Dear sir.
I WANT TO JIONHANDSAND PARY FOR THEY WORLD.I WANT TO JION,MY IS CHINEDU CHUKWU ,
AND I LIVE @ NO 1 AKANU STREET ABA,AM 19 YRS OLD,MALEII LIVE WITH MY LOVING FAMILY .WE ARE CHRISTIANOUR FAMILY LOVE TO PREACH THE WORLD OF GOD,MY MISSION OF WRTING THIS LITTER TO THIS MISSION OF SCHOOL, IS TO JION HANDS ANG PARY FOR THE WORLD, AND EVERYBODYO
PROMISE OF FOR BLISSING IN PRAYER.
PRYER MEAN COMING TO GOD BECAUSE OF HIS PROMISE BY OUR PRAYERWE SHOW THAT WE BELIVE GOD AND TRUST HIS PROMISE .THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF OUE PRYER IS THATR WE EXPRESS OUR WILLINGNESS TO HV GOD,S WILL DONE .THIS IS BEST EXPRESSED IN THE WORLD .SURRENDER,WCHICHGSAYS MOST CLEARLY THAT THE ENTIRE NOW TRUSTING GOD WHEN WE CAN NOT SEE ABIDING IN HIS PROMISE SEEKING ALWAYS TO MEET HIS CONDITION IN THE PROMISE.
PROMISE THAT ASSURE ME OF eteernal life.
BECAUSE GOD DOES NOT THINK OR ACT AS WE DO, IT IS DIFFICULT FOR US TO GRASP THAT GOD FREELY FORGIVE US UOR SINS FOR JESUS SAKE .AS HUMAN BEING WE NEED TO BE REASSURED AGAIN AND AGAIN,LIKE LITTLECHILDREN WANTING TO HEAR THAT THEY ARE LOVEED.SO ,THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES,GOD SPEAK WONDERFUL PROMISE TO ETERNAL LIFE
CLOSEING PAYER.
FATHER GOD ,HELP US TO LISTEN ALWAYS FOR THE THINGS CAN LEARN ABOUT THE WORLD YOU ARE SPEAKING TO US.
HELP OUR CLASS TO TO BE AT PEACE ,AND LISTENING.
HELP OUR NATION TO BE AT PEACE ,AND LISTENING,AND MAY YOU WILL BE DONE IN JESUS NAME WE PARY AMEN,AM WATING FOR YR REPLY.THANKS.

While the woman who wrote in to that column clearly had a genuine concern (her child), you posting this on a travel blog seems irrelevant and unnecessary.

However, I can totally see that you didn’t mean anything by it, and truly, neither did I! Just trying to add some perspective to your comment I guess. =)

Anyway, enough ranting from me too. Just wanted to add my 2 cents. Josh, hope you’re having a wonderful time!

(if you’re not a Salon.com member, you have to watch an ad or two. sorry)

http://salon.com/mwt/col/tenn/2005/08/22/pagan/index.html

As for Religion, I guess it is a touchy subject, unlike mangoes (great tutorial btw, Josh). As a person who was raised without religion, all I can do is watch what’s happening from the outside. From the outside, it doesn’t appear that religion brings people together. Look at the Arab-Israel conflict. How long has that sad, bloody battle gone on? Sure, people of the same religion get along and help each other and that’s wonderful for them. I guess what troubles me is the bigger picture, where people of different ethnicities, religions, shoe sizes, and computer platforms have trouble getting along. Oh, why can’t the mac and the pc learn to be brothers?

And if I go to a foreign country, I hope people will show me the same kindness they have Josh, even though I’m not part of their fellowship. They don’t have to take me to dinner or anything, but I’m hoping they’ll at least help me with my bad sense of direction and poor grasp of foreign languages.

To Josh, I am sorry for posting anonymously. Anonymous bugs me too. On top of my bad sense of direction and poor grasp of foreign languages, I’m just a big chicken.

Sorry to have gotten you temporarily off-topic. Your vacation sounds wonderful and I look forward to more pics and eventual vlogs. Your shared adventures continue to inspire and entertain.

Take care, stay warm and dry, and have a safe journey home!

Why not use your obvious skill for intimation and argument for a more worthy cause, anonymous?

