tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66903852042219953542024-03-13T08:57:51.044-07:00Is God an atheist?In the bible it says Jesus was a Carpenter, but he is not on any of the albums I have!Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-57717890584790896462009-02-01T16:23:00.000-08:002009-02-01T16:26:17.207-08:00Understanding ReligionSome theists are of the opinion that atheists are wrong to reject Christianity and the Bible for the reason that we do not truly understand them. That is to say, how can we possibly justify saying that something is false when our knowledge of it is limited?<br /><br />Apparently, only a person who knows the entire Bible off by heart in English, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, as well as being familiar with the minutiae of the mainstream denominations, past and present, could be in a position to say "Well, I think it's a load of baloney".<br /><br />A few flaws in this argument spring to mind.<br /><br />Firstly, there are many Biblical scholars, priests and theologians who have utterly rejected the religion. Such people know a great deal more about the subject than I do, and have still found fatal faults in it. (A good example would be Dan Barker, of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, who wrote a book on the subject - "Losing Faith In Faith : From Preacher To Atheist")<br /><br />A second obvious problem is that the people who use the argument forget that it applies to themselves also, with regard to every other religion on the planet. Few Christians have a detailed knowledge of Hinduism, Wicca, Sikhism, or the Australian Aborignal Dreamtime. Following their logic, they have no valid reason whatsoever to reject the other religions for the simple fact that they know little or nothing about them. Unless of course these criteria mysteriously apply only to Christianity.<br /><br />Nobody is justified in rejecting Christianity without understanding it completely, but Christians are fully justified in rejecting all other religions without even partially understanding them. How many standards can you count?<br /><br />Some believers make the problem even more complicated, such as this example from my feedback page: "I read this webpage with interest. The real catch 22 occurs when an atheist tries to discern something in the scriptures. The only prerequisite for understanding the scriptures is that the one reading them first believes that "God is". Since you don't meet the first requirement, you don't have any understanding at all. Catch 22."<br /><br />How anybody can possibly understand the Bible, were this to be true as well as the first proposition, is beyond me. It seems that a person is not qualified to reject the Bible without fully understanding it, but that person can never understand the Bible unless he/she is already a Christian. And how do you become a Christian in order to be able to understand the Bible? By reading and understanding the Bible, of course!<br /><br />This merrily brings us on to the next topic - is it okay to accept Christianity whilst remaining basically clueless about it?<br /><br />In a nutshell - Yes!<br /><br />Remember, it is wrong to reject Jesus and God if you are missing even a single tiny piece of information about them.<br /><br />But on the other hand, it is perfectly acceptable to require that people of all ages, from the youngest infant to the oldest pensioner, not only accept Jesus over all the thousands of other deities, but refrain from asking too many tricky questions about Him (which, naturally, would lead to a greater understanding of the religion).<br /><br />If a child runs into the room saying "Mummy, mummy! I love Jesus and He loves me! We're all going to Heaven when we die and God is looking over us!", people will smile and praise the child. Nobody would say "Don't be silly. You can't possibly say that because you don't fully understand everything about the religion. How can you know that for sure, when you've not read the Bible in the original Hebrew?!?". But if a child (or teenager, or adult) says "I've had a good think about it, and have come to the conclusion that Jesus is a myth and nothing in Christianity makes much sense. I declare myself to be a freethinking secular humanist.", then they are quite likely to receive the latter response. You could have all the theological training of a hedgehog and still get wild applause if you stand up and say you're a Christian, but it seems that atheists are required to demonstrate more intelligence and Biblical expertise than all the clergymen and theologians that have ever lived before they are allowed to publicly express their doubts.<br /><br />Presumably then, the notion of accepting things "on faith" was created to prevent people learning so much about the religion that they inevitably reject it. A friend of mine told me about the students on a Theology course at his university - as the course progressed and they learnt more and more, the students tended to polarise into either complete atheists, who considered that the entirety of theism was absurd; or Born-Again Christians, who considered that everything they found in the Bible was true due to its being in the Bible.<br /><br />Amusing though this all is, it doesn't get to the heart of the matter.<br /><br />Atheists reject Christianity (and all the others) for a few very simple reasons. You don't need to examine every rivet on the Titanic to check its seaworthiness when you've already spotted the enormous iceberg-shaped gash in the hull.<br /><br />There are hundreds, if not thousands, of mutually exclusive religions all claiming to have The One Truth and divinely inspired, infallible scriptures.<br /><br />There are hundreds, if not thousands, of (often mutually exclusive) sects within Christianity, all claiming to have The One True interpretation of scripture. (They will also often claim that members of different sects are "not real Christians").<br /><br />There is overwhelming evidence suggesting that the history and nature of the universe (and life on Earth) bears no resemblance whatsoever to the myths of any religion.<br /><br />There is little or no objective evidence in favour of the existence of any deity.<br /><br />There are plenty of better, naturalistic explanations for the phenomena we observe around us.<br /><br />The explanations given by religions tend to only raise more problems than they solve. Most, if not all, descriptions of Deities are incoherent, meaningless, self-contradictory or refuted by simple observations (omni-benevolence and the problem of gratuitous evil, for instance).Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-30073084265812541872008-10-18T15:06:00.001-07:002008-10-18T15:06:54.570-07:00$cientology,Once upon a time or so all good fairy tales begin (approximately 75 million years ago to be more precise) there was a great and powerful alien galactic ruler, his name was Xenu.<br />Xenu, being your typical galactic ruler, was in charge of all the planets in this part of the galaxy which incidentally included our own planet Earth, except in back then to Xenu and his people it was called Teegeeack.<br /><br />Now Xenu had a small problem. Each of the 76 or so planets he controlled was vastly over-populated. Each individual planet had on average a whopping 178 billion or so people. He sought to get rid of all the over population so he developed a cunning plan.<br /><br />Xenu took over total control with the help of some faithful renegades to overpower the good people and the devoted Officers. Then with the help of psychiatrists he called in billions of people for income tax inspections. Once there they instead given numerous injections of alcohol and glycol mixed up specially to paralyse them. Then they were put into huge space planes that closely resembled present day DC8s (except they were rocket powered instead of relying on propellers).<br /><br />These DC8-like space planes then flew to planet Teegeeack (Earth) where the paralysed and drugged people were unceremoniously placed around the bases of active volcanoes by their hundreds of billions. When they had completed stacking them in the region of aforementioned volcanoes then H-bombs were lowered in to place inside the volcanoes. Xenu then detonated all the H-bombs at the same time and everybody was killed in an instant, solving in one step his over crowding and over population problems..<br /><br />Alas, the story doesn’t end there by any means. Since everyone has a soul (known as a “thetan” to Xenu and his chums) then you have to trick souls into not coming back again. So while the hundreds of billions of souls were being blown around by the nuclear winds cause by the H-bomb and volcanoes Xenu had special electronic traps made that caught all the souls in electronic beams (the electronic version of fly-paper).<br /><br />After he had captured all these souls he had them crammed into boxes and taken to a few gigantic cinemas. There all the souls had to spend days watching special 3D motion pictures that told them what life should be like and many other confusing things. In this film they were shown false pictures and told they depicted things known as God, The Devil and Christ. This process is named “implanting”.<br /><br />When the films ended and the souls left the cinema these souls started to stick together because since they had all seen the same film they thought they were the same people. They clustered in groups of a few thousand. Now because there were only a few living bodies left they stayed as clusters and inhabited these bodies.<br /><br />As for Xenu, the Loyal Officers finally overthrew him and they locked him away in a mountain on one of the planets. He is kept in by a force-field powered by an eternal battery and Xenu is still alive today.<br /><br />Thus ends the story.<br /><br />Because of Xenu, and his actions today everyone is full of these clusters of souls called “body thetans”. And if we are to be a free soul then we have to remove all these “body thetans” and pay lots of money to do so. And the only reason people believe in God and Christ was because it was in the film their body thetans saw 75 million years ago.<br /><br /><br />Does this make perfect sense to you or does it seem like the product of a very badly written cheap 1950’s science fiction paperback?<br /><br />To me, at least, it is the latter but to the people who follow $cientology it is the former.Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-49675886228476030652008-09-05T08:02:00.000-07:002008-09-05T08:14:40.467-07:00Not so Itelligent Design<span style="color:#ffffff;">Contemporary creationists have a propensity to keep away from direct mentions to religion, and the Bible in particular. The notion of "Intelligent Design Theory" is in the rising, as it can potentially be presented as a nonreligious theory of supernatural creation. Fortunately only a small number of people are naive enough to be conned by this, as it is blatantly apparent that it is just traditional good ol' Biblical Creationism in sheep's clothing. The people advocating it, however, know that it can utilised as a method of reaching their goal of forcing religion into the science classroom, if possible in place of genuine scientific theories about such subjects as evolution and cosmology, but if that fails, at the very least it may be afforded "equal time" in a independent fashion, so that, in theory, students can make up their own opinion. This petition to "equality" is what they hope to use to get such twaddle on an equivalent footing with conventional, real and proven science.<br /><br />The devious and deceitful purpose appears to be to manufacture an apparently scientific version of Creation that can be foisted into science classrooms, and also signify to students that science is not only well-matched with, but actually absolutely supports, the biblical doctrines of Creationism as well as their own individual philosophy. The idea is that religious parental groups can hopefully then begin to pressure schools into teaching a more "scripturally/scientifically balanced" account of biological and cosmological beginnings, and religious students then can ask questions such as to why they are not being taught the theoretical alternative science of Intelligent Design.<br /></span><p><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Examples that have often been used to reveal apparent design consist of:<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">1, The "irreducible" intricacy of the human eye (the fact that Darwin dealt with this in The Origin Of Species, and did not consider it a problem, is more often than not overlooked. Strange.) </span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">2, The "irreducible" complexity of diverse proteins and molecules, e.g. haemoglobin.<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">3, The apparent "fine tuning" of the universe to allow humans to exist (also known as the "Anthropic Principle"- we can observe the universe, therefore it exists for our benefit).<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">The proposal is pretty uncomplicated - find anything in nature that can be described as so improbable as to be almost impossible, or so complex that it "could not possibly" have come into being without a guiding hand, and you have the basis for "intelligent design" - the only rationalisation is that a supernatural, super-intelligent entity guided the creation of the universe and all living things. If the student is of a religious attitude, this all makes a great deal of sagacity and will be enormously appealing, and it is plainly a very short step from "supernatural designer" to "God", and the God of Christianity in particular.<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">Therein lies the flaw, regrettably.<br />Let us say, for the sake of disagreement, that a multitude of things are revealed which cannot possibly be explained by any known science. Unquestionably strong confirmation that the Bible is indeed correct and we should all immediately fall to our knees and worship Jebus as our personal Lord and Saviour?<br />No such luck - let's scrutinize the problems involved. It makes the assumption that science will never be able to adequately clarify and explain the phenomena. Theists like to say things like "It is unreasonable to say there is no god without first having infinite knowledge" (this is along the exact same lines as denying the reality of pink unicorns without first having the opportunity to search every cubic inch of the universe). This can clearly be turned around, into "It is unreasonable to say that science will never solve this, without first having infinite knowledge of science." Basically the theist is saying that we should just accept that "God did it" and think no further on the matter. Scientists, on the other hand, would rather say "We don't know - let's try to find out." Unexplained is NOT the same as inexplicable, although creationists would prefer us to believe otherwise. ID is one last desperate attempt to find a God of the Gaps, before science closes that final gap.<br />Let's take the assumptions one step further now, and for the sake of argument assume that science can never explain how the universe came to be, and some sort of powerful supernatural (or at least, unknown) involvement is necessary.<br />1, Who is to say that the Creator is still around? Valid possibilities include:<br />a, The Creator created the universe, and then simply left it alone. He neither knows nor cares about any life in it (this is a form of Deism).<br />b, The Creator ceased to exist at the moment of creation. He converted himself into the physical universe, and effectively died at that instant.<br />c, He died of boredom waiting for anything interesting to happen.<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">2, Why just one Creator? Why not two, or a dozen, or a million? If you are going to invoke the supernatural, then the idea that there is an individual creator for each and every sub-atomic particle is just as plausible as there being one big one that made everything. Many religions have numerous gods, each being responsible for a different part of the universe. What makes a single creator a better explanation than multiple creators? It is also possible that one Creator made the universe, which was then taken over by another omnipotent critter - a caretaker deity.<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">3, It is an unjustified leap to assert that there was a single creator, and that creator must therefore be God as described in the Bible. Again, the creation stories of every other religion, extinct or extant, are equally plausible in this context.<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">4, What reason is there to think that a Creator is even remotely interested in human beings, or any other specific form of life? There are, for instance, far more beetles and bacteria that humans, and they have also been around much longer. It could be that humans (and elephants and starfish) are a mere side-effect of a great beetle-breeding experiment!<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">5, What reason is there to suppose that life was intended to exist? Living things obviously do exist, but life could merely be an unintended or unimportant side-effect. It may be that a Creator was only interested in making stars, and everything else is just an emergent property caused by the way the universe is set up. Alternatively, the Creator could be some sort of hobbyist who creates universes, lets them run their course to see how they develop, and then starts again with a slightly different configuration. Humans, apart from being the most important part of Creation might merely be a tick on his checklist ("Experiment #1782638, life developed : Yes").<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">6, Should it be demonstrated that a Creator does exist, and is interested in us, it still does not follow that we are required to bow down and worship it. Would it even want us to? Why create the enormity of the universe merely to have a single solitary planet briefly inhabited by cringing sycophants?<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">7, Life existed on Earth for hundreds of millions of years before humans evolved, and the amount of time we have been around is utterly insignificant relative to the age of the universe. Were we to exist for a hundred million years ourselves, life will still go on afterwards without us, and the universe itself has many billions of years left in it. It seems bizarre (and considerably arrogant) to suggest that it is all here just for our benefit, or purely to ensure that humans came about.<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">8, If life has been "designed" from the start, which would suggest that there is some sort of guiding hand behind the processes that form life - evolution. However, evolution generally progresses by the bloody, violent and painful deaths of living things. Carnivores kill and eat herbivores, parasites inject their eggs into living creatures so that they can hatch out and eat the host alive from the inside, disease organisms inflict untold agony on many living things. Also, in order to ensure the eventual formation of specific creatures (e.g. humans), certain events had to happen - mass extinctions caused by meteor strikes, wiping out 90% of life, for example. Either not a good example of intelligent design, or the Designer just like inflicting asteroids, volcanoes, tidal waves and plagues on his dearly loved creations to ensure they evolved in the right direction. In short, the "designer" could not have found a more hideous way to go about creating life forms. Maybe he enjoys seeing pain and suffering? That would appear to be the case, judging from the evidence of life.