Yes, everyone has illusion, delusion and lapses of logic. On the issue of god, many have thought about it seriously. The conclusion that there is no god is not a delusion and not a lapse of logic. There is simply no evidence for existence of god.
We can form our world view two ways (for the purpose of this discussion)
1. based on a circular logic that god exists (god exists because the bible said so. the bible is the words of god)
2. based on evidence which are observation of reality
Forming one's world view basing on 1 above is your choice. USA constitution has the beauty that everyone has the right to be stupid. However, the dissociation of the religious from reality are sources for ridicule which again is protected by the USA constitution.
If we condense 13.7 billion years of the history of the universe into 1 year, modern science has occurred for about 1 second. There are many things we still do not know. We can either honestly accept this reality (we do not have answer to a lot of things) or we can lie to ourselves that everything we need to know is already known. However, as science progressively build a better understanding of reality, the number of things which previously were explained in the bible began to shrink. What are left in religion today are dogma and many claims which require huge mental juggernaut for reconciling. Noah ark is a good example of how impossible it would be to argue that it would be built using wood and large enough to house 2 of every kind of animals. Noah lived to "matured 900 years" is another source for comedy. Killing innocent babies, killing 42 children for the crime of laughing at someone's baldness (2 King 2:23-24) are just impossible to defend as moral acts.
Of course, for this thread of discussion, demanding people to prove a negative is REALLY a lapse of logic.
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
07 April 2010
Reality and circular logic
This is a comment I posted on a discussion thread on Amazon;
27 March 2010
28 January 2010
Reality of God
What is reality of god?
According to Ray Comfort, we are made up of three parts: body (the machine in which we live), soul (the real we that live within our body--our emotions, our will, consciousness, etc.), and spirit. Spirit is our “God conscious” part. What a theory!
Furthermore, atheist, like me, is cut off from God by [my] sins, but the moment [I] genuinely repent and trust the Savior, [I] will come out of the darkness into the light. Too easy!
My objection of the christian god is its unjust. First it creates man and woman. Second, put the tree of knowledge right at the middle of the Eden garden and told the man and woman not to eat the fruit from that tree. Third, knowingly (remember god is supposed to be all knowing and can foresee everything) let the snake tempt the woman into eating the fruit. If it was a sin for not obeying god, that should only apply to the woman - not everyone here after. The whole christianity is based on an intentionally wicked and unjust story. (BTW, god also lies. It said man and/or woman will die after eating the fruit. Instead, they become productive and here came the human species.)
The interesting part, after scaring the common people, is that as long you repent and trust the savior and you will be forgiven. This is called 'selling hope'.
The good thing about this product is that it costs nothing to produce, its effectiveness is not verifiable, and it can be continuously sold to the same person over and over again. The whole christianity business has also developed the world's first Pyramid scheme. Believers are asked to recruit more believers. Most pyramid scheme will go burst at some point when people realise the valueless of the product and the middlemen taking the profit. So far there are sufficient innocent people believing in the unsupported claims of the christianity myths. The believers are paid nothing to recruit more believers. What a business! It is even more absurd if you realise that this business is also tax free! No wonder there are churches everywhere.
Dear reader, the reality of god is that religion is a business selling myths and false hope. God does not exist. We are not made up of three parts. We are what we are. After we die, there is no soul and there is no afterlife. This life is ALL we have and we should be treasuring every second of it.
According to Ray Comfort, we are made up of three parts: body (the machine in which we live), soul (the real we that live within our body--our emotions, our will, consciousness, etc.), and spirit. Spirit is our “God conscious” part. What a theory!
Furthermore, atheist, like me, is cut off from God by [my] sins, but the moment [I] genuinely repent and trust the Savior, [I] will come out of the darkness into the light. Too easy!
My objection of the christian god is its unjust. First it creates man and woman. Second, put the tree of knowledge right at the middle of the Eden garden and told the man and woman not to eat the fruit from that tree. Third, knowingly (remember god is supposed to be all knowing and can foresee everything) let the snake tempt the woman into eating the fruit. If it was a sin for not obeying god, that should only apply to the woman - not everyone here after. The whole christianity is based on an intentionally wicked and unjust story. (BTW, god also lies. It said man and/or woman will die after eating the fruit. Instead, they become productive and here came the human species.)
The interesting part, after scaring the common people, is that as long you repent and trust the savior and you will be forgiven. This is called 'selling hope'.
The good thing about this product is that it costs nothing to produce, its effectiveness is not verifiable, and it can be continuously sold to the same person over and over again. The whole christianity business has also developed the world's first Pyramid scheme. Believers are asked to recruit more believers. Most pyramid scheme will go burst at some point when people realise the valueless of the product and the middlemen taking the profit. So far there are sufficient innocent people believing in the unsupported claims of the christianity myths. The believers are paid nothing to recruit more believers. What a business! It is even more absurd if you realise that this business is also tax free! No wonder there are churches everywhere.
