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Showing posts with label Questioning God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Questioning God. Show all posts
www.YesNoGod.com - Do you believe in God?
A logical defence for the co-existence of evil and the Christian God!
My original thought - God creates world to 'make worthy people?' - World endures unspeakable torment and evil while his plan of restoration via sacrifice results in a bunch of Christians winding up in heaven? To make this omelette, god grins and bears it while dancing along the broken eggshells of blood and pain that paved the way (and possibly continue to writhe in hell below).
The following is an excerpt from an interesting article that can be viewed in its entirety at The Revival Churches Discussion Forum: *I was posting comments left here at the forum but will no longer do so at the wishes of the original author.
Ian - "It's not my aim to touch on the origin of evil at this point, suffice it to say (with Thomas Aquinas), that ultimate cause rests with God. To consider this by way of propositional logic, my preferred form: (1) God is absolutely perfect; (2) God created only perfect creatures; (3) one of the perfections that God gave to some of his creatures was perfect choice; (4) some of these creatures freely chose to do evil; (5) therefore, a perfect creature caused evil. However, it's important to distinguish between the primary cause of a free action (God), and the secondary cause (a human being). Whilst God gave the power of choice, he's not responsible for the exercise of that free choice to do evil: God doesn't perform the free action for us. Also, and contrary to the position promoted by Christians having an Arminian slant, human free choice isn't a mere instrumental cause through which God necessarily works. Human beings are the efficient, albeit secondary, cause of their own free actions. God produces the fact of free choice, but each human being performs the act of free choice. Logically, then, God is responsible for the possibility of evil, but we are responsible for the actuality of it."
The following is an excerpt from an interesting article that can be viewed in its entirety at The Revival Churches Discussion Forum: *I was posting comments left here at the forum but will no longer do so at the wishes of the original author.
Ian - "It's not my aim to touch on the origin of evil at this point, suffice it to say (with Thomas Aquinas), that ultimate cause rests with God. To consider this by way of propositional logic, my preferred form: (1) God is absolutely perfect; (2) God created only perfect creatures; (3) one of the perfections that God gave to some of his creatures was perfect choice; (4) some of these creatures freely chose to do evil; (5) therefore, a perfect creature caused evil. However, it's important to distinguish between the primary cause of a free action (God), and the secondary cause (a human being). Whilst God gave the power of choice, he's not responsible for the exercise of that free choice to do evil: God doesn't perform the free action for us. Also, and contrary to the position promoted by Christians having an Arminian slant, human free choice isn't a mere instrumental cause through which God necessarily works. Human beings are the efficient, albeit secondary, cause of their own free actions. God produces the fact of free choice, but each human being performs the act of free choice. Logically, then, God is responsible for the possibility of evil, but we are responsible for the actuality of it."
God holds a press conference
An impromptu Press Conference was held recently with God in Panama City, Florida. This is a transcript of God's answers. Unfortunately, microphones weren't working among the press corps, so we only have God's answers on audiotape, but not the questions He was asked...
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All these statements are from God:
"I have no idea where that fish thing came from. If I was going to make a secret symbol, I would have used the hydrogen atom, or maybe the number eight lying on it's side as the symbol for infinity, not a fish. And the Cross, why is everybody so hung up on that? It's like a guillotine or an electric chair. Why are you all wearing something morbid like that around your necks?"
"Here's how you cure cancer: make it more cool for a kid to grow up to be a scientist than it is for him to be an athlete or a Pop Star. That's how you cure cancer. Also, teach your girls to dig scientists, that'll do it."
"In 6 days? Define "day". Back then a day lasted until I was done."
"You can travel to other planets after you learn to take care of this one."
"Rosary Beads are a crutch. And so is the wafer. Move on."
"No, you can never travel through time. It's a problem with physics, it won't work. If it did, everybody would be going back to meet Jesus and he'd never get any work done."
"Yes, I loved that one. Jesus was great! Ask Pat Robertson to die for Me, see how far you'd get! Heck, most of you wouldn't even attend church if it didn't have air conditioning. And how come you fly the flags of football teams on your cars, but not God Flags? I'd accept Jesus Flags, even Heaven Flags, but you never see that. I'm hurt. What good are the Green Bay Packers going to do for you? It makes no sense."
"The Jews are not 'chosen' they're just smarter than their enemies, that's all there is to it. Jews put much more emphasis on science, and whoever knows the most about science wins. It's that simple."
"It took me years to get him to figure that out. I was planting E=MC2 in Einstein's dreams for 20 years before he finally got it."
"Coming back? Am I coming back? I never left! Think about it, I'm everywhere. How can I go away?"
"If the Bible was My Word, I would have put my name on it and I wouldn't let it be rewritten a million different ways. The Bible was supposed to be a nice storybook with some some poetry and some history. Now look at it. There are more books explaining what I supposedly meant in the Bible than there are Bibles. Read some Clive Cussler for a change, those are fantastic adventure stories."
"Nostradamus was a hoot. Hister! Ha! I liked that one. I truly enjoyed much of his poetry, and I should have had him work on the Bible, it would've been more entertaining.
"Revelations was written by John while he was hopped up on wacky weed. Don't read anything into it."
"Here's a clue: if any person claims to be acting in MY name, but is making a ton of money doing it, he's a fraud. I don't need money.
Jerry Falwell is a nut, and I can prove it."
"And that reminds me, I'm going to be issuing Man of God I.D. cards soon, and precious few of your ministers are going to get one. It's time to get serious about this before organized religion blasts you all back into the dark ages."
"My 'Ways' are only mysterious because you spend all your time following celebrities instead of studying science. Every answer is in quantum physics and DNA. Figure it out. How old is the Earth? Ask the Earth. How come nobody is asking me if it will ever be possible to fly? Because you figured that one out already! Same with the others."
"Koran? Never heard of it."
"If I answered that, you wouldn't spend enough time living prior to death."
"It was big all right, but there was no "bang". Sound can't travel in a vacuum, brainiac."
"You called them miracles, I called them Magic Tricks. Again, it's just physics. Figure it out."
"Really, that's it. One last question... Yes, the future will be exactly like Star Trek. Do you think Gene Roddenberry dreamt all that up by himself? I Holy Ghost-wrote most of the episodes."
"That's all... thank you very much. Just remember what I said...
what?, I would never let Satan buy somebody's soul, Tiger is just damn good. Goodbye everybody!"
LInKy & DinkY 2002
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All these statements are from God:
"I have no idea where that fish thing came from. If I was going to make a secret symbol, I would have used the hydrogen atom, or maybe the number eight lying on it's side as the symbol for infinity, not a fish. And the Cross, why is everybody so hung up on that? It's like a guillotine or an electric chair. Why are you all wearing something morbid like that around your necks?"
"Here's how you cure cancer: make it more cool for a kid to grow up to be a scientist than it is for him to be an athlete or a Pop Star. That's how you cure cancer. Also, teach your girls to dig scientists, that'll do it."
