By TheThinkingAtheist ~
Once again, a big thanks to everybody that reads these articles/rants of mine, and of course a I'd like to thank the managers of this site.
One thing that I haven't yet disclosed is that I used to go to a Catholic School. Before I start, let me make clear that this isn't a rant about how I "didn't want to go", or how BS it is that I had to go there.
This is about death.
I always found it both horrifying and amusing at how religious people could write a person's death off by saying "God needed him", "It was his time", or any variation of that. Because, let's be frank, death is a sudden and sometimes gruesome thing, and for it to be written off and even condoned is not what a healthy person would do.
Take this favorite example of mine: a car was speeding down a four-way intersection, and the driver couldn't see a person that was turning left at the same time. They crashed. The speeding driver survived, having a truck, while the person that was turning left died in the hospital. So now, this man gets penalized a certain amount of money, and continues on with his life.
Except, he thanks God for saving him. He says "It's a miracle that I survived! God must have had a hand in this."
Well, doesn't that mean that God also killed the other person for no reason? Why do these miracle-pushers never think about the victims? Why this selfish attitude? It is because religion, and the Bible- no matter how many times Jesus would say that you need to "give to the poor"- is NOT a good model for charity, love, or any other positive human quality, mindset or action. You can't ignore half of the Bible, and only refer to what you believe Jesus said.
It's like conducting an experiment, and, when the data contradicts with the hypothesis, dismissing the parts that don't match up. It is not a logical attitude to take, in anything, not only religion.
But, but, but! When some people actually acknowledge that here is some sort of mistake present, rationalization makes an appearance.
Another example of this would be the whole 'prophesy' crap that some people espouse. They say that "It was predicted in the Old Testament that this, this, and this would happen, and it did! Now bow down, infidel!" Well, My problem with that is that the New Testament was written AFTER the Old Testament. That's why one is 'New', and another is 'Old'. Simple, right? So it really wouldn't be that hard to read the Old Testament and write something that agrees with what is written.
God is either powerless and benevolent, or cruel and omnipotent... You can't have it both ways - you can't claim that God is loving and all-powerful in one breath while saying that Hell actually exists.My opinion is this- if there really was a God, and he wanted for us to worship him, well then, why the f*ck does he not just move a mountain? Or why does a worshiper not do the same? He said it could be done! In fact, if a random man claiming to be God (or Chuck Norris) just waved a hand, and Mt. Everest was was suddenly Texas, then we could see that the guy had something going for him. But for some strange, inexplicable reason, there haven't been any cases of mountain-moving in recorded history.
And as for the people that say that it would 'take away belief', I just roll my eyes because God either exists, or he doesn't. His (non) existence is not in any way affected by my 'beliefs', or lack of thereof.
Likewise, God is either powerless and benevolent, or cruel and omnipotent if he exists. You can't have it both ways - you can't claim that God is loving and all-powerful in one breath while saying that Hell actually exists, or some other statement like that. It simply doesn't make sense if you think about it.
Deists are also strange in that they believe that God exist and created the world, but that he never intervened since. My question to that is, once again, if you can dismiss the whole Bible, then how do you justify believing in a God at all?
Also one topic that I've been meaning to address is Heaven. Now, imagine the best place you've ever been. Now imagine living there for more than 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years. And that is nowhere close to infinity. I mean, can you imagine what the suicide rate must be? You remember your annoying brother/sister/friend? How about you spend... that much time with him/her? Sure, they're dead,and you get to see them again, but at what point will you start wishing that there wasn't a Heaven? There's this nice little quote that summarizes this situation up quite nicely:
And indeed, anything for that insane amount of time become too much. For 100 years, you feel happy. At 1,000 years you start go get a little bored. But at 10,000 years you just don't know what to do and your favorite past time is trolling newcomers in Heaven. 100,000 years? Forget it.
People develop more over time. They might be the ideal person on Earth, but if you consider that you will spend that much time in Heaven, well, people change. Customs change. Society changes, and Heaven is an antiquated idea from simpler times, much like religion itself.
I seem to be jumping around a lot in this article, but I'll finish up by saying that before you put your backing, your 'faith' into something, at least fully investigate what it is.