<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">9, This brings us to the concept of a "Powerful Deceiver" - instead of this Creator being an all-powerful, kind, loving entity, what reason is there to think that it is not, in fact, an all-powerful, evil, hateful entity that sees life on Earth much as a child with a magnifying glass sees ants on a sunny day? Being all-powerful, it would be perfectly easy to convince people that he was benevolent, and being mere mortals there is no way we could tell otherwise (convincing ourselves that fires and earthquakes are all part of his mysterious, but no doubt good, Plan for us all). Certainly, judging by the historical (and present day) atrocities committed by followers of an alleged Creator, this is all too easy to suspect (and, of course, just as impossible to disprove as is the idea of a benevolent deity, and therefore no less valid).<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;">10, It is even possible to postulate a more mundane Creator - an experimental physicist from a civilisation so advanced that even its most basic children's toy would appear miraculous to us, still in the infancy of science. Perhaps our entire universe was generated in an Acme Big Bang machine on her workbench, parameters carefully adjusted to allow for the formation of stars, planets and self-replicating molecules that may one day become alive. Contrived and far-fetched though this may sound, it is (again) equally as valid as anything dreamt up by the founders of any religion. It does though beg the question of the creation of our physicists own universe, but then so does the idea of a Creator beg the question "Who Created the Creator?"<br /></span></p><p><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span></p><p align="left"><span style="color:#ffffff;">These examples are not intended to show that a Creator cannot exist, but that ID theorists are quite unjustified in going from "We see design in the universe" to "The God of the Bible exists, and Christianity is the One True Religion" (or whichever God and religion they happen to believe in).<br />It should also be mentioned that the Intelligent Designer hypothesis has no explanatory power whatsoever. What does it solve? How does it help? The solution to an apparently (assuming, as they do, that it is forever beyond the ken of mere mortals) intractable problem is effectively this :<br /></span><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;"></span></strong></p><p align="left"><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">An unknown, unknowable entity did it</span></strong></p><p align="left"><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">in an unknown manner</span></strong></p><p align="left"><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">for unknown reasons. </span></strong></p><p align="left"><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;"><br /></span></strong><span style="color:#ffffff;">Well, that's a biiiig leap forward in human knowledge and understanding of the universe, isn't it? Intelligent Design attempts to explain a mystery with an even greater mystery. Perhaps it would be more reasonable to simply say "We don't know, let's try to find out"...<br />In conclusion, in the unlikely event that Creationists (sorry, "Intelligent Design Theorists") ever come up with solid evidence of supernatural design, it would be no reason to adopt any of their religious assertions along with it. The point is, it is possible to just make up anything and assert that it can explain the unexplainable, supported only by lack of available science and lots of wishful thinking. The hypothesis of Intelligent Design not only attempts to explain everything and in doing so manages to explain nothing at all, but also raises more questions than it claims to solve, thus rendering itself worthless.<br /></span></p>Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-4169128517905528342008-07-29T03:26:00.000-07:002008-07-29T03:38:42.585-07:00Oh Hell, The Devil made me do it.There is a special toasty corner of Hell reserved for scumbag so called non-believers like me, or so I'm told. If that's where I'm headed then I think it's only fair to cast a critical eye over the concept.<br />There are various definitions of Hell according to which religion you follow, and to which sub-branch of that religion you subscribe. The Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, don't think that Hell is a place of flames and torment, but simply a place outside the sphere of God's love. When you pop your clogs, good JW's get into Heaven (which may actually be on Earth anyway), and everyone else just.... doesn't. It's a bit strange and vague, but that's the JWs for you.<br />Most people are familiar with the common concept of Heaven and Hell. Nice people go to Heaven where they get a harp and sit on a cloud for the rest of eternity; bad people go to Hell where demons poke them with sharp sticks for the rest of eternity. Heaven is ruled by God and Jesus, Hell is ruled by Satan and his minions. Oooh, you'd better be good or you'll burn in Hellfire forever!! And you don't want that, do you?<br />This is all well and good, if that's where you stop thinking about it. Unfortunately, some of us have inquisitive minds and can't help but probe a little deeper into this odd aspect of Christianity.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Where is Hell?</span><br /></strong>Yes, yes, we all know there are several towns called Hell or Hel, but I'm talking about the hot place ruled by the big red guy with horns.<br />Is it an actual physical location? Some seem to think so. Some people believe that Hell is located at the centre of the Earth (there was even a story some years ago about Russian miners going so deep that they heard the screams of the Damned). You can understand how this belief came about - thousands of years ago, people seeing erupting volcanoes probably thought that Hell was leaking. It gave them a startling insight into the world below. This could well be how the whole Burning In Hellfire idea came about.<br />If there really was a huge hollow cavern in the molten mantle, I can't help but wonder why it hasn't yet shown up on geological/seismological surveys...<br />Others seem to think that it is on some other dimensional plane of existence - it really does exist, but not in the universe as we know it.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What happens to your body?</span><br /></strong>Back to the idea of demons poking you with sharp sticks. Hell is portrayed as a place of eternal torment - every possible torture and atrocity that you can imagine will be inflicted on you, forever. You will be in constant agonising pain for all eternity (so you'd better repent, or else).<br />How does this happen then? When you die, your central nervous system stops functioning and your body is buried or burnt. There is a well understood process for the transmission of pain signals from your nerves to your brain. No nerve cells, no pain.<br />In order to be poked by demons and feel that as pain, you require a physical body with all the appropriate nerve connections. How does this come about then? Is your body mysteriously transported from your grave / cremation urn to Hell and brought back to life again? Is your "spirit body" altered to let you feel pain in the same way as your long-dead physical body used to?<br />What if you're a masochist and really quite like it? After all, if you don't have a real body, you could even start suggesting new and interesting tortures for the demons to try. "Hey, this pitchfork stuff is getting a bit dull, don't you have any red-hot pokers covered with ants instead? Ooh, ahh, up a bit, YES! YES!!!"<br />It could also be argued that the threat of eternal torment loses effectiveness after a while - if a person who actually believes in Hell commits a number of serious crimes, what is to stop him from thinking "Well, I'm going to burn for eternity for killing those ten people... What's going to happen to me if I kill another ten and rob a few more banks? It can't get any worse - where's my gun?" If he commits twice the sins, he can't exactly suffer for two eternities, can he? Or would he experience double-infinite pain?<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">How do you get there?</span><br /></strong>What you actually have to do in order to go to Hell varies wildly depending on your interpretation of scripture. For instance, some people say it doesn't matter what crime you commit - as long as you truly repent before you die you'll go to Heaven. On the other hand, some catholic nuns give the impression that you'll suffer eternal torment just for looking at them funny or making jokes about the Pope's silly hat.<br />All this can lead to some bizarre inconsistencies. A good example is the recent case of Karla Faye Tucker (and I mean no disrespect to the families involved when I use this as an example). This case made headline news in early 1998 - Karla Tucker had been involved in the pick-axe murder of two people and sentenced to death. During her time in prison she became a born-again Christian, turning her life over to Jesus Christ and repenting for her crime. This stirred up a hornet's nest as people like Pat Robertson suggested that she should not be executed, as she was a changed person (of course, many other people find Jesus/Allah on Death Row, but Tucker was A: a woman, and B: a christian, so she seemed to get preference in the eyes of Robertson and the like).<br />My point is this. Depending on your particular interpretation of the Rules Of The Afterlife, Tucker either:<br /><br />1, Went to Hell for being a drugged-up pick-axe murderer.<br />2, Went to Heaven because she repented and found salvation through Jesus.<br /><br />Also<br />Her victims:<br />1, went straight to Heaven because they were innocent murder-victims...<br />2, Or, if they had not already accepted Jesus as their saviour, they went straight to Hell.<br /><br />This leads to the insane possibility that the murderer went to heaven, and her victims went to Hell. Or even that they all went to either Heaven or Hell.<br />How many murder victims in Heaven get an unpleasent surprise when their "saved" murderer finally comes up to join them?<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Who runs the place?</span><br /></strong><em>Easy answer</em>: Satan (big red guy, horns, pointy tail etc.).<br /><em>Tricky answer</em>: God (old guy with beard and white robe).<br />"Don't be daft, of course Satan runs the place!", I hear you cry.<br />Really? How did he get the job, then? After The Fall, did Satan set up shop in the underworld and send an advertisement to God, touting for business -<br /><br /><span style="color:#ffff00;">Now Open - Underworld Torture Facility.Let us handle the tedious work of torturing the Damned for you.Full Repentance Or Your Money Back!10% discount on first million souls if you call today</span><br /><br />So what happens when you die? Do you really go up to the Pearly Gates where Peter is waiting with his Big Book Of Your Life? Too many black marks and he sends you down to Hell...<br />Or is there some sort of spiritual Tug-O-War, as angels and demons fight it out over your soul?<br />It seems to me that God and Lucifer have some sort of deal going on here. If we succumb to temptation during our lifetime, we go to Hell where we get tortured until we repent, when we are magically transported back up to Heaven. How does that work? Does Lucifer suddenly realise that after 55,000 years of torture you've suddenly become a good person, and he is contractually obliged to send you "upstairs"? Or does God look down into Hell, notice the change and whisk you away to get your wings? "Oh Darn!", says Lucifer, "There goes another one. Why does that keep happening?"<br />Many people believe that once you are in Hell, you are there for good (or bad). That's it. No parole. Just eternal, searing, excruciating, agonising torture for trillions of years, without so much as a toilet break. Murderers, rapists and drug-dealers, as well as perfectly normal people who simply failed to believe, will have their skin burnt off for all eternity. All sins merit the same punishment, it would appear. If this is so then it seems to me that any God who would send people to such a place can only be described as a mindless monster. Alternatively, if God unconditionally loves everyone and has the ability to pull them out of Hell, but does not, then he is still an insane tyrant.<br />Ah, but (so I am told) God does not send anyone to Hell. They choose to go there by refusing to accept God. Does this make any sense to you? Just imagine : you die, and go up to the Pearly Gates.<br />Well, gosh, it looks like I was wrong all this time!<br />Okay, so there is a God. I pretty much have to believe now, don't I?<br />Can I come in? What, I can't?<br />I have to take the down-elevator?<br />doesn't seem right...<br /><br />This idea about people choosing Hell just seems like some sort of sick joke, I'm afraid. How can it be said that a person who lives a blameless life, but (for whatever reason) does not accept J.Christ as their personal saviour, is making an active, conscious decision to suffer horrible pain for an infinite amount of time?<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Why would Satan want us to repent?</span><br /></strong>Would Satan really want to torture you for doing his evil work? Surely he would give you a pat on the back and a pint of cold beer, not tie you to a rock and attack you with a cheesegrater. What's he going to say? "Aha! Right, you gave in to temptation and lived a life of Sin, just like I wanted you to. As punishment for disobeying God, and doing my work instead, I'm... erm... going to torture you... er... Hang on a minute.... Have I got that right?"<br />We are always told "If you are Good, you will be rewarded in Heaven, if you are Bad you will be punished in Hell.". Well, unless Hell is full of Angels doing the torturing, it seems like the saying should be "If you are Good, you will be rewarded in Heaven, if you are Bad you will be rewarded in Hell.". You can understand why priests never tell you this when they are ranting on about Hellfire And Damnation.<br />Could it be that Lucifer is working under the direct orders of God - "Now then, Luci old pal. I want you to get some big red horns and go tempt some mortals. If you succeed, you can inflict pain on them until they repent, when they can come here with me. Oh, and be careful not to let them know I put you up to it."<br />It should also be remembered that the Creator is supposedly omniscient. When he created the Angel Lucifer, he knew exactly what was going to happen (how could he not, if he is omniscient?). God created Evil, and created Satan as an instrument of Evil, and us mere mortals are the ones who are on the receiving end and get all the eternal torment. Might it not have been easier to simply not create Evil in the first place?<br />Hmmm... maybe the Jehovah's Witnesses version isn't so far-out after all. 8)<br />You see the sort of trouble you can get into just by applying a little bit of reasoning and thought to religion!<br /><br />I don't believe in Heaven or Hell, demons or angels.<br />There is no devil trying to tempt you to eat one more doughnut, drive a little faster, murder your neighbour, burn down a church or cheat on your partner. If you do something bad, it is your own fault and no-one else's.<br />Should we teach our children that they are under constant attack from evil, invisible demons, trying to get them to be naughty, and that if they do then they will horribly tortured forever? Or should we try to teach them respect for others and a sense of responsibility and accountability?<br /><br />Accept responsibilty for your own actions.<br />Don't seek forgiveness from your deity - seek it from those you hurt.<br />The Devil didn't make you do it. You did.Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-55254075326532420002008-07-29T03:09:00.000-07:002008-07-29T03:16:36.874-07:00Three Varieties of Creationist.<p align="left">Hopefully as readers of my blog you may have often noticed, several of my post tend to mention or criticise creationists and creationism. Nevertheless, I should perhaps make it a little more precise to exactly what “I” mean by the term "creationist", because there is an assortment of types and, predictably, they don't all have the same opinion with one another.<br />This obviously can make it very tricky when attempting to deal with someone who begins denying evolution, or a discussion about Noah and the Flood or the old (or new depending how you look at it) age of the universe. Seldom will they actually say "I'm a young-earth creationist", and may even take some offence if you attach such a label to them. Nonetheless, once you have a vague idea of the key things that they accept as true, many other of their beliefs will then slot into place. This can give you an excellent idea of where they are coming from as people, but you must still be very vigilant about making too many assumptions about them. There are many different varieties of creationists and creationism, and individual advocates to each branch will have their own set of “facts” about the matter.<br /><strong></strong></p><p align="left"><strong>Young Earth Creationist (YEC)<br /></strong>These appear to be the most widespread sort, or at least the most vocal, at least in the talk boards and debate forums I know. The YEC is often, but not always, an American fundamentalist Christian (or is influenced by such people. I point out this is my experience and not a general snapshot of all creationist debate board users) and tends to believe in some or all of the following:<br />The Book Of Genesis (and often the entire Bible) should be read as literally as possible.<br />Strong objection to evolution (both the fact and the theory), usually accompanied by a substantial misunderstanding (or plain ignorance) of the subject.<br />God created the universe in seven days, less than 10,000 years ago (hence the name "Young Earth"). Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, and were cast out (the Fall).<br />The world was indeed flooded (the Noachian Deluge), and all present land-life is directly descended from Noah's family and the various "kinds" of creatures on the Ark. Some YECs use microevolution to explain how the millions of species we observe today formed from the initial "kinds" (even though that requires evolution to work at a fantastically accelerated rate), but do not accept that macroevolution occurs at all (even though it is essentially the same thing, over a longer period of time).<br />Noah's Ark is still to be seen on top of Mt.Ararat. (Several expeditions have attempted to find it, but the political situation in Turkey at the moment makes it difficult to get permission, otherwise it would certainly be an annual event.)<br />The light from distant stars (more than 10,000 light years away) was created in situ by God, to give the misleading appearance of great age (similar arguments are applied to many similar problems, such as the dating of rocks and fossils).<br />Fossils are evidence of the Flood, as they were all formed from the bodies of animals that drowned during the Flood.<br />Humans were special Creations of God, and we are most certainly not related to monkeys of any sort (being conjured up from mud seems much more acceptable, strangely).<br />The scientific method is an extremely poor way to discover the truth about the universe, and God's obvious presence should be the basis of all inquiry. Any evidence that appears to disagree with the Biblical account should be called into question, if not dismissed altogether. The Bible may be considered to be a useful (or even definitive) science textbook.<br />The answers to most of lifes problems can be found by reading Genesis correctly. Only by first learning about God may we learn about the universe He created.<br />Evolution (which does not happen) is thought to be an entirely random process.