Wednesday 30 September 2009

do unto others... (or i'll smack u in the balls)


clearly all the hub-bub about atheists having no morals is merely a way to distract everyone from looking at the crappy corrupt morals of those with religion!

if being a paranoid-insulting-judgemental prick towards everyone around me is what being a "moral" person is, then feel free to keep your fucked up religious ideals to yourself...

Do I have morals?

I *personally* believe in "what goes around, comes around", however some people simply call this "karma", and some might think of it as being something more like "you reap what you sow", some may even think of it passively as "do unto others, as you would have them do unto you", so that's what I believe in, if I had to answer the question of "do I have morals."

"but but but..." ... What's that you say? but Jesus said "Do unto others..."??? and it's from the bible???

No shit, Sherlock. So does that make me a realllllly bad christian, seeing how I cherry picked one ideal out of the bible and ignored the rest?

Well, if that is true, then NEWSFLASH!! Unlike judgemental christian cunts, I actually cherry-picked the one actually *good* bit from the bible.

I wonder how many people call themselves christian when all they have lifted from the bible is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?" .. In fact it doesn't even literally say that, but that is what is meant, regardless of what version of the bible you have and how your twisted mind interprets the pretty jumble of words you judgemental arsehole christians clearly do not understand.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethic_of_reciprocity#Christianity

Leviticus 19:18 "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.",

Leviticus 19:34 "But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God"

Matthew 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Luke 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

Luke 10:25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.


but this ideal is not limited to christianity...

“Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.”
— Confucius, Analects XV.24 (tr. David Hinton)

“One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one’s own self. This, in brief, is the rule of dharma. Other behavior is due to selfish desires.”
— Brihaspati, Mahabharata (Anusasana Parva, Section CXIII, Verse 8)

“Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.”
— Muhammad, The Farewell Sermon

and quite frankly ... it's common sense, as it's a learned behaviour eg. if you're mean to people, they won't be wanting to associate with you and if they do you should *expect* them to be arseholes right back at you, however, if you're nice to people, you would tend to have more nice human interactions, seeing how people tend to get along with people who aren't cunts to everyone they meet.

So it's little surprise that many cultures have come up with the idea of "do unto others", so why do christians have it so wrong? I guess some people need to be told to grow up?


a lot stolen off http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethic_of_reciprocity


Sunday 27 September 2009

clarify my position on god... (what do i believe? part 32b)


a lot of people seem to be confused over my position on god, so to clarify in one sentence:

nothing can be known about god, therefore it is impossible to have a position about god....

which is just fancy talk for "I don't know" and i truly don't care, but i do love making up stories about said being...

and while it may be a nice sentiment for someone to say that god "loves me", but that's all it is: a nice sentiment. furthermore, such a statement would have my contempt, even if I don't show it or say anything about it.

the fate of my immortal soul is pretty important stuff, if I had one, so if I am going to believe what some random person has to say about the fate of my soul, then i'm going to need some rather definitive specifics about this "afterlife" thing and this god thing that i'm apparently setting myself up for, and some random threat of me going to "hell" for all eternity because I don't believe in some dude called Jesus, can't do that...

"oh you just need to read the bible" doesn't cut it ... "oh you just need to believe in Jesus" ... nope, sorry! gotta do better than that ... "oh well, then, you're going to hell!" ... OK, nice sales pitch there, you should sell life insurance: "If you don't buy my life insurance I'll kill you, for all eternity!!" .. ahem... if there is a god, it's not yours, and if it does actually turn out that your god is *the* god, then I still won't being worshiping it, not if it turns me into a religious fuck-tard.

if god did make me, then it made me damn well smarter than to blindly believe some story from two thousand years ago. Especially when these people representing this "god", lie and cheat and do exactly what they tell us is "evil". And "yes", most religious people are good people, I suppose, but it's the out spoken nut cases that ruin it for all.

so don't be surprised and don't get offended, because i am just as likely to say "oh my god!!" or "fuck you god!" or "fuck god" or "there is no god" or "i believe in the *true* god" when it comes to my opinions about this god creature...



but before we continue... perhaps i should stop... and let you read something that helped erase that childhood "fear" of god... perhaps you may understand a little better ... and don't skimp on the lyrics either... and excuse me.. but this is just fucking awesome...



SLAYER
SOUTH OF HEAVEN




An unforeseen future nestled somewhere in time.
Unsuspecting victims no warnings, no signs.
Judgement day the second coming arrives.
Before you see the light you must die.

Forgotten children, conform a new faith,
Avidity and lust controlled by hate.
the never ending search for your shattered sanity,
Souls of damnation in their own reality.

Chaos rampant,
An age of distrust.
Confrontations.
Impulsive habitat.

Bastard sons begat your cunting daughters,
Promiscuous mothers with your incestuous fathers.
Ingrate souls condemned for [all] eternity,
Sustained by immoral observance a domineering deity.

Chaos rampant,
An age of distrust.
Confrontations.
Impulsive sabbath.