Even non-Christians, eh? That’s very, um, Christian of you to admit.
“I guess it all comes down to what is meant by Christian fellowship. For me it is partly the kindness and love but also the ability to talk about a mutual faith, mutual beliefs, and topics concerning those beliefs and traditions. Christian fellowship is a triangle between you, the people around you and God. Prayer, hanging out, talking, eating, drinking… that is Christian fellowship to me”

We heathens do that too, just without the prayer part. Besides, it’s cumbersome to eat and pray at the same time.

“The pastor in the church we attended in Berlin said something that really hit me. He explained that Truth is all around us, and too often Christians think that they are the keepers of the truth. But truth can be spoken by anyone, even non-believers.”

There ya go again with the “even non-believers” stuff. Yer startin’ to sound like the Church lady (are you too young for the reference? Dana Carvey, Saturday Night Live if so).

“I believe that all truth comes from God and that God is in all things, so his truth can come from any place.”

Is God in people who are evil?

I believe that most of the killing and hating and destruction in this indescribably beautiful world is/was often done in the name of organized religion.

I also believe that George W. Bush, a man who brazenly wears his Christianity on his sleeve, has wreaked the most havoc on our nation, the environment and world relations than any Christian to date. I pray he doesn’t get re-elected, and I mean that.

I also believe the jury is still out on whether or not there is a god. There are still too many unanswered questions. The debate about evolution, creation (or is it Creation), and now… sheesh… “Intelligent Design” rages on.

Just so you know, I come to this perspective as the child of a self-described recovering Catholic. As a matter of fact, it is my infant self that is to blame for my mother’s rejection of God. You see, I was baptized, and when the priest dripped Holy water on my tiny little head and forgave me for my sins, something clicked in my mom’s head. Call it the fierceness of a mother’s love, call it what you will, but she knew in her heart that her brand new, innocent baby had nothing to be forgiven for. What sealed the deal was when she signed up for a college class called World Religions. In that class (taken in her first non-Catholic school), she realized she was a Catholic not because she believed that all truth comes from God, but because her parents were Catholic. Her neighbors were Catholic. Her former classmates were Catholic. And were they any less screwed up than non-believers even though they had a guide to follow? Heavens, no! In that community of fellowship, were there divorces, affairs, betrayals, lies, indiscretions and acts of unkindness? Heavens, yes. Did priests in whom she placed her young faith hit on her and her sisters? All the time.

It wasn’t until my mom stepped outside her fellowship that she was able to chart her own course and I suppose that of mine and my brother’s. I am a heathen because of baptism and a college education. Ain’t life funny and random?

“The same goes for love and kindness, no matter who you are.”

Ouch.

“It’s just that I believe that full truth and love can only be found in Jesus. That is my take on it all.”

So far, I’m pretty convinced that full truth and love can only be found in the eyes of my dog. I’m serious, you look in his eyes and you just melt.

But don’t you mean only faith and love can be found in Jesus, not truth and love? How truthful can God be if “he” does not reveal himself to his followers? How much love does God exhibit when he allows for the murder of innocent people and animals? How come nobody ever sees him except on toast? How come nobody ever photographs a miracle, let alone vlogs one? So many questions, so little time! Too bad we won’t be able to carry on this conversation in the afterlife because I hear the internet connection in Hell is reeeeeally slow. No doubt yours will be lightning fast in Heaven.

“I think that everyone can agree that some things are bad and some things are good, we all have a feeling of right and wrong. I think we all want to live lives of truth and love. I choose Christ, you may not.”

But do any of us, with the exception of those raised without religion who choose it later in life, really choose religion? Did you choose religion or were you raised in a particular religion? If you had been adopted by Buddhists, do you think you would be going to sleep a Buddhist a Christian? Hmmm…

“That does not mean that I am any better you. It means that I should respect what you believe and hopefully you will respect me.”

I do respect you. I think you are a really special person who is smart and funny and cute as a button. It just kind of hurts when you single out Christians as these really super duper special people since I (and I assume a few more of your fellow vloggerheads) don’t happen to be one.

“Enough ranting, I must sleep.”

Sweet dreams, and thanks for replying to a faraway stranger’s rant, made possible by the miracle of the internet.

P.S. Stick particularly close to your fellowship when you’re in Amsterdam’s red light district. It doesn’t sound like God holds much sway in that neighborhood.