"In 6 days? Define "day". Back then a day lasted until I was done."
"You can travel to other planets after you learn to take care of this one."
"Rosary Beads are a crutch. And so is the wafer. Move on."
"No, you can never travel through time. It's a problem with physics, it won't work. If it did, everybody would be going back to meet Jesus and he'd never get any work done."
"Yes, I loved that one. Jesus was great! Ask Pat Robertson to die for Me, see how far you'd get! Heck, most of you wouldn't even attend church if it didn't have air conditioning. And how come you fly the flags of football teams on your cars, but not God Flags? I'd accept Jesus Flags, even Heaven Flags, but you never see that. I'm hurt. What good are the Green Bay Packers going to do for you? It makes no sense."
"The Jews are not 'chosen' they're just smarter than their enemies, that's all there is to it. Jews put much more emphasis on science, and whoever knows the most about science wins. It's that simple."
"It took me years to get him to figure that out. I was planting E=MC2 in Einstein's dreams for 20 years before he finally got it."
"Coming back? Am I coming back? I never left! Think about it, I'm everywhere. How can I go away?"
"If the Bible was My Word, I would have put my name on it and I wouldn't let it be rewritten a million different ways. The Bible was supposed to be a nice storybook with some some poetry and some history. Now look at it. There are more books explaining what I supposedly meant in the Bible than there are Bibles. Read some Clive Cussler for a change, those are fantastic adventure stories."
"Nostradamus was a hoot. Hister! Ha! I liked that one. I truly enjoyed much of his poetry, and I should have had him work on the Bible, it would've been more entertaining.
"Revelations was written by John while he was hopped up on wacky weed. Don't read anything into it."
"Here's a clue: if any person claims to be acting in MY name, but is making a ton of money doing it, he's a fraud. I don't need money.
Jerry Falwell is a nut, and I can prove it."
"And that reminds me, I'm going to be issuing Man of God I.D. cards soon, and precious few of your ministers are going to get one. It's time to get serious about this before organized religion blasts you all back into the dark ages."
"My 'Ways' are only mysterious because you spend all your time following celebrities instead of studying science. Every answer is in quantum physics and DNA. Figure it out. How old is the Earth? Ask the Earth. How come nobody is asking me if it will ever be possible to fly? Because you figured that one out already! Same with the others."
"Koran? Never heard of it."
"If I answered that, you wouldn't spend enough time living prior to death."
"It was big all right, but there was no "bang". Sound can't travel in a vacuum, brainiac."
"You called them miracles, I called them Magic Tricks. Again, it's just physics. Figure it out."
"Really, that's it. One last question... Yes, the future will be exactly like Star Trek. Do you think Gene Roddenberry dreamt all that up by himself? I Holy Ghost-wrote most of the episodes."
"That's all... thank you very much. Just remember what I said...
what?, I would never let Satan buy somebody's soul, Tiger is just damn good. Goodbye everybody!"
LInKy & DinkY 2002
God renigues on his sacrifice
The whole god sacrificing his son thing is truly the most obvious glitch in Christian logic. But ok, quirky eccentric god has his own weird rules to fulfil - fair 'nuff, and I'd sort of respect his 'incredible' sacrifice in a way, seeing as though he's cornered by his whole sacrificing scheme he'd set up with animals and turtledoves and shit... EXCEPT that he gave up after THREE DAYS!
Three days after the sacrifice he thought 'Frak it, i'm reanimating my boy'. Screw this sacrifice thing. Sure, he had victory over death but isn't that a cop out of universal proportions? He could resurrect the body but not heal the holes in his hand?
He renigued on the deal and then had the gall to call it a victory. Remember the Isaac story? In that story Isaac was going to do it, and without the three day reniguing chicken out. Isaac had balls, but this God/Jesus con-job is NOT a sacrifice. Just a torture and temporary death deal.
Three days after the sacrifice he thought 'Frak it, i'm reanimating my boy'. Screw this sacrifice thing. Sure, he had victory over death but isn't that a cop out of universal proportions? He could resurrect the body but not heal the holes in his hand?
He renigued on the deal and then had the gall to call it a victory. Remember the Isaac story? In that story Isaac was going to do it, and without the three day reniguing chicken out. Isaac had balls, but this God/Jesus con-job is NOT a sacrifice. Just a torture and temporary death deal.
Rhetorical questions and random quotings
The Bible says the Earth is flat round and the earth was created before the Sun - Wrong. I'm sorry bible, but you've failed to match up with what we can now work out with a telescope. Maybe in Bible version 2.0 we can fix that up. The bible is supposed to be full of answers, but I can't help but just find heaps more unanswered questions. As Homer said while flipping through the Bible yelling, "This book doesn't have any answers!"
It's a fun book but don't look to deeply:
Eating naughty fruit cursed all women with a tight vagina that would hurt like hell when a baby is passed through it - yeah right. I know of women who have had babies with very little to no pain. Did they escape the curse? Will God get them? Seriously, childbirth sucks because it's a tight opening with lots of nerve endings and muscles. What? Did Eve have a vagina the size of a football? Poor Adam - he must have loved anal. The curse also caused man to have to work for their food, but I know of many rich playboy types who don't do jackshit!... and all snakes lost their legs from the curse too - lizards on the other hand were able to keep their's.
God said "let's make man in our own image', fully knowing that we'd interpret that as being we look pink or brown and hairy like him.
God rested on the seventh day - Why the fuck does an omnipotent being need to rest for a full 'YOM'. How long was the resting Yom 'Day'?
God took a rib from Adam's ribcage? Would Adam not need that particular rib? Did god put too many unnecessary ribs in there? Did Adam have trouble running with an out of whack skeletal system? Couldn't he have cloned Eve with a hair or something?
God, the racist wanted Adam's family to procreate with each other to further the lineage. He didn't want them mixing with the other godless pre-adamics. Wonder which night they hooked the kids up for that? Hey it's Friday night! Meatloaf and family sex night.
Noah's ark was a story put into the bible to set up the scene that God follows through on his threats to genocide our asses if we don't fall into line. Sunday School would also suck without animal stories.
No relationships in heaven? So much for the whole bride-groom coming for his bride analogy. Looks like we're gonna be getting a divorce quicksmart and forced to sing to the egotistical God for all eternity... all with a forced smile lest we be smitten with painful childbirth again.
The bible isn't confusing to those who believe it in much the same way Aboriginals aren't confused by Dreamtime mythology. Plus it's easy to spin this ancient ramble to fit your beliefs with circular reasoning.
It's a fun book but don't look to deeply:
Eating naughty fruit cursed all women with a tight vagina that would hurt like hell when a baby is passed through it - yeah right. I know of women who have had babies with very little to no pain. Did they escape the curse? Will God get them? Seriously, childbirth sucks because it's a tight opening with lots of nerve endings and muscles. What? Did Eve have a vagina the size of a football? Poor Adam - he must have loved anal. The curse also caused man to have to work for their food, but I know of many rich playboy types who don't do jackshit!... and all snakes lost their legs from the curse too - lizards on the other hand were able to keep their's.