On and on, south of heaven

The root of all evil is the heart of a black soul.
A force that has lived all eternity.
A never ending search for a truth never told
The loss of all hope and your dignity

Chaos rampant in an age of distrust
Confrontations, impulsive sabbath

On and on, south of heaven


i don't believe in god, regardless of its existence, i don't believe *in* it... read that carefully... that is to say that while I may just believe that there could be a god, what I am saying is that I wouldn't believe in it if there actually was a god that had revealed itself to the world!

every god that I've read a story about, well, the authors of said stories don't really sound like they thought the whole god thing through.

god made the universe in six days and then took a day off?

from a human perspective, that's pretty impressive, but a god? nope, sorry... god takes a week to make the universe? a *god*? wouldn't a *god* make the universe instantly? or do something far more impressive than that?

SHRUGISM

i mostly call my attitude towards god something like "who gives a fuckism" aka whateverism aka shrugism aka whocaresism

i don't care to have a position either way either...

i don't care what your position on god is either

i don't believe in god, but neither do I deny the utterly extremely remote inkling of a possibility that there could be a god

if i say "god does not exist" - I mean *your* christian/islamic/judaic/whatever-religious god does not exist, it doesn't mean that i do not deny the possibility of god, but thus far every story about god that i have ever heard just doesn't cut it. not even close.

you see, my question is this, how can you *know* anything about god?

"oh but the bible says..."

"The bible says a lot of things. And not very clearly."
--[Spanky Ham]

no god attached to a religion *can* be god

because as soon as you give your god a religion, the religious insistence of making that god their own downgrades this being they regard as infinitely all knowing and all encompassing, creator of *all* things, to a somewhat less than godly status, do they not?

for example: the christian god is only god to two billion or so people, the christian god doesn't account for everyone on earth, so it's not god. religion is an excuse to exclude other people that are different to you, you have no right to speak for god by making the assertion that your god is *the* god... talk about arrogance!

If your god is to be god, it must apply itself to every being in the universe that is able to grasp the concept of god, whether those beings know of a particular religion's god's existence or not, right?

according to a lot of christians, you need to give yourself to Jesus - by *name* - in order to be saved. But how can someone who didn't grow up in a christian society know anything about Jesus in the first place? Not everyone can, therefore christianity doesn't apply itself to everyone, therefore the christian god is not god. Same for any other religion that excludes people who don't follow that particular religion.

(oh and NEWSFLASH!! worshiping Jesus by name is utterly stupid because two thousand years ago, there was no person on this planet called "Jesus" and nor had there been and nor would there have been for another 1500 years as the letter "J" wasn't invented until the 1500s, look it up)

I believe in the possibility that there could be a god, but this god is the true god, whatever that is. It could be that a race of people from a trillion light years away is what we think of as god, and all these qu'rans and bibles and star wars trilogies are all just stories made up in the meantime to amuse ourselves as we find out more about the universe.

if there is a god being, it made gravity and the laws of the universe, and a great empty vacuum of space, and somehow that turned into what we see today, for my mind that is far more of an impressive idea about god than a god that didn't do anything for zillions of years then did something for six days then had a rest on the seventh, what sort of god needs to have a rest anyway?

mostly written on 15/07/09, mostly.....

Friday 25 September 2009

what do i believe in? (part 46-a)



this is one of many blogs on my ideas about god, and it's rather long. but just remember god is a personal thing so this is from a personal perspective, so there is no right or wrong when it comes to god, it's just that most people are so SMALL minded when it comes to god... especially the ones who claim to believe *in* god!

ATHEISM IS NEITHER YEA NOR NAY

atheism to me, I should clarify, is not the denial of god(s). sure that can be part of it, depending on the circumstances, but... the way I see it, is that if you deny something, you lend credence to the possibility of its existence, or that you actually do *hate* or have some gripe against this something that you deny and that you deny it to make it go away.

And from personal experience, I know that this is how it works, at least for me, it worked with god by the way, seeing how I used to hate god for all the stupid things that god let happen to me, and to the world. (angry teenage years: an even longer story)

if you truly didn't believe in the existence of god, you wouldn't deny *or* affirm it, as you wouldn't waste your breathe, atheism to me is the neutral position. NEITHER YEA nor NAY.

As an example: an atheist talking going on at length about god, is akin to a "straight" guy going on about homosexuals at length, and what do we know about straight guys that go on about gays? They are either gay and won't admit it to themselves (in spite of everyone else thinking they were gay), or they are worried that they are gay and saying "I am not gay!" or talking about gays in general is merely an affirmation or a mantra they use to make the gay stay away (LOL)... basically what they are worried about is that they don't seem manly enough. boo hoo...

Sooooo... anyone going on about god, especially if they are not prompted to talk about the subject, like me, is probably a closet believer in there being at least some sort of thing out there in the universe that qualifies at least partially as god. like me, they probably won't admit it to themselves, let alone say it out loud, unlike me.

Atheism to me is the complete lack of any thought or speculation at all about god, AT ALL...

an atheist wouldn't spend hours over a period of days and weeks and months writing blogs like I have been known to do that contemplate what this god thing is and an atheist certainly wouldn't emotionally act out over someone's opinion of god because any story about god is complete and utter fiction to an atheist.

When somebody talks to an atheist about god, I would expect the atheist to go "meh! whatever... go away.. god is boring..."

