Who will you be in heaven? Will you be old? Will you be young? Will you have free will? Will you still be you, but without sin? If so, who will that be?
Will your appearance suddenly be beautiful and flawless to you and/or others? You are the product of your earthly body being raised in an environment with experiences and physical/emotional boundaries and conditions that helped make you what you are now. When those limitations are taken away, what will be left? If your body is immortal, will you feel pain? longing? Will your mind be changed into someone that never feels bad or concerned about the past or the future? Will you still feel eternal joy knowing that this god that gave unending life, may also have chosen unending death and pain to someone you love(d)? Will you still love God after that? Will you still enjoy eternal life knowing that others that you knew are now burning without the relief of being consumed, in terrible pain because they could not bring themselves to believe the one belief system that you so luckily ascribed to?
Will your dreams and aspirations be different knowing that you have eternity to fulfill them all? What happens after that? Will heaven be filled with challenges and trials and mystery and curiosity (some of the things that made you who you are)?
Will God always be there in person to help you along? Will your mind ever get tired and long for sleep? Will you ever find an unanswerable question? Will you ever feel powerless? Will you ever long for the power to change what heaven has become for you and your loved ones? Will your children ever grow up to be fully mature human beings, having experienced all that human life can offer?
Even if everything is magically taken care of and most of these questions are sufficiently answered, the question remains; will you still be recognizable as the person you are today? If not, do you really want that? Why aren't you that person now? Why hasn't God given us the ability to live as if we were in heaven?
Perhaps we are not meant for eternal life. Perhaps we are merely a spark of life that shines brightly for a short time, helping to light the way for those that come after. Perhaps because of this, we are truly our human selves and not what some supposedly omnipotent god would have us be.
So I ask you to think about this again. Who will you be in heaven? Who are you now?
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Monday, March 13, 2017
Monday, August 1, 2016
A Thought Experiment
A thought experiment: Let's imagine that God is somehow regional - say He's the God of the Milky Way galaxy. He is Lord over a hundred billion star systems, trillions of planets, uncounted creatures great and small, but that His domain is limited to our particular galaxy. Let's also suppose that the Andromeda galaxy, our neighbor, also has its own god. What if Andromeda's god went on vacation and needed Yahweh to fill in for him while he's gone. So Yahweh agrees and ventures over to Andromeda and presides over that galaxy for awhile, leaving the Milky Way without a god. And while He was gone, He would not listen to or answer prayers, perform miracles, or rule over Heaven and Earth.
How would we know when God left? Would evil suddenly run rampant? Would normally civilized people start worshiping devils and committing crimes and performing vulgar acts? Would future saints not be able to perform the miracles that would promote them eventually to sainthood? Would the birds stop singing? Would the sun stop rising? Would the sky turn dark and stormy? Would the joy of living suddenly be replaced by universal fear and sorrow? Would parents stop loving their children? Would babies stop being born? What indicators would we humans receive that would tell us that Yahweh had once again returned to our own galaxy after being gone for a time?
If the idea of such a regional god seems strange, you may recall how the one true God of the Bible tended to limit His concern to the offspring of Adam and Eve, then Noah, and then of Abraham; mainly the direct descendants of Abraham's grandson, Jacob (AKA Israel).
I want you to ask yourself a very simple question: What does God do? If you say that He does things that would happen naturally anyway, then there is no reason for God to have to do it, is there? It makes more sense to say that God does all the supernatural things; things and events that require divine intervention or a miracle. But the problem there is, no miracles have ever been confirmed as being only possible through supernatural means. Prayers have never been answered conclusively and exclusively by a deity, that couldn't be explained in another way. Mountains have never been moved by faith alone.
If you saw a beautiful sunset and exclaimed "God is good!", how do you know that God made it that way? Even if it is a beautiful sight and a joyous moment for you, it may be the signal of a time of great fear and suffering for others. It may be the last sunset for someone that is dying a tragic and senseless death, leaving behind a loving widow and children. It may be a person that was killed by someone who believed that their god was right and ours was wrong. If you believe that Islam is a false religion; that Allah is a false god, and that Christianity is the one true religion, and that Yahweh (Jehovah, God the Father) is the one true God, remember this: they are the same god. Islam is an Abrahamic religion.
How would we know when God left? Would evil suddenly run rampant? Would normally civilized people start worshiping devils and committing crimes and performing vulgar acts? Would future saints not be able to perform the miracles that would promote them eventually to sainthood? Would the birds stop singing? Would the sun stop rising? Would the sky turn dark and stormy? Would the joy of living suddenly be replaced by universal fear and sorrow? Would parents stop loving their children? Would babies stop being born? What indicators would we humans receive that would tell us that Yahweh had once again returned to our own galaxy after being gone for a time?
If the idea of such a regional god seems strange, you may recall how the one true God of the Bible tended to limit His concern to the offspring of Adam and Eve, then Noah, and then of Abraham; mainly the direct descendants of Abraham's grandson, Jacob (AKA Israel).
I want you to ask yourself a very simple question: What does God do? If you say that He does things that would happen naturally anyway, then there is no reason for God to have to do it, is there? It makes more sense to say that God does all the supernatural things; things and events that require divine intervention or a miracle. But the problem there is, no miracles have ever been confirmed as being only possible through supernatural means. Prayers have never been answered conclusively and exclusively by a deity, that couldn't be explained in another way. Mountains have never been moved by faith alone.
If you saw a beautiful sunset and exclaimed "God is good!", how do you know that God made it that way? Even if it is a beautiful sight and a joyous moment for you, it may be the signal of a time of great fear and suffering for others. It may be the last sunset for someone that is dying a tragic and senseless death, leaving behind a loving widow and children. It may be a person that was killed by someone who believed that their god was right and ours was wrong. If you believe that Islam is a false religion; that Allah is a false god, and that Christianity is the one true religion, and that Yahweh (Jehovah, God the Father) is the one true God, remember this: they are the same god. Islam is an Abrahamic religion.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
A Better Bible
In the beginning of our current instance of space-time, a big bang occurred. There is evidence for this. Out of the chaos of the initial energy and matter-antimatter annihilation, the remnants formed simple atoms of protons, neutrons, electrons, etc., which were mostly hydrogen and helium. As matter coalesced and compacted, space-time curved into pockets of gravity wells which drew in even more matter into its cores. Giant spinning clouds enabled smaller spinning clouds to compact and form stars. Larger stars formed heavier elements through ever-increasing pressures, and supernovae distributed this amongst the galactic neighborhood. Rocky planets began forming out of the stellar accretion disk while the stars formed. Some of these planets happened to be positioned in orbits that were close enough to the star to have liquid water, and they were massive enough to retain an atmosphere.
