The Irony...

I couldn't resist, Everyday I see this sign and kept telling myself I was going to snap a shot of it, and finally today I did. The irony of this sign speaks for itself :)

More Thoughts...

This will probably be a regurgitation of what others might have said, but it was something that hit me last night as I was pondering stuff while sitting in front of a nice little bond fire in the back yard last night and wanted to write it down.

I watched this debate between D'Souza and Hitchens and one of D'Souza's claims is that our morals came from christianity and that many of the great minds that founded science were also founded on christianity as well. Between this argument and a documentary that I watched on the History Channel called "A The History of God" got me thinking....

In the documentary they were showing how god evolved throughout the bible. The "Evolution" of god so to speak or if you prefer how our understanding of god changed through time. How the biblical patriarchs (Abraham, Jacob, Moses, etc..) began the transition to a monotheistic religion and how god changed from knowable to unreachable or incomprehensible. They explained how the god started as El during the time of Abraham, then transitioned to a no name god when Jacob wrestled with him and won, then turned to a deliberate vague god with Moses by answering Moses's question as to what god's name is with Eyeh Asher Eyeh: "I am what I am"; A mysterious phrase, A Hebrew idiom of deliberate vagueness. Again this happen because in those days knowing a gods name gave you power over that god. I'm not going to do a full review of this show, but my point is there is clear evidence of how god changed over time to become what we know and don't know about god. This boils down to the simple concept that no one can grasp a new idea without growing it from the old ones. Something that we see when we look at the history of god. He started as El a knowable god and ended up unknowable as well as personal.

So, as I thought about this evolving of god I thought hey wait a minute. If the concept of god can evolve over time. Why can't the same be said of morals, and values? Not only that, but if new ideas and concepts must be grown out of old ones within the same confines of the current environment or belief systems, then surly the same is true with morals and values. Realizing that god is not going to provide all the answers, and is not THE answer to all unanswerable questions forces one to no longer rely on a god, but to rely on other people. The transition to this line of thought would then force people to admit they do not know everything and through communication with other people they would learn that other people can also have value. Not to mention the morals and values that developed around the same time in other religions.

And this leads me to contemplate other issues as well. If we ideas are grown from old ones, witch is very clear throughout history. In every field of science, math, philosophy, astronomy, even theology we can see how ideas and concepts were born then evolved to what we have today from within the confines of the idea's in their own times. So, when someone tells me Einstein was a believer it really does not shock me. I would not be surprised if Einstein used wording that was vague as to his beliefs. Look at the time in witch they lived. They were trying to breed new thought from existing idea's in order for those thoughts to be taken seriously they had to find common ground with the majority. In my opinion, if any of these excellent thinkers of their times were here today it would be very unlikely they would be theists at all.

I'm sure you've heard the old adage that great minds think alike. I disagree with that statement, I think great minds simply think.

Incompreisible, Unfathomable, Unknowable

I'm sure everyone at some point has encountered this situation when discussing god with a believer. Especially after you've made a very compelling case against them that they are not able to ignore. Their typical reply? You just don't understand, god is beyond our comprehension, beyond our understanding, beyond our imagination. We simply can't even know who or what he is. I find this funny as hell honestly. I liken this to those discussion when you were 3.. you know the ones.. "Oh yea, well I say yes times infinity" then the friend would reply "Oh yea, well I say times infinity times infinity!" aaahh such fun..
The problem is most religions have already defined what god is and what god is not. Therefore they have already built the construct for what god must be. I'm sure it is convenient when faced with obvious facts to the contrary to say god is all things unknowable, and yet still be everywhere, know everything, yadda yadda. By bringing spirituality into the mix they are able to convince themselves that there is "More than Meets the Eye" to god. Personally, I think spirituality is nothing more than another emotional state.
To duplicate this what if I told you last night I was lying on the ground star gazing and saw the most indescribable view of the universe. The stars were unimaginably bright, the constellations were unfathomably vivid. The view literally took my breath away and at that moment I felt connected to the entire universe. In this instance you know the parameters of what was viewed, and seen, so the construct is there. The rest could be embellishment, or simply the emotional state I was in when viewing the sky. My point is together we could view a thousand other night sky's and with this definition I just gave, I could always say that this particular night could never be duplicated and you would never be able to fully comprehend it.
This may be an over simplification when it comes to god, but I don't think so. Instead of something tangible and viewable they simply replace the night sky with nothing and add stuff that we are aware of. For example relating god to the ether to explain his ability to be omnipresent etc.
My thought is that religion is simply a tool of persuasion that plays on emotions in order to bring people together for a goal. The men who created the first religions wanted to ensure their powers over others by use of something greater. Unfortunately, I think this is still the case with religion. It's a measure of control over people. Goto any church, and I guarantee you a majority if not all of the parishioners will show submission to that pastor. For that matter check out the definition of reverend when used as an adjective: worthy of adoration or reverence

