I love satire.
Report: Baby Skull Jewelry May Be Linked To Violence
19 February 2010
18 February 2010
People need Faith at any cost
I had some Jehovas Witnesses call round a few days ago. There is a mission a couple of streets away. The conversation ended a draw but I think I had more of the ball. It was interesting to argue religion in real time for a change.
The bottom line finally arrived at was that they needed to believe in some higher power because without that, their life would have no meaning or purpose. So they choose to hang on to a belief because their reality could not exist without it. A friend of my wife said something similar, that even if god had been personally responsibile for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she would still believe in him because she could not imagine having to face life on her own.
Let's face it, as a species, we have become self-aware but we still need that existential element to help define how we got here and to take culpability and fear of death away from us.
I have just stumbled across this amazing site by following Banana Man's blog ring and I would like to share it with you both; http://nothingexistsdespiteappearances.blogspot.com/?expref=next-blog
Not sure what to make of it but it needs further exploration.
I am content to know that there is no meaning to anything other than what we allocate to it. I'm me, I'm now and that's all. No god. No purpose. No sense. No one Truth.
No redemption. I am responsible to the people around me. I will have lived and died in less than a blink of an eye in this cosmos but I will live on through my childen.
Every second of my life is precious because it is all I have.
The bottom line finally arrived at was that they needed to believe in some higher power because without that, their life would have no meaning or purpose. So they choose to hang on to a belief because their reality could not exist without it. A friend of my wife said something similar, that even if god had been personally responsibile for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she would still believe in him because she could not imagine having to face life on her own.
Let's face it, as a species, we have become self-aware but we still need that existential element to help define how we got here and to take culpability and fear of death away from us.
I have just stumbled across this amazing site by following Banana Man's blog ring and I would like to share it with you both; http://nothingexistsdespiteappearances.blogspot.com/?expref=next-blog
Not sure what to make of it but it needs further exploration.
I am content to know that there is no meaning to anything other than what we allocate to it. I'm me, I'm now and that's all. No god. No purpose. No sense. No one Truth.
No redemption. I am responsible to the people around me. I will have lived and died in less than a blink of an eye in this cosmos but I will live on through my childen.
Every second of my life is precious because it is all I have.
15 February 2010
The danger of Islam over other religions
I may be misinformed here but my take on Islam is that it is the 'One true religion' and its followers have a duty to convert kaffirs or declare jihad on them (whatever the interpretation of that is). It is that black and white. As for apostates, I know of no other religion where some factions advocate death.
Faith schools and religious segregation are allowed and encouraged by this government and Madrasses are being set up all over the place. I have learned about fundie christian groups, particularly in America but this fundementalist blind faith of Islam is being enforced in every town and city in this country. If you teach people not to question or to apply logic and reason, you are making succeptable to being brainwashed further down the road by whoever gets hold of them.
The UN has passed a resolution against religious defamation and look what Ireland has put in place. Religious indoctrination is attracting protection and validation like never before when there should be some kind of redress of the balance, or at least a core curriculum covering all religion and none. I feel so sorry for the poor children who are force fed dogma until they are unable to think for themselves.
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Faith schools and religious segregation are allowed and encouraged by this government and Madrasses are being set up all over the place. I have learned about fundie christian groups, particularly in America but this fundementalist blind faith of Islam is being enforced in every town and city in this country. If you teach people not to question or to apply logic and reason, you are making succeptable to being brainwashed further down the road by whoever gets hold of them.
The UN has passed a resolution against religious defamation and look what Ireland has put in place. Religious indoctrination is attracting protection and validation like never before when there should be some kind of redress of the balance, or at least a core curriculum covering all religion and none. I feel so sorry for the poor children who are force fed dogma until they are unable to think for themselves.
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10 February 2010
God's Job Description
I wonder what God's job description would look like. It would have to make reference to 'moving in mysterious ways.' Is He is on a 'fixed term contract' and what would happen to us if he retired?
I wonder what does He do with His leisure time. He could visit Earth as a mystery shopper, but does being omnipotent takes some of the fun away? Perhaps he is busy creating other universes, hence the lack of plague, pestilance, smiting etc over the last couple of millennia. However he could have sub-contracted the operation to someone in his absence.
