NOT THE BULLFROG

Robert in his latest post quotes Jeremiah from the Book of Jeremiah verses  20:10-13

'I hear the whisperings of many:
“Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!”
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
“Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him.”
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,
who probe mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
For he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!'

I'm not sure why he's quoting this loony who is obviously demonstrating bizarre and paranoid obsessions. In today's study of psychiatry Jeremiah would be diagnosed as being bi-polar (previously labelled as paranoid schizophrenic) and be either institutionalised or prescribed some serious  antipsychotic medications like risperidone, quetiapine, olanzapine, ziprasidone, paliperidone,  aripiprazole or clozapine. Interestingly enough I've been prescribed some of these, not because I'm a loony but because they also assist in back and hip pain. Needless to say, after trying them I stopped taking them and improved my condition through exercise although a dose of gabapentin last year worked wonders for me.

Moving on.

Jeremiah, going by his ravings that Robert has latched on to certainly shows the two symptoms that can involve paranoia - delusions and hallucinations.

These are persistent false beliefs. A person who has a delusional belief usually won't change their mind even if faced with strong evidence. Delusions involving paranoia are often "persecutory," which means a person believes that someone is trying to harm them or negatively affect their life.
Hallucinations are events a person imagines (usually in the form of something that a person hears or sees). A person who has a hallucination typically can't tell that what they're experiencing isn't real. These commonly feed into delusions by giving the person additional "evidence" to confirm that someone is trying to harm or upset them.

'I hear the whisperings of many:
“Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!”
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.

Says Jeremiah, probably while wearing a paper bag on his head.

The silly old bugger, even after berating his god and being in no doubt that God had deceived him because he thought he was in for a glamorous assignment, had the shock of his life and, in desperation,  became accusatory - “O Lord, you deceived me when you promised me your help" - then did an about face and called out "Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD".

I rest my case.

After this belief that old goddy had sorted things out for him Jeremiah later regressed (should've stayed on the meds) and in Egypt he rebuked his fellow exiles.
Jeremiah probably died about 570 bce. According to a tradition that is preserved in extra-biblical sources, he was stoned to death by his exasperated fellow countrymen in Egypt.

Is Robert attempting allegory here?

Does he feel put on by Richard and me when we challenge his beliefs?

What was that photograph about new priests at St Patrick's college about? Does he feel that he missed out and that god has let him down?

Maybe he will tell us in future posts. In the meantime let's hope that he doesn't get stoned (not in a nice way).

ROBERT IN WONDERLAND

In his latest post Robert 'really ripped in to' the NZ Catholic Church, almost calling them  abusers of children ... well, almost. In his editorial on the article he copied and pasted he wondered this:

"I found this on vatican news. I do feel that One news has acted as judge and jury on the ex Cardinal though. We should not tolerate the abuse of children; but let's make certain we are absolutely sure before destroying someone's reputation."

Strong words indeed by someone who before has refused to accept any wrong-doing by the odious Catholic Church. It's small beginnings I guess and, one day, particularly if he undergoes some sort of memory recovery through hypnosis, he might admit that either he was fiddled with or he knows someone who was.

Here's his post:

ROBERT'S 'EXPOSE' OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

If you read that you would have noticed that the report said 

''An extensive investigation reveals that the Church in New Zealand has received 1,680 reports of abuse against Catholic clergy, men and women religious, and lay people from 1950 to today, with the President of the New Zealand's Bishops describing the findings as “horrifying”.

I wonder what Robert found in that that was ambiguous.

 And this ...

The New Zealand Catholic Church has revealed that 14 percent of its diocesan clergy (nearly one in seven) has been accused of abusing children and adults since 1950.The figures emerge from an extensive research conducted at the request of the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care, which was set up in 2018 by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

... where the Catholic Church itself admitted the abuse.

"But let's make certain we are absolutely sure before destroying someone's reputation." say's Robert.

 

LOST IN TRANSLATION

The other bloggers are more frequently using other languages - Italian or Latin in their comments on posts.

In the case of one of them it's understandable since his blog posts read like they are written by someone for whom English is a second language.  Some of his comments are also delusional. See:

The problem is though that meaning is often lost in translation. 

This got me thinking about the nonsense contained in the Bible, the Sola Scriptura and the Catechism. Maybe it's the fact that these were originally penned in archaic and no longer used languages and then translated into various modern languages before finally being translated into English. A lot can go wrong there.

