{"id":9679,"date":"2011-12-22T07:30:52","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T20:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=9679"},"modified":"2011-12-22T00:01:53","modified_gmt":"2011-12-21T13:01:53","slug":"danger-holy-texts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2011\/12\/22\/danger-holy-texts\/","title":{"rendered":"Danger: holy texts!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve just been reading my copy of The Bhagavad Gita<\/a><\/em>. It’s strange, really; reading a Hindu sacred text at Christmas. The things you do!<\/p>\n

Why? Well, it started because I was reading about the Incarnation<\/a>: God became human in the person of Jesus Christ. This is clearly an extreme statement which has proven offensive to many people, cultures and traditions.<\/p>\n

In Russia prosecutors are seeking to ban a book labelling it as extremist literature which is offensive to Russian culture and traditions. Not a “PC”; politically correct book. “Ah, ha. The Bible” I hear you say. “It fulfils all the above criteria in many people’s books in PC Australia of 2011.”<\/p>\n

But, no. The Russian prosecutor wants to ban a Russian translation of the Bhagavad Gita.<\/em> Article, Moscow targets Hindu’s holy text<\/a>.\u00a0 This Hindu sacred text is too extremist and dangerous. According to some professors of philosophy it expresses religious hatred and prejudice on the basis of gender, race, nationality and language.<\/p>\n

I’ve read the Bhagavad Gita<\/em> and agree that to some people\u00a0it is offensive and even extremist. But please do not ban it!<\/p>\n

I’ve written\u00a0of my\u00a0disagreement with blasphemy, Blasphemy law is bad law<\/a> and The West’s fear of free speech<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bible<\/em> will be banned next. Then Monty Python<\/em> and\u00a0finally Kath and Kim! <\/em>– they’re all non PC, dangerous, extremist!<\/p>\n

Of course, the Bible is<\/span> very dangerous. The powerful killed the Bible’s main character, God. Yes, God! Now that’s extreme.<\/p>\n

Test your arm. Read the Jesus’ story<\/a>: a ‘Danger’ warning is appropriate. Meeting Jesus has turned many lives upside down.<\/p>\n

For those interested in comparative religion and the concept of incarnation in Hinduism and Christianity (although I prefer ‘appearance’ and ‘reappearance’ in referring to Hinduism’s avatars) there is a helpful\u00a0article, The divine incarnation in Hinduism and Christianity<\/a> by Ernest Valea.<\/p>\n

I love preparing for Christmas – the surprise of surprises when Down, Down. Our God came down<\/a> because we all need Jesus.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But Oh my Dear Dean Richard, I’m having such fun. When will I ever get the midnight sermon actually written?! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve just been reading my copy of The Bhagavad Gita. It’s strange, really; reading a Hindu sacred text at Christmas. The things you do! Why? Well, it started because I was reading about the Incarnation: God became human in the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9679"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9679"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9703,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9679\/revisions\/9703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}