Santa or Jesus?

Believe! I see a lot of T-shirts and sweaters this time of year with that imperative statement.  And looking at the color, the supportive symbolism, etc., it seems to me that the thing to be believed is Santa Clause.  We adults look at each other, smile and wink.  We know Santa is not real.  (Or, if you did not know I am sorry to be the one to deliver such truth.)  We know we promote this notion for our kids.  We want our kids to believe in Santa.

We very well may want our kids to believe in Jesus as well.  And I see a number of declarative statements around about the reason for the season, as though there is something else going on at this time of year other than Santa.

But I am fascinated by adult efforts to promote both belief systems, Santa and Jesus.  I think we do a better job with Santa than we do with Jesus. 

For kids, there is tangible evidence of Santa.  We write letters to him and sometimes he responds.  We make lists of wants, wishes and needs for him and sometimes we receive those gifts.  We set out cookies, milk and a carrot and in the morning they are eaten or bitten.  We have Santa surrogates all over the place, ringing bells, posing in malls, attending parties, etc.  There are umpteen movies about him.  We know where he lives, we know what he does all year, we know who works for him, and we know his mode of transportation.  Santa has a naughty and nice list, but the consequences of being on the naughty list lasts only one year and are not painful.  Yes, there appears to be concrete evidence to a kid that Santa is real.

To my knowledge parents do not encourage kids to write letters to Jesus.  We do not encourage them to set out a baby bottle with formula, or even a pacifier for the baby Jesus.  We do not see people dressed as Jesus walking around spreading good cheer.  We make few movies about him, and none of them are comedies.  We do not know where he lives and we do not know for sure what transportation device he uses.  We tell our kids to pray, but the frequency of answered prayer is less than the frequency of gifts resulting from a letter to Santa.  We tell our kids that Jesus has a naughty and nice list too, but the consequences are eternal damnation or eternal life depending on which list you are on.  Jesus is less predictable and scarier.

And then at some point we learn that our parents lied to us.  There really is no Santa.  He is an idea, a symbol.  He is not tangible.  He is make-believe.  But we never have the same discussion about Jesus with our kids.  Is he real?  Is he tangible? 

Seems to me that if I were a kid again I would believe in Santa.  I’m not so sure about Jesus.  Is Jesus the same kind of make-believe entity like Santa, or the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny?  How would I know?  Oh I know.  There is evidence for Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny and very little evidence of Jesus.  OK.  I know which of these are likely to be real and which are likely to be just imaginary friends.  I believe.

Thanks to Whom?

Ah, Thanksgiving.  Our officially recognized day to celebrate gluttony in a land full of obesity.  Go figure.

But it is also a day we are to stop and give thanks for what we have.  But this year I wonder to whom I should give such thanks?  I have always given thanks to God for my many blessings, until it occurs to me that so many others were denied these blessings.  Why is that?

I was born a white male, speaking English, in the USA, to two educated parents.  I never worried about having food to eat or clothes to wear.  I was provided a great education.  There were no doors closed to me based on my birth characteristics.  For the most part, it appears I was born to be a conservative Republican.

But my circumstances are so rare.  Billions are born into poverty with no food, terrible shelter, one set of clothes, no clean water, no chance of escape from their circumstance because they are in a poverty zone, or a class system zone, or a racial discrimination zone.  How do I explain the millions who were born as I was born to the billions who were not?

Should I simply be grateful for the laws of chance, for the random event that determined that I was very, very lucky?  Should I thank God?  Then I must ask if God loves us all, why does He apparently punish most of us at birth?  Is this part of His plan?  If so, why such a cruel plan?  I could build a better case for a God who hates us and wants to punish us and make us miserable and sick than I can build a case for a loving, forgiving, personal God.  The data is pretty clear.

Most amazing to me is that God tolerates those who are born into such wealth who take the stand that they somehow deserve their wealth and comfort and are justified in politically defending such wealth.  Conservatives fight to end entitlements for the poor and needy.  And that is in this country.  Talk about spending some of our wealth elsewhere on the globe to help the starving and the sick and conservatives will rise up and quash any such humanitarian notion.  If there is a God and a devil it has always appeared to me that conservatives do the devil’s work while liberals attempt to do God’s work. 

Shall I be grateful to a god who designed us to live on a planet where only 15% is habitable by humans?  Why would a loving creator place his creation in such a place?  Shall I be grateful to a god who seems to reward the attributes of birth rather than the attributes of performance?  Shall I be grateful to a god that provides our nation with enough food that we can all grow fat while allowing about 20,000 children to die of starvation each and every day?  Shall I be grateful to a god who allows random chance to secure our fate?  If so, what is the purpose of prayer and worship?

Nope, this year for Thanksgiving I shall simply be grateful for the random chance that placed me where I am.  If God did this for me I must assume he did the opposite for all the other miserable, starving, sick, homeless people on the planet.  If that is true, then God is considerably meaner to humans than he is wonderful.  I could not worship such a god.

The Miracle Myth

There is a 7 year old Illinois girl battling a rare form of leukemia who has posted a request for prayers on Facebook.  After modern medical science has taken its best shot at removing the disease, what do you think will happen?  I think she is going to die of her leukemia.  I think no matter how many prayer warriors and prayer lists and individuals on their knees begging God for succor, she is going to die.  Soon.

And that is very sad.  More so because she has been given hope of divine intervention in her diseased state, a hope that is not grounded in reality.  Yes, there are people who pray to be cured who are, and pray to survive who do so.  There are many more who pray for the same thing and die.  If God chooses to save some and not others, what kind of God is that?  So, it seems to me it must be random.  Some survive, some don’t.  Some claim miracles, others die.  And if God is not as trustworthy as gravity in that he works everywhere, all the time, with everyone on the planet, then how can we trust in the Lord?  When this little girl dies praying to be cured she has been subjected to one of the great myths of religion:  God hears our prayers and acts on those prayers.  If that is true, God has a lot, I mean a lot, of explaining to do regarding those prayers he has chosen to ignore.  And if it is God’s plan that this girl dies, what kind of God is that?

If this little girl were my daughter and I had infinite power I would cure her.  And we are told we are all God’s children.  But could we expect such a cure from a God who sent his son to die?  Supposedly, Jesus cured folks prior to his death.  If I could cure, I would.  Am I a better person than God?  Why didn’t Jesus cure everyone while he was here?  Why didn’t he simply eliminate cancer, especially childhood cancer?  And Alzheimer’s and ALS and MS and on and on.  Nope.  We die of various maladies begging God for help.  And then we die.  

Miracles are those events that cannot be explained by the science at our disposal.  It is no miracle that so many die of so many maladies.  We understand that.  The so called miracles are so random that they cannot be the result of prayer.  If they are, God sure needs to tell us how he decides who to listen to and who to ignore.  Otherwise he is just mean, or miracles are a myth

The Problem with Catholics

You may have seen that in several recent Catholic newsletters it was announced that a vote for a Democrat would secure a permanent place in hell.  Oh wow. Where do I start?

So, invading the new world and causing genocide among the indigenous people wasn’t enough, the Crusades weren’t enough, the Inquisition wasn’t enough, and the child sex abuse scandals weren’t enough now they damn Democratic voters.  Really?  The unmitigated gall of any group with so much blood on its hands and so much interference in both the legal system and now the voting system is beyond belief.  Rather than beg for forgiveness for their past sins, they are proclaiming that others are going to hell?

I propose we turn this around.  For all the harm the Catholic Church has done to fellow human beings in the past 2000 years it should be clear that members of this church are going to hell.  It should also be obvious that their interference in the progress of women’s reproductive rights that they should all go to jail.  But that is not all.

For promoting false advertising and fraud, the members of the church should all go to jail for bilking their parishioners of billions of dollars by performing fraudulent magical acts including ringing a bell to turn wine and crackers to flesh and blood.  If they insist their magic is real, then they should all go to jail for practicing cannibalism.  For interfering in the operations of the state, the Catholic Church should lose its tax exempt status.  For requiring unhealthy lifestyles for all their clergy they should suffer the categorization of a cult. 