<br />Evolution is "only a theory", and therefore should not be considered factual. "Theory" to a creationism means the same as a "wild guess" in this context. Creationism should be taught in science classes alongside, or preferably instead of, the theory of evolution.<br />The theory of evolution is the cause of many of society's problems (such as racism, eugenics, drugs, immorality and so on).<br />A minority of YECs seem to think that there is a global conspiracy among scientists, atheists, NASA and the government to conceal the Truth (i.e. that the Earth is young, the Bible is true and evolution is a myth).<br />Evolutionism is a religion (and should not be forced upon schoolchildren); creationism is a science (and should be taught to schoolchildren as such).<br /></p><p align="left"><strong>Old Earth Creationist (OEC)<br /></strong>OECs are a great deal more liberal than YECs in their philosophy, and also more diverse. They tend to acknowledge many more of the findings of science, especially to do with the age of the universe (at present estimated at 14.55 billion years), even though there is likely to be some overlap with YEC beliefs. The bulk of theists would most likely loosely fit the explanation of an OEC, although they probably wouldn't identify themselves as such. Their beliefs tend to include:<br />The Earth and universe are indeed ancient. However, God still created it all, but over a period of many years (the seven "days" become seven long periods). Alternatively, God caused the Big Bang in such a way as to ensure that the Earth formed as we see it today.<br />The scientific method is a good way to discover the truth about the universe, but God's presence should not be lightly dismissed. Any evidence that appears to disagree with the Biblical account should be examined carefully, but tentatively accepted if it stands up to scrutiny. The Bible may be an excellent guide to life, but it is not a science book. By learning about the universe we may learn something of God.<br />The description of Creation in Genesis may be seen to match the scientific explanation of the origins of the universe and life on Earth. e.g. "Let there be light" corresponds to the Big Bang, and the sequence of events when God created life roughly correspond to the sequence described by the theory of evolution.<br />Some OECs accept that humans evolved, but believe God was in control all (or at least some of) the time (this is also known as "theistic" or "guided" evolution). God uses evolution as a tool to direct the development of life.<br />Alternatively, all other life evolved as normal, but God created humans himself, or created us by adding a soul to our soul-less ancestors when they had reached to appropriate stage of development (this appears to be the official position of the Roman Catholic Church, for instance).<br />Some OECs still do not accept evolution, but feel that God creates new species Himself, either when current ones naturally die out or just when the time is right. In His mysterious manner, God inexplicably creates things in such a way as to give the impression (to the uninformed) that they evolved. But they didn't. </p><p align="left"><br /><strong>Intelligent Designer (ID)<br /></strong>IDs are little more than modern version of YECs.<br />Some YECs, realising that they were getting nowhere in their challenge to replace evolution with creationism in school science classes, are now instead trying to introduce the theory of "Intelligent Design". This is on the whole creationism stripped of all religious references – no Genesis, no Jesus, no Noah, no Bible, no God. The idea is pretty much the same, however. The universe is so astoundingly intricate that it just had to have been designed by a powerful intelligence. It amounts to the Argument from Design wearing the Emperor's New Clothes, nothing has changed but the way it is described, and seems to be a very persuasive and insidious (as well as scheming and cynical) way of getting creationism accepted by school boards and parents.<br />The argument from "irreducible complexity" is one of the main weapons used. The idea here is that if something cannot possibly function with any of its parts missing, then it is irreducibly complex, and cannot possibly have come to be without some sort of outside intelligence causing its design. Complex biochemical processes in the human body are favourite examples. They believe that if something is so complex that it cannot possibly have formed through natural processes (such as evolution) then the only option available is an intelligent designer - e.g. a supernatural being - e.g. a deity - e.g. the Christian God of the Bible. In the dichotomy they wish to establish, if there is no possible natural cause, then the cause must be supernatural.<br />It is obviously a very short step from saying that there is an Intelligent Designer to saying "And just who could that Designer be? Why, pick up your Bibles and find out!".<br />In a Christian-dominated country such as the USA, having Intelligent Design introduced into schools as a respectable science is effectively the same as replacing science with fundamentalist Biblical Creationism. If children are being taught about God as The Creator at home and in church, and their science teachers start talking about an Intelligent Powerful Force That Created The Universe, it's quite obvious that the children will see them as being one and the same. Call me an old cynic, but that is clearly the agenda here.<br />The IDs try to distance themselves from "traditional" creationists, as they wish to be seen as serious scientists trying to enlighten us and not Christian Fundamentalists trying to preach to us. Rather than relying on anecdotal evidence of miracles, they want to present a convincing, scientific case for Intelligent Design (creation) – or at least cast enough doubt on mainstream science that people will see their theories as a reasonable alternative.<br />To a certain extent, this is just a new version of the God Of The Gaps idea – things that science currently has trouble explaining are viewed as being inexplicable except through a superhuman Intelligent Designer (God). Of course, if everyone were to subscribe to this, then all science would come to a screeching halt ("You can't work out that problem? Then don't think about it any further – God did it.").<br />( Presumably, the examples of duff design to be found throughout nature are due to the Intelligent Designer trying to throw us off the scent… )<br />OECs and YECs tend to strongly disagree with each other, and you can probably find many websites from each side that attack the opposing point of view (oh, the bitter irony).<br /></p>Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-77189076999971040462008-06-18T16:42:00.000-07:002008-06-18T16:55:33.075-07:00The Evil God, versus Free WillAccording to the bible God killed lots of people, obviously there was the flood and then the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, but other than those there were still tons of deaths at Gods hand, or his followers acting on his orders or will.<br /><br />Here is a very hand cut out and keep list of Gods “lucky” victims.<br />The two numbers represent the number of people killed followed by a running total.<br />God drowns everyone on earth (except Noah and his family)<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/7.html#23">Genesis 7:23</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/the_flood/gn06_11.html">BT</a><br />30,000,000<br />30,000,000<br />God rains fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, killing everyone.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/19.html#24">Gen.19:24</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/sodom_and_gomorrah/gn19_01.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />30,001,000<br />Lot's wife for looking back<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/19.html#26">Gen.19:26</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/sodom_and_gomorrah/gn19_26a.html">BT</a><br />1<br />30,001,001<br />Er who was "wicked in the sight of the Lord"<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/38.html#7">Gen.38:7</a>, <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1chr/2.html#3">1 Chr.2:3</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/er_and_onan/gn38_01.html">BT</a><br />1<br />30,001,002<br />Onan for spilling his seed<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/38.html#10">Gen.38:10</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/er_and_onan/gn38_01.html">BT</a><br />1<br />30,001,003<br />7th Egyptian Plague: Hail<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ex/9.html#25">Exodus 9:25</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/exodus/the_seventh_plague/ex09_13.html">BT</a><br />30,000<br />30,031,003<br />God kills every Egyptian firstborn child.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ex/12.html#29">Ex.12:29-30</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/exodus/the_tenth_plague/ex11_01.html">BT</a><br />500,000<br />30,531,003<br />God drowns Egyptian army<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ex/14.html#28">Ex.14:28</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/exodus/egyptians_drowned/ex12_37.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />30,532,003<br />God and Moses help Joshua kill the Amalekites<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ex/17.html#13">Ex.17:13</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/exodus/war_with_the_amalekites/ex17_08.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />30,533,003<br />For dancing naked around Aaron's golden calf<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ex/32.html#27">Ex.32:27-28, 35</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/exodus/the_golden_calf/ex24_12.html">BT</a><br />3000<br />30,536,003<br />Aaron's sons for offering strange fire before the Lord<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/lev/10.html#1">Lev.10:1-3</a>, <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/3.html#4">Num.3:4</a>, <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/26.html#61">26:61</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/god_kills_aarons_sons/lv10_01a.html">BT</a><br />2<br />30,536,005<br />A blasphemer<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/lev/24.html#10">Lev.24:10-23</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/blasphemer_stoned/lv24_10a.html">BT</a><br />1<br />30,536,006<br />God burned to death an unknown number for complaining<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/11.html#1">Numbers 11:1</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/the_people_demand_meat/nm11_04.html">BT</a><br />100<br />30,536,106<br />God sent "a very great plague" for complaining about the food.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/11.html#33">Num.11:33</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/the_people_demand_meat/nm11_04.html">BT</a><br />10,000<br />30,546,106<br />God killed those who murmured with a plague.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/14.html#36">Num.14:35-36</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/the_first_rebellion/nm14_39.html">BT</a><br />100<br />30,546,206<br />A man who picked up sticks on the Sabbath<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/15.html#32">Num.15:32-36</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/sabbath-breaker_stoned/nm15_32.html">BT</a><br />1<br />30,546,207<br />Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (and their families)<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/16.html#27">Num.16:27</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/the_second_rebellion/nm16_01-02.html">BT</a><br />12+<br />30,546,219<br />Burned to death for offering incense<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/16.html#35">Num.16:35</a>, <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/26.html#10">26:10</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/the_second_rebellion/nm16_01-02.html">BT</a><br />250<br />30,546,469<br />For complaining<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/16.html#49">Num.16:49</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/a_plague_on_the_sypathizers/nm16_41.html">BT</a><br />14,700<br />30,561,169<br />Massacre of the Aradites<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/21.html#1">Num.21:1-3</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/massacre_of_the_aradites/nm21_01a.html">BT</a><br />3000<br />30,564,169<br />For complaining about the lack of food and water, God sent fiery serpents to bite the people, and many of them died.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/21.html#6">Num.21:6</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/god_sends_snakes/nm21_04.html">BT</a><br />100<br />30,564,269<br />God delivers the Bashanites into Moses' hands and Moses kills everyone "until there was none left alive."<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/21.html#34">Num.21:34-35</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/massacre_of_the_bashanites/nm21_33a.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />30,565,269<br />For "committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab"<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/25.html#9">Num.25:9</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/god_kills_24000_israelites/nm25_01.html">BT</a><br />24,000<br />30,589,269<br />Midianite massacre (32,000 virgins were kept alive)<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/num/31.html#1">Num.31:1-35</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/massacre_of_the_midianites/nm31_01p25_16p31_02.html">BT</a><br />90,000+<br />30,679,269<br />The slaughter of the Anakim, the childen of Esau, and the Horim<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/dt/2.html#21">Deuteronomy 2:21-22</a><br />5000<br />30,684,269<br />God hardened the king of Heshbon's heart so that the Israelites could massacre his people. (included several cities)<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/dt/2.html#33">Dt.2:33-34</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_wilderness/massacre_of_the_amorites/dt02_26-28.html">BT</a><br />3000<br />30,687,269<br />God delievered the king of Bashan so that the Israelites could massacre his people.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/dt/3.html#3">Dt.3:3-6</a><br />60,000<br />30,747,269<br />Massacre of Jericho<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jos/6.html#21">Joshua 6:21</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/joshua/massacre_of_jericho/jos06_01.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />30,748,269<br />God tells Joshua to stone to death Achan (and his family) for taking the accursed thing.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jos/7.html#10">Joshua 7:10-12</a>, <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jos/7.html#24">24-26</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/joshua/family_stoned_burned/jos07_02.html">BT</a><br />5+<br />30,748,274<br />God tells Joshua to attack Ai and do what he did to Jericho (kill everyone).<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jos/8.html#1">Joshua 8:1-25</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/joshua/12000_massacred_at_ai/jos08_01.html">BT</a><br />12,000<br />30,760,274<br />God slaughters the Amorites and even chases them "along the way" as they try to escape.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jos/10.html#10">Joshua 10:10-11</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/joshua/amorite_coalition_massacred/jos10_01.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />30,761,274<br />Joshua kills 5 kings and hangs their dead bodies on trees<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jos/10.html#24">Joshua 10:24-26</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/joshua/executed_kings_hung_on_display/jos10_16.html">BT</a><br />5<br />30,761,279<br />Massacre of 7 cities<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jos/10.html#28">Joshua 10:28-42</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/joshua/seven_cities_massacred/jos10_28a.html">BT</a><br />7000<br />30,768,279<br />God delivers the Hazorites.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jos/11.html#8">Joshua 11:8-12</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/joshua/twenty-four_cities_massacred/jos11_01.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />30,769,279<br />Massacre of the Anakim<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jos/11.html#20">Joshua 11:20-21</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/joshua/twenty-four_cities_massacred/jos11_01.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />30,770,279<br />God delivered Canaanites and Perizzites<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/1.html#4">Judges 1:4</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/massacre_at_bezek/jg01_01.html">BT</a><br />10,000<br />30,780,279<br />Ehud delivers a message from God: a knife into the king's belly<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/3.html#15">Jg.3:15-22</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/10000_moabites_killed/jg03_12.html">BT</a><br />1<br />30,780,280<br />God delivered Moabites<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/3.html#28">Jg.3:28-29</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/10000_moabites_killed/jg03_12.html">BT</a><br />10,000<br />30,790,280<br />Massacre of the Canaanites<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/4.html#15">Jg.4:15</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/joshua/twenty-four_cities_massacred/jos11_01.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />30,791,280<br />God forces Midianite soldiers to kill each other.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/7.html#2">Jg.7:2-22</a>, <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/8.html#10">8:10</a>, <a href="http://thebricktestament.com/judges/120000_midianites_killed/jg07_02.html">BT</a><br />120,000<br />30,911,280<br />God delivered the Ammonites to Jephthah to slaughter.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/11.html#32">Jg.11:32-33</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/massacre_of_the_ammonites/jg10_16a.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />30,912,280<br />The Spirit of the Lord comes on Samson<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/14.html#19">Jg.14:19</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/samson_commits_mass_murder/jg14_19a.html">BT</a><br />30<br />30,912,310<br />The Spirit of the Lord comes mightily on Samson<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/15.html#14">Jg.15:14-15</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/samson_slaughters_1000/jg15_09.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />30,913,310<br />Samson's God-assisted act of terrorism<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/16.html#27">Jg.16:27-30</a>, <a href="http://thebricktestament.com/judges/samsons_final_mass_murder/jg16_22.html">BT</a><br />3000<br />30,916,310<br />"The Lord smote Benjamin"<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/20.html#35">Jg.20:35-37</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/israelites_massacre_each_other/jg20_01p03.html">BT</a><br />25,100<br />30,941,410<br />More Benjamites<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jg/20.html#44">Jg.20:44-46</a><br />25,000<br />30,966,410<br />For looking into the ark of the Lord<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1sam/6.html#19">1 Sam.6:19</a>, <a href="http://thebricktestament.com/king_saul/50070_israelites_killed_by_god/1s06_01-02.html">BT</a><br />50,070<br />31,016,480<br />God delivered Philistines<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1sam/14.html#12">1 Sam.14:12</a>, <a href="http://thebricktestament.com/king_saul/slaughter_of_the_philistines/1s14_02p01.html">BT</a><br />20<br />31,016,500<br />God forces the Philistine soldiers to kill each other.