Good Enough For Me

Good Enough For Me - My latest post on my experiences as a child growing up in a Christian family. I discuss the "good enough for me" mentality in regard to the Bible and Christian doctrine.

Taking the Plunge

Taking the Plunge - My latest post on my experiences as a child growing up in a Christian family, and a test of the sharing feature for Blogger.

The Problem(s) With Prayer

I have issues with prayer. First of all, I don't believe prayer works. Second, I believe that even if prayer were a valid form of communication or intercessory action it causes certain problems for the one receiving the prayers. Let's examine these problems:

Prayer is Confusing!

Imagine you're a god and your followers communicate with you via prayer –– that is to say, telepathic means by either speaking out loud or thinking specific things. Your task is to listen to every single one of these prayers and answer them according to some method of prioritization and feasibility. It probably wouldn't be too difficult if you had one or two followers or maybe even 10. But what if you had a million or a billion followers? With each follower asking for different things (some of which are bound to be in direct conflict with each other) how do you even keep them straight?

Prayer is Favoritism!

Once you've gotten all of these prayers your task is answering them all. You can answer them with a "Yes," "No," or "Wait." The ones you answer with a "Yes" are obviously more feasible or have a higher priority than the others. But what makes one prayer more feasible than others?

If little Billy asks for snow in July because his friend is dying of cancer and wants to be able to sled before he dies, why wouldn't it be within your power to make that happen? Billy's heart is obviously in the right place and when he says this prayer I'm certain he means it earnestly. Somehow these types of prayers always seem to be answered with a "No."

If Martha can't find her keys and prays for help (and you know she'll eventually find them anyway, once she calms down and thinks about it) why would you choose to answer that one over Billy's? It doesn't make any sense, but this is what we see happening all the time. Does this mean you like Martha more than Billy or his dying friend? It kind of seems that way.

How do you, as a deity, get around showing favoritism when it's perfectly clear you'll never be able to please everybody?

Prayer is Contradiction!

In the following verses Jesus said some variant of, "Whatever you ask in my name it shall be given to you."

• Matthew 21:22
• Mark 11:24
• John 14:13-14
• John 15:7
• John 15:16
• John 16:23-24

Having said this, did Jesus realize that people would be asking for things that directly contradict either (a) god's will (b) the laws of nature (c) other prayers or (d) anything that would actually be beneficial to humanity? If he knew any of these do you think he would have said it? And if he knew that people would ask for things that are never fulfilled would he have been so cavalier in making such a promise? I think not.

Prayer is Showmanship!

All of the supernatural points aside, praying has become an art form for many a religious person. Instead of doing it quietly and humbly as a personal conversation between you and your god, you insist on doing it out loud using the most eloquent words you can think up, hurling praises and flattering your deity for everyone to hear. You think it makes you pious. I think it makes you look ridiculous. Do you honestly think your god is impressed with the flapping of your arms or the wavering of your voice?

Prayer is Inaction!

Have you ever stopped to think that the time you spend praying could be put to better use actually doing something? Sure, praying for somebody makes you feel like you're helping them but has anybody ever averted a real, tangible crisis by praying instead of acting on it? If you can think of a single instance I'd love to hear about it.

Prayer is Short-Sighted!

Think of all the things about which you've prayed. How many of those things benefited more people than just you? How many of those things benefited more than just the people you know? How about more than just your community? Or your country?

Why don't the people who really believe prayer works pray for world peace? I mean really put your heads together and earnestly ask your god to bring about a change in people's hearts and minds so that we see the end of war, hatred and violence? Honestly, do you think that's a worthwhile goal? If not, why not?

Let's start thinking, people. Please.

Ten Commandments in School Classrooms?