Just some more of my thoughts for today... ;)

How creative...

and of course i say this with a hint of sarcasm.... checked my email this morning to find that I had a new comment on one of my older blogs titled "Do you believe" from Victoria. I thought it was kinda funny, and figured I would respond to it here. From her writing and spelling I figure she's probably still in high school.

Listen dude, God is real and if u wanna have a convo about it, i'll straighten all the insucurities u have about the bible.

First let me say, I have no problems having a "convo" about it, but in all fairness I doubt you will "straighten all my "insucurities" about the bible. I have no insecurities about the bible. Calling the bible fiction and worth reading does not seem to me to be an insecurity, it's simply my honest opinion.

It is ashame that u r so stubborn and unsure about the bible as well as urself.

I'm not unsure about myself.. I did not think i was being "stubborn". I'm quite willing to change my views... Given enough proof :)

No matter what u believe, I promise, u will know the truth one day, and God WILL give u a second chance.

Ok? I've noticed this seems to be a common "physiological" game with those of faith. It's an interesting trick... but really does not mean much... It would be like me saying "I promise you... one day you will doubt".

U have alot of knowledge, now use it in a useful and beneficial way.

Thank you for the kind compliment, but everyone has the capability to learn unfortunately many do not want to.

u probly won't listen, but at least u now know SOME truth.

I have listened, but you have not provided me with any truth unless you consider your promise to be a truth. Thanks for your comment, but I won't be contacting you to enlighten me of my "insucurities".....

And an angel appeared....

To the three women being held captive, and spoke to them God's word that one of them would give birth to a daughter that would save the Sea....

Hey, you never know... maybe god speaks to the fishes too. Too bad the young saviour was killed by a stingray, or maybe that was the sacrifice needed.. lol

Ok seriously, I came across this in "The New Scientist" about a "Virgin Birth" and I could not resist. It makes one wonder... Is it possible for humans to reproduce asexually? Sure, it probably is very rare.. but could this possibly explain many of the stories about virgin births? I mean heck... is it possible that Mary was actually a hermaphrodite? Yes, highly unlikely... but quite interesting to ponder :)

Reflections

I was laying in bed last night after listening to some of Julie Sweeney's clips earlier that day, recalling to myself some of the questions I had in my younger years involved in the church. I suppose it started with questions like these:

If God created Adam, did he have a belly button? (later i would here jokes saying sure he did, when God was finished he said "Pop" your done!)

When God created Adam from clay, was he standing up or lying down?

If he was lying on the ground how did God sculpt his backside? Did he breath life into Adam, then when he stood up he sculpted his backside? or did he flip him like a hamburger before bringing him to life?

If he was standing up, how was the clay strong enough to hold the weight of the clay for the upper body?

How did God create Eve from a Adam's Rib? Did he just form more clay around the rib? Or did he just grow eve from the rib bone like you would grow algae?

Why did God not want Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge? Does that mean God wants us to remain stupid or ignorant?

Why did he want us to be naked? Is God some sort of pervert?

