Atheists and other beliefs.

So recently I've been thinking a lot about what people believe in, and consequentially, what people don't believe in.  I go on YouTube and find arrogant Christians telling me what questions that I can ask Atheists to mess them up, and videos of Atheists telling me questions I can ask Christians to mess them up...  All the questions and points they made seemed to support their sides, and basically pitted science vs. faith, and ultimately made the people on the video look douchey and close minded.
But as I continued to look through my videos having a good laugh at everyone involved.  I noticed something rather interesting.  Each side was very specific.  The Christians seemed to always target the Atheists and vice versa.  Then I started to wonder to myself, where the hell are the other religions, and why aren't they represented? 

Surely there must be someone hardcore fundamentalist Christians who were making videos saying that Buddha had it all wrong, and screw the path to enlightenment, and there must be some Atheists who claim that Confucius says nothing, cause he's full of shite!  But it wasn't there.  Or at least I didn't see it.  I mean lets face it, I didn't look that hard.  If it's not in my face, why bother researching.  So I'm just going to assume that it doesn't.  At least not in great enough numbers to garner my attention.

It's probably fair to tell you that in my youth I was part of a youth group that was quite fundamentalist.  I'm not saying that I ever marched around with a "God Hates Fags" sign or anything like that, but there were those who did believe quite literally that the Bible was the word of God.  I wasn't quite worldy enough to ask if they thought the world was only 5000 years old, or if dinosaurs ever existed, or even if they thought it might be OK to kill people who didn't share their beliefs.

"Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, "Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! Kill them all – old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin your task right here at the Temple." So they began by killing the seventy leaders. "Defile the Temple!" the LORD commanded. "Fill its courtyards with the bodies of those you kill! Go!" So they went throughout the city and did as they were told." (Ezekiel 9:5-7 NLT)

Frankly I have read the bible since, and am pretty shocked at some of the stuff in there.  I really can't take it litereally, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have some really good points as well.  The old testament is pretty harsh, but Jesus had some really good ideas, and while I can't agree with everything the bible preaches, I can choose to listen to the relevant parts of it's philosophy.  That last quote paints a very unfair picture I know, but I think my point is proven.  I truly beleive that most Christians in their heart have good intentions, and honestly TRY and do the right thing.  Some are just misguided, as we all are at times.  The fundamentalist group that I was a part of really just wanted there to be more love in the world, and thought the best way to do that was to spread the word of Christ.  The underlying intention was quite noble.

I have since given up my "born-again" ways as I grow to understand that there is more than one way to reach whatever it is that we don't truly understand as God or god if you prefer.  I do beleive in many of the Christian ideas however.

The atheists however make the argument that you can't choose which parts of the Bible are good and bad, if you say it's God's word, then it all must be true, and then go ahead and pick holes in its stories, thusly proving that it all must be absolutely wrong.  What a pretensious load of horseshit!  Where in the world do we look at anything with one or two mistakes in it, and then decide that all its ideas must be false?  This argument ONLY holds true for people who beleive that the entire Bible is the absolute word of God unchanged over the years.  Beleive me when I tell you that this is a VERY small segment of the Christian population.  The rest of us know that it's bad to eat babies, that probably evolution is a very valid thing, and that the idea of loving your neighbour, not murdering and stealing, and doing unto others is probably not such a bad guideline to live your life by.  By no means do I agree with everything that the church has done, but that's a whole other blog.

So still though, there are people so strong minded in their beleifs about not having beliefs in a magic sky man that they feel they have to form groups, make videos, and ultimately prove a very small segment of a small population of the earth wrong.  (Albeit a sometimes very vocal small segment.)  Whilst doing this, they acknowledge that the rest of religion is wrong as well, but tend to ignore that as a whole and focus on the fundie Christians.

Perplexed, I asked one of my atheist friends, who I consider to be very smart about what she thought about why it seems that most online atheist content only attacked Christians, and were there equally vocal atheists perhaps that I wasn't aware of in other societies that I might be too unworldy to know about.  She looked thoughtfully at me, and suggested that she agreed, it was strange, and offered that other societies sometimes don't have words and phrases which are nearly so self important as ours.  For some reason it's a very ethnocentric idea that we need to define ourselves as much as we do, and indeed perhaps Atheists in other societies may not feel the need to define themselves as such because their beliefs, or lack there of, just are; and don't need a name.  Consequentially those who beleive in other religions in those societies may not feel the need to push it in other's faces as much as certain segments of our population, just because what they beleive is, and that's all they need.  I kind of like that idea.

