Solar system means sun’s system

For Portuguese-speaking students, like us, the title above is a clotted nonsense. But that is not so for English speaking people. Have you noticed how - strange as it may seem - sometimes they use primitive words coming from Anglo-Germanic and derived words from Latin? Take, for instance, “egg”. They say oval, ovary and ovulation, not “eggal” , “eggary” and “eggulation”, right? There are many words like that. For example: “kidney” and “renal”, “tooth” and “dentist”, “lung” and “pulmonary”, “to last” and “duration”. Well, the same happens with “sun” and “solar”, do you get the picture?

NOW WE’LL ZERO IN ON INFORMATION ABOUT THE SUN

This being so, now let’s zero in on the subject. For many centuries it was believed that our planet, the Earth, was the center of the universe. People believed that the Earth stood still. The stars did all the traveling. How could they be persuaded that both the earth and the numberless heavenly bodies traveled around the sun? Well, the sun is not the center of the universe but we can’t forget that it is the center of the solar system, which is made up of the sun, the moons, the planets, the comets, the meteors and the planetoids (or asteroids) that travel around it. Our beloved earth is just one of the sun’s planets. The sun is a star of fifth grandeur. It’s a medium-sized star, since there are stars that are hundreds of thousands of times as large. Even so it’s tremendously big.

HIS DEVILISH PLAN WAS PERFECTLY IDIOTICAL

Now, just a little reflection: if we can’t even look at the sun, which is a “little” star, who will be able to see the sun’s Creator? We actually have no idea of how small and insignificant we are! The sun is a million times bigger than the earth. Now we may think: Hitler wanted to be the king of the world. Wasn’t that perfectly idiotical? If he succeeded with his devilish plan he would be the sovereign of exactly one one millionth of the sun, that, in turn, is almost nothing when compared with the whole creation...

Let’s use our imagination: if there happened to be a hollow ball the size of the sun, it’d take at least a million earths to fill it. Hang it all ! If we could see the sun in the sky it’d look like a dinner plate. It doesn’t look as large as the building next door or even the letter-box at the corner of upper class districts.

ALBEIT TREMENDOUSLY HOT, IT’S NOT THE HOTTEST

Why does it look so small ? Obviously because it’s so far away from our sight. On the average it’s about one hundred and fifty million kilometers away. Strange as it may seem, the sun is not one of the hottest stars, albeit it is extremely hot. At its center, scientists believe that the temperature is about nine point five million degrees Centigrade, the scale we normally use on our ordinary thermometers. The temperature at the surface is about five thousand and two hundred degrees in the Celsius scale (the same as Centigrade). Those who study the sun can tell from the light that comes from it what its outer layers are made of. They can do it by using an instrument called SPECTROSCOPE. They have found in these outer layers a large number of substances which can be found here on the earth, namely iron, silver, aluminum, lead and copper.

THAT’S THAT FOR THE TIME BEING

There’s a difference, though. On the earth these materials are solids, as we know, whereas in the sun they are gases. That’s because the sun is far too hot for any material there to be solid. Makes sense, doesn’t it? By the way, it’s far too hot for any material to be liquid either, hence the fact that all the materials the sun is made of are gases. Sometimes people refer to the sun as A BALL OF FIRE but that is not a good description. So hot are the gases of the sun that they glow just as the white-hot filament in an electric lamp glows. Therefore they are not burning up as the gas in a gas stove burns. And as far as information on the sun is concerned, that’s that for the time being.

Os escolhidos do meu coração

Dos arquivos (em papel) do papai

Tio/Tia: Zwinglio

Primo/Prima: Marília Cruz

Pastor: Rev. Jorge Bertolaso Stella

Ator de cinema: James Stewart

Jogador de Futebol: Oswaldo Silva (Baltazar) do Corinthians, 1950

Amigo: Josué Pacheco de Lima

Professor: Édison de Freitas (de francês, Ginásio Mackenzie - 1955)

Professor de Seminário: Rev.Paulo Cintra Damião (1963-1964)

Professora de piano: Marina Mendes Leite

Professor de Pós-Graduação: Rev. Hans Ruedi Weber

Clube de Futebol: Sport Club Corinthians Paulista

Partido Político: UDN até 1964, PMDB até 1985, de então em diante PT.