God said "let's make man in our own image', fully knowing that we'd interpret that as being we look pink or brown and hairy like him.
God rested on the seventh day - Why the fuck does an omnipotent being need to rest for a full 'YOM'. How long was the resting Yom 'Day'?
God took a rib from Adam's ribcage? Would Adam not need that particular rib? Did god put too many unnecessary ribs in there? Did Adam have trouble running with an out of whack skeletal system? Couldn't he have cloned Eve with a hair or something?
God, the racist wanted Adam's family to procreate with each other to further the lineage. He didn't want them mixing with the other godless pre-adamics. Wonder which night they hooked the kids up for that? Hey it's Friday night! Meatloaf and family sex night.
Noah's ark was a story put into the bible to set up the scene that God follows through on his threats to genocide our asses if we don't fall into line. Sunday School would also suck without animal stories.
No relationships in heaven? So much for the whole bride-groom coming for his bride analogy. Looks like we're gonna be getting a divorce quicksmart and forced to sing to the egotistical God for all eternity... all with a forced smile lest we be smitten with painful childbirth again.
The bible isn't confusing to those who believe it in much the same way Aboriginals aren't confused by Dreamtime mythology. Plus it's easy to spin this ancient ramble to fit your beliefs with circular reasoning.
If YOU were God, what would you write in the Bible?
From contributor Gordonliv:
Hey, here's a thought...
Suppose you yourself were God.
You'd created a universe, a few billion stars, some solar systems, time, distance and all...
Then on one of your planets (or - who knows? - maybe more than one!) you decide to create some intelligent, rational creatures who have big brains and control and dominion over the land they occupy. They're so intelligent that they can talk to you... and you to them. So you decide to give them an instruction book.
What would you write in that instruction book?
In my Bible - as Creator Of All Things - I'd give my intelligent, questioning, supplicant creations a lesson in physics.
I'd explain gravity... how it keeps the solar system in equilibrium (at least for the time being). I'd explain nuclear fusion... how it keeps the Sun burning (again, at least for the time being). I'd also explain why I'd created Black Holes and Dark Matter, beacuase those ideas really would puzzle my intelligent creations. A nice, clear, unambiguous explanation would be in order.
I might also tell my little loved creations where else I'd created lfe in the Cosmos. I wouldn't leave it to them to figure it out over millenia... I'd give them some really helpful pointers. I'd say, "Look over here... there's some other fellas! They look a bit different and smell funny, but they'd LOVE to talk to you!"
And I'd say in my instruction book to my my beloved Earthlings, "I love you all so much. You're all so special to me. I won't do anything nasty to you like create any pathogenic bacteria or HIV/AIDS; I won't let you fight or starve. I'll just provide for you... as if you were my little pets!" That's what - among many other things - I'd write in my insruction book.
Feel free to comment here or at the forum (comments here may be copied to @ www.aimoo.com/antichurch)
Hey, here's a thought...
Suppose you yourself were God.
You'd created a universe, a few billion stars, some solar systems, time, distance and all...
Then on one of your planets (or - who knows? - maybe more than one!) you decide to create some intelligent, rational creatures who have big brains and control and dominion over the land they occupy. They're so intelligent that they can talk to you... and you to them. So you decide to give them an instruction book.
What would you write in that instruction book?
In my Bible - as Creator Of All Things - I'd give my intelligent, questioning, supplicant creations a lesson in physics.
I'd explain gravity... how it keeps the solar system in equilibrium (at least for the time being). I'd explain nuclear fusion... how it keeps the Sun burning (again, at least for the time being). I'd also explain why I'd created Black Holes and Dark Matter, beacuase those ideas really would puzzle my intelligent creations. A nice, clear, unambiguous explanation would be in order.
I might also tell my little loved creations where else I'd created lfe in the Cosmos. I wouldn't leave it to them to figure it out over millenia... I'd give them some really helpful pointers. I'd say, "Look over here... there's some other fellas! They look a bit different and smell funny, but they'd LOVE to talk to you!"
And I'd say in my instruction book to my my beloved Earthlings, "I love you all so much. You're all so special to me. I won't do anything nasty to you like create any pathogenic bacteria or HIV/AIDS; I won't let you fight or starve. I'll just provide for you... as if you were my little pets!" That's what - among many other things - I'd write in my insruction book.
Feel free to comment here or at the forum (comments here may be copied to @ www.aimoo.com/antichurch)
Socrates meets Jesus (and gets some serious pwnage)
There is one basic question that has always been uppermost in my mind. With my limited understanding, it often seems to me that life, even with all its sound and fury, really signifies nothing. Please tell me: How should a man live; what is the purpose of life?
Jesus - Simply because there is some evil in the world does not negate the good: You must thank God for that. God must exist because; where did the world come from if he did not create it?
Socrates - It is not necessarily your God that created the world: There are thousands of other priests who claim that their God did it. Just because I do not have the answer, does not mean that I must accept yours without examining it. I could just as logically demand that you believe that Zeus created the world. Even if I agree that God created the world, that is the end of the definition of the qualities of God and we can't logically proceed from that to the assumption that the other aspects of your definition of God are correct.
If I am wrong and you are right, what have I lost
If I am wrong and you are right, what have I lost - nothing, and what have you gained - nothing. But if I am right and you are wrong, what have I gained - everything, and what have you lost - everything.This is a pretty stock standard quote from a recent christian commentator on my blog. I appreciated the time s/he took to help me out, but I have to shake my head at the reasoning. What would I lose if I entertained one particular afterlife possibility over another? I'd lose my own intellect and freedom to think as an individual for a start. That's not the sort of life I want to lead, following the pack and baah-ing with each other in mind numbing bible verse hair splitting (sigh, yet I still do that anyway). I don't want to set myself up as 'saved' while worrying about all the unsaved. It'd be like reliving the end scene of Schindler's List every day. And even if I did force myself to a church according to what I can best make out of the Bible, I'd have to side with the Universalists and go with Ultimate reconciliation, as it makes the most sense to me theologically.
Normal Bob puts it best:
I would reverse the question back onto you and ask you, what if you are wrong about your God, and instead you're supposed to be worshipping Allah, the Muslim God who commands you to worship him? If you are wrong, then that means you will go to hell forever and ever for not worshipping him. What then? If Islamic Fundamentalists are correct then you are at this very moment an infidel who deserves to be punished for your betrayal of The Great Allah!But okay, Christians can comment here and I'll appreciate your ideas and promise not to bite. Did the honest decisions I made as a Christian to take on Jesus' teaching start a binding contract, or do my current fence-sitting notions of god non-existing negate the salvation I was gracefully given? If I die today in my inability to accept the Gospel as gospel, while living out my years, in this brief moment in time, do I have a good chance on missing out on eternal bliss to come? If that's true then so be it, I suppose, I am given a chance to see if I'll follow blindly or continue to ponder. This angry, jealous god sounds a tad emotive to me and even tested one's faith by asking him to stab his child to death. I find it hard to relate to that.
