Without God I Am Nothing?
By Carl S ~
Here's one of my favorite jokes: A cruise ship was thrown off course in a storm. After the storm passed, the captain noticed a small island in the distance, not found on his maps. He ordered the ship to come near to it. Embarking with some crew members, they found a man roaming the beach and asked him how he got there. It seems he was the only survivor of a shipwreck recorded thirty years before. The captain told this man, “I don't know how you didn't go out of your mind, all alone here.” The answer came as the man flung his arm around an invisible being: “I never would have made it without Irene!”
There's a site, “Without God I Am Nothing Quotes.” Oh? Does one have to believe God/Irene exists, in order to be a person? Really? Why doesn’t religion ASK us to believe, instead of TELLING us what to believe? My question is, since there's no proof this God/Irene is real, does that mean you might NOT be the “somebody” you think you are? I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
St. Paul, the initial founder of Christianity, writes in Galatians 2:13, “For if anyone thinks he is SOMETHING, when he is NOTHING, he deceives himself.” Well - I'm something until I die, and then - I'm nothing. That's not deceiving myself. That's just the way things are. St. Paul is often quoted as saying, in Corinthians 15: 14: “and if Christ has NOT been raised from death, we have NOTHING to preach, and we have NOTHING to believe.” Oh please! Wouldn't everyone be better off without clerics preaching at them? Wouldn't it be comforting, not believing in hellfire? That won't happen as long as eternal life includes the fear of eternal torture. People who believe in Nothing Without God are scared shitless of Hell, and can't accept becoming no more, preferring even eternal hellfire, since in Hell, at least you're somebody.
What of those who make the “humble” claim they are “Nothing without Christ?” This reminds me of a priest my wife and I knew. She said he “has no ego.” This man raised enough money to have a huge church built, but without ego? He went on to leave the priesthood, marry, and raise the money to have a non-denominational church built. Maybe he'll say he couldn't have done it without Christ/Irene. Yeah, right. As a godless individual, you can do a lot of good for people just by listening to them when others won't bother. You might not know it, but what you say can mean so much to another. They might even say, “God bless you!” I've received responses for merely listening, from those who don't know I'm doing it without their god. For such as them, we are really SOMETHING.
You'll hear many giving credit to God, or Christ, for the good works they do. (Somehow, the rest of us manage this without them.) They can agree with St. Paul, in Philippians 4:13, “I can do ALL things through him who strengthens me.” This mind-set proudly makes co-believers special “SOMETHINGS” from the rest of us, doesn't it? Which leads us to ask, “ALL things? Didn't your Christ say that all who believed in him would do “even greater works than I do?” So, are you doing greater works than raising the dead, restoring sight to the blind, feeding five thousand with two fishes and five loaves of bread, etc., etc.?
It isn't just the “Nothing Without God Quotes,” though. Another site, “Bible Reasons” has “Being Nothing Without God.” If you read the opening joke, you're already substituting, “Being Nothing Without Irene.” Why not, since they're both REAL! Bible Reasons emits hand-picked quotes from scriptures to bolster its case. These are the “answers” drummed up by men who didn't know where the sun went at night. And since the Jews are the best joke tellers on earth, we might consider their scriptures comically exaggerated, all fancy fables of a cosmic joke. Well, IS life worth NOTHING without their god? Let's take a look at what they preach:
1 “Without God you would have NO LIFE AT ALL.”
Strange, I could swear I must have been lied to, since everyone tells me I began breathing when someone slapped me on the butt. And my conception? That was an accident. If my parents were alive, they'd confirm it.
2 “Outside of Christ there is NO reality,”
Oh really? Reality didn't exist before Christ? And what about reality? Is your personal “savior,” “Christ/ Irene” the greatest reality in your life? According to you, reality doesn't exist for Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, atheists, etc.? Get real.
3 “Outside of Christ there is NO logic.”
This empty claim comes from a tradition of trying to make sense of, and excuses for, the illogical. “Religidiculous logic” varies anywhere from contortional mind frustration to “Just believe it!” This is why logic from an unbeliever is ignored, for as Paul wrote in I Corinthians, v. 18, 19, “Let no man deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is WISE, he should become a FOOL, so that he may become wise. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” No thank you, but I'll just remain worldly-wise and pass it on. And by the way, along the way being a fool, does one stop being a fool? So - We the logical, are nobodies?
4 “Outside of Christ, there is NO REASON for ANYTHING.”
Golly gee! I guess everyone who can't accept this should go commit suicide. Scientists should stop looking for answers; no one who isn't a believer should bother looking for reasons for anything. Like the xmas carol, O Holy Night proclaims, before Christ, the world was, “in sin and error pining 'til he appeared.” The world was NOT pining; it was socializing, inventing, discovering, philosophizing, and progressing. In other words, pretty much dealing with surviving and dealing with problems others created, including gods. Eliminate God, gods, Christ, and all that other stuff, and you'll STILL have people like these “without” jerks telling you there must be a reason and they'll tell you the reason is what they're selling.
5 “Everything was made for Christ.”
So why doesn't he claim it? Better yet, now tell us again how everything was made for us?
6 “Your next breath comes from Christ and is to go back to Christ.”
Tell that to the billions of non-Christians, and see where it gets you. Breathing or not breathing is unavoidably natural. It doesn’t begin until exiting the womb. When breathing finally stops, it doesn't “go back” to anywhere. Religions want NO connection with this reality.
I'd like to dismiss the nonsense propagated on these sites as radical; but THESE ARE CHRISTIAN BELIEFS, taught to millions of children and unsuspecting natives worldwide.
Bible Reasons and Christianity, Islam and Judaism, are telling you and me our lives have no meaning: we have nothing, are nothing, there is no logic, no reason for anything in our lives, no reality, or direction, and we don't truly have a life... without their God. Yep, without accepting their version of Irene, the rest of us are “nothing.”