Cor: verde

Prato predileto: Cuscuz

Bebida predileta: Suco de laranja

Cemitério onde desejo ser enterrado: o dos protestantes, na rua Sergipe, com o vovô Vicente

Guru: Rev. Eduardo Carlos Pereira

Jornal preferido: O Estado de São Paulo

Livro preferido da Bíblia: Evangelho de João

Cidade preferida no mundo: São Paulo

País preferido no mundo: Brasil

País estrangeiro preferido: Portugal

Idioma preferido que não o nativo: Italiano

Avô/Avó: Vicente

Campo do ministério sagrado preferido: Jornalismo

Compositor Clássico: Fréderic Chopin

Compositor Popular: Chico Buarque

Hino preferido: 101, do "Salmos e Hinos" antigo - As tuas mãos dirigem meu destino

Parente da esposa preferido: Celeste

Esporte predileto: Futebol

Locutor esportivo preferido: Osmar Santos

Presidente da República: Juscelino Kubitschek

Médico: Dr. Rubens Escobar Pires

3 stories

The longevity of the Prime Minister

In London, in the year of the fourth centenary of the city of São Paulo, namely, 1954, there was a cocktail to celebrate the eightieth birthday of Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, who was the Prime Minister of England during the second world war (1940-1945) and again from 1951 to 1955.

A young reporter of one of the leading papers of the United Kingdom drew near the octogenarian and said :

- Many happy returns, sir ! I am privileged to cover this event and I hope to be around to congratulate you on your hundredth birthday.

- I'm sure you'll make it, Mr. Churchill said. You look very young and healthy.


The wilted plant in the corridor

Some years ago I was giving one of those "in-company" English courses in a transnational company based in Italy that made carburetors and other car parts.

They had an enormous room full of partitions in each of which an executive had a private place to do his business. The doors of all those offices were along a long corridor, at the end of which people reached the staircase that led to the internal patio.

At lunch time lots of men and women used that way to have access to the cafeteria.
Mrs. Morais took the initiative of putting a really beautiful plant in a vase and placing it in the corner where people turned right to go downstairs.

Brazilians, however, aren't very careful about things that, in the last analysis, belong to themselves, let it suffice to see what happens to the so-called "big ears". So, as they walked towards the stairs, smokers began to use the vase as a big ash-tray.

Needless to say, in time the plant, that looked strong and green, healthy and happy, began to wilt and when Mrs. Morais realized what had happened she kicked up a row.

- How dare these guys be so insensitive!, she shouted. Her friends, however, quickly tried to quiet her down. One of them, very sensibly, pondered:

- If I were you, I'd leave things as they are, you know. One of these days I saw with my own eyes one of the big shots dropping his ashes there. Maybe if you go on shouting like that you may be called to attention, God forbid!

A sensible woman, the lady made up her mind to cure the lack of sensitivity of most of those goddamn smokers by subtly attaching a little cloud to the plant with these very creative words:

- Thank you. I don't smoke. I only drink water.

Single or Married ?

A young lady went to a gynecologist for a pregnancy test.

- Come back next week for the result, the physician said.

- I will, thank you.

Seven days later, the girl returned.With a smile in his face the doctor said:

- Mrs. Silva, I have very good news for you.

- Excuse me, sir. It's not Mrs. Silva. It's Miss Silva.

- Oh, in that case, I have very bad news for you.

Aula de inglês (1)

LACK OF COMMUNICATION

Even very educated people, when they hear the word "soteriology", are very likely to have no idea whatsoever about what it means. No matter how strange it may sound, however, it's not, like Brazilians usually say, any "animal of seven heads". The Greek word "Soteria" means "salvation", from "Sóter", whose meaning is "saviour". Hence the fact that the inhabitants of Salvador, the capital of Bahia, are called "soteropolitanos". "Polis", by the way, is "city" in Greek.

Therefore, what, at first sight, looked difficult to understand, after an explanation becomes crystal clear to us.

Clarity is extremely necessary. And those who make speeches about any subject must bear in mind that their listeners may sometimes misunderstand many points that they are trying to teach.

ARCHITECTS WHO DIDN'T CARE FOR KIDS

One day a teacher was lecturing in a Seminary about the necessity of being sure that the audience understands all our statements. And he told the following story to illustrate his thought.

In São Paulo there is a big square, near Júlio Prestes railroad station, called "Princess Elizabeth". And right in the middle of it there's a huge monument in honor of the Duke of Caxias, the patron of the Brazilian army. The soldier is riding a horse and in his right hand he holds a sword.

If you give your back to the railway station you can see a couple of skyscrapers. The architects who made the projects of those buildings apparently hated children. Would you believe that they don't have one square centimeter for the kids? There is no see-saw, no merry-go-round, no slide, no sand box, no bars, no swings, "No Nothing!" Can you imagine a place with so many boys and girls without a playground? The kids live like in a prison in their apartments.

