Hi steveo

Honestly, what a nutbag! Sounds like hocus pocus, primitive man-type superstition to me. Surely we’re past that sort of thinking in this day and age, believing that weather patterns are a sign of an angry God. And don’t get me started on how people make links between their favourite hates and natural disasters. They just spew out this stuff to justify their own hateful natures and predjudices against LGBT. This sort of stance also generates fear and that’s a powerful way to keep people under control. Shameful really.

It would be much more honest if the pastor took responsibility for his own issues and just said: “I hate LGBT and am against gay marriage”, rather than trying to rope God and the climate into it.

Anyway that’s my rant for now.

How are you, steveo? I imagine that would have been scary being there when the quake hit.

Blessings,

Ann Maree

And I mean that in a loving, Christian, pastor to pastor type of way… 😉

Hi Pierre

hehe Thanks. mrg and I are nothing if not frank at times! Hope my rant doesn’t offend anyone.

Blessings,

Ann Maree

Querido Familia,

First things first, really? Earthquake caused by something that isn’t a sin? Sounds like the good pastor needs to read up on Aquinas AND his Bible before he makes pronouncements.

It reminds me of the dark and middle ages when people didn’t have the knowledge or understanding of science – more specifically geology and tectonics – as we do today.

While I do not argue that we are more advanced in today’s age (duh), I also say that people in the Middle Ages were, as a rule, a fairly rational, scientific lot and we learned quite a bit about geology from their works (read James Hannam’s “God’s Philosophers).

Hi all

There were still gaps in knowledge though just as there are today. In the dark ages, people thought that evil spirits caused diseases. That’s before they knew about microorganisms. They figured that some diseases moved through the air, which is true, such as malaria (meaning ‘bad air’) and so used to cover their noses with posies of flowers and herbs. This used to help camouflage the bad smells in the streets but also served to offer some protection, both physically by providing a barrier for their respiratory system, and when the antibacterial/antiviral oils of the plants were inhaled. Wealthy people used to have a vile at the top of their walking sticks, opening that to breathe in the healing essential oils when they walked through a diseased place. They didn’t know why it helped, they just knew it helped. Garlic was an antidote for ‘weirwolves’ and other ‘ghouls’ and interestingly is one of the strongest antiviral, antibacterial and antifungals around.

Sadly in today’s world we’ve lost a lot of herbal and aromatherapy knowledge and practices. With antibiotics that are made synthetically, it’s cheaper for drug companies to produce these in mass quantities and make a lot of money. And people are used to relying on these things. The ancient Greeks and Egyptians were very sophisticated with their use of herbs and oils. It’s a shame we don’t still incorporate more of those practices with less side effects. And French doctors today successfully use aromatherapy externally and internally as treatments for certain infections rather than relying on traditional treatments. Gotta love the French for their love of quality regardless of cost. Aromatherapy is not the cheapest option.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. In some ways, we as a culture/era continue to grow in knowledge and in other ways we regress perhaps.

Blessings,

Ann Maree