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1sam/14.html#20">1 Sam.14:20</a>, <a href="http://thebricktestament.com/king_saul/slaughter_of_the_philistines/1s14_02p01.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />31,017,500<br />God orders Saul to kill every Amalekite man, women, and child.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1sam/15.html#2">1 Sam.15:2-3</a>, <a href="http://thebricktestament.com/king_saul/god_commands_amalekite_genocide/1s15_01-02.html">BT</a><br />1000<br />31,018,500<br />Samuel (at God's command) hacks Agag to death<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1sam/15.html#32">1 Sam.15:32-33</a>, <a href="http://thebricktestament.com/king_saul/saul_rejected_for_incomplete_genocide/1s15_12-13.html">BT</a><br />1<br />31,018,501<br />God delivers the Philistines.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1sam/23.html#2">1 Sam.23:2-5</a><br />1000<br />31,019,501<br />"The Lord smote Nabal."<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1sam/25.html#38">1 Sam.25:38</a><br />1<br />31,019,502<br />God delivers the Philistines to David (again).<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2sam/5.html#19">2 Sam.5:19, 25</a><br />1000<br />31,020,502<br />Uzzah for trying to keep the ark from falling<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2sam/6.html#6">2 Sam.6:6-7</a>, <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1chr/13.html#9">1 Chr.13:9-10</a><br />1<br />31,020,503<br />David and Bathsheba's baby boy<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2sam/12.html#14">2 Samuel 12:14-18</a><br />1<br />31,020,504<br />God sent a three-year famine because of something Saul did.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2sam/21.html#1">2 Sam.21:1</a><br />5000<br />31,025,504<br />Seven sons of Saul hung up before the Lord<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2sam/21.html#6">2 Sam.21:6-9</a><br />7<br />31,025,511<br />From plague as punishment for David's census (men only; probably 200,000 if including women and children)<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2sam/24.html#13">2 Sam.24:13</a>, <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1chr/21.html#7">1 Chr.21:7</a><br />70,000+<br />31,095,511<br />A prophet for believing another prophet's lie<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1kg/13.html#1">1 Kg.13:1-24</a><br />1<br />31,095,512<br />Baasha killed everyone in the house of Jeroboam "according to the saying of the Lord."<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1kg/15.html#29">1 Kings 15:29</a><br />1000<br />31,096,512<br />Zimri killed everyone in the house of Baasha "according to the word of the Lord."<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1kg/16.html#11">1 Kg.16:11-12</a><br />1000<br />31,097,512<br />Religious leaders killed in a prayer contest<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1kg/18.html#22">1 Kg.18:22-40</a><br />450<br />31,097,962<br />God delivers the Syrians into the Israelites' hands<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1kg/20.html#28">1 Kg.20:28-29</a><br />100,000<br />31,197,962<br />God makes a wall fall on Syrian soldiers<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1kg/20.html#30">1 Kg.20:30</a><br />27,000<br />31,224,962<br />God sent a lion to eat a man for not killing a prophet<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1kg/20.html#35">1 Kg.20:35-36</a><br />1<br />31,224,963<br />Ahaziah is killed for talking to the wrong god.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2kg/1.html#2">2 Kings 1:2-4, 17</a>, <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2chr/22.html#7">2 Chr.22:7-9</a><br />1<br />31,224,964<br />Burned to death by God<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2kg/1.html#9">2 Kg.1:9-12</a><br />102<br />31,225,066<br />God sends two bears to kill children for making fun of Elisha's bald head<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2kg/2.html#23">2 Kg.2:23-24</a><br />42<br />31,225,108<br />Trampled to death for disbelieving Elijah<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2kg/7.html#17">2 Kg.7:17-20</a><br />1<br />31,225,109<br />God calls for a seven year famine.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2kg/8.html#1">2 Kg.8:1</a><br />10,000<br />31,235,109<br />Jezebel<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2kg/9.html#33">2 Kg.9:33-37</a><br />1<br />31,235,110<br />Jehu killed "all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria ... according to the saying of the Lord"<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2kg/10.html#16">2 Kg.10:16-17</a><br />100<br />31,235,210<br />God sent lions to kill "some" foreigners<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2kg/17.html#25">2 Kg.17:25-26</a><br />3+<br />31,235,213<br />Sleeping Assyrian soldiers<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2kg/19.html#35">2 Kg.19:35</a>, <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2chr/32.html#21">2 Chr.32:21</a>, <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/is/37.html#36">Is.37:36</a><br />185,000<br />31,420,213<br />Saul<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/1chr/10.html#14">1 Chronicles 10:14</a><br />1<br />31,420,214<br />God delivers Israel into the hands of Judah<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2chr/13.html#15">2 Chronicles 13:15-17</a><br />500,000<br />31,920,214<br />Jeroboam<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2chr/13.html#20">2 Chr.13:20</a><br />1<br />31,920,215<br />"The Lord smote the Ethiopians."<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2chr/14.html#9">2 Chr.14:9-14</a><br />1,000,000<br />32,920,215<br />God kills Jehoram by making his bowels fall out<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2chr/21.html#14">2 Chr.21:14-19</a><br />1<br />32,920,216<br />God kills Jehoram by making his bowels fall out<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2chr/28.html#6">2 Chr.28:6</a><br />120,000<br />33,040,216<br />God delivered the Israelites into the hand of the Chaldeans.<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/2chr/36.html#16">2 Chr.36:16-17</a><br />1000<br />33,041,216<br />Ezekiel's wife<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ezek/24.html#15">Ezekiel 24:15-18</a><br />1<br />33,041,217<br />Ananias and Sapphira<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/acts/5.html#1">Acts 5:1-10</a><br />2<br />33,041,219<br />Herod<br /><a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/acts/12.html#23">Acts 12:23</a>, <a href="http://www.thebricktestament.com/acts/the_fate_of_herod/ac12_21.html">BT</a><br />1<br />33,041,220<br /><br /><br />So that is an estimated 33,041,220 people killed at God whim and fancy.<br />Some of the deaths were for just plain crazy and petty.<br /><br />God Smote Onan for have a wank, which means I should have died around about 1982!<br />3000 people killed for having a dance, so again everyone that ever went to a disco would now be pushing up daisies.<br />Some random guy for picking up a few stick on the Sabbath, yeah, smite the anti-litter campaigners.<br />42 children ripped to death by two bears for the heinous crime and sin of making fun of an old mans bald head. Wouldn’t it have been easier to re-grow the mans hair?<br />God sent some Lions to kill a few foreigners for not knowing of God, so I guess that taught them.<br />And so on and so on through out the bible, God dispenses his “love and benevolence” with gusto.<br /><br />So what about Satan, surely he has a body count that would make God look like an amateur? After all he is the embodiment of all that is evil and wicked in the world. Ok, so here it is, Satan’s body count according to the bible.<br />Er…10.<br />That’s it, just 10. And he did those with Gods blessing so he is only partly to blame.<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#3366ff;">There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job ... And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters....And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD ... put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD....And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house...And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.</span></em> -- <a href="http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/job/1.html#1">Job 1:1-19</a><br /><br /><br />So what is all the fuss about Satan then, if you discount the sons and daughters of Job, who died because God wanted to test Job, Satan has not actually killed a single person.<br /><br />So why is he considered so evil when compared to Gods 33,041,220 kills?<br />Well it seems the answer is because can only act out of love and thus all the death were not done malevolently but for the greater good of mankind and the lords kingdom.<br />So that’s alright then.<br /><br />Apparently Satan just tempting people is far worse than God killing over 33 million people, as I was recently told in a debate regarding who was the most evil out of God and Satan. There were a lot of people defending Gods action because, well he was God and that was about it really, no further conversation was needed.<br />Or so they thought.<br /><br />I happily pointed out that God created Satan, and as such Satan is only doing Gods bidding, tempting people against Gods ways just so then God could then punish them because the bible shows he likes that sort of stuff.<br />I pointed out the paradox in the riddle of Epicurus<br /><br />"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"<br /><br />Thus posing the problems that if Satan is an independent entity, then why doesn’t God get rid of him.<br />If he can’t get rid of him, then surely Satan must be stronger than God.<br />If he can get rid of him, but chooses not to, then surely God must approve of Satan and his ways.<br /><br />Of course, as it always does, this fell on deaf ears. Satan, like man, has free will, and as such God can only intervene after the event I was told.<br />But free will and an omnipotent and omniscient God are incompatible, one cancelling out the other I informed anyone who wished to listen.<br />That is when the fun really starts in debates with Christians.<br />Now don’t get me wrong, the people I was debating with are good honest people and I can truly say I would consider them friends and a pleasure to know (although I am not sure they would say the same about me), but it was obvious that they really wasn’t prepared for such a revelation and the answers they began to give got more and more bizarre.<br />Of course the obligatory reverence to Hitler not being evil if he did not have free will came my way, there fore by that logic (?) free will must exist.<br />Then I was told that free will exists as I can control my children if I wanted to, but because I don’t and choose to teach them and let them make their own decisions, this is proof of God doing the same to his “children”.<br />Apparently mass genocide to stop evil is ok, and we “all” praised the man that dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.<br />I was also informed dropping bombs on innocent women and children make you a hero!<br />Then allegedly I was informed that it was Satan who carried out the inquisitions, not the Catholic Church, Satan was also responsible for the great flood, he is responsible for wars (even I assume all the ones fought in Gods name, such as the crusades).<br />It was mentioned that if life was predetermined, as in a omnipotent and omniscient God, the that would make God responsible for sin so there fore it was an impossible concept. But at the same time, this only made God more powerful some how.<br />I also learnt that God can “lessen his supremacy” or limit his own powers to include free will for man.<br />I was told God being omni-everything did not in anyway alter free will, although the next sentence suggested that God chose not to know what man was doing next, or put another way, he switched off his omniscient powers. It seemed to not register with my fellow debater that even if God had “Omniscience” for only a short while, then he would still be all knowing as the omniscience is “infinite”. In a glimpse God would see everything for all time.<br />That God only killed the 10-30 millions inhabitants of the world in the great flood to “teach mankind a lesson”. So, to them, it was completely justifiable that 10-30 million people needed to die just to give Noah and his family a warning, even though God had already chosen him because he was a good man. Overkill springs to mind.<br />All the deaths and killing by God or in Gods name were done for the future benefit of the human race, or so I was told, I was then also told that God could not see in to the future because man had free will.<br />God can only work in the realms of possibility, and seeing as the future did not exist, it was an impossibility, and thus not under Gods control. Obviously, I suppose, creating universes from nothing and humans from dust fall in the category of “possible”.<br />By the way, the same person who told me that God could only deal with possibles, also told me that God “spoke things into existence”, which apparently is not impossible!<br />I was treated to the claim that God was “inherently omniscient” or “partially infinite”, which again is another contradiction in terms as it translates to partially knowing infinitely everything only part of the time.<br />Once the “inherent omniscience” failed, I was treated to the equally meaningless “Compatablism” which is nothing more than a made up meaningless word for a made up meaningless theory based on nothing more than opinion, speculation, fantastic leaps of logic and 99.9% assumption.<br />The same person then went on to tell me that life in not unlike a giant “choose your own adventure” book where God knows all the outcomes and the paths you will choose. God knows what path we will before we choose them.<br />I need to point out at this juncture that the person who told me this is the same one that told me in an earlier post that God couldn’t see into the future or predict our choices. There is consistency for you.<br />Next on the list was the alternative universe theory. Apparently every time we face a choice, or number of choices, God creates a set of parallel universes for us so we can actually take every choice at once, thus allowing free will, and this happens for every choice we makes, so every day God has to create billions of parallel universes just for me to cope with all the choices I, and my parallel counterparts, would make on a daily basis.<br /><br />So in conclusion it seems that it is much easier to believe the most outlandish and bizarre explanation you can think of (no evidence or facts needed) on the spur of the moment, then change you stance completely several time during a debate, contradict yourself more than once, use nonsense words and phrases as supportive evidence and generally say anything at all rather than admit God is any way even the slightest bit evil or that via his omni-powers he is responsible for everything no matter how good or bad.<br /><br />So now you know, God is only partially infinite, has semi-all knowing powers, can not do the impossible, can not see into the future, spend his time creating billions upon billion of parallel universes every millisecond of the day, knows every choice we will make before we make it, limits his own powers to give us free will, Satan carried out the inquisition, caused the flood, which God did to teach the eight remaining humans a lesson, mass genocide is ok for the right reasons, Nagasaki and Hiroshima were praiseworthy events performed by heroes, the less control God has over us, the more powerful that makes him, God can do the impossible and so on.<br /><br />There, I hope that has cleared up any ambiguity you may have had regarding God and his power and motives.Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-51076159777109568212008-06-18T07:35:00.000-07:002008-06-18T07:37:13.695-07:00Imaginary Friends?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4FYepnVCJOnd_O_BKOr-XOEgeZZ8LAzVE_CegE3QR6zRrBSJysenT_OTeryJDT5-5CDReqdbAGUFCO5x7WNs8MSFGGeJqzx_Juvs2zk5mNcB_KdRbKfBo9yOtap8EEbjObNzTC5T1pYej/s1600-h/reality.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213230326648487218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4FYepnVCJOnd_O_BKOr-XOEgeZZ8LAzVE_CegE3QR6zRrBSJysenT_OTeryJDT5-5CDReqdbAGUFCO5x7WNs8MSFGGeJqzx_Juvs2zk5mNcB_KdRbKfBo9yOtap8EEbjObNzTC5T1pYej/s400/reality.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-29178286858371623652008-02-15T17:38:00.000-08:002008-02-15T17:45:46.969-08:00Lets be fundamentalistsEver found yourself speaking to ungodly atheist?<br />Trapped in conversation with the mistaken followers of other religions?<br />Ever debated with those hell bound “evolutionist” who just cannot see the plain simple truth of “young earth” theory?<br />Is witnessing to the unhearing internet sinners of the world getting you down?<br /><br />Well what you need is a crash course in “Simple Fundamentalism”, the darkness of uncertainty will never again flash across your brain whilst listening to the slander and deceptions of those ignorant sinners and infidels who disagree with your patently obvious and self-evident truths.<br /><br />The first and foremost thing to learn and never forget is thus: the Bible is the unconditional, absolute and literal word of God. Regardless what the uneducated and unwashed heathens may try to tell you the Bible contains none of the following:<br /><br /><strong>Errors of any kind.<br />Contradictions.<br />Absurdities.<br /><br /></strong><br />When you comprehend this, dealing with those liar and lunatics who maintain they have located a contradiction is effortlessness itself: Simply put, and this is the only answer you will need, there are no contradictions, so they cannot have found one! You see?<br />Easy, isn't it?<br />If your adversary continues in his blunder following having this explained to him feel free to expand on your reply using a suitable rejoinder from the subsequent list:<br /><br />1, That translation is erroneous - in the original scriptures a completely different if not dissimilar word is used, so it is not a real contradiction.<br />2, He is obviously taking the whole verses or verses out of its original context, so there is, once again, no contradiction.<br />3, The Devil himself has blinded him to the real truth. There is really no contradiction, and he should get down on his knees and pray to be shown the truthful meaning.<br />4, This is only appears to be a contradiction. This should not be mistaken with a definite contradiction.<br />5, If the scriptures are construed accurately, it is evident that there never was a contradiction in the first place.<br />6, There are no contradictions in the entire Bible, so it is impossible for this to be a contradiction.<br />7, The contradiction is really only caused by his outdated assessment. The word [insert any word they just used here] had a totally dissimilar denotation back then.<br /><br />Having just established that the imaginary contradictions do not, and never did, exist, you have now conclusively proved that there are, and never were, any contradictions in the Holy book, therefore strengthening your claim that it is beyond doubt the pure and unblemished sacred Word of God.<br /><br /><br />But what about all that science stuff people shout about?<br />There is really only the one measuring stick necessary when determining the conviction of any claim - how it compares with biblical Scripture.