I swear, stupid people are outbreeding smart people by a large margin! I was just made aware of a poll that the San Antonio Fox affiliate conducted on their Web site asking if the Ten Commandments ought to be posted in all public school classrooms, following a proposal by representative Dan Flynn. Thankfully, there were enough rational people voting in the poll to push the results to 1.19% Yes and 98.77% No. However, read through the comments and very quickly you'll come to this gem:

It would definitely help with so many kids taking guns to school, dishonoring their parents, lying, stealing, doing immoral things and most importantly not giving God the recognition he deserves. by Nancy

Really?! Having stone monuments posted in a classroom is going curtail gun-toting, disrespectful children in public schools? I'd love to have some of what Nancy is smoking. Oh, wait. Would that violate any of the Big Ten?

OK, so here's the problem as I see it: the introduction of the Ten Commandments in school classrooms has absolutely no purpose other than the forcing of religion into our lives. It doesn't matter how you try to word it or disguise it, the sole purpose of this proposal is to shove your religion down our throats! The Ten Commandments aren't educational, don't apply to all world religions, start off with divisive rhetoric, and will cost taxpayers money that could actually benefit the schools in tangible ways. In short, it's a lose/lose situation!

The argument that the Ten Commandments don't solely apply to Christianity is false. I'll make a blog post about this soon.

The argument that the Ten Commandments contain sound moral guidelines is false. That'll be included in my upcoming blog post.

The argument that the Ten Commandments compel people to behave is demonstrably false, ignorant, naïve, and just plain fucking stupid. If the presence of these magical rules "helped" with curtailing bad behavior don't you think the religious community wouldn't have nearly the amount of problems it historically and currently has? Are you really that blinded to reality that you cannot see this?

Let's start thinking, people. Please.

Jesus Potter, Harry Christ

I've been informed of a new project which will reach its conclusion in the near future. It's a book entitled "Jesus Potter, Harry Christ" by Derek Murphy which examines the mythos of Jesus Christ as a literary figure in contrast to Harry Potter, who has garnered much animosity and fear from Christians. I'm particularly intrigued by this idea in the wake of discovering another book, "Nailed: Ten Christian Myths that Show Jesus Never Existed at All" by David Fitzgerald.

The character of Jesus is surrounded by a haze of vague preconceptions, credulity and wishful thinking –- especially when it comes to fulfillment of prophecy and miracles. I'm looking forward to reading both of these books very soon and giving my thoughts on the matter afterward.

Facebook Faith

I have friends on my Facebook account – either those with whom I currently associate or old friends from High School – who are believers in some sort of deity. This being the United States, the overwhelming majority are, of course, Christians. These friends (not all of them, but several) will periodically post status messages proclaiming the greatness of their god, or the greatness of their faith. Some examples would be:

Scripture Quote

For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent. “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. ps 91 11-14

Public Prayer/Praise

God IS SO SOSOSOSOSOSOSO GOOD..... still praise you when my throat is sore... you are an awesome GOD.

There's nothing wrong with you believing whatever you want. However, you should realize by now that not everyone else is going to believe it just because you do. That being the truth (and it is), you shouldn't be surprised when somebody disagrees with you and chooses to comment on your status. Since Facebook allows for commenting on statuses, you must have expected that your friends would be able to do this. So, why do you type responses like this when that happens?

Help, I'm Being Persecuted!

I think your hate for God is clouding your judgment and has cause you to become angry in the conversation. Just because you live by a different belief than me or others does not make yours right. You came on this page of someone who has faith to blast there faith in order to try and cause confusion in her mind. You have allow the devil to enter your thought system to destroy faith and I am here to help you see the what you have allowed to come into your life. If you choice to walk away from that, that is your free will. No one should ever force another to believe like them.

Two Problems…

First, why do Christians have such dreadful spelling and grammar? I don't want to flippantly draw a parallel between religious belief and intelligence, but they almost make it too easy to do so without trying. Obviously, not 100% of Christians write poorly but it's definitely prevalent enough so that I'm picking up on a pattern.

