Something completely different
I saw this allegedly true story in the local church paper yesterday, and I want to share it with you. It's called
The church and the brothel
Once upon a time, a pentecostal church was built on the dockside of the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, Germany. An old, dilapidated house was redecorated with the combined efforts of the parishoners, and became an inviting house of worship.
When the congregation moved in and the services began, the church was so jam-packed, that it was hard to find a seat. People came streaming in to hear the sermons.
A few years later, business premises in the same building were rented to a pimp, who wanted to open a brothel there. The leaders of the congregation remonstrated with the landlord about this new arrangement, which they thought unsavoury. Their protests were ignored, and the brothel was redecorated and every preparation made to open it for business.
The congregation turned to the most trusted help of the church: prayer. They prayed every day and night that the Lord would turn away their corrupt new neighbours.
On the night before the brothel was scheduled to open for business, someone noticed smoke rising from the premises. Soon, there were fire engines and ambulances in the street. Something had gone wrong with the wiring, and the brothel burned down.
After the smoke cleared, the pimp sued the congregation. He had heard about the prayer meetings, and blamed the congregation for starting the fire. The congregation naturally denied their guilt.
In his closing statement, the judge said: "Dear friends, I have before me today a case, in which the pimp of a brothel firmly believes in the power of prayer, and the congregation of a church firmly denies it. I wonder, which one of the two premises is which?"
I filled out two work applications today. One is for a translator's position at a rather well-known company, and I kind of doubt they'll get back to me, but at least I tried, and the other one is for a marketing research (read: phone survey) company, that might get back to me, but that will probably not pay me enough to make it worth my while to not be unemployed. When living off unemployment benefits (as I do now) pays better than working 8 hours a day, there's something wrong somewhere. In fact, when a society can afford to educate people practically for free for a number of years, and then afford to let them live off tax-payers' money (which is kind of what unemployment benefits are), there is something seriously wrong somewhere. I'm not clever enough to work out all of this myself, but I do wonder sometimes, when I'm going to be allowed to pay back some of the money that the government has spent on me since the day I was born.
After some lovely, sunny days, the weather is turning colder again, and it looks like rain. I've spent the day cooped up inside, except for a trip to the grocery store, and I've been reading the book of myths I told you about, starting with the Greeks. There isn't a lot of text, because it's more of an encyclopedia, but it's interesting all the same. I also watched The Lion King. There's a picture circulating on Facebook, showing "the true size of Africa", where the other continents are shown as jigsaw pieces, making up, get this, most but not all of the African continent. I found it really fascinating to consider what immense differences in size there truly are between the different parts of the world. It boggles the mind, especially coming from a relatively small country like Finland, to think of a country that big. My cousin's husband, who is from North Africa, always pokes fun at us for not knowing anything about his part of the world. "You think the Sahara is just sand, right?" Yeah, pretty much...
I was never really into any of the sciences at school, but I'm becoming more interested in geography and biology recently. That's a good thing about having spare time: you have the time to take an interest in something besides work and the bare necessities. Being online so much helps too, and watching many American shows. I want to really understand what life is like in other parts of the world. And nobody is going to quiz me about it, which helps.
Have a lovely weekend, and see you tomorrow, I hope!
The church and the brothel
Once upon a time, a pentecostal church was built on the dockside of the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, Germany. An old, dilapidated house was redecorated with the combined efforts of the parishoners, and became an inviting house of worship.
When the congregation moved in and the services began, the church was so jam-packed, that it was hard to find a seat. People came streaming in to hear the sermons.
A few years later, business premises in the same building were rented to a pimp, who wanted to open a brothel there. The leaders of the congregation remonstrated with the landlord about this new arrangement, which they thought unsavoury. Their protests were ignored, and the brothel was redecorated and every preparation made to open it for business.
The congregation turned to the most trusted help of the church: prayer. They prayed every day and night that the Lord would turn away their corrupt new neighbours.
On the night before the brothel was scheduled to open for business, someone noticed smoke rising from the premises. Soon, there were fire engines and ambulances in the street. Something had gone wrong with the wiring, and the brothel burned down.
After the smoke cleared, the pimp sued the congregation. He had heard about the prayer meetings, and blamed the congregation for starting the fire. The congregation naturally denied their guilt.
In his closing statement, the judge said: "Dear friends, I have before me today a case, in which the pimp of a brothel firmly believes in the power of prayer, and the congregation of a church firmly denies it. I wonder, which one of the two premises is which?"
I filled out two work applications today. One is for a translator's position at a rather well-known company, and I kind of doubt they'll get back to me, but at least I tried, and the other one is for a marketing research (read: phone survey) company, that might get back to me, but that will probably not pay me enough to make it worth my while to not be unemployed. When living off unemployment benefits (as I do now) pays better than working 8 hours a day, there's something wrong somewhere. In fact, when a society can afford to educate people practically for free for a number of years, and then afford to let them live off tax-payers' money (which is kind of what unemployment benefits are), there is something seriously wrong somewhere. I'm not clever enough to work out all of this myself, but I do wonder sometimes, when I'm going to be allowed to pay back some of the money that the government has spent on me since the day I was born.
After some lovely, sunny days, the weather is turning colder again, and it looks like rain. I've spent the day cooped up inside, except for a trip to the grocery store, and I've been reading the book of myths I told you about, starting with the Greeks. There isn't a lot of text, because it's more of an encyclopedia, but it's interesting all the same. I also watched The Lion King. There's a picture circulating on Facebook, showing "the true size of Africa", where the other continents are shown as jigsaw pieces, making up, get this, most but not all of the African continent. I found it really fascinating to consider what immense differences in size there truly are between the different parts of the world. It boggles the mind, especially coming from a relatively small country like Finland, to think of a country that big. My cousin's husband, who is from North Africa, always pokes fun at us for not knowing anything about his part of the world. "You think the Sahara is just sand, right?" Yeah, pretty much...
I was never really into any of the sciences at school, but I'm becoming more interested in geography and biology recently. That's a good thing about having spare time: you have the time to take an interest in something besides work and the bare necessities. Being online so much helps too, and watching many American shows. I want to really understand what life is like in other parts of the world. And nobody is going to quiz me about it, which helps.
Have a lovely weekend, and see you tomorrow, I hope!