And as such, by this strict definition of an atheist, i don't qualify myself as being an atheist, i don't believe i've ever called myself an atheist, except for about a month, two years ago when i first got onto Myspaz. (and that was just to be part of the crowd)

but i am getting used to the lax interpretation of the term "atheist", but I'm not that impressed by the lax definition. As a demonstration of how I thought an atheist would think:: think of someone who truly believes in something that you know is incredibly absurd, say, the whole universe revolves around the earth, once every 24hrs..

to show you how STUPID that idea actually is, and this is exactly what people thought for hundreds of years and some still do, the following fact would have to be true: everything beyond the orbit of Neptune would need to be going *faster* than the speed of light in order to travel the distance it needs to go around the Earth every 24hrs.

so the mere concept of the universe revolving around the earth is something so bizarre, that when you think about how impossible it is, you feel compelled to *face*palm*... it's not something that you would even think about, because it's SO fucking ridiculous you don't even try to evaluate the mere concept in the first place.

that's how I thought atheists would think in regards to god. The point is, an atheist would find the whole concept of god so stupid that it would never occur to the atheist to think about it in anything more than a passing thought!

so all my bizarre rants about god, for my mind, disqualify me from being a true atheist...

I BELIEVE IN THE ONE *TRUE* GOD....

but it seems i was sort of wrong though, as "atheists" these days go around saying "fuck you god", and "stick it up your arse god" and "god gives good head", "Jesus is gay!"
and other such silly things that they must be just saying to see if they get struck down or something, because taunting a god that they supposedly don't think exists, is a bit like yelling at ghosts...

"He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts."--["IT", Stephen King]

so because of my constant contemplations about god, it makes me consider myself un-atheist.. *face*palms* .. unatheist? .. *rolls*eyes* ... yep...

but truth be known I BELIEVE IN THE ONE *TRUE* GOD.... whatever that is... and since god can never been known, that statement means nothing...

try that on the fundies.. don't tell them the punch line obviously... they'll ask: what is this god's name? (they will think it's Satan!) and then you say: "BLASPHEMY!! one does not speak what one can not know, the *Very* name of god is nothing worthy of a mere mortal. It would take an aeon to just say the name of god anyway" or "god does not make such things known to mortals" or "god has no known name because names were something humans invented" ... be creative


in other words, i don't know what to believe... I do like to speculate but i don't care to believe in intangible beings that seem rather inferior and too limited for the likes of something called "god"... people think too small when it comes to god, "god made the universe? wow! is that all? what else did it do? this *is* god we're talking about, right? so what else has it done? it's been around *forever* and it's *only* made our universe? but it's *god*??? this god has been around for trillions of years but the only thing it's done was this six days of creating stuff? YAWN!"


I like to place my trust in real things... like The Force!



I DON'T BELIEVE *IN*...

i don't believe *in* god. i don't believe *in* science. i don't believe *in* you, I don't believe *in* me. I don't believe *IN* anything what so ever....

oh wait! did I say I don't believe in *me*? i try to believe in myself - but that's a personal problem - and yes that may just be exactly how i came to this line of thinking - but the way i see "believing in" things is this, you have to have 100% trust in that something, to believe *in* that something..

that's what faith is all about, right?

the religious keep claiming their god is absolute and their faith is absolute, and that nothing can shake their faith in god, right? so isn't "faith" 100% trust in something? and when it comes to god, that trust is completely blind.

well... that's the theory.. and remember religion and god are TWO DIFFERENT things

what I'd like to believe, is that the universe is god and that we should all worship it, but not with prayers and silly rituals, we should worship it by respecting it! And seeing how we are all part of the universe, we can start by respecting each other as equals, as we are all, technically part of god.

So being the only sentient beings in the universe that we know of, we make up the collective conscious mind of god.

ABSOLUTES ONLY EXIST IN THE MIND

the only thing you can have trust in 100% fully, is something that you make up yourself.

Why *else* are we *so* devastated when the perfect person for us doesn't want us any more or even at all in the first place? This idea of this person who is perfect for us in every way, actually turns out to be .... *wrong* .... *GASPS*FOR*AIR* NO!!!


But why is that if you never spoken to them or even met them? how can someone who you've had little to no personal interaction with, possibly have any sort of control over you??

Because *EVERYTHING* we "know" and *LIKE* about that person, well, WE MADE IT UP.

more than that, WE MADE UP WHAT WE WANTED THAT PERSON TO BE, as we didn't just make an educated guess about so and so and consider what was possible with this person - we made up the very first thing that we wanted to have as an "attribute" of this person - we made it such that in our minds, this person is our honey, our lover, our world, the very air we breathe or indeed the other extreme and that this person is our nemesis, our bane, our ultimate pain in our arse.

But the truth is that this person wouldn't think twice about you, or ever, they wouldn't even recognise you if they passed you in the street. They might think "who's that freak staring at me?" and promptly forget about you two seconds later.

Is not god is an extreme version of this made up lover/friend??

That something that you keep having trust in 100% of the time is only trustworthy because *you* keep changing its parameters to meet *your* needs on the fly, or *you* alter and filter out external concepts that contradict this thing *you* admire - eg. Jesus says to love everyone, so why do people claiming to follow Jesus have problems with homosexuals? when that chick you are stalking, files a restraining order against you, do you assume that she **must** be playing hard to get??

ie. we see what we want to see... we don't see the reality of this image that we've created...