The only real defense the Catholics could offer is that this is all in jest, it is just mythology.  There really is no hell, so threatening to send someone there is a joke.  In fact anyone who would take seriously the notion that the mother of a deity is also a deity is obviously confused about the transitive property and genetics.  And the notion that a mortal is capable of granting forgiveness on behalf of an immortal is absurd.  If any of these myths are true they should be required to present evidence of the existence of hell by its location, they should submit the cracker and wine to analysis after the bell has rung and evidence that there is a deity, their clergy can talk with such a deity and lay people cannot talk to such a deity.  There would be no evidence of truth in these myths thus announcing once and for all that Catholicism is a mythology much like the Roman pantheon of gods.

And, while we are at it, let’s start collecting tax dollars from the church.  Let’s start arresting them for fraud.  Let’s start arresting them for cannibalism, and let’s start arresting them for interfering with women’s rights.  If they want to damn me to hell and have it scare me, they are going to have to convince me there is such a place and that a so-called loving god would send anyone there.  Permanent time-out is not a notion that fits with the “our father in heaven” model.

And finally, it appears to me that the totally uncharitable Republican Party platform is more like hell than anything the Democrats have proposed.  If one could be arrested for being selfish and stupid this would qualify as well.

Valley of the Shadow of Death?

Psalm 23:4  (King James Version)

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Right.  I believe that.

But,

• I will keep handguns in my home and vehicles.
• I will get a concealed handgun and a carry permit.
• I will put deadbolts on my door and lock them each night.
• I will lock my car.
• I will install an alarm system.
• I will carry pepper spray in my purse.
• I will get all the recommended vaccinations and flu shots
• I will avoid certain areas of town after dark.
• I will support deportation and block immigration of people I think are bad.

But,

Psalm 18:2 (King James Version)

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Poppycock and balderdash.

Why Believe?

I watched a portion of the recent movie “Noah” last night on TV.  I saw it on the big screen when it came out and thought it was pretty good.  Last night it hit me as a comedy, or historical science fiction much like 10,000 years BC with Raquel Welch, or Jurassic Park.  Special effects were good, story line not so much.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to believe that God is not evil.  As I look at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, Noah, Adam and Eve, etc. it is clear that God has wrath and is capable of throwing temper tantrums that kill multiple human beings.  If he is real, why would he kill the beings he fabricated?  It appears I am more patient, understanding and forgiving of a young puppy than God is of humans.

I was brought up to believe that God was a loving, forgiving, heavenly father.  If he exists he is more like an abusive father, butchering humans when they do not do what he wants them to do.  At the same time he supposedly gives us free will.  Why would he do that then punish us for exercising our free will?  So, do we have free will as long as we do as we are told, otherwise we spend eternity in hell?  Is that free will? 

And on the forgiveness front he is awful.  If one believes the creation story (which science has de-bunked more times than I can list) Adam and Eve did not do as God said, so not only did he kick them out of Eden he cursed humans for all generations to come.  Really?  Is that a loving and forgiving father?  No, that would be a petty being who holds grudges. 

And God does not even live up to the standards of supporting freedom and liberty that we have established in our secular government.  God discriminates against women.  God supports slavery.  God promotes bigotry.  Jesus really blew it when he did not denounce slavery or promote women’s rights.  If the argument is he was speaking to a group in a certain cultural setting that does not apply today, then I ask why we would believe anything he says using the same argument?

In fact, other than fear of damnation, a concept developed by those who worship God, I can think of no good reason to believe in God.  I am more forgiving than he is.  I love my fellow man or woman regardless of gender, sexual preference, country of origin, culture, and religious belief.  If I am more loving and forgiving than God, then why do I go to church, why do I give the church my money?  In fact, why should I believe in such a despicable deity at all? 

If God answers prayers then why do any children die of cancer?  If God answers prayers why does Trump even have a chance of being elected?  If God answers prayers why am I not rich and famous and young and handsome?  If God answers prayers why do we still wage war on one another based on religious belief, dreams of power and money?  If God answers prayers then why do people die when they beseech God to save them?  This God even allowed his own son, so the story goes, to die.  Not just die, but to be executed in one of the most cruel and tortuous ways devised by man.  What kind of father does that?  If you say because he loved sinners more than his own son I would answer that there is not much evidence in the Bible that he loved those who did not do his will.  And his own son?  Jesus.

If he is real we should kick him out of office.  If he is not, what the hell are we spending all this time and money on?  If I have no fear of death I cannot fathom a reason to believe.  I believe I am more moral than God.  If I had his powers I would fix a host of painful human issues and I would do it in a way that I could be seen doing it so that there would be no doubt of my existence.  Supposedly he was not shy about doing public works 2,000 to 4,000 years ago:  Red Sea, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Flood, burning bushes, walls come tumbling down, water into wine, walking on water, rising from the dead, etc., etc.  It doesn’t count today if an event occurs to call it a miracle because it is not currently explainable or is not predictable.  God seems to have become the new Wizard of Oz, a charlatan hiding behind a curtain preying on people’s fears.

So tell me again why I should believe in such a God?

The Cookie Monster

OK, I’ve about had it with all this.  People have totally exhausted me who believe things that are not observable, not provable, not subject to measurement or observation that exist in conflict with the observable, provable and measureable.  There is no way to carry on an adult conversation with people who lack knowledge but use their attitudes, beliefs and opinions as the basis of their position.  And they talk to each other, forming a circle that remains immune to logic.  In fact, give them some facts and they will not only reject them, they will reject you and they become hostile.  There is no way to have an open conversation with a closed mind.

If you believe that there is a giant cookie monster in the sky who is responsible for everything and as long as you give homage to that cookie monster he or she is real because he or she has become real to you.  No one else sees the cookie monster.  No one can find the cookie monster.  No one can carry on a dialog with the cookie monster.  He or she does not show up on radar or long range telescopic scans, he or she is intangible but real in your mind.  There is no way to discuss the reality of the existence of the cookie monster with you.  You believe it and facts will not dissuade you.  When you see good things happen you believe it is due to the presence of the cookie monster.  When you see bad things happen you will say that’s the will of the cookie monster and the cookie monster’s will is mysterious.  The same is true if you think Obama hurt this country, the same is true if you believe what Donald Trump says, the same is true if you are convinced the problem in America is the American government (at least the terrorists agree with you), the same is true if you believe that the proliferation of firearms makes us safer; and if you believe these falsehoods then I am simply beating my head against a wall assuming that logic will prevail over attitude and superstition.  And in that, and only that, do we have evidence of the failure of American education systems where attitudes are promoted over knowledge.  If your cookie monster declares that women are inferior beings to men, that homosexuals are evil, that those who worship big bird are all wrong because cookie monster is right, and that the cookie monster demands that your beliefs be ordained in law, then you are the focus of my rant.  If we do not implement cookie monster policies does not mean we are persecuting followers of the cookie monster, any more than if we fail to implement the beliefs of big bird, or UFO believers or ghost believers or secret alien base believers.

And don’t tell me that faith is like love.  It is not.  If I love someone there will be tangible signs of that love on a daily basis.  I may write notes, send flowers, take her out to eat, go see a movie, fix her car, etc., etc. etc.  And most importantly, there will be a measureable response!  My love will respond one way or another.  After each of those actions I say I did this out of love.  I see no reactions that take place because you have faith.  You tithe, but you do not get notes or flowers.  You pray, but most times there is no evidence your prayer was answered much less heard.  Sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you don’t.  That can’t be faith.  That is random chance.  Though falling in love may be random, the observable behaviors surrounding love are not.  They are purposeful and observable, they can be measured using scientific techniques, and they follow the rules of human interaction.  None of that is true of behavior that is faith based.  If you could pray and part the Red Sea you would have my attention.  If you could pray that a sick friend with terminal cancer be healed and he or she is instantly healed you would have my attention.  If you were on the German Wings flight that crashed in France and on the way down everyone prayed to cookie monster to be saved and miraculously they were, then you would have my attention.  But the results of all those faith based actions is absolutely unpredictable.  In fact, many of those who practice faith-based actions practice forgiving cookie monster for not acting saying that it was not the will of the cookie monster to act.  Really?  Then why worship something that is going to do as he or she damn well pleases anyway?  Prayer is pointless at that point.  Why pray to cookie monster if the assumption is cookie monster knows best and will do whatever he or she is going to do to you despite your prayers?  If you pray for the healing of a loved one and they die, then why did you pray?  If your neighbor does not pray but their loved one survives then why pray?  Cookie monster is not dependable, reliable, believable or trustworthy.  If you buy that all that happens is part of cookie monster’s plan then your prayer should be why the hell is the cookie monster so mean?  Why must we constantly make excuses for his or her lack of action?  Why are we forgiving the cookie monster when the advertisement says he or she is forgiving us?  Makes absolutely no sense.  Might as well worship big bird or nothing at all.

