monolithic, and I do already realize that you could almost certainly point to a Christian who doesn't do or believe any one of the items on the list.

A parable that I rather like: To-what-may-this-be-compared? A traveller comes to a foreign country. He peeks in through the windows of a building, and sees people moving about in a bizarre way. These foreigners are right weird, he concludes, as he goes on his way. Later, a second traveller arrives at the same building. Instead of peeking through the windows, he knocks on the door. The foreigners welcome him in and he finds himself in a dance hall. At the moment I'm being the first traveller; Christianity looks weird to me because I don't hear the music.
( why I don't get it )

Please feel absolutely free to argue with me, or tell me that I've got the wrong impression of how Christianity actually works, or whatever. Discussion is good.