<br />In fact much more precisely, how it balances with your individual interpretation of The Bible. So, if some worldly humanist scientists have the courage to dream up a hypothesis (or "wild guess" or “shot in the dark”, as it is more precisely identified) that appears to be indisagreement with the wisdom of the Bible, obviously these egg-head foolish professors have made yet another stupid blunder, probably under some demonic or drug induced power.<br /><br />On the other hand, when science agrees with the Bible we should give a round of applause to the courageous, Christian investigators for supporting the sacred Scriptures and presenting the magnificence of Creation. But more often than not they are just plain wrong.<br />Never forget, the atheists are speedy to use the results of science as "evidence" to back up their arguments, but this is because avarice and science are their god and religion. They want the men in white coats to save them from the God they know will judge them.<br />There are numerous things which science cannot give explanation. Nevertheless, you CAN explain these things instantaneously and plainly just by these three magic words that explain everything and needs no further response or discussion.<br />"God did it"<br />Most likely the ungodly heathen will say "Well, we unsure how or why the Big Bang happened, and possibly never will, but we're constantly working on it".<br />Straightforward resolution - God did it.<br />Predicament solved.<br />Nonetheless, some atheists are obstinate in their malevolent ways and you may have to continuously repeat this scientific explanation to them many times before they accept it. Of course, when scientists eventually do come up with an answers for such problems, be prepared to patiently explain to them that this is what your religion taught all along, if interpreted correctly.<br /><br />In a impassioned disagreement, you will frequently find yourself losing track of your preceding posts, and the nonbelievers will often charge you of contradicting remarks you made previously. As everything you say is scripture based, it stands to reason that they should consequently be accurate at all times.<br />On the other hand, keep in mind that, as slaves of Satan, atheists will do their best to interweave falsehoods into your words and endeavour to baffle you. If this appears to be occurring, completely disregard their remarks and pray for strength.<br /><br />Logic and reason is your enemy.<br />These are the tools and weapons of the sceptic, and you should not under any circumstance entertain them. Belief and devotion in the Holy Bible is all you need. The nonbeliever will try to tell you that God should be some how bound by the rules of logic, but God created logic and so as thus cannot be constrained by it! The more illogical and unreasoning you are, the more difficult it becomes for atheists to disprove your statements.<br />They will shout "But that does not make any sense at all! It is logically unfeasible!" - be that as it may, your belief and faith will tell you that you are right. By means of God, all things are possible - counting impossible things. What else could you possibly need than that?<br /><br />"Extraordinary claims necessitate extraordinary evidence" you will most likely to be told.<br />But just who is producing the strange and extraordinary claims?<br />You, who merely notices and can see the Creator's hand in everything, or the heathen sinner who opposing all logic and reason (the two very things they claim to love most) denies the very same.<br />Evidently, it is the duty of the ungodly to prop up their preposterous claims that there is no such thing as God.<br />Request of them if they can demonstrate God does not exist.<br />Question them as to how they can be so haughty to make this assertion, when they clearly do not have the ability to have searched the whole universe for God.<br />They will retort and ask you to refute the existence of such things as Zeus, Vishnu and unicorns, but you have to give no notice to such immature twaddle - there can be no similarity between the make believe gods of other religions and the certainty of Christianity, Their incapability to refute God is confirmation enough that He is real. If they cannot topple your theory, they are undoubtedly being irrational by refusing to recognise it.<br /><br />Often after a few days debating with a group of unbelievers, you should disappear for a week or so. This should give them time to come to terms with the truths you have revealed.<br />Also, it will provide time for new people to join the discussion. This allows you to return to the forum once more and repeat your statements, unchanged, for the benefit of newcomers.<br />Personally I advocate storing your longer opinions in a text file, so it can be effortlessly cut-and-pasted into the discussion. If the moderators object, illustrate that, having previously corrected their misconceptions; you are now merely attempting to reach the more recent newer members and also the ones who still irrationally decline the truth. If they are educated people, they will hold in high esteem your opinions and step aside.<br />Duplicate and tirelessly repeat this practice until you are expelled from the talk box/forum/message boards or placed on everybody's ignore/foe/invisible list..<br /><br />To take the wind out of your opponent's sails, respond to the tiniest question with reams and reams of text.<br />If at all possible, you ought spend a couple of hours penning this yourself, but seeing as you are a busy person and you don't have the time, well the perfect solution is to copy-and-paste masses of relevant (or, if achievable, irrelevant) information from other Christian websites or sources.<br />Try to use at least 10 or 15 kilobytes illuminating why they need to pray much more, why they have to dread to prospect of Hell, how Christ the saviour died selflessly for their sins, why important and famous Christian thinker, philosophers and scientists disagree with them totally, how long-dead Christians have previously demonstrated them wrong, and so on.<br />Ask as many incomprehensible questions as achievable. If they are really honest (which, being atheists, is not possible) they will respond to all of your points.<br />If they do not succeed and fail to answer ALL of your points and questions, triumph is yours.<br />Make a reminder of this embarrassing rout and bear in mind to bring it up frequently when dealing with this particular personage. (This is also a useful practice to use throughout any sort of debate with evolutionists.)<br />A alternative on this premise is to post copious verses from the Bible to sustain your point. Why trouble yourself with a hundred words of description, when just one verse will do the same job.<br />Basically post any verses that counter the nonbeliever, and then possibly several more pertaining to hellfire. As you know that the verses are known to be true, scant more need be said on the subject.<br />If the doubter unsurprisingly returns with a contradicting argument, post the unchanged verses again but propose that he truly reads them this time.<br /><br />Spelling, Punctuation and grammar are not significant, as long as the Spirit guides you. If you are criticised for being incapable to structure a sentence in English, or using words like "athiset", "Noahs arc", "evolotin" and "revilatian" - worry not. It is not the finer points of punctuation and spelling which is imperative, but accomplishment of spreading the message of God across.<br />Think about this exceptional case in point. To the inexperienced eye, the author may emerge to be an illiterate, ignorant fool, but just sense the worship in his words:"i was wonder if you yourself knew that darwin disowned his theroy in his last days knowing that fossils show species suddenly appering not sight mutations made over long periods of time. the fact is eveolution is total improvible."Only the coldest of hearts could not be moved by such testimony. This is the sort of stage of disjointed drooling you have to be aiming for.<br />You should mingle a feeble understanding of the English language with your own idiosyncratic writing technique.<br />The following are quite fashionable at the moment:<br /><br />1, writing the whole thing in lower case devoid of any punctuation at all this can be fairly tricky to interpret but is very easy to type which is a bonus dont you think<br /><br />2, ALTERNATIVELY, WRITE THE WHOLE THING IN CAPS. THIS MAKES YOUR CENTRAL MESSAGE STAND OUT AND PEOPLE WILL TAKE NOTICE MUCH BETTER AND REALISE THAT YOU REALLY MEAN IT MUCH MUCH MIORE THAT OTHERS THAT USE VARIED CASE..<br /><br />3, short, disjointed.....sentences detached by long......strings of dots.....this makes you look quite.....thoughtful as if you are......pausing every now and......then.<br /><br />4, Overuse of exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! can highlight the point you are trying to make!!!!!!!!!!!! Question marks also work well, don't they???????????????????????????<br /><br />5, Show ur mastery of the Internet by using words like "u" instead of "you", "2" instead of "to" and "too", "ur" instead of "your" and "you're", and u 2 can spread the gospel 2 other kewl d00dz.<br /><br />If English is not your first language, all the better. The way you present your argument says a lot about you, so pick wisely.<br /><br />Whether you are discussing about evolution, the beginning of the cosmos, fundamental human structure, or the structure of the solar system, there is no need to worry yourself with finding or gaining knowledge about anything at all about the issue.<br />By definition, those who oppose you are incorrect, deluded and maybe perverts, so it is a bad idea to contaminate your mind with their religious philosophy. All the proof in the world is no competition for a single grain of the True Faith.<br />If they say "But evolution doesn't work like that! You are entirely oblivious!", repeat to them that evolution doesn't really work at all.<br />Has a cow ever given birth to a dog?<br />Do we observe hydrogen turning into people next to us?<br />If we "evolved" from chimps, why are there still chimps?<br />Why do we not see amoebae sprouting legs and talking?<br /><br />These cruel insights will cut through their doctrine like a scorching knife through butter.<br />If discussing evolution, endeavour to request an entire listing of transitional fossils from ape to human. They may supply you with a dozen or so examples, but it is scarcely complete, is it? How can you be expected to recognise such slapdash evidence?<br />Go on to notify them that those are not transitional fossils anyway, as there are no transitionals. Clearly God created all species independently; if not they would have no difficulty finding the evidence. The gaps in the fossil record are as a result concrete evidence for creationism.<br />If they attempt to direct you to documents or interweb sites supposedly showing that the universe is billions of years old, direct them in turn to Genesis.<br />Give details how carbon dating techniques have been exposed to be desperately defective. For example, when the Turin Shroud was dated, the so-called professionals dated it approximately of the 14th Century, instead of 33AD. This evidently calls into question all the other radiometric dating guesses they will throw around.<br /><br />Words can frequently denote a number of different things. For instance, the word "set" has dozens of meanings : a set of things; a badger lives in a set; a jelly will set; you can set something down on a table; you can set up a meeting; and so on.<br />Words signify what you require them to indicate at any particular occasion. This is a general basis why you will find atheists misinterpreting things - they believe you imply one thing, when in fact you were discussing about something else. It's scarcely your error if they are not capable of keeping up, is it? For example, Genesis speaks of a mist rising from the ground to water the Earth. This can mean : mist, rain, dew, fog, clouds, water vapour, condensation, snow, hail, sleet or any other imaginable appearance of precipitation.<br />Let the Spirit direct you in this topic, and if the atheist claims you are erroneous or contradicting yourself, let the Spirit show you once more to the true meaning of the word. This may happen many times, as you can easily misunderstand the Spirit's guidance<br /><br /><strong>Lying for Jesus</strong><br />Being economical with the facts, manufacturing data on the spot and ignoring incompatible evidence are all useful weaponry in your armoury. The vital thing is to persuade the adversary of the reliability and honesty of your claims. How you go about this is inconsequential. Feel free to refer to other fundamentalist works, whether or not they have been allegedly "discredited", "refuted" or "demonstrated to be false" - the ICR website and publications, Jack Chick tracts, Dr.Dino's website and videos, Answers In Genesis, things you remember hearing from other fundies or as a child in Sunday School, and so on.<br />When comparing the works of God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians against deviant secular humanist scientists, who are you going to believe?<br />Remember, you are here to save their immortal soul from the burning fires of Hell, not educate them in stuff they don't really need to know anyway. If you have a dubious argument based on fictional data, but it works, then there is no problem. The vital matter is bringing souls to Jesus and how you go about that is immaterial. The ends justify the means, and in this case the "ends" are souls being saved. Such a noble and worthy goal itself justifies any means you see fit to use. Physical force is generally frowned upon, although there are clear historical precedents for this. Use your own judgement.<br />Don't forget, the Lord is watching at all times, and will certainly forgive you as long as you are spreading His good news. So go to it!<br /><br /><strong>Compartmentalisation </strong><br />In this world, what you know to be true often conflicts with the reality around you. To be a soldier for Christ it will help enormously if you can master the technique of mental compartmentalisation. This means you must be able to keep your scriptural knowledge away from the secular knowledge that allows you to function in wordly matters, e.g. at your place of work. For example, even though science is clearly mistaken about the processes involved in radioactive decay (see the "carbon dating" example above), if you worked at a nuclear power plant it would be necessary to assume the opposite was true - otherwise it would be impossible to build nuclear reactors. Likewise, a good fundy astronomer knows that the correct date of the universe is about 10,000 years at most, but must be able to examine galaxies millions of light-years away and explain them according to the secular model of cosmology. Being able to hold two (or more) sets of mutually exclusive thoughts at once is extremely beneficial to the up-and-coming fundy on the internet.<br />Remember, something might be "true" while you're at work or sitting an exam, but it's still completely wrong, and you should switch back to the "Christian Compartment" in your brain whenever possible.<br /><br /><strong>Wilful ignorance<br /></strong>Ignorance is bliss, and what is more blissful than reading the Word Of God? You will often find yourself accused of this "crime", but why should you waste time trying to learn how the unbelievers lie to themselves? You don't need to read a book on evolution to know that it is wrong. You don't need to read a book about the so-called Big Bang to know that it is a delusion.<br />It is the atheists who are wildly ignorant for not reading the Bible! Sure, many of them say they have read it, but this is clearly a lie - if they've read it, how come they don't believe it?<br />Don't waste your precious time trying to get to grips with their overly-complicated theories, when you have a much simpler theory that you already know is true.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Conclusion<br /></strong>There you have it - Fundamentlist Think For Beginners.<br />All you need to do now is decide how to sign off your devastating arguments. There is classic arrogant abuse, such as "Ha ha ha what an idiot! God made it all! Get an education."; or patronising the opponent - "I'll pray that God opens your closed mind and eyes"; a selection of obscure Bible verses, maybe; and finally, the ever popular subtle threats of hellfire - "Well, I've told you the Truth, I only hope you like it HOT after you die".<br />Don't forget what you've learned: return a week later and post exactly the same assertions that you started with.Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-43430305848740424922008-02-14T08:28:00.000-08:002008-02-14T08:40:43.395-08:00Evolutionary Misconception.<p align="justify">The single most common misconception that people have about evolution is<br />"It's only a theory."<br />Wrong!<br />Evolution is a fact and a theory. Confusion arises when this distinction is not recognised. This misconception is expressed pretty much everywhere else on the internet that the subject is discussed.<br />This misconception invariably arises out of plain ignorance. That is not to say that evolution deniers are generally ignorant people, but when it comes to the subject of evolution they usually have wild misunderstandings about pretty much everything to do with it. A bit of a sweeping generalisation, maybe, but fairly valid as anyone who has had to deal with creationists will tell you. (Many people do have a good depth of knowledge about it, but still choose not to accept it, mostly because it conflicts with their religious beliefs.) When it comes to, say, the history of Thailand, I am certainly ignorant - I know practically nothing about it whatsoever. If I then started sounding off about it, and explaining to someone what I thought about some issue to do with Thailand, my ignorance of the subject would be instantly obvious to anyone who had actually read up on the topic. This does not make me a stupid or ignorant person, but it does expose my misconceptions and lack of basic knowledge - the same applies to many of the people who say "<span style="color:#ff0000;">Evolution is only a theory</span>."<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Fact</span></strong><br />Life evolves. That is a fact. One of the simplest definitions of evolution is the change in the frequency of genes in a species over time.<br />For example, imagine if you will a rabbit farm high on a mountain. The farmer buys a thousand rabbits, some have longer fur and some have shorter fur - it's a quite mixed group of rabbits. The length of the fur on the rabbits is determined by their genetic makeup. Some have genes for long fur, some for shorter. Now, this farm (or ranch, if you prefer) is in an area that gets extremely cold for most of the year. The rabbits survival depends upon having enough fur to keep them warm. Those with short fur will freeze to death and die (our fictional farmer doesn't have much business sense).<br />Because of the situation these unfortunate creatures are in, they are subject to natural selection. There is a selection pressure for longer fur. More baby rabbits are born than can possibly survive in the environment. This is an important part of the process. Their genetic makeup is a determining factor in their survival. Rabbits that die of cold will not pass on their short-fur genes to their offspring (as they won't have any), whereas rabbits with long fur will be more resistant to the cold and therefore much more likely to reproduce, passing on their genes for long fur.<br />Over many generations, the farm will consist almost entirely of long-fur rabbits. The frequency of genes for short fur has decreased, and the frequency of genes for long fur has increased. Far fewer short-haired rabbits, and eventually none at all, will be born - their genes will have been lost from the gene-pool.