Second, how in the world do you figure I'm mad at or hate god? Does having a contrary opinion automatically mean I'm filled with hatred? That's ludicrous! This is a classic Christian persecution complex and it makes me want to pull out my hair a handful at a time. What gives you the right to project feelings onto me that I'm not experiencing? Get over yourself!

The Hypocrisy, It Burns!

All of that being said, when it comes time for me to update my status on Facebook I sometimes (more often, recently) quote a notable atheist or make my own observation about religion. I do this with full expectation that somebody will disagree and probably comment on it. I don't accuse them of hating me or some imaginary being and I don't project my insecurities onto them because they've shared their opinion. Why is it that the atheist is being more Christ-like than the believers?

Let's start thinking, people. Please.

The Problem with God's Foresight

This has bugged me for quite some time and I have yet to get any kind of explanation for it from Christians, let alone from god. Tell me this isn't completely weird, in describing an all-knowing creator:

Prior to creating the world, God set a rule for Himself that the people He was going to create for the express purpose of loving unconditionally would not be allowed anywhere near Him because He would purposely instill them with a degenerative condition to which He is allergic and which cannot be cured but only conceptually controlled by a symbolic treatment of Jesus' blood; and because He set this rule for Himself He is unable to break it even though it doesn't make any sense, causes Him grief, forced Him to kill His son, and He's omnipotent?

Weird. Let's start thinking, people. Please.

The Problem with Using Poetry as Evidence

Wow, it's been a while since I posted an entry here. My attendance at Skepticon III this weekend (which was freaking awesome, BTW) has renewed my fervor in my pursuit to educate the willfully ignorant. So here we go…

Christians, why do you constantly cite selected verses from books of the Bible such as Psalms, Proverbs, and Song of Solomon? Do you not realize that those books are poetry? Do you not realize that these poems are not the words of a deity? Are you purposely ignoring these facts?

My point is this: if you want to present evidence for your god and you absolutely have to use a book to do it, you honestly need to choose a better book than the one you've got, because I'm not going to accept poetry as fact. If I were to allow myself that practice as the norm, then I'd have to accept all sorts of ridiculous notions like, oh, every single deity ever imagined by mankind throughout history! You do realize that people wrote a lot of poetry about them too, right?

If I were so incredibly in love with a woman that I was blinded to every single one of her faults, I might write a piece of poetry like the following:

Her skin as smooth as milk,
Her hair as strong as steel,
Her eyes as deep as oceans,
All men bow at her heel.

In reality, this woman who seems to have a supernatural ability to capture the attention of every man on Earth and possess the most incredible qualities a woman possibly could possess, might look like this:

The fact that I'm so enamored with her has precluded my ability to see that this chick has a horrible unibrow, huge teeth, dry and damaged hair, a gnarly mole on her cheek, and nostrils the size of jet engine intakes. Not to mention the fact that I'm probably the only man in the world clamoring for her attention. That's fine, really. Each person ought to have the opportunity to see beauty and perfection however they see fit. But here's the rub:

Each person does not have the right to project their biased perceptions onto other people – especially if they're just waxing poetic.

Christians, please do me a favor in the future and remove Biblical books of poetry from your arguments for your god altogether. I think they're crap, other people think they're crap, and they absolutely, positively do not prove anything whatsoever.

Let's start thinking, people. Please.

Evolution for Dummies

This post is titled "Evolution for Dummies" on the blog When Pigs Fly Returns. I really want to read this, and you should too. There's no replacement for education.

The Problem With God's Purpose

The belief in a personal, intervening deity presents another problem in my mind. Theists believe that a god created the universe and everything in it with a final, triumphant pinnacle of creation that is humans, for whom this god cares above all else. So this god's purpose is A, B, or C as follows:

A: God's purpose is to create the universe and everything in it.
B: God's purpose is to care for human beings.
C: God's purpose is to create the universe and everything in it, and to care for human beings.