No emotionally stable person would willingly choose to accept such negativity. Now, I'm going to have a nice day making love with my wife, while I'm still SOMETHING.
There's a site, “Without God I Am Nothing Quotes.” Oh? Does one have to believe God/Irene exists, in order to be a person? Really? Why doesn’t religion ASK us to believe, instead of TELLING us what to believe? My question is, since there's no proof this God/Irene is real, does that mean you might NOT be the “somebody” you think you are? I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
St. Paul, the initial founder of Christianity, writes in Galatians 2:13, “For if anyone thinks he is SOMETHING, when he is NOTHING, he deceives himself.” Well - I'm something until I die, and then - I'm nothing. That's not deceiving myself. That's just the way things are. St. Paul is often quoted as saying, in Corinthians 15: 14: “and if Christ has NOT been raised from death, we have NOTHING to preach, and we have NOTHING to believe.” Oh please! Wouldn't everyone be better off without clerics preaching at them? Wouldn't it be comforting, not believing in hellfire? That won't happen as long as eternal life includes the fear of eternal torture. People who believe in Nothing Without God are scared shitless of Hell, and can't accept becoming no more, preferring even eternal hellfire, since in Hell, at least you're somebody.
What of those who make the “humble” claim they are “Nothing without Christ?” This reminds me of a priest my wife and I knew. She said he “has no ego.” This man raised enough money to have a huge church built, but without ego? He went on to leave the priesthood, marry, and raise the money to have a non-denominational church built. Maybe he'll say he couldn't have done it without Christ/Irene. Yeah, right. As a godless individual, you can do a lot of good for people just by listening to them when others won't bother. You might not know it, but what you say can mean so much to another. They might even say, “God bless you!” I've received responses for merely listening, from those who don't know I'm doing it without their god. For such as them, we are really SOMETHING.
You'll hear many giving credit to God, or Christ, for the good works they do. (Somehow, the rest of us manage this without them.) They can agree with St. Paul, in Philippians 4:13, “I can do ALL things through him who strengthens me.” This mind-set proudly makes co-believers special “SOMETHINGS” from the rest of us, doesn't it? Which leads us to ask, “ALL things? Didn't your Christ say that all who believed in him would do “even greater works than I do?” So, are you doing greater works than raising the dead, restoring sight to the blind, feeding five thousand with two fishes and five loaves of bread, etc., etc.?
It isn't just the “Nothing Without God Quotes,” though. Another site, “Bible Reasons” has “Being Nothing Without God.” If you read the opening joke, you're already substituting, “Being Nothing Without Irene.” Why not, since they're both REAL! Bible Reasons emits hand-picked quotes from scriptures to bolster its case. These are the “answers” drummed up by men who didn't know where the sun went at night. And since the Jews are the best joke tellers on earth, we might consider their scriptures comically exaggerated, all fancy fables of a cosmic joke. Well, IS life worth NOTHING without their god? Let's take a look at what they preach:
1 “Without God you would have NO LIFE AT ALL.”
Strange, I could swear I must have been lied to, since everyone tells me I began breathing when someone slapped me on the butt. And my conception? That was an accident. If my parents were alive, they'd confirm it.
2 “Outside of Christ there is NO reality,”
Oh really? Reality didn't exist before Christ? And what about reality? Is your personal “savior,” “Christ/ Irene” the greatest reality in your life? According to you, reality doesn't exist for Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, atheists, etc.? Get real.
3 “Outside of Christ there is NO logic.”
This empty claim comes from a tradition of trying to make sense of, and excuses for, the illogical. “Religidiculous logic” varies anywhere from contortional mind frustration to “Just believe it!” This is why logic from an unbeliever is ignored, for as Paul wrote in I Corinthians, v. 18, 19, “Let no man deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is WISE, he should become a FOOL, so that he may become wise. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” No thank you, but I'll just remain worldly-wise and pass it on. And by the way, along the way being a fool, does one stop being a fool? So - We the logical, are nobodies?
4 “Outside of Christ, there is NO REASON for ANYTHING.”
Golly gee! I guess everyone who can't accept this should go commit suicide. Scientists should stop looking for answers; no one who isn't a believer should bother looking for reasons for anything. Like the xmas carol, O Holy Night proclaims, before Christ, the world was, “in sin and error pining 'til he appeared.” The world was NOT pining; it was socializing, inventing, discovering, philosophizing, and progressing. In other words, pretty much dealing with surviving and dealing with problems others created, including gods. Eliminate God, gods, Christ, and all that other stuff, and you'll STILL have people like these “without” jerks telling you there must be a reason and they'll tell you the reason is what they're selling.
5 “Everything was made for Christ.”
So why doesn't he claim it? Better yet, now tell us again how everything was made for us?
6 “Your next breath comes from Christ and is to go back to Christ.”
Tell that to the billions of non-Christians, and see where it gets you. Breathing or not breathing is unavoidably natural. It doesn’t begin until exiting the womb. When breathing finally stops, it doesn't “go back” to anywhere. Religions want NO connection with this reality.
I'd like to dismiss the nonsense propagated on these sites as radical; but THESE ARE CHRISTIAN BELIEFS, taught to millions of children and unsuspecting natives worldwide.
Bible Reasons and Christianity, Islam and Judaism, are telling you and me our lives have no meaning: we have nothing, are nothing, there is no logic, no reason for anything in our lives, no reality, or direction, and we don't truly have a life... without their God. Yep, without accepting their version of Irene, the rest of us are “nothing.”
No emotionally stable person would willingly choose to accept such negativity. Now, I'm going to have a nice day making love with my wife, while I'm still SOMETHING.