One of these planets, orbiting an ordinary star about halfway out from the center of an ordinary galaxy, later became known as Earth. An unusually large natural satellite helped the evolution of life by adding to the sun's tidal forces which allowed marine animals to interact and adapt with the atmosphere and sunlight in tide pools. Marine life began producing oxygen as a by product of photo-synthesis and an ozone layer was formed, helping to shield the surface from too much ultraviolet radiation. The oxygen in the atmosphere combined with the surface rocks to form granite layers of the earth's crust which floated above the molten heavier magma underneath. The earth, having a spinning core of iron and nickel, produced a magnetic field which helps to shield the earth from dangerous outbursts of solar particles whenever the sun behaves violently. Through many ages of geologic time with meteor bombardments, ice ages, plate tectonic shifting, radioactivity, water cycles, and the burgeoning of diverse life, eventually humans evolved large brains and dexterous hands and curious minds.
Humans have developed highly flexible brains that can invent various methods of dealing with the world around them. It is easy to assign agency to unknown behaviors in nature or anthropomorphize animals. Some called the wind the 'breath of life'. Some believed that volcanoes had gods controlling them and that whenever the volcano erupted and destroyed a village, the god was angry with the people in the village. Events in nature that displayed more power than humans had were attributed to mythical godlike beings that could appear as human, but had wondrous powers.
These beings had stories associated with them which the people would pass on from generation to generation, slightly altering the details every time. Some people came to fear these gods, to adore them, and to worship them. They tried to communicate with these invisible beings with fervent prayer. But no clear reply came back. To satisfy this need, some invented the godly responses, told them to others, and even believed it themselves. A few of these learned that there was power in bringing the words of the gods to others. Common folk would revere these gifted men and treat them royally as they were the conduit from which godly words flowed both to and from the god. This ecclesiastical jurisdiction afforded priests the same powerful influence over the masses as did the ruling classes and government. Religion is man-made.
THE HUMANIST TEN COMMANDMENTS (strongly-worded suggestions for living, the kinds of ideas that, if everyone followed them, might make the world a better place all around)
1) You should strive to promote the greater good of humanity before all selfish desires.
2) You should be curious, for asking questions is the only way to find answers.
3) Harm to your fellow human is harm to humanity. Therefore, you should not kill, rape, rob, or otherwise victimize anyone.
4) You should treat all humans as equals, regardless of race, gender, age, creed, identity, orientation, physical ability, or status.
5) You should use reason as your guide. Science, knowledge, observation, and rational analysis are the best ways to determine any course of action.
6) You should not force your beliefs onto others, nor insist that yours be the only and correct way to live happily.
7) If you govern, you should govern with reason, not with superstition. Religion should have no place in any government which represents all people and beliefs.
8) You should act for the betterment of your fellow humans, and be, whenever possible, altruistic in your deeds.
9) You should be good to the Earth and its bounties, for without it, humankind is lost.
10) You should impart your knowledge and wisdom gained in your lifetime to the next generation, so that with each passing century, humanity will grow wiser and more humane.
Final Words:
There is no evidence for an afterlife. Don't live your life expecting a second chance at the end. Wanting to live forever is a foolish notion. Billions of people may disagree with these words, but many younger people may see the truth in them.
Slavery, terrorism, religious extremism, and genocide should not be tolerated. The Christian bible promotes these behaviors. I abhor them. It is NOT a good book.
Someday, far in the future, mankind may have grown up, putting away its childish ways. Churches still standing will be museums for ancient dogma and belief systems long-discarded. Or, they may be put to good use for humanitarian causes. You can believe whatever you want, but I encourage you to think more than you believe; understand more than you criticize; plan more than you hope, and love more than you thought was possible.
One of these planets, orbiting an ordinary star about halfway out from the center of an ordinary galaxy, later became known as Earth. An unusually large natural satellite helped the evolution of life by adding to the sun's tidal forces which allowed marine animals to interact and adapt with the atmosphere and sunlight in tide pools. Marine life began producing oxygen as a by product of photo-synthesis and an ozone layer was formed, helping to shield the surface from too much ultraviolet radiation. The oxygen in the atmosphere combined with the surface rocks to form granite layers of the earth's crust which floated above the molten heavier magma underneath. The earth, having a spinning core of iron and nickel, produced a magnetic field which helps to shield the earth from dangerous outbursts of solar particles whenever the sun behaves violently. Through many ages of geologic time with meteor bombardments, ice ages, plate tectonic shifting, radioactivity, water cycles, and the burgeoning of diverse life, eventually humans evolved large brains and dexterous hands and curious minds.
Humans have developed highly flexible brains that can invent various methods of dealing with the world around them. It is easy to assign agency to unknown behaviors in nature or anthropomorphize animals. Some called the wind the 'breath of life'. Some believed that volcanoes had gods controlling them and that whenever the volcano erupted and destroyed a village, the god was angry with the people in the village. Events in nature that displayed more power than humans had were attributed to mythical godlike beings that could appear as human, but had wondrous powers.
These beings had stories associated with them which the people would pass on from generation to generation, slightly altering the details every time. Some people came to fear these gods, to adore them, and to worship them. They tried to communicate with these invisible beings with fervent prayer. But no clear reply came back. To satisfy this need, some invented the godly responses, told them to others, and even believed it themselves. A few of these learned that there was power in bringing the words of the gods to others. Common folk would revere these gifted men and treat them royally as they were the conduit from which godly words flowed both to and from the god. This ecclesiastical jurisdiction afforded priests the same powerful influence over the masses as did the ruling classes and government. Religion is man-made.
THE HUMANIST TEN COMMANDMENTS (strongly-worded suggestions for living, the kinds of ideas that, if everyone followed them, might make the world a better place all around)
1) You should strive to promote the greater good of humanity before all selfish desires.
2) You should be curious, for asking questions is the only way to find answers.
3) Harm to your fellow human is harm to humanity. Therefore, you should not kill, rape, rob, or otherwise victimize anyone.