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| Francois Xavier Fabre, Death of Abel |
One thing that I haven't yet disclosed is that I used to go to a Catholic School. Before I start, let me make clear that this isn't a rant about how I "didn't want to go", or how BS it is that I had to go there.
This is about death.
I always found it both horrifying and amusing at how religious people could write a person's death off by saying "God needed him", "It was his time", or any variation of that. Because, let's be frank, death is a sudden and sometimes gruesome thing, and for it to be written off and even condoned is not what a healthy person would do.
Take this favorite example of mine: a car was speeding down a four-way intersection, and the driver couldn't see a person that was turning left at the same time. They crashed. The speeding driver survived, having a truck, while the person that was turning left died in the hospital. So now, this man gets penalized a certain amount of money, and continues on with his life.
Except, he thanks God for saving him. He says "It's a miracle that I survived! God must have had a hand in this."
Well, doesn't that mean that God also killed the other person for no reason? Why do these miracle-pushers never think about the victims? Why this selfish attitude? It is because religion, and the Bible- no matter how many times Jesus would say that you need to "give to the poor"- is NOT a good model for charity, love, or any other positive human quality, mindset or action. You can't ignore half of the Bible, and only refer to what you believe Jesus said.
It's like conducting an experiment, and, when the data contradicts with the hypothesis, dismissing the parts that don't match up. It is not a logical attitude to take, in anything, not only religion.
But, but, but! When some people actually acknowledge that here is some sort of mistake present, rationalization makes an appearance.
Another example of this would be the whole 'prophesy' crap that some people espouse. They say that "It was predicted in the Old Testament that this, this, and this would happen, and it did! Now bow down, infidel!" Well, My problem with that is that the New Testament was written AFTER the Old Testament. That's why one is 'New', and another is 'Old'. Simple, right? So it really wouldn't be that hard to read the Old Testament and write something that agrees with what is written.
God is either powerless and benevolent, or cruel and omnipotent... You can't have it both ways - you can't claim that God is loving and all-powerful in one breath while saying that Hell actually exists.My opinion is this- if there really was a God, and he wanted for us to worship him, well then, why the f*ck does he not just move a mountain? Or why does a worshiper not do the same? He said it could be done! In fact, if a random man claiming to be God (or Chuck Norris) just waved a hand, and Mt. Everest was was suddenly Texas, then we could see that the guy had something going for him. But for some strange, inexplicable reason, there haven't been any cases of mountain-moving in recorded history.
And as for the people that say that it would 'take away belief', I just roll my eyes because God either exists, or he doesn't. His (non) existence is not in any way affected by my 'beliefs', or lack of thereof.
Likewise, God is either powerless and benevolent, or cruel and omnipotent if he exists. You can't have it both ways - you can't claim that God is loving and all-powerful in one breath while saying that Hell actually exists, or some other statement like that. It simply doesn't make sense if you think about it.
Deists are also strange in that they believe that God exist and created the world, but that he never intervened since. My question to that is, once again, if you can dismiss the whole Bible, then how do you justify believing in a God at all?
Also one topic that I've been meaning to address is Heaven. Now, imagine the best place you've ever been. Now imagine living there for more than 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years. And that is nowhere close to infinity. I mean, can you imagine what the suicide rate must be? You remember your annoying brother/sister/friend? How about you spend... that much time with him/her? Sure, they're dead,and you get to see them again, but at what point will you start wishing that there wasn't a Heaven? There's this nice little quote that summarizes this situation up quite nicely:
"Too Much of a Good Thing".
And indeed, anything for that insane amount of time become too much. For 100 years, you feel happy. At 1,000 years you start go get a little bored. But at 10,000 years you just don't know what to do and your favorite past time is trolling newcomers in Heaven. 100,000 years? Forget it.
People develop more over time. They might be the ideal person on Earth, but if you consider that you will spend that much time in Heaven, well, people change. Customs change. Society changes, and Heaven is an antiquated idea from simpler times, much like religion itself.
I seem to be jumping around a lot in this article, but I'll finish up by saying that before you put your backing, your 'faith' into something, at least fully investigate what it is.
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