So it would seem that the "absolute" god of the religious NUTTERS, is created relativistically and on the fly as the need arises, and this absolute god, is probably uniquely created by every person who is a believer, in much the same way that someone "loves" someone else that they have never even spoken to before.

Sure, all christians may have a *similar* god, with *similar* properties and they might all just call it the same thing ie. "god".. but I suspect that there are hundreds of thousands of different versions of this "same" god, possibly even millions. possibly even 2.2 billion versions of it ... 3.3 billion if you count Muslims as having the same god as the christian god...

It'd be good if we could do a survey of ten million christians to see just how many properties of god they can list to see just how different each person regards their god.

An absolute and true god would have the exact same answers for every survey completed if these were true followers of god, right? It *is* the one and same god, right? so everyone should have the exact same idea if it's the same god, riiighhhhhht??????

this is one of many reasons why i can not believe "in" any religion - i don't listen to anyone else about anything, not without making up my own mind about it first, not unless I'm shown the facts of something there is no way I am just going to take some arbitrary thing on board as a legitimate concern in this universe and I am certainly not going to make fucking dumbarse religion fruit cakes exempt from the logic chip on my shoulder.

Or if I don't get a strong grasp of some concept in science (relatively, evolution rah rah rah), I won't accept it completely either, no way! those things go into the "I'll figure that shit out later" bucket, however, I do NOT stress over not knowing or if these "sciences" are incomplete or if I don't fully understand them.

For example it's often claimed that there are gaps in evolution, well, so what, it doesn't render the whole theory invalid! and seriously, what science is 100% completely explained anyway? well? ... Figuring this shit out is the FUN thing about science!! I certainly won't claim the slightest bit faith in something I have no understanding or knowledge of whatsoever, so why pretend to be religious if i'm just going to go with what I want to do anyway?

How absolutely pathetic of the religious to be claiming some higher source of morality or knowledge but then they just go with whatever the fuck they want to go with anyway... what's that about? What was the thou shalt not bear false witness?

i mean after all, the religious quite often claim god's morals are absolute, the "word" of god is absolute, god's power is absolute, god this absolute, god that absolute.. yadda yadda yadda ... don't take my word for it, just ask them!!

so i say let's hold the fuckers to their "absolutes" .. i love the word 'absolute' as it qualifies the word it describes

eg. "absolute darkness" == 100% darkness

absolute darkness leaves no room for even the slightest bit of light... it may be a pitch black dark night, but the stars are out, nope, that's not absolute darkness. The same is claimed of the "absolute" word of god... it's 100% infallible!! but that's not how it really is, is it?

the religious claim a "perfect" god, with a "perfect" word. These are absolutes, show me one absolute that's not exclusively in your mind. Eg. Absolute Zero, that's the coldest temp possible, but to my knowledge, it has never *actually* been achieved, has it? Even the coldest parts of space are a degree or two above absolute zero. Scientists haven't yet got something cooled down to absolute zero, they've come close though, *really* close. So while absolute zero may actually exist, and may actually be possible to achieve, but the only place it can possibly be achieved at the moment is in somebody's imagination because that's the only place the conditions to create absolute zero could exist.

So indeed if one full stop is half missing from this perfect word of god, then this perfect word being the word of god is a lie, is it not?

ALL RELIGION IS A LIE

But technicalities (honest mistranslations, spelling mistakes) are irrelevant as to why any scripture from any religion claiming to be the word of god is a lie...

The religious "word of god" is often written in parables and metaphors with cryptic references to a period in time where much of the events that have been and gone, have been lost to us forever.

So even if some religious text was indeed the actual literal "word" of god, human interpretation is vague and unreliable, therefore humankind itself renders this perfect "word" of god a lie because a perfect word of god would be interpreted how god meant it to be interpreted by every single person, the same way, every single time, without fail, because it's supposed to be *perfect*. How can it be perfect if it's misunderstood by even the dumbest imbecile?

Ergo: The word of god is not perfect because we are not perfect.

if god wanted people to follow him and praise him - it should have insisted on the use of words with one or two syllables with the occasional three syllable word every now and then, no parables, no metaphors, no cryptic puzzles, no occasional genocides, the perfect "scripture" of god should have been be dumbarse proof... (and god wouldn't be so fucking angry all the time.)

but that's not how it is, because if it was that simple, god could then truly claim to hate those that deliberately reject its word, as no-one would have an excuse for not understanding this "Word", because if they didn't get it, they would be dumbarse ignorant morons with little more brain power than a flea.

FILLING IN THE GAPS

take special note of the I don't believe '"*IN*"' bit... believing *IN* something requires you to make assumptions to fill in the "gaps", and how do we, as humans, fill in those gaps?

we fill in those gaps with our knowledge based on our emotions, we fill in those gaps with ourselves - with our own personal experiences - with how we *want* those gaps to be filled in - often with massive bias in favour of our own egos and often lacking practical or common sense.

i believe that's why people can outright lie and call god or god's word "perfect" ... because the bits of scripture that don't make sense or they haven't read, or have misread, it's *all* perfect to them because that's how their god works.