Unless you do all that out of fear of some eternal punishment.  What a great scam.  No one knows what happens after death and there is no evidence that anything happens after death except for those folks who subscribe to paranormal investigations and the Ghost Busters.  Like all other living things it is most likely that when we die we are dead.  We are done.  We had our brief hour on the stage, take our bows or blows and exit.  It appears to me that believing in an after-life life is the main reason most folks worship cookie monster.  While there is no evidence of an after-life life and no evidence of the cookie monster such beliefs are tearing the planet apart. 

Human actions based on faith in the cookie monster or any other deity have been horrific.  We have the Crusades, the Inquisition, the KKK, Al Qaeda, Salem witch trials, and on and on.  We have waged war on fellow human beings in the name of the cookie monster or maybe big bird or maybe some other fictional character.  If that is what the cookie monster wants we should abandon him or her anyway.  If we somehow become convinced we are justified in attacking others because that is the will of the cookie monster then we have become one of the least moral and most dangerous people on the planet.

Don’t you and I know it would be unwise to appoint someone to head up NASA who believes the earth is the center of the universe and the sun rotates around us, it would be unwise to appoint someone as Surgeon General who believes that only the cookie monster can heal, it would be unwise to elect someone who thinks that the past is somehow better than the present or the future, it would be unwise to implement cookie monster beliefs that are in conflict either with science or other belief systems.  None of these positions are backed by science, facts and reason.  They are all subjective attitudes and beliefs. 

The cookie monster domain is shrinking.  At first we did not understand how anything worked and life was a mystery.  We needed a cookie monster to take credit for and explain all that we did not know.  But now we have learned a lot.  And the domain of the mysterious and unexplained shrinks leaving an ever declining number of cookie monster fans.  And it gets worse and worse for the cookie monster fans.  No, the earth is not 6,000 years old, it is not flat, it is not the center of the universe, humans and dinosaurs did not co-exist and there is no evidence of a world-wide flood or the parting of the Red Sea or burning bushes, or resurrections.  Those are beliefs perpetrated by texts written 4,00o to 2,000 years ago by illiterate Bronze Age superstitious peoples.  Hardly a worthy set of ground rules for today. 

Seems to me that if one goes to live after death with the cookie monster in never-never land we would have received some email, card, letter, sky-writing, message in a bottle, or something.  But nothing like that has ever, nor will it ever happen.  Dead men tell no tales.  Because they are dead.

It is my hope that someday we as a species reach a point where beliefs are informed by science, not in competition with science.  It is my hope that as a species we move forward based on facts, not fear.  We clearly are not there yet. 

God, Please Talk to Your Followers

Your followers, especially the Christians, are driving me crazy.  You really need to straighten a few things out for them.  For instance, do you take an active role in their lives or are you an observer from afar.  I see football players scoring a touchdown and thanking you.  Is that right?  Did you give them some sort of boost to score?  If so, why are you punishing all the other Christian athletes when they pray to score or to win?  Do you play favorites?  I can’t believe that you do elsewise you really are not worth worshipping.  So please let them know that the good stuff and the bad stuff in their lives is just random and that you are not the causal factor.

That goes for illness too.  How many prayer warrior lists can one person be on and still lose everyone who is prayed for?  What’s the deal?  Whole groups of folks have gathered in earnest prayer for hours and hours for this person with liver and lung cancer, and dad gum, there was no miracle and he died.  It appears to me that if you wanted to increase your following you would cure Christians and let the others die.  But even doing that goes against some of what you preach.  So please just let them know that if they get sick it is up to modern medicine, genetics, the quality of the doctors and randomness that determines outcomes.  That is only fair if you are not going to intervene.

That goes for all the morons who think they see Jesus or Mary in a waffle, or a tree stump or reflected on the side of a building.   Would please just let them know that you do not communicate that way.  You used to use burning bushes, carved stones, eclipses and the like, but I think you must have given all that up as well.

And what is with this 2 to 4000 year old book your followers treat like it is sacred.  Would you please just tell them that humans got a lot of stuff wrong in that book?  It was never meant to be a science book, it is more like Hans Christian Anderson than Mathew Mark and Luke.  The people who are taking that old book literally are really frightful: an eye for an eye, stone all homosexuals, divorced people and non-virgins on their wedding night, and stone anyone who believes differently than what you dictate.  How in the world can that stuff be holy?  Not to mention you missed some wonderful opportunities to tell us slavery was bad, treating women poorly was bad, and that all God’s children are equally loved.  Well, you kind of said that but then the rest of your book conflicts with that.

And most of all, will you please clear up how you are going to communicate.  If the burning bushes and stone tablets are gone, and the inspiration that occurred to some scribe writing by candlelight on papyrus 2,000 years ago is over, what will you use?  There are claims that you are a personal God for all 7 billion of us, but you are not on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other vehicle that comes close to reaching even half of us.  Even my email accounts send me notice when my message has been read.  No one gets that kind of assurance when they pray.  You could do skywriting and a lot of folks would see it.  Or, send an angel somewhere like Disney World where everyone has a camera and a cell phone.  But you are not even trying.  So what is the deal? 

For me, the general impression is you do not exist.  If you do, you set stuff up and moved away to set up other stuff elsewhere and we have been talking to ourselves all these years waiting for what is not going to happen.  The people who are most defensive about this are the people who believe they talk to you and you respond, but they are very forgiving.  They always say they got an answer, but it wasn’t what they asked for, or god will take his own sweet time.  Holy Moly.  These folks are more forgiving of you than you are of them.  (Still punishing us for some apple in a garden 6,000 years ago?  Come on, get over it.)  If you are there, just tell them anything they think they hear from you is a sign of mental illness.  And since you no longer communicate with us, how will you counter the growing number of people who say you cannot possibly exist and if you do you are mean and wicked? 

So please, straighten these things out for the Christians.  You are so confusing to them they cannot decide for whom to vote, whether Muslims are evil or just other fuzzy headed believers in something else, and what should we do with Syrian refugees.  I see you gave Donald the old Jericho lesson, but he did not listen.  One more failure to communicate.

I know.   You will be a no-show.  Nobody waits at the foot of the mountain because the believers think they know it all, everybody grabs a fire extinguisher when we see a burning bush because we have been prepared since 9/11, and no one gets blinded on the road to Dallas.  And the only ones who get swallowed by whales die and sue Sea World.

So come on, communicate will you?  Not with me.  I’ve written you off and if you want me back you will have to communicate.  I am more concerned about the millions who go around talking to their imaginary friend believing when they die they are coming to be with you in Never-Never Land.

Sports and Porn

Today is “Wear Your Jersey” day at church.  Members of the congregation are encouraged to wear the colors of their favorite athletic team to church.  Amazing.  Sickening.  And I wonder why I am so aghast and upset about this event.  It strikes me that addiction to sports and addiction to porn are very much alike.  I would be equally aghast and upset if the congregation were invited to church dressed (or undressed) as their favorite porn star.

Sound absurd?  Regardless of your sexual orientation and identity, porn is exciting.  We are hard wired to desire sex.  Observing attractive naked people engaged in sexual acts by definition is exciting.  I think one would have to be dead to be immune to porn.  However, we know that many of the folks in porn are abused and degraded, they are treated like cattle or worse, and many have life-long mental health issues once their porn days are over.  People still want to watch so there will be porn.  But watching too much is equally harmful and we know that porn addicts begin to suffer in their personal lives due to their addiction.  There are links to increased chemical addictions, negative impact on social relationships, negative impact on intimate personal relationships, and risk of job loss and productivity.  So, the observers of porn are at risk and the actors in porn are at risk and the effects can be life-long.