When you are standing before Allah, cowering in your shoes, it will be too late. You will try to beg like a dog for Allah to forgive you and let you into heaven, but there is no chance that he will. Then you might remember this email to you and Islamic Fundementalists commanding you to listen to their Prophet Muhammad and follow his laws, but sorry. You will be in hell, without hope or relief. The Koran says that there is a lot of praying to Allah in Hell. You should consider all of the other gods who 'may' be right. what have you to lose?
There is a part of me, a tiny flicker of flame, that believes god is real and that he wrote us a book, but then that's how I was brought up to believe, so of course that mixture of faith and doubt plays out as much as it ever has. Do I have to study for years to try and work out why this god, who is in three parts, one of which is a son, had to let part of himself die very temporarily so that everyone who acknowledged his soon resurrection from the dead, and lived their life according to his moral laws would get the lucky door prize of immortality? The rest, die... just after sheepishly (or goatishly) staring at the floor in front of an enormous 'throne', or get eternally separated, whichever comes first.
Suppose - for a moment - that there is no god
Contributor - Gordonliv
But suppose now - for a moment - that there is no god. Would anything be different? Might there be nothing at all, instead of this vast and ever changing universe? Or could the atheist viewpoint (incomplete as it is) also possibly prevail?
If there is a god/gods/God, who still is in existence (i.e. he hasn't died and turned to cosmic dust now that his work is done), who has the power to create a universe (a very clever thing, if you ask me!) and who has given us a book about it all... why - in his infinite power - would he allow the "horrors" that are spoken of in this life to prevail?
Let's think of a hypothesis:
I have a hamster and a guinea pig. Both of them know me. Both of them understand me - at least insofar (ooh, I sound like a lawyer... notwithstanding!) as they need me to provide them with the basic essentials of life. I provide food for them. I provide water for them. I give them a nice, clean, comfy cage full of straw and bedding and nuts (or whatever hamsters and guinea pigs eat!) and also provide them with lots and lots of love... you might say, in hamster language, I provide them with infinite love, given that they couldn't possibly understand the vast intellect (ha!) of their provider.
But then I find out that they're fighting. If I put them in the cage together, they'll bite and scratch and harm each other... possibly even to the death.
What would I do about this? Allow it to continue?
No, of course not. I'd separate them out. I'd say to them, "Stop it, both of you. I love you both equally, but if you can't get along with each other, because you fight over what I give you, then I'll put you in separate cages."
And that's what I'd do. Separate them out. Give one cage to the hamster, and another to the guinea pig. Then all the violence would be over, but they could still "know" me as their provider and giver of infinite love.
God could do that.
He could do anything.
So, why doesn't God create some new planets? The Jews could have one, the Muslims could have one, and the Christians could have one. Then all these horrible car bombs (they fill them with gas canisters and nails, you know) would no longer be necessary. What would the atheists get? Well, given that God has to stop the fighting, it would be only fair that each monotheistic religion would have to be moved to a new planetary development, otherwise there'd be bickering about that too.
So God may as well leave us atheists here on Earth! Then we could get on with everything without him... and them.
Makes perfect sense to me! God, did you get that? God? God...? Hello...?
He's not answering...
But suppose now - for a moment - that there is no god. Would anything be different? Might there be nothing at all, instead of this vast and ever changing universe? Or could the atheist viewpoint (incomplete as it is) also possibly prevail?
If there is a god/gods/God, who still is in existence (i.e. he hasn't died and turned to cosmic dust now that his work is done), who has the power to create a universe (a very clever thing, if you ask me!) and who has given us a book about it all... why - in his infinite power - would he allow the "horrors" that are spoken of in this life to prevail?
Let's think of a hypothesis:
I have a hamster and a guinea pig. Both of them know me. Both of them understand me - at least insofar (ooh, I sound like a lawyer... notwithstanding!) as they need me to provide them with the basic essentials of life. I provide food for them. I provide water for them. I give them a nice, clean, comfy cage full of straw and bedding and nuts (or whatever hamsters and guinea pigs eat!) and also provide them with lots and lots of love... you might say, in hamster language, I provide them with infinite love, given that they couldn't possibly understand the vast intellect (ha!) of their provider.
But then I find out that they're fighting. If I put them in the cage together, they'll bite and scratch and harm each other... possibly even to the death.
What would I do about this? Allow it to continue?
No, of course not. I'd separate them out. I'd say to them, "Stop it, both of you. I love you both equally, but if you can't get along with each other, because you fight over what I give you, then I'll put you in separate cages."
And that's what I'd do. Separate them out. Give one cage to the hamster, and another to the guinea pig. Then all the violence would be over, but they could still "know" me as their provider and giver of infinite love.
God could do that.
He could do anything.
So, why doesn't God create some new planets? The Jews could have one, the Muslims could have one, and the Christians could have one. Then all these horrible car bombs (they fill them with gas canisters and nails, you know) would no longer be necessary. What would the atheists get? Well, given that God has to stop the fighting, it would be only fair that each monotheistic religion would have to be moved to a new planetary development, otherwise there'd be bickering about that too.
So God may as well leave us atheists here on Earth! Then we could get on with everything without him... and them.
Makes perfect sense to me! God, did you get that? God? God...? Hello...?
He's not answering...
Battleground God
Can your beliefs about religion make it across an intellectual battleground? Take the test
In this activity you’ll be asked a series of 17 questions about God and religion. In each case, apart from Question 1, you need to answer True or False. The aim of the activity is not to judge whether these answers are correct or not. This battleground is that of rational consistency. This means to get across without taking any hits, you’ll need to answer in a way which is rationally consistent. What this means is you need to avoid choosing answers which contradict each other. If you answer in a way which is rationally consistent but which has strange or unpalatable implications, you’ll be forced to bite a bullet.
If your God is omnipotent (all-powerful, able to do anything), omnibenevolent (all-loving), omniscient (all-knowing) and the creator of all that exists, then we have a problem.
When your God created the universe, being all-knowing, she must have known about all the suffering there would be in this world. Yet God still created it, as it is. She did not create a more benign version of the universe, or simply choose not to create the universe. Why is this?
It could be that God did not know about all the suffering which would occur. But that would make God not all-knowing. It could be that God doesn't mind all the suffering, but that would make her less than all-loving. It could be that God could not have created a more benign world than this one. But that would seem to make God less than all-powerful. The only way we can resolve this problem is to conclude that God can only do what is possible and that this really is the best of all possible worlds. The metaphysical engineers find it hard to model this resolution as they think they can make a better world quite easily. For example, they are able to make human brains more hardy and thus reduce the incidence of psychopathology, resulting in an immediate decline, in their model, of crimes of sadistic murder. Are they mistaken in some way?
Has the universe always been here in some form, or did something create it at some point?