This is what we have all been told, god is *perfect* - of course god is perfect - if it wasn't perfect - it's not god. Which makes me wonder why we need to state that god is perfect in the first place, the word "god" should already defined to include the definition "perfect" by default. So for me, anyone talking about the "perfect" word of god doesn't truly believe that it really is perfect because if it is a given, why even mention that? Do you see and hear people telling other people that the sun will rise tomorrow? Of course the sun is going to rise tomorrow, so I can only assume that anybody saying that the sun is going to rise tomorrow is actually only saying such a thing because they don't truly believe that and they want to convince themselves by saying that well known fact out loud as an affirmation.

*Whatever* defining characteristics the religious make up about their god: it is "perfect", because their absolute god will always be "perfect" in their relativistic minds - and god is just a detached bit of someone's ego that claims itself to be the "perfect god"...

So of course god is perfect - it can never fail - and if it's not perfect enough - it can become *more* perfect! Such is the nature of the bias humans have toward things they worship. Girls, boys, god, Justin Beiber, whatever...

god, is only in the mind, so calling a god that is attached to a religion, "perfect", is probably one of the most arrogant things anyone can say, as that person is calling a part of themselves, to be "god", a "perfect" god at that ... they are claiming a bit of their *OWN* egos as being *perfect* and to further that notion: because it is there god, it is *their* religion so they feel compelled to pass the alleged word of god on to others. People aren't asking you to accept the word of any actual god, they are asking you to accept the word of god that just also happens to be their *ego*.

yes! the extremeness with which people are up themselves is beyond me at times.

and if there really is a god, attaching a religion to it implies that that particular religion is *the* religion - it's *god* after all - but that also puts a "limit" on god, does it not?

god supposedly has no limits, so isn't it reasonable to think that attaching a god to a religion, negates the all powerfulness of this god? does not attaching a religion to god, in fact, insult the very concept of god? does not attaching a worldly thing - a mortal thing - to a god, drag that god down to our level?

Or instead, does it perhaps, elevate the believer up closer to becoming god themselves? Which would imply that the believer elevates themselves above the non-believer, which is *exactly* what the religious do... whether they realise or not

"You need to believe in Jesus, or you're going to hell" is merely religious speak for "I'm better than you because I believe in Jesus!" ... (replace "Jesus" in the previous sentence with your favourite deity as is necessary)

This *must* be why people often react in outbursts when their god is questioned, we are offending the bit of their brain that thinks it is *god*, it's a very personal and shocking insult to have your almighty and infallible and perfect god get trodden on by a mere sentence.

the same thing probably happened with that friend of yours when you were a kid that your parents told you was no good, but you stuck up for this friend anyway.. this is also similar to when a husband who beats his wife and yet this particular wife sticks up for their husband when someone has a go at him for beating the shit out of her, "oh but he loves me!" ... Yeah, great logic... if you are put down, beaten, insulted, whatever by this god/person, but then you act out to defend them when someone else attacks them, well that's just not healthy..

This god seems to have a very strong control over those who lash out, leading to the conclusion that this god is closely linked to the fear centre of their brain.

This bit of their ego protects them, a person's religious god(s) are an emotional shield for their weak minds and weak minds are driven by fear, and fear, is the path to the Dark Side, which sounds somewhat corny, but Yoda knows his shit! LOL!

look at the things that people do in the name of their god - a fully conscious rational mind would not do these nut-zoid things and yes people *just* go crazy and that has nothing to do with religion at all, but Jesus H Christ!! - the news stories of people who merely "just" go crazy are few and far between as compared to people who did some crazy religious thing that they were inspired to do because of their holy scripture...

we've all heard tales of religious morons.. the guy that kept a dead woman in a toilet for months, because he wanted to give god a chance to revive her (he wanted to give god a *chance* implies that he does not much faith in that god); or what about that woman who killed her children before they sinned so they would get into heaven (didn't she trust her god to instruct her about how to raise her children to be decent kids?); the guy who cut his hand off for sinning with it; that dude who wouldn't get a small tumour operated upon because it's against his religion to have a blood transfusion, that tumour grew to be the bulk of his head (yeah god fucked up my face, so who am *I* to go have god's shoddy work corrected?)... there are heaps of these people.

We attempt to fill in these gaps of unknown knowledge with ourselves, with our *feelings*, with our *experience* and then somehow we think our feelings have become knowledge. We believe *IN* things because we are inspired by our feelings. Someone can tell you that they love you, and you can love them in return merely for showing you that much love, but it's their actions that speak loudest to actually make you believe that they do indeed love you.

Like believing in yourself, belief in god has to be balanced as well, the best religious people, do NOT dwell over their Messiahs and their gods, they are too busy living the life that their all loving god wants them to live.

GOD, THE ULTIMATE 'GAP' THEORY

Now with god, seeing how we actually know nothing at all about the actual god, *everything* is filled in with our feelings, with what we *feel* to be the right thing. These speculations about god are especially shaped around our deepest and most gripping fears. Seriously, what thing written about god isn't speculation? So isn't everything possibly 'known' about god, something someone made up?

fear of dying? god deals with that shit, so let's shove that bunch of yucky thoughts over to live with the bit of our ego we call god, no worries, fear of loss? fear of the unknown? just shove all of those icky thoughts over to this detached god ego thing, so god can look after it.. no wucking furries, sawright?

now this may work in a relatively pleasant society, where people tend to get along, but when religious opinions mix freely, expect some serious out pouring of this acting out on fears, I've seen it, if you're reading this online then you probably have seen it too, again it's that small 1% that are being as loud (or louder) than the other 99% christians or otherwise religious people that are too busy minding their own business to be a religious pain in the arse.

the inverse religious fundamentalist law... the disproportionate religious extremist factor, the theory that speculates that it is indeed the loudest, the craziest, the most extreme 1% of any religion, that can and do speak and act as much and as loudly and as often as the other 99% combined.