4) You should treat all humans as equals, regardless of race, gender, age, creed, identity, orientation, physical ability, or status.
5) You should use reason as your guide. Science, knowledge, observation, and rational analysis are the best ways to determine any course of action.
6) You should not force your beliefs onto others, nor insist that yours be the only and correct way to live happily.
7) If you govern, you should govern with reason, not with superstition. Religion should have no place in any government which represents all people and beliefs.
8) You should act for the betterment of your fellow humans, and be, whenever possible, altruistic in your deeds.
9) You should be good to the Earth and its bounties, for without it, humankind is lost.
10) You should impart your knowledge and wisdom gained in your lifetime to the next generation, so that with each passing century, humanity will grow wiser and more humane.
Final Words:
There is no evidence for an afterlife. Don't live your life expecting a second chance at the end. Wanting to live forever is a foolish notion. Billions of people may disagree with these words, but many younger people may see the truth in them.
Slavery, terrorism, religious extremism, and genocide should not be tolerated. The Christian bible promotes these behaviors. I abhor them. It is NOT a good book.
Someday, far in the future, mankind may have grown up, putting away its childish ways. Churches still standing will be museums for ancient dogma and belief systems long-discarded. Or, they may be put to good use for humanitarian causes. You can believe whatever you want, but I encourage you to think more than you believe; understand more than you criticize; plan more than you hope, and love more than you thought was possible.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Belief in the Supernatural
I don't believe in the actual existence of God or gods. I do believe in the power of the human mind to create and envision many things that may not be real, but have the capacity to influence a pseudo-relationship with these sensations to a high degree.
It is now known that there are psychological and evolutionary causes of our beliefs in the supernatural. Our brains have several methods for explaining or internalizing the unknown. Fear can be an important aspect of our dealings with mysterious objects or instances that occur in our lives. There was an evolutionary benefit to supposing that a rustling in the bushes might be a carnivorous beast about to attack rather than just the wind. On the plains of Africa, it could have been either one. The young man that didn't snap into alert mode may not have lived long enough to procreate.
When we looked upon our world and wondered why there was lightning, thunder, volcanoes, falling stars, comets, planets, and eclipses, we tried to explain them with concepts we could understand. Having dreamed of invisible beings with magic powers, the prophets and shamans would tell the people of the human-like but invisible gods that controlled these occurrences. They would make up stories which attempted to answer questions like where we came from, how the earth began, and what must we do to prevent catastrophe. Without science, and without the ability to accurately record events as they really happened, these made up stories were passed from generation to generation by the spoken word and later with the written word of the very few learned men.
Today, grade school children understand how quickly and easily a story can be distorted, embellished to the point that little of it resembles the original. And yet, millions of people carry and preach from these ancient texts that have been retold, copied, re-copied, translated, re-translated hundreds of times. They have the audacity to call it truth and even to believe that God, the creator of the universe, was Editor-in-Chief of every instantiation, thus all were correct. Why do so few of us understand how this works?
In recent years it has become possible to artificially stimulate our brains to produce the strong sensation of a god-like presence in the room, or an out of body experience. These so-called 'God Helmets' may become widespread and easily obtained by anyone. These sensations can also be produced chemically. The psychoactive drug DMT is powerful enough to convert non-believers into 'spiritual' persons in just a few hours. I have taken milder hallucinogenics and have experienced a similar feeling. The next day, however, the feeling was gone and I realized it was all in my head.
The fact that we can dream of fantastic places with complex stories, characters, and happenings, presents us with clear proof of the power of the mind to create supernatural visions from right within our brains. The danger therein lies with ascribing truth to these ideas and spreading them to other people as if they were real and universal. In my understanding, submitting any aspect of your life to a 'higher power' is a false way of incorporating 'spiritualism' into our daily lives. In some cases, one can dump their responsibility onto this realm and call it redemption or whatever. Attributing what happens in the natural world or what people do for themselves, or to, or for, others, to a god or an angel or a devil or demon, is wrong on so many levels. And the belief that we will live on after we die is the worst of all of them.
The human species has yet to fully cross this bridge and reject religion for what it really is. Long-standing traditions and cultural power structures serve to prevent us from doing this. But scientific knowledge will help move us along. Some day, perhaps many centuries in the future, nearly all people will have this understanding, and regard the myths, scriptures, religions, and holy wars, as a tragic curiosity of our history.
It is now known that there are psychological and evolutionary causes of our beliefs in the supernatural. Our brains have several methods for explaining or internalizing the unknown. Fear can be an important aspect of our dealings with mysterious objects or instances that occur in our lives. There was an evolutionary benefit to supposing that a rustling in the bushes might be a carnivorous beast about to attack rather than just the wind. On the plains of Africa, it could have been either one. The young man that didn't snap into alert mode may not have lived long enough to procreate.
When we looked upon our world and wondered why there was lightning, thunder, volcanoes, falling stars, comets, planets, and eclipses, we tried to explain them with concepts we could understand. Having dreamed of invisible beings with magic powers, the prophets and shamans would tell the people of the human-like but invisible gods that controlled these occurrences. They would make up stories which attempted to answer questions like where we came from, how the earth began, and what must we do to prevent catastrophe. Without science, and without the ability to accurately record events as they really happened, these made up stories were passed from generation to generation by the spoken word and later with the written word of the very few learned men.
Today, grade school children understand how quickly and easily a story can be distorted, embellished to the point that little of it resembles the original. And yet, millions of people carry and preach from these ancient texts that have been retold, copied, re-copied, translated, re-translated hundreds of times. They have the audacity to call it truth and even to believe that God, the creator of the universe, was Editor-in-Chief of every instantiation, thus all were correct. Why do so few of us understand how this works?
In recent years it has become possible to artificially stimulate our brains to produce the strong sensation of a god-like presence in the room, or an out of body experience. These so-called 'God Helmets' may become widespread and easily obtained by anyone. These sensations can also be produced chemically. The psychoactive drug DMT is powerful enough to convert non-believers into 'spiritual' persons in just a few hours. I have taken milder hallucinogenics and have experienced a similar feeling. The next day, however, the feeling was gone and I realized it was all in my head.