These were questions I would ask and never get replies from. Instead, I was typically told, "Well God is all powerful, what we can't understand we are not meant to." or they would get angry at the questions I would ask.

I started thinking about the physiology in the christian faith as well. This faith developed employing some rather successful techniques. Besides the obvious believe or go to hell. One of my mothers favorites was "Be sure your sins will find you out" a paraphrase of Numbers 32:23 "But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out." At first this was a powerful motivator as a child until my first "test" of it :) I did many such tests as a kid. After not getting good answers to my questions above.. There were nights I would lay and bed asking God or even Satan to reveal themselves to me. I tried to make deals with them. I'd say stuff like ok God, if your real, if you exist, prove it to me! Show me with something tangible or personal. Honestly, I made the same offer to the Devil. Obviously neither took the challenge.

My wife tells me sometimes I'm obsessed. She will ask me if you don't believe in god why is it something you talk about or mention so often. Well, because it's everywhere!

Sorta like when you buy a new car. You love this car, and you don't recall seeing that many of the on the road. However, once you are in the car and driving around you start to notice they are all over the place. The same seems to be true with respects the christianity, once you move away from it you start to notice how intrusive into main stream life it is.

A little humor today

God loses bank Account from Dave's Daily

"An author who changed his name to God for a book was dumped by his bank. Sheridan Simove, 35, had his HSBC account closed after changing his name by deed poll, reports The Sun. The bachelor, of Wandsworth, South London, said: "At first they told me I needed two names to have an account - so I replied that I'd become Almighty God. HSBC said he must use his original name."

God = Nothing

It's not a new theory, but something I thought quite fitting. Typically when one hears the term god used, almost immediately the first typical definition of god is an omnipotent, omniscience, and benevolent creator of the universe. (On a side note, i think using words like 'Omnipotent' and 'Omniscience' is pretty funny... Don't get me wrong I understand breaking the word down changes the meaning, but I suppose my point is that I see this done very often in preaching. Where they will break down individual words in the bible, go back to the original Greek/Hebrew meanings of the words, in an attempt to "reveal" deeper meanings. When in fact it will completely change the meaning. For example: if we broke down 'Omni' and 'potent' an alternative definition could be 'Omni' - A wicked man described in the book of Mormon and 'potent' - The Ancient name for a crutch.)

Moving on... Whilst pondering things in my head the other day; It occurred to me, instead of thinking the typical definition we should simply replace "God" with "Nothing". When this happens, now we start to see some of the "Truth" in christianity/religion. Here are some funny examples:

1) "In God We Trust" to "In Nothing We Trust"
2) "God created the earth in 6 days" or "Nothing created the earth in 6 days"
3) "I'm giving my problems to God" or more accurately "I'm giving my problems to Nothing"
4) "Only God can save you from hell" to "Nothing can save you from hell"
5) "Jesus son of God" or "Jesus son of Nothing"
6) "God is my Co-pilot" to "Nothing is my Co-pilot"
7) "The Holy Bible is God's Word" or "The Holy Bible is nothings Word"

Obviously, this could go on forever, but surely you can see the beauty in this definition of god. It seems to shed much more light into the christian faith. lol..... "God is all knowing and All powerful" or "Nothing is all knowing and All powerful"

So, my point to all this, well nothing i suppose.. Just thought it was funny. And from now on every time I hear the word god used, in my head it will probably get replaced with the word nothing, and I'm sure a hint of laughter will appear as a small smile in my face ;)

Faith fuels home education boom

I just read this post BBC NEWS - Faith fuels home education boom and figured this would be a good time to get my opinion out on the matter of Faith based Home Schooling.