Every fundamentalist is driven by their "god ego", so when confronted with a blatant contradiction, the need to act out is paramount to create some sort of retribution to punish those who have sinned against their god-ego in order to protect that fragile ego, ie. them and their ego in a sort of "dog chasing its own tail" dance, sort of like a "mental feedback" loop..

EVERYTHING 'KNOWN' ABOUT GOD WAS MADE UP BY MEN

everything about god is speculation, because if it's not, then feel free to show me this knowledge that not a speculation about god...

and no, the clouds are not evidence of god, your feelings are not evidence of god either.

When your god is actually your ego, god is self referring, like the bible is the word of god, because the bible says so.. it is often a loop people can not get out of, and they are so crippled by it, then don't even know they in a feedback loop.

nut case believers who believe in god, do so because their ego tells them to believe in god, but god *is* in their ego, no wonder the religious don't realise what they do...

if I believed "in" a "god" being like fundamentalist religionists do, I would be believing in a detached bit of my own ego, what is more self righteous than that?

I do, however, believe there *could* be a actual god. But in saying that, however, not one idea i've heard about god does justice to the concept of "god". I'm of the opinion, "god made the universe you say, is that it? Is that all your precious god has ever done? sheesh.. not much of a god, is it? just one universe, this god of yours sounds like a pretty lame god to me"

I do accept that most of the knowledge that science presents to us, is indeed our best explanation for the universe around us, AT THE MOMENT. But I don't believe *IN* science, as that implies I would be devastated if it actually was wrong, or didn't exist, or was just in my imagination, as my faith would be removed like a jet suddenly losing its engines, I would be in free fall, I would be without a soul if i was detached from my precious god...

*rolls*eyes*

Monday 14 September 2009

Satan V God - who appears the most in the bible?


Satan V God

who appears the most in the bible?


considering how much christians go on about THA DIVIL *sooooo* much ... i figured that well, The Unholy Fellow must be getting some serious air time by getting a mention on every page of the bible... but ....

Satan - 56 times in 49 verses

Lucifer - 1 times in 1 verses

Devil occurs 61 times in 57 verses

So, in total, His Darkness occurs 118 times in 107 verses

Wow - His Most Unholiness appears a lot!! way COOL! no wonder those loopy christians go on about him all the time!! shit man.. let's see how many times that other guy gets a mention... what was his name again? oh that's right. let's see how poor Jesus goes..


Jesus occurs 983 times in 942 verses

WOW!!! You'd think loooney christians would go on about Jesus NINE times as much as they do about The Prince of Darkness... but I'm thinking it's more like half and half... hmmm, oh wait... i forgot god!



God occurs 4473 times in 3893 verses

oh SNAP! god appears in about 36 times as many verses as The Ultimate Evil Dude does - and if you count Jesus as being on god's side (LOL!) then that's 45 times as many verses

so I'm thinking that christians should focus on the good things at least ten times as much as the bad things, but that's not how it is, is it?

it's a small minority that is destroying christianity for everyone, isn't that joyful? the christian fundies themselves that are doing the work of The Most Dark and Glorious Sinner!

oh maybe it's just that the worst christian fundies are online venting their anger into the cyberspace trying to taunt a reaction from some angry atheist?

or maybe they did what I did and just read and focused on all the cool bits of the bible that mention The Dark Lord, and other cool stuff like 6 6 6 - man I love "The Omen" - and dragons with seven heads slaughtering lambs while sounding trumpets while these four MEGA DUDES bring the ravages of Time, the despair of Famine, the rampant spread of disease of Pestilence, and ultimately, Death, but instead of having fun with it like I did, they became scared of the His Most Unholy Darkness!!

go figure...

ps. but maybe i did watch The Omen too many times


* Statistics from King James Version at Blue Letter Bible


Sunday 13 September 2009

growing old....


As a child we experience new things every day.

We go to school and usually everyday the teacher has something new for us to learn, new facts and new concepts or new ways of looking at things to perhaps bring a new perspective on what we have already learnt.

Think of the progressing difficulty levels of mathematics or the increasing complexity of the words we are taught as we progress through the grades in primary school as an example.

Learning new things and new concepts keeps the brain intrigued and open to learning more and more, so each day as we get older, especially as we grow from a child into an adult, the brain is gradually, over the months and years, exposed to smaller and smaller quantities of 'new' information. Meaning that as a child the school day is filled with more new concepts and more variety. Eg Math English Science Sport all in the one day but as an adult we can spend hours, days, months, years and even decades dedicated to one specific line of research and learning or we might persist with the same routine day in and day out.

According to research on the brain when a new concept is learned new neural 'pathways' are established in the brain. When more concepts are learnt in a day, there would appear to be 'more' variety in that day. When you learn a lot of new concepts, lots of new pathways are established.