I really do feel that God has been neglecting things of late, which may not be a bad thing as He was responsible for the slaughter of a good few million people. I also think He enjoys the controversy He causes. Otherwise He would have done something to silence the doubters and worshipers of false idols.
He made us in His image but do we have the same emotional capacity as God? If so, he must get upset when all the nice fluffy animals get drowned in floods and he must get angry with all the nasty terrorists. He sent two bears to kill some children just for insulting a bald man. His job script really should spell out the need for consistency, particularly regarding equality of opportunity. God doesn't seem to be on record as promoting the rights of Gays or Women.
He built a world that is 3/4 sea and then designed us to live on land, much of which looks pretty but is uninhabitable. He then let the world become over populated, banned birth control and didn't supply enough raw materials, particularly crude oil (Of course He may well know that we are going to invent the 'anti gravity drive in 2030, so it won't be an issue).
Could it be that God told us he is omnipotent but still has some way to go? I feel that my faith is being tested and I am sorry but I want some proof that He is still up to the job or at least meets the minimum person specification. What if He has given up on the job and not told anyone? Who is He accountable to?
I wonder what does He do with His leisure time. He could visit Earth as a mystery shopper, but does being omnipotent takes some of the fun away? Perhaps he is busy creating other universes, hence the lack of plague, pestilance, smiting etc over the last couple of millennia. However he could have sub-contracted the operation to someone in his absence.
I really do feel that God has been neglecting things of late, which may not be a bad thing as He was responsible for the slaughter of a good few million people. I also think He enjoys the controversy He causes. Otherwise He would have done something to silence the doubters and worshipers of false idols.
He made us in His image but do we have the same emotional capacity as God? If so, he must get upset when all the nice fluffy animals get drowned in floods and he must get angry with all the nasty terrorists. He sent two bears to kill some children just for insulting a bald man. His job script really should spell out the need for consistency, particularly regarding equality of opportunity. God doesn't seem to be on record as promoting the rights of Gays or Women.
He built a world that is 3/4 sea and then designed us to live on land, much of which looks pretty but is uninhabitable. He then let the world become over populated, banned birth control and didn't supply enough raw materials, particularly crude oil (Of course He may well know that we are going to invent the 'anti gravity drive in 2030, so it won't be an issue).
Could it be that God told us he is omnipotent but still has some way to go? I feel that my faith is being tested and I am sorry but I want some proof that He is still up to the job or at least meets the minimum person specification. What if He has given up on the job and not told anyone? Who is He accountable to?
4 February 2010
The philosophy behind manscaping (landscaping of a man's hair) is if you get a haircut for the top of your head, you should consider caring for the rest of your hairy body. If your wife says she doesn't care or notice, she is lying! Never manscape in public (like the gym locker room) and don't think people don't notice your curly, pubic-like, shoulder hair when you wear a tank top. Lastly, the motivation for manscaping is for a woman, not to become one.
Trim your hairy chest, arms and legs. Shaving them is metrosexual, trimming is manscaping
Wax your back, it's gross
Keep armpit hair in your armpit
No one should ever see hair coming out of your nose or ears
If you're going bald, shave it. You're not fooling anyone and Agassi's hair was a wig
Never give yourself a haircut and if no one has ever complimented you after your wife's attempt she must stop too
Shave your neck line between haircut appointments
Uni-brows are still out so pluck and shape but don't over do it Alice.
Eyebrows should have a length limit. How come you don't notice that 2 inch wild hair?
Cut your sideburns parallel to your jaw bone and cut facial hair symmetrically
Don't miss a patch of hair while shaving. We notice the left over stubble under your nose and around your moles
Trimming some areas make objects appear larger than they are!
Knuckle hair shouldn't cover your wedding ring.
Trim your hairy chest, arms and legs. Shaving them is metrosexual, trimming is manscaping
Wax your back, it's gross
Keep armpit hair in your armpit
No one should ever see hair coming out of your nose or ears
If you're going bald, shave it. You're not fooling anyone and Agassi's hair was a wig
Never give yourself a haircut and if no one has ever complimented you after your wife's attempt she must stop too
Shave your neck line between haircut appointments
Uni-brows are still out so pluck and shape but don't over do it Alice.
Eyebrows should have a length limit. How come you don't notice that 2 inch wild hair?