First, let me explain my background in education. Kindergarten to 7th grade I was in public schools. When 8th grade rolled around my parents had become engulfed into the religious dogma of Pentecostal Christianity at an Assembly of Free Worship Church. For those unfamiliar, this type of church is simply one that does not want to participate with the Assemblies of God's. They hold the same core beliefs, it's mainly just a matter of politics, etc.. Anyway, since we attended this church and the church decided to open a private school it should come as no surprise that my parents quickly decided this would be a better environment in witch to raise their children. So, from 8th grade - 11th grade was spent attending said private school. Finally, to conclude my christian education my senior year was spent as a home schooled student of Victory Christian Academy. Both in the private school, and in my final year of school I was taught based on the ACE Curriculum. Personally, I liked the curriculum itself, and for self motivating students that can think for themselves I think it's a great curriculum. Of course there are things I think now that would make it more effective like removing all the scripture memorization and removing the bogus Science information about creationism. However, I can identify with this 13yrd student and the comments he made below.

Quoting the post on BBC Jake says the following:

"I like the flexibility. If an opportunity to play tennis or anything else pops up I can do it and just make up the schoolwork later. "
I said the exact same thing, the problem is it's pretty much bullshit that is drilled into the child's head by the parents in order to justify what they are doing. How can I say this, because I said the exact same things. I tried to justify my senior year of being home schooled because I was able to work during the day and still have my nights to hang out with friends or go to church of course. Another issue is what fun is it to be able to go play tennis, the movies, or anything else that "Pops" up if most kids your age are still in school? Let me tell you from personal experience, It's NOT! Sure it's enjoyable, but compared to being able to hang out with a variety of children your own age, with different beliefs and different ideas... It really isn't that much fun.

"And with the one-on-one instruction, it seems you can move ahead quicker and be at a higher level of learning."
Oh this is just dumb. One-on-One instruction? In ACE, because of the way it is done there literally is no need for an instructor. It is pretty much a self-based teaching process. This did allow for me personally to move ahead quicker, but I would not consider it a "Higher Level" of learning. I personally knew many students that left private schools and went back to public schools and found themselves grossly behind other kids their own age. I understand that there are other home school systems like Abeka that do require "Instructor" interaction and are not very similar to ACE, but there are many similarities between many of the Home School Curriculum's.

And yes, says Jack, he does socialise with other children.
"I have friends from church, from sports, and I do know other local home school kids."
Socialising with those from church, from the sports you participate in with those from church, and from other local home school kids that most likely attend the same church does not in my opinion qualify as socialising. In my opinion that is like considering your Tuesday night dinner with the in-laws is also a socializing event. To me true socialization occurs when you are in an unusual or new environment with people you either don't know, or don't know well and you can interact with them. Getting to know NEW people, discussing, and learning other points of views.... That's what socializing is to me.

"Our Christian faith is pretty strong and we thought this might be the best way to be able to pass on those values to our son."
At least with this statement they are being completely honest. This is this sole reason they open private schools, and decide to home school. They think the schools are too secular, and they are afraid their kids will learn something before becoming indoctrinated.

"Character is just as important as academics. And so what we're looking for are character training issues and we would rather do that ourselves."
Oddly enough I totally agree, however character can be taught even with a child attending a public school. All it takes is the parent spending that extra time with their kid often.

"I worry about the lack of accountability in homeschooling,"
I do too, back when I was attending... The "Instructors" at the private school were not required to take ANY training at all. All they had to do was simply volunteer for the position. Sometimes they were compensated, other times it was their "Gift" to god. Very scary!

"I worry about the lack of socialisation for youngsters outside of their families."
As I mentioned above, this is in my opinion most defiantly a problem. When you are always taught about the problems with the "Real" world, but you are always "Sheltered" from it... When you are finally forced to be part of that environment it's usually a culture shock. It was for me. It took me years to overcome the fallacies I was taught when i was younger.

"I worry about the access to other kinds of non-academic resources that youngsters have in public schools that you might not have in a homeschooling situation."
I do too! Public schools systems have the infrastructure in place and have more resources. There are simply more people that do attend public schools.

