People keep telling me I should thank God for all he has done for me. So I started thinking. In addition to the Monday Madness feature I'm going to add the Thankful Thursdays to my blog.
We'll start off simple. I'd like to thank God for designing me so that I eat and breathe through the same tube, because it only causes 3,200 deaths annually. I'd also like to thank him for designing snakes with separate breathing and eating tubes, because it wouldn't really feel like it was God's work if he didn't show us that he could make us that way, but chose to work in more mysterious ways.
Invisibly yours,
The Unicorn
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
A Message to My Facebook Family and Friends(and well, I guess the rest of you people can read it too)
I was thinking about my recent barrage of Facebook posts, and how it might be perceived by my friends and family. I've already had one family member unfriend me, and while I can't claim with any certainty that I know how everyone else feels, I spend a great deal of time speaking with theists of all stripes and the responses are all very similar.
That being said, I don't want people to think I hate Christians, am angry at God, or have had a bad experience with religion somehow. None of what I say concerning religion or gods is based on emotion. I'm just looking at things from a rational and skeptical point of view.
Contrary to popular opinion, it is not rude or invasive to inquire about someone's view on religion. Of course, as with any other possibly controversial topic, there are times and places where it would be inappropriate to discuss religion but the subject itself isn't off limits.
If at times I seem agitated or angry about something, it's likely because it saddens me to see people I care about short-change themselves by giving the credit for things they accomplished to someone other than themselves. That and the way theists are allowed to pick and choose when it comes to events in their lives. From the athlete that spends countless hours training and learning to play a game only to thank God for letting him win the championship to the person who sees Tucson shooting victim Gabrielle Giffords' situation as a miracle when six innocent people, including a 9 year old girl are killed.
So I'm challenging that. I'm challenging the idea that your god, whoever it may be, is not to be questioned. I'm challenging anyone who says that their god is great. I'm challenging the idea that an omnipotient, omniscient, omnipresent being can even exist. I'm doing this because I want to hold as many true beliefs and as few false beliefs as possible.
This post will serve as my standard "go to" response when someone asks me why I do what I do. If I've sent you here to read this, consider it a starting point because this by no means encompasses the entirety of my belief structure.
That being said, I don't want people to think I hate Christians, am angry at God, or have had a bad experience with religion somehow. None of what I say concerning religion or gods is based on emotion. I'm just looking at things from a rational and skeptical point of view.
Contrary to popular opinion, it is not rude or invasive to inquire about someone's view on religion. Of course, as with any other possibly controversial topic, there are times and places where it would be inappropriate to discuss religion but the subject itself isn't off limits.
If at times I seem agitated or angry about something, it's likely because it saddens me to see people I care about short-change themselves by giving the credit for things they accomplished to someone other than themselves. That and the way theists are allowed to pick and choose when it comes to events in their lives. From the athlete that spends countless hours training and learning to play a game only to thank God for letting him win the championship to the person who sees Tucson shooting victim Gabrielle Giffords' situation as a miracle when six innocent people, including a 9 year old girl are killed.
So I'm challenging that. I'm challenging the idea that your god, whoever it may be, is not to be questioned. I'm challenging anyone who says that their god is great. I'm challenging the idea that an omnipotient, omniscient, omnipresent being can even exist. I'm doing this because I want to hold as many true beliefs and as few false beliefs as possible.
This post will serve as my standard "go to" response when someone asks me why I do what I do. If I've sent you here to read this, consider it a starting point because this by no means encompasses the entirety of my belief structure.
Monday, February 21, 2011
New Feature! Monday Madness!
You know what's really confusing? John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
It seems to me this central tenet of Christianity has some serious flaws. If Jesus was God's only son, it was because he only chose to have one. I think the only reason it's worded that way is because it pushes the sacrifice angle. If it was God sacrificing one of an infinite number of children, which an omnipotent being should be able to create, I don't think it would have the same effect.
Who was God sacrificing Jesus to anyway? Does God make any other sacrifices, ever? One might say that God was doing that for us but it doesn't add up. We broke HIS rules. He's at the top of the food chain, so to speak. So why couldn't he just forgive it? Just start over? He had already done it fairly early on in the history of humanity. Which brings me to another question...
Why wasn't the sacrifice enough? If Jesus was the sacrifice to pay for our sins, then why do we have to do something else just to get the benefit of that sacrifice? It's like someone giving you a birthday gift but telling you that you can't open it until you say "thank you". Gifts are not supposed to be conditional.
Of course, none of these issues can be addressed without evidence of Jesus' existence. That's a big hill to climb...
IPU
It seems to me this central tenet of Christianity has some serious flaws. If Jesus was God's only son, it was because he only chose to have one. I think the only reason it's worded that way is because it pushes the sacrifice angle. If it was God sacrificing one of an infinite number of children, which an omnipotent being should be able to create, I don't think it would have the same effect.
Who was God sacrificing Jesus to anyway? Does God make any other sacrifices, ever? One might say that God was doing that for us but it doesn't add up. We broke HIS rules. He's at the top of the food chain, so to speak. So why couldn't he just forgive it? Just start over? He had already done it fairly early on in the history of humanity. Which brings me to another question...
