From Practices to Beliefs—The Fatal Shift

The hebetude of religious belief, even the fervor becomes pure boredom as the wait sets in. With nothing to do but believe (or watch your favorite mega-preacher rake in cash) what is the mind to do—practice your tongues?

Years ago religion was a practice. Indigenous ritual and practical application accompanied the shaman as a person of utility, knowledge, and healing arts that surpassed the European physicians of the time. The ritual produced something—a far cry from today’s phony sacraments and preachers who merely pile on more robes, pomp, and pop music to cover the inadequacy of the Christian theme. It has to grow more and more unattainable as the subject matures in faith (lest his integrity outwit his belief) restricting the believer to endless need, never passing initiation phase.

“The distance shit falls is equal-to, or less-than the potential splash-back”

Applying yourself into The-Way© meets with more of the same mind—deeper, spoon-bending, concentrated belief, unashamed of the gospel through conditioning, isolation, and surrounding yourself with other “we” believers, ready to wipe up the mess of contradiction with explaining (tissue, standing by)

A useful religion would prepare adherents for the rigors of life—to cut you loose with knowledge to take on the world with the greatest understanding, not a perpetual codependency—the believer out of need (the churches fall horribly short producing enlightenment) and the religion in need of the believers cash.

The monotheistic stall has humanity hamster-wheeling, each generation farther from the last in practical utility. Arriving at belief is less than accomplishing anything, yet the churches pretend it’s the ultimate destination.

Philosophizing God

If believing in god is enough to imagine him into existence, then god is equally diminished by the arguments against him. The seesaw effect, back and forth, god, no god, poof, there he is, then gone again. There is no advantage to believing because of a cleverly worded argument that can be dismantled by reason. The real existence of a god would be an irrevocable surety. It is not, therefore he is not.

If god were real, no argument would be needed. Take any of the popular arguments for god and at first glance—quite clever. But, that’s about as far as it goes. A genuine treatise shoehorning the existence of god would in fact, be evident without persuasion, manipulating word games, sermonic hormones, and overcoming doubt, which doubt in itself should be a red-enough flag.

The bottom line is this; Religion has the audacity to think it can outwit nature. Accepting this natural order takes the fear out of life and negates the threats of death with endless suffering posed by religion. It also restores the esteem to man taken by religion. Atrophy and decay is a normal part of this experience and getting that little fact takes the decision to fear from our hands and tosses it out—the decisions surrounding death is made for you. Indigenous types all over the world accepted it as the natural course of things. Even in men’s ignorance or brilliance it mattered not. It just is and is nothing to fear. Understanding that keeps one from getting suckered by religious threat and seekers of power.

Accepting the fact we don’t know what happened before this life or what happens after is truly the only thing that could possibly excite an infinite being like myself, infiltrated with all encompassing consciousness in his natural state.

Things have lived and died long before the Abrahamic visions of the monarchical boss. For millions of years species have came and went long before “the fall”, just as the earliest hominids lived and died out, so will we. So what? Oh those poor souls for all those years before Jesus.

What is Spiritual and Why it’s Not

Why do humans treat things they can’t see with more reverence than things they can? Spirituality is the act of making holy the voids in human perception through imagination.

Faith is the act of assigning honor to things you wish were real as if believing them actually meant something. Unsatisfied with Providence and what minimums it provides, we fail to live in the moment through supplemental prayer, always looking ahead and hoping because we have settled for mediocrity—belief someone or something else can make it better. Proving really, that humans can see a much better solution than the framework “god” has provided his pinnacle of creation through religion.

After careful scrutiny we find anything that persuades belief before thinking, is doctrinally sound. Anything doctrinally sound will never be settled without faith.

Who would do that but a manipulative genius who preyed on the weaknesses of human psychology? Religion is basically reverse psychology for grownups, inflicted on our youth to prevent them from becoming grownups—to lead a dependent life.

There is a difference however, between the regular, know-nothing Christian who is trying to make his way through life with tools that have been forced upon him by persuasion and fear, and the apologist who is an apologist because he knows better, but won’t face the failures of religion with integrity.

There is one good reason no man has ever seen god. Anyone want to take a shot at why?

Indian painted rocks, Spokane WA 7/20/19

To the True Churches

Years ago when I was a True Believer © (AD, DDa, AWOB), I purchased a piece of property for farming. It was 20 acres below the high-line canal and approved for flood irrigation. It had a swale in the middle sloping