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.

Thoughts on "I Sold My Soul on eBay"

Just finished up reading Hemant Mehta's (aka The Friendly Atheist) book "I Sold My Soul on eBay" and figured I would make a few comments about it.

First, I was not very impressed with the forward. I thought it seemed to directed towards the "Christian" majority especially when ending with "Because prophets can come from the most unexpected places, can't they?". Of course at the same time I suppose that was the point of the book, but still after reading the whole book; this seems to be in conflict with Hemant's own recommendations later on in regards to not ostracising others :). I understand it is just a forward and heck it's not even a full 2 pages, but for me it did seem to set the wrong kind of mood to start off the book.

The next thing I was slightly disappointed about was the fact there was absolutely no description about the alter calls? Hemmant, you mean out of all those churches you had nothing to say about the those very awkward situations? Have churches stopped this practice at the end of the preaching? In my experience with church service this is a very common practice, one that in my opinion would at least deserved a bit more information on how different churches handled it. There was only one reference I found, but it was more informal than what I've seen in other churches. The alter calls I'm talking about involve the preacher asking everyone to close their eyes with soft music playing and typically share some type of intimate thought to set the mood asking people to raise their hand if their not saved then offering them a chance to be saved or come forward to be led to salvation.

I know that's probably a bit nit picky, but other than that it was a very enjoyable read. Hemant has a great story to tell, and I enjoyed every page. After finishing the book my first thought was I wonder how many churches in my area would be open to the idea of an open dialog similar to what Hemant had with Pastor Tim. My next thought was should I send copies of "I Sold My Soul on eBay" to the local churches? :) . Then I started searching for atheist groups near me. There does appear to be 2 in the Tallahassee area (CFI Community of Tallahassee, and The Union of Freethinking Students). I might try to attend one of them, but that's still a day trip for me. It's about an hour 1/2 drive one way. Doesn't sound like much but 3 hours just in drive time adds up. If anyone knows of atheist groups or atheists/agnostics/freethinkers around Apalachicola, Eastpoint, Carrabelle, or Port Saint George Florida please post me a comment! or drop me an email to rpkthoughts@gmail.com

Seriously, I think Hemant did a great job. With each evaluation of the various churches he attended I was taken back to my younger years and could identify with everything he said. Many of the same questions he raised where thoughts I had when I was involved with Christianity. It was funny to listen to some of the sermons overviews... It was like hearing voices from the past. Since the Bible never changes, neither do many of the sermons.

My thought on Divinity

Any Questions?

Islam is bad....

Typically I pick on christianity simply because it is the most prevalent religion here in the US, but I have to say.. I came across this site and was truly amazed at what i saw and read. I suppose it's one thing to hear and read about the muslim faith and another to have pictures of those that are actively participating in it to the extream. Something that continues to nag at me is - How the hell is this the fastest growing religion? Who the hell is converting to it and why!! To be perfectly frank, this is a truly Fucked up religion even more so than christianity in my opinion. I've done some reading that states it's a peaceful religion, but it sure seems like this beginning of the spanish inquisition but in islam form.. Again I can't understand people converting to this faith. You can't even call it a step backwards its more of a step straight into antiquity. This isn't a religion it's a Glorified Gang with a holy book. I'd be willing to bet Gang Leaders have more ethical standards compared to this religion. Ok So maybe I'm generalizing a bit too much based on just the information on this web page. And I fully admit I do not yet own a koran and have never attended a muslim service. I've read information on the muslim faith and just as christianity it "claims" to push peace even the term Islam means peace, but just as christians cherry pick from the bible... Muslims do the same with the Koran. However, In recent times you have to admit that we have not seen very many christians cutting off heads or hands of non believers. This yells barbaric, arcane, and the commitment needed to inflict that type of gruesome acts onto another human being is beyond my willingness to comprehend at the moment. Yes I understand there are somewhere in the realm of 10 million muslims in America alone and by those standards obviously not all muslims are practicing their faith as those represented in the following link. However, why are they not speaking out more openly against these extremists? Why do we not hear of some countermeasure from those "Good" muslims? Or have I just not noticed them in the news? I wonder how different America would be if the majority changed from christian to islam? Given how our government seems to lean toward the christian right would they follow suit if islam was the dominate religion? Would laws get passed supporting the islamic faith as has happened with the christian faith? Just some thoughts... I think I'm done ranting now.....


WARNING: This site contains graphic photos of actions taken by followers of Islam!!!
Seriously, this page contains a picture of a body with removed head beside it.
Middle East Info

Just to be fair, here is a link I found later providing more insite into the islamic faith.
Islam.com

Took the plunge

Well I finally decided to make a move that would expose my lack of belief to those around me. I decided on a hat, since I typically favor baseball style caps. I retired my old hat for this one that I got from cafe press.



I chose this because to be quite honest I do not think those around will actually get it. In a way I suppose I'm testing the waters. My first guess is that people will only notice the cross and the start of david and figure that it is a religious hat and I'd be willing to bet that no one will even notice that is says Detox or what it is implying. Because I live well into bible belt territory, I tried to pick something subtle... Something that forced you to think a bit.. What do you think?

Today also marks the day I got my copy of "I Sold My Soul on eBay" by The Friendly Atheist and "Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris.... I'm about half way through "I Sold My Soul on eBay". I'll post a review when I'm done, but be warned I was never very good at book reports :)

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."