The following article is a literal interpretation of God’s creation of man. While I fully intend to add heaps of snark, all information presented will be referenced directly from the Bible.
In the beginning, during six days of creation, an all powerful and all knowing God decided to create man out of dirt. Three things immediately come to mind when I hear this tale; First, the Biblical authors, when attempting to craft the miraculous story of our creation, must not have had the divine foresight to know that Alchemy would eventually be proven to be a scam. Second, why would an all powerful God need a precursor material to create man? Didn’t God just create the Universe out of nothing. Maybe during our creation, like Creationists like to argue, God suddenly realized that he can’t just create things out of nothing. With man’s creation out of the way, God got to work creating all of the lesser creations like the Antelope, Velicoraptor, HIV, Parasitic worm, Black Adder, woman, and rats capable of carrying the Black Plague. Third, why would an all powerful God, that most Creationists like to claim exists outside of time, need so much time to do his creating? Instead of going through the creation of the heavens and the earth and later the creation of water fowl, why not, within a split second, just say let there be everything? Anyways, once the all powerful God had finished up all of his tiresome acts of thinking things into existence, he declared that he needed a day of rest. The story then goes that God looked upon all of his creation and claimed that it was good, which would be like President Obama giving himself an approval rating.
As our creation story progresses, God, having said that everything he created was good, then went about banishing his first creations, forcing incest upon them and their children, committing worldwide genocide, and condeming many of his good creations to Hell. The tragic tale of man’s origins under an oppressive and vindictive creator will continue in the next exciting installment of the Godless Blog. Until then I leave you with a quote from the first atheist rapper.
“I don’t give a shit if he created me, that don’t give him the right to commit genocide and act crazily.” -Greydon Square
God is good and just. It’s not what nonbeliever [sic] consider just. Their just [sic] is more to satisfy themselves. Really think about it, it is.
I hate to start out with an “Am not!” “Are too!” routine, but I just can’t help myself. I would like to hear examples about how secular justice is selfish. Most of the accusations from Christians state that atheists don’t believe in God because we’re sin addicts and can’t handle being accountable for our actions. Not only is this insulting and ignorant, but also delightfully ironic!
Selfishness and Consequences
I propose that God’s “justice” is extremely selfish and perfectly illustrates the desire to not be accountable for one’s actions. Not only that, but hey, it’s ridiculous. How “just” and “good” is it that someone is able to wreak any amount of pain, harm, havoc, or evil upon the earth and their fellow humans, apologize for it and feel regret, and then instantly be free of any consequences for that action? It may be nice, but it’s not justice.
Consequences are a necessity for responsible individuals and a healthy society. Even when someone is repentant for what they’ve done, they should not be free from taking personal responsibility for their actions. Let’s say you have children (I know the commenter does). If they skip school, steal something from a store, or break a traffic law, but then apologize and feel terribly for what they’ve done, is that enough to satisfy the teachers, the store, and the police officer? Or do you think that they will benefit and learn from the consequences of those actions if they are allowed to experience them? Doesn’t that build character and help us understand how our choices and actions affect our lives and our loved ones? I say they do. I say consequences are an integral part of justice. This is why we have secular laws to enact justice as best we can.
I don’t think I can communicate this clearly enough, so I’m going to pass it along to two guys who can explain it further:
God vs. the Real World
Matt Dillahunty is more rad than footie pajamas and Han Solo combined. I hope you all enjoy his articulate (as always!) explanation of what justice is for God versus what it is in the real world.
Key points: Life isn’t fair, and that’s a good thing. Since justice and rewards aren’t guaranteed in some spiritual future, we are motivated to reward what is good when we see it and work together to right the wrongs in the world here and now—together. Yahweh’s “justice” is not just at all. “It is divine edict, arbitrary, and capricious.”
I could keep going, but you should listen! I think my eardrums got a hard-on.
Jesus’ Death and Justice
LatumWay, a youtuber I very much enjoy, says this about the Christian claim that Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s justice for sin:
Key points: Dying for someone’s sins is not just. You cannot take on someone’s moral responsibility. You can take their punishment, but not their culpability. The “good news” is a protection racket (best. ever.)
Following up on our earlier miracles post, a viewer emailed Tracie with some other examples of miracles and, while not entirely endorsing them, still seemed to think there might be something to them. One of these was the story of eight Catholic missionaries who supposedly survived the atomic bomb blast at Hiroshima without so much as a scratch, or any trace of radiation poisoning in their bodies. I responded to the effect that, if this story were true, it would paint a rather unpleasant picture of God.