It makes sense that the brain would associate the time when it created these pathways with a specific period of your life so as time passes it seems to the brain that there was 'more' in your youth as compared to recent years because more of these pathways were created when you were younger so it seems that your youth took longer than your adult life has.

As we get older into our twenties and thirties and sometimes even while we are still becoming adults we notice that the years seem to be getting shorter and shorter.

As we age, we become increasingly committed to family, friends and work, we become exposed by definition to less and less variety, this is sometimes referred to as "settling down" (LOL!).

Think of your career path. If you were doing the same job for years, the days would tend to blend into each other but on the other hand, imagine if that somehow on each day, or week or month it meant you had a completely different job to do, might that year not seem longer? Even a year when you went on a big holiday is likely to be a longer year in your memory because of that vast departure from your normal routine by taking that holiday.

so it would make sense that if the brain thinks that the years are going by faster because each year you are doing less and less new things... well that's my theory .... when you get really old, does that mean that the years just fly by?

so if you knew everything, would the years fly by in nanoseconds? does that explain god? did god become so smart he thought himself out of existence?

mostly written 11th March, 2007, mostly...

Tuesday 8 September 2009

what is the logic of prayer after a tragedy?


i know this is probably insensitive seeing how soo many people have died in "acts of god" lately, but i am a logical thinker....

I do acknowledge for those who do pray, that prayer *can* be a good thing, so if you do say prayers and you really believe in it, then good for you, but seriously, if you pray, stop reading right now......

ok... still reading...? don't blame me if i shatter your little world of prayer...

Prayer *does* allow people to heal - i've read about studies and shit man, it works! .. but not in the sense that god does any thing to intervene..

if I'm not mistaken, the healing properties in prayer are just merely the "power of positive thinking" .. if you say a prayer that somebody gets better when they are sick, or that they go to heaven when they die or you pray for yourself to get better when you are sick or you think you're going to die - you get the idea - but that allows the person praying to *relax*, to release some of that burden of whatever is troubling them, to overly simplify it.

When you say a prayer and you really believe that it makes a difference, these lucky people can reduce their stress levels, it's a release, and when somebody knows that somebody else is praying for them (**and** appreciates their prayers), their stress levels can reduce too, because they are being shown that somebody cares...

this is all a guess by the way, but when you stress over stuff, you tend to worry yourself sick, and prayer, meditation, reading a book, going for a walk, going to bed early, keeping warm rah rah rah, they all have healing effects. I'm no expert, but my doctor tells me not to stress... all the time.

but the prayer that i am talking about here is not the sort of prayer that is actually useful, this blog is about prayers to god *after* a tragedy has happened...

so... a rather long rant.... and again I don't mean to belittle individuals with their prayers for the current wave of natural disasters we are experiencing ...

mostly written 8 September 2009, mostly...



i've come up with two blogs here - one is very long - but then i realised that it could be totally simplified ... so a short version and a long original version


SHORT BLOG

What's the point in praying to god at all? Do you think you can change god's mind? what is the point? You flatter yourself if you think your prayer will make a difference.. if god is going to smite you, your family, the country, or the fucking planet you are on - IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN - *regardless* of what *you* do.

A more useful "prayer" is to pray that you *yourself* have the strength to accomplish whatever it is that you find to be a challenge; that *you* wish those that are suffering, aren't suffering; in fact, christians are meant to pray for what they already have and not for things that they want .. so technically you can't pray for someone to get help, in fact, the christian themselves are supposed to provide help for those in need.



before you read the rest of this - the words "pray" or "prayer", apply to praying to god, just saying some thing into the air doesn't count as "prayer" - you have to believe in your particular god to be able to say a proper "prayer" in the first place. just saying, for clarity

LONG BLOG

recently we've seen a spate of air plane crashes and natural disasters and the like, and after these events, I've seen a whole bunch of "Tweets" over on twitter.com from supposedly caring individuals praying for these people who have died in tragic circumstances.

but let's think about this, why do they pray? why do these people pray *after* some nasty thing happens??? Isn't it too late to pray after the fact?

I'm not saying it would not appreciated by the people affected, and yes knowing people care about you in your time of need makes you feel a tiny little bit better and i'm not saying it's not nice to see people doing something that has some semblance of being human but... I saw dozens of tweets saying that people were "praying" *after* these disasters... what is that all about?

Let's examine this, shall we?

I made a tweet because I was annoyed at how everyone was making a big deal out of praying after the Air France flight 447 crash into the Atlantic and asked into the Tweether as to why people didn't pray beforehand to stop it happening at all.