<br />Some rabbits may have developed genetic mutations which further increase the length of their fur. These mutations will clearly give those rabbits an advantage in their environment, and those beneficial mutations will spread through the gene pool of the population. Mutations that are detrimental to the survival rate will clearly be lost quickly, as those unfortunate rabbits will have a reduced chance of surviving long enough to mate. In this way, useful mutations stay on in the population. It's a positive feedback loop - this is the second important thing to remember.<br />These rabbits have evolved. It's really that simple.<br />Evolution is a directly observable phenomenon. There is no debate among scientists as to whether or not evolution occurs, any more than there is debate about the Earth orbiting the Sun. Gene pools change - evolution happens. This is obviously a rather contrived example, but it serves to demonstrate some of the basic principles.<br />Now, objectors will say "Ah, but they're still rabbits, aren't they? That's not the same as amphibians turning into reptiles, and then mammals, is it? That still doesn't explain how a human can evolve from an ape-like ancestor, does it?"<br />Yes, it does. The change from mixed-fur rabbits to long-fur rabbits (in this example) is often referred to as micro-evolution - a minor change within a species. Larger changes are known as macro-evolution, and take far longer to occur, but the process involved is exactly the same - genes changing over time. It is a cumulative process - the minor changes build up over many generations into major changes. Given time, the descendants of these rabbits could become an entirely novel species of rabbit, and eventually a creature that can no longer be called a rabbit.<br />To say that you accept micro-evolution but not macro-evolution is akin to saying that it is possible to walk to the end of your street, but it is somehow impossible to walk to the next town. The process involved, putting one foot in front of the other, a single step at a time, is exactly the same although the end results may be completely different.<br />Evolution is a fact. This is not open to debate.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Theory</span></strong><br />Darwin's Theory Of Evolution is not evolution. In the same way, the theory that the Earth orbits the Sun is not the Earth orbiting the Sun - it is a description and explanation of it.<br /><br /><strong>The theory of evolution is an explanation of the facts of evolution. </strong><br /><strong><br /></strong>If nobody had ever developed the theory, it would not change that fact that living things evolve over time - evolution happens whether there is a theory or not.<br />Furthermore, Darwin's theory of evolution may be totally, hopelessly and utterly wrong. Even if it were, and Darwin and every biologist who had contributed to the theory since were incorrect, evolution would still exist and continue. Evolution is totally independent of the theory of evolution. The theory is simply an attempt to explain the observed facts of nature that we call "evolution".<br />If another theory came along to replace the theory of evolution, it would have to explain the facts at least as well as Darwin's theory has done for the last 150 years. No such replacement has ever been produced.<br />If there is a debate or controversy within the scientific community about the theory of evolution, creationists see this as evidence that "evolution is in crisis". Nonsense - it is merely that scientists disagree (often bitterly) over details of the theory of evolution. That evolution actually happens is beyond question, but the theory of evolution is - and always should be, like every other scientific theory - probed, tested and scrutinised. Again, even if the theory were to collapse, that would still not magically disprove evolution or cause species to cease evolving.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">What it is not<br /></span></strong>Evolution is not about the origins of life on Earth. Evolution is about the development of living things over time. The study of the origins of life is known as "abiogenesis" and any web search engine will find you many examples of current literature on the subject.<br /><br />Evolution is not about the Big Bang theory, nor the formation of the Sun and Earth. These are subjects for cosmology, not biology. Some creationist websites like to put up list of supposedly tricky questions for evolutionists - if you read them carefully you often find lots of questions that actually have nothing at all to do with biological evolution.<br /><br />Random. Evolution is often mistakenly compared to "a hurricane blowing through a junkyard and building a fully functional Boeing 747". This is incorrect, as evolution is a very slow, gradual process directed by the actions of natural selection (as shown above in the rabbit farm). Mutations may indeed be random events, but whether or not they remain in the gene pool is certainly not random, as it depends on how those genes affect the creature's survival in the environment. It works as a positive feedback loop.<br /><br />Evolution is not about attempting to prove that the Bible, Qu'ran, or any other holy book is false. It is simply the study of living things and how they develop over time. Whether or not that conflicts with a particular interpretation of a particular scripture is not a consideration. There is no conspiracy amongst scientists to disprove the teachings of any of the thousands of religions who happen to make claims about the processes of life.<br /><br />Evolution is not about monkeys turning into men, or showing that humans are "merely" animals.<br /><br />Evolution does show that humans developed from an ape-like ancestor, along with other modern apes such as the chimpanzee. We did not develop from apes, but alongside them, in the same way that different branches grow from the same trunk of a tree. The development of humans is one minor aspect of the study of evolution, but most biologists will find more interesting creatures to study.</p>Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-26449170640491315812008-01-24T13:50:00.001-08:002008-02-14T08:38:44.515-08:00False Christians<div align="center">What are false Christians?<br />Glad you asked, false Christians are those who use Christianity for their own aims and not for the true reason it exists.<br />Like those American TV evangelists who ask for your money (For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1Timothy 6:10) and just happen to live in huge houses and own vast tracts of Texas.<br />False Christians are little more than criminals hiding behind misinterpreted and purposefully twisted biblical text to con and persuade people to trusting them.<br />False Christians are always looking for some scapegoat for them to vent their spleens on, such as Gays or single mothers.<br />False Christians insist on the assertion that the Bible is the literal word of God, they use bullying and scare tactics to force others to accept this to be true.<br />False Christians deliberately use lies and dishonesty to refute logic and reason. They are quite happy to use falsely ludicrous and absurd totally made up claims when speaking against evolution or abortions.<br />False Christians claim to hold the absolute truth and understanding of Gods word, which means that if only one of them is correct (they can’t all be) then by logic the other 99.99% have to be wrong.<br />False Christians claim that all other religions or sects are wrong, yet deliberately shield themselves from exposure to anything else other than their own narrow little world view.<br />False Christians deny absolute truths about there own religion and religious history. The Vatican during WW II lifted not a finger to help the Jews. They could have threatened to excommunicate Catholics who engaged in those murders. After the war, they helped Nazi war criminals to escape. Then they got into the business of laundering money for the Mafia. The Vatican cons poor peasants in the third world to pay for the extravagance and opulence of St. Peter’s Basilica, but try asking a False Christian about this.<br />False Christians seem to relish and even encourage gullibility. There are no first hand accounts of Jesus or of his words, at best, the nearest we can ascertain is that the earliest Gospel was some 100 years after the death of Christ, so their accuracy is some what dubious, yet False Christians accept them as indisputable facts, rather than a rough account of what may have happened. It is a bit like believing some guy how told you he heard from an unsupported and unnamed source that aliens had landed 150 years ago and made some crop circles. Would one second hand account make you believe in the Loch Ness monster?<br />False Christians can not understand why their views are not accepted world wide. They can not understand how anyone could deny or reject the existence of their God, whilst simultaneously denying and rejecting the existence of every other God with ease.<br />False Christians encourages a careless disregard for the environment as they believe that God will not let anything bad to happen to them or their kind. They see no need to restrict or limit the growth of the population as God will take care of all his children.<br />False Christians teach hypocrisy, they preach poverty yet most of them live in opulence and abundance.<br />False Christianity encourages passivity. Instead of doing something about the evils of the world, False Christians sit at home and twiddle their thumbs, all the while imagining they are doing something highly virtuous and useful. They call this passivity Praying. Instead of doing something, they sit back and wait for God. If a False Christian was flying an airplane and the controls failed, they would just sit back and start to pray rather than actually try and solve the problem.<br />False Christianity erodes the minds ability to understand Logic and reason. False Christians are incapable of noticing when they are being illogical. They are so sure in their guts they are right that they will resort to any dishonest tactic to promote their views regardless of how crazy, absurd, meaningless, hollow, insincere and incongruous those views are.<br />False Christian believe in the whole idea of Christian Triumphalism is that everyone has to believe and follow the same rules for it to “work”. Christianity was thoroughly tried. Life under Christian tyranny in the middle ages proved utterly unbearable. We refer to those times of deep superstition as the “dark ages”. In modern times we have Islamic states like Saudi Arabia and Iran. These countries have to pay huge premiums to get skilled workers to go there. Very few people can stomach such repressive regimes. Theocracies are anti-democratic. Yet still we have right wing fundamentalists trying to subvert our modern democracies back in to Christian dominated theocracies.<br />False Christians draw others into their delusions, not with logical arguments or evidence based statements, but with emotional blackmail and wishful thinking. Truth is they don’t care if what they say is true, they are just totally besotted with how fantastic things would be if what they said were true.<br />False Christianity was the root of the Nazi atrocities. That is not to say all Christians are Nazis, just that the False Christian believe of superiority over other races and religions found a foot hold and flourished in Nazi Germany. The KKK was founded on False Christian beliefs and superiority.<br /><br />False Christians are everything real Christians aren’t. The False Christians message seems to be as far away as possibly for the words Jesus supposedly spoke during the Sermon on the Mount.<br /><br /><span style="color:#3366ff;">Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:<br />But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.<br />And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.<br />And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.<br />Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.<br />But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;<br />That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.<br />For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?<br />And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?<br />Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.<br /></span><br />Now I am no biblical Scholar, but does any of that sound like the messages given out by the False Christians?<br /><br />Jesus’ three main points were:<br />1, Don’t chase wealth.<br />2, Look after the poor.<br />3, Don’t judge or seek revenge.<br /><br />How many so called Christian world leaders in America and Europe follow these words of Jesus?<br /><br />False Christians give real Christians a bad name. Although it is fair to say this is not just a Christian trait, the same applies to False Muslims and False Jews that twist and ignore the truths and messages of their faiths and bibles to their own perverted ends.</div>Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-44126183236098881142008-01-03T06:30:00.000-08:002008-01-03T06:34:55.975-08:00MormonismI must admit that I had never heard of the Mormons, or members of the Church of the Latter day Saints until about ten years ago, and I must admit, ever since then, the more I have found out about them, the more and more I wonder why they have any members at all.<br /><br />The whole religion is based on the words of one man named Joseph Smith, a convicted conman at that, who claimed that God had spoken to him personally in 1820 when he was only 14.<br />Allegedly God told Smith not to join any church as all the existing churches were false and that he himself (Smith) would bring forth a new and true religion blessed and dictated directly by God.<br />Three years later in 1823 a seventeen year old Smith was visited an angel named Moroni who told him of a sacred history written by ancient Hebrews that had previously inhabited America. The history, apparently, was engraved on Gold tablets, in ancient Egyptian, and were buried in a near by hill. With the help of the angel Smith obtained the tablets from the hill in 1827, along with a mystical translation devices called the “Urim and Thummim” which were described as a pair of sacred spectacles of sorts.<br />No one was allowed to see the gold tablets or the translation devices, and Smith kept them locked away in a safe to which only he had access. He translated them to his secretary Martin Harris from another room, not even allowing him to see the tablets.<br /><br />And thus the Book of Mormon came into being.<br />Or did it?<br /><br />Martin Harris’ wife, Lucy, feared her husband was being hoodwinked by Joseph Smith over the “new Religion” that he was working on that she decided to call Smiths bluff.<br />She stole the 116 pages of the book already translated by her husband and told Smith that “If this be a divine communication, the same being who revealed it to you can easily replace it”.<br />Now Smith knew he could never translate the 116 pages again exactly, he could probably keep the same essence of the translation, but any deviation from the original translation held by Lucy Harris would expose him as a fraud.<br />Any lesser man would have ran away and hid his head in shame, but not Smith, a hardened conman who from his teen years charged farmers, property developers, oil and gold prospectors for his “magical powers” to be able to use his “seer stone” to see into hills and mountain and underground. <br />Smith had a plan. He added a preface to the first edition of the book. The preface claimed that the 116 pages had been translated from supposed Plates of Lehi and that the devil had caused the translation to be stolen and altered from what Smith had "translated." So that even if Smith was to produce a new translation word-for-word identical with the first, it nevertheless would appear to differ from the stolen pages because of the changes which had been made in the latter by the cunning of the devil.<br />Neat eh?<br /><br />"I will not suffer that Satan shall accomplish his evil design in this thing. Therefore thou shalt translate from the plates of Nephi." God told Smith, according to the Books preface. Lucy Harris’ plan had backfired but rather than Smith being angry with her, he thanked her for helping him realise how they must all be on their guard against the influences of Satan, and how Gods power will always over come.<br /><br />Now to any one sane the warning bells of the Bull shit detectors would be deafening, but for some strange reason Smiths followers found this completely plausible and acceptable. God had beaten that scamp Satan, and that was good enough for them.<br /><br />Strangely enough in 1928, some eight years after God himself had spoken to Smith and told him all churches were false and that he should start the one true religion endorsed by God, Smith applied for membership in a local Methodist church. Other members of his family had joined the local Presbyterians!<br /> <br />As I said at the beginning of this piece the more I learn about how the Mormon religion began, the less and less I understand how people (supposedly sane and rational people) convert to it.<br />The Book of Mormon spend a lot of effort describing vast civilisations that existed in both North and South America for thousand of years that were all descendants of Jews Moses lead from slavery.<br />They had knowledge of horses (introduced to America by the Spanish Conquistadors in the early 1500’s), elephants, cattle, sheep, wheat, barley, steel, wheeled vehicles, shipbuilding and other old world elements. They were spread across the continent but shared a common language.<br />The fact that none of the remains of any of these vast civilisations have never been discovered, not a single relic or item, seems to deter them. The Book of Mormon also neglects to mention any of the civilisations that did really exist in the Americas at the same time as these devout Jewish tribes.<br />Book of Mormon offers the depiction of a somewhat uniform people, with a solitary language and the ability of communication between remote parts of the Americas, the true history of the Americas shows the opposite: extensively dissimilar racial types (just about completely east Asian of derivation - positively not Semitic, as proven by recent DNA studies), and numerous unconnected native languages, none of which are even tenuously associated to Hebrew or Egyptian.<br />A lot of the fundamental historical philosophy established in the Book of Mormon had appeared in print previously in 1825, just two years before Smith began dictating the Book of Mormon, in a tome called View of the Hebrews, by one Ethan Smith (surprisingly no relation) and published just a couple of miles from where Joseph Smith resided.<br />The historian B. H. Roberts, a Mormon himself and a official of the LDS church had to confess later when viewing the evidence that it “tended to show that the Book of Mormon was not an ancient record, but concocted by Joseph Smith himself, based on ideas he had read in the earlier book”<br /><br />The Mormon religion is supposed to be the direct and irrefutable will of God, everything in it is how God wanted it to be. Its foundation is that it is the pure, uncorrupted, unchangeable, everlasting, eternal word and will of God.<br />The Mormon church even claims that God is guiding the church through its leader (known by the catchy title of “prophet, seer and revelatory”) so basically his word, is Gods words spoken through him. Which make you wonder how the “Prophet, seer and Revelatory”, and presumably God, got taken in by the successful hoax perpetrated on the church by manuscript dealer Mark Hofmann in the 1980s. Hoffman was a forger and forged documents pertaining to the Mormon religion and presented them to the LDS church (with a several thousand dollar price tag per item). The Church studied the documents and the “Prophet, Seer and Revelatory” declared that God had revealed the documents to be genuine.