Why wasn't the sacrifice enough? If Jesus was the sacrifice to pay for our sins, then why do we have to do something else just to get the benefit of that sacrifice? It's like someone giving you a birthday gift but telling you that you can't open it until you say "thank you". Gifts are not supposed to be conditional.
Of course, none of these issues can be addressed without evidence of Jesus' existence. That's a big hill to climb...
IPU
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Kidnapped Woman Finds Real Mother 23 Years Later; Jesus Takes All The Credit
Innocent Victim / Selfish Shebeast
A few facts about this case:
In August of 1987 a woman brought her sick(with a high fever) 3 week old daughter to the hospital where she was subsequently kidnapped by Ann Pettway.
23 years later, feeling like something in her life was wrong, she contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and was reunited with her family.
At 2:17 in the video a crying woman is shouting "Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, praise his holy name!", and surely many of you agree that God brought that family back together.
I don't understand why God gets the credit for the good things that happen to people but never gets blamed for the bad things. Or, we get the "God works in mysterious ways" answer, but you already know how I feel about that.
Her aunt said "She(Pettway) destroyed my family", and her father said "...it's hard for her to cope...", her parents missed watching their child grow up, she missed growing up with her siblings, she was physically abused by Pettway- I could go on, but I think the point is made.
Feeling especially invisibly pink today,
The Invisible Pink Unicorn
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
More Christian Vagueness
God works in mysterious ways.
That's usually the response given when something is undeniably negative and a Christian is questioned as to how said negative logically fits in with an all-loving God.
In reality it's a non-answer. It's not like they're claiming they know this to be a fact; they just believe that God is all-loving because it's in The Bible. Moving with that set of logic, a Christian has little choice but to conclude that their God(who in their mind is all-loving and all-knowing) must have some bigger plan that is incomprehensible by humans. They believe this because the part about God being all-knowing and all-loving is factual to them.
Such is the case with the senseless killing of Northern Irish newlywed Michaela McAreavey, who was killed while on her honeymoon on the small Island of Maritius last Monday, January 10th.
According to reports from reputable news sources in the UK(The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Irish Times) Michaela was having tea with her new husband, John, when she decided to go back up to their hotel room to get some biscuits to go with the tea. Her room was(allegedly) being robbed by hotel employees and she walked in on them. She was strangled and left in a bathtub.
At her funeral, Bishop McAreavey(uncle to Michaela's husband John) explained how the newlyweds were truly devoted to each other. "Their lives revolved around one another; each talked endlessly about the other." He also explained how that devotion to her husband was second only to her devotion to God. "She loved the Mass and was faithful to it. She was a young woman who prayed and whose prayer was important to her."
Now here is a woman who is undeniably a devout Christian. What possible purpose could God have for allowing this couple to marry, only to tear them apart while they were still on their honeymoon? And to do it in such a horrible way! What mysterious way could God have been taking when he decided to scar a man emotionally for the rest of his life by allowing the senseless death of his new wife?
Just for the sake of argument, let's say someone can come up with a halfway legitmate reason why this horrible event could, in theory, be considered an overall good move by God. Are we to assume that this is the best way God's plan could be played out? An omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent God wouldn't let a situation like this happen to his subjects. Even if I believed in this God, I could never worship him.
That's usually the response given when something is undeniably negative and a Christian is questioned as to how said negative logically fits in with an all-loving God.
In reality it's a non-answer. It's not like they're claiming they know this to be a fact; they just believe that God is all-loving because it's in The Bible. Moving with that set of logic, a Christian has little choice but to conclude that their God(who in their mind is all-loving and all-knowing) must have some bigger plan that is incomprehensible by humans. They believe this because the part about God being all-knowing and all-loving is factual to them.
Such is the case with the senseless killing of Northern Irish newlywed Michaela McAreavey, who was killed while on her honeymoon on the small Island of Maritius last Monday, January 10th.
According to reports from reputable news sources in the UK(The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Irish Times) Michaela was having tea with her new husband, John, when she decided to go back up to their hotel room to get some biscuits to go with the tea. Her room was(allegedly) being robbed by hotel employees and she walked in on them. She was strangled and left in a bathtub.
At her funeral, Bishop McAreavey(uncle to Michaela's husband John) explained how the newlyweds were truly devoted to each other. "Their lives revolved around one another; each talked endlessly about the other." He also explained how that devotion to her husband was second only to her devotion to God. "She loved the Mass and was faithful to it. She was a young woman who prayed and whose prayer was important to her."
Now here is a woman who is undeniably a devout Christian. What possible purpose could God have for allowing this couple to marry, only to tear them apart while they were still on their honeymoon? And to do it in such a horrible way! What mysterious way could God have been taking when he decided to scar a man emotionally for the rest of his life by allowing the senseless death of his new wife?
Just for the sake of argument, let's say someone can come up with a halfway legitmate reason why this horrible event could, in theory, be considered an overall good move by God. Are we to assume that this is the best way God's plan could be played out? An omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent God wouldn't let a situation like this happen to his subjects. Even if I believed in this God, I could never worship him.
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