The fact that we can dream of fantastic places with complex stories, characters, and happenings, presents us with clear proof of the power of the mind to create supernatural visions from right within our brains. The danger therein lies with ascribing truth to these ideas and spreading them to other people as if they were real and universal. In my understanding, submitting any aspect of your life to a 'higher power' is a false way of incorporating 'spiritualism' into our daily lives. In some cases, one can dump their responsibility onto this realm and call it redemption or whatever. Attributing what happens in the natural world or what people do for themselves, or to, or for, others, to a god or an angel or a devil or demon, is wrong on so many levels. And the belief that we will live on after we die is the worst of all of them.
The human species has yet to fully cross this bridge and reject religion for what it really is. Long-standing traditions and cultural power structures serve to prevent us from doing this. But scientific knowledge will help move us along. Some day, perhaps many centuries in the future, nearly all people will have this understanding, and regard the myths, scriptures, religions, and holy wars, as a tragic curiosity of our history.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Christians face up to your belief system
If you call yourself a Christian, here are some of the things you believe:
- Reject, even hate your family. You are a follower of Christ. Jesus exemplified this. Do so likewise.
- Matthew 12 46-50
- Luke 14:26
- If something doesn't bear fruit when you want it to, curse it and make it whither and die.
- Meaning if someone doesn't worship the proper way, or turn others to the one true way, curse them so they don't even try anymore.
- Matthew 21:19
- The Lord God Creator of the universe sent Moses into a nearby city ordering him to kill every living being, man, woman, child, except for the young virgin women, for whom the soldiers could keep for themselves.
- Numbers 31:18
- God regretted creating mankind and so decided to kill every living thing and start over with one family and a boat load full of animals.
- Genesis 6:7
- God the Father has predestined everyone who will be saved before the creation of the Earth.
- Ephesians 1:5
- You can be excused from all wrongdoing merely by deciding to believe ancient scriptures or joining a cult. Adolph Hitler could be in heaven now if only he had called upon the name of the Lord right before he died; but Mahatma Ghandi is burning in eternal fire right now.
- Romans 10:13
- To properly remember Jesus, you must eat his flesh and drink his blood; symbolically of course.
- John 6:53-56
- To be a true follower of Christ, you must give all your possessions to the poor.
- Matthew 19:21, Mark 10:21, Luke 12:33
- You believe that any day now, the currently living believers will all disappear at the same moment, leaving the rest of us to deal with a thousand years of rule by Satan. What rubbish!
- Matthew 24:40
I could go on and on and on. It's easy to cherry-pick Bible verses to argue any point. Christians do it continually (that's what they do in church).
For me, I want no part in any religion or supernatural belief system. I read science fiction, but I don't believe every story is physically possible. Time will tell, however.
When I die, do not place a cross over my grave. Do not supplicate the Lord God to accept my soul into His bosom. Do not say that I'm now in a better place. I'm just plain dead - I no longer exist. Period. I will only go on living in the memories of the handful of people that I interacted with on this earth. My music, art, photography, written words, the things I said and did - they may survive for awhile. But few people will ever enjoy them as much as I did while creating them.
Live your life NOW! Love your family and friends now while they are near to you. They won't always be and neither will you be around to do anything about it.
"Do the things you want to if you can. Don't wait for circumstances to be just right. You'll find they never are." ~Rudyard Kipling
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Faith
God, grant me wisdom.
Okay, thanks.
----
Faith is legalized insanity. How do you know when God answers prayers? It reminds me of gambling; the idea that you can be a winner even when the odds are stacked against you. Unrestrained gambling can ruin lives and is considered a disorder that requires counseling.
I just couldn't pretend anymore. I cannot play the game that seemed so perfect when I was young. Everything was all laid out. There was no mystery to the world because every question could find an answer in Christ. I now know that is false. So many have died or have killed for the wrong reason.
I don't believe any of it. I reject the Holy Spirit! There. Now I am damned according to the scriptures. So be it. When my life is over, it will be over. There will not be an afterlife. The word 'afterlife' is an oxymoron. My life will be judged by the people living now. How did I treat them? What works or accomplishments have I left behind for the next generation? Whose lives had I touched and made just a little bit better because I was there?
I believe in the existence of people. The few whose paths mine have crossed will be the only ones concerned with my coming or going. I hope I have not caused too much pain. I hope it can be said that the world in some small way is a better place for having me travel the few hundred places in the brief eighty year blink of these times.
Okay, thanks.
----
Faith is legalized insanity. How do you know when God answers prayers? It reminds me of gambling; the idea that you can be a winner even when the odds are stacked against you. Unrestrained gambling can ruin lives and is considered a disorder that requires counseling.
I just couldn't pretend anymore. I cannot play the game that seemed so perfect when I was young. Everything was all laid out. There was no mystery to the world because every question could find an answer in Christ. I now know that is false. So many have died or have killed for the wrong reason.
I don't believe any of it. I reject the Holy Spirit! There. Now I am damned according to the scriptures. So be it. When my life is over, it will be over. There will not be an afterlife. The word 'afterlife' is an oxymoron. My life will be judged by the people living now. How did I treat them? What works or accomplishments have I left behind for the next generation? Whose lives had I touched and made just a little bit better because I was there?
I believe in the existence of people. The few whose paths mine have crossed will be the only ones concerned with my coming or going. I hope I have not caused too much pain. I hope it can be said that the world in some small way is a better place for having me travel the few hundred places in the brief eighty year blink of these times.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Life, The Universe, and Everything
[Editor's Note: The title of this piece pays homage to the late great Douglas Adams]
Well, where do I begin. Life for me began around 11:30 PM on June 4, 1957. Before that year, I didn't exist. I was dead in much the same manner as I will be in forty years or so from now.
Afterlife is an oxymoron. Reincarnation, past lives, all that stuff is an interesting thought exercise, but nothing more. If someone can provide the mechanism for a consciousness from a dead being to be transferred to a different living being I'll take a look at it, but since we know so little about the nature of sentience and the 'soul' that I'm doubtful that it could ever be proved. Of course, there are stories and anecdotes about this phenomenon, but nothing more.
Life to me is precious gift that shouldn't be taken for granted ever. It is our one chance to experience, share, contribute, love, and be a part of this great drama of existence on this little planet Earth. Why do we fight? Why do we permit suffering and pain and untimely death? Why do we have more children than we can support and love and educate and employ? Why do we make so many mistakes and waste so much time?