Regardless of your city or state there are 100’s of athletic teams to observe.  Watching sports events can be exciting.  We are likely hard wired to compete so watching competition is thrilling or agonizing depending on whether your team wins or loses.  However, we know that there are life-long effects for athletes, especially in the contact sports.  More and more evidence of permanent brain damage resulting from football and boxing makes it clear that we may be watching very self-destructive behavior.  Even middle-aged people who only played sports in high school still suffer from leg and hip and shoulder injuries.  Playing sports can be harmful to the professional players, and they are bought, sold, traded and released in an abusive and degrading way that is more like slavery or indentured servitude that goes un-discussed because millions of dollars are at play.  But they are treated little differently than porn stars.

How about those who are addicted to sports?  Those who cannot wait for their team to play.  Those who subscribe to all the sports channels so they do not miss a game.  Those who are addicted spectators?  More and more research verifies that fan effects are negative.  Spectator aggression including verbal, gesturing, “missile” throwing, swarming the field, property destruction, and physical assault are documented each year as side effects of intense fandom.  Add to that public intoxication, under-aged drinking, sexual degradation of cheerleaders, littering and traffic congestion and it becomes clear that watching such events not only puts the players at risk, it puts the spectators at risk.  Hostility and aggression escalate during the observance of competitive events.

So it seems to me that porn addiction and sports addiction carry numerous similar harmful side-effects with long-lasting effects on both the participants and the spectators.

And what ever happened to turning the other cheek and doing unto others as you would have them do for you?  Competition somehow does not fit those directives.

I am therefore horrified that a church would promote one or either of these addictions.  I will not be there on Jersey Day.  Maybe on porn star day, but not Jersey Day.

Why Leave Religion

Interesting.  Bottom line is many are leaving.

Better Off?

At 4:15 this morning the headline on CNN’s web page was, “Town Fights Mosque.”  In Newton County, Georgia, Islamophobia is reaching fever pitch as an Islamic Imam has purchased 135 acres on which he and his congregation plan to build a new, larger mosque to replace their current overcrowded mosque, and a cemetery to bury their dead.  Word got out, fear spread, and the town has halted the construction.

A town in the United States of America is blocking the construction of church because it is not the same as their church?  I have had it.  These protestant, white, Christians are creating religious conflict where there was none before.  They are acting no differently than the Muslims in the Mid-East who persecute Christians.  These folks are not qualified to call themselves Americans, much less Christians.

Christopher Hitchens, a renowned philosopher and atheist, asked, “Is the World Better Off with Religion?”  The answer appears to be a hearty “no” and the evidence continues to mount.

Without religion we would not have had the Crusades, we would not have had the Inquisition, we would not have had 9/11 and other terrorist attacks, we would not have conflict in Georgia, we likely would not have had the Civil War or mandates to implement Christian symbols across this country.  We would have had considerably more tax revenue as churches own a vast amount of real estate currently exempt from taxes.  We might likely have had real rest on the weekend without the Sunday or Saturday sojourn to a church. 

Without fundamental Christians, women would have always had equal rights, slaves would have been set free from the get-go, and women would have control of their reproductive systems.  Without Christians all stores would be open on Sunday.  Without Christians we would have a logical approach to gun restrictions.  Without Christians we would have been tolerant of people with different sexual orientations and identity.  Is there a Christian position in this country that in fact is more welcoming, more tolerant, and more supportive of diversity than atheists? Believers seem to have this urge to make everyone believe as they believe.  But if what they believe was evident, tangible, observable, and measurable there would be no arguments.  If what they believe is in fact just smoke and mirrors we will have a wide array of beliefs in constant competition for followers. 

I cannot think of a single positive, peaceful contribution to humanity made in the name of religion that would have not happened without religion, other than some absolutely glorious works of art and music.  Yes, religious groups have contributed greatly in areas of natural disasters, but so have countless other groups.  And the other groups helped without the catch that you had to hear about their philosophy.  Did Christians intervene to save Jews in Germany in the 1940’s?  Did Muslims offer to help Christians find relics during the Crusades?  Did missionaries reduce or increase the conflict in China in 1949, in Africa today, in Nepal today, in Bosnia today, in the Americas 500 years ago, and in South America today?  Where are the people of faith at a time of global conflict? 

Inside their ornate walled, air conditioned, pipe organed, and projected lyrics churches enjoying what used to be called a hootenanny. 

I wonder if we awoke tomorrow not knowing anything, our brains swept free of all knowledge, what would happen?  We would develop language, but probably not our current languages.  We would discover the laws of nature as in gravity, evolution, and DNA as they currently exist because they are discoveries, not inventions.  We would likely develop music and other art forms.  We would invent transportation and entertainment, etc.  But what about religion?  Would we “discover” a monotheistic religion?  Would we “discover” Christianity, Muslim, Hindu, etc.?  Would we invent them?  Would we have wars to convince those of other beliefs that our particular belief is the right belief?  Or would we even bother?  Belief systems are invented, not discovered.

It also appears to me we have more scientific evidence of the existence of UFO’s than we do of an afterlife.  And I continue to wonder if there is an all-knowing, all powerful deity out there why he or she insists on being cloaked.  Come on out and show yourself, elsewise, leave us alone.  If the test is to believe based on faith rather than fact, how different is that from a psychotic episode? 

So, I conclude, the world is not better off with religion.  It is an invention that has triggered separation and conflict.  Believing some god is on my side has been used to justify some of the most horrible assaults on humanity by fellow humans.  We no longer need that.  We can live a life governed by strong moral principles, then know we simply die like every other life form on the planet.

Give me liberty or give me death, and give me reality not hallucinations.

God is Anti-Abortion?

Just read an article by Jerry Newcombe ("God or Abortion.  Choose One," 8/4/2016) that simply argues Nancy Pelosi does not understand that God is anti-abortion.  I’ve read tripe before; I have graded thousands of high school seniors’ essays.  But Newcombe is right up there near the top in the non-grounded BS department.

Newcombe sites two Old Testament and one New Testament scriptures to “prove” God is anti-abortion.  David says in Psalm 139 that God knit him together in his mother’s womb.  Jeremiah says before God formed him in the womb He named him a prophet.  In the New Testament he sites Luke 1 where Mary and Elizabeth, both very pregnant, meet and Elizabeth says the baby in her womb leaped for joy.  If it is a baby it must be a human and if it is human abortion is murder and therefore should be opposed.

Really Jerry?  Is that all you’ve got?  A quote from two Bronze Age men who believe that God controls what happens in the womb from conception forward.  Do you want to stick with that?  If so, what kind of God do you worship who controls any number of birth defects?  What kind of God do you worship who controls any number of diseases infants manifest at birth?  Are you going to say that from conception forward the zygote is holy because God controls it and not hold God accountable for all the terrible atrocities that can occur at birth?  Is it that Jeremiah knows God ordains our future as we are formed in the womb?  If so, why does God curse so many infants?  What did they ever do that was so terrible that they deserved a birth defect, childhood cancer, SIDS, or whatever?  One cannot logically claim that at conception humans are sacred because God controls it and at the same time let God off the hook for the atrocities He therefore has committed.  Sounds like God should be prosecuted for murder, not pregnant women who have abortions.  And Elizabeth’s fetus jumping for joy?  Really?  How in the world do we know that the movements of an unborn are the result of some emotional state?  Does that mean if my wife’s baby bump moves when I sit next to her that our baby-to-be is jumping for joy? Or could it be that he is pissed off because he now has less room?  Or could it be that it is simply reflex movement as part of the developmental process?

The scriptural support is bizarre for his claim and logically worthless.  What I find even more disturbing than claiming God is anti-abortion is his willingness to skip over everything else God opposes.  If abortion is murder and should be subject to persecution, how about the passages that just come right out and say that if you get a divorce you have committed adultery and should be stoned to death?  How about the passages that say if you are a homosexual you should be stoned to death?  How about the passages that say if a woman is not a virgin on her wedding night she should be stoned to death?  How about the passages that say if people do not worship the one true God they should be killed?  Each of these passages is extremely clear, no interpretation needed, no pseudo logical projection like if God ordains a future prior to birth this must be a baby and subject to all the protections of adults.  That is stretching logic and inference further than the passage allows.  The passages I refer to above are absolutely clear.  If this is the case, then this is the consequence.  We should be damning premarital sex and divorce more fiercely than we damn abortions.