Maybe Atheists and Christians can get along.  Maybe we need to stop worrying about "Me" and start worrying about "We".  I can't tell you what or what not to beleive anymore than I can tell you how you should feel. 

It just is.

Rainbows and Lollipops

Good morning all! 

I had fun last time I did this so I thought I'd better blog again.  I wish I had much more time in my life.  Frankly though between work, commuting, family, friends, and the little amount of sleep I get, writing blogs just isn't in the cards as much as I'd like.

I actually fancied myself a person who could write quite well. At least I can make a lot of words spill out of my fingers. I think that there is a novel in me somewhere. I've had the first sentence in my head for a while. To put it in perspective, I haven't smoked in probably 15 years, but...

Holy crap, ADD moment here, Madelyn is watching Peter Pan on the TV. They just got captured by the savage indians.  Racisim is so funny when we didn't care about it.  Ah Disney, you and your family entertainment.  Good job putting those redskins in their place. Did you know that indians have red skin because they kissed a girl and blushed, and now they all blush?

Alright, back to my point about having a novel in me...  So like I said, I haven't had a cigarettte in 15 years, so the opening line must have been around since before that.  It opens with:  "Jack pulled the matche's head slowly against the long black stip of..."

Hmmm, I'm not sure if I wanted it to be a wooden match or paper match.  If it was paper then the strip would be black.  If it was wooden, it might be red and gold.  I wonder why they use different colours for different types.   Sorry, ADD'ing again.

So where was I.  Oh yes...  "Jack pulled the matche's head slowly against the long black stip watching it briefly spark, and then explode in a bright white and orange flare on the bright read head of the match.  A whiff of sulfur permated the air..."

I used to love the smell of matched.  Maybe everyone does.  Sulfur is one of the stinkiest things, but on a match, it's enthralling.  I wonder what other horrible smelling things do smell great when burning.  Skunk comes to mind.

So back to the opening of my story.   "A whiff of sulfur permated the air as Jack put the match to the tip of his white cigarette and pulled deeply..."

You know, I still get the occasional craving for a cigarette.  Not often, and not nearly enough to ever light one up...  Just enough for my brain to say.  "You know, a cigarette would taste really good right now."

I guess that feeling never quite goes away.  If they made cigarettes that were good for you, or at least weren't that bad for you, I'd probably still smoke.  I wonder if they'll ever figure out a way to make non-addictive smokes out of brocolli.  When they do sign me up.

Oh, so back to my novel.  I really am ADDing a lot today.  Perhaps I just need a coffee to concentrate.  So where was I.   "A whiff of sulfur permated the air as Jack put the match to the tip of his white cigarette and pulled deeply and the sweet smoke gently filled his lungs taking the edge off the morning hangover.  He hadn't even been drinking that night, but..."

Wow, was I a drinker back then.  I did love me some beer!  Wow, I'm pretty bad ass.  I'm almost ashamed to admit it, I drank Bud back then.  I would probably still drink a Bud if it was all that was offered, don't get me wrong.  I'm not that much of a snob.  I'm just saying I couldn't ever see buying it otherwise.  I'm looking forward to beerfest this year mind you.  It is one of the great highlights of the beer drinking year. It was where I was introduced to Beau's Bog Water.  Still my favourite beer to this day.  It's a shame that only make it around Christmas.  I stocked up this year.  I bought Dundurn out a couple of times this year, and introduced many of my friends to it.  Most loved it.  Some didn't.  (You know who you are.)  Anyway, get yourself some Beau's of any stripe, it is delicous!

Um yeah, so my story.  I don't know why I never got past the first paragraph.  I'm pretty sure it would have been awesome.   I have to go though, Peter Pan I think is about to slap some women around.  I think I'd better turn that off.

Cheers all!
Mattie