This is an interesting take on the reaction to the broadcast of Jerry Springer: The Opera. I do hope that, up to now, I’ve not said anything which people will consider offensive, because that’s simply not what this blog is about. I certainly hope I don’t come over as dictating what people can and can’t be offended by. However, the blog post I point to makes me slightly uneasy, simply because of quotes like this:

Blogging should be something that adds to this world’s knowledge and understanding, not a means of disseminating predjudice.

Just as I should not dictate what offends him, why should he dictate what blogging should be about for me? Especially when posts such as this prejudge the opera. I do not pretend to understand why people would find this opera offensive, unless they take specific parts completely out of context. And, let’s face it, we can do that with the Bible and be mortally offended.

I used to attend church quite regularly, until a particular question occured to me – not a question, I hasten to add, that is meant as an insult to Christians, more a question that exposes my ignorance. How can people who claim to believe that what they do in their life of about 70 years could result in eternal damnation possibly lead anything like a normal life? If they truly believed that there was a possibility of spending an infinite amount of time in unbearable suffering, surely they would spend a relatively tiny seventy years in abject squalor, dedicating every second of their life to the service of God. Surely they would have followed Jesus’s example and given up all of their possessions and wealth to dedicate their life to their religion. And yet very few Christians, and almost none of the clergy, do this. Why have large church buildings when the Bible tells us that we best serve God when serving others? Surely the buildings should be sold, and the money distributed to the poor? So my, no doubt ignorant, conclusion from this is that very few people actually believe in the God portrayed in the Bible. Certainly none of the people threatening to burn their TV Licences can truly believe in God, because how do they consider that sitting watching TV is dedicating their life to their Lord?