Yeah, I know. I've been gone forever. I'm back to the "Cold Day in Hell" section of ~'s blog links, I haven't answered Karl's interview questions, I've not mentioned that I've had a birthday since I last posted, that I'm getting married in 11 weeks and have selected wedding rings with my fiancee, that the academics here suck, that my brother in Iraq's gotten a temporary transfer to a musical group in Baghdad that should keep him out of the line of fire for a few months, that I'm still happy to be here, that I'm really really out of it in some horrid malaise (though y'all probably could have guessed that), that my dad read and enjoyed my discussion with the Anglicans over at Pilate's Question, my paper's blog, that Boston is crazy when the Red Sox are in the playoffs or whatever they're called in baseball, that I am reading and very much enjoying Metropolitan Hierotheos' Orthodox Psychotherapy, or anything else that's happened to me since you last heard from me.

But I'm back now, and mean to stay back (yes, you've heard that before. Welcome to my life). This time, Prizio is to blame for my return (actually, he was last time too. Interesting...). He has an interesting and disturbing quote and link on his page. The link is to a weird and freaky page, but the quote got me thinking.

Here it is: "Despite what suntanned youth pastors, overproduced Christian pop stars, and columnists from glossy Jesus teen mags told me in my evangelical youth, it has never been very cool to be Christian. Imagine telling your peers, �I�d love to go to a forthcoming concert / party / film with you, but I can�t because there is this kind Jewish man with long hair and soft eyes who loves me more than his own flesh and he wants me to remain pure so I can spend eternity with him in paradise.� There is no register available on this earth that could count this as hip."

I don't like that answer (duh!). Here's my response, which I also posted in ~'s comments. But I needed some material here, so I'm plagiarizing myself--and also, I'm curious what y'all think.

Here it is:

"That's a fairly lousy statement of the reason not to go (even if such things are indeed better avoided). A better reason (or closer to better--my weird mind doesn't seem to know how to communicate with Joe Schmoe) would be something along these lines.

"The only reason I'd really want to go to any of those things anyway would be to escape, to hide, to run away. Heck yeah, I've got problems, but I'll be far happier in the end if I face them instead of hiding behind my appetites. The self is not located in the belly. Nor in the balls. Just as it's not in the brain, or the soul, or the spirit, or the heart, or any other element that the myriads of philosophers have invented in their efforts to dissect the human person. My self is in the comixture of all of the above, and I won't be happy, won't be myself, won't actually live a life worth living, until they are restored to their rightful places and actually united. Then I will be happy, then I will be healed, then I will finally be able to enjoy the gifts of creation without destroying myself"

"And Christ is the one who heals me."

As I said, I have no idea how to speak to the masses. I'm bad enough talking to people who have some inkling what I'm talking about. But it works for me. And those mannequins are freaky."

I apologize for the nested quotes. It's late, and I'm not in the mood to fix it. But do tell me what thoughts you have on the subject. Thanks. :) And good night. I have altar duty tomorrow. 7 will come far too early.