This is the Andromeda Galaxy - it looks a lot like our own I'm told - not that I've ever stepped back far enough to check out the similarities - but there are many many more like it to show that our galaxy is just one collection of spinning matter in what is an immeasurable expanse of space and 'stuff'. The interesting thing about our Milky Way galaxy (named after the famous chocolate bar) is that it's not actually big... it seems big because we're so small, it's relative, it is not huge, it is not immense and it may or may not be infinite. The incredible amount of galaxies that make up what we can see of our universe may in fact be just one cloud amongst many universes .
These steller bodies are moving, colliding and collapsing all over the shop and there's evidence to suggest that the universe has been doing so for billions and billions of years, and perhaps forever. There's no need to mystify the idea of time, because before we were intelligent enough to acknowledge and measure the movement of heavenly bodies we were happy to hunt by day, sleep by night, and die when we got too old to pump blood through our brains. Eternity isn't a supernatural concept best left for gods to calculate... like the size of the universe, it's relative albeit conceptual. The universe simply was and is and always will be - no matter how many pigs fart methane into the atmosphere of our little blue green orb.
Douglas Adams joked that the universe is so big and so randomly chaotic that chances are somewhere somehow there are lifeforms growing that could be useful to any interstellar hitchhiker. One planet somewhere surely has shifting spanners growing from trees, and animals that could easily be used as mattresses. I think it's amazing that this planet was lucky to have a temporary run of life on it long enough for its inhabitants to actually design and use a shifting spanner themself. When you consider the incredible numbers of planets spiraling and circling throughout this vast cosmos you must entertain the thought that for some bursts of time a planet would be in the rolling in the right place at the right time with the right conditions to allow moss to gather on it.
Now, if I were lucky enough to have been born into a planet that had the 'golden' measurements of being close enough to a sun, and protected by various larger planets around it, I'd feel very fortunate, and I do. This particular planet probably isn't the first to have encountered such idyllic conditions but you have to stand in awe of the probability factors involved when you happen to be on it. Of course, it seems like someone created it only because you aren't one of the impossible inhabitants that couldn't have possibly lived on the multi-billion other planets that can't sustain life.
You're bloody lucky to be alive and I seriously don't blame anyone for inventing a god to praise to concerning the delights of simple existence. Every culture we know of usually does this very thing. It's perfectly natural and normal to sing to the sky in appreciation, because most of the people we share the planet with don't seem to really appreciate existence enough to really marvel at it with the wide-eyed wonder it deserves.
Many people I've spoken to recently say that there must be a god, because the scenery here is bloody tremendous and a lot of female boobs look really really good. But this planet actually looks like crap compared to watching the Wallom beasts swimming through the molten mountains of Somtranus V in the Andromeda galaxy (pause). We have no basis of comparison and of course every type of vegetation filled crevasse looks quite interesting to us. The rock and continents have been shifting and eroding for billions of years to make many varied and interesting formations. It's a weather beaten planet that has evolved wildlife and vegetation over an unbelievable amount of time. It's when we try to fit it into the mythical six days and six thousand years of bible time that everything looks like it's science fiction.
And boobs look wondrous because if our programming didn't allow them to be then we would have died off ages ago. Of course boobs don't look appealing to all mankind, but that's ok... there's enough of us who do to keep the population rolling along until we collide with another planet and simply cease to be. Somewhere, sometime, another species will come into being that appreciates the landscape around them and may even have mammary glands that the other gender finds appealing.
How to choose a god in 5 easy steps
Bob A from Ex-Christian.net
Choosing a god is a very important and difficult task as there are so many to choose from. Picking the wrong god could result in eternal damnation and fire. Can you take that chance? I thought not... Let's get started...
1. Assemble a complete list of all the gods ever worshipped. Many of these are well documented, so the task shouldn't be too difficult. Google GOD. I'd estimate somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 gods, not counting all those minor ones. This should be easily achieved in a few days or weeks. If any of those pesky JW's knock on the door, just ignore them. Ask the boss for some time off , if necessary, and tell him what you're doing. I'm sure he/she will understand.
2: List all the attributes associated with these gods. Some are maniacal punishing thugs, gods of hate, fire and all manor of brutality and damnation, eliminate these types, we'll just stick with loving and rewarding gods. This may be somewhat more difficult than step one, but remember, the reward will be worth it. Don't be influenced by the god your parents chose, they could be wrong, too. Lets keep it fair and honest. It may be necessary to hire a few unemployed scribes to help for a few months, but what the hell, er heck.
3. Having once assembled all the good gods, the list may still be unmanageably long, so eliminate those whose names you cannot pronounce or spellings that seem weird and unreasonable. A real god should be easy to pronounce. I'm suspicious of gods whose heads and bodies are from differing species too, but who knows? This should bring the list to a few hundred or perhaps a thousand.
4. To be fair, put the list in alphabetical order.(This will put Athena towards the top, she's my favorite, anyway).
5. Pray to the first god for 10 minutes, If he/she's listening this should be enough time and then wait for 24 hours. If nothing good happens, move on to the next god and repeat the process. In a year or two, you should have narrowed the field to a mere handful at which time you again repeat the process keeping only those deities who seemed to show promise. The real god should show repeatability. Scratch all the others. By now you should have determined which god to keep and which to eliminate. I'm confident the real god will appreciate all your effort and determination, at least, he should. Having successfully determined the real god, ask him for the winning lotto numbers just to make life a little easier.
If none of this seems to work, you can give up and become a heathen atheist, at least forgoing all that guilt and fear and with the 10% tithing money you save, you can buy a good book or one of those new electronic gadgets. I assume all the gods have the same 10% service charge..? By the way, if you think this seems silly, perhaps you'd do well to step back and review your god. Can any god look less silly than any other god? I think not.
Choosing a god is a very important and difficult task as there are so many to choose from. Picking the wrong god could result in eternal damnation and fire. Can you take that chance? I thought not... Let's get started...
1. Assemble a complete list of all the gods ever worshipped. Many of these are well documented, so the task shouldn't be too difficult. Google GOD. I'd estimate somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 gods, not counting all those minor ones. This should be easily achieved in a few days or weeks. If any of those pesky JW's knock on the door, just ignore them. Ask the boss for some time off , if necessary, and tell him what you're doing. I'm sure he/she will understand.
2: List all the attributes associated with these gods. Some are maniacal punishing thugs, gods of hate, fire and all manor of brutality and damnation, eliminate these types, we'll just stick with loving and rewarding gods. This may be somewhat more difficult than step one, but remember, the reward will be worth it. Don't be influenced by the god your parents chose, they could be wrong, too. Lets keep it fair and honest. It may be necessary to hire a few unemployed scribes to help for a few months, but what the hell, er heck.
3. Having once assembled all the good gods, the list may still be unmanageably long, so eliminate those whose names you cannot pronounce or spellings that seem weird and unreasonable. A real god should be easy to pronounce. I'm suspicious of gods whose heads and bodies are from differing species too, but who knows? This should bring the list to a few hundred or perhaps a thousand.
