An online survey of issues, events and ideas
Gordon Cheng / 30th November 2004
Missed out again...
Dear editor,
Your report on Jews for Jesus quotes Vic Alhadeff of the Jewish board of deputies as insisting that it is impossible to be both Jewish and Christian at the same time. How can this be? I thought you were born Jewish. The Jewish friends I've known over the years certainly didn't renounce their birthright when they started believing Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. I would suggest it is possible to be Christian and proudly Jewish.
Gordon Cheng / 29th November 2004
The local rag wanted a contribution to the debate on censorship. But they didn't want this one. Censorship, I say!
Dear editor,
Rachel Williams (The Struggle of Naked Truths, SMH, 26 Nov) wants debate on film classification. How's this for starters: watching sex on screen encourages voyeurism, voyeurism is antisocial and destroys the ability for genuine intimacy. Therefore our censorship classifications should be tightened.
Ian Carmichael / 28th November 2004
Reuters reported last Friday that the Travelodge Hotel Chain in London is offering couples a free night's accomodation over Christmas.
The only catch is that your names must be ‘Mary’ and ‘Joseph’.
The offer is to make up for a previous occasion when accomodation was extremely short—no, not at the Bethlehem Travelodge 2 millennia ago, but apparently a shortage of accomodation in London for Christmas Eve four years ago.
Gordon Cheng / 26th November 2004
My latest unpublished letter to the editor...
Dear editor,
Adele Horin's summary of current marriage arrangements makes for depressing reading. The argument used to be that living together would help a couple work out if they were ready for marriage. Now the aim of the game seems to be training in infidelity: how to love someone, leave them and move on to the next person (not necessarily in that order).
Guan Un / 25th November 2004
“In her description of the sandwich, Duyser said she made the sandwich 10 years ago, and when taking a bite, saw the face of the Virgin Mary looking back at her.” Link.
What really perturbs me is not quite as much that someone should think that the Virgin Mary appeared on a grilled cheese sandwich (after she took a bite). Instead, it is the response that Diana Duyser took on seeing this ‘holy incarnation’:
a) Preserve the sandwich in cotton wool (although the fact that it hasn't wasted away is apparently a sign of blessing from Grilled Cheese Virgin Mary).
b) Go gambling (and that Grilled Cheese Virgin Mary allows you to win $70,000 is another sign of blessing)
c) Wait for ten years, and then sell Grilled Cheese Virgin Mary on eBay.
Yessir, in our modern world, we've done away with heathenistic idols and false religions: we long since done sold 'em on eBay.
