New shirt available at any shows we're playing for the next six months, I probably won't do any mail order with these (which is number two on my list of 'Worst Shit About Being in a Band'; number one being 'mixing records' and number three being 'trying to find a van').
Tyr's hand and Fenrir doing the old Infest Break the Chains thing he's famous for (God bless Norse eschatology).
The story of Tyr losing his hand is pretty much the only sacrifice myth i'm aware of that i feel holds much value for my mindset. The story of Christ on the cross has become so meaningless and convoluted that no one really has much of a clue as to what it's supposed to represent. Something vague about dying for sins. Why he had to die for anyones sins i don't think most Christians really understand.
And it's not that i feel Christianity ever had much meaning in the first place; Emperor Julian (331CE - 363CE) is quoted as saying "no wild beasts are such enemies to mankind as are most of the Christians in their deadly hatred of each other" . He was refering to the then insane debates about Homoousios.
Honestly, if you weren't already convinced that Christianity is to divinity what McDonalds is to nutrition then look into some of the history of early Christianity. I can almost guarantee you'll give up very quickly (these people were complete fucking morons) and feel like punching the next hippy that tries to tell you that the original church had some great ideas that were turned on their heads by nasty white Europeans later on. Their ideas were (largely) always terrible, we just have the Romans to thank for exporting them to the rest of the world. Thanks Constantine (imagine a world if Diocletianus had been more sucessful than Constantine at leaving a legacy...)
Most "serious" (ie metal magazines) publications will ask me in interviews about why we book our own tours and put out so much vinyl. Most punk zines (since Primitive) will ask me about the occult and my views on religion. Those questions i don't mind, they're broad enough (and of enough interest to me) for me to want to answer.
There are no quick answers but i'm not that interested in punks' "No Gods No Masters" chant with no further thought attached.
For matters regarding the occult, well, at its most simple it represents a multitude of different ways of viewing, understanding and interacting with the world and isn't nearly as hollywood as most black metal hordes would have you believe.
At the end of the day people will always say things like "as above, so below", but there's "as above, so below" as words on paper (or a computer screen or in content of speech) and there's "as above, so below" as an understanding of something far greater than words can adequately convey.
Just like there's praying to God and the wee baby Jesus for forgiveness and there's having a genuine personal relationship with God, which is something that by its very nature can't be discussed, only experienced. (Did i just apologise for "good" Christians everywhere? I probably need to eat something)
And saying "religion is the opiate of the masses" is cute but i'd no more ask a Marxist's opinion on matters of the soul than i would a Thelemite's opinion on the nature of capitalism and the class system in the western world since the Industrial era.
And to end on an entirely crass note: 93 93/93
8 comments:
Yea, mailorder is probably pretty difficult...
still, there's this guy in VA, USA that is a huge The Endless Blockade and Shank fan...i'd say he definitely should get an XL.
just sayin
Ha fully agree and always enjoy the read, the thought of a people ( generally ) preaching to others through a book that they never understood with any real substance whats so ever is just ridiculous, their awards for that consist of bunched up churches who all ( with some exception ) share the same commercial induced cross while they all fight about who has the most iconic form of 'lord' or yahweh and the award of ignorance toward any other sybolism of their own instead of the cross. I'm assuming that we both would agree that if one trully wants to focus one subject matter they better investigate their shit or in better words, ' love is the law, love under will'.
Anyways, are you guys ever coming back down to california or am i going to have to come up there?
Certain people in Copenhagen, Denmark, may also be interested in obtaining such tshirt with a nice mythological motive and message. We'll promise to keep asking about the occult rather than why you book your own tours... I mean, is that still a surprise to some people?!
-Marcus/Ritual
another random person saying they're interested in a shirt but at the same time not to force you to do shit that's lame
- signed some dude from PA
Last What "original Church" are you referring to? There are ancient Churches founded by various apostles spread out across the orient and Africa. Are you referring the the majority of the Christian church after the Council of Nicaea? Or just all Christianity before 325 AD, when Christianity could be taken to mean thousands of things, and involved everything from universalism, to a Christianity that didn't even acknowledge the divinity of Christ? Either way there are plenty of groups under the Christian umbrella who don't fall under the Council of Nicaea and should be excluded from the grouping all together. How is an organization like the Society of Friends anything like a "mcdonalds of divinity" when they have have no written creed at all?
Im glad you know the term "homoousian" though, thats a fantastic start. When your introduction to Christianity course is done maybe you can come do another internet lecture for us.
Cearly i'm well aware of the first part of your comment before your cute patronising straw man at the end.
You're smart enough to be familiar with that concept right? As a christian i'm sure you're more than used to idiots who've vaguely heard of Richard Dawkins attempting to engage you in a "discussion" about how misguided you are.
You're also probably familiar with being patronised too (first sentence of the last paragraph if you don't get subtleties too well)
"Original church" is obviously not the best phrase (i don't write good enough sometimes), but my point still stands; Christianity is generally a meaningless approach to divinity and largely based on a confused tradition of infighting and history rewriting.
Fundamentalism (of all shades) is the most deliberate and stupid misreading of religion.
In 2010 Joe and Jane monotheist are largely poorly educated about and barely invested in their path to salvation. A rootless approach to tradition.
I think the Quakers are for the most part fine; there are far worse things to invest your time and energies in.
If you have a genuine personal relationship with The Holy Spirit none of this matters beyond internet snideiness and other trappings of this rotten modern age.
Nothing anyone says is going to fuck your soul up for you.
Your God will live on (they always do) and many Christians will continue act like they're true rebels in this day and age because wah wah everyone hates them so much
keep up the good fight Outraged of Tunbridge Wells
(last two paragraphs reverted back to being patronising)
I still don't understand why you're stuck on my religion. All you have are cheap shots, not once have I told you I was a Christian, I may have been playing Devils advocate for all you know. Is your entire identity built on just being against something or do you have any merits of your own? I will say that you're slightly more educated than the average Trash Talk fan, but I can still see the teenage "mom made me go to church ftw" angst shining through.
I'm really not that stuck on your religion (or anything else about you). For the sake of this one post it's of minor importance and that's about it. And let's face it; this post is essentially about selling t shirts.
I have cheap shots for people who are patronising, you'll find most people do.
You may have been playing Devil's Advocate, but personal experience and the content of your post tells me you weren't. You didn't have to explicitly state you're a Christian for it to be clear to me (that's not necessarily a negative value judgement in this case).
And of course my entire identity isn't based on things i'm against; my entire discography isn't even based on things i'm against. I know you're smart enough to read past the perceived slights to see that too.
I also know you can muster a better argument than something about teenage angst and being forced to go to church.
It never really does anyone any favours in a discussion to attempt to belittle a person's point of view. It frequently makes people look like they're clutching at straws.
Besides, if your allegations were true then the post would be "man, fuck Christians, it's a bunch of bullshit, NO GODS NO MASTERS!" and my responses to you would be a flippant "Get fucked Christian"
We've probably reached the zenith of this none discussion in a semi-public forum. Feel free to e mail with anything else (perhaps we'll both regret that) if it's that important.
But with a Trash Talk reference (meaning you probably didn't randomly find this blog through a search engine) i'm pretty sure that seeing anti-Christian rhetoric is something you're used to by now. And out of simple respect for you (and to a lesser extent the sake of my sanity) any replies from other people that can't add anything beyond "fuck you" will be erased.
If anything it's nice to meet a Christian who probably knows what apocatastasis and kenosis are.
See, this time i finished with a compliment.
(The average Trash Talk fan is actually probably far better educated than me though.)
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