First, I couldn't find any source for this claim that was not from a Catholic site, or that didn't simply copy-and-paste the exact text from said sites. So until I see something credible from a neutral, scientific source, I have to remain skeptical of the claim, since I am well aware of religion's history of coming up with all kinds of miraculous claims.
But it's known that some people survived the bomb, even those very close, if they were in structures that managed to absorb the worst of the explosion. In fact, this year marked the death of 93-year-old Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. I just happened to know about him because he was featured in a Cracked.com article a few days ago.
But think again of what this miracle claim is really saying below the surface. The atomic bomb at Hiroshima killed an estimated 150,000-200,000 people instantly. Many of these people were women and children.
And we are supposed to be in awe of a "miracle" in which, out of all those people, God chose to save not any women, children, or little babies — but eight missionaries!? Uh, thanks a lot, asshole.
If this were actually a miracle, it would be the miracle of a god so completely morally reprehensible and evil that it would not be sufficient to disbelieve in him. The only morally appropriate act would be to angrily repudiate and reject him. Seems to me the Church really ought to rethink using this one as part of their sales pitch.
Dealing with dimwitted debate? I decided to make something that might come in handy.
What are logical fallacies?
Here are a few helpful resources for improving your (and my!) writing.
The straw man fallacy is when you misrepresent someone else’s position so that it can be attacked more easily, knock down that misrepresented position, then conclude that the original position has been demolished. It’s a fallacy because it fails to deal with the actual arguments that have been made.
“To be an atheist, you have to believe with absolute certainty that there is no God. In order to convince yourself with absolute certainty, you must examine all the Universe and all the places where God could possibly be. Since you obviously haven’t, your position is indefensible.”
The above straw man argument appears at about once a week on the net. If you can’t see what’s wrong with it, read the “Introduction to Atheism” document.
Also because, as stated above, there is a tendency to start with desired conclusions and then construct arguments to support them, many people will happily draw upon logical fallacies to make their arguments. In fact, if a conclusion is not true one must either employ a false premise or a logical fallacy in order to construct an argument that leads to that conclusion. Remember, a sound argument (one with true premises and valid logic) cannot lead to a false conclusion. So in order to avoid using logical fallacies to construct invalid arguments, we need to understand how to identify fallacious logic.
It is particularly easy to slip up and commit a fallacy when you have strong feelings about your topic—if a conclusion seems obvious to you, you’re more likely to just assume that it is true and to be careless with your evidence.
We are running out of physical silver. That’s great- if you own a lot. It is getting harder and harder to buy silver bullion anywhere in the world. Soon you will not be able to buy silver at all. Silver stocks are a poor second. The silver stocks have performed poorly and erratically. The HUI to silver ratio has fallen to a mere 19 to 1. Bullion has been outperforming the miners for years now. Gold bullion is a poor third. Silver ETFs are a scam. The COMEX is empty, just like Ft. Knox is empty. Both are self auditing, which is the same as no auditing at all. Soon only the industrial users will get silver, and consumers won’t get any.
Your poor old author has an answer for some of you....Find one of the endless storefronts in your town that hasn’t been rented for years. Offer the landlord half of what he wants. Put a big sign on the store, “BUY YOUR SILVER”. The sheeple will come to your store to sell their silver. No gold, just silver. The pawn shops and coin dealers are paying people a fraction of the worth for silver (and gold). Don’t pay people premiums for anything at all. Rare coins, silver ware, hollow ware, jewelry, and other expensive silver items get melt value. You won’t believe how many desperate fools will come to your door. You can do that right now if you want. Just find out what the pawn shops are paying, and add 10% to that. That simple, add 10% to whatever the pawn shops are paying. Put a sign on your window, “We Pay The Most- Guaranteed”. Pay by check, and don’t have cash in the store, or you’ll get robbed. Put ads in your local paper or just depend on drive-by traffic.
Ask a Christian precisely which of Jesus’ “teachings” are so unique and valid, and what contributions he made to societal conduct or the advancement of civilization that makes his personage worthy of worship and respect; then stand back and marvel at the sound of silence.
Recently I read a comment from a Xtian proposing that even if one doesn’t buy into the supernatural deity status of Jesus and dismisses the miracles attributed to him in the New Testament, that one must certainly respect and honor the teachings of the man.
My response: “Really. Such as?” I asked for ten things that Jesus said that uniquely define him as a great thinker, great teacher, contributor to societal development, or the advancement of civilization. I’d settle for five. I’m still waiting.
