Intrepid 1: Reporter digs into Dalai Lama's job
September 13th 2007 00:45
Big Cat became the intrepid reporter after the Dalai Lama recently admitted publicly that he didn't know the meaning of life.
"The precise answer is I don't know", he said on camera at his last meeting in Sydney on 16 June 07. SMH report.
I thought it strange that His Holiness of all people should give such an emphatic "don't know" - especially when the TV cameras would keep the evidence. Why doesn't he know the meaning of life, is it a secret hidden even from him - arguably the world's greatest human still-living spiritual leader?
The thought of a sensational headline like "Exposed at last! The meaning of life" got me digging in an approach a bit like the Jewish Johnnie of the infamous "John Saffron versus God" series of TV documentaries.
I started in Sydney's North West Bible belt with a meeting of Full Gospel Christians. That's a generic term for Christians who believe that every word of the Bible is true. They said to me: "Come and be baptised next Sunday, and you'll come out of the water full of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues."
"Good," I thought. "That should give me the connection to ask the big question about the meaning of life."
The meeting was in a community hall, one of the old ones with an elevated stage behind curtains - an audience of about 300 seated in the hall facing forwards in neat rows of collapsible seats. Kids on the floor drawing with crayons. Picnic baskets and rugs all around, ready for a bite afterwards.
It's my first time there. I'm sitting in my swimmers in their big bathtub on stage with the curtains closed, hearing the buzz of the congregation on the other side. A piano starts up and everyone eagerly begins singing a hymn.
Back go the curtains. The pastors surrounding the bathtub call out verses from the Bible about baptism. Then it's my turn. I'm supposed to launch forward speaking in tongues. The pastor demonstrated to me earlier, in a string of seemingly meaningless words which apparently are spiritual, but are gibberish to a non-Full Gospel Christian.
I open my mouth. Nothing. Disappointed - they were. Me too.
The curtains close. The pastors around me pray loudly and urge me on. Then the piano starts up again. Another hymn, the US Union troops' battle hymn of the republic. To the strains of "Glory, glory, hallelujah", the curtains roll open again. I feel exposed like I'm a Confederate at Gettysburg. No shoes? I'm wearing even less!
Again, nothing. Not a sound comes from my wide open mouth.
Back roll the curtains. Even more earnest praying all around me. I'm conscious that about 20 minutes has passed. Is the Holy Spirit late?
Another attempt. Another failure.
"One more time", I thought. One thing I was not going to do was to fake it with any gibberish dressed up to sound spiritual.
The piano does a drum roll and the curtains open once more.
There's a pause as the hymn comes to an end. Silence.
"Bananas, bananas, bananas", shouts I - to get it over with and let them open their picnic baskets earlier rather than later.
Next intrepid post: Continuing the search for the meaning of life, BigCat checks out Scientology, which ends up they check me out - with an electronic lie detector device!
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Comment by katyzzz
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Comment by Big Cat
Chatterpillar
"If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and in turn (not all at once] and one should interpret. But if there is no interpreter, he should be silent to himself and to God." Phew. Those pastors around the bathtub said nothing about an interpreter, so it's just as well I never came out from the water baptism speaking in tongues by self-effort.
Interesting the next few verses. "But you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged". I looked up 'prophesy' in the Oxford Dictionery. Guess what - it's not just speaking about the future like most church leaders say. It's also about explaining the scriptures. The computer search Oxford was even clearer: "(To) speak or write by divine inspiration."
Therefore our churches shouldn't have have just priests, pastors or preachers speaking the scriptures. All in the church should do it! I'll bet that's where the power of the First Century Christians was! This was lost after the official Roman takeover of the Christian Church - after which Popes reserved the speaking role to priests only. Modern day protestants havn't correcting this power-grab. And the attention of full gospellers and pentecostals to speaking in tongues brings gibberish. It's a farce compared to prophesying in plain speach, which anyone translating "Bible speak" to modern language use can do - if he/she has a regenerated spirit to get Spirit-to-spirit clarification.
Comment by Anonymous