The holy cows in Kathmandu, Nepal

The efforts to make Kathmandu a holy city are everywhere.  Temples, shrines, holy men, monks and holy cows.  From the airport in a taxi, way over its normal usage,  I raced through the city.  Our way is suddenly obstructed by holy cows.  Yes, I know many use the term to describe events but these are real cows.  They walk around as if they know that people consider them special.  They lie down in the middle of the roads and chew their belched up dinner.  They refuse to move so the taxi weaves around as if that is what is expected.  I am amused by this and question the driver.  "Is there a law that allows the cow to move about at their will?"  "Yes, a religious law."  It is a "law" stronger than the law of the land.    If you happen to kill a man you go to prison for 7 years..  If you kill one of these cows it will cost you 20 years.  The cows are a part of the reincarnation process.  The cow could very well be one of your relatives.  It could even be your grandmother.

On one of my taxi trips I ask the driver, "Do you ever eat a part of these cows?"  He looked around him as if someone might be listening.  I was the only one in the car.  "At night Sir, at night."  The holiness of these cows was brought into question.

I ask another about the cows. " Would you eat the meat of a dead cow?"  If they have died was his carefully guarded answer.  I ask about the way a cow might die.  "Sometimes they fall off a cliff."  I could not help but ask how that might happen.  In a guarded answer I understood that sometimes the holy cows are helped to fall.

So there you have the holy cows of Kathmandu.  Decide for yourself just how holy they are.

South China Morning Post and other great newspapers

The joy of holding in your hands a great newspaper is just that.  A joy.  One of first things I do in arriving in Hong Kong is buy newspapers.  I read about Myanmar's New Dawn.  Is it really possible?  Aung San Sii Kyi takes a deep breath.  She is pondering her next move.  Hillary is to visit Myanmar (Burma) December the 1st.  I read about Obama's victory in his Asian whirlwind stops.  I am not sure what the victory was suppose to be.  Thaksin former disgraced ex-preimer of Thailand refuses a pardon.  What is he up to?  Former president Arroyo has been arrested.  She has suddenly  become gravely ill.  Pope preaches in voodoo city.  Wow!  Woman risked life for a bigger bottom.  I just read them.  Whites are returning to S. African.  Maybe its not such a bad place.  Chinese people help Ai Weiwei pay his taxes.  What's the next government's harassing move?  The increasing lure of female suicide bombers.  What have they been promised?  Life in Hong Kong in an 18 sq ft cubicle. The poor are everywhere.  Tiger delivers to silence the critics.  We'll see.  A great newspaper.

Sue and I are off to a lunch with some Indian friends at their home.  Great food ahead.  I love their curry, tandoori chicken, naan, long tea, spices, spices.  Can't wait.  Got to go.

A few questions for the atheist.

What's the point?  I do not mean the point of your belief but the point of anything.  Nothing really makes much sense without God.  If there is no God then who decides what is right and what is wrong?  Right must be whatever I say is right.  You may disagree but it doesn't matter.  I decide.  Since there is no One to whom I must answer then the consequences of my decisions are rightly deserved.  You go your way and I'll go mine.  However, what will happen is our paths will cross and our rights and wrongs will clash.  I suppose it then depends on who is the strongest.  If you win then I will be forced to agree with you but that doesn't mean you are right.  It is your force that mandates the course.

If there is no God then I must act quickly to seize what I can of life because it is quickly slipping away.  I must eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow I die.  I just go away to be vaguely remembered for a time but then RIP.  What I gain in this life must be enjoyed quickly and to the utmost.  This is all there is.

Of course, I should live by some moral standard  but that is confusing too.  Who sets this standard?  Who is to enforce it.  You have no right to force your morals on me.  Further, you have no right to judge me.  By what standard do you plan on using.  If you are going to enforce your ethical way of life on me then you become god.  But you said there is no God.  I forgot.

The Bible, which is a very good book, says that it is the fool who says, "There is no God."  I can understand that. You have to be a fool to believe that.  This seems to be a foolish argument.  No God doesn't make any sense whatsoever.  This belief takes away life itself.  There simply is no real purpose outside of God.  Pleasure would have to be the only purpose and that pleasure you would have to decide on for yourself.  Our pleasures would probably not get along with each other.

Oh well, enough of this foolish talk.  There is a God and all men will know that in time.  My pleasure is in my relationship with Him.  My daily walk with Him brings a meaningful purpose to all I do.  What joy indeed.  You that have a problem believing in a personal God might want to reconsider your belief.   God is worth knowing.