4. To be fair, put the list in alphabetical order.(This will put Athena towards the top, she's my favorite, anyway).
5. Pray to the first god for 10 minutes, If he/she's listening this should be enough time and then wait for 24 hours. If nothing good happens, move on to the next god and repeat the process. In a year or two, you should have narrowed the field to a mere handful at which time you again repeat the process keeping only those deities who seemed to show promise. The real god should show repeatability. Scratch all the others. By now you should have determined which god to keep and which to eliminate. I'm confident the real god will appreciate all your effort and determination, at least, he should. Having successfully determined the real god, ask him for the winning lotto numbers just to make life a little easier.
If none of this seems to work, you can give up and become a heathen atheist, at least forgoing all that guilt and fear and with the 10% tithing money you save, you can buy a good book or one of those new electronic gadgets. I assume all the gods have the same 10% service charge..? By the way, if you think this seems silly, perhaps you'd do well to step back and review your god. Can any god look less silly than any other god? I think not.
You pray for me, I'll think for you
Before the great debate with that shmuck Kirk Cameron (I'm thinking shmuck and kirk cameron should get a lot of hits as keywords in google searches) he said he'd pray for the guys, and the response from the response squad was that they'd think for them. I tried this line out on a Christian in a forum I visit and it didn't go down well.
The bible says to 'pray without ceasing' but I think 'think without ceasing' makes much more sense... that's my motto.
The bible says to 'pray without ceasing' but I think 'think without ceasing' makes much more sense... that's my motto.
so think on this Mothman; I pray for people for no other reason than to ask God to keep them safe and well. God loves you whether you acknowledge Him or not, SO THERE.
Ya know what I think? I'm sure you believe your god loves me, how could he not - I'm a great guy, but to use the words you believe are his, 'It rains on the just and the unjust', it doesn't matter if you pray for someone or not because the odds are that they are not going to be any better off than if you don't. Damned if you do damned if you don't.
Which gets me to thinking... no wonder it feels like everytime something bad happens it'll be evened out by something good. Blessing and cursings are just part of the balance, in the same way that gravity brings down what goes up. Superman defies these laws, but unfortunately he's as real as the god who loves me (truthfully, I'm not always that lovable).
I suppose Christians feel they can counter-balance this karma by petitioning their deity to offset it. I'm thinking that doesn't work, because I know just as much shit happens to Christians as it does to non-christians. On the other hand, if Christians do stick to the morals and ethics passed down through generations in much the same way the other religions do with their holy books then good is more likely to come to them by the very reasoning that spurs along the golden rule of spreading niceness.
They say that bad things comes in threes, but if you practice throwing a dice like we do in Primary School mathematics you'll notice that approximately every 6th throw lands on a 6. Three good things will then eventually balance out the bad. That's the balance, in my opinion, and it's just simple maths. The new agists are preaching lately that positive thoughts have an effect on random chance and can provide the bias that'll send your life into prosperity... Tony Robbins style... but those guys are just plain crazy, but at least they're thinking for us.
Know what I mean?
Kirk Cameron is a complete Shmuck: Nighline Debate - Christians and Atheists argue the Existence of God
Has anyone seen this debate that aired on Nightline the other night? I just watched it from the website. Kirk Cameron (the Christian rapture poster boy) and his sugar daddy, Ray Comfort, took to challenging the 'Blasphemy Challengers' Rational Response Squad with the claim that they could irrefutably prove God's existence... and do it with scientific evidence. Here's a rough video taken from the audience. It fares better than the biased edit that the major public saw.
On a positive note, the unedited version from the Nightline website has been viewed by over 200 000 viewers in the last few days.
Let's hear their best evidence as to why God doesn't exist, and let the audience decide whose evidence is based on faith and whose is based on fact. We cannot only prove that God exists, but we can prove that the atheist doesn't." Says Ray Comfort.
In short... they didn't.
Kirk tried to prove God's existence by telling his personal 'salvation' story. It proved squat.
Ray tried to prove god scientifically by showing a Coke can and asking if the coca-cola liquid could have made the can over millions of years... wtf? He also used the 10 commandments as further proof with his tired and flawed argument that if you've ever lusted after a girl or told a lie then you are guilty and are going to Hell. The rules of the debate stipulated that the bible wouldn't be used to validify god... Ray just wanted to make sure he preached his 'terrorism'... the man is a complete wank.
Kirk and Ray's argument fell even more apart when they said it was obvious that a creation needs a creator (first of all you need to believe life IS a creation). When the atheists asked them 'Who created god?', they just sat there without a reply for an uncomfortable while and then babbled that god exists outside of 'time'. Their argument was void of any scientific data. They believed that god has to be eternal but didn't deny the idea that the RSS offered that the universe could equally be considered eternal...
Ray comfort is infamous for his banana story but it is so supremely stupid it's actually painful to watch. If a banana is a perfect example of God's handiwork because of it's convenience to humans, then what the hell is a pineapple? Ever try to harvest and eat one? Ouch!
Sounds like Tinnitus
Tinnitus is a huge part of my life and the bane of my existence. The drama queen in me needs a bane I suppose. I'd have rather something else though. Check out the following video to see exactly how I've been living for the last 4 years. I've habituated it mostly but it's always there. It reminds me I'm alive and that's what I let it do.
I decided to make a whole other blog dedicated to the topic for those ships in the night that pass and need to hear how others have gotten themselves through the hard times. I'm really happy to have been there for you at that dark time, Barb. Millions of blogs out there girl. Makes me wonder about time and chance.
It's got videos, and links, and poems, and feeds to the latest information in Tinnitus research. I'll journal my tinnitus stuff in there from now on. It's for those who share in the ailment and want a place to vent and the like.
I do find comfort in thinking this is a learning experience and a challenge. That's what life is. Life's not a song, life is not bliss, life is just this - it's living (Jos Whedon, Spike, Buffy the Vampire slayer). Well, that's a quote from a vampire with no soul. Still, life isn't easy and it's not supposed to be. It isn't all that bad though because there's lots of pretty stuff to look at and pizza to eat.
God is good, God is great, God kills and murders
The Which one of the following statements is false?
1) God is omnipotent.
2) God could not free the Jews in Exodus, without killing children.
God went on huge killing sprees in the old testament when he was in his 4000 year old bad mood of rage and smoting - Was it PMS perhaps - Pre Messiah Syndrome? You would have thought he'd have been in a worse mood after his creation nailed up his favourite son to a big T... T for trouble! But nah, we're all forgiven because of that awesome sacrifice, however that works.
Before he got all lovey dovey and nice he racked up a pretty huge body count. The guy on the following website estimates 2,270,365 dead in his moody acts of genecide.
