REALIZATION-Over the course of numberous debates and countless discussions with Christians, I have found that the prevailing reason for their acceptance of God's existence is the belief from "personal experience." Many of the conversations go something like this: Me, "well why do you believe Jesus is God?" Them, "I have had so many things happen in my life, I cannot deny the fact that it must be God." Me, "do you believe that these events could be coincidence?" Them, "No, nothing will ever change my belief in God because I have had these experiences." And understandably so, this begs my next question. Me, "well what are some of those experiences and why does it have to be the Christian God that did this for you?" Predominantly, I receive some strange and very vague responses such as the following: "The love that Jesus has shown me is undeniable." "My life has been blessed so greatly." "Jesus has answered so many of my prayers, He exists." And finally, another popular response is, "Um, let me think...." Evidently some experiences aren't that memorable after all. Anyways, it's always bewildering to me how low the bar is set on most people's "miracle gauge." However, it's certainly a wonderful thing when we get what we want in this life, but what I would like to look at for a moment is this: what is self-fulfillment?
It's a matter of fact that human beings have a much better probability of achieving or attaining something when setting a goal. For instance, when a person says to themselves that they want a particular job, a process is set into motion that pushes our likelihood of landing the job into a positive, forward-moving direction. Simply put, when a target is set, the odds that you hit the target increase. This brings me to self-fulfilling prophecy. Many people, through seeing the end-results of certain situations, credit supernatural explanations for something that can be naturally explained by something as simple as our behavior. This "self-talk" leads us to actually behave differently, therefore producing results. It works both ways though, such as telling yourself over and over that you are going to fail will often produce the result of failing the specific objective. However, what I am speaking of is the positive type of the self-fulfillment and the relationship between personal goals and the Christian's "God experience." There are three questions I like to ask when it pertains to purported "miracles":
1. Did you want this to happen?
2. Did you think it would happen?
3. Why did it happen? (If it did indeed happen.)
If the answer is yes to the first two questions, then why could the third answer not reasonably be explained by a causal effect from the first two that was ignited by the God "placebo-effect?" Is it not conceivable that the answer to the question of "why we got what we wanted" cannot simply be the fact that "we got it because we wanted it in the first place and we took action because we believed that it could happen?" Many people are quick to credit God for the result when in all reality, our behavior and forced movement toward achieving the goal is the reason why we actually accomplished it.
The new version of the movie Sherlock Holmes is a superb example of how humans are very hasty in making rash assumptions that events are supernatural when, in all reality, there is a perfectly plausible scientific explanation for the events that transpired.
On a slightly different note that pertains to uncontrollable events, I have personally had instances in life where I have been tempted to attribute a miracle to an important life event that in all actuality, had very good statistical odds of happening in the first place. One example is that my daughter was born prematurely at 32 weeks. Things couldn't have went better for her, and now she is a healthy two and a half year old girl. It was a pivotal time in my life, and I prayed for her. Of course it was a critical situation, and any premature birth should be, but the statistical odds of her surviving was over 90 percent. Now could it at all be possible that God actually had nothing to do with the fact that she survived and that sheer probability played in my favor? I am very grateful that life has given me the chance to be a father, but to unknowingly, blindly accredit an invisible, complex God is rather presumptuous. It is also intellectually dishonest to claim that you have substantial evidence that out of the thousands of gods invented in the history of mankind, your god happens to be the one, true deity and everyone else is mistakenly believing in their "experiences" from their God. Why is it so easy for religion A to discredit religion B's miracles yet everyone is supposed to believe in religion A's miracles? And while we're on the subject, what about these "visions", "voices", "miracles", and "experiences" that people of other religions have had? As in the case of Islam, Muhammad had "revelations" that he honestly believed were visions from God. Many other people from opposing religions also have had personal experiences that reveal to them the supposed truth yet many of them contradict one another. Would an all-powerful, all-knowing creator really send conflicting, confusing messages or would a mind's ability to delude itself be a better explanation? Every denomination's local pastor is telling us that "God told me this" and we should believe him/her and not the other denomination's preacher even though their pastor says "No, God told ME this." Maybe our mind is more powerful than we give can even imagine, and humans have the natural tendency to attribute coincidence to the supernatural. Epileptic seizures can be attributed to the cause of "prophetic visions" where sufferers profess that God spoke to them, but that certainly doesn't make their experiences a universal truth that we should all lay our lives down for, and I think everyone can agree about that much.
To conclude this, when a person says to me that they simply cannot deny the existence of God because He answered their prayer to save their dying grandmother of cancer, it holds no empirical weight with me when their grandmother was receiving chemotherapy treatment. Many apologists say this is God's way of answering the prayer, but do you believe that God denied the prayers of millions of people that died before chemotherapy treatment was invented and still thousands that receive treatment today simply because "the technology wasn't there yet" or that "God's ways are mysterious to man?" I suppose the reason God won't acquesce to the prayers of millions of starving Africans that need only rain to spring their crops to life is because of their sinful ways?
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
The "New Ten Commandments"
OUTCRY-It's often said that to sum up morality, human beings need not look further than the Bible's Ten Commandments. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I feel that, number one, we can derive our morals without a "holy book" telling us not to slaughter one another, and, number two, does the Sabbath really have anything to do with the way we live today? That is, unless of course, you are Jewish. (Sorry) So what I stumbled upon, in my new search for the basis of what our morality stands for in this age, is the "New Ten Commandments." Actual ideas and thoughts that resonate throughout this era in which we live today, not several thousand years ago. What I found is that I had to look no further than the Atheist website ebonmusings.org. (Ironic, you might be tempted or "programmed" to think.) For the many people that mistakenly believe that we have to derive our morality from a certain bronzed-age book, or even a religion in general, this list proves otherwise.
(As a sidenote to number one, I would like to add that Confucius coined the silver rule which predated Jesus' golden rule by some 500 years. Jesus just reversed the meaning, thus using it in a positive application instead of negatively. Jesus said, "do unto others" instead of the original "do not do to others" as was originally invented by Confucius.)
And now, without further ado: "The New Ten Commandments"
1. Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you.
2. In all things, strive to cause no harm.
3. Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and respect.
4. Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted.
5. Live life with a sense of joy and wonder.
6. Always seek to be learning something new.
7. Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them.
8. Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you.
9. Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.
