6666666666

Someone sent this: "The estimated population of the world will pass 6,666,666,666 today. No doubt an interesting number for people everywhere. 5,555,555,555 was passed about 14 years ago. You may not realize that only 80 years ago, the population of the Earth was only around 2 billion. This shows how the population of the world has increased at an alarming rate in recent times, although the growth rate is almost half what it was at its peak in 1963, when it was 2.2%. Unrelated but also an interesting coincidence -- the estimated number of available IPv4 addresses is getting very close to 666,666,666. It should cross over today as well."
In a related useless matter, the Pope praised the medieval anti-birth control policy of theirs. And true to form, Inquirer's Antonio Montalvan or something immediately licked his ass.

Hate Ledger and the Idiots for Christ

Let There Be Light and Jesus Just Loves the Little Children

A sad story of a Jesus switch cover that accidentally became profane.

Papal Myths

I am reading on the Five Myths of the Papacy when I got into the last one which made me laugh loudly.

The Myth: All Popes when elected must sit on the Sedes Stercoraria, a chair with a hole in the centre of the seat, without underwear on, in order to have their genitals touched, to prove that they are a man. This arose after Pope Joan ruled to make sure that the same mistake would not occur again.

I didn't even know there was such a myth. And anyway, the writer said that this could not be true because Joan of Arc never became a pope. But that is still a fallacious argument because even if Pope Joan did not exist, it does not disprove the existence of the Sedes Stercoraria. As it turned out, there does exist such a chair.

Hyderabad Joke

Sen. Pong Biazon told me this encounter he had with a priest in Naga. The priest told this sexy (sexually-sensitive) senator, "God grants us that sex is only for procreation."
"So I told the priest, if a couple knew about the menstruation of his wife and they still do it, they're committing a sin? If they are menopausal, they are also sinning. The priest left," he said, after another spicy Indian lunch.
So much for dogma and dogshit.

God Weather

When it drizzles, we in Baguio say, "agsapsapri ni Apo Dios (God is showering i.e. while He speaks). When it really pours especially after a tragic happening (rains after the July 1990 Earthquake), we said, God is crying. We never had tornados (that will be the day!!!) or more precisely, waterspouts. Because then we would say, God is...

The Infallible Bible

• The Blasphemous Comma Several editions: Part of Luke 23 reads "And there were also two other malefactors. [crucified with Jesus]" It should have read "And there were also two other, malefactors."
• "Judas Bible" 1611: This bible has Judas, not Jesus, saying "Sit ye here while I go yonder and pray." (Matthew 26:36)
• "Wicked Bible", "Adulterous Bible" or "Sinner's Bible" 1631: Barker and Lucas: Omits an important "not" from Exodus 20:14, making the seventh commandment read "Thou shalt commit adultery." The printers were fined £300 (a lifetime's wages) and most of the copies were recalled immediately. Only 11 copies are known to exist today.
• "More Sea Bible" 1641 "...the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was more sea." rather than "...the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea."
• "Unrighteous Bible" or "Wicked Bible" 1653: Cambridge Press: Another edition carrying this title omits a "not" before the word "inherit", making I Corinthians 6:9 read "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God?..." In addition, Romans 6:13 reads "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of righteousness into sin..." where it should read "unrighteousness". Also, in Exodus 20:14 it omits a "not" in the seventh commandment so it says, "thou shalt commit adultery."
• "Printers Bible" bef. 1702: Psalm 119:161 reads "Printers have persecuted me without cause." The first word was changed, possibly by a typesetter, from "Princes".
• "Sin On Bible": 1716: John 5:14 reads "Go and sin on more" rather than "Go and sin no more".
• "Vinegar Bible": 1717: J. Baskett, Clarendon Press: The chapter heading for Luke 20 reads "The Parable of the Vinegar" instead of "The Parable of the Vineyard." One reviewer called this particular edition "a Baskett full of errors," what with its being replete with numerous other specimens of typographical errata throughout.
• "The Fools Bible": 1763: Psalm 14:1 reads "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God", rather than "...there is no God". The printers were fined three thousand pounds and all copies ordered destroyed.
• "Denial Bible": 1792: The name Philip is substituted for Peter as the apostle who would deny Jesus in Luke 22:34.
• "Murderer's Bible" 1801: "Murmurers" is printed as "murderers", making Jude 16 read: "These are murderers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage."
• "Lions Bible" 1804: Kings 8:19 reads "thy son that shall come forth out of thy lions", rather than "loins". This edition had another error in Numbers 25:18 which read: "The murderer shall surely be put together" rather than "...put to death".
• "To-remain Bible" 1805: In Galatians 4:29 a proof-reader had written in "to remain" in the margin, as an answer to whether a comma should be deleted. The note inadvertently became part of the text, making the edition read "But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit to remain, even so it is now."
• "Discharge Bible" 1806: "Discharge" replaces "charge" making I Timothy 5:21 read "I discharge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality."
• "Standing Fishes Bible" 1806: "Fishes" replaced "fishers" making Ezekiel 47:10 read "And it shall come to pass, that the fishes shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many."
• "Idle Shepherd" 1809: Zechariah 11:17 reads "the idle shepherd" rather than "idol shepherd".
• "Ears To Ear Bible" 1810: Edition which makes Matthew 13:43 read: "...Who has ears to ear, let him hear." The correct phrase should be "ears to hear".
• "Wife-hater Bible" 1810: "Wife" replaces "life" in this edition, making Luke 14:26 redundantly read "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own wife also, he cannot be my disciple."
• "The Large Family Bible" 1820: Isaiah 66:9 reads: "Shall I bring to birth and not cease to bring forth?" rather than "Shall I bring to birth and not cause to bring forth?".
• "Rebecca's Camels Bible" 1823: "Camels" replaces "damsels" in one instance, making Genesis 24:61 read "And Rebecca arose, and her camels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebecca and went his way."