Dear reader, the reality of god is that religion is a business selling myths and false hope. God does not exist. We are not made up of three parts. We are what we are. After we die, there is no soul and there is no afterlife. This life is ALL we have and we should be treasuring every second of it.
To have an invisible friend at the age of eight is charming and not a cause for concern. To have an invisible friend in adulthood is however a cause for concern and could be considered psychotic. So how exactly does giving them the name of a deity change that opinion? - Phil Slattery
Fundamentalists are so afraid of freedom. The deity they believe in is one whose morals are like any sociopathic despot's: toe its line, obey, don't commit a thought-crime or it will chuck you into a lake of fire for all eternity. Do these worshippers ever think how they would judge a human who was such a sadistic tyrant as this nightmarish torturer-god? - Juliette Hughes
10 January 2010
Afraid of god
If god is really as powerful and all knowing as some try to make us believe, why god needs us to be afraid of him/her/it?
The reason behind this question is that if god is really as powerful etc, there is no intrinsic motivation for god to need us to be afraid of him. As the end of day, god can do whatever god likes anyway. Why how human thinks would be of any interest to the all mighty god?
The real answer is that those who benefit from propagating such a falsehood are afraid of the followers when they know the truth - that there is no god. In order to create a cohesion among a group (and hence a continuous source of income without doing hard work), one of standard techniques is to create fear, another is to create an external enemy.
Why an almighty god needs anything from us? Because those who benefit from the falsehood is greedy and wants everything from the followers.
Religion is the greatest crime against humanity - created wars, created fear, create false hope, waste time in senseless rituals, don't pay tax, dumb the people, hinder scientific progress, hinder moral development, rob the poor,....
When will humanity be enlightened?
The reason behind this question is that if god is really as powerful etc, there is no intrinsic motivation for god to need us to be afraid of him. As the end of day, god can do whatever god likes anyway. Why how human thinks would be of any interest to the all mighty god?
The real answer is that those who benefit from propagating such a falsehood are afraid of the followers when they know the truth - that there is no god. In order to create a cohesion among a group (and hence a continuous source of income without doing hard work), one of standard techniques is to create fear, another is to create an external enemy.
Why an almighty god needs anything from us? Because those who benefit from the falsehood is greedy and wants everything from the followers.
Religion is the greatest crime against humanity - created wars, created fear, create false hope, waste time in senseless rituals, don't pay tax, dumb the people, hinder scientific progress, hinder moral development, rob the poor,....
When will humanity be enlightened?
17 November 2009
A New Christianity for a New World
Very interesting ideas from Episcopalian bishop John Shelby Spong :
The above quote is lifted directly from wikipedia. The link of the source to is Gerald O'Collins, “What of the Spong Song?,” Apologia 7, no. 2/3 (September 10, 1994): 112–113.
After the reform, what is left is a tedious amount of wealth collected by the poor believers and huge political power to do whatever the church wants to do without the need to defend the non-defendable BS. (highlight to see my answer, but you may guess first.)
Twelve points for Reform
1. Theism, as a way of defining God, is dead. So most theological God-talk is today meaningless. A new way to speak of God must be found.
2. Since God can no longer be conceived in theistic terms, it becomes nonsensical to seek to understand Jesus as the incarnation of the theistic deity. So the Christology of the ages is bankrupt.
3. The Biblical story of the perfect and finished creation from which human beings fell into sin is pre-Darwinian mythology and post-Darwinian nonsense.
4. The virgin birth, understood as literal biology, makes Christ's divinity, as traditionally understood, impossible.
5. The miracle stories of the New Testament can no longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as supernatural events performed by an incarnate deity.
6. The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God and must be dismissed.
7. Resurrection is an action of God. Jesus was raised into the meaning of God. It therefore cannot be a physical resuscitation occurring inside human history.
8. The story of the Ascension assumed a three-tiered universe and is therefore not capable of being translated into the concepts of a post-Copernican space age.
9. There is no external, objective, revealed standard written in scripture or on tablets of stone that will govern our ethical behavior for all time.
10. Prayer cannot be a request made to a theistic deity to act in human history in a particular way.
11. The hope for life after death must be separated forever from the behavior control mentality of reward and punishment. The Church must abandon, therefore, its reliance on guilt as a motivator of behavior.
12. All human beings bear God's image and must be respected for what each person is. Therefore, no external description of one's being, whether based on race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, can properly be used as the basis for either rejection or discrimination.[source]
The above quote is lifted directly from wikipedia. The link of the source to is Gerald O'Collins, “What of the Spong Song?,” Apologia 7, no. 2/3 (September 10, 1994): 112–113.
After the reform, what is left is a tedious amount of wealth collected by the poor believers and huge political power to do whatever the church wants to do without the need to defend the non-defendable BS. (highlight to see my answer, but you may guess first.)