The only actual reply i got was someone saying that they are not psychic and that i should have respect for those paying their respects. (she's probably right)

but what do these people pray about? i can only speculate about three basic things that they might say a prayer about:

pray that these people who have died tragically are going to go to heaven?

well that's nice, but what difference does it make now? if the person was going to heaven or hell, isn't that decided already? so what different action is god going to take even if this prayer is heard?

now don't get *offended* - but how up ones' self do you have to be, to pray for someone that has died already that you don't even *know*???

seriously? don't get me wrong, the sentiment is nice and such but --- logically --- what's the point? let me explain:

imagine a person is killed tragically by an 'act of god' in a mud slide or something and this person was going to go to hell because they ate pork after midnight on Ramadan or something - but then somebody goes and prays for them - does the person praying for this dead person assume the dead guy is going to heaven? why?

i mean, it's nice to wish someone to go to heaven regardless of who they were and what they did but, did they consider that their prayers are asking god to change its mind? if some person was struck down by an act of god, then uhmm, didn't god strike them down on purpose? i know it's a bit much to assume anyone struck down by god is not going to go to hell, but come on, if god strikes you down it's a fair bet it was done because you did no good, right? ... good people aren't generally deemed to have been struck down by god when they go...

so do these prayer-people think that god is going to spare some heathen from the fiery pits of hell for all eternity because *this* one particular believer said *their* one particular little prayer? do they think god is going to change its infinitely clever mind about something because of little old *them*? is it like a vote? if enough people pray to god, will god change its mind?

i'm sorry but I just don't *get* the idea of prayer *after* the shit has happened

i know people may honestly mean well with their prayers, but...

why do they think that they are *so* special that their prayer is saving someone from an eternity in hell? do they honestly think god's judgement is something to be bargained over?

oh... hang on... what if these poor souls that have died are not christian though? why ask to have *them* sent to christian heaven? I mean we keep hearing that non-Christians will not be going to heaven, so.... what happens when a plane load of Muslims crashes and a whole bunch of christians wish them a speedy trip to a christian heaven.... can they convert after they are dead, can they?

pray so that the loved ones of those who died don't suffer heartache for too long

well, that's thoughtful and nice and sweet too, but again do they think god is going to listen to them, and alter little minor things in the universe, just because *they* think that they have god's ear? why do they think god may just answer the things that *they* pray about?

do they think that feeling bad for these other people who have died tragically, is somehow being a compassionate person?

it's a nice sentiment, but again, if god is going to take away the hurt from someone, somehow, then god is going to do that anyway, is it not selfish to think that your prayer would make a difference? there is no point praying for the dead, christians should be out helping people in need that are NOT dead, all this time wasted on prayers for dead should have been used to *actually* do something useful for the living!

and these people who die in tragic circumstances, have those people praying for them considered that maybe god is *punishing* these people who've died in these horrific circumstances because they weren't good people in the first place?

maybe god made the tragic event happen in the first place because god was answering the prayers of someone who wanted evil people exterminated?!!

after all - the religious feverishly spout that god does everything for a reason. so plane crash, mudslide, tsunami, whatever - it's all an act of god if you listen to the religious and these disasters could very well be god enacting punishment upon evil people!

so given that, what do you think god is going to think of people praying for these evil heathens god has just struck down with their asking for lenience for these earthly scum, especially when it was their previous prayers asking that god rid the world of these evil people??!!

first you say a prayer to god, asking god to punish evil people, then you ask god to be nice to them, isn't that merely just pissing-off a jealous, vengeful god?

god would be sitting up there in heaven, going...make up your fucking mind already!

pray to god, so that god doesn't let this particular thing happen to them?

seems to me, that the *only* practical purpose of prayer *AFTER* the fact, is that you are reminding god, to not let the same sort of disaster happen to you.. Oh! Thank god I wasn't on a plane that crashed into the middle of the ocean!

Oh! Thank god I wasn't standing on the beach when that tsunami came in!

I don't think people are praying for other people at all when they pray, especially when they pray after the fact...

I mean, it's nice to give condolences, but prayer doesn't make a difference, *especially* after the fact, it can't possibly make a difference, because god has already made up its mind to smite them.

TOO LATE, YOUR PRAYERS HAVE BECOME

So... it would seem that prayer after the fact, is how you make yourself feel better about how that nasty thing wont happen to you because you've got god.

end-bit

and this isn't about not having compassion, so if your feathers are ruffled, too bad...

maybe these people actually do mean well, but in my experience most christians with their flippant attitudes to other races and religions don't give a flying fuck about non-christians when they are alive, yet when a plane-load of non-christians die, they pray for their souls or that they go to a christian heaven? come on! hypocrite much?

there is no commitment to the dead either, you say a prayer for them and that's all you need to do. Can't say a prayer for the living, because that would be stupid seeing how you're supposed to be out actually helping those people in need.

if prayer actually does make a difference - then why the fuck aren't people asking god to not strike down people BEFORE it fucking happens? could it be that you can't be self congratulating before the tragic event, because if you tried, you'd look stupid...

"i prayed today that an asteroid wouldn't hit the earth... and guess what? we're still here... so all of you should say thank you because I might forget to say a prayer tomorrow"

If there is a god and praying actually does make a difference then the only "real" purpose for praying *after* a tragic event is to remind god that you still believe in it, just in case it's still in the smiting mood to smite something smiteable, like yourself.

But if you do pray and you still get smotified down by god, then you did not pray enough. or maybe... hehehehe... praying has nothing to do with anything because there is no god to hear your prayers? or even funnier... you *flatter* yourself to think that the supreme being of the entire universe and yourself are somehow "chummy" ... or indeed, that you've been praying to the god fantasy that you yourself have designed, which you now mistake for your own ego ...


The most common lie is that which one lies to himself; lying to others is relatively an exception.--[Nietzsche]

the religious should not read these blogs, they *will* be offended

these are my rantings about religion - i speak fluent sarcasm - know this when you are reading and it will save you some heartache.