this morning, nick and i went to the city church in the u-district. we were yet again in search of a charismatic church where people spoke in tongues. we were again /fail. oh well. i thought it was interesting nonetheless. city church is comprised of 5 chain churches throughout the seattle area. the main one is in kirkland. all of the other ones stream live from the kirkland church. the sound was really good, though, so when we first entered i thought that the worship team was in the house, playing live. they were not, even though it sounded like it. an usher brought us to our seats, and upon realization that it was not a live band, i was a little weirded out. but you know, whatever. the worship leader chick sang like a pop star or something, ad libbing like mad. many people did the “raised, outstretched hands” thing.
after worship, some lady — pretty, blonde, nicely-dressed — came on the screen and did some church announcement type things… a lot of which were pimping out these products available in their store. products included a book called “dating delilah,” with nice graphical design pages inside… a dvd / audio cd / mp3 disc of their previous conference’s message… etc. etc. etc. but there was a lot of, “BUY THIS!” and “BUY THAT!” but, to their benefit, it did seem very um, personal, despite the fact that the churches collectively probably had thousands of people. very very interesting. to be honest the whole idea of a church being conducted via tv screen is kind of “odd” but it’s actually kind of cool in some ways, too. you’re uniting people in a easy, local way to a bigger conduit. i don’t know…
then there was a “greet your neighbors” section. there was a guy in front of nick who was really, really good-looking… like really, really. and he was way into the whole service. that’s one thing about the people there — they seemed very sincere in their worship. many came by themselves and seemed unconcerned with their neighbors and worshipped solely for god. i mean, i think that’s great. being “real” is more important than partaking in a church ritual i don’t subscribe to. if that makes sense. anyway. back to the good-looking guy… i found it kind of… disturbing. it’s judgmental to say (as chris pointed out later today) perhaps but the guy looked like any normal rocker dude you would meet at a party or something… and i guess… why does that bother me? it bothers me because it’s common to go to a party and want to meet someone romantically interesting?? and i guess i am shallow but i am much more interested in people who are good-looking… that doesn’t mean i’ll like them after i get to know them, but it does make me want to start talking to them initially. way he was acting — and how he knew exactly where the book of judges (one of the least used books in the bible, i’d argue) was — probably was an indication that he was a hardcore christian. and being extremely involved in a religion is a significant life choice. so it is bothersome that um, i might come across someone like this not ever knowing, thinking he was awesome, and then having that be a significant issue/difference. and i wouldn’t really have a problem being with someone who was a hardcore christian (depending on what their other thoughts on things were) but it seems like hardcore christians often have a problem with other people who are not the same way. so really, it’s really a very selfish thing to be bothered by a hot guy at church who “doesn’t look like he would go to church”. oh so selfish. and so shallow. but it’s a thought i could not help. :[
after the meet and greet, a brief message began by the pastor of the day. he gave a brief testimony about this new couple to his church. the male of the couple accepted christ the first day he ever went to church. the next week, supposedly, he brought more people, and his girlfriend and kids accepted christ too. the next week after that, he brought even more people. blahblahblah.
then we were shown a dvd clip of the guy and his girlfriend, who had had HPV (they didn’t say that, but they kept saying “VIRUS” “CERVIX” etc… i can only conclude that it was HPV) and a malignant tumor?? or something?? because of it. she was pregnant, and the doctor said if it grew any more, the baby would need to be terminated. then they received “healing hands” in church, and the next time they went to the doctor, the tumor or cyst or whatever was “COMPLETELY GONE!” it was all a little strange. it was even staged like an infomercial testimony or something too.
after that, speaker man, who had come from las vegas, came back to the stage. he proceeded to tell a message. man, i don’t even know where to start. AHHHH. god. uhhh. where to start.
the whole message talked about the “power of words” and that they were more powerful than the physical. he mentioned this girl in high school who used to make fun of his eyes… they bulged out of his head because he had a lot of health problems at that time. he mentioned that he looked like bart simpson, but made sure to note that people in the audience who were saved probably didn’t even know what “the simpsons” were, and that it was just a show that he had seen a couple episodes of before he became christian. like, what the fuck???????????????????????