10. Question everything.
Beside the obvious number one silver rule, number ten is undoubtedly my favorite, but let me ask you this: why could God have not just provided us with this list and save us all of the ritualistic nonsense? How many lives could have been spared if the Jewish, Old Testament God (which happens to be the same God that incarnated Jesus' body) would have just provided humanity with a list like this? No "jealous god" babble. No "remember the Sabbath" sacrament, and especially no animal (or child) sacrifices or burnt offerings absurdity that was a mainstay in the Old Testament? Just plain, simple, unambiguous rules to lead a good life. The Bible made things complicated, which, in turn, led to the thousands of branches of beliefs we have today that do horrible things to one another. This list doesn't. This list doesn't have its own agenda to fulfill that included satisfying God's unquenchable thirst for your attention, time, and worship. This list doesn't "promote by example" war, genocide, women oppression, slavery, and the incarnation of God Himself to kill Himself (as the Son) just to forgive us "unworthy humans" of our sins. Why not just forgive us and save us from the formality? Do we need to see the most gruesome act of child sacrifice ever committed in history upon a Roman cross to believe in You? However sad every fiber of my body may be to say this, I simply cannot believe in a God such as this, and Jesus Christ was my last option.
Sources:
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/confucius.html
http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/new10c.html
(As a sidenote to number one, I would like to add that Confucius coined the silver rule which predated Jesus' golden rule by some 500 years. Jesus just reversed the meaning, thus using it in a positive application instead of negatively. Jesus said, "do unto others" instead of the original "do not do to others" as was originally invented by Confucius.)
And now, without further ado: "The New Ten Commandments"
1. Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you.
2. In all things, strive to cause no harm.
3. Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and respect.
4. Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted.
5. Live life with a sense of joy and wonder.
6. Always seek to be learning something new.
7. Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them.
8. Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you.
9. Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.
10. Question everything.
Beside the obvious number one silver rule, number ten is undoubtedly my favorite, but let me ask you this: why could God have not just provided us with this list and save us all of the ritualistic nonsense? How many lives could have been spared if the Jewish, Old Testament God (which happens to be the same God that incarnated Jesus' body) would have just provided humanity with a list like this? No "jealous god" babble. No "remember the Sabbath" sacrament, and especially no animal (or child) sacrifices or burnt offerings absurdity that was a mainstay in the Old Testament? Just plain, simple, unambiguous rules to lead a good life. The Bible made things complicated, which, in turn, led to the thousands of branches of beliefs we have today that do horrible things to one another. This list doesn't. This list doesn't have its own agenda to fulfill that included satisfying God's unquenchable thirst for your attention, time, and worship. This list doesn't "promote by example" war, genocide, women oppression, slavery, and the incarnation of God Himself to kill Himself (as the Son) just to forgive us "unworthy humans" of our sins. Why not just forgive us and save us from the formality? Do we need to see the most gruesome act of child sacrifice ever committed in history upon a Roman cross to believe in You? However sad every fiber of my body may be to say this, I simply cannot believe in a God such as this, and Jesus Christ was my last option.
Sources:
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/confucius.html
http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/new10c.html
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Morality (Sodom and Gomorrah)
IMPURITY-Whatever I thought I knew about morality and religion in the past is very different than what I think today. Many people believe that morality comes from religion and the two are inseparable. Many Christians have this false belief that without the Bible, humans would have never figured out what was "good" or what was "bad." People think that the Bible has delivered upon us the end-all be-all of morality. I truly hope everyone that is reading this really takes a moment to think about this example of what the Bible shows us of morality, and not just morality, equality. This excerpt is from one of my favorite authors and one of the most highly regarded scientists in recent history:
In the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Noah equivalent, chosen to be spared with his family because he was uniquely righteous, was Abraham's nephew Lot. Two male angels were sent to Sodom to warn Lot to leave the city before the brimstone arrived. Lot welcomed them into his house, where all of the men of Sodom gathered and demanded that Lot should hand the angels over so that they could (what else?) sodomize them: "Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them" (Gen.19:5). Yes, "know" has the Authorized Version's usual euphemistic meaning, which is very funny in the context. Lot's gallantry in refusing the demand suggests that God might have been onto something when he singled him out as the only good man in Sodom. But Lot's halo is tarnished by the terms of his refusal: "I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing"(Gen.19:7-8).
Whatever else this strange story might mean, it surely tells us something about the respect accorded to women in this intensely religious culture. As it happened, Lot's bargaining away of his daughters' virginity proved unnecessary, for the angels succeeded in repelling the men by miraculously striking them blind. They then warned Lot to decamp immediately with his family and his animals, because the city was about to be destroyed. The whole household escaped, with the exception of Lot's unfortunate wife, whom the Lord turned into a pillar of salt because she committed the offense of looking over her shoulder at the fireworks display.
Lot's two daughters make a brief reappearance in the story. After their mother was killed, they lived with their father in a cave up a mountain. Starved of male company, they decided to make their father drunk and have sex with him. Lot was beyond noticing when his elder daughter arrived in his bed or when she left, but he was not too drunk to impregnate her. The next night, the two daughters agreed it was the younger one's turn. Again Lot was too drunk to notice, and he impregnated her too.(Gen.19:31-36). If this dysfunctional family was the best Sodom had to offer by way of morals, some might begin to feel a certain sympathy with God and his judicial brimstone.
Source: Dawkins, Richard. The God Delusion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. Pages 271-272
In the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Noah equivalent, chosen to be spared with his family because he was uniquely righteous, was Abraham's nephew Lot. Two male angels were sent to Sodom to warn Lot to leave the city before the brimstone arrived. Lot welcomed them into his house, where all of the men of Sodom gathered and demanded that Lot should hand the angels over so that they could (what else?) sodomize them: "Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them" (Gen.19:5). Yes, "know" has the Authorized Version's usual euphemistic meaning, which is very funny in the context. Lot's gallantry in refusing the demand suggests that God might have been onto something when he singled him out as the only good man in Sodom. But Lot's halo is tarnished by the terms of his refusal: "I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing"(Gen.19:7-8).
Whatever else this strange story might mean, it surely tells us something about the respect accorded to women in this intensely religious culture. As it happened, Lot's bargaining away of his daughters' virginity proved unnecessary, for the angels succeeded in repelling the men by miraculously striking them blind. They then warned Lot to decamp immediately with his family and his animals, because the city was about to be destroyed. The whole household escaped, with the exception of Lot's unfortunate wife, whom the Lord turned into a pillar of salt because she committed the offense of looking over her shoulder at the fireworks display.
Lot's two daughters make a brief reappearance in the story. After their mother was killed, they lived with their father in a cave up a mountain. Starved of male company, they decided to make their father drunk and have sex with him. Lot was beyond noticing when his elder daughter arrived in his bed or when she left, but he was not too drunk to impregnate her. The next night, the two daughters agreed it was the younger one's turn. Again Lot was too drunk to notice, and he impregnated her too.(Gen.19:31-36). If this dysfunctional family was the best Sodom had to offer by way of morals, some might begin to feel a certain sympathy with God and his judicial brimstone.