Or, is Jerry one of those guys who says the rules regarding premarital sex, divorce, homosexuality, refusal to worship God, etc. were historically contextual and do not apply to us today, but I choose to take the logical inference regarding abortion from the same time period and conclude that such interpretations remain valid.  If Jerry has the authority to decide which Bible passages are valid and which ones are not, then I would strongly encourage him to simply decide his made up logic regarding abortions is no longer applicable.  That he does not make such a statement simply reveals his bias, not his logic, not his belief. 

For those of us who are questioning and wondering about our faith there are some incredible takeaways from Jerry Newcombe’s piece.  God must curse some babies in the womb.  God has decided our future roles before birth so there is no reason to presume we choose our own path.  Jerry is empowered to interpret scripture and ignore scripture as he sees fit to meet his own agenda.  Bronze Age men are capable of making better decisions regarding women’s reproductive rights than modern women.

Or, if the Bible says it or implies it we must obey it.  How anyone who has even the most superficial understanding of biology, anthropology, geology and astronomy could adhere to what are clearly statements in the Bible not only not grounded in fact, but actually false, is beyond me and beyond logic.  How can we maintain faith in the face of such lies and falsehoods?  And if the answer to that is we are allowed to pick and choose which passages we hold to be true, then what is the point of belief?  I could edit the Bible to portray any message I choose to portray.

Oh wait.  There are televangelists and mega churches that do that very thing so they make a ton of money.  In America if you get rich you must be right.  My bad.

Obama is God

We are experiencing trying times.  Law enforcement officers are shot on the job.  Horrible, scary events that should never happen.  Unarmed men and women are shot by police.  Horrible, scary events that should never happen.  We see all this as a new problem.  It is not.  We have had separate but unequal races in this country for generations.  More of one race in prison.  More of one race dies via gunshot wounds.  More of one race experiences unemployment.  More of one race in colleges.  More of one race teaching in the classrooms.  More of one race in law enforcement.  We are lopsided.  We can scream all day that these differences are due to the behaviors of one race more than another.  Perhaps.  But we should be screaming that we must stop judging people by skin pigment, hair style, holes poked in their bodies, ink injected under their skin, and the relationship between their belly buttons and the top of their pants.  (I have contended all along that if teenage girls simply laughed at and refused to date any teenage boy who allowed his underwear to show above his belt the fad would disappear quickly.)

The problems are huge, both races have responsibilities.  Both races have tough steps to take to fix it because both races must modify their culture and their beliefs to end the disparity in data that confirms one race is treated differently and/or behaves differently than another.  That will be very hard.  Or so I thought.

Until I listened to my conservative friends.  Perhaps I should say my very conservative friends.  My moderately conservative friends and my liberal friends are not promoting the same message.  Just those folks on the far right.  Only they have seen the light.  And here is what they are saying.

The violence in our country is Obama’s fault.  Shooting police officers is Obama’s fault.  Increased racial tension is Obama’s fault.  Still no affordable universal health insurance is Obama’s fault.  Proliferation of semi-automatic rifles is Obama’s fault.  Probably sexual harassment at Fox News is Obama’s fault.  He caused it all.  He did it.  He is the villain!

If they are right, then Obama is God.  I have been praying to God to stop the violence, but Obama still made it happen.  I have been praying to God to stop senseless shootings of suspects and police, but Obama still made it happen.  Therefore I guess I should agree with my conservative friends that not only is Obama at fault, he is more powerful than we ever imagined.  More powerful than the god I followed.  It is time to worship Obama, pray to Obama, and ask him please to stop all the violence, all the killings.  If he caused it, he can stop it.  I am so surprised that enterprising right wingers have not marched out evidence of Obama’s deity status which should be easier for them to get than his birth certificate, and establish the Church of Obama, tax free. 

Why, now that we know Obama is a god the violence in France must be his fault too!  In fact, violence everywhere must be his doing.  Intolerance of other races everywhere must be his fault too!  Even global warming must be his fault. 

Yes dear conservatives, such a powerful deity merits our awe and respect.  Thank you for enlightening me.

Imagine

I am inspired by the Facebook post of a dear friend.  My friend has a friend in dire straits both financially and mentally.  Her FB post was addressed to Prayer Warriors seeking prayers for her needy friend.  And I thought, her friend does not need prayer and prayers will not help.  Her friend needs money and professional support.  Prayer feels like a cop-out.  I pray and I have done my part and the need goes on unabated.  So, why do we do this?  Why don’t I hop in the car, find her friend, buy her breakfast, and take her to a clinic?  Why do we seek the path least likely to be of real help?  So, I imagined:

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today.
 John Lennon - Imagine Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

OK, John.  Let’s try to imagine a planet where no one believes in gods or an after-life.  There is no religion.  I think I can see some of the characteristics of such a life and the subsequent impact on human culture and behavior.  So, I will imagine.

If there is no heaven, no hell then we know that when we die we simply die.  We are done.  Self-awareness ends.  We have no fear of hell and no aspiration for heaven.  We all know that all we have is the time here and now.  Today.  I have no sense of anything before my birth and will have no sense of anything after my death.  We know we will not be greeted by loved ones already dead.  We will not “pass” as though there is somewhere else to go.  We will park, turn off the engine and never move.  We will not stand before a deity and be judged for our actions.  We have had our life and it is over.  Period.

As a species we would be intolerant of misery, pain and anguish.  If this is all we have, if today is all we get, then we have an obligation to ourselves to improve the quality of today as best we can.  We quickly realize that improving the quality of my life requires the improvement of the quality of all lives.  The tide raises all boats.  We can no longer promise those who suffer that they shall be rewarded in the next life because there is no next life.  We must fix the problem now.

If we knew the above and had followed such beliefs I think we would be much further down the road to a real utopia.  Disease would have been vanquished, hunger and thirst abolished.  Heartbreaks due to loss of a loved one would remain, but the understanding that we will never see them again is likely to make our time with them here and now much more meaningful.  Why care for my aging mom if I believe I will spend eternity with her?  Why mend fences with others if I believe I am either religiously justified in my offense, or I will have eternity to build a new fence?  I believe we would take each other much more seriously and would be much more supportive.  The numbers who have acquiesced in their misery due to a promise of a better life would drop to zero. 

Science would have made many more advances un-restricted by ancient sayings that we prove to be false.  There would be no persecution for new discoveries, there would be celebrations.

All those who died and suffered in wars triggered by religious belief would not have done so.  No one would care to fight for their faith if there was no such thing as Christianity or Islam, etc.  We would not have had witch trials or the Inquisition.  We would not have had lynch mobs.  If we worked to improve the quality of human life across the board, we would have no need for firearms or armies.

We would have an incredible amount of resources that are now and have been tied up in religious operations.  We would not need clergy, we would not need churches, and we would not need missionaries.  We would all be missionaries for a higher quality of human life and we could pursue such goals much better with more resources.

We would be healthier if we were living without fear of the after-life, the judgement yet to come, and the guilt for failing to achieve perfection.  We would have more time off and could celebrate our loved ones rather than spend the hours we do sitting in silence listening to fictions on Sunday morning.  We would be supportive of individual rights regarding our bodies and lives.  Those who choose to die could be helped and supported rather than treat them as criminals and mentally ill.  Those who choose abortions would not be treated as killers but would be treated as anyone is treated when they opt to remove a tumor.  Human life would not be viewed as de facto “sacred.”  It would be viewed as a once in a lifetime experience with each human making decisions regarding how they will live and end their lives.

We would have more understanding of our appetites and would have found healthy ways to satisfy those appetites without committing harm to ourselves or others.  Food, sex, drugs, and other addictions would not be judged but would be sated sans judgement.  Human physical reality and appetites would not be viewed as inherently evil, but would be viewed as simple attributes of our life forms.  You have brown hair, green eyes and love to eat.

I see a planet where the quality of human life is much better than we have it today.  I see a planet with less war and conflict.  I see a planet with a greater appreciation for each other and the common good.  I see a planet that is in fact more moral than our current planet where religion runs rampant in the streets.  We would learn to trust ourselves and each other because trust in imaginary friends and deities never really existed.

I can imagine that.

I’m off to buy breakfast for a stranger.

Missed Opportunities

I sat with Mathew and read the Sermon on the Mount.  Amazing.  Over several chapters Jesus outlines what it means to be a Christian.  The Beatitudes are poetic and demonstrative, though I still have a few questions.  How have modern Christians missed the whole turn the other cheek and love your enemy theme?  But that is future fodder.