In conclusion let me state that there are situations when Home schooling is appropriate, but when you have the option of letting you child attend a public school please don't deprive you child simply based on your beliefs. Teach you child your values and beliefs at home. Your child will appreciate it when they are older. I sure wish I would have been allowed to graduate with the 100's of others that where in my class. I might seem a bit bitter towards my education in my younger years, and that would be because I AM! It took me till I was in my late 20's to learn about things that many knew back in high school it was very frustrating.

Woefully inadequate...

After following some recent blogs... It has revealed to me that I know nothing. I have no problems admitting that my intellect or education does not rival that of the great scientists of this world, nor does it seem that I posses the wonderful ability to articulate sound arguments when it comes to debating the matters of the existence/non-existence of a deity. Most of what I rely on that brought me to where I am today has been the experiences growing up, from reading books in an attempt to increase my understanding of the world, from the many conversations with others, and from simple observations.

A few of thoughts on a few matters:

Are all those that religious closed minded and ignorant?
Of course not. If that were true, it is very likely we would not be allowed the freedoms that we have today. From my experience with other people based on my observations only, it does seem that people in general are lazy. At least when it comes to understanding their own faith. It seems they want to believe in a god and after life because that is what everyone else does. It also appears that they simply don't want to have to "Think" or "Reason" or even ask questions. Most people that claim to be Christians (that I know) don't even read their own bible! They go to church on Sunday, and accept verbatim everything that preacher says.

Do I think it is simplest in the Christian faith or any faith for that matter to attribute that witch can not be answered to a deity?
Absolutely! Science provides more logical and reasonable answers to questions about things better than simply attributing it to a god. This in my opinion can be backed up with History. Before medical knowledge existed, when people got sick it was attributed to demons, bad behaviour, or some other form of a non-holy life. We look back on those times and consider those people to have been ignorant and some of the remedies to be superstitious. It would seem to me then, if this happen in the past, and since our knowledge is continually increasing about the world around us that this will happen again. With each step we gain in science, biology, archeology, etc we come closer to understanding the world around us from a different and new perspective.

Why do I deny the existence of the Judaic Christian God?
Because most things attributed to that god can be dismissed (again in my opinion). Example: Being raised in a Pentecostal Church there were things that happen that are difficult to explain. Anyway, most of the notable events occurred when the entire congregation was in unison. During these times you could literally feel something was there. For a long time I had no explanation for this simply because there was nothing else that could be compared to. Until I went to my first "Secular" concert many years later. During one of the performers songs the entire stadium was singing in harmony. At that moment is when I realized; that was the commonality! It wasn't that god was in our presents, it was because a group of people were all participating in something together as one... It truly is a remarkable feeling almost overwhelming. The goosebumps, that tingling sensation throughout your body, but most certainly did not qualify as god. At least not the god of the Christian faith, why the heck would he/she/it be participating in a "Secular" song that was not uplifting to him/her/it??

This post has already become larger than I anticipated, but just had to get some of these thoughts out. Just because I might not have a Harvard education, or posses a large vocabulary, or know all the correct ways to present ideas through arguments does not mean I can't continue to try. Typically, I do not seek out to covert people to atheism... Why? Because, I reject religion for the simple fact they must be right. By nature of the Christian faith, it is the only way! This seems ludicrous to me. If it truly is the only way, then you would think god would have provided a means for his message to be easily seen by all instead of through education from an Evangelist.. I mean damn what good is being all powerful if you are stuck using your own creation as a messenger? of witch you made imperfect so you would know they are going to screw something up. lol

My thoughts for today :)

Do you believe.....