Source: Dawkins, Richard. The God Delusion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. Pages 271-272
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tearing Down the Walls
RECONNECT-It's been several weeks since I've made a new post (mostly due to the Fall semester beginning), but I haven't forgotten about the reasons why I started this blog. Over the past year, I have pulled a 180 degree turn regarding my views about some very important things in life. Religion, God, life, science, and evolution to name a few. Why, you might ask, have I experienced this change? The simple answer to this question is the fact that I broke down a wall in my mind that wouldn't allow myself to let in any possibilities other than what I had already believed. It was definitely not an overnight turnaround. Every neuron in my brain fought against letting go of what I had grown up to know. Finally, the dominoes started to fall, and I am so happy that they did. Everything that I had programmed into my mind was concrete (or so I thought.) I was so closed-minded to the point that I was saying I was open-minded only in denial. Regretfully, I have come to find out that I have believed some pretty ridiculous things in my 28 years on this planet. Talking snakes, ascendancy to Heaven (via "the Rapture"), homosexuals deserving Hell, and most of all, that an invisible God provided eternal life for me if I said a few words and believed.
Here recently while taking an economics class, the teacher had an interesting question. Is "greed" good? (It's from the Gordon Gekko Wall Street speech.) I thought about this for some time, and then I realized what it meant....incentives. Incentives are what humans seek in everything we do so I asked myself, regarding my views about Jesus, if I took out the incentive of Heaven, would I still worship Him? Well, the simple answer to this question is no, and when you think about the ridiculous amount of time that is consumed in worshipping and serving, it just isn't logical or rational to wager on one out of the thousand gods available just because your parents told you specifically to worship this one. I thought about how I could be using that time productively toward my REAL wife and daughter, to my REAL career, to my REAL hobbies. Not some fantasy that I had no proof of. Eternal life....what does that even mean? How could a human being ever have the capacity to understand infinity? It doesn't make sense, but I used to think it was perfectly clear. If you can understand infinite time going forward, then you can understand infinite time going backward, and that is where the fun begins regarding macro-evolution and the birth of our Universe, but I'll save that for another time. You see, if God exists, then He had a purpose for our lives, our race, our species, but that purpose allowed so much death and suffering. My question remains unanswered: how could an all-powerful, all-loving, perfect God, let His children suffer so much? 22,000 children die every single day from starvation and disease. Especially when we have at our "supposed" arsenal Matthew 21:22 at hand. I suppose this is because of "mankind's sin?" There would be nothing holding me back from saving my children from death no matter what means were needed to be used. No matter what master plan I had originally scripted, it would have to be altered because I would go to any lengths to save my daughter or wife from harm. Yet, the contradiction of free will and prayer cannot be answered by my opponents either. If Jesus spoke the infallible truth in Matthew 21:22, then why can't we pray away our disease? Surely anything is possible through prayer. However, no matter how hard we pray, AIDS and cancer remain prominent death machines that eradicate people all over the globe. And speaking of cancer: does cancer come from mankind's sin? The Bible says sin leads to death. I never stopped to consider the alternative, and for this, I am truly regretful to waste so many years....that prayer and God may simply be superstition; fictitious. The problems of infinite regression will always remain; if we were created, then who created the creator? You see my point hopefully, but what I ask is that we all see life through an unbiased lens. Letting go of the bedtime stories that our parents told us. Searching for truth using the scientific method to back up any claims. Living life free from religious dogma, and unaffected by what the local preacher says we must do to get to an unwitnessed, unproven place called Heaven. Letting our children have a choice instead of using fear of hellfire and eternal damnation as a means of control. Tithing, praying, worshipping, and most importantly, we may be wasting our most valuable time and efforts on something that is purely unsubstantiated. For what reason would I believe in these supernatural stories when I innocently laugh inside while reading my daughter a tale of Dr. Seuss? My aim is none other than trying to explain to others how religion can be bondage, and an open-mind that's able to explore all of the avenues of possibility is much more powerful than one that simply recites what their pastor or parents told them. Moraliy and religion can be separated. It is possible that mankind would have figured out that killing each other was a bad thing. Some apologists say without the Bible, we would have no morality. That is simply false. Without relgious control in our world, humans can understand how to make this world a truly better place. A place where questions can be asked, and other ideas and ways of thought are tolerated. One where truth is found, not simply believed.
In conclusion, I leave you with this anonymous quote that I was proposed when I used to militantly defend my Judeo-Christian God awhile back on a certain forum...."when you understand why you dismiss all the other religion’s gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
Here recently while taking an economics class, the teacher had an interesting question. Is "greed" good? (It's from the Gordon Gekko Wall Street speech.) I thought about this for some time, and then I realized what it meant....incentives. Incentives are what humans seek in everything we do so I asked myself, regarding my views about Jesus, if I took out the incentive of Heaven, would I still worship Him? Well, the simple answer to this question is no, and when you think about the ridiculous amount of time that is consumed in worshipping and serving, it just isn't logical or rational to wager on one out of the thousand gods available just because your parents told you specifically to worship this one. I thought about how I could be using that time productively toward my REAL wife and daughter, to my REAL career, to my REAL hobbies. Not some fantasy that I had no proof of. Eternal life....what does that even mean? How could a human being ever have the capacity to understand infinity? It doesn't make sense, but I used to think it was perfectly clear. If you can understand infinite time going forward, then you can understand infinite time going backward, and that is where the fun begins regarding macro-evolution and the birth of our Universe, but I'll save that for another time. You see, if God exists, then He had a purpose for our lives, our race, our species, but that purpose allowed so much death and suffering. My question remains unanswered: how could an all-powerful, all-loving, perfect God, let His children suffer so much? 22,000 children die every single day from starvation and disease. Especially when we have at our "supposed" arsenal Matthew 21:22 at hand. I suppose this is because of "mankind's sin?" There would be nothing holding me back from saving my children from death no matter what means were needed to be used. No matter what master plan I had originally scripted, it would have to be altered because I would go to any lengths to save my daughter or wife from harm. Yet, the contradiction of free will and prayer cannot be answered by my opponents either. If Jesus spoke the infallible truth in Matthew 21:22, then why can't we pray away our disease? Surely anything is possible through prayer. However, no matter how hard we pray, AIDS and cancer remain prominent death machines that eradicate people all over the globe. And speaking of cancer: does cancer come from mankind's sin? The Bible says sin leads to death. I never stopped to consider the alternative, and for this, I am truly regretful to waste so many years....that prayer and God may simply be superstition; fictitious. The problems of infinite regression will always remain; if we were created, then who created the creator? You see my point hopefully, but what I ask is that we all see life through an unbiased lens. Letting go of the bedtime stories that our parents told us. Searching for truth using the scientific method to back up any claims. Living life free from religious dogma, and unaffected by what the local preacher says we must do to get to an unwitnessed, unproven place called Heaven. Letting our children have a choice instead of using fear of hellfire and eternal damnation as a means of control. Tithing, praying, worshipping, and most importantly, we may be wasting our most valuable time and efforts on something that is purely unsubstantiated. For what reason would I believe in these supernatural stories when I innocently laugh inside while reading my daughter a tale of Dr. Seuss? My aim is none other than trying to explain to others how religion can be bondage, and an open-mind that's able to explore all of the avenues of possibility is much more powerful than one that simply recites what their pastor or parents told them. Moraliy and religion can be separated. It is possible that mankind would have figured out that killing each other was a bad thing. Some apologists say without the Bible, we would have no morality. That is simply false. Without relgious control in our world, humans can understand how to make this world a truly better place. A place where questions can be asked, and other ideas and ways of thought are tolerated. One where truth is found, not simply believed.
