Andkon is the shining bacon of the 21st century, single-handedly leading humanity out of the uncertain present. Apart from managing the world's best arcade, he writes daily to cultivate the ignorant masses 
Life of St. Hitler, Patron of the Loonies and Nutters
Mar 10, 2005 @ 13:00For some class, I had to read "Life of Anthony By Athanasius." Anthony was a hermit in the 4th century in the desert who today would be confined to the schizophrenic ward of a mental institute but back then was lauded for his excorcisms and fights with devil. My professor got around that hurdle by claiming the book is meant to be understood allegorically, or what I like to call "ignore the bad, bullshit the good." (Even though Athanasius' Preface clearly states, "In short, therefore, you should believe everything that those who talk about him claim.") Even with my professor's "allegorical" dishonesty, there's tons of pretty terrible crap that cannot be explained away with anything:
Incorrect Notions about Wet Dreams: "... he [the devil] seized the weapons with which he normally attack all young people, using seductive dreams to disturb him [Anthony] at night." (11)
Promotion of Illiteracy: "While he [Anthony] was still a boy, he refused to learn to read and write... Let the Greeks pursue their studies across the seas and go in search of teachers of useless literature in foreign lands... [Anthony said:] 'So if anyone's mind is sound he has no need for letters [alphabet, writing itself].'" (9, 22, 54)
Contradiction (with respect to the above): "...he [Anthony] wrote a suitable reply to the letters he had received [from the emperor]." (60)
Mistaken Diagnosis: "There was a young girl ... who was suffering from an unknown and pitiable disease: when mucus from her nose, the tears from her eyes and the pus from her ears dripped to the ground, they immediately turned into worms." (45)
Love your enemies: "Never did he [Anthony] even go so far as bestow a friendly word on the Manichees or other heretics... [Anthony said:] '...seek to imitate me in hating them.'" (51, 67)
Racism: "So gnashing his teeth ... and wailing, he [the devil] appeared, as was fitting, in a form that revelead his true nature: an ugly black boy prostrated himself at Anthony's feet... He [Anthony] said [to this devil], 'You are utterly despicable and contemptible, for both your blackness and your age are signs of weakness'." (12, 13)
As a final note, I don't understand how such lunatics can be adored. (But at least I proved logically how he doesn't have a sound mind... hehe.)
[Yes, there's lost of dots and brackets, I simply didn't want to bore everyone with the entire paragraphs for the verbosely written context. The citations are to a book called Early Christian Lives, published by Penguin Classics. And by the way, most of the book contains such idiocies, these are just the creme de la creme.]
russ on Mar 10, 2005 @ 23:38 wrote
randee on Mar 12, 2005 @ 07:40 wrote
andkon on Mar 12, 2005 @ 12:08 wrote