Cut your sideburns parallel to your jaw bone and cut facial hair symmetrically
Don't miss a patch of hair while shaving. We notice the left over stubble under your nose and around your moles
Trimming some areas make objects appear larger than they are!
Knuckle hair shouldn't cover your wedding ring.
28 January 2010
5 January 2010
Second-Hand Revelation
My comment on this blog
And a reply from Bob A, who said...
I am beginning to find that there is no debating with people like Bob A, no inch that they are prepared to give, no admission that their beliefs could appear to be absurd and then they pull answers out of the bible to show me they are right.
I'm just as bad because I know I am right. There can be no concept of me being wrong either unless god is a sadist. And then which god? Now that's given me an idea, "Which God? - We test all the major religions and come up with a best buy and recommended".
One could say that virtually every verse in the Bible, Qu’ran, or other holy text from a revealed religion could be preceded by "Some guy said God told him to tell you..." Millions have taken it for granted that an omnipotent God chose second-hand revelation as a primary method to communicate to us.JANUARY 2, 2010 4:03 PM
One seeming paradox of second-hand revelation is that God supposedly had a message for all of humanity, but God told just a few guys. For unexplained reasons, God apparently stopped communicating that way from then on, putting the burden on them to be messenger boys. Well, perhaps God didn’t stop entirely, as we continue to get claims of revelation periodically, but many revelations claim to be the final one and pronounce dire warnings to any who claim later ones. That might explain the tendency for many to accept ancient revelation over modern revelation.
If God uses a few selected scribes to reveal all-important truths to the rest of us, we are essentially stuck taking their word for it. To me, it seems ironic and contradictory that God allegedly would want a personal relationship but then use bronze-age tribesmen as agents to obtain it.
Why would an omnipotent being choose this method in the first place, with all the risks of translation error, copy error, miscommunication, cross-cultural differences, appearance of favoritism, inherent limits of human language, and so on? It can’t be more trouble to simply speak to us directly, if omnipotence is a reality.
Why are conflicting revelations allowed?
Some claim that the path to eternal salvation lies in second-hand revelation. If so, wouldn't that place your salvation into the hands a fallible human? It seems odd that this arguably most important of truths would be communicated indirectly by fallible humans, especially when God is said to be omnipotent.
Would the originating force behind the entire universe choose a method so fraught with potential for trouble? As if God needed a spokesguy... In the churches of my youth, we simply took it for granted and never gave it a second thought. Is that common?
And a reply from Bob A, who said...
Philip, I believe your thoughts cross many minds that really want to seek the truth. I remember I wrestled with the same questions when I was first introduced to the Bible. But the more I read, the more I saw within His word that it was the simple things that God chose to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:26-28 26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,….).JANUARY 4, 2010 4:23 PM
Unless this book is a series of our-right lies (it has withstood the test and punishment of man and time without a scratch), we need to take it for what it says it is…the truth (Jer.34:12; 2Tim 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Rev. 1:1; 14:13..and my favorite 1 John 5:13) …..this is of course where faith comes in….but not blind faith…..faith that believes on evidence and reason.
There are so many scholars that spend their lives searching and defending the Bible through apologetics. I have found a great source to be Josh McDowel’s “The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict”. Also check out Dr. James White on his website, http://aomin.org/ he's great.
I guess for me the testimony of the inspired men of God that became martyrs for their beliefs gave me the historical evidence I needed combined with reason, logic, the laws of evidence and faith…Paul seems to have summed it up for me.....
Galatians 1:6-24 No Other Gospel
“ 6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
10Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul Called by God
11I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
I would say it is common for the world to look at God’s word this way…….I would say it is unfortunately, but what is common to man is not common to God.. 1 Corinthians 10:13
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful……”.
1 Corinthians 2:15-16 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16"For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?"[a] But we have the mind of Christ.
Aren’t you glad He chose us to be able to look at the things of God His Way?!
I am beginning to find that there is no debating with people like Bob A, no inch that they are prepared to give, no admission that their beliefs could appear to be absurd and then they pull answers out of the bible to show me they are right.
I'm just as bad because I know I am right. There can be no concept of me being wrong either unless god is a sadist. And then which god? Now that's given me an idea, "Which God? - We test all the major religions and come up with a best buy and recommended".
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