The sheer advantage of brainpower and our longer than average lifespan has come at a cost—we are a complicated and sickly species fighting uphill from the time we are born until the time we die.
It’s a long life to carry these untoward genetics but, there are a few things I would trade for a shorter life span—for shorter is sometimes better.
Nursing home stays, waiting rooms, and sermons all could all easily be shorter. It is nice to know how long you’ve got sometimes so you can do other things in the mean time. Religious honesty would be nice too—shorter lies, maybe?
“The scriptures teach emphatically that we must give milk before meat. The Lord made it very clear that some things are to be taught selectively. There is a temptation for the writer or the teacher of Church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not—Some things that are true are not very useful“—Boyd K Packer, LDS Apostle (could be any religioso) Like the Father like the Son.
It is clear throughout Christendom that avoiding solid truth, the whole truth, is absolutely necessary to ease one into the faith. In other words, lies. Lies of careful wording and lies of omission—all necessary to nurture (bait) one into solid belief. That is milk before meat!
It doesn’t take a miracle to come to Jesus—it takes careful and selective wording. I won’t be waiting til after I’m dead to get out of this line. Religion is one thing that has lived far too long, living abundantly on the fears and foibles of human nature. Not easy to recover 50 years of waiting, but I’m catching up.
TheCommonAtheist 
Yes, religions have lived way beyond their time!
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Hanging on to what should never be to compensate for something that was never wrong.
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Exactly. Tell you the disease you have, then conveniently have your cure……sure thing!
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I could care less whether my neighbor thinks they’ll frolic in eternal bliss of a heavenly afterlife, provided they keep it to themselves. Faith has no business meddling in politics, law, race, gender or sexual orientation. The first step in muzzling religion is separating faith from politics. It boggles my mind that Americans elect politicians based on faith fueled hot topics, spew constitutional jibber-jabber without hesitation over the meaning of freedom for all and claim morality belongs to God.
If so inclined read the link below – bet U.S. history classes omit this history lesson.
https://notestoponder.wordpress.com/tag/in-god-we-trust/
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I agree, NTP. I find it astonishing as well that religion has become so entwined with government here. Astonished and, frankly, frightened by it. It seems to have launched us down a path of ever increasing intolerance and prejudice, and openly embraced by cynical politicians who care for nothing except increasing their power and keeping the money rolling in.
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Religion got dementia early on. Unfortunately the body is still healthy and likely to live on for some time yet. In the mean time we need to stoically grit our teeth and occasionally help the orderlies wash down the finger paintings on the walls smeared out in mushy peas and faeces.
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Lol (I think). Dementia, selective hearing, doing, whatevs as long as you say you believe. Leepservice is the parte importante.
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Speaking of “Lies of careful wording and lies of omission” I see that former pope Benedict just issued a letter in which he blamed the church’s problems with sexual assault on (drum roll) the “sexual revolution” of the 1960s and, of course, the favorite scapegoat of extremists, the gays. Both claims, of course, totally ignore the actual facts.
That’s another thing with these people in addition to the lies and misleading “truths”, how they immediately resort to seeking out scapegoats to blame for their problems rather than admitting that they themselves are at fault. It’s always the fault of someone else. I get so angry with these hypocritical S.O.B.s sometimes…
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It’s not your fault you’re angry (inset generational blame here). The only thing the sexual revolution damaged is priests, jealous to be left out they devised a scheme and now they are the most vile of people on earth.
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Uh, you are just noticing that all god’s creation is kinda mangy? Sure we have those calendars with the pretty places on them, but by and large most of everything is scruffy and all of god’s animals are “complicated and sickly species fighting uphill from the time we are born until the time we die.” Why do you think god made everything that way? Sense of humor? Lack of aesthetic sense? Just plain perversity?
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We are loved by a god that doesn’t love. At least physical ailment can be used to bring us to the alter. So Jesus can save us. That’s the important part (and to supply the priests with fresh meat.
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1 billion heartbeats wasn’t enough.
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I seem to recall a sci-fi where everyone was healthy. The arrangement was more like a contract. You got 75 years of perfect health and then exterminated. It’s just the way things were done. I can’t remember where I saw it or read it oh Mr Guru of science fiction.
Wouldn’t that be an excellent scenario? Maybe? Hell, I don’t know.
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Logan’s Run? Was it 75, or 40?
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Forty sounds better. Everything is uphill and I’m only 56. Today is my birthday…yippee. Can’t imagine what you must be going through. Hehe.
I look and see if that link refreshes my memory.
Not only is my short term memory bad, but so’s my short term memory…
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Happy Birthday! Do you wish you were back in the jungle, Kurtz?
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Every day. It shan’t be long. I’m expecting you (since I’ll be meeting halfway) for those drinks on the balcony, pacific side, of course. And thanks. Happy birthday to you too.
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Big Boats Good
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Such a young whippersnapper you are!
Enjoy your day!
Enjoy your day!
Enjoy your day!
Oh my. I’m so forgetful these days. Almost forgot to wish you Happy Birthday and to be sure and enjoy your day!
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Lol. Who is Nan?
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Haven’t a clue.
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Ooops, didn’t realise that was a song. But you get the idea 🙂
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What an interesting concept. To me it seems like less suffering and I’d be ok with that! Probably help with overpopulation also. And I absolutely agree, these things have lived waaaay too long. It’s hard to sit back and let time take the reigns to show how patterns of religion are shaped by what is convenient to our understanding…Time shows us that religion is plagiarized mythology and mythology is well… mythology.. Religion is stagnant, proving itself to be false. Shutting itself down like a machine..it’s just taking waaaay too long. Great post Jim!
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Holy shit! You are right, it could be any religion. But apparently any amount of lying can be justified with religion. And it does not bother them in the least. And here I thought it was downhill on the back side. I sure got that wrong.
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It actually is every religion summed perfectly by a fake Christian that never quite did enough of it to be a mainstream denomination. His Jesus ain’t the real Jesus, and his ability to lie for the cause is only at baby steps compared to the accepted Christian faiths of the council of churches. Milk before meat, and add a little extra water to that leche, por favor.
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