Someone said in Bitches that they find birthday discussions offensive.

Oh, really? That's my least favorite thing abut Jahovah's Witnesses, at least the one bitchy woman I used to work with. Back to the drawing board.

OK, googling "Bahai birthday" led me to this guy's blog, where he talks about Baha'i and also his birthday party, so I'm going to go with that not being a big part of the religion, if at all. [link]

who got torn apart by the furies?

I read this as "who got torn about by the FURRIES?"

Cute overload is crashing my browser. Woe.

I just found out that the place DH and I went for lunch on Saturday is where Mel Gibson was allegedly drinking before his arrest. I feel so chic.

WRT Job, I don't focus so much on the God doing stuff to him to test him part. What's striking me right now as the most important bit is when his friends come to him and ask him to confess whatever he must've done to deserve all this terrible misfortune, and he knows that he is righteous.

One of the things we lost in Katrina was DH's Pentateuch, along with pretty much all of our Judaica. As we were collecting the ruined books so they could be disposed of properly, I had the thought - what if those guys saying the storm was God's wrath were right? It was a fleeting thought, supplanted by my old reliable then that's not a god I want on my side rebuttal, but it was a scary amount of doubt for a moment there.

I wasn't thiking of Job at the time, but Job's faithfulness in the face of trials he doesn't understand - all that business of tests, he's not privy to any of that - is comforting to me. If the lesson of the Book of Job is that following God's Law won't get you rewards or even allow you to escape terrible sorrows, but it may afford you some kind of serenity and surety in an uncertain world, well, that works for me.

"who got torn about by the FURRIES?"

Which leads me into remembering today's Dork Tower....

Oh, the gamers and the furries should be friends....

My take on the Abraham story isn't so much a divine punk'd or practical joke but as something like the whole terrifying prison subplot of V for Vendetta -- God knew no more human sacrifices were needed, ever, and knew the depths of Abraham's faith that all would be well and all would be well and all manner of things would be well no matter how shitty and awful and impossible it seemed, but Abraham didn't, not until he got pushed to it. And when he got pushed, and knew straight to his bones that truth about himself, he was able to walk away free and clear and with his beloved sacrifice his to keep, forever, and the promise of no such beloved sacrifices, ever again.

Not that the prison subplot in V For Vendetta isn't itself totally fucked-up and harrowing and sick and wrong, but it's also messy and heartbreaking and V's motives run much deeper and more resonant than "Punk'd ya, Evey!" And alongside her utter rage and fury at the whole fucked-up mess, Evey feels a sort of dark and profound amazement at what she now knows about herself, knows in a way she never could have if she hadn't been made to believe the stakes were just that high.

Of course, I post all this in the full knowledge that probably everyone on earth, with the possible exceptions of Alan Moore and maybe victor, will think I'm on the crackiest crack that ever was cracked.

I read this as "who got torn about by the FURRIES?"

That's an episode of CSI, right?

One thing I do like in Job is the nifty poetry about how great creation is. But I get lost in the philosophical discussions of "You must have done something horrible, why won't you admit it?" stuff.

where Mel Gibson was allegedly drinking before his arrest.

You mean it wasn't at Stephen Colbert's book club? He didn't beat his dad and Louis Farrakhan (and Stephen) in a drinking game of "Spot the Zionist Plot"? I'm disappointed.

but Abraham didn't, not until he got pushed to it. And when he got pushed, and knew straight to his bones that truth about himself

I think the moral of this story is, now all therapists make you sign a consent form before you get started. For a reason.