Religious Name

Inquirer columnist Pam Pastor complained:

I was 10 years old when R.E.M. released the song “Losing My Religion. And because this was before I discovered the magic of reading between the lines and the horrors of people not saying what they actually mean, I found the song amusing. Here was this guy whining about losing his religion while I had one too many. I remember thinking about giving him one of mine to make both our lives easier. Yes, I grew up with two religions. My dad’s side of the family is Catholic while my maternal grandparents head a Born Again Christian church.

I say, Haller. Your name is Pam Pastor. You can't help it. I don't know about the hundreds of thousands of Delos Santoses and Dela Cruzes but my friends who have religious surnames are bound by religion. I used to have a classmate named Ethel Simbahan. Her father was I think already a priest but he was lured out of it. And then there's Marianne Catedral, PR extraordinaire, who almost became a nun. Now, she's a King. Married to a King in Texas. Hindi kami beso-beso ni Cardinal Sin but his surname also is a big factor on why he became a cardinal.

Pope

Is the new (relatively) Pope twice as conservative but far less charismatic than Pope John Paul II? Here's your chance to re-make your own.

Miracle/ Nonmiracle

Miracle: Meet Olive, the oldest blogger. Say "Hello" before you know...
Nonmiracle: Holy water from Lourdes is still liquid and so considered a threat in airplanes
Skeptical: “I do not consider Hitler to be as bad as depicted. He is showing an ability that is amazing, and he seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed." Did Gandhi really said this?
Confirmed: He was really sick

Diana/Whore Complex

They died almost at the same time. Princess Di and Mother Theresa. Ten years later, they are back in the news. The dead "living saint" with her crisis of faith and the princess with a women's studies chapter all by herself.

Jesus Blogs!

As Ian C. would say,

Hesukristo now blogs

Pastor Berlin's Statement

What does it take a government to have the nerve to abduct, torture, and terrorize my family on the basis of an old inciting to sedition case and a baseless murder charge? Far more absurd is the accusation that I am the Secretary of the CPP Provincial committee in Cavite. This lie that they tried to extract from me by means of physical, mental and psychological torture and projecting me in public as a "hand-gun and grenade-carrying rebel."

I am a Pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and never participated in any killings, illegal or unlawful activities, or any common crime.

My family and I have just taken a tricycle from the local church which I have served for two consecutive years (June 2006-2007) where we just celebrated and the local church's 59th and 72nd anniversaries respectively.

On May 27, at around 5:30 pm, a white van cut the tricycle's path and military-looking men quickly alighted to grab me; despite my plea that they show me the warrant they said they had. I was man-handled and forcefully shoved inside the van, put a handcuff on my hands behind me, covered my head with a cloth and tape, was beaten, punched and kicked repeatedly.

They brought me to a place I didn't know. Here, still handcuffed, men would take turn interrogating and beating my head with their fists and blunt objects (like a 1,000 ml mineral bottle and other objects). All throughout, layers of plastic bags covered my head. My torturers would tighten the bag until I could no longer breathe. I passed out two times and urinated in my pants.

They made me shake my head for about an hour and beat me whenever I stopped they said they would do these things to my family if I did not cooperate. I was forced to give names and addresses of my whole family, officers of church and conferences, name of my administrator at Union Theological Seminary where I am studying theology, leaders of progressive labour and peasant organizations in Southern Tagalog.

They opened my computer by forcing me to give the password, got my e-mail password. They erased all of my church, school and personal files and replaced these with documents that belong to the so-called underground left.

After about twelve hours, they put me back on the van still handcuffed and blindfolded. They threatened to kill me, burn me or bury me. They continued to beat me and make new names for me. They got my sim card.

They called me Pastor-Impostor, and lectured me on "evils" of communism and how the church, legal people's organizations are "used" to create trouble by criticizing the government.

When the van stopped, it took an hour before they led me down, made me sit down and lie down. After an hour, they removed my blindfold. Here I learned I was in Imus, Cavite specifically at Camp Pantaleon Garcia, Cavite Provincial Police Office (PPO).

Later on in the afternoon, that was the only time I saw the warrants of and to what unit of the PNP I was turned over to by my abductors.