God's Purpose is to Create the Universe

If this is a god's purpose, then a more appropriate stance toward a god is deism. That is to say, a supernatural agency ("The Supreme Architect") created the universe and everything in it, setting it into motion before stepping back and impassively and impartially watching it all work out. This god doesn't intervene in human affairs and had no special reason for creating us. There is no afterlife, no Heaven or Hell, and no holy text on which to base one's life. This view is compatible with science, since the god has no personal characteristics and the natural world is what it is without any supernatural phenomena like miracles or prophecy.

The problem with this, however, is that if this god's sole purpose is to create the universe then there was (a) no need for this god to exist prior to the creation of the universe, and (b) no need for this god following the creation of the universe. A deist's stance, in this case, is still a little bit silly because even if a supernatural agency did create the universe, there's absolutely no reason to wonder about it, worry about it, or inject it into any conversation because it has lived out its purpose and now – for all it matters – doesn't even logically exist.

For a theist, however, this presents a wholesale contradiction to everything they believe. For one, it means their god doesn't care about them any more than an ant or a deer. Second, it means there's no reason to believe in an afterlife because their god has already done its job and now – for all it matters, again – doesn't even logically exist. It's pretty clear that theists believe their god has another purpose other than just being a creator.

God's Purpose is to Care for Humans

If this is a god's purpose, then there's no reason for the god to exist prior to the advent of homo sapiens. This means that the universe was formed via natural processes without the intervention of a supernatural agency, the Earth came about via natural processes without the intervention of a supernatural agency, life spawned, evolved, and finally got to the point where homo sapiens emerged.

The problem is this: if there was no god prior to homo sapiens emerging, what prompted the spontaneous generation of this god? Is it the sudden influx of human souls? Did humans will this god into existence specifically because they felt too weak and insecure to care for themselves?

Another problem is this: if this is god's purpose and everything in the universe happened according to natural laws, then why do theists so adamantly reject and mock things like the Big Bang theory and the theory of evolution? Why not embrace these ideas as truths and continue on their merry way of feeling like a special creation in an otherwise un-special world?

Another problem is this: if this is god's purpose, then why are humans suffering and dying en masse, when all it would take is a little bit of intervention on the god's behalf? No, I'm not trying to argue the old "Why is there suffering in the world" line, but you have to admit that a being whose sole purpose is to care for humans has proven itself ineffective throughout history. It's pretty clear that theists don't limit their god to this single purpose, so that brings us to the final option.

God's Purpose is Twofold

If a god's purpose is to create the universe and everything in it and to care especially for human beings, then my first question is this: what was this god doing prior to creating the universe and human beings? There's no reason to believe that this god existed a nanosecond prior to "In the beginning" and no reason to further believe that this god existed a nanosecond prior to "Male and female, God created them."

If this god's purpose is to do both of these things, then both of these things should have been created in tandem so as to give god its purpose and start of its existence with any degree of logic. Since no creation myth gives an account in accordance with this logic, then it's difficult to figure out why any such god should be believed as existing.

If this god's purpose is contingent on two conditions - the universe existing and human beings existing – then why weren't humans created before (or, at the very least, at the same time as) all the other plants and animals that this god doesn't necessarily care about as much? Doesn't that seem backward? I'm sure there's a wonderful apologetics argument for this, such as "God saved the best for last, as we are the pinnacle of His creation" or "God knew what humans would need to survive and built all of the infrastructure for us beforehand." Both of these are fairly silly because this perfect, personal creator god is supposed to be all-powerful and all-knowing and could have designed humans in such a way that all of the crazy infrastructure wasn't necessary. As in my argument against souls, this god could have simply created a universe that was solely habitable for souls and foregone all of the physical universe nonsense.

In my opinion, a god with both of the purposes of creating the universe and caring especially for human beings doesn't make any more sense than a god with either purpose and only raises more questions as to the nature and/or origin of its existence in the first place. And that doesn't even take into account its motives or methods of creation and…ahem…caring.

Let's start thinking, people. Please.