My parents were from the old school. Protestant Christians that wanted a dozen children. When the reality of six children hit them slowly but surely, they decided that half a dozen would be just fine; then they had me. I was an afterthought; a punctuation mark on a family tree that, on hindsight, they were very pleased about. My very existence had odds that would make the Powerball lottery look like a crap shoot.
The fact that I am here now writing this only testifies to the concept that one more child in this world might be better than not. I'm happy to have the chance at life that I have. It's been a wonderful ride so far. But I question the wisdom of some people who have children out of wedlock or do not have the financial resources to properly raise a child to be a well-adjusted contributor to society. But who am I to question anyone's right to procreate? Education in the art of living is sadly lacking in our schools. Our culture is rife with shallow media and poor examples of humanity that it becomes so easy to accept it as the norm.
After learning about cultures and world history, I am faced with a dilemma. While being empathetic with the weaknesses of 'the flesh' and that we humans are driven by emotions and evolutionary traits handed down from our primitive ancestors, my opinion of most individuals currently living is quite low overall.
I know, there are lots of good people out there too, but the few bad ones spoil it for the rest of us. The fact that everyone now has to take off their shoes at the airport because one thwarted terrorist had a shoe bomb exemplifies how our world has changed since I was born.
Think about this: how much of your life is spent protecting yourself from the dishonest few that would take from you whatever they wanted, perhaps ruining your life just to benefit their own?
The locks on our doors and passwords on our computers. Do you lock your car in your own driveway? When you go for a short walk in the evening, do you lock up the house? Do we treat a stranger with suspicion long before we engage in trust?
Information; the boon and perhaps bane of our modern world, is a jungle of knowledge and garbage that we must all carefully traverse every day of our lives. Walk into any public gathering area and try not to see advertisements or warning signs. When was the last time you saw some window blinds that didn't have a warning sticker on it because of the choking hazard of the draw string? We think by putting up signs that we are protecting everyone from stupidity - or are we just placating ourselves and saying that it's all we can do?
I am constantly reminded of the bell curve in our population and with the numbers rising, the extreme edges are also increasing in numbers. There might be only one in a million people crazed enough to want to shoot and kill innocent people at random in a shopping mall or movie theater, but given 400 million people, now there's 400 guys out there planning their next massacre.
I suppose all we can do as individuals is try to avoid places where disaster could strike and hope we're not among the unlucky ones. It is important to use history as a perspective lens through which we look at our lives here in the U.S. Other parts of the world and other times in the past, human life has been much harder, much more cruel and deadly. How we survived this long is amazing. I am glad to be living here and now rather than just about anywhere else and at any time in the past. I don't know what the future holds, but all in all, the here and now is pretty fantastic really.
The universe, as we currently know it, was born about 13.8 billion years ago in what cosmologists call the Big Bang. The energy of that penultimate explosion rapidly formed quarks, the building blocks of matter, which then organized into quanta of particles consisting of matter or antimatter which quickly annihilated and much of what was left over became the basic elemental particles: protons, neutrons, electrons which had the dimensional ability to form atoms of mostly hydrogen and helium, but little else.
There was still energy in the remnant of that big explosion, and the clouds of simple atoms spread outward through space-time and began to cool enough that some denser clouds began to contract through the action of the warping of space-time in the presence of mass (gravity) which draws the clouds of matter closer to itself and began to spin. The more compact the cloud became, the hotter it got. Gravity drew in more matter and the clouds formed spheres of dense gas that further compressed the atoms closer together and at higher and higher temperatures. When the pressure at the center of these spheres became so great that atoms were colliding enough to undergo nuclear fusion, a star is born. A million years later the photons, a by product of the fusion process reach the surface of the star and it begins to shine.
The generation of visible light (electromagnetic radiation) has now become a constituent of the new universe as more and more stars are born out of the gigantic swirling clouds called galaxies. Stars form in widely varying sizes and masses. The more massive stars burn hotter and live shorter lives than the smaller red dwarf stars. These large hot stars explode after fusing all their hydrogen into helium, and helium into more massive atoms as the pressure becomes greater and the nuclear fuel starts to run out. Once iron is formed in the core of the star, the balance is broken and the outer part of the star collapse in on itself producing a titanic explosion which blows out all of the massive atoms that the star formed into open space.
Thus, the new stars that form from these supernova remnants contain heavier elements and the accretion disk surrounding a newly-formed star will also contain these heavier elements such as oxygen, carbon, iron, silicon, gold, etc. as well as molecules of combined atoms such as hydrogen and oxygen (water), hydrogen and carbon (methane, other hydrocarbons), and hydrogen and nitrogen (ammonia) and other organic compounds. Rocks mostly of iron and silicates (silicon and oxygen) had the most mass which attracted other materials to it as the accretion disk slowly condensed into fewer and fewer larger massive bodies.
These aggregations of material had enough mass and therefore enough angular momentum to achieve stable elliptical orbits around the star. Gradually, most of the gas and dust from the accretion disk falls into these planetary bodies contributing to their mass and structure. Other smaller massive bodies mimicked the solar accretion disk by revolving around the planets and forming moons. Surrounding the solar accretion disk there forms icy balls of mostly water which occasionally change their orbits (due to collisions or reactions with other massive bodies) to fall inward toward the inner planets and some of them collide with the newly-formed Earth. This may be where some of the water in our oceans came from.
Everything came from basically nothing. Throughout the life of the universe (there's those two words again), the physical laws resulted in more complex atomic, molecular, chemical, and biological arrangements producing all the diversity of the galaxies, stars, planets and even space itself. The concept of 'everything' can be mind boggling if taken in too large a context. What is 'everything' to you?
Well, where do I begin. Life for me began around 11:30 PM on June 4, 1957. Before that year, I didn't exist. I was dead in much the same manner as I will be in forty years or so from now.
Afterlife is an oxymoron. Reincarnation, past lives, all that stuff is an interesting thought exercise, but nothing more. If someone can provide the mechanism for a consciousness from a dead being to be transferred to a different living being I'll take a look at it, but since we know so little about the nature of sentience and the 'soul' that I'm doubtful that it could ever be proved. Of course, there are stories and anecdotes about this phenomenon, but nothing more.
