quinta-feira, 6 de outubro de 2022

The most boring place in the universe.


Reverend Joshua's Experiment
That Sunday at the Baptist church in Philadelphia, USA, seemed to be another Sunday of celebration of the service dedicated to God in that evangelical chapel, the church, as always, was crowded, with its members and guests, families sitting to sing the praises, listen the bands playing the hymns, the people sang the hymns, some danced in praise of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God, then the songs of the illustrious soloist of the church would come, a beautiful black woman with an alto or half soprano voice, with the same talent of another illustrious gospel singer, her timbre was the same as the famous singer Whitney Houston, then came the choirs and duet groups, and quartets, and musical quintets, so were the fabulous musical shows of the great North American churches in the black suburbs, as is the ghetto system of North American society, fractioned and factionalized into groups of migrants, and natives separated and segregated into their eternal and indissoluble communities , such as the Chayenes, Cherokees, Navajos, the blacks, the Jews, the Mexicans, the Hawaiians, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Ukrainians, the Colombians, the Brazilians, thus, North American society, except in New York, remains isolated in cultural and ethnic centers completely shielded from cultural syncretism.
So it looked like it was going to be an ordinary Sunday, from 9:00 am to 11:40 am everyone would remain present at the regular church service.
So at the precise time set for the end of the service, the pastor, the reverend continued his lecture, called the preaching, and the people figured that it would just be an oversight with the time, and in a few minutes everything would be over.
Then, at 2 pm, a buzz among people who imagined it would be a special Sunday, kept waiting for some special revelation, a spiritual rapture, or something that was prepared for that particular Sunday.
But, the reverend had already passed 17 o'clock in the afternoon, and he didn't finish the works, more than two thirds of the people had already left the temple, those who continued were wondering what was happening with the mental faculties of the Reverend Johshua, he he didn't let up and went on at the same pace as the beginning of the religious service, but no one dared to interrupt the reverend, or question what was happening.
It was already 7:00 pm and the people who had withdrawn returned for the evening services, as scheduled, and found the reverend there still presiding over the work, retiring for a brief 15-minute meal and returning to the your marathon.
Some thought that it was a kind of vigil, very common in Baptist churches, where people say their prayers for a long period for their spiritual anointing and remain there doing their penances, so it continued without stopping all morning, and the next day still was there in the temple, followed the religious work.
After ten uninterrupted days, a gathered committee of deacons and assistant pastors decided to question, with all respect they suspected that this was going beyond physical limits and was not provided for in the church bylaws.
Then someone interrupts the lecture and boldly, and boldly makes public inquiry into what strange thing was going on, whether it was a new activity or a new practice that would have to be submitted to the church board to effect any change in the church liturgy and submit to the council the activities that go beyond the schedule.
Then the reverend finally explained and exhorted with his ecclesiastical authority and taking the microphone calmly said: we are gathered here for fifteen days doing a simulation of what the greatest objective of any believer would be, for so it will be after the death of each one here, there in heaven we will be together singing and praising without stopping, because we don't need to eat, because we won't have physical bodies, and meditating and praying, without drinks, without food, without fatigue, together with people you like, and especially with those you never spoke to here in the same church, non-stop, but you don't seem to like this monotonous and repetitive life that would be our goal that is to live in heaven, so we discover that deep down we don't want any of that, life in heaven is not for everyone who is not willing and prepared to stay in eternity doing this non-stop for people who barely manage to stay a single Sunday and soon get tired and are already thinking about their cell phone, the mall, the camps basketball and football events, in the pool hall, in the chats, on the walks, none of these are part of eternal life, now ask yourself if you want and are willing to spend eternity in this completely monotonous and unchanging life for all eternity.
No one answered, there was a general silence.
We don't want to go to heaven, we're just fooling ourselves walk.
The most boring place in the universe.

Roberto da Silva Rocha, professor universitário e cientista político

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