Wednesday, June 30, 2010

St. Augustine on Farting.

And therefore man himself also might very well have enjoyed absolute power over his members had he not forfeited it by his disobedience; for it is not difficult for God to form him so that what is now moved in his body only by lust should have been moved only at will.

We know, too, that some men are differently constituted from others, and have some rare and remarkable faculty of doing with their body what other men can by no effort do, and, indeed, scarcely believe when they hear of others doing....Some have such command of their bowels, that they can break wind continuously at pleasure, so as to produce the effect of singing.

-Augustine, City of God, p.472 (14.24) Made aware of this extract from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatulist

There you have it. If you know someone who can fart perpetually and at the command of his own will, you have yourself a modern testimony to the Edenic condition of our first parents.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Truly unbelievable that this so-called "man of God" would spend time, energy and expensive paper (at that time) to write such nonsense. Where in the Bible do you find any writer saying such unnecessary things? Nowhere.

Unknown said...

When one is in love with Christ, every aspect of creation can be interesting. Be careful calling something nonsense when God indeed did create it and does have a sense of humor.

Nevertheless, fear Him and continue in repentance, with love and joy.

Jesus also told many jokes through parables. Camel through a needle and plank in your eye, it's actually funny, but sad if one isn't struck by the obviousness truth of it.

Jesus also went against the gradient of what was "necessary" to the religious world, ie: touching a corpse at a funeral and telling the crying mother "It's ok". (Luke 7:11-17)

How did I end up here, I have no idea. But grace and peace to you my friend lol.

:)

Unknown said...

If one is in love with Christ. Every aspect of creation can be of interest to learn of and fun to observe (so long as it does not become an idol).

Be mindful calling something nonsense when God indeed did create it intentionally. Surely He is Holy and Wrathful, yet in His oneness Compassionate and Befriending, not to mention very Humorous as well.

Jesus spoke truth and humour together (camel through the eye of a needle, or 2x6 wooden board in the eye - literally? cmon it's funny lol)

Some "unnecessary things" Jesus also did against the gradient of the religious world like touching a corpse at a funeral while telling the mother "Don't cry, it's ok". (Luke 7:11-17)

He hung out with a lot of nonsense people: blue collar fishermen who swore all the time, rejected prostitutes, as well as rich people who were hated by all.

Eitherway, many opinions of what is important, but the essentials are the Gospel of Christ alone, and whether or not one is growing in the Love of Christ.

As to how I ended up here I don't know. But grace and peace to you as well as anyone else who will read this haha.

:)