Life to me is precious gift that shouldn't be taken for granted ever. It is our one chance to experience, share, contribute, love, and be a part of this great drama of existence on this little planet Earth. Why do we fight? Why do we permit suffering and pain and untimely death? Why do we have more children than we can support and love and educate and employ? Why do we make so many mistakes and waste so much time?
My parents were from the old school. Protestant Christians that wanted a dozen children. When the reality of six children hit them slowly but surely, they decided that half a dozen would be just fine; then they had me. I was an afterthought; a punctuation mark on a family tree that, on hindsight, they were very pleased about. My very existence had odds that would make the Powerball lottery look like a crap shoot.
The fact that I am here now writing this only testifies to the concept that one more child in this world might be better than not. I'm happy to have the chance at life that I have. It's been a wonderful ride so far. But I question the wisdom of some people who have children out of wedlock or do not have the financial resources to properly raise a child to be a well-adjusted contributor to society. But who am I to question anyone's right to procreate? Education in the art of living is sadly lacking in our schools. Our culture is rife with shallow media and poor examples of humanity that it becomes so easy to accept it as the norm.
After learning about cultures and world history, I am faced with a dilemma. While being empathetic with the weaknesses of 'the flesh' and that we humans are driven by emotions and evolutionary traits handed down from our primitive ancestors, my opinion of most individuals currently living is quite low overall.
I know, there are lots of good people out there too, but the few bad ones spoil it for the rest of us. The fact that everyone now has to take off their shoes at the airport because one thwarted terrorist had a shoe bomb exemplifies how our world has changed since I was born.
Think about this: how much of your life is spent protecting yourself from the dishonest few that would take from you whatever they wanted, perhaps ruining your life just to benefit their own?
The locks on our doors and passwords on our computers. Do you lock your car in your own driveway? When you go for a short walk in the evening, do you lock up the house? Do we treat a stranger with suspicion long before we engage in trust?
Information; the boon and perhaps bane of our modern world, is a jungle of knowledge and garbage that we must all carefully traverse every day of our lives. Walk into any public gathering area and try not to see advertisements or warning signs. When was the last time you saw some window blinds that didn't have a warning sticker on it because of the choking hazard of the draw string? We think by putting up signs that we are protecting everyone from stupidity - or are we just placating ourselves and saying that it's all we can do?
I am constantly reminded of the bell curve in our population and with the numbers rising, the extreme edges are also increasing in numbers. There might be only one in a million people crazed enough to want to shoot and kill innocent people at random in a shopping mall or movie theater, but given 400 million people, now there's 400 guys out there planning their next massacre.
I suppose all we can do as individuals is try to avoid places where disaster could strike and hope we're not among the unlucky ones. It is important to use history as a perspective lens through which we look at our lives here in the U.S. Other parts of the world and other times in the past, human life has been much harder, much more cruel and deadly. How we survived this long is amazing. I am glad to be living here and now rather than just about anywhere else and at any time in the past. I don't know what the future holds, but all in all, the here and now is pretty fantastic really.
The universe, as we currently know it, was born about 13.8 billion years ago in what cosmologists call the Big Bang. The energy of that penultimate explosion rapidly formed quarks, the building blocks of matter, which then organized into quanta of particles consisting of matter or antimatter which quickly annihilated and much of what was left over became the basic elemental particles: protons, neutrons, electrons which had the dimensional ability to form atoms of mostly hydrogen and helium, but little else.
There was still energy in the remnant of that big explosion, and the clouds of simple atoms spread outward through space-time and began to cool enough that some denser clouds began to contract through the action of the warping of space-time in the presence of mass (gravity) which draws the clouds of matter closer to itself and began to spin. The more compact the cloud became, the hotter it got. Gravity drew in more matter and the clouds formed spheres of dense gas that further compressed the atoms closer together and at higher and higher temperatures. When the pressure at the center of these spheres became so great that atoms were colliding enough to undergo nuclear fusion, a star is born. A million years later the photons, a by product of the fusion process reach the surface of the star and it begins to shine.
The generation of visible light (electromagnetic radiation) has now become a constituent of the new universe as more and more stars are born out of the gigantic swirling clouds called galaxies. Stars form in widely varying sizes and masses. The more massive stars burn hotter and live shorter lives than the smaller red dwarf stars. These large hot stars explode after fusing all their hydrogen into helium, and helium into more massive atoms as the pressure becomes greater and the nuclear fuel starts to run out. Once iron is formed in the core of the star, the balance is broken and the outer part of the star collapse in on itself producing a titanic explosion which blows out all of the massive atoms that the star formed into open space.
Thus, the new stars that form from these supernova remnants contain heavier elements and the accretion disk surrounding a newly-formed star will also contain these heavier elements such as oxygen, carbon, iron, silicon, gold, etc. as well as molecules of combined atoms such as hydrogen and oxygen (water), hydrogen and carbon (methane, other hydrocarbons), and hydrogen and nitrogen (ammonia) and other organic compounds. Rocks mostly of iron and silicates (silicon and oxygen) had the most mass which attracted other materials to it as the accretion disk slowly condensed into fewer and fewer larger massive bodies.
These aggregations of material had enough mass and therefore enough angular momentum to achieve stable elliptical orbits around the star. Gradually, most of the gas and dust from the accretion disk falls into these planetary bodies contributing to their mass and structure. Other smaller massive bodies mimicked the solar accretion disk by revolving around the planets and forming moons. Surrounding the solar accretion disk there forms icy balls of mostly water which occasionally change their orbits (due to collisions or reactions with other massive bodies) to fall inward toward the inner planets and some of them collide with the newly-formed Earth. This may be where some of the water in our oceans came from.
Everything came from basically nothing. Throughout the life of the universe (there's those two words again), the physical laws resulted in more complex atomic, molecular, chemical, and biological arrangements producing all the diversity of the galaxies, stars, planets and even space itself. The concept of 'everything' can be mind boggling if taken in too large a context. What is 'everything' to you?
Monday, June 11, 2012
The One True Twinkie
No twinkie but Twinkie. The Holy Hostess is the One True Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling. Blessed are the cake-makers, for their cakes shall be filled. I'm going on a pilgrimage to Schiller Park, Illinois where the Twinkie was born four score and two years ago. Dolly Madison Zingers are not the one true cream-filled cake. They shall be cast out of my snack drawer. Oh! I long to be filled with the cream of the Holy Hostess.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Believolution
Nearly all knowledge is partially an act of faith. When we read something or listen to someone speak, we take their words as truth depending on our set credibility of that person and their sources. But true knowledge is cumulative and self-reinforcing. Known facts and concepts about the world are continually revisited and improved over time.