Despite the wealth of philosophical foundation present in these chapters I cannot help but think that while Jesus talked about the golden rule he missed some golden opportunities to make a few things more clear.  He was, after all, addressing a mostly illiterate crowd probably not steeped in subtle innuendo.  Direct statements could have really helped his followers then and now.  Plus, if he knew all things surely he knew the trials and tribulations to come and could have stopped much of it with a few more beatitudes or in depth explanations.  He did a great job of making it clear that we are to love our enemies and even used tax collectors as an example.  He did a great job of making it clear that the comfort of wealth is bad, that mourning and humility will be rewarded, etc.  (Has Trump read these?)  But there are other areas he seemed to avoid.

How about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender folks?  Bible is pretty tough on such folks.  He fixed the whole notion of an eye for an eye, so why didn’t he fix the notion of persecuting people for their sexual identity and preference?

How about slavery?  I know, many claim that his message to free the oppressed addresses slavery, but that is pretty obscure for that audience, and even today some do not get it.  He could have simply said slavery is evil, no person should claim ownership of another person, human trafficking will get you sent directly to hell, and use of another human for your own personal wants is wrong.  Nope.  None of that was clear and Christian slave owners were around for eons, even today.

How about theocracy?  Did Jesus support a government grounded and supportive of one religion over another?  What would he have thought about the forthcoming proposed Islamic state?  What would he have thought about the current trend in America to push for a Christian nation under God?  That remains pretty vague.  I personally belief he would have opposed such chicanery and, if so, come right out and said that faith in God is not a governmental function and no people should make it the law of the land.  God is a personal God who created us both in His image as well as endowing us with free will.  If God wanted to mandate belief he could have done it somewhere around Adam and Eve.

How about military spending and individual ownership of firearms?  Man, could we use some holy standards on that today.  I suspect the entire “turn the other cheek” and “love your enemy” means we do not support weaponry and should pursue a path of pacifism.  But that is too big a leap for his audience then as well as his followers today.  When he blessed the peacekeepers wasn’t he really cursing the violence proponents?  We could have used some real clarity here.

There are other areas that are issues today that he could have addressed.  Is it nobler to pursue knowledge of the stars than pursue star wars weaponry?  Should education and science be pre-eminate in our pursuits, or should we simply continue to live as shepherds and carpenters?  When science seems to conflict with previous holy beliefs couldn’t he have said that God created the universe and endowed us with the curiosity to understand his universe.  All efforts toward seeking an understanding of the operation of God’s creation is good.  Scripture was not meant to compete with knowledge.  On and on I could go, but I think you get my drift.

If Jesus was God and was omnipotent and omniscient and knew these issues would cause great pain and turmoil in the years to come, why in the world did he not nip it in the bud?  Sure seems like either a condemnation of his omniscience or an erroneous missed opportunity.

Missed opportunities is the kindest conclusion.

Ark, Ark, Ark

I have just read about Ken Ham’s Ark, constructed in Kentucky following Biblical standards, and am totally, jaw-dropping flabbergasted, amazed and bewildered.  In a time when information is so readily available how can people possibly spend so many resources pursuing such fictions?  But, I am getting ahead of myself, so I shall back up.

Do you believe in and worship a God?  What are the attributes of your God?

If you believe in the Judeo-Christian God, the God of the Old and New Testament, then I suppose there is a chance that you still believe the story of Noah’s Ark.  That chance could only be based on a lack of information and reflection.  To build a vessel in the Bronze Age capable of housing two of every kind of animal on the planet is a preposterous and impossible task.  There are 7.7 million types of animals on our planet, and science guesses we have identified about one-half of all the life forms here.  If we eliminate all the animals that live in water and all the bugs, then we are down to a mere 2 million animals.  The very most conservative estimates the types of animals and birds is 60,000.  There is no way to build a wooden vessel capable of housing, much less feeding two pair of that many life forms.  Ken Ham claims he built it to house 1,300 pairs of life forms.  Well, OK, but that is a drop in the 2 million life forms bucket.  If it were true that Noah took 1,300 pairs of life forms into a closed environment we now know two things Noah didn’t know.  First, the only way it could possibly be true is to argue for evolution postulating that somehow those 2600 creatures evolved rapidly into the 2 million we know today.  Sadly, Ark believers “believe” the scientific fact of evolution is false, so that cannot explain it.  On the other hand, if it were true and these became the only existent creatures on the planet, then having a gene pool of two specimens damns the life form to become extinct very shortly, not to mention the incest that would have to occur for reproduction.  Noah’s Ark is a fiction.  A fiction that depends on ignoring the knowledge we have accumulated in the past 4,000 years. 

But what is most amazing to me is that the point of the entire Noah story is lost on Ham.  The story is about the wrath of God.  God got so mad at humans that he drowned every single living thing.  Millions of people.  All kinds of animals.  It was genocide and extinction across a life-form spectrum we cannot imagine.  It was a temper-tantrum of universal proportions.  But because the ancient writers could not yet fathom evolution, there had to be a way to tell the story of a mean, wrathful God willing to wipe everything out and start over while explaining the diversity of life even those writers observed.  Hence the Ark.  Hence Noah.  Hence the sideline story of how God in his wrath saved himself the trouble of re-creating all the animals he had already created.  The problem, of course, for humans today is that we know the fiction is impossible, and if true, reveals an attribute of a God more worthy of prosecution than worship unless the worship is based on fear.

And the great flood was not a stand-alone event.  We have Sodom and Gomorrah, entire cities destroyed because they did not follow the rules as prescribed 3,000 years before Jesus.  Once again, a wrathful, mean God shows his true colors.  We have the banishment of Adam and Eve from the garden, not only punishment for Adam and Eve for disobeying this wrathful, mean God, but the punishment continues to this day.  Would a loving and forgiving God carry a grudge for what would have to be hundreds of thousands of years?   

The God of the Old Testament is not a God I could worship.  He demands unchallenged control of human life and is willing to execute any number of people if we do not comply.  And the rules he set up to follow are absurd:  stoning to death of humans who are not virgins on their wedding night, children who disobey parents, prostitutes, homosexuals – in fact, anyone who does not toe the line.  If those are attributes you are willing to worship, then I lament the fact that your faith is founded on such a negative supernatural being.  Superman becomes a better role model than God.

Some say that the New Testament in many ways replaces all the rules of the Old Testament via the sacrifice of Jesus.  OK.  The basic premise haunts me.  Prior to Jesus animals were sacrificed to God.  In the New Testament, not only is there human sacrifice, the human to be sacrificed is God’s son.  Really?  In terms of moral behavior has God moved to higher ground in the New Testament moving from animal sacrifice to human sacrifice?

Worse in my mind is the implication that the God of the New Testament is not very bright.  Here is a God that created everything.  He did it in 6 days.  He mapped out all those life forms he later saved on the Ark.  He was brilliant.  He was omnipotent.  But he gets really stupid in the New Testament because he cannot figure out a way to forgive humans for their sins except by the torturous death of his only son.  Amazing.  He would have a better image had we stuck with animal sacrifice.  Is the sacrifice of our children a behavior we should emulate?  Should I love my neighbor so much I am willing to kill my son?  Such a godly requirement is not one I can follow.  Why didn’t he send Jesus to perform miracles and simply announce that the punishments administered to Adam and Eve are now over for anyone who worships God?  I suspect the number of believers would be huge if believers did not have to toil and there was no pain in child birth for those who believe.  Why didn’t he simply allow Jesus to live forever on earth preaching love and forgiveness?  Why all this continued death and destruction in the name of sacrifice, anger and jealousy?  Worse, these deeds do not align with the words:  Love thy neighbor, unless of course, he does not do what God told him to do.  Even God approves a death penalty for those who disobey him, and the ultimate death penalty is an eternity in hell.

So, if you are of the Judeo-Christian heritage you worship a God who is wrathful, angry, willing to kill humans and entire species if we do not behave.  You worship a God that could not see a way around sacrificing his own son to implement forgiveness.  You worship a God who holds a grudge for a very long time.  You worship a God whose basic tenets in many cases go against the scientific rules of reality; rules that he theoretically created and implemented.  You worship a God who says one thing and does another.  You worship a God that supports slavery and no rights for women.  You appear to worship an all-powerful, supernatural being who has consistently demonstrated all the behaviors we abhor most in our fellow man. 