Q: Do you believe in the God of the Holy Bible?
A: No. I do not believe there is an all powerful entity that interacts with us on a daily basis. Nor do I believe that he sent his son to save us all from an eternal hell.
Reason: Say for the moment we ponder this... God created the earth and everything in it. Why? Because he wanted a species that would serve him by choice? So, our entire existence exists in order to serve a God of whom we can not know for sure exists. Interesting dilemma here, but it gets better. God goofed. After awhile, he decides that he does not like what he created and is going to destroy it all and start over. Except for Noah and his family (hey, he doesn't want to get his hands dirty again by forming another human from clay). So, he floods the world killing all mankind, and they re-populate the earth with stronger convictions of serving the Almighty. Now, Moses comes along.... God must have been in a good mood today because he decides to play ventriloquist with a burning bush. Well, that does the trick for Moses... and he becomes the person that is going to Free "God's" people. Yea, at this point your probably wondering.. what the hell? How is it that now there are only "certain" people God likes at this point? WTF happen? Does this mean that there are other Gods out there playing the same game? Creating other humans? No not really... to be explained all we have to do is just say that these people are the ones God chose. Why? Who knows. Maybe because they were slaves, and you know how much God hates slavery (forcing someone to do something just because you can). Besides it's all in Gods big plan.. you know the one where he is planning for the upcoming sacrifice of his son so that ALL of mankind can be saved, not just "His" chosen, to serve him. Well guess what, Moses gets these people freed with God's help... and yet again they screw up, and God makes them wander in the dessert for 40yrs. I wonder if this time it was similar to when you dangle a string in front of a cat, just for kicks to watch it chase it around. Jumping forward God finally gives them what they were looking for "The Promise Land", but not without some more cruelty. The have to fight, kill, pillage, plunder, and completely wipe out an entire civilization. Sad part of this, it's still going on. They are still fighting over there in Israel over this shit. Well as we move on, God decides that again things are not going all that well, and this time he will take a slightly more personal approach to things. He plants his seen in Mary, to bring forth the "God"/Man creature. Similar to Hercules except without the super strength. The rest I'm sure you are familiar with... Jesus came, was crucified horribly on the cross in order to bear the sins of all mankind so that we could all be saved from the eternal hell and SERVE GOD! Does it make sense now why it would be difficult to believe in this kind of God?

Q: Do you believe the Bible is the True/Inspired word of God?
A: No.
Reason: I think the Bible is a great work of fiction and worth reading, but I do not think one should base their lives, moral values, or seek the Bible for direction in life.

Q: Have you read the Bible?
A: Yes. Have you?

Q: Do you believe God created the world and everything in it?
A: No.
Reason: I think that man evolved from simple creatures, over a long period of time. Simple creatures evolved into more complex creatures through the process of evolution. If you want to understand this process, there are many books on the subject.

Q: Are you open to the possibility that God could exist?
A: If you are referring to the possibility that a form of intelligence could exist and be perceived because of their increased knowledge or Technology as a God, then yes I believe there is a possibility for creatures to exist that have evolved more than we have. Do I believe the God of the Bible is one of those creatures? Sure, I suppose it's possible that the God of the Bible was actually a creature of significant knowledge or technology that was screwing around with us. Again, I don't believe that God created the world and everything in it, or that he/it is watching over us reading our minds, recording our thoughts, and interacting with us daily.

Q: What about quantum mechanics, quantum physics, reality as we perceive it, matter, sting theory, multi-verse theory, etc..
A: What about them? I am fascinated by what we are learning in these area's. Is it possible these fields will reveal that God exists? I don't think so, not the God defined by the Bible. If we redefine God as some sort of inter connectivity between humans on a quantum level, like a massive super computer, where all our minds are connected but at the same time being used like some super massive universal computer. Sure that sounds plausible. There are many things in the field of quantum physics that completely change the rules, but i still don't think that's evidence for the One True God of Judaism/Christianity/Islam. I think it's more evidence that we are all connected and if we work together we could accomplish incredible things. Just like a super computer with many computers programmed to work together, the trick is getting them to work together, and that is what I think we should work towards. One thing that I can claim for sure is that I do not know all or have all the answers. Religion does claim it has those answers and that those answers are simply to say it is "God", and that in my opinion as well as many others is simply not acceptable.

Q: Are you an atheist?
A: An atheist is defined as someone who denies the existence of God. If you define God as the entity as described in the Bible, then yes I am an atheist. Otherwise, I guess I would fall under simply a lost sinner category.

I'll add more to this list as i think of them...