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I thought that I'd select three things from the Catechism that make no sense and write them in Italian which may have been close to the originals in Aramaic, Greek and Latin. Here goes:

THE ANNUNCIATION

L'ANNUNCIO

Maria era fidanzata con Giuseppe e attendeva con ansia le nozze. Sfortunatamente prima che ciò accadesse, Maria fece sesso con un arcangelo che la fece rimanere incinta. Maria, imbarazzata, disse a Giuseppe di essere miracolosamente incinta. Giuseppe, non essendo molto intelligente, ci credeva.

THE ASSUMPTION

L'ASSUNZIONE

Quando Maria, la madre del profeta Gesù morì, i seguaci non sapevano cosa dire ai credenti poiché avevano inventato una storia su Gesù che ascende al cielo. Allora ebbero la brillante idea che Gesù, in paradiso, avrebbe trascinato Maria su di sé mediante l'uso di corde e carrucole sotto la copertura dell'oscurità. Non era la più intelligente delle idee ma diciamocelo i credenti non erano proprio dei geni.

THE EUCHARIST

L'EUCARISTIA

Prima che Gesù decidesse di scappare in Gallia con la sua fidanzata Maria Maddalena, appena incinta, organizzò una cena per i suoi amici apostoli. Alla fine propose un brindisi e disse loro: "Ricordatevi di me quando in futuro mangerete pane bianco e berrete vino rosso sangue. Fate questo per me".

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Get out your Italian phrase books and see if you can convert these into a sensible language. Hopefully nothing will be lost in translation.

MORE MISTAKES ... SORRY, MYSTICS

Robert the catholic something or other recently 'discovered' another mystic who for some reason, Jesus Christ has chosen to act as a medium for his messages to humanity. I guess that JC doesn't trust the regular news media nor the newish social media networks - and, why should he? These channels have proven themselves to be unreliable at best and outright liars at worst. Sensationalism with or without 'page three tits' is their by-line because basically it sells advertising and invites subscriptions.

Jesus Christ though, and he's old enough to know better, should do some due diligence when choosing mystics as his media to get his messages across. I mean, it's not hard now that we have on-line search engines like Google and a host of others to do some background checks. It only took me a couple of minutes to find out that Luz de María de Bonilla who Robert thinks is the latest 'bees knees' is a fraudster and a scam artist. *

I guess that Robert was swayed by this: NONSENSE  when he should have taken another few seconds of 'research' to find stuff like this: THE REAL DEAL 

Anyway, intrigued by this I did a comprehensive internet search (Google) and discovered a hitherto little known mystic and martyred saint and I'd like to share her story with you.

Imelda Bonifica del Cassandria (1592 - 1631) St. Imelda, hacked to death by children.

Imelda Bonifica was a teacher in Cassandria, Italy, in the early 17th century. Formerly a novice in the Papal Cloister in Rome, she became a schoolmistress after being banished for taking the papal cloister vows too seriously. There were suspicions of cruelty and inappropriate behaviour.  Imelda was a devotee of flagellation and used various items for mortification of her flesh. These include a cilice belt (a belt made of coarse animal hair worn close to the skin), a 'Discipline' ( a scourge having seven tails representing the seven deadly sins and seven virtues for self-flagellation of the back), and various small puncturing devices which she used to replicate Christ's wounds to her feet and hands. Even back in those times this was too much for the normally cruel and repressive Papal Cloister.

In her new role, as a Catholic teacher of near pagan pupils during a period when Catholicism was under attack from not only Protestantism but general atheistic sentiment, Imelda was in a dangerous position. By refusing to accept any of the local populace's criticism of the Roman Catholic Church, she took out her frustrations on her students who she beat mercilessly with canes, rulers and the long leather belt she wore around her waist. The children, influenced by their non-conforming parents refused to accept the 'truth's that Imelda lectured them on drawn from the Catechism. This angered the local officials and parents alike and Imelda was seized and sentenced to death and turned her over to her students as her executioners. Why this should be the case and why they seemed happy to carry out the sentence is not entirely clear from historical accounts, but Imelda's death was torturous because of it: the only instruments the students had at their disposal were small and non-lethal. The boys employed their tablets to bash Imelda and the girls used their styluses (pointed iron instruments for writing) and penknives to make a multitude of cuts and punctures all over her body for an agonisingly extended time. Conscious through the long process, Imelda encouraged them to strike her forcefully, as she was eager to die for her faith. Reports of the time suggested that Imelda enjoyed the experience. Later the Vatican chose to see that this was an entreaty to Jesus and god in heaven to welcome her to her rightful place. 

No doubt Robert will 'adopt' Imelda Bonifica del Cassandria as an example of gaining a place in heaven through enduring "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune". I suggest that he takes the story to share with his Father Magenta at Sunday Church.

* #STOP PRESS# Robert has just admitted that he now knows that Luz de María de Bonilla is a scam artist.