Or, it is all just a great story, a marvelous fiction written to promote certain beliefs and behaviors.  In that case the Ark is no more real than Paul Bunyan and his big blue ox, Tinker Bell and Never-Never Land, or even Oz.  In fact, if you heard that someone worshipped Tinker Bell and spent millions of dollars in the lab to create fairy dust so that we could all fly and never grow up, I suspect you would be totally, jaw-dropping flabbergasted, amazed and bewildered. 

And even though it is so sad, you would laugh, and your laughter would sound like, “Ark, ark, ark.” 

Bible Dilemma

I suppose the very first question should be, “Do you believe that the Bible is the holy word of the Lord, written and/or inspired by God and should be taken literally, verbatim, just as we have it today?”  Or, “Do you believe the Bible is a guide, subject to interpretation and that you (or other humans) have the authority to decide which verses are real and you will believe those verses, and which verses are not real today and we are not obligated to believe them?”  The first group that views the Bible as the literal, infallible word of God, I shall refer to as Type A Christians.  The second group who revere the Bible but do not take it literally I shall refer to as Type B Christians.  From where I sit, both groups have an intellectual dilemma that cannot be resolved.

Type A’s must believe everything in the Bible.  They must believe the earth is flat.  They must believe the sun orbits the earth.  They must believe the earth is about 6,000 years old.  They must believe it is better to offer your virgin daughters to a group of men than allow those men to have sex with other men.  They must believe that if a woman is not a virgin on her wedding night she should be stoned to death.  They must believe prostitutes should be stoned to death.  They must believe homosexuals should be stoned to death.  They must believe that God created everything and evolution is a theory that cannot be proven.  And they must believe that Jesus believes all these things as well because Jesus said he did.

The intellectual dilemma for the Type A’s is that we know so much more about the universe than the authors of the Bible knew.  We know for a fact that the earth is not flat.  We know for a fact that the sun does not orbit the earth.  We consider it a crime to promote your children to have sex with men, stone women for not being virgins, stone homosexuals, and stone prostitutes.  We know for a fact that evolution is not a theory in the common use of the word, it is a scientific fact that has been confirmed over and over again.  In fact, there is no evidence that contradicts evolution and every new piece of data we get confirms it even more.  If there was evidence contrary to evolutions then scientists would be the first to say that this theory does not work because we found an exception.  Whether the Type A’s believe God dictated the Bible, or God whispered in the ear of those men who could write in that age, their dilemma is, much of the Bible is false.  (If God inspired the Bible, I wonder why He did not throw in some anti-slavery, pro-human rights verses.  Did He know it was coming?)  The Bible in many cases is confirmed by scientific fact to be false.  Type A’s now have a problem with clinging to the word of God if we prove God wrong.  Can we believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful God when we know he was wrong? 

Type B’s are much more laid back and much less bull-headed about the Bible.  They see the Bible as a holy work, but believe it must be adapted to the times.  Verses that advocate stoning, advocate treating women as second class citizens, support slavery, condemn homosexuality, etc., etc. must just be ignored.  Those were the rules in the Bronze Age and they no longer apply.  We choose not to follow those passages that conflict with our current social beliefs.  OK.  Type B’s are much more open and comforting and tolerant.

But the intellectual dilemma for Type B’s is that someone gets to just say, “I do not believe this verse to be true today,” and act as though it is irrelevant.  They have made the Bible as false as the Type A’s.  God must be wrong, so we have updated Him.  Even harder to resolve is the question if any passage can be declared inappropriate and inaccurate, who is to say that the virgin birth and the resurrection cannot be declared the same?  Are they not in the same book from which we have chosen only the verses that comply with our thinking?  If we can do that, then this becomes our book and not God’s book, and we declare, once again, that God must be wrong and this book cannot be holy, or at least not worth reading until we have corrected some things.

Perhaps there is a Type C, but I cannot fathom what that belief system might be.  If you believe it all you are wrong and so is God.  If you get to cherry pick which verses you want then it is not a holy book, you could simply ignore anything you wanted to because we have given permission to do so, and the book becomes superficial.

So, where does all that leave us?

If the Bible and our common history of Jesus disappeared, would we re-discover God as we have discovered evolution, gravity, human rights, the order of our solar system, the history of our solar system, our planet and our universe, etc.?  If we forgot all we knew, would we re-discover what we currently know based on science and math?  Yes.  But I suspect we could not and would not discover God.  We would not be as wowed today with burning bushes, parting of seas, water into wine, etc.  We would look for the causes and explanations of such phenomenon and would not make the de facto assumption that they were magical events.  In fact, we would probably look to the authors who described such things as the culprits thereby rendering one more piece of evidence that the Bible cannot be true when we know authors made stuff up.  The question should be, “What factual evidence do we have to support the stories and claims made in the Bible?”  If any are shown to be false, are they all false?  If any are shown to be false should we base an international belief system on this book?  And sadly, it will be up to the Christians to prove it happened not the non-believers to prove it did not happen.  Believing it is true is not the same as knowing and showing it to be true.

Therein is the Bible dilemma.

My God Moment

I was in the 7^th grade, sitting in the Astrodome with my friends and peers from church.  We traveled there to hear Billy Graham.  The Dome was full of the faithful, the curious, the saved and the sinners.  I could smell popcorn and beer though the concessions stands were closed and the confession stands were open. There were many musical performances prior to the main event, warming up the crowd.  Graham finally emerged and the crowd went wild.  I was curious.  As he spoke in his distinct drawl about God loving even me, forgiving even me, I felt a warmth I had not felt before.  It was a glow, a sense of being worthwhile.  I knew I was a sinner.  My sins were easy for me to list and worry about.  I did not know it at the time, but I was depressed.  I felt worthless.  I felt unloved.  I felt incomplete.  All my teenage urges were overpowering and “sinful.”  The message that there was a supreme, supernatural being that loved me anyway was incredibly powerful.  I was so ready to hear such a sermon.  I was so needy of love. 

When Billy asked those who felt the spirit moving to stand, I stood.  Tears rolled down my cheeks.  He asked us to make our way from wherever we were sitting to the floor of the Dome.  I left my group, wandered down ramps and emerged on the Astroturf with hundreds of other people.  Many were crying.  Many were smiling and laughing.  A man met me as I stepped on the turf.  He asked me what was going on and I told him I felt the spirit of the Lord, I wanted to let Jesus take my life.  He got my name, address and phone number, and I was dismissed.  I was now on the roster of converts.  I was now on the mailing list.

While others at the microphone continued to urge folks to let Jesus in and come on down, while gospel music blared, I wandered upstream back to my seat.  My peers looked at me either as though I had lost my mind or with a warm smile of approval.  Adult church sponsors came to sit by me and praise my new commitment, my conversion, and my born-againness. 

Life quickly returned to normal.  There was school, church, girlfriends, sports and I detected nothing different.  I prayed fervently.  Nothing happened.  I asked for things but did not get them.  I asked to be relieved of things that remained with me.  I began to feel more and more like the fool.  I kept all this buried deep within.  For the religiously fervent in the church I was now a real member, an insider.  For everyone else I was still just Bob.

So, after my 7^th grade God Moment in the Houston Astrodome at the feet of Billy Graham I have wondered if I am now officially “saved,” once and for always no matter what I do.  That makes no sense to me.  My prayers remained un-answered and un-recognized.  My depression lingers.  I may have been touched by God, but what I really wanted was a life-long embrace.  I remain un-hugged by the supernatural.  The God Moment came and went and life went on as usual. 

It must be my fault.  I hear God does not make mistakes.  

Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel is promoted as an investigative search into the evidence that supports the existence of Jesus Christ, his death and his resurrection.  Strobel is a lawyer and a journalist.  I believe if he practiced either profession while scrutinizing his own book he would trash it and recant.  Now that all my Christian Evangelical friends and Christian Apologist friends are jumping up and down and reaching for their blood pressure meds, please allow me to re-state the above in a different context.