09 November 2009
Bible study
Scripture does not argue the existence of God, for example, it rather assumes it from page one, because it was the given understanding for those to whom it was written. [source]
Well said. If you are still living with an understanding equal to those men and women in the desert about 2000 years ago, you are forgiven in believing and not questioning the existence of a god. In modern time, with all the advances made in Science, it is very sad and an indication of the failure of education that so many are still fooled by the false promise of a god. If you are capable of applying reasons and requiring evidence for your everyday activities, why on earth would you believe in something as absurd as a super natural being supervising everyone of our daily activities. Even if a creator exists, why does it care about what happens to us, a species living on a small planet in one of the many stars of one of many galaxies?
Please, my dear religious readers, think for yourself and apply reason and require evidence. Where is the evidence of any god, let alone yours?
28 October 2009
Why Religion Saddens Me
I would actually think "Why religion is dangerous" is a more appropriate title of this self reflection. Great respect from this blogger towards VanCoffeeChick to say what she said in the youtube video.
24 January 2009
Religion Vs Science 2
What has religion done to humanity? The Muslim Conquests, the French Wars of Religion, the Crusades, and the Reconquista are just a few examples.
What has Science done to humanity? The following video are just a few examples.
What has Science done to humanity? The following video are just a few examples.
Religion Vs Science
Here is a typical religious argument: Eternal Everything? and the following is a physicist's presentation of the latest superstring theory:
As you watch the video, whether you understand the physics behind it or not, you can notice the frequent 'track back', questioning whether the theory works or not. A beautiful theory will be rejected if it cannot be used to predict things that happens in the real world. The idea of more than 3 dimension (plus time) was once rejected although it can produce both the gravitational force and electromagnetic force models (about 5:00), it cannot produce prediction for example of the mass of electrons.
At this moment, superstring theory is at a similar stage. Can we test the theory to see whether it is true or not? AND experiments are actually designed and being carried as I am writing these sentences.
Compare that to the theological argument. Not to mention the lack of logic, no theological theory has ever passed a single test. The idea of designing ways of testing god exists or not was considered "lack of faith".
The example quoted above lacks consistent logic as well. Even if god exists, it is NOT necessarily the god in the old testament. There is absolutely no evidence that god exists. There is no effect on this universe whether god exists or not. The argument of the existence of god is 'reluctant'.
Some may argument that religion provides an objective moral standard. Well this can be reputed too easily. Many civilisations existed before Christianity. These societies operated well at that time. Moral is a changing yardstick. Old testament supports slavery, treat woman as a property, conflicts were resolved by brutal force. Today, these are considered barbaric actions and do not fit the modern standard of morality.
The moral standard, if any, set by the god in old testament is so bad no modern human should even give it a thought. Moral is developed as part of the evolution of human and will continue to develop. Just as the understanding of the universe is being advanced and hence we can enjoy a much better living than generations before us.
Today, as in centuries ago, organised religion is hindering the progress of human civilisation. It is time for us to grow up and throw away these silly ideas and think logically, evidence-based and with reasons.
As you watch the video, whether you understand the physics behind it or not, you can notice the frequent 'track back', questioning whether the theory works or not. A beautiful theory will be rejected if it cannot be used to predict things that happens in the real world. The idea of more than 3 dimension (plus time) was once rejected although it can produce both the gravitational force and electromagnetic force models (about 5:00), it cannot produce prediction for example of the mass of electrons.
At this moment, superstring theory is at a similar stage. Can we test the theory to see whether it is true or not? AND experiments are actually designed and being carried as I am writing these sentences.
Compare that to the theological argument. Not to mention the lack of logic, no theological theory has ever passed a single test. The idea of designing ways of testing god exists or not was considered "lack of faith".
The example quoted above lacks consistent logic as well. Even if god exists, it is NOT necessarily the god in the old testament. There is absolutely no evidence that god exists. There is no effect on this universe whether god exists or not. The argument of the existence of god is 'reluctant'.
Some may argument that religion provides an objective moral standard. Well this can be reputed too easily. Many civilisations existed before Christianity. These societies operated well at that time. Moral is a changing yardstick. Old testament supports slavery, treat woman as a property, conflicts were resolved by brutal force. Today, these are considered barbaric actions and do not fit the modern standard of morality.
The moral standard, if any, set by the god in old testament is so bad no modern human should even give it a thought. Moral is developed as part of the evolution of human and will continue to develop. Just as the understanding of the universe is being advanced and hence we can enjoy a much better living than generations before us.
Today, as in centuries ago, organised religion is hindering the progress of human civilisation. It is time for us to grow up and throw away these silly ideas and think logically, evidence-based and with reasons.
16 January 2009
For those skpetic Christians who lead a guide...
There are those who are used to be provided a set of guidelines for daily decisions - ie those who do not believe in the existence of god but base the moral judgment on the bible, here is a better way.
Check out wikipedia on this topic.
Generally Buddhism does not believe in a personal God or a divine being, it does not have worship, praying to, or praising of a divine being (although some sects do.) It offers no form of redemption, forgiveness, no heavenly hope, or a final judgment to those practicing its system. Buddhism is a moral philosophy, an ethical way to live for the here and now of this world to gain the ultimate state. [source]
Check out wikipedia on this topic.
29 November 2008
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