Generally then, today's picture of our world and the universe we live in is an improved view of what we had fifty years ago. When I was a child, pictures of galaxies and comets were in black and white and without much detail. There were race riots, segregation and bigotry. There was unbridled pollution and exploitation of natural resources - like the supply was endless, and the Earth would take our abuse without consequence. How wrong, or at the very least, how incomplete our knowledge was.
It was generally accepted that most people went to church every Sunday, and that this Christian nation had God on our side; that Jesus is the true Son of God; that He would return someday soon; and that all other religions were sadly in error in their doctrine.
Knowledge in these areas has increased; even in the areas of how we might regard religious belief, superstition, the occult, the supernatural, spirituality. We are now more aware of how the mind creates, reinforces, and distributes conflicting belief systems. The preacher's words are just another voice in the cacophony of information we sift through every day.
We cannot go back to the 1950's. Too much has changed. Too many real answers have been found. Too many more questions have been asked. It is literally a different world than that of my childhood. There's no going back.
I was taught that all languages came about because the Babylonians tried to build a tower up to heaven and God caused the builders to all speak different languages so they couldn't complete the project. Each language-speaking group moved away to their own country so they could all speak their own language together. The Italian-speakers moved to Italy, the Chinese speakers moved all the way to China, etc.(Genesis 11:6-9)
It has taken a long time, but I have begun to replace my childhoon learning with evidence-based knowledge. I have faith that evidence and reason will point the way toward better and truer truths.
Generally then, today's picture of our world and the universe we live in is an improved view of what we had fifty years ago. When I was a child, pictures of galaxies and comets were in black and white and without much detail. There were race riots, segregation and bigotry. There was unbridled pollution and exploitation of natural resources - like the supply was endless, and the Earth would take our abuse without consequence. How wrong, or at the very least, how incomplete our knowledge was.
It was generally accepted that most people went to church every Sunday, and that this Christian nation had God on our side; that Jesus is the true Son of God; that He would return someday soon; and that all other religions were sadly in error in their doctrine.
Knowledge in these areas has increased; even in the areas of how we might regard religious belief, superstition, the occult, the supernatural, spirituality. We are now more aware of how the mind creates, reinforces, and distributes conflicting belief systems. The preacher's words are just another voice in the cacophony of information we sift through every day.
We cannot go back to the 1950's. Too much has changed. Too many real answers have been found. Too many more questions have been asked. It is literally a different world than that of my childhood. There's no going back.
I was taught that all languages came about because the Babylonians tried to build a tower up to heaven and God caused the builders to all speak different languages so they couldn't complete the project. Each language-speaking group moved away to their own country so they could all speak their own language together. The Italian-speakers moved to Italy, the Chinese speakers moved all the way to China, etc.(Genesis 11:6-9)
It has taken a long time, but I have begun to replace my childhoon learning with evidence-based knowledge. I have faith that evidence and reason will point the way toward better and truer truths.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Headline News
21 dead in gunfire skirmishes along the Washington/Oregon border as Oregonian troops, aided by Iranian allied forces attempted to reclaim Hayden Island from the 'Washers'. Disputes over settlement rights to the island, located near the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, have been going on for decades while ideological differences between the two states has escalated in recent years, requiring the military aid of middle-eastern countries.
Washington State has a high percentage of Presbyterians while Oregon is primarily Lutheran. Recent fighting between the two denominations has stalled talks of peace and prompted the leader of the Oregon Coalition to make this statement, "Washington has always been more Presbyterian than Oregon, and that's damn close to Episcopalian in my book. The Episcopalian sect, as everyone knows, is as near to being Catholic as you can get without actually being Catholic. And there's the problem. Hayden Island is ours by divine right and we'll use any means necessary to secure our god-given heritage." The mayor of Vancouver had no comment, but Facebook indicates that a military build-up, possibly with the aid of Canadians, may be assembling at an undisclosed location near Chehalis in response to the Oregon threat.
Washington State has a high percentage of Presbyterians while Oregon is primarily Lutheran. Recent fighting between the two denominations has stalled talks of peace and prompted the leader of the Oregon Coalition to make this statement, "Washington has always been more Presbyterian than Oregon, and that's damn close to Episcopalian in my book. The Episcopalian sect, as everyone knows, is as near to being Catholic as you can get without actually being Catholic. And there's the problem. Hayden Island is ours by divine right and we'll use any means necessary to secure our god-given heritage." The mayor of Vancouver had no comment, but Facebook indicates that a military build-up, possibly with the aid of Canadians, may be assembling at an undisclosed location near Chehalis in response to the Oregon threat.
Friday, February 24, 2012
I Believe
I believe it is a sin to want to live forever.
I believe it is a sin to have faith in anything not testable.
I believe it is a sin to apply the unrealistic claims of religion, superstition, myth, occult, mysticism or the supernatural to everyday life.
I believe it is a sin to influence children into believing in an afterlife when there is no evidence supporting that claim.
I believe it is a sin to think that the salvation of the presumed soul is needed or that it can be accomplished simply through the declaration of faith in a particular doctrine.
I believe it is a sin to claim that a god's law is man's law.
I believe it is a sin to waste the greatest gift of life - the human mind - on a life based not on reason and truth, but on lies, hearsay, anecdotes and human interpretations of ancient scripture.
Go thou and sin no more.
I believe it is a sin to have faith in anything not testable.
I believe it is a sin to apply the unrealistic claims of religion, superstition, myth, occult, mysticism or the supernatural to everyday life.
I believe it is a sin to influence children into believing in an afterlife when there is no evidence supporting that claim.
I believe it is a sin to think that the salvation of the presumed soul is needed or that it can be accomplished simply through the declaration of faith in a particular doctrine.
I believe it is a sin to claim that a god's law is man's law.
I believe it is a sin to waste the greatest gift of life - the human mind - on a life based not on reason and truth, but on lies, hearsay, anecdotes and human interpretations of ancient scripture.
Go thou and sin no more.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Creation
The bible claims that God created the heavens and the Earth in six days. In calculating the begats listed in the bible, Christian fundamentalist claim that the Earth and indeed the entire universe is less than ten thousand years old.