One of the families living there had three people, namely, father, mother, and a five-year-old son. The man worked for the Bank of Brazil, from 12 to 6 p.m. Since he had all mornings free, he used to take his boy to the square.

He bought the morning paper at the news stand, sat down in a cement bench and, with one eye he read the news and with the other he watched the child. Wow! The kid had the time of his life with his buddies : they jumped rope, they jumped horseback, they ran, they played hide-and-seek, hopscotch and God only knows what else.

One day, in order to break monotony, the father said: Look, sonny, do you see that big statue over there? That's the statue of the Duke of Caxias. From today on, every morning, when we arrive at the square, we will look up and say: "Good morning, Duke" and when we leave to go home we'll also look up and say: "Good bye, Duke". How's that?

- Fine, the boy said. It's going to be lots of fun.

From that day on they followed that routine. And they did it for months on end, day in and day out. That went on and on and on without interruption.

COMMUNICATION, A REAL ART


One afternoon that man was asked to go to the department of the personnel of the bank. He was told that he was transferred to Goiânia and he had ninety days to move. Of course, the bank would pay the additional twenty-five percent in his salary and would stand the gaff as far as moving was concerned. He had to take it or leave it. There was no choice.

Even with all the fuss due to that change in their daily life, they continued to go down to the square every morning until the last day came.

- Well, I guess we're gonna have to bid farewell to our friend, the Duke, today, said the father.

And when they were leaving the square to go upstairs, the boy looked up and said:

- Good bye, Duke. For good.

In the elevator the kid asked his father a very interesting question:

- Dad, what's the name of that soldier who is riding the Duke of Caxias?

That's that for the story. Now some comments from the professor.

During months on end the boy was thinking that the horse was the Duke. Why is that? Very simple: the words the father used were completely inadequate for a five-year-old child. What can "Duke" and "Caxias" mean to him? These strange words should be explained, of course.

No wonder the boy thought it was the animal. First of all, animals are very important in the kid's world. They love stories about frogs, mice, beavers, ostriches, deer, lions and so on and so forth. It was nothing but natural that he should be more attracted by the horse.

And let's not forget, the professor went on, that for the child the animal was nearer. The army officer was much farther from the kid's sight.

In short, it's not because something is clear to us that it's also clear to our listener. To communicate is really an art.

Os evangélicos não são mais os mesmos

Até uns 15 anos atrás, as palavras "protestante", "evangélico" e "crente" eram sinônimas.

No Rio de Janeiro, "os bíblias" era como designavam os religiosos conhecidos por andarem sempre com uma Bíblia debaixo do braço na ida e volta aos templos. Os quatro termos significavam as denominações cristãs que tinham como sua única regra de fé e prática os 39 livros do Velho Testamento e os 27 do Novo Testamento, conjunto conhecido como "a Bíblia protestante".

Esta, por sinal, só diferia da chamada "Bíblia católica" porque nesta constam mais alguns livros, só no Velho Testamento, considerados apócrifos - leia-se, não-canônicos -, como o da Sabedoria, os dos Macabeus, o Eclesiástico, alguns capítulos do livro da rainha Ester e outros. Por não terem passado no crivo da Reforma Protestante do século 16, não constam da Bíblia editada pela Sociedade Bíblica do Brasil nem da Imprensa Bíblica Brasileira. E lamentavelmente nunca são lidos pelos protestantes, embora riquíssimos de conteúdo histórico e espiritual.
Hoje, porém, identificar um protestante como evangélico é uma temeridade.

NÃO SÃO IGREJAS, MAS EMPRESAS

Para se ter uma idéia, a ex-revista VINDE, atualmente chamada de ECLÉSIA, número 51, de fevereiro de 2000 se considera "a revista evangélica do Brasil" e mistura matérias com respeitáveis figuras da Assembléia de Deus, das Igrejas Batistas, Metodistas, Luteranas, Anglicanas, Congregacionais e Presbiterianas com organizações que, de Igrejas, não têm nada.

Tanto assim que, em reportagem de capa, na edição de janeiro deste ano, entrevistou Marcelo Crivella, da chamada "Igreja" Universal do Reino de Deus em várias páginas. Ora, esta "Igreja" não tem nenhuma característica do que seja uma Igreja Evangélica, eis que sua doutrina é fruto da criatividade de Edir Macedo e seus seguidores, usando a Bíblia como mero pretexto para suas colocações inventadas. O que ela prega nas mídia (a propósito, o singular desta palavra latina é MEDIUM, portanto, MEDIA é seu plural) é, por vezes, diametralmente oposto ao que lemos, cristalino, nos Evangelhos de Cristo.

