aqumada

1 - I have heard same story before, blaming our religion for where we are now. As it is common to play blame game when ever some thing is wrong, it is not surprising that you are looking for responsible person for the wrong doings. But I believe you are barking at the wrong tree.

Before one points a finger for blaming, he needs to know more about the subject to be blamed. Other wise the result would be only to show the shallowness of his knowledge about the subject matter.

As an example I will mention two points, where you are far from the base of the teachings of our ሐይማኖት and I hope by the same token you can look for the truth by your self.

1. It is true that days are marked by the name of Saints and Angels and a true follower should observe this days. However that doesn't mean that he/she are not allowed to work on that day. The only days where one should celebrate with out engaging him self in daily routine are እለት ሰንበት Saint Michael's day (12) and Saint Marie's day (21).
2. You have mentioned about predetermined faith and still you said እሱ ያውቃል. If you look deep in to your own point there is contradiction. As you have said if one have a predetermined faith then there is no point in trying harder to change, and you can not also wish for better things since that is your faith. So no need to say እሱ ያውቃል. However the reality is different from the above. The church preaches about working hard in order to live by your labour. But that alone is not enough you have to have faith in God and you need to pray to have blessing to what you do so that you can be successes full. And here comes እሱ ያውቃል. Let us say you need to reach some where on time, you got up early, cheeked your tire, started your car have full tank every thing is ready and you choose the shortest way and started to drive, here you have done all what it takes but still you can not be 100% sure that you will reach on time. There can be a traffic jam flat tire or you can also be in an accident. So at this point you say እሱ ያውቃል, you will say I have done my part the rest is up to God. This is how it is taught and not the other way round.

Actually I am not blaming you for thinking that ሐይማኖት has some thing to do for where we are now. But the point is we have not done our share of the work and in spite of that we expect things to change, and when we fail we always blame the other party and that is what you are doing. (Comment this)

2 - Both the article and the one comment left so far are very interesting. My own comment added to those will probably better show the biggest problem with religion; interpretation. I read the article and came up with a totally different understanding than the first person who left a comment. I might have taken things too literally but the writer said in the disclaimer section of his article that he is not blaming our ills and perils on the fact of our worshipping the christian diety. On top of that, he recognized the existence of other culprits for where we are now but said "let others take their shots at the other foes" and yet the first person who left a comment started his argument by writing "I have heard same story before, blaming our religion for where we are now." Clearly, we both read the same article and ended up understanding it differently and this is the same problem with religion. Everyone interprets it differently but once again, as mentioned in the article, this wasn't always the case. The use of Ge'ez limited who had access to the written word and so the laity, for centuries, didn't have a chance to do what we were able to do to this article (read it and interpret it for ourselves). In conclusion, the writer is insisiting certain blemishes of our religion should be removed and he lists exactly which blemishes these are. Ironically, the person who left the first comments explains that is exactly what our religion preaches. It seems to me then, if that is what our religion is teaching and people are doing exactly the opposite, then the teachers are not communicating their points clearly or we, the people, are stupid. I think it is both but I can't say more becuase I have to start work now. (Comment this)

3 - Yekolo,

Seleda is up again - you may wanna put the link in.

gonTe (Comment this)

4 - It just occurred to me that this is a seleda clique.

Clique …here clique….there…abesh cliques everywhere.

“Do they do anything?”

“no, they just keep their cliques so tight.” (Comment this)

5 - zerafewa,
Do not give us credit for seleda. We welcome contributions from everyone (if you have been following our entries, you would have knwo that).
yekolo (Comment this)

6 - the only thing I like about the Ethiopian Orthodox church is the fact that they deliver (used to, at least. Times are changing. *sigh* ) most of the sermon in Ge'ez. The Ge'ez makes me appreciate tradition, that generations before me, for thousands of years, have listend to the same words in a humble moment. It gives a sense of belonging and continuation.