In conclusion, I leave you with this anonymous quote that I was proposed when I used to militantly defend my Judeo-Christian God awhile back on a certain forum...."when you understand why you dismiss all the other religion’s gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Landing at Megiddo
DESTINY-I have to say I have learned so much about life, the world, and science since I have released myself from habitual, contrived thinking. On the other side, however, I have to say that it isn't the greatest feeling realizing the possibility that someone you've put so much time into and worshipped for 28 years may not even exist, but no matter how much we may not like the truth, it doesn't change it. I can relate it to the feelings I had when I was told that Santa Claus wasn't real. By the way, does anyone else see anything wrong with lying to your children? Santa maneuvering the sky delivering all the good children's presents sliding down those chimneys. Pretty ridiculous to believe in that isn't it? But I find it amazing that I clung to stories of equal absurdity in the Bible. Jonah living in a fish for three days, a talking snake, God as a burning bush (there's as much evidence for the veracity of these stories as there is Santa Claus.) Now I understand that some people hold that much of the Bible is non-literal, but it speaks rather oddly to me that an all-powerful, jealous-for-your-soul God would choose to present His case in such a way as metaphorical stories. For instance, if the Book of Revelation is just a metaphorical way of showing the triumph of good over evil, and it is meant to be non-literal, then did God not realize that billions of people everywhere would be self-fulfilling these prophecies in a literal way? Also, ask yourself this: does believing that the world is going to end at Armageddon with the salvation of good and the eradication of evil not conflict with people's desire to make this world a better place? Now you can say that evangelists are making the world a better place by spreading "eternal life," but in a scientific, humanistic, technological-advancement sense, religion is undoubtedly inhibiting our civilization. Students and professionals everywhere are spending countless hours developing new ways to fight disease, better our economy, and better our world, and religions everywhere are doing what? Giving eternal life for which there is no evidence provided? Reading out of bronze-aged books? Treating women as insubordinates? Fighting Jihad? Teaching their children to be slaves to their beliefs? Profiting off of false-hope? I also find it peculiar how end-time believers watch the news and rejoice in the fact that the world is becoming increasingly hostile. Nuclear weapon talks excite the end-times believer. Preachers everywhere praised God after 9/11 saying, "at last, the end is near." I look at this and shake my head. I used to believe in prophecy until I discovered self-fulfilling prophecy. When humans set plans, they tend to achieve them. I want the world to be better for my daughter, not worse, and organized religion is not making this a better world. While it is intended by some as a tool for hope and purpose, it is being used to exploit, enslave, and destroy.
In closing, I would like to say again that the purpose of this blog is to inspire curiosity into the readers. I'm not here to provoke or belittle anyone. However, it's very difficult to express a view on this matter without offending someone. Simply put, it just bothers me to see so many people that never give this any thought. I feel that it is a tragedy to live the only life we are certain of, bound by organized religion. I'm not trying to tell you what to think, I just want to encourage an open-mind. I want to help free people's minds so please read this blog for what it is, and not what it is not. -Jason
In closing, I would like to say again that the purpose of this blog is to inspire curiosity into the readers. I'm not here to provoke or belittle anyone. However, it's very difficult to express a view on this matter without offending someone. Simply put, it just bothers me to see so many people that never give this any thought. I feel that it is a tragedy to live the only life we are certain of, bound by organized religion. I'm not trying to tell you what to think, I just want to encourage an open-mind. I want to help free people's minds so please read this blog for what it is, and not what it is not. -Jason
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Pre-Conceptions
CALM BEFORE THE STORM-Evolution is quite possibly the most important subject of controversy regarding the religion versus science debate. For many years I ignored the evidence before me as I chose the Bible over science books, and I felt as though Satan himself was deceiving the world with this theory that humans evolved from more primative life. I asked, how dare these scientists relegate humans to this inferior status? My own arrogance blinded my sight. You see, rule number one in progress is accepting the fact that your current position may be wrong. Your current knowledge could be incorrect, but when you release your thoughts from the 6-sided cube that surrounds your mind, doors open. Questions begin to be answered (without having to believe in supernatural explanations.)
There is something that occurs around the age of 18 that all humans experience; it's called "figuring it out." It's my estimation that approximately 90% of people close their mind completely at this age and the window narrows regarding their true capacity to accept new ideas. Also, growing up in Southern Oklahoma is not very conducive to belief in anything besides Biblical dogma, but with every breath I take, the barriers, the chains, the attachments are becoming broken. I finally feel a semblance of FREEDOM. I have lived in fear for so many years; totally controlled. Living my life for someone else. Living my life for Jesus. A person that I had never seen, never directly spoken with, never directly knew. How can a relationship exist when the other party has no physical voice or appearance? Some may say, "Jesus speaks to me everyday. I 'feel' it. I believe." I say, "Why?" For what reason do you believe? Do you believe because you are seeking eternal life? If so, that's self-interest. Do you believe because your parents told you to? If so, that's undeserving of any "eternal life" as well. Do you believe because it "feels" right? It "feels" right for Satanists to worship Satan. Satanists believe that Jesus is the real deceiver, and God's plan is actually to enslave those that worship Him in the afterlife. They believe that the enemy is not the Devil, but God. Everyone believes their belief is correct. So how would you ever know? Quite simply, you wouldn't when it pertains to gods and pseudosciences. That is why I turn to evidence, reality, and that is why I am extensively studying Darwinian evolution. Evolution is a key to finding truth about our lives. It lets us accurately identify what motivates us on a daily basis. Evolution provides us with factual, believable, logical, rational answers to imposing questions about the many aspects of life. Opening your mind's door is most important in giving evolution a fair take, and sadly, many will never take this first step. It took me years to do it, hopefully it won't take many who read my blog nearly as long.