Bible body count
And god has no problem killing babies and children and innocent bystanders. The crazy part is that Christians have trained themselves to gloss over this baby killing aspect of God. Some might even be reading this sentence in their minds with a delete key tidying up the mess as they go. They either throw it into their brain's recycle bin or they condone the mass baby killing as the act of something they believe is infinitely more wiser than we.
The New testament writers jumped on this bandwagon and thought.. "Well, God doesn't have a problem killing babies, let's write in a son for him, (an only son- they Jumped the shark on this one to get more readers) let's have him.. ummm... allow his only son to die.. no no.. don't write off the character forever.. just have him die for a few days.
1) God is omnipotent.
2) God could not free the Jews in Exodus, without killing children.
God went on huge killing sprees in the old testament when he was in his 4000 year old bad mood of rage and smoting - Was it PMS perhaps - Pre Messiah Syndrome? You would have thought he'd have been in a worse mood after his creation nailed up his favourite son to a big T... T for trouble! But nah, we're all forgiven because of that awesome sacrifice, however that works.
Before he got all lovey dovey and nice he racked up a pretty huge body count. The guy on the following website estimates 2,270,365 dead in his moody acts of genecide.
Bible body count
And god has no problem killing babies and children and innocent bystanders. The crazy part is that Christians have trained themselves to gloss over this baby killing aspect of God. Some might even be reading this sentence in their minds with a delete key tidying up the mess as they go. They either throw it into their brain's recycle bin or they condone the mass baby killing as the act of something they believe is infinitely more wiser than we.
"All the little cute bundles of widdle biddie joy.. giggling and goo-gaaing. Slaughtered at God's command. Slaugtered and spared not!" - ... okay.. press erase... ...now!
The New testament writers jumped on this bandwagon and thought.. "Well, God doesn't have a problem killing babies, let's write in a son for him, (an only son- they Jumped the shark on this one to get more readers) let's have him.. ummm... allow his only son to die.. no no.. don't write off the character forever.. just have him die for a few days.
God is not mocked (He's in denial?)
Please, for your own sake, stop mocking God and His people. The famous, John Lennon, and Anna Nicole Smith (just to name 2) and many other not so famous, have done so at their own peril. Please don't be included with these unfortunate people.
"Mock" verb: ridicule, deride, insult, jeer, laugh at, parody, scoff, scorn, show contempt, sneer, taunt.
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked, for what ever a man sows, so shall he reap." Galatians 6:7
I found that letter at the Landover Baptist site and it's amazing that I still cower a little bit when I write something funny about Christianity. That's definitely because of my upbringing and I'm also aware of how family members would be shocked to see me lampooning their religions. Truth is there isn't much else I find funnier, so go with it I say.
It's a little like the tingly feeling you get when you go to the mirror and say 'Bloody Mary' three times. You know it's a scary campfire story, but it doesn't stop your imagination from wondering if the Candyman of Bloody Mary will come seeking after your blood. Go to the mirror now... try it. If I had hairs on the back of my neck they'd be raised.
I've seen other people respond to the blasphemy challenge and it seems therapeutic to me. Perhaps it's my internal way of saying, "C'mon God, if you are real, then punish me for promoting the idea that you don't actually exist." God is not mocked?.. the bible says... well, that's not true - he's mocked all the time. So I challenge him to make me bald. I think baldness suits a lot of people, but it wouldn't me, so there... he can strike me with that, 'cause we all know anyway that God hates barbers and I'll have less reason to see them.
It's a little like the tingly feeling you get when you go to the mirror and say 'Bloody Mary' three times. You know it's a scary campfire story, but it doesn't stop your imagination from wondering if the Candyman of Bloody Mary will come seeking after your blood. Go to the mirror now... try it. If I had hairs on the back of my neck they'd be raised.
I've seen other people respond to the blasphemy challenge and it seems therapeutic to me. Perhaps it's my internal way of saying, "C'mon God, if you are real, then punish me for promoting the idea that you don't actually exist." God is not mocked?.. the bible says... well, that's not true - he's mocked all the time. So I challenge him to make me bald. I think baldness suits a lot of people, but it wouldn't me, so there... he can strike me with that, 'cause we all know anyway that God hates barbers and I'll have less reason to see them.
So... if God is not mocked actually means there'll be a mummy's curse on my ass for taunting him then I'm in for some bad mojo or karma? Well, bring it on. I don't think there's anything to fear though - really. You see I've reasoned his existance with the brain and intellect he would have given me to do so. I spent 33 years studying and following his Bible as best I could (I thought I'd at least give it a go for the same amout of time Jesus supposedly lived for) and I decided, "Nup, this smells stranger than rotten platypus eggs".
I can't get done in for wilfull ignorance because I gave it a good hot go and I weighed up the pros and cons as best I could with the information available to me, and processed it as best I could with the only grey matter I had in me.
If perchance there does happen to be a Fairy Godfather tiptoeing through the universe after all and wants to punish me for eternity for not working out the fact that he was actually there... well, I'll just have to take whatever's coming. There won't be any reasoning with a shmuck like that.
Penn and Teller believe the Bibles is Bull waste product (Bullshit)
Bullshit! (also known as Penn & Teller: Bullshit!) is an American television show hosted by the magicians/comedians, Penn & Teller. They aim to debunk a host of popular fads, pseudoscientific ideas, and misconceptions. They criticize often citing ulterior or financial motives.The stated aim of the show is to apply critical thinking to misconceptions, and like the title, they are characteristically blunt and aggressive in their presentation, which I find fun to watch. Sure they sensationalise and spin to sell their show... sure, they've sometimes got egg on their faces later on, but these guys confront and challenge the snapfrozen mindsets with some hot topics.
I found the following videos on Youtube etc. but they keep disappearing and moving around as the copyriters see them. Do some searches for the guys and you'll find their stuff.
God's most embarrassing moments
David said:
LOL, yeah god, don't go out or your way or anything... wouldn't want to put you out. I think Moses would have been annoyed having to climb a whole damn mountain (more than once) to talk with the guy(god) - especially after only having to previously converse through a local fiery bush. Now he has to climb? What, God couldn't come down the mountain? Does he really have to promote the idea that he's physically above us? Such an ego.
Deuteronomy 22: 28 If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. 29 Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her.
Ecclesiastes 3: 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: as one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless.
Numbers 31: 17 Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him. 18 But all the young girls who have not known a man by sleeping with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Jeremiah 25: 27 "Then tell them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.'
Hosea 1: 2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD."
Leviticus 20: 27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones; their blood shall be upon them.
Leviticus 21: 18 For no one who has a defect shall approach: a blind man, or a lame man, or he that hath a flat nose, of anything superfluous.
Malachi 2: 3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces.
Isaiah 13: 15 Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. 16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives ravished.
1 Corinthians 8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. 9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
Luke 19: 27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
Psalms 137: 9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rocks.
Deuteronomy 21: 18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, 19 then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out 20 unto the elders of his city, and 21 all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die.
Proverbs 20: 30 Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.
Numbers 31: 17 Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him. 18 But all the young girls who have not known a man by sleeping with him, keep alive for yourselves.