When I hear the Qes's opinion in Amharic, I'm guaranteed to leave the church pissed off. I have the same problem with churches that teach/preach in English. I guess I cannot bear to hear anything about haymanot in an environment where I cannot put up my hand and ask a question, or be part of a discussion (even given to the idea that orthodoxy is not up for scientific and logical probing ...which is fine by me). If haymanot is 'a way of life', how can church 'teachings' be conducted as monologues? It's not like there's a Pope sending a chain of commands down a hierachy. Orthodoxy is not (supposed to be ...) pedantic. I would never sit though an uninteractive lecture about Shakespeare, then why on earth would I treat the Bible any less? (hmm... come to think of it, i may never sit through any lectures on Shakespeare ... but shush.)

Removing/reducing Ge'ez from Ethio churches is "yeQoTun awerd bila yebibitwan Talech". The Qes will simply be reflecting on his biases in Amharic (or whatever language) and thousands of years of tradition will be flushed out to waste.

I would rather the Ethio orthodox church left most of the Ge'ez as is, but created more opportunities for interactive, hence productive, lessons through other programs outside of daily sermon/Qidase and such. Then those who don't care much for the mythical/traditional experiences can skip the Ge'ez sessions altogether.

Besides, removing Ge'ez from the church can only make the language more extinct. (Comment this)

7 - Nice explanation but still this cann't be the core problem because there are many african country where christanity was introduced recently but they are at the same developmental level. (Comment this)

8 -
I agree with the writer that the view that “questioning is sinful and unseemly in a meek believer” is a “blemish” of religion (any “official” religion, I dare say). Surely even devout men and women harbour some doubts about some aspects of their religion from time to time, and seek spiritual solace elsewhere. Anyway this remark on my part is just a thinly-veiled pretext to post a poem I wrote a while back about finding solace elsewhere, when prayers to the Gods ( both celestial and earthly) appear to fall on deaf ears. I apologise in advance if you find it irrelevant :)

ብቻሽን ከብቸኝነቴ ጋር

ይብላኝ እንጂ…
ዕጣዬ ላይ ሲቀለድ
ዝም ብሎ ለሚያየው ሰማይ።
ትዝብት እንጂ…
ጉድጓዴ ምድር ሲቆፈር
ላንጋጠጡት ወደላይ።
አንቺስ…
የተዘጋጀልኝን መቃብር
በመዳፍሽ ደፈንሽልኝ።
አንቺስ…
የቁም ሞትን ቀጠሮ
በጣቶችሽ ጎተትሽልኝ።
አንቺ ብቻ…
ለተስፋ ትንሳኤ ብለሽ
የእንባ ዘለላ ነጠብሽልኝ።
አንቺ ብቻ…
ያፈጠጠብኝን ብቸኝነት
ብቻሽን ሆነሽ ታገልሽልኝ።

ግሱ:
አዲስ አበባ፡ ፲፱፻፹፩
 (Comment this)

9 - Gisu,
Brilliant! You should tell us more about this person who seem to have inspired many of your poems:-) (Comment this)

10 - I recently read an article saying that jesus asked for judas' betrayal. This was not according to some professor of theology or somebody's Ph.D analysis. This came from the recetly translated "Gospel of Judas".
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002916272_judas07.html

The response to the story was more surprising than the story itself. The day the story was released, other stories came out telling us the gospel was a fraud. I know I am a dumb ass but from the little that I know carbon dating to authenticate the material takes a few days. Then translating the material takes a few more days (if you are working 24 hours pre day without bathroom breaks). This all happens if you are granted access to get close to the material in the first place. But the one thing I like about religion is the fact it is based on blind faith. If a religious leader says something is a fraud, then it is a fraud. There is really no point in wasting time and money doing any scientific investigation and this has helped me out a bunch of times in my life. Someone left a comment about the problem with how different people interpret the bible differently and end up with different conclusions and now some asshole, it seems like, wants us to reinterpet the bible and tell us Judas was asked to betray jesus. Well, to whomever he/she may be, we say "F--- you!!! You can't simply change a wonderful story of self sacrifice and betrayal with an inconsequential thing called evidence." (Comment this)