There is something that occurs around the age of 18 that all humans experience; it's called "figuring it out." It's my estimation that approximately 90% of people close their mind completely at this age and the window narrows regarding their true capacity to accept new ideas. Also, growing up in Southern Oklahoma is not very conducive to belief in anything besides Biblical dogma, but with every breath I take, the barriers, the chains, the attachments are becoming broken. I finally feel a semblance of FREEDOM. I have lived in fear for so many years; totally controlled. Living my life for someone else. Living my life for Jesus. A person that I had never seen, never directly spoken with, never directly knew. How can a relationship exist when the other party has no physical voice or appearance? Some may say, "Jesus speaks to me everyday. I 'feel' it. I believe." I say, "Why?" For what reason do you believe? Do you believe because you are seeking eternal life? If so, that's self-interest. Do you believe because your parents told you to? If so, that's undeserving of any "eternal life" as well. Do you believe because it "feels" right? It "feels" right for Satanists to worship Satan. Satanists believe that Jesus is the real deceiver, and God's plan is actually to enslave those that worship Him in the afterlife. They believe that the enemy is not the Devil, but God. Everyone believes their belief is correct. So how would you ever know? Quite simply, you wouldn't when it pertains to gods and pseudosciences. That is why I turn to evidence, reality, and that is why I am extensively studying Darwinian evolution. Evolution is a key to finding truth about our lives. It lets us accurately identify what motivates us on a daily basis. Evolution provides us with factual, believable, logical, rational answers to imposing questions about the many aspects of life. Opening your mind's door is most important in giving evolution a fair take, and sadly, many will never take this first step. It took me years to do it, hopefully it won't take many who read my blog nearly as long.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The God Helmet
MIND-In 1836, Ellen White, founder of the Seventh-Day Adventist movement (a Christian denomination), suffered a brain injury at age 9 that changed her personality permanently, and she began to have powerful religious visions that shaped the foundations and beliefs of this new religion. Today, neuroscience is out to prove that God does indeed exist...between your ears, that is. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) sufferers experience vivid hallucinations that often resemble "God-like" encounters, and this has prompted scientists to experiment with this part of the cerebral cortex. One neuroscientist in particular named Michael Persinger has developed "the God Helmet." Within this helmet, magnetic fields stimulate the temporal lobe with 80% of its subjects reporting feelings ranging from "a presence in the room," to visual hallucinations and even disembodiment. This theory definitely begs some important questions. Is the "God experience" just a contrived, super-emotion of the mind? Could the "Holy Ghost chillbumps" just be a product of an induced euphoria created by our temporal lobe? There is definitely evidence that religious people live longer, healthier lives, but in terms of evolution, wouldn't this "faith trait" be advantageous to keep around? Simply a survival benefit to having religious belief would explain the Jews ability to withstand the many attempts at eradication throughout history. Could God simply be an evolution of the human brain to promote survival and ease our anxiety about death? Maybe it's simply a by-product of childhood tendencies to trust our parents?
Out of arrogance, we believe that we are the only species deserving of eternal life. So the next time you smash an ant on your front porch, think about how it was simply trying to survive, and your convenience took priority over LIFE.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2003/godonbrain.shtml
Out of arrogance, we believe that we are the only species deserving of eternal life. So the next time you smash an ant on your front porch, think about how it was simply trying to survive, and your convenience took priority over LIFE.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2003/godonbrain.shtml
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Faith...
EVIDENCE UNSEEN-Faith has always been an integral part of my daily life, and I've always believed that faith was a positive quality, but the faith I'm speaking of is faith in yourself. I feel that this faith has a distinct power unlike anything else in the world. However, faith in others is less certain (I think we can all attest to that.) This skepticism has continuously grown in my mind over the years, but I somehow feel that no matter what happens over the course of eternity, there is something special about this one chance at mortality that we have today. There is an interesting line in the movie "Troy" where Achilles says:
"I’ll tell you a secret. Something they don’t teach you in your temple. The Gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again."
This leads me into the issue of blind faith. Many of my issues from religion stem from the simple fact that people are told what to believe in childhood. If I was born to Jewish parents, the odds are pretty likely that I would refute Jesus Christ as God. If I was born to Islamic parents, would I really have a fair chance at choosing a different religion? It seems to me that there is NO WAY THIS IS FAIR. So what I am simply saying is that we have been blessed in one way or another with this one chance at life. Maybe there is a Creator, but would the Creator of man want you to simply believe everything you've been told by your parents, or preacher, or would His way be for humans to seek out knowledge, evidence, and truth? If humans had never opposed traditional thinking, would we have ever developed an airplane? And would the world not still be flat? I see so many people that never question. They see questioning as apostasy. This all leads me to wonder if the devout followers of the religions in the world are wasting valuable time at the one chance they have at life. So for now, my faith will remain in my search.
"Suppose there is a God who is watching us and choosing which souls of the deceased to bring to heaven, and this god really does want only the morally good to populate heaven. He will probably select from only those who made a significant and responsible effort to discover the truth. For all others are untrustworthy, being cognitively or morally inferior, or both. They will also be less likely ever to discover and commit to true beliefs about right and wrong. That is, if they have a significant and trustworthy concern for doing right and avoiding wrong, it follows necessarily that they must have a significant and trustworthy concern for knowing right and wrong. Since this knowledge requires knowledge about many fundamental facts of the universe (such as whether there is a god), it follows necessarily that such people must have a significant and trustworthy concern for always seeking out, testing, and confirming that their beliefs about such things are probably correct. Therefore, only such people can be sufficiently moral and trustworthy to deserve a place in heaven — unless god wishes to fill heaven with the morally lazy, irresponsible, or untrustworthy." -Richard Carrier
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/heaven.html
"I’ll tell you a secret. Something they don’t teach you in your temple. The Gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again."
This leads me into the issue of blind faith. Many of my issues from religion stem from the simple fact that people are told what to believe in childhood. If I was born to Jewish parents, the odds are pretty likely that I would refute Jesus Christ as God. If I was born to Islamic parents, would I really have a fair chance at choosing a different religion? It seems to me that there is NO WAY THIS IS FAIR. So what I am simply saying is that we have been blessed in one way or another with this one chance at life. Maybe there is a Creator, but would the Creator of man want you to simply believe everything you've been told by your parents, or preacher, or would His way be for humans to seek out knowledge, evidence, and truth? If humans had never opposed traditional thinking, would we have ever developed an airplane? And would the world not still be flat? I see so many people that never question. They see questioning as apostasy. This all leads me to wonder if the devout followers of the religions in the world are wasting valuable time at the one chance they have at life. So for now, my faith will remain in my search.