<br />Oh dear! In 1986 Hoffman was arrest for Murder and forgery, and confessed to the fakes.<br /><br /> The furtive temple ritual (known as the "endowment") was introduced by Smith in May, 1842, just two months after he had been initiated into Freemasonry. The LDS temple ceremony directly resembles the Masonic ceremony of that day. Smith explained that the Masons had contaminated the ancient (God-given) ceremony by altering it and removing sections of it, and that he was restoring it to its "untainted" and "original" (and absolute) form, as made known to him by God. In the years since, the LDS church has made many fundamental changes in the "pure and original" ritual as "restored" by Smith, mostly by removing major parts of it. So much for respecting God version..<br /><br />On the whole they, to me, seem a crazy bunch with some crazy ideas. Many of their teaching are well known, such as not partaking in alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea, or giving a percent of you income to the church (known as a tithing).<br />But there are some stranger more guarded teaching the have that are less publicised and usually only spoken about between practising Mormons, and not outsiders.<br />Teachings such as:<br /><br /> God was once a man like us. <br /> God has a tangible body of flesh and bone. <br /> God lives on a planet near the star Kolob. <br /> God ("Heavenly Father") has at least one wife, our "Mother in Heaven," but she is so holy that they are not to discuss her nor pray to her. <br /> Jesus was married. <br /> They can become like God and rule over our own universe. <br /> There are many gods, ruling over their own worlds. <br /> Jesus and Satan ("Lucifer") are brothers, and they are our brothers - They are all spirit children of Heavenly Father <br /> Jesus Christ was conceived by God the Father by having sex with Mary, who was temporarily his wife. <br /> They should not pray to Jesus, nor try to feel a personal relationship with him. <br /> The "Lord" ("Jehovah") in the Old Testament is the being named Jesus in the New Testament, but different from "God the Father" ("Elohim"). <br /> In the highest degree of the celestial kingdom some men will have more than one wife. <br /> Before coming to this earth they lived as spirits in a "pre-existence", during which they were tested; our position in this life (whether born to Mormons or savages, or in America or Africa) is our reward or punishment for our obedience in that life. <br /> Dark skin is a curse from God, the result of our sin, or the sin of our ancestors. If sufficiently righteous, a dark-skinned person will become light-skinned. <br /> The Garden of Eden was in Missouri. All humanity before the Great Flood lived in the western hemisphere. The Ark transported Noah and the other survivors to the eastern hemisphere. <br /> Not only will human beings be resurrected to eternal life, but also all animals - everything that has ever lived on earth - will be resurrected and dwell in heaven. <br /> Christ will not return to earth in any year that has seen a rainbow. <br /> Mormons should avoid traveling on water, since Satan rules the waters. <br /> The sun receives its light from the star Kolob. <br /> If a Gentile becomes Mormon, the Holy Ghost actually purges his Gentile blood and replaces it with Israelite blood. <br /> A righteous Mormon will actually see the face of God in the Mormon temple. <br /> You can identify a false angel by the color of his hair, or by offering to shake his hand. <br />What else is there left to say other than than to what "Kolob" sounds like backwards?Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-84554912473817633002007-12-30T16:02:00.000-08:002007-12-30T16:08:07.930-08:00PerspectiveIt seems that most relgious types believe in one form or another that God gave significance to the Earth and his creation (man) and made it the center of the universe.If this was true, then why would Gods most important and valued creation be one of the smallest and insignificant things in the universe?Just consider the following animation to give you a better idea of our place in "God's" creation.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/8920647@N03/2149709407/" title="our place in the universe by mad-ade.t21@btinternet.com, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2004/2149709407_28962426a3_o.gif" width="400" height="300" alt="our place in the universe" /></a><br /><br />Somehow I don't feel so special anymore!Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-55478440302342856862007-12-17T08:58:00.000-08:002007-12-17T09:03:39.411-08:00Was Jesus Homosexual?Sounds like a strange question to ask considering the far right religious stance that homosexuality is sinful.<br />Before any one starts to froth at the gills and their blood boils at the sheer suggestion, lets just establish that this is my opinion based on what the bible or other spiritual source tell us about Jesus and not by any means absolute fact, but how the facts appear to point in the gay messiah direction.<br /><br />First we must consider the times in which Jesus lived and the community in which he was brought up and the culture he belonged to.<br /><br />Jesus predominantly lived his life in and around Galilee which is in the Middle East. Conditions would be hard and life harder, men would need be tough if they were to survive.<br />He was Jewish and a Rabbi and as such would be expected to act and conduct himself in a certain manner.<br /><br />So lets look at who, or what Jesus actually was.<br /><br />Jesus was perhaps the most “gentle” soul that walked the face of the earth, In a world were men were rugged, battered and as masculine as John Wayne dipped in testosterone and rolled in gladiator sweat, Jesus minced around as effeminate as camp could be. In modern society he would be called a bit of a limp wrist, in his time he was practically a full blown girl.<br /><br />He rejected the established code of masculine valour. He frowned on the violent nature of men’s role that was the accepted norm of the time. If he was alive today, he would be called a queer.<br /><br />He was a Rabbi, but refused to marry. Now for a Jewish male this was peculiar at best, for a rabbi it would be unheard of. You had to be married to be a rabbi so it was doubtful he ever could be a Rabbi. To be in his 20’s and not married was just screaming their was something “different” about him.<br /><br />Jesus had plenty of opportunity to have sex with women, he was flocked by them, but he always avoided it. If a modern man did the same, we would assume he was gay.<br /><br />He spent the majority of his time hanging around with people of ill repute, such as prostitutes, former thieves, sodomites and all manner of other lowly sinners. In this day and age Jesus would be looked at as being a tad peculiar at best, especially with his close connection with sinners and sodomites. <br /><br />He was physically intimate with other men. He surrounded himself with other men of a similar disposition as his. There are accounts in the bible where they place their heads in each others lap whilst dining. Now today in a more tolerant society this would be deemed a “bit gay”. Back then it was probably very nearly a crime punishable by stoning.<br /><br />Jesus and his chums often were seen to kiss each other<br /><br />Jesus’s "groupies" competed, each claiming to love Jesus the most, often declaring their love for him quite openly.<br /><a href="http://mindprod.com/kjv/John/13.html#25">John 13:25</a> tells of John lying with his head on Jesus’s breast. Straight men don’t do that, at least not in our culture, and it would have been unheard of in their day and culture.<br /><br />Ok, so that is my opinion based on nothing but what I can see for myself in the bible.<br />So now for some “evidence”.<br /><br />In 1958 a Scholar from the University of Columbia, named Morton Smith discovered a fragment of manuscript in Mar Saba Monastery in Jerusalem which was, according to local scholars and records, excised and edit out of the original Gospel of Mark.<br />The passage read: "The youth, looking upon him (Jesus), loved him and beseeched that he might remain with him ... they went into the house of the youth ... And after six days, Jesus instructed him and, in the evening, the youth came to him wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God."<br />This passage would fill the gap in Mark 10:46 which has Jesus and his chums making a journey to Jericho and then as soon as they got there, they left again. There seems to be a whole episode in Jericho that vanished with in one sentence. Later on Jesus was caught in a park with a naked young man dressed, or rather undressed, in the same manner as the one mentioned in the missing text. See Mark 14:51-52.<br /><br />During the Last Supper before Jesus' execution, the authors/editors of the Gospel of John describes how the "beloved" disciple laid himself on Jesus' inner tunic – which to us is another word for his undergarments. See John 13:25 and 21:20.<br /><br />There is a story recorded in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. where a Roman centurion came to Jesus and asked him to heal his Servant. Seems innocent enough, but the ancient Greek word for Servant was “pai”, which also happens to be the same word used for same sex partner (the Greek had no qualms about homosexuality) so the Centurion would have asked Jesus to come heal his boyfriend. You have to remember that Roman soldiers of the time were not permitted to marry and it was not unheard of for Centurions and higher ranking soldiers to have young (often teenage) male servants that were also used to satisfy sexual needs. This may sound shocking now, but the culture of the time was different and these things were, if not exactly acceptable, were known and tolerated. So the Roman could have been asking Jesus to heal his lover.<br /><br />Matthew 19:11-12 has a statement from Jesus about “Eunuchs”, which announces “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can” Again this may sound a relatively harmless statement about eunuchs, but let’s examine the use of the term eunuch. The latter part of the statement speaks of those who made themselves eunuchs, which means those who forego marriage and children to better serve God, such as nuns and priests. Jesus also mentions the made into eunuchs, which was a common practice of the time. The unusual one is the one where Jesus speaks of those who were born Eunuchs. Medical the chances of being born a eunuch (with a penis but no testicles) is extremely slim, but consider other literature of the time that uses the term “Born Eunuchs” as a veiled euphemism for homosexuality.<br /><br />In the ancient world, including ancient Jewish culture (as reflected in the Talmud), “natural” or “born” eunuchs were not associated with missing testicles. Rather, they were associated with stereotypically effeminate characteristics and behaviours such as that of homosexual desires.<br /><br />The bible does not denounce same sex relationships, in Ruth 1:14 the same Hebrew word is used to describe Ruth’s love for Naomi, as used to describe Adams love for Eve e.g. as a partner or lover. In II Samuel 1:26 David declares that he loved Jonathan more than any woman. This is just one of several Bible passages that describe and celebrate an intense love between these two men that went well beyond friendship<br /><br />Although there is no mention of Jesus being directly homosexual in a physical sense, there is no proof that Jesus was heterosexual in a physical sense, either. He never claimed to be heterosexual. He never denounced homosexuals either. There is no Biblical evidence that Jesus ever had sex with anybody, though in his times, celibacy was considered abnormal and a little queer!Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-21475396152302938942007-11-07T12:01:00.000-08:002007-11-07T12:05:49.130-08:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVl1ey25o8m38Fkv9pVZtWcPh2nuiUfCgiBNynnHDwy6vGGx_GQkYSG7D5YVGxnAaxnmjR5JQStJb-vmYK2JrfVZW_k4AAp1Pz8dgQV7Qm5o6QX70v4W0eqQEQUAFqaXA2gDkQYU0HnYrN/s1600-h/Image092.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5130191427306474818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVl1ey25o8m38Fkv9pVZtWcPh2nuiUfCgiBNynnHDwy6vGGx_GQkYSG7D5YVGxnAaxnmjR5JQStJb-vmYK2JrfVZW_k4AAp1Pz8dgQV7Qm5o6QX70v4W0eqQEQUAFqaXA2gDkQYU0HnYrN/s400/Image092.jpg" border="0" /></a> With extra special thanks to the great Chaz Braman for allowing me to use his brilliant cartoons on my otherwise naff web blog.<br />For more from Chaz view his fantastic site <a href="http://russellsteapot.com/comics/">http://russellsteapot.com/comics/</a><br /><div></div>Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-58850935785872167952007-11-05T16:23:00.000-08:002007-11-05T16:25:52.357-08:00The Death of Christ (how and why)The late great Bill Hicks said about the symbol of the cross for Christians,<br />“A lot of Christians wear crosses around their necks. Do you think when Jesus comes back he ever wants to see a fuckin' cross? It's kind of like going up to Jackie Onassis with a rifle pendant on."<br />The crucifixion of Jesus is perhaps one of the best known of all the Biblical stories and the symbol of the cross is synonymous with Christian’s world wide.<br />But what exactly is crucifixion, how is it done, how does it work, how does that hold fact with biblical accounts of Jesus’ death and for what reason did Jesus actually die.<br /><br />Crucifixion<br /><br />Crucifixion is perhaps one of the most horrible ways to die, not that I know this from experience, but the mechanics of the process makes it impossible to be anything but horrible.<br />First of all you are tied by the wrist to a plank of wood, not a full cross as traditionally shown, the upright section it stationary and only the cross piece is lifted and attached to the upright (bare in mind these uprights were used again and again for numerous crucifixions and would remain in place). Once your wrists are bound to the plank, nails are hammered through your fore arms, not the hands as depicted on all the pictures of Jesus. The nail which is four to six inches long and an inch wide would be driven between the ulna and radius bones and often bent over the radius to hold it in place. If the nail were driven through the hands are normally depicted once raised up the weight of the body would just rip the nails through your hands.<br />So, now you are securely nailed to a plank, wrists bound and ready to go. You were then lifted up to the upright and made to stand on a small ledge on the upright while a couple of crucifixion attendants secured the cross piece to the upright. You are now stood on a ledge, up a pole nailed to a plank of wood. This sounds bad enough but just standing there with nails through your arms does not really achieve much as you could stand there a couple of days before dehydration and fatigue finally began to take its toll. Now the Romans did not want to waste time standing around several days waiting for you to die, guarding you to make sure no one rescues you. On occasion for really evil criminals or those they wanted to make examples of they did just leave you to die slowly, often giving the criminal water to sustain the dying process, but this scenario was quite rare. The Romans preferred you to die in a couple of hours, so they could all go home, so what they did was once you were securely perched on the crucifix, they broke your legs so that you could not stand and support yourself.<br />The result, slow asphyxiation (or more precisely you drown as fluid collects in your lungs) as the weight of your body pulls down on your arms preventing you from being able to breathe, that combined with the agony of two broken legs and the whole weight of your body dragging on two nails hammered through your fore arms. <br />Those are the facts of crucifixion.<br /><br />So let’s assume that the method of crucifixion is not as above, but as depicted in the crucifixion of Jesus, what would this mean? Lets try to sort some of the facts from the fiction.<br /><br />Jesus was made to carry his own cross to the crucifixion site. Well this is quite possible, occasionally full crosses were used in places where existing uprights were not available, but considering this was out side a large populated city it seems unlikely that an existing crucifixion site wouldn’t exist, so it would be more probable that Jesus would have to have carried the cross bar of the cross, but not the whole cross. So this is possible, but not probable.<br /><br />Jesus was nailed to the “cross” through his hands. Obviously this would not work, unless the wrists were bound to the cross as well. People that show signs of stigmata never show signs of rope burns on the wrists or of holes in the fore arms. So the likelihood of Jesus just being nailed through the hands is not possible as the weight of his body would have pulled him free.<br /><br />Would Jesus have been able to talk at length to his disciples? Not possible as the whole mechanics of crucifixion makes it almost impossible to breathe let alone carry out conversations. So not possible or at the very best only in tiny gasps. (although seeing as the four gospels can not agree on what Jesus said on the cross, it is highly unlikely that he actually said anything at all)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Ok, so that to some degree covers the How section of the Christ Crucifixion story, now lets have a little look at the Why.<br /><br />“God sent his only son to die for us”, or “Jesus died for our sins” are two stock responses normally applied to why Jesus was crucified. Apparent it was a selfless act on both Gods and his son’s behalf.<br />Ok, Lets look at this “selfless act”<br /><br />1, if Jesus had to die, why the whole charade of being frog marched up and down carrying a cross, the whole suffering and indignity of the crucifixion etc… Why couldn’t just jump off a cliff or something?<br /><br />2, if Jesus willingly allowed himself to be crucified isn’t that the same as suicide?<br />Surely that is a sin?<br />Sins are bad aren’t they?<br />Some would say it was a sacrifice, but what is the difference? He basically sacrificed himself to, er himself, knowing that he was only going to be dead a few days anyway, so hardly a huge sacrifice seeing as he knew he was going home at the end of it.<br /><br />3, exactly how does Jesus’ death free us from sin? I have read the bible and spoken to many people who claim to be Christians and neither seem able to explain clearly, or show where it is explained how the death of Jesus actually freed us from Sin. There just seems to be no sense in it at all, if it was such an issue God could have sorted it out with out the necessity of making his son suffer so much, unless he was actually punishing Jesus for something, perhaps his own sins!<br /><br />4, As the son of god, and in turn God himself (remember the holy trinity), would Jesus actually feel any pain? As an omnipotent, omniscient deity, can he really feel pain? If he did feel the pain, why was in necessary and if he didn’t feel pain, then the whole thing must have been just for show.<br /><br />5, if God is omnipotent and omniscient (all powerful and all knowing) then he already knew before he sent his son down to earth that this would be the outcome. As part of a part of the triune God, Jesus knew all along what his outcome would be, so this sort of negates the sacrifice as it was actually part of the whole plan, because if it wasn’t what he wanted, then he had the power to change it.