2 Kings 6: 28 This woman said to me, "Give up your son; we will eat him today, and we will eay my son tomorrow." 29 So we cooked my son and ate him.
Matthew 19:12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb; ...and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.
Deuteronomy 22:5 A woman shall not wear man's clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman's clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your GOD.
Check out russell's teapot for the full list and accompanying posters. Some of them contain images that will haunt you forever though.. eek! Be warned! Highly recommended.
And I just had to share what has to be the most ridiculous miracle of all time (at least, I hope so). It takes place in the story of Gideon. Here is Judges 6:36-40, And Gideon said to God, If You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said, 37 behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the grain-floor. And if the dew is on the fleece only, and dry upon all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.
LOL, yeah god, don't go out or your way or anything... wouldn't want to put you out. I think Moses would have been annoyed having to climb a whole damn mountain (more than once) to talk with the guy(god) - especially after only having to previously converse through a local fiery bush. Now he has to climb? What, God couldn't come down the mountain? Does he really have to promote the idea that he's physically above us? Such an ego.
Deuteronomy 25: 11 If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, 12 you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.I think God probably regrets the following posts in his Blog.
He should edit them:
Deuteronomy 22: 28 If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. 29 Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her.
Ecclesiastes 3: 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: as one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless.
Numbers 31: 17 Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him. 18 But all the young girls who have not known a man by sleeping with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Jeremiah 25: 27 "Then tell them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.'
Hosea 1: 2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD."
Leviticus 20: 27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones; their blood shall be upon them.
Leviticus 21: 18 For no one who has a defect shall approach: a blind man, or a lame man, or he that hath a flat nose, of anything superfluous.
Malachi 2: 3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces.
Isaiah 13: 15 Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. 16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives ravished.
1 Corinthians 8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. 9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
Luke 19: 27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
Psalms 137: 9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rocks.
Deuteronomy 21: 18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, 19 then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out 20 unto the elders of his city, and 21 all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die.
Proverbs 20: 30 Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.
Numbers 31: 17 Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him. 18 But all the young girls who have not known a man by sleeping with him, keep alive for yourselves.
2 Kings 6: 28 This woman said to me, "Give up your son; we will eat him today, and we will eay my son tomorrow." 29 So we cooked my son and ate him.
Matthew 19:12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb; ...and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.
Deuteronomy 22:5 A woman shall not wear man's clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman's clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your GOD.
Check out russell's teapot for the full list and accompanying posters. Some of them contain images that will haunt you forever though.. eek! Be warned! Highly recommended.
It's a miracle, I'm healed!
Once you've bought into the whole Christian belief system you start to believe in all the fringe benefits, like healing. Time to accessorise that amazing tongues trick with the other gifts, signs and fruits. Perhaps that dicky knee can be replaced... or the fatty tissues slowed down? Of course you could start eating properly and exercise, but a quick fix and a prayer line would make it all a whole lot easier.
Ah yes, take two prayers and see me in the morning if Cancer still persists. Guaranteed to sometimes work! You can realign your life and make resolutions fuelled by an amazing overnight healing that we can all suppose came from God above. Well, why not? The power of positive thinking, the placebo effect, that kind of thing. But psychologists report that the euphoria of the imagined healings will wear off in a short matter of time, and the failure to follow through on any of the promises they made to god for it will leave people even more demoralized than ever.
But they'll be back. The people who fall for these things do so again and again. One woman seen at a Revival meeting seemed to see no irony in the fact that she'd been attending the same meetings regularly for three years without results. I've seen people convinced that God wanted to heal people and make idiots of themselves trying to heal someone of Cancer. Do they learn? Nope, they figure that they must have some sin, or something they've missed, not enough prayer, etc.
Sometimes prayer works. Sometimes it doesn't. I have heard many second-hand stories that open the possibilities that there was a dynamic involved that was not explainable by the doctor. Certainly never seen anything in my 35 years of wandering that looked slightly supernatural in any way.
I found the following story to be quite sobering when considering the magical properties we give to miracles that are not all that strange or miraculous in the first place.
Read more...(The) introduction is to help show that I was very active and believed that I was indeed, a "True Christian."And that's why when I had a miracle, I was extremely grateful, but not overly surprised. My god was a mighty god, after all, who reigned from heaven on high. Miracles were a normal part of my theology.
My daughter was running/toddling around our apartment, and in her clumsy exuberance, crashed headlong into the pointed corner of our coffee table. Her half-dozen teeth were crushed backwards into her face, blood was gushing everywhere, and her two young parents were hysterical. Her face was a wreck.
At the hospital, the doctors told us there was nothing anyone could do. Her teeth would probably fall out. All they could offer, they said, was something for the pain and to stop the bleeding. So, with our now deformed-mouthed little girl, we went home, laid hands on her, and prayed to the Lord of Hosts to heal our whimpering baby. The pain medicine made our daughter groggy, so we put her to bed. When she awoke the next morning, her teeth were perfectly straight, and except for a small scar where she'd bitten through her lip during the fall, she was completely healed. It was a miracle. God had healed our daughter. We spread the news far and wide, and used that experience to testify to the living reality of our God.That was 15 years ago.
About seven years ago, I started to severely question my faith. I eventually left Christianity and started this website.
So, what about that miracle? In the last couple of years I've noticed that when our daughter sings, her face lacks symmetry. This doesn't seem to affect her ability for music, but it is somewhat distracting to the people watching her sing. I took her to an orthodontist for an opinion and found out that one side of her jaw is longer than the other. The only way to correct the problem, he said, was to break her jaw and re-set it. When it healed, hopefully, the two sides of her face when singing would appear more symmetrical.
I asked what would have caused such a problem. He replied by asking if she'd had a hard fall when she was very young. "The coffee table!" I thought. The doctor explained that what probably had happened was that my daughter had damaged the jaw during the fall, which stunted the growth on one side. He assured us there was nothing anyone could have done, and there was no way to know the extent of the damage until our daughter grew up. We told him about her teeth being bashed into her mouth in the fall, and how the teeth had straightened over night. He said that things like that were not uncommon. The healing powers of the body, especially a young body, were amazing at times. What is my point with this little personal introspection?
Many Christians hang on to their faith based on some personal experience that they consider to be miraculous. I know Christians frequently do this, because I was one of those Christians. Typically, the so-called miracles are fairly minor events, events that could be easily explained by any number of natural causes. I know this, too, because my miracle mentioned here is a prime example. For those Christians who are sure that Christianity is true because someone was healed of a backache, or someone babbled in an unknown tongue, or some old lady left her wheel chair for an hour or two, or something equally routine, I challenge that person to ask why amputees never grow new limbs. Ask why people who have lungs removed, never grow new ones. Ask why all the so-called miracles of healing by almighty God are so easily mimicked by the natural healing powers of the body. Believing is nice. It gives a wonderful feeling of being watched over and protected, but it's all a lie.
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