Helping people the christian way

Today while munching something outside the library I checked the notes on the blackboard mainly for given my head something to munch on, too.
So my eyes fell on a small booklet with the picture of a woman behind a window in a heavy rain, out of focus. So I picked it up to see what it was about and my worst fears were confirmed when I saw it was indeed a christian pamphlet for some bible-circle or other*.
What was sickening was that it clearly adressed women suffering from depression and other mental health problems, claiming that their fictional identification figure tried everything, from sex over drugs to Eastern spirituality but she was still unhappy and alone and also addicted.
But you know, then a friend mentioned that she had to pray to god and believe in Jesus and everything would be happy.
Fuck you.
I make no secret of the fact that I have mental health problems. And so have many others. I also have a thyroid problem and so have others. And I know how vulnerable and anxious and easy to manipulate you are when you are depressive and locked into your own head and I also know how much good therapy can do just like those little pills of Thyroxine are doing me a lot of good.
The idea of those people fishing for lost and lonely women who most likely have already experience emotional abuse and then telling them that they just have to accept that they're bad and broken anyway makes me sick.
That's why I'm allergic to people telling me about the good religion and religious institutions do. They would probably even count this as "good", because look, they want to help the poor women!
Fuck you, too 

*This kind of thing is relatively rare in Germany

It'th tradithional"

While the USA prepare for the war on christmas and the rest of the world awaits the news of casualties, in Germany has come the time for one of my most favourite catholic celebrations: St. Martin's Day.
St. Martin is a catholic saint who, according to the legend, cut his cloak in two and gave half of it to a poor man who was about to freeze to dead. To this day, this is remembered at the 11th of November (or some day around that date) with children walking the streets with lanterns, the singing of traditional songs, a big bonfire and, where I live, a Martinsbretzel, a sweet bread that is only made around that day. Oh I love it.
I don't love it because of some supernatural humbig, but because it is a celebration of many things I like and find good:

• First the kids and parents craft the lantern together. Spending time with my kids? Hey, that's wonderful. Sure, we could do that whenever we wanted, but that one time a year is something to look forward to.
• The procession. Colourful lanters in the dark November evenings, singing songs together and watching the big bonfire. That's quailty time. That's being together. And a 2m bonfire (the wood, not the flames) is a sight to be seen.
• The Martinsbretzel. Sure, we live in a world of plenty, we could have that everyday. But we all know it's not the same. Looking forward to something is a pleasure in itself. After having walked on the actual street, at a time when I was supposed to be inside and getting ready for bed, having a hot sweet tea or coacoa and a sweet Martinsbretzel when usually I would only get normal supper, that was a real treat for me as a child. All the normal rules were abandoned just for one night.
• The story of St. Martin. It makes much more sense than the usual christian stories, at least at a child-like level.* Nobody killed for their own good, no magical mystery birth. It's a story that works without any religion at all. Being good, being kind, sharing, those aren't christian virtues, those are human virtues.

So, yes, I'm a great fan of great traditions. I will celebrate St. Nicholas' Day soon, and a full scale christmas. Only except the religious nonsense. I will celebrate for the sake of celebrating, I will celebrate being alive, and with my loved ones. Celebrations are good, and after all, they're tradithional.

*Well, actually he was a privileged asshole. How about taking the poor beggar up on your horse, getting him into your stables to keep warm, giving him a meal and finding him an odd job around the house?

Have people ever thought about the afterlife?

It was comment from my mother in law that made me thinking about it. She's not a very religious person, I actually don't know what her beliefs are, she doesn't pray for people or thank god except in the way the phrase is used in Germany all the time: thoughtless, without really meaning it.*
So, what was it she said? Talking about my grandma who's in hospital and who seemed like giving up, she said "maybe she wants to be with her husband again".
My grandpa died last December.
So, if she really thought they would meet again, or if any believer believes in any kind of afterlife, how do they think it to be?
Would they still have their old, weak bodies? Or would there be a new one, perfectly healthy, perfectly able to do anything, unbreakable?
And most of all, what would they do for all eternity? Their lives were shaped by the struggles and the hard work they did. By WWII, emigration, hardship and also accomplishment.
So, what would that afterlife like, for all eternity, once you've gotten over the 10 minutes of joy to be with each other again?

* If you're talking to a German person and they're using a lot of religious language, don't assume that they are religious anymore than you'd assume them to have read Hamlet for saying "to be or not to be". We'll happily invoke god, Jesus, a soul and the appocalypse as idioms and metaphors.