<br /><br />6, Why is Judas so reviled? If he acted with Jesus' blessing, or even under divine coercion from Jesus, why is he portrayed as a bad person? Either way, he helped the crucifixion take place, so surely Christians should admire him. Without Judas they might not have been saved, or Jesus might have lived a lot longer and they'd have a much less impressive ornament to hang round their necks as a symbol of his death. A runaway horse maybe, or a slippery banana-skin or perhaps a poorly looking kebab.<br /><br />So seeing as Jesus died for all our sins, past present and future, anything we do now is basically sinless as Jesus has already atoned for them. If our acceptance into heaven still depends on us living a sinless lifestyle then surely the death of Jesus was pointless! As from that point onward no matter what we did, the death of Jesus atoned for it. Anything we do from that point onwards is technically already accounted for. As I have already explained previously, in another post, Jesus could not be paying for the original sin, as God permitted that one as part of his creation<br />So in conclusion to this part, basically we have God sacrificing himself to save us from a hell he created in the first place. Also if the reason Jesus had to die to atone for all mankind’s sins past, present and future what was the point of the Great Flood and Noah? Surely all the millions that died then were rendered pointless if God knew at a later point he would forgive them all anyway. Seems to me God just likes to see things die, after all he caused Cain to kill Abel because he preferred to see the murder of innocent animals over the growing of crops.<br /><br />In order to accept that Jesus' death washed away Original Sin (and therefore had any meaning at all), you are forced to subscribe to the young-Earth creationist view that the universe is about 6000 years old, and was created just as described in the Book of Genesis. This would mean that almost all sciences (including the sciences that allow us to generate the electricity that is letting you read this blog) are totally wrong about everything. This is one of the main reasons why creationists object so strongly to evolution. It implies (or demonstrates) that the basic concept behind Christianity is simply false.<br />There was nothing for Christ to atone for, so the crucifixion was meaningless.Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-21007658432670316002007-10-20T10:40:00.000-07:002007-10-21T04:50:51.896-07:00Know your son of God.<span style="color:#3366ff;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Read these questions, see if you know the answers.</span><br /></span><br />1, Which Son of God’s birthday is 25th Of December?<br />2, Which son of God was born of a virgin mother?<br />3, Which Son of God had 12 disciples?<br />4, Which son of God performed miracles, such as curing the blind and lame?<br />5, Which son of God was referred to as the “Good Shepard” or “Lamb of God”?<br />6, Which son of God was visited by Three Persian Magi at his birth?<br />7, Which son of God died on a cross?<br />8, Which son of God subsequently was placed in a cave and reappeared 3 days later?<br />9, Which son of God held a last supper with his 12 disciples?<br />10, Which son of God ascended to heaven to watch over his flock?<br /><br />Ok, you now have 20 minutes to think about the answers, so I will see you back here in 20.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Done already?<br />Ok, here are the answers.<br /><br />1 to 10 the answer was of course <span style="font-size:180%;color:#ff0000;">Mithra</span>, the Persian Saviour, know as “the light”, or “the way”.<br /><br />Oh yes, <span style="color:#ff0000;">Jesus</span> would also fit, but he was born 4000 years later.Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-21420432135364823372007-10-16T05:56:00.000-07:002007-10-16T05:57:42.747-07:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7XPrFrKwnxhzaDIBCWCtES2v_dvaQ_ILFeENsyGNR1wNlrPJUpA5HkJaOBo-oZ6MGwtSNIXJosPr-dQndzeWXdka6ujjTFy3YChNgBbdsMswgA0VSekCO93nODMkdczsT5QNjPxAul8DW/s1600-h/suffer.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121917885081842194" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7XPrFrKwnxhzaDIBCWCtES2v_dvaQ_ILFeENsyGNR1wNlrPJUpA5HkJaOBo-oZ6MGwtSNIXJosPr-dQndzeWXdka6ujjTFy3YChNgBbdsMswgA0VSekCO93nODMkdczsT5QNjPxAul8DW/s400/suffer.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Click for almighty sized fun.</div>Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-77125662151073030982007-10-14T18:48:00.000-07:002007-10-14T18:50:41.137-07:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUoJH3vKSwLsrwZ6GWP3UonuKFc-J297b7Cq5ocdsO3ion_LqYrWG5T0Z2MN87IOFZbosGAsvk2sUSSHQF8mUMiZldca6xZ1HlrndYi6ANIuIcyPbk4msXRL6-yyJOZA8Ssz1juKTpT-c2/s1600-h/walkon+water.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121374893841445346" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUoJH3vKSwLsrwZ6GWP3UonuKFc-J297b7Cq5ocdsO3ion_LqYrWG5T0Z2MN87IOFZbosGAsvk2sUSSHQF8mUMiZldca6xZ1HlrndYi6ANIuIcyPbk4msXRL6-yyJOZA8Ssz1juKTpT-c2/s400/walkon+water.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-89310416582467324432007-10-09T16:01:00.000-07:002007-10-09T16:05:42.476-07:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4V2RcdppB0IP6EMRZEjnFHwiUk8UxrBVrCFUkfwyJvxfitoYtEVyEVYusE-HJ0D5B_pO4APKDesurRJbF-x2siWr8D-Ujx_h4gJ1WUFusg3eu0olGWFTy1URdofMhH32cIxk3gWg2i_KP/s1600-h/cross.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119476178994196930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4V2RcdppB0IP6EMRZEjnFHwiUk8UxrBVrCFUkfwyJvxfitoYtEVyEVYusE-HJ0D5B_pO4APKDesurRJbF-x2siWr8D-Ujx_h4gJ1WUFusg3eu0olGWFTy1URdofMhH32cIxk3gWg2i_KP/s400/cross.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><p>You need to click the image to see the full sized cartoon, although it will probably offend everyone and their dog, so don't bother if you are only going to moan about it.</p><p>Taken from my other blog <a href="http://jebusno.blogspot.com/">http://jebusno.blogspot.com/</a></p>Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-50220955432824307782007-10-09T15:49:00.000-07:002007-10-09T15:58:11.275-07:00Bible versus the Koran.<span style="font-size:130%;color:#33ccff;"><strong>This section is to highlight sections of both the Bible and Koran that speak of the same subject, but not only contradict each other, but themselves as well.</strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#33ccff;"><strong>I was going to do one big list, but the more i read the bible and the Koran the longer and longer my list got, and this post would have beeen twice as long as the books themselves. So i have decided to make this a reaccuring section that I will post time to time, concentrating on a different area each time.</strong></span><br /><br />Creation:<br /><br />The Bible has literally loads of Contradiction regarding the creation of everything.<br />In Gen 1:3-5 it claims that God created light on the first day and then went on to separate light and darkness.<br />In Gen 1:14-19 is says that the source of the light, the sun, wasn’t created until the fourth day.<br /><br />Gen 1:11-12 states that trees where created before man.<br />Gen 2:4-9 states the opposite.<br /><br />Gen 1:26-27 states that Male and Female (Adam and Eve) were created at the same time.<br />Gen 2:7 and Gen 2:21-22 states that the Female was formed much later.<br /><br />The Koran has its own confusion over creation<br /><br />Koran 7:54, 10:3, 11:7, 25:29 all state that Allah created the world in six days<br />Koran 41:9 states that the earth was created in just two days.<br /><br />Koran 39:73, 41:30, 57:21, 79:41 all refer the there being only one Garden of paradise.<br />Koran 18:31, 22:23, 35:33, 78:32 all state there are several Gardens of Paradise.<br /><br />Koran 2:29 tells that after creating Earth, God then created the heavens<br />Koran 79:27-30 has it the other way around.<br /><br />Koran 96:2 states that man was made from a clot of blood.<br />Koran 21:30 and Koran 25:54 both state that man was made from water.<br />Koran 15:26 says man was made from Clay<br />Koran 3:59 and Koran 30:20 both state that Allah created man from dust<br />Koran 16:4 has man being created from a drop of sperm.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">To be continued<br /></span>Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-43525913784040276782007-10-09T05:37:00.000-07:002007-10-09T05:38:46.797-07:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ZQ1SAZ0-yjI0bvdY4fTQWC0GjMFBqi-cYn1LAGofekONMVxltcDgvgVGr-0E0teXS5XEdTxJKTCcr_yOwekD722Bns03gS-PbnLzIWlgCKtYZ8v0wWr-2oI6FeKvn7TAXNf8gbuPoVK2/s1600-h/My+dad.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119315487087784322" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ZQ1SAZ0-yjI0bvdY4fTQWC0GjMFBqi-cYn1LAGofekONMVxltcDgvgVGr-0E0teXS5XEdTxJKTCcr_yOwekD722Bns03gS-PbnLzIWlgCKtYZ8v0wWr-2oI6FeKvn7TAXNf8gbuPoVK2/s400/My+dad.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-3472910963461915032007-09-29T11:10:00.000-07:002007-09-29T11:13:43.049-07:00Omniscience versus free willWho or more precisely what is God?<br />According to common understanding he is an omnipotent and omniscient being. He is all powerful and all knowing. He has prior knowledge to everything to come and everything that has ever been. He has the power to shape everything to the way he likes and he knows the outcome of every single change he has ever made or will make.<br /><br />With all this power and foresight why does he not intervene or prevent wars, rapes, murders, natural disasters and innocent deaths?<br />Because has given man free will to choose his own destiny.<br /><br />Hmm, is it me or do these two statements contradict each other?<br /><br />If God is omniscient then he surely already knows 100% what each individual or group is destined to do. So if a person is going to grow up to raise an army and rampage through the world slaughtering indiscriminately then God is already aware of this before the person is born. In fact he knew this at the moment he created the world. So with his omnipotent powers he could alter this persons destiny to suit Gods own will if he was not happy with the outcome he already knows will occur.<br /><br />If man truly has free will, then God is unaware of which option the person will choose. He may be aware of the choices available, but not the choice that will be taken.<br />In this case God can not be Omniscient.<br /><br />So if God is omniscient then there is no point complaining about the evils in the world because God must know about them and actively sanction them by his very Omniscient nature.<br />God must not dislike Gays, as he created man in the knowledge that he would experiment with his sexuality and thus at some point be aware that a section of his creation would choose the path of Homosexuality. If God did not want this then he could have deigned the relevant parts so that they could not possibly fit together or give pleasure. Sort of a square peg and round hole scenario.<br />The people who claim to have killed in Gods name must be telling the truth no matter how heinous the crime as God knew it would be done centuries, even millennia, before any of those involved were born.<br />You have no choice, the universe was made in such a way that everything you do must necessarily happen<br /><br />And so on…<br /><br />If man is free to choose his destiny then God is little more than an observer of his creation. If he is not omniscient then he could not possible omnipotent either.<br />He can not possible be all powerful, if he can not see what your next choice will be.<br />So if you believe we have free will you may as well resign yourself to the fact that God is powerless to intervene so prayer is, well just the same as talking to yourself, which is generally regarded as a form of madness.Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-6348606749851191652007-09-21T15:03:00.000-07:002007-09-21T15:05:49.546-07:00Can't lose.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5112781742318940290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL8Bmhp3gRtvO8IjBiHR_OEGrKchoM-_xLTIdZICgGPBJfZqm5aMIfgHnVpvrl25Cw46hJ0FzZPWitwv2EAQ0j1i7vS-iUV46nTR7HM8M19WF086QHjSOhzwal1cfIQB5UnygVvm89uufZ/s400/2007-09-18.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div></div><br /><span></span>Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-63429317271893817422007-09-19T16:52:00.000-07:002007-09-19T16:53:06.946-07:00What am I?I am frequently reminded, often in quite colourful terms, when debating religion in one internet forum or other that “all you atheists” are miserable, untrusting, aimless, disrespectful, conniving, thoroughly worthless and altogether somewhat of a blight on Gods wonderful creation.<br />Some times you get that feeling that some one is trying to tell you something but you just can’t put your finger on it.<br /><br />Firstly, I am not an atheist, so they must be confusing me with some one else, I think of myself as Agnostic. I do not personally believe in God, but I can not prove or be 100% sure that he doesn’t exist (although I am 99.9% sure).<br /><br />People, mainly theists and other religious types, seem to think that we (atheists and agnostics) have no respect for life.<br />I find this incredulous as I personally accept people as I find them.<br />I do not prejudge people because their belief system is not the same as mine.<br />I do not wallow in self superiority when speaking to Muslim, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians believing that they will all burn in hell fire as my religion or belief system is the only true one and there for everyone else will suffer.<br />I give equal worth to disasters that occur in Christian countries as I do those that occur in Islamic countries, because I see the people involved, not the religion.<br />If there were starving babies in an orphanage in some none Christian country my first thought would not be to say a prayer, or how to send them bibles, but how to get them food.<br />No one has ever, in my name, enslaved masses and preached conversion to Christianity or Islam on fear of death.<br />I don’t tell people “believe what I believe or you will die”.<br /><br />I consider all life important and (dare I say it) sacred, as I believe we only have the one so it is important to use it right and for the right reasons.<br />I do not suffer from any preconditioned guilt when having sex for enjoyment rather than just reproduction;<br />I do not feel that I will be judged as being avaricious for having more chocolate than is good for me;<br />I have no shame about displaying pride in my own achievement.<br /><br />We are often deemed as untrusting or dubious.<br />I trust what I can see or what can be proved, I am dubious of “facts” that can not be proved or of people who make decisions based purely on what a book tells them rather than what common sense tell them.<br />Some say it is only because I can not see God or that he works in ways that I don’t understand that I don’t trust him.<br />Well I have never actually seen the processor in my computer nor do I understand how it work, but trust it to do stuff on a daily basis.<br />When I see a wonderful sunset or beautiful mountain range I marvel at the immeasurable and destructive forces that were needed to create both, the sun with its countless billions of hydrogen reactions and the mountains with their crashing together of tectonic plates.<br />I don’t think “God put them there” and think nothing more of them.<br /><br />We are often accused of being selfish.<br />I am nice to people because I choose to be, I do good things because it is usually the best for everyone, not because I am thinking to myself “If I am nice to people and do good things, I will surely go to heaven”.<br />I do not discount the opinions of other because their religion contradicts my religion and thus is wrong and therefore anything they have to say is wrong.<br />I treat people the same way I would expect them to treat me, regardless of age, sex, creed, colour or lifestyle. I do not view anyone that does not share my beliefs as some way less worthy.<br /><br />I am certainly not aimless, I have goals like most people, but my goals are determined by my own abilities, not by dogma.<br />I want to live my life as peacefully as possible with out prejudice or preconceptions.<br />I want to sit on my death bed and ponder whether my life has any bearing or positive effects on the lives of the people I have known, not worrying if I have atoned for any forgotten sins I may or may not have committed.<br /><br />I try not to be disrespectful, but some time it is extremely difficult to debate a point with some one who’s only retort is “well it says so in the Bible” with out blowing a fuse.<br />I do not look down on Mr Patel (yes, that is his name) at the local off licence because he is a Muslim, nor do I secret scoff at Mr and Mrs Greenman when I see them in the petrol station because they are Jewish.<br />I do not ignore my cousin, or not speak of him because he is openly gay.<br />In fact I regard everyone I meet with the same amiable standing. As I said previously, I see the people, not their choices.<br />I do, on the other hand disrespect ignorance and intolerance.<br /><br /><br />And on a final note, anyone who knows me personally will tell you, the one thing I have never been is Miserable.Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6690385204221995354.post-70407896422323068422007-09-19T14:35:00.000-07:002007-09-19T14:42:14.740-07:00Are you a good christian?1, You feel quite at ease when debunking and ridiculing hundreds of other religions and their Gods, but fly into a rage when anyone tries to question yours.<br /><br />2, you are unable to accept that Humans could ever be related to dirty beast such as the apes, but are quite happy when the Bible tells you that mankind was made from dirt and mud.<br /><br />3, you mock the idea of polytheism, but then worship the holy trinity.<br /><br />4, You become upset and angry, often flying into a rage, when you hear of other religions committing “atrocities” in the name of their Gods, but remain silent and at ease with such things as “<strong><span style="color:#ffff00;">The inquisition</span></strong>”, “<strong><span style="color:#ffff00;">The crusades</span></strong>”, “<strong><span style="color:#ffff00;">Persecution of homosexuals</span></strong>” and “<strong><span style="color:#ffff00;">The spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV and AIDS due to churches prohibiting the use of condoms</span></strong>.”<br /><br />5, you laugh at the idea that humans can be deified as in Hindu religions, but have no issues with elevating a Jewish carpenters son in to a saviour of mankind.<br /><br />6, you will spend years of your life looking for tiny scraps of evidence, no matter how tenuous or ambiguous, to try and prove the evolutions wrong, but take the word of a man made book which offers no evidence to support its claims that the Earth is only a few thousand years old and was made in six days.<br /><br />7, you truly believe that apart from yourself, and everyone that shares you exact religious persuasions and beliefs, the entire population of the planet, past, present and future, are all condemned to eternal hellfire.<br /><br />8, Although the thousands and thousands of pieces of evidence collected and shown by History, science, physics, geology and chemistry , you are unconvinced of evolution and the possibility of a godless universe, but Mrs Miggins’, from church, claim of her TV starting to work again after she started praying when it broke is proof enough of God existence.<br /><br />9, you constantly foam at the mouth over the godless heathen of other religions. You think all gays should be shot. Teenage mothers should be locked away in asylums and that abortionist should be killed whilst espousing the evils of contraception. Yet you consider your religion to be one of tolerance.<br /><br />10, You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.Mad Adehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607558277920109566noreply@blogger.com0