Tom Brady, quarterback for the New England Patriots, was accused by the Indianapolis Colts of masterminding a plan that reduced the volume of air in the footballs he used as quarterback during the 2015 AFC Championship game.  The scandal became known as Deflategate.  Less air in the balls, better grip, more accurate pass, etc.  Camps of the Brady faithful immediately lined up to say this must be poppycock and balderdash.  The Tom Brady they know would never do such a thing.  Others, noticeably pro-Colt fans, believe Brady was involved.  Others who question the priority placed on professional sports in our country were aghast at the hurrah around ball psi.  This group says it doesn’t matter what the pro-Brady camp says, it is football, and football is harmful whether air was reduced from balls or not.  If footballs were deflated, then show me evidence because I believe anyone who plays ball is a crook and shyster and will do anything to win.  And Tom Brady must have either done it himself or orchestrated the air loss to support the football win.  Let’s call Brady the anti-Christ and the Colt fans the believers that he did it.  Brady fans believe he did not do it.  Did Brady deflate balls?  Did Jesus rise from the dead?

Into the fray marches Lee Strobel, lawyer and journalist.  Lee will get to the bottom of the issue and help all of us, both pro and con Bradyites, know what really happened.  Lee will bring his array of formidable skills to the task, but implies right up front that he believes Brady did it.  (Jesus arose.)  Strobel is not a Brady supporter.  He is a Colt believer.  Strobel conducts his investigation by conducting a series of interviews with experts in the field.  His printed product is a recounting of those interviews, and sadly I am still laughing.

The only experts Strobel interviews are those who support the notion that there is evidence that Tom Brady did it.  He only interviews Colt fans!  Each so called expert is in fact asked if he is more convinced Brady did it after his scholarship than before, and each expert says yes.  Each expert provides a series of anecdotes regarding Brady, and Strobel confuses anecdotes with evidence.  Each expert implies what he says is accurate because they each know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows Brady and believes that Brady did it.  Therefore, Brady must have done it and Strobel is a best seller.

Now just a minute.  The lawyer in Strobel should have pointed out that the only witnesses that were interrogated for this trial were witnesses for the prosecution.  The only case we hear is the state’s case that Brady did it.  The journalist in Strobel should have realized that hearsay and second hand sources are not admissible in this debate.  Further, many of the expert witnesses should likely have recused themselves because they so deeply believed Brady did it.  I am convinced if Strobel turns either his lawyer’s eye or his reporter’s ear to his own book he will recognize there is no real evidence here, and if so, it is perceptual and one-sided.  Strobel concludes Brady did it after consulting not one single argument to the contrary.  This is hardly hard core investigative journalism or court room witness extraction.  This is a one-sided sales pitch.

That’s what Strobel did in The Case for Christ.  He interviewed believers.  He heard tales and anecdotes and arguments that those who believe in Jesus just must be right because it makes sense to other believers that they are right.  If you engage in this book hoping for a meaningful discourse on the reality of Jesus, his death and resurrection, you will only hear one side.  Amazingly, as I read other reviews, Christians love the book because, well, it was written by Christians.  Skeptics will scoff and go in search of real evidence.

I am left with the feeling that the Christian belief is so strong in some that they simply cannot perceive another way of thinking.  I am left with the feeling that the support of Christianity as described by the Apologists is unacceptable in a court of law and is pretty slim for any rational person.  The Patriots will never believe Brady did it, and the Colts cannot conceive of any other outcome.  Christians will always believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and skeptics will never believe such a thing.  And as for Strobel’s heavy arguments, it turns out that air has little weight.

A Model Prayer to God

At some point, fairly recently, I opened my eyes and began to think about the liturgy in church.  I stopped saying prayers and creeds by rote, and started thinking about what I was really saying.  For instance:

The Lord’s Prayer, Mathew 6: 9-13.  I have said this prayer almost every Sunday for as long as I can remember, though I grew up Presbyterian and said “debtors” the shift to the Methodist “trespasses” was not tough.  But as I said the words this past Sunday my brain was in gear.  I had thoughts.  That means I had problems.  Why is this the “Lord’s Prayer?”  Is this the prayer the Lord says?  Is this the prayer Jesus said?  Is this a prayer that should serve as a model for humans to address a God?  If so, shouldn’t it be called “The Model Prayer to God?”

“Our Father.”  Really?  Is God my father?  Is there a DNA or paternity test we can run?  If he is my father, than am I his son?  If so, this whole sacrifice your son to abate our sins gets really complicated for me.  Why didn't Jesus simply say, “God, my father,” or something similar?  As a father I would do anything for my kids.  Why is it that God allows such pain and cruelty among His kids?  Not sure I can call Him Father as I look at war, starvation, childhood cancer, etc.  Or is this simply another reference to God as the creator of all.  If so, God becomes father to ants, mosquitoes, snakes, etc.

“Who art in heaven.”  OK, now I am really stumped.  We do not know where heaven is, but evidently that is where God is.  Is he here on earth too, as in omnipresent?  If so, why say who art in heaven?  Why not simply say “who is everywhere”?

“Hallowed be Thy name.”  OK, so his name is sacred or holy.  Isn’t that a no-brainer?  If I am praying to some deity it seems stupid to pray to one who is not sacred or holy.  And, what’s in a name?  And which name?  There are 102 different names listed in the Bible for God.  Which one, or are all hallowed?  If one has 102 handles, sacred is not the word that comes to mind.  More like an identity crisis, or an IMDb listing for God.

“Your kingdom come.”  Is that what we really want?  The kingdom of God established on this planet?  What would that be like?  What would it be like if we take the Bible literally and deny divorce, stone women who are not virgins on their wedding night, do away with medicine and psychiatry and simply practice faith healing?  Is that what we want? 

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  What is Thy will?  Sounds like the question I have been asking and praying about for years.  What do you want me to do?  If you have a plan for me why do you keep it a secret?  If you have a plan for all of us, why keep it a secret?  Just tell me what you want.  After I am told I will decide whether to pray for that will to be done.  God’s will may be terrible for humanity.  As I see the worldwide bloodshed in the name of some deity I wonder if that is in fact God’s will.  If so, I want no part of it.  If heaven knows and lives God’s will, then surely we deserve a glimpse.

“Give us this day our daily bread.”  As long as we are asking God for stuff, food seems OK.  Why not ask for water?  Why not wealth and health?  Why not a great sex life?  Why not my team winning Super Bowl?  Nope, just bread.  Seems like the prayer prescribed by Jesus is woefully short on the list of things humans need most to thrive.  How do we explain all the people starving on this planet who pray this prayer?

“And forgive us our debts/trespasses.”  If God has influence in personal finance, then His forgiveness of our debts would be great.  I don’t see that happening after years and years of Christian praying.  If the term should be trespass, are we talking boundary violations, rule breaking?  OK, I’d get seeking forgiveness for that, but looks like there are a lot of people in prison who have been praying this prayer and are still in prison. 

“As we forgive our debtors/those who trespass against us.”  The economy would freak and banks would collapse if all humans forgave the debt others owe us.  Would be nice for the debtor, not so much for the lender, but I do not see it happening.  If this means something like someone owes me a favor, then I can see forgiving that.  People who have violated my boundaries, or the boundaries of my loved ones are much tougher to forgive.  If I am to simply forgive debts and trespasses by just announcing that I have done so, why doesn’t God do the same thing?  Why did He have to go through sending his only son to earth to die a terrible death?  If that is the cost of offering forgiveness, then I am not going to pray for that.

“Lead us not into temptation.”  This phrase angers me.  If I were to design and create humans in my image why would I build in temptation?  Is God tempted?  If He doesn’t want me to lust, covet, eat too much, drink too much, and gamble too much, etc., why did He build in the urges in the first place?  Seems terribly unreasonable to construct a being with temptations then tell them not to go there. 

“But deliver us from evil.”  If we pray this second phrase are we relieved of temptation?  I don’t think so.  What evil are we to be delivered from?  The evil of other religions hence all the holy wars?  The evil of physical pleasure which we are hard wired to seek?  Why would God wire us to rush to evil?  These two phrases make no sense to me.  Why not just say help us do good things and avoid doing bad things.

“For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.”  Right back where we started.  Where is this kingdom and what is it like?  If He has all this power then why isn’t this prayer answered all the time?  If He answered it all the time, then He would likely receive more glory.  Otherwise, we have a hard time convincing others that our invisible man in the magic kingdom is very powerful and worthy of glory. 

Amen.