But why did it take God six whole days to do it. Being all powerful, couldn't He have accomplished it in six minutes, or six seconds, or six picoseconds? Here's why I think it might have taken all day for God to complete each of the ordered tasks before him.
On the first day he created light, and light created he it. But light in its very fundamental nature has a finite speed to propagate the universe. So even though the universe was created almost instantly, God had to place also the radiant beams of photons outward from their origin precisely to match their distance so that the distant stars would at once be visible from the Earth, which was to be created the next day.
It took all of the second day to separate the sky from what would become the ground. God could have created the Earth instantly, but He wanted to take care in crafting this planet to appear much older than it was. So he placed fossils in the ground and molded the rocks and strata into layers so that silly geologists would later be fooled into thinking that the age of the rocks was much older. This was deliberate and in harmony with God's divine plan.
On the third day, he started shaping the land so that the oceans would have their place and the mountains and dry land would appear. This He accomplish by volcanism, er, His divine will, to create large plates of granite which could be moved around to form continents, mountain ranges, and frightening earthquakes to show His power later on. He carefully fashioned these mountain ranges so that they appeared to have been formed over millions of years; even though they were not. Apparently, this didn't take all day so he added grasses, plants and trees. This was before any living thing appeared in the oceans. That wouldn't occur for another two days.
Curiously enough, God didn't create the stars or the sun and moon until the fourth day and started the earth spinning and revolving around the sun; so we could have calendars and know when it is night time. That took all day!
The fifth day was when sea creatures and birds appeared. It is a bit puzzling that the oldest fossils man has found are of sea creatures. God must have taken great care on the second day to create this illusion so that one day, archaeologists would be taken down such an erroneous path of reasoning that they might just forget this whole curoisity/knowledge thing and stick to the wisdom of the holy scriptures for all the answers any of us would ever need. These beings are commanded to be 'fruitful and multiply'. I always found that phrase to be a bit redundant; like being "frightend and scared". Why did it take a whole day to do that when just the day before, He created all the stars and planets? Thank God it was Friday!
On the final day of God's work of creation, the animals were made. Perhaps as an afterthought, human creatures were added to the mix because they look so much like Him. Everyone is told, like the birds and fishes, to be fruitful and multiply. And God gives Man the mandate to 'fill the earth, and subdue it.' Very good, God.
But why did it take God six whole days to do it. Being all powerful, couldn't He have accomplished it in six minutes, or six seconds, or six picoseconds? Here's why I think it might have taken all day for God to complete each of the ordered tasks before him.
On the first day he created light, and light created he it. But light in its very fundamental nature has a finite speed to propagate the universe. So even though the universe was created almost instantly, God had to place also the radiant beams of photons outward from their origin precisely to match their distance so that the distant stars would at once be visible from the Earth, which was to be created the next day.
It took all of the second day to separate the sky from what would become the ground. God could have created the Earth instantly, but He wanted to take care in crafting this planet to appear much older than it was. So he placed fossils in the ground and molded the rocks and strata into layers so that silly geologists would later be fooled into thinking that the age of the rocks was much older. This was deliberate and in harmony with God's divine plan.
On the third day, he started shaping the land so that the oceans would have their place and the mountains and dry land would appear. This He accomplish by volcanism, er, His divine will, to create large plates of granite which could be moved around to form continents, mountain ranges, and frightening earthquakes to show His power later on. He carefully fashioned these mountain ranges so that they appeared to have been formed over millions of years; even though they were not. Apparently, this didn't take all day so he added grasses, plants and trees. This was before any living thing appeared in the oceans. That wouldn't occur for another two days.
Curiously enough, God didn't create the stars or the sun and moon until the fourth day and started the earth spinning and revolving around the sun; so we could have calendars and know when it is night time. That took all day!
The fifth day was when sea creatures and birds appeared. It is a bit puzzling that the oldest fossils man has found are of sea creatures. God must have taken great care on the second day to create this illusion so that one day, archaeologists would be taken down such an erroneous path of reasoning that they might just forget this whole curoisity/knowledge thing and stick to the wisdom of the holy scriptures for all the answers any of us would ever need. These beings are commanded to be 'fruitful and multiply'. I always found that phrase to be a bit redundant; like being "frightend and scared". Why did it take a whole day to do that when just the day before, He created all the stars and planets? Thank God it was Friday!
On the final day of God's work of creation, the animals were made. Perhaps as an afterthought, human creatures were added to the mix because they look so much like Him. Everyone is told, like the birds and fishes, to be fruitful and multiply. And God gives Man the mandate to 'fill the earth, and subdue it.' Very good, God.
Christian School
I was raised up Christian; sent to a Christian K-12 school where we were taught that everything in the bible was true. The universe, stars, sun, moon, Earth, animals, and finally man were created in only six days. We read the begats and, even though some of those early guys like Adam, Noah, and Methuselah live hundreds of years, we could calculate the generations from Adam (the first man), to Jesus (the lamb of God). So it was figured that the cosmos came into being about six thousand years ago. When someone asked about the Earth's strata showing millions of years of change or fossil records showing animals that lived hundreds of millions of years in the past, we were told that God had made it all to look that old, but that it really wasn't. I was taught that history was really "His story" and that Jesus Christ really offered Thomas (the doubter) the opportunity to put his finger through the holes in Jesus's hands. Thomas politely refused, then fell to the floor and worshiped his Lord. The name Thomas will always be associated with someone who questions hearsay and requires the evidence of his eyes and reasoning. After reading an astronomy book about Halley's comet, I asked my dad if the star of Bethlehem could have been a comet as some have suggested. He was sitting with his brother, Gordon, and immediately replied, "No. I believe it was the 'glory of God'". Hmm, I thought.
Deiconomics
Perhaps God is a result of an ever-shrinking budget and runaway downsizing. He was just a normal guy, doing his job while absorbing other people's work after they took an early retirement, were let go, or otherwise just left. God found Himself having to do more and more with less and less. Eventually, He had to do everything using nothing. He was the only one that remained. The others moved to Florida, or spent copious amounts of time in Cancun or Aruba, leaving everything up to God. But that's not the final Word. God found a way to do absolutely nothing with absolutely everything. And now you know the rest of the story.
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