Apenas um exemplo: essa pseudo-Igreja diz sempre, "Você está com seu bolso vazio? Venha para a 'Universal' e ficará com o bolso cheio". O Evangelho de Jesus, porém, diz o contrário: quando o moço rico perguntou ao Mestre o que deveria fazer para herdar a vida eterna, este lhe respondeu, em outras palavras: "Você está com o bolso cheio? Esvazie seus bolsos, dê tudo para os pobres e venha seguir-me para ter um tesouro nos céus".

NÚMERO DE ADEPTOS NÃO É CRITÉRIO PARA SABER SE UMA IGREJA É CRISTÃ

Quem ler estudos feitos com a maior seriedade sobre essa "Igreja", entre os quais a recém-publicada tese de doutorado em ciências da religião do meu ilustre colega da Igreja Presbiteriana Independente, reverendo Leonildo Silveira Campos, intitulada "TEATRO, TEMPLO E MERCADO: uma análise da organização, rituais, marketing e eficácia comunicativa de um empreendimento neopentecostal - Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus", fica horrorizado em vê-la considerada como "Igreja" e, principalmente, como "evangélica". Isto porque sempre se pensou em "evangélico" como um indivíduo reto e justo, de caráter íntegro e respeitado em sua comunidade. E pergunto: quem é que respeita essa "Igreja"? Quem a considera séria? A FOLHA DE SÃO PAULO" já publicou estatísticas estarrecedoras a respeito do baixíssimo conceito em que esse "empreendimento", como a classifica o douto teólogo, é tido pela sociedade, volta e meia ocupando as páginas policiais.

Se essa gente é "evangélica", então jamais quereria me identificar como "evangélico". Já deixei registrados na imprensa argumentos à exaustão para mostrar porque eles longe estão dos padrões doutrinários e morais dos que até há algum tempo eram devidamente chamados de evangélicos.

A imprensa, em geral, sempre confundiu alhos com bugalhos. Cansei-me de ver entidades religiosas como as Testemunhas de Jeová, os mórmons e os admiráveis adventistas catalogados como "evangélicos", o que não é correto.

O que nos entristece, entretanto, não é essa classificação equivocada. Ela, maiores consequências não teria porque são incluídas organizações diferentes na doutrina, porém respeitáveis. Aborrece-nos ver incluídas indústrias de religião no rol dos evangélicos, ouvir falar em bancada "evangélica" no Congresso referindo-se a gente que vive fazendo manobras interesseiras e egoístas, digladiando-se para conseguir emissoras de rádio e TV, longe de serem pessoas que honram o cristianismo pelo serviço ao próximo, sempre feito "sem que a mão direita saiba o que a esquerda faz".

É preciso hoje muito cuidado para não misturar os crentes verdadeiros com essas empresas de religião que confundem e enganam nossa população tão carente de Deus, e para não pensar que suas falsas doutrinas sejam válidas como verdadeiro alimento que a Palavra de Deus escrita nos dá e que fala ao nosso coração.

Jesus nunca usou marketing. E 2000 anos depois, Ele continua sendo uma inspiração para toda a humanidade. Não fez sucesso. Pelo contrário, morreu ao lado de dois ladrões, numa cruz. Mas foi fiel. Foi verdadeiro.

O porquê deste Blog

O motivo deste Blog é fazer uma pequena homenagem ao meu pai que, como eu, gostava muito de escrever. Acho que seus textos vão agradar os amigos e parentes que o conheceram. Felizmente guardei "back-ups" de computadores antigos que continham vários documentos dos seus últimos anos de vida quando eu finalmente consegui convencê-lo a largar as máquinas de escrever e usar o computador. Algumas velharias em papel vira e mexe também aparecem e serão devidamente incluídas.

Os dois principais assuntos deste Blog serão, inevitavelmente, ligados às suas duas grandes paixões: a primeira, bem longe da segunda, suas idéias como pastor protestante e sua vida na 1ª Igreja Presbiteriana Independente. Além disso, acho que vale a pena colocar o material que ele usava nas suas aulas de inglês. Além de engraçados, podem servir para refrescar nossa memória.

Ah... só mais uma coisa. Vocês vão perguntar: "Pô, precisava colocar o nome INTEIRO do seu pai no título do Blog?". Bom, como o blog é como se fosse dele, tenho que ser o mais fiel possível. Ele sempre gostou de assinar seu nome inteiro. O "Vicente" era pra lembrar do avô. O "Cruz" e o "Themudo Lessa" eram sua questão de mostrar de onde veio. Então que assim seja.