I expected that he will eventually come back with “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Earth shattering! Also known as the Rule of Reciprocity it was professed by Confucianism, Buddhism, the Hindus, the ancient Babylonians, Hebrews, Egyptians, Greeks, et al, .all well before the Common Era.
Digging deeper I assumed he’d proffer that Jesus endorsed loving your neighbor as yourself. Yet, the same man said he came to instigate discord among family members, turning father against son, mother against daughter, etc. (Luke 12:53). Besides, “love thy neighbor as thyself’ was first written in the Hebrew bible (Leviticus 19:18) fourteen hundred years before Jesus was said to exist. Not a new concept; hardly worthy of awe and admiration; if it were Xtians would be Jewish and revering Moses as “God’. By the way…by neighbors they meant fellow Hebrew neighbors. If you were a Canaanite neighbor to a Hebrew your love experience may vary. Jesus’ perspective was the same as the Hebrew Bible’s.
Maybe he’d offer “love your enemy”(Matthew 5)? Really? Much as how Jesus loves us all but has no bones about sending freethinkers (his enemy one supposes) to Hell for non-belief, we are to love those enemies who would kill us and who we kill in war? Short of mercy killing how does loving those you must kill or who want you dead, logically reconcile in a rational mind? Since love and killing are so closely entwined in the philosophy of Jesus there should be alarms going off and eyebrows raised…not worship and respect. In fact the very concept is antithetical to reason or the human condition. Anyone who says they love Osama bin Laden, or Adolph Eichmann, or the guy trying to blow up the plane carrying them and their children is one of two things: a liar or a psychotic.
Perhaps “do not worry about tomorrow… [God will provide]” (Matthew 6) holds some value? Imagine if the whole world did as Jesus admonished and just didn’t worry about where their next meal was coming from, or their mortgage payment, or where they will sleep tonight, or how they will pay for their children’s higher education. Those aren’t prophetic words by which to live. No one besides a welfare dependent crack whore or third world beggar would consider living like that.
The religionist came back with none of these. Instead he said he’d have to do some “research.” He also tossed out the ever popular “You seem to be angry.” platitudinous Xtian hand grenade and invoked martyrdom at the hands of my “militant atheism.” So much for his original contention of Jesus’ admirable teachings being worthy of respect. . Virtually everything else Jesus said (and there wasn’t an awful lot) related to honoring god, being meek, talking down wealth and productivity, taking abuse, praying to a non-existent being, fixating on sin, and threatening badmouthing you to his Dad if you don’t buy his exalted position.
No. Only with belief in the supernatural -- belief in and fear of what the imaginary afterlife holds, does Jesus’ have any value. Without that Jesus is worthy of the same respect and admiration due any one of the thousands of cynic preachers and religious fanatics of his time; and eminently less than any of our Founding Fathers, Jonas Salk, or your kid’s favorite teacher.
"A highly educated girl from USA visits India in search of spiritual awakening. She reaches Rishikesh and meets a so-called sage. She is initialized in a week and goes back to USA with the hope of enlightenment in due course.
The so-called sage chases her to USA and settles there with a regular flow of money from her and others in contact there. She meditates, practices yoga as guided, and develops bipolar syndrome - a psychological disorder. As a result she becomes unpredictable and irritable and when calmed down becomes passive ready for an exploitation. Other exploitations of the girl, including sexual, begin and become frequent. He keeps on asking for money on different pretexts and she provides under his influence treating him divine. 14 years pass by.
She is now matured and works as a professor. She can understand the reality through her experiences. With assistance from her friends, she realizes her folly of harboring a cheat in the robe of a sage, who tries to keep her isolated from such friends. Finally, she got isolated with a great disappointment and almost incurable psychological disorder."
This is what is happening in some cases while in most others, beautiful American women take up the business of spirituality and thus become channels of exploitation of many others by the spiritualists of different shades - mostly from India.
Spiritual practices work like hypnotism and in many cases even psychodelic drugs are used to have unusual experiences to be lost in at regular intervals. These things put the practitioner on an infinite path of hope which he/she never desires to leave, but with no ultimate results.
In reality, there is no enlightenment but just mirages through auto-suggestions. No body is divine or having divine powers, or capable in inducing divinity. All such feelings are results of misplaced faiths generated by propaganda of spirituality all over the world, particularly in India for lack of education and scientific temper and in USA for the people's utilitarian and artificial lifestyles and their disenchantments from these.