"Suppose there is a God who is watching us and choosing which souls of the deceased to bring to heaven, and this god really does want only the morally good to populate heaven. He will probably select from only those who made a significant and responsible effort to discover the truth. For all others are untrustworthy, being cognitively or morally inferior, or both. They will also be less likely ever to discover and commit to true beliefs about right and wrong. That is, if they have a significant and trustworthy concern for doing right and avoiding wrong, it follows necessarily that they must have a significant and trustworthy concern for knowing right and wrong. Since this knowledge requires knowledge about many fundamental facts of the universe (such as whether there is a god), it follows necessarily that such people must have a significant and trustworthy concern for always seeking out, testing, and confirming that their beliefs about such things are probably correct. Therefore, only such people can be sufficiently moral and trustworthy to deserve a place in heaven — unless god wishes to fill heaven with the morally lazy, irresponsible, or untrustworthy." -Richard Carrier
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/heaven.html
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Right and Wrong...
DILEMMA-I want to do a short piece tonight over a couple of moral situations that really made me question what right and wrong truly are all about. If you consider yourself a moral absolutist, then look no further than the Ten Commandments. Murdering is absolutely wrong, in any place and at any time. Stealing is wrong in any situation, and worshipping the Judeo-Christian God is number 1 on the list. But are there exceptions? I'll start out easy, but I can almost guarantee you'll be a little uneasy by number 3.
Question 1. Would torturing a terrorist's wife to get him to divulge information, which included, but not limited to murder and rape, be wrong if it were the only way to save thousands of innocent people?
Question 2. If your child had a degenerative pain disorder that caused immense suffering that would last for years and had no cure, would killing them be wrong? (I don't have a source for this, but one of my professor's said this was a true story: a guy killed his daughter to stop the suffering by putting her in the car and starting it in the garage. He was convicted of murder.)
Question 3. If a mother was pregnant with a child, and you knew the child would grow up to commit a violent crime against you or your family, would you still be against (if you are) abortion? Sidenote: Did you know that crime has drastically been reduced since the inception of Roe v. Wade in 1973? And the reason........a lot of criminals aren't being born. The poverty-stricken mothers that prostitute themselves out are aborting the child that is statistically likely to become a future criminal. (Levitt and Dubner 2005)
Levitt, Steven D., and Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonomics. First Ed. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2005. Print.
Question 1. Would torturing a terrorist's wife to get him to divulge information, which included, but not limited to murder and rape, be wrong if it were the only way to save thousands of innocent people?
Question 2. If your child had a degenerative pain disorder that caused immense suffering that would last for years and had no cure, would killing them be wrong? (I don't have a source for this, but one of my professor's said this was a true story: a guy killed his daughter to stop the suffering by putting her in the car and starting it in the garage. He was convicted of murder.)
Question 3. If a mother was pregnant with a child, and you knew the child would grow up to commit a violent crime against you or your family, would you still be against (if you are) abortion? Sidenote: Did you know that crime has drastically been reduced since the inception of Roe v. Wade in 1973? And the reason........a lot of criminals aren't being born. The poverty-stricken mothers that prostitute themselves out are aborting the child that is statistically likely to become a future criminal. (Levitt and Dubner 2005)
Levitt, Steven D., and Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonomics. First Ed. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2005. Print.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
So tell me this.....
MEAT AND POTATOES: Tonight, for my blog, I just thought I would put down a few questions to think about. Be warned....these are morality-twisting. My goal is to give a "spark" to our minds and thought processes. I'm not here to be sarcastic, derogatory, or ill-willed. Just think of me as a personal trainer for the mind. Just like the best workouts for the body include intensity, fortitude, and pain, I believe that our minds work the same way and achieve the same benefit by simply putting it to the same, rigorous tests. We have to be pushed to the breaking point to gain ground. So here it goes:
1. The Bible speaks of prayer and the fact that if we pray for something "in God's will," consider it done. Now my question is this: Wouldn't God's will (according to the Bible) be carried out regardless of your prayers? My interpretation of all of this is that no matter what happens, God's "will" is going to be fulfilled no matter who's praying and what they're praying for. The 2nd part of this question has to do with the following: Why on Earth would it NOT be in God's will to save a dying person from cancer or AIDS, or to even heal an amputee? And actually, that brings me to another point that should be addressed: Can anyone find a documented case of an amputee being healed by God? I have heard reports of cancer being healed, and of HIV being healed, but considering that our immune-system is one of the most powerful biological systems in the world, combined with the potent placebo-effect from the "God high," it is not unreasonable to think that human-beings can be healed rather quickly and it have nothing to do with God whatsoever? As a personal sidenote I would like to add: When I was 13, I had battled severe asthma for all of my life, and while my dad and I were watching a TBN program with Benny Hinn on it, he was listing out the people watching on TV that he felt had been healed of all of these diseases. To my surprise, he actually said, "I feel that someone is being healed of asthma right now as we speak." So I jumped up and down and my dad and I were very happy because asthma had brought such misery to my life throughout the years, and finally, I just knew this was it. I really believed I was healed. Well, within weeks, I was hit with another bad case of weather-induced asthma and as you might guess, I was crushed. My point here is the fact that I was ABSOLUTELY 100% CERTAIN THAT BENNY HINN WAS RIGHT AND GOD HAD HEALED ME OF ASTHMA, AND WE PRAYED AND PRAYED, AND PRAISED AND PRAISED, AND THANKED AND THANKED GOD FOR THIS, but it didn't happen. This in no way changed my feelings toward God. I just thought maybe I did something wrong. Maybe I doubted my healing or something.
2. What was the purpose of God's Great Flood that killed off most of humanity, when He would eventually send the savior Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sins? I was taught that God was not bound by time, and He is simultaneously in the past, present, and future so did He not have a plan from the beginning? Pastors everywhere speak of the grand plan that God has in action, but logically speaking, was the Great Flood really necessary? And scientifically speaking, no evidence of Noah's ark has ever been found, and few scientists believe in a worldwide flood having ever occurred.(1)
3. God speaks to pastors everywhere. Or, at least that's what the preachers tell us. Then why are pastors everywhere teaching different philosophies and interpretations of Christianity? So many denominations. So many differing messages. So much confusion. Does anyone else see the incosistencies with this?
1. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090206-smaller-noah-flood.html
1. The Bible speaks of prayer and the fact that if we pray for something "in God's will," consider it done. Now my question is this: Wouldn't God's will (according to the Bible) be carried out regardless of your prayers? My interpretation of all of this is that no matter what happens, God's "will" is going to be fulfilled no matter who's praying and what they're praying for. The 2nd part of this question has to do with the following: Why on Earth would it NOT be in God's will to save a dying person from cancer or AIDS, or to even heal an amputee? And actually, that brings me to another point that should be addressed: Can anyone find a documented case of an amputee being healed by God? I have heard reports of cancer being healed, and of HIV being healed, but considering that our immune-system is one of the most powerful biological systems in the world, combined with the potent placebo-effect from the "God high," it is not unreasonable to think that human-beings can be healed rather quickly and it have nothing to do with God whatsoever? As a personal sidenote I would like to add: When I was 13, I had battled severe asthma for all of my life, and while my dad and I were watching a TBN program with Benny Hinn on it, he was listing out the people watching on TV that he felt had been healed of all of these diseases. To my surprise, he actually said, "I feel that someone is being healed of asthma right now as we speak." So I jumped up and down and my dad and I were very happy because asthma had brought such misery to my life throughout the years, and finally, I just knew this was it. I really believed I was healed. Well, within weeks, I was hit with another bad case of weather-induced asthma and as you might guess, I was crushed. My point here is the fact that I was ABSOLUTELY 100% CERTAIN THAT BENNY HINN WAS RIGHT AND GOD HAD HEALED ME OF ASTHMA, AND WE PRAYED AND PRAYED, AND PRAISED AND PRAISED, AND THANKED AND THANKED GOD FOR THIS, but it didn't happen. This in no way changed my feelings toward God. I just thought maybe I did something wrong. Maybe I doubted my healing or something.
2. What was the purpose of God's Great Flood that killed off most of humanity, when He would eventually send the savior Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sins? I was taught that God was not bound by time, and He is simultaneously in the past, present, and future so did He not have a plan from the beginning? Pastors everywhere speak of the grand plan that God has in action, but logically speaking, was the Great Flood really necessary? And scientifically speaking, no evidence of Noah's ark has ever been found, and few scientists believe in a worldwide flood having ever occurred.(1)
3. God speaks to pastors everywhere. Or, at least that's what the preachers tell us. Then why are pastors everywhere teaching different philosophies and interpretations of Christianity? So many denominations. So many differing messages. So much confusion. Does anyone else see the incosistencies with this?
1. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090206-smaller-noah-flood.html
Friday, July 2, 2010
"Why?"
IMPROBABLE: Why do we believe in God, give money to the church, or better yet, why do we give that homeless person a dollar that’s begging at the street corner? There is a simple answer to these questions, but you may not like it. It’s called selfishness. You might be thinking that this is contradictory, but could self-interest have anything to do with these questions?.....In one word (to start out with), yes. We believe in God and love Him out of the greed that was created by our own personal desire to attain Heaven. Fear motivates us to act in self-interest, such as fear of Hell, fear of death, and fear of God. Tithing makes us feel like we are gaining favor with God, the Pastor, and our fellow peers in the congregation. Giving a dollar to that homeless person makes us feel like a kind, giving philanthropist, and I bet you say to yourself, “I’m a good person for doing that.” But the truth may be that you only gave that dollar to the homeless person to better your standing with God or to achieve the emotional boost that comes from giving.
A new maxim for my life is: Live free from all of the chains that bind. Keeping my mind open and remembering that knowledge has a way of opening paths. Tearing down the years of programming that I've been force-fed, and start living life beginning with the phrase, "I don’t know.” These three words are the first step towards true independence. Give up; and when you give up, give up to yourself. For the power is within ourself to change us, our problems, and the world. We just have to listen, learn, and believe in ourselves. Always remember that God won't do anything for you that you won't do for yourself. He won’t cure you of an addiction that you keep saying “yes” to. If we abide by this creed, then it really doesn’t matter what God does, and most importantly, it doesn’t even matter if God exists. Your life will simply rely on your choices, nothing more, nothing less. Reliance on God is something that will never be proven so why do we not rely on the one, proven, true thing that we know to be the primary force acting in our lives; our choices? There is plenty of proof that making sound decisions lead to fruitful returns in reality. We absolutely, without a doubt know that if we choose the best decision, we give the most favorable odds to the hand that holds our best outcome. For example, if you choose the correct answers on a multiple choice test, you will have the best chance at receiving the optimal grade that you wanted. There is factual evidence to these decisions and we can relate them to life. The variables that we do not know are the ones that relate to God. If I pray for my sick grandfather to be healed of cancer, will he really be healed? Well, supposedly God will heal him if it's “in God’s will, “ but that’s another story altogether. The truth of the matter is that we simply cannot rely on prayer. No matter how strong one's faith is, you and I both know that there are no guarantees with prayer. We have to realize that we will be able to survive without being controlled. Live free my friends. My favorite line from the movie “The Matrix” is when Morpheus says to Neo, “FREE YOUR MIND.”
A new maxim for my life is: Live free from all of the chains that bind. Keeping my mind open and remembering that knowledge has a way of opening paths. Tearing down the years of programming that I've been force-fed, and start living life beginning with the phrase, "I don’t know.” These three words are the first step towards true independence. Give up; and when you give up, give up to yourself. For the power is within ourself to change us, our problems, and the world. We just have to listen, learn, and believe in ourselves. Always remember that God won't do anything for you that you won't do for yourself. He won’t cure you of an addiction that you keep saying “yes” to. If we abide by this creed, then it really doesn’t matter what God does, and most importantly, it doesn’t even matter if God exists. Your life will simply rely on your choices, nothing more, nothing less. Reliance on God is something that will never be proven so why do we not rely on the one, proven, true thing that we know to be the primary force acting in our lives; our choices? There is plenty of proof that making sound decisions lead to fruitful returns in reality. We absolutely, without a doubt know that if we choose the best decision, we give the most favorable odds to the hand that holds our best outcome. For example, if you choose the correct answers on a multiple choice test, you will have the best chance at receiving the optimal grade that you wanted. There is factual evidence to these decisions and we can relate them to life. The variables that we do not know are the ones that relate to God. If I pray for my sick grandfather to be healed of cancer, will he really be healed? Well, supposedly God will heal him if it's “in God’s will, “ but that’s another story altogether. The truth of the matter is that we simply cannot rely on prayer. No matter how strong one's faith is, you and I both know that there are no guarantees with prayer. We have to realize that we will be able to survive without being controlled. Live free my friends. My favorite line from the movie “The Matrix” is when Morpheus says to Neo, “FREE YOUR MIND.”
