Alexander Place/Forum Hotel - start: 2:05pm
2:07pm
Comment during waiting.
A biker rides by and says "Knowledge is power!"
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Alexander Place/Forum Hotel - start: 2:05pm
2:10-5pm
okay mood
cloudy, 17”
50-100 vehicles have passed.
Car, Passenger=1; male, 18-30 years of age
"I believe in many things. Everybody believes in something. Believing is a
principle for living a source of power. Religion is easy, simple, you believe
and
it will be good. The believe in god determines the lives of his followers. Belief
is security and a way of life.
That is the house bar, my favorite night bar. For me the place is related to
belief, because the synagogue is right next to it, you are always being watched.
Belief is not only religion. That is the simplest part. Belief in rules and
in
family. Belief is not always tied to something concrete.
Relationships also have to do with belief. You never are secure, you only think
you are. There is no person that does not believe in anything, they at least
believe in themselves.
I do not believe in religion. Not even as a child. I was brought up protestant,
I
was christened and confirmed. Church in the GDR, where I grew up was considered
to be opposition. I was in the young parish in Jena, where the peace movement
was
formed. Those were good times. Actually the belief was pushed upon me by my
parents.
I believe more in energy, or points of energy in the world. In mental
connections of people such as telepathy. Religiously speaking I am an atheist.
My Grandmother always read "Belief and Home". The magazine is still published,
you should read it."
We drive to friends of his, who are working on an entertainment concept for
internet. We drink coffee and I help them configure the e-mail accounts.
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25 Danziger Street start: 5pm
5:30-5:35pm
Comment during waiting.
"What are you looking for? Belief? What I believe? Oh now I understand. I believe
only in the Islam. I cannot really explain it to you. In Neukoeln there are
three Mosques, go there, there a lot of people that can speak better than I.
My
German is not so good. In Islam there are a lot of difficult words, in our book
the Koran. Go to the Nurr Mosque in Neukoeln. I go once a week on Fridays.
Islam is not only Arabic. The Islam is international, in Malaysia, in Indonesia
China and in Germany.
There are three religions in this world: Jewish, Christian and Islam.
Buddhism? No, that isn't a religion. That is a man, an asshole, not religion.
I
wouldn't pray for a man. I am not crazy. There are three religions in this world:
Jewish, Christian and Islam, everybody knows that. Buddha or Hindus(?) or
whatever, that is all shit. Hindus do not eat pure meat only pork.
You cannot say here, stop now and you will not have an accident. You will have
an
accident if you cross the street now, because the cars will not be able to brake
in time. You have to think with your head. I am not crazy. And believe in a
man
or in a father or what? I am not crazy. Ciao I have to get on."
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Danziger Street 25 - start: 5pm
5:45-7:35pm
okay mood
cloudy, 16”
100-200 vehicles have passed.
Car, Passenger=1; male, 40-50 years of age
"I wanted to ask where you want to go to. I had driven by before. I am also
Christian, and if you also believe in Jesus Christ then we are brothers. I am
not
a member of a big church, I belong to a small congegration in Hellersdorf. We
are
Christians that believe in the bible. Our model are ancient Christian times.
The
bible sets basic conditions for the people in the parish.
The further content must be filled. You cannot say that the present time has
to
be like 50, 100 or 1000 years ago. That does not work. For example, we do not
have a church and not as much bureaucratic machinery as the big churches do,
so
we do not have to invest much. We meet in the old Kita, which is now a civic
center where other community organizations also meet.
I am Christian, in quote, through the influence of my parents. Although it is
not
possible, I do not see it that way consciously and I do not want my kids to
feel
that way. I raise my children in the Christian belief, I want them to understand
complex things with the help of the bible. My parents were part of the Luther
movement in the independent Christian church.
The Luther movement separated from the big church in 1840.
The theologists of this time were great minds comparable with Paulus.
It is always very dangerous to present and distinguish great teachers.
Their forms have been conserved for over 150 years.
I was there until I was about 20. Then there were many other things that were
open for me. I am an Ossi (from East Germany) and so I didn't really have a
choice. I am not a lone fighter, I am the type of person that needs a sense
of
community, more back then, then I do now. Now I am able to see things more
distanced. Back then I didn't feel so good, I had questions and I knew what
kind
of answers I could await from the brothers in the parish. There was no point.
I got married and at the time
of the turn to democracy we met up with an American missionary organization.
At the beginning we were very skeptical.
Then we began to read the bible and start to imagine what our parish could be
like. In the
beginning we were four families, now we are about 60-70 people.
We meet every Sunday for worship, which are quite long and have no fixed time
schedule.
If we feel like singing longer or talking then we do it.
We also have a continuing education course led by our missionary who has an
academic theological title.
It is like an introductory course to bible studies.
The Sunday church service starts at 9:30am.
We do chronological bible studies, for which we meet every two weeks. We start
at
the very beginning of the bible. We do not cover every page, but we cover the
main topics. Afterwards you know what the red lines are and the main concerns
of
the bible. Non-Christians also participate in the course. The bible consists
of
40 books. In the beginning it seems to be pretty torn up. There are however,
bold red lines that run through the whole bible. One the one side the story
of
Israel, on the other hand it is only a vehicle to bring over completely different
stories. Reality is also a part of my belief, that there is a God and that he
makes himself present. His image is vivid in the story of Israel. In Bible
studies we ask why God made man, what was his purpose. Especially the first
chapters of the Bible are filled with infinite wisdom.
Even if you do not believe the story in the end, one must admit there is a
fascinating concept behind it. It illuminates us even today, why it is that
we
have such problems.
I can find interesting indications in the Bible. As of November/December we
will
join another group. There are 50 lectures, which are too many for me. Some take
20, that is too little for me.
There is no point in trying to learn the truth from a thousand years like eating
fast food of these modern times. It takes at least from a year to a year and
a
half.
His 12 year old comes back from her harp lessons, we stop MacDonalds he takes
me
on a tour of the hospital grounds where he works and to the community house
on
Kastanienalle 53/55 in Marzahn.
While we are waiting at the lights I ask her sing one of the new church songs,
and it sounds good.
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Landsberger Allee / Kalusdorfer Street - start:8pm
It is starting to get dark in the south-east part of Berlin. The passing cars
turn into black lumps with light eyes. I can no longer see the drivers, but
they
can see me. That makes me uncomfortable. I quit for today and take the tram
home.
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All texts are part
of ExpeditionBerlin
(http://www.tourist-research.de/ExpeditionBerlin)
Publishing only after consult with tourist
research / Philip Horst