India is the center of this business of spirituality because all the cunning persons here go in for such trickeries for quick gains of wealth and fame. Hard honest work is hardly appreciated here. In India, people get easily attracted to these trickeries but being poor can't provide much to this business. So, every spiritualist tries to make it to the prosperous USA.
Hello, welcome to the new and improved cult version of the Godless Blog, now with more God. That’s right, though it may appear like you’ve been living your life for some time now and that there has been a long history of both human existence and the Universe itself, I’m here to tell you that I, your all new God, have only just created you and the entire Universe in the last seven days. Regardless of any contrary evidence that you may come across, I never ever want you to question or consider that I did not create you. In order to prove to you that everything I say is true, I will give you this paragraph. What, you say you need more? Well, everyone knows that needing more is of the Devil. Besides, you are hence forth required to have faith, as believing without proof is the greatest most special virtue in all of creation. You say you still want more? You think that our relationship actually goes both ways? I tell you what, you just keep on talking to me and, well you can go right on talking. Now for the part you are sure to like. Not only must you now and forever believe in me, you will also be required to worship me and do exactly what I say, for if you fail to do so, there will be hell to pay. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, it’s time for you to learn how you will now be living, acting, eating, fucking, playing, and even dressing from now on. Your first rule will be…
On behalf of the new and improved Godless Blog, which has allegedly been taken over by the all new God, a challenge has been issued. The challenge will be open to all theists. The goal of this challenge is to disprove the existence of the all new God. If this goal is not accomplished within the next two thousand years, the Godless Blog will fully be expecting that the all new God will begin the process of supplanting imposter Lords like Jehovah and Muhammed as a legitimate player in the arms race to Armageddon.
Freethought Nation brings freethinkers news and commentary about religion, mythology, astrotheology and other subjects from a rational perspective. There is also a forum for freethinkers to post their own news and commentary.
When was it exactly that Christians decided to begin adopting the principles of humanism? I wouldn’t dare speak for all Christians, but it seems that there has been a recent surge of Christians willing to abandon core parts of their doctrine. I am certainly not complaining about the occasional bit of social progress being made by Christians despite their religion of course. Though I will not complain, I do want to shed light on how it appears that droves of Christians are embracing liberal social values. A recent example is the repeal of DADT. If 76% of Americans consider themselves as Christians, how is it then that about the same percentage supported the repeal of DADT? To further my point, the repeal of DADT was approved by a Senate made up of nearly 100% Christians. Since when did the Bible state to not treat homosexuals as abominations? Oh wait, it didn’t. Something else surely must be going on here. Before I go any further, I would like to address that I will probably hear the rambling of the fundamentalist Christians that always like to claim that some people, such as the ones in the DADT poll and the Senators that repealed it, are not really really real Christians. For entirely different reasons, I would tend to agree. According to the Bible, the progressively stunted team of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost still staunchly support gender and racial inequalities and vehemently condemn homosexuality, divorce, wealth, sorcery, witchcraft, and tolerance for people of other religious persuasions. Because the Christian God is eternally incapable of adjusing his commandments to keep up with the social progresses of free and democratic societies and because the words in the Bible are forever unalterable, it is left up to the Christian church as a whole to finally adjust their outdated principles to keep up with superior values proposed by humanists. For the majority of Christians that have adopted the principles of humanism, I give a crouching ovation, I’m reserving my standing ovation for when these humanistic Christians see Christianity in the same light they see most of it’s doctrine in. Back to the argument Christians often use to question the authenticity of other Christians; I must ask what it is exactly that constitutes a real Christian? Is it that real Christians would never dare to waiver from Biblical doctrine? If so, then the only real modern Christians left are the Westboro Baptist types, which is ironic because the Westboro group would fit right in with Christians from a few decades ago. I’m certain that the majority of modern Christians would be likely be executed by their own forefathers for the liberal values. It seems at some point, a Christian can move so far away from Christianity that they no longer can be defined as Christian. For those Christians that disagree, I challenge you to find one thing that they are doing that isn’t grounded on Biblical doctrine. For those Christians that claim they can find Biblical justifications to support the acceptance of homosexuals, witchcraft, female preachers, etc., I challenge you to either show me or admit that you have consciously decided to ignore Biblical doctrine that you do not support. At this moment in time, with the horrors of religion exposed, I believe we are justified in asking if Christians can even still be designated as such, when they have abandoned the very principles that define them as Christian. Could it be that, the more Christianity abandons it’s self, the closer it comes to the forgotten lands of Mithra, Zoroaster, and Orpheus? Some of us can only hope so.
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