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
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