Uncertainty
TRANSPARENCY: I believe that humans, at this point, have no precise way of knowing if there is a God and exactly who He is even IF he/she did exist. As we progress further, maybe it will become evident, but as of this moment, we are relying on man-made accounts, and I think we all know how humans can exaggerate stories. In my mind, my official category of thinking would be under the "I don't know" section. I simply don't know what happened to get us here and I don't know what will happen. What I can tell you is that I believed for many years that I would be "raptured" along with the world's other Christians to reunite with Jesus before the Anti-Christ took rule over the world. Predictions for the rapture came frequently from the church....1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 ( Y2K was the absolute definite end of the world), 2001 (the 9/11 attacks were to usher in the anti-Christ), 2006, 2010, and now the latest is the 2012 end of the Mayan calendar. You can only "cry wolf" a certain number of times before people start to catch on. Fear controls people's lives (mainly their pocketbooks), but when we really breakdown what's creating this fear, I believe that the culprits are the pastors and churches everywhere. The end of the world fear is almost as terrifying as the Lake of Fire fear so it puts urgency into people's lives to tithe and "spread the word" (basically, so that more people will tithe.) Anyways, I digress, I would like for you to think about this question....if there were no incentive (Heaven), would you still believe in God?
Thursday, July 1, 2010
High on God?
EPIPHANY- "I don't know." These three words strike me as the fundamental root of progress for our minds. Anyone that says they DO know probably doesn't know. Around two years ago I watched a program on the science channel that was basically about "stuff I didn't wanna hear." The show was about how the scientific community has been making great strides in biology by using new computer technology to break through DNA analysis and our genetic code. For 28 years, I've been a Christian with a literal view on the Bible's message, but I started to question the very core of why I was so sure of the things that I believed. It always kind of struck me as odd when someone would ask me, "why is it that you believe in Jesus Christ?" I rehashed the same, tired answers that Christians have been giving for many years now. "God has changed my life"..... "I'm saved now"...."Well, if the disciples were willing to die for Jesus, then he must really be God"....Then, one day, after seeing this program, something in my mind triggered a change. I was defensive at first at even the thought of human evolution. Could it actually be that the scientists that have spent their entire lives studying human genetics be right? Could it be that there really isn't a conspiracy from the Devil to persuade us to believe in the process of evolution? Maybe the Devil doesn't even exist? And the biggest question for me was, "could I have experienced a God placebo-effect?" The medical community has long battled the placebo-effect because the human mind is quite powerful, but could it really be that humans everywhere are actually believing that they're getting "God" when they are really just getting high on the thought of God? Simply a mere delusion? Well, after quite a lot of intense soul-searching and research, I think that I was fooling myself into thinking God was intervening and guiding my life when in all reality, it was myself that was in charge of my life. We don't give ourselves enough credit when things are good, and we don't hold ourselves accountable when things are going awry. I've found that this behavior is coded in our nature. After winning the Super Bowl, Drew Brees says, "thank you Jesus?" Self-reliance is my new way. Jesus said "He is the Way?" Well, I think Jesus had some great messages to offer, but now I believe "YOU ARE THE WAY!" Things happen because WE make them happen. If something doesn't happen, it's because YOU didn't make it happen. We have to start being accountable for every single decision and every single action we take. "God doesn't help those that don't help themselves."-Beowulf. Could it be that we are the ones that have total control?
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Evolution...
EVOLUTION: Hello all. To kick things off, I would just like to say that I have extensively researched Christian and non-Christian sources so I ask that you please trust that my goal is to sift through any bias and reach the truth.
Intrigue in the human evolution debate has sparked an entire change of direction in my life. It is absolutely, in my opinion, impossible for the literal Bible interpretation to hold any credibility if macro-evolution is true. Now there is the possibility that the Genesis account is non-literal, but I am highly doubtful that it was meant to be a symbolic effort. Biology's most important basis is evolution. 54 branches of Biology use evolution as a matter of fact. For example, Evolution 4703 is a required class to graduate from University of Central Oklahoma with a degree in Biology. While evolution is a theory, did you know that gravity is also a theory? It is virtually impossible to prove ANYTHING. However, using DNA sequencing, biologists can see the differences in species at a microscopic level, and they have found that the DNA patterns show a branching tree that implies divergence from a common ancestor. The evidence is out there, one just has to release any preconceived biases and simply open the mind's "doors" to enlighten.
Why can't the HIV virus be defeated? The rapid evolution that occurs once the human is infected leads to disaster for the immune system. Also, the doctor gives you orders to finish your full course of antibiotics because if you don’t, resistance occurs. Resistance is evolution in germs. The scientific community (99% of them) is in agreement that evolution is as much a fact as any theory could possibly be. The small percentage of people who deny this are in large part Christians, and in America, as many as 45% of people still do not accept evolution. For instance, do you believe, as I did for many years, that God created all the differing languages at the Tower of Babel or do you think the better explanation for this is that humans evolved over varying areas of the world and developed these languages through natural processes? It’s a very difficult pill to swallow, and I have struggled for a long time to accept this, but I feel I have finally crossed over.
Source: http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/lenski.html
Intrigue in the human evolution debate has sparked an entire change of direction in my life. It is absolutely, in my opinion, impossible for the literal Bible interpretation to hold any credibility if macro-evolution is true. Now there is the possibility that the Genesis account is non-literal, but I am highly doubtful that it was meant to be a symbolic effort. Biology's most important basis is evolution. 54 branches of Biology use evolution as a matter of fact. For example, Evolution 4703 is a required class to graduate from University of Central Oklahoma with a degree in Biology. While evolution is a theory, did you know that gravity is also a theory? It is virtually impossible to prove ANYTHING. However, using DNA sequencing, biologists can see the differences in species at a microscopic level, and they have found that the DNA patterns show a branching tree that implies divergence from a common ancestor. The evidence is out there, one just has to release any preconceived biases and simply open the mind's "doors" to enlighten.
Why can't the HIV virus be defeated? The rapid evolution that occurs once the human is infected leads to disaster for the immune system. Also, the doctor gives you orders to finish your full course of antibiotics because if you don’t, resistance occurs. Resistance is evolution in germs. The scientific community (99% of them) is in agreement that evolution is as much a fact as any theory could possibly be. The small percentage of people who deny this are in large part Christians, and in America, as many as 45% of people still do not accept evolution. For instance, do you believe, as I did for many years, that God created all the differing languages at the Tower of Babel or do you think the better explanation for this is that humans evolved over varying areas of the world and developed these languages through natural processes? It’s a very difficult pill to swallow, and I have struggled for a long time to accept this, but I feel I have finally crossed over.
Source: http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/lenski.html
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