anyway, he was a funny preacher and all but he like… i don’t know. made the whole crowd repeat after him the girl’s name (which i forget now). he would say her first name, they’d repeat it, he’d say her last name, they’d repeat it, and he’d say, “was a bad person,” and they’d repeat it. it was all very strange, like he still………………… was very bothered by it. and he probably was. but… i mean………….. wtf.
let’s start with this part in… judges?? where ephraimites (sp?) were being persecuted or something, and the only way out was to cross this river to the other side. they were tested by guards/soldiers, and the soldiers would tell them to say “shibolleth” — because the ephraimites had a different language and way of speaking, they could not pronounce the “shib” and would say “sibolleth”… and once they did that, they were killed because their accent gave themselves away. 40,000 of them supposedly died this way. now, the preacher did mention that it was because they had a different accent, but then he took it deeper, and said that he had an expensive bible program and decided to look up the meanings of those words.
“shibolleth” meant “flowing stream” or some shit, where as “sibolleth” meant “burden”.
he ridiculously stretched it out to say that… we need to use our words in a way so that we are not speaking “sibolleth” but “shibolleth” — we do not want to “burden” ourselves with negative speech and negative thoughts… we want to praise the word of god like a “flowing stream.” like… how ridiculous. i mean, really. wtf.
i don’t even know. wtf.
two churches in a row, now, i also see the heavy influence placed on owning big houses and owning things that = money. it’s so weird. he mentioned some pastor who was given a $4 million dollar house by a random lady………… i mean……… why does a pastor need that? pastors should do something with that $4 million dollar house that helps the community or whatever. why should a pastor keep that shit? why are we for these things?
it’s just very strange to me that christians like him can be like, “we shouldn’t watch simpsons…” and “we should be the counter-culture”… when they’re like… embracing all these capitalist, non-jesus-type things. i mean, jesus didn’t live life extravagantly. he wouldn’t be paying money for neon wall hangings and fancy ass clothes. why do they?
anyway, there was a mention of the term “turn or burn”, in a joking way. but i wrote down to look up the term and find some related merch. nick found a couple related t-shirt designs… roflcakes.
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after that, nick and i went to eat at this greek restaurant that i don’t know the name of. we had interesting conversation there about the church and our thoughts on it… politics… blahblah. nick is done with the church-hopping, though. evidently it disappoints him that people are that er, blindly following of religion. as for me, i still find it interesting. i’d go. if anything the speakers are still amusing. i’m so detached from the idea of religion that… i don’t know, i guess i can look at it very objectively and i don’t feel anyone should believe or not believe in it… i’m just completely apathetic to the thought. nothing that could possibly be said would make me care more or less about the existence or non-existence of god. it just doesn’t even matter in daily life.
the “it is not something that concerns me in my daily life” argument is one i have heard for politics, too… and i think that’s ridiculous, as politics are wholly entrenched in everything we know. but that’s another tangent.
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after that, i went with alex and chris (future roomies) to ikea. oh yes. i needed to buy a bed base but then was not happy with the price / look / how inconvenient / blahblah. we kept talking about using 2×4’s in different furniture pieces. lol. well, as i didn’t buy a bed base, i may be able to put some 2×4’s in my bed frame and just use it from there. man, i don’t know. i’ll maybe look on craigslist or something. this is a nightmare.
blarghhhhhhhhhh no feely like talking about ikea. after that we went to the great wall to eat some japanese food. blahrhggahoaighaoisdoiahsfoaidsjaoidj aoij aoifhaoifhaiofhafoisafhoiafshoaifhaosfi ahofihasfoiahfoishfaoif haoifh.
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soaking piercing in salt water. causes much droolings. 1/4 teaspoon sea salt dissolved in 1 cup water. my chin is in the water. i am rather amazed that there has been no pussing or anything, and i can move it around however the hell i want already and it doesn’t really hurt. is weird. mmmmmmmmm…………….. eating of cup.
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it’s snowing in seattle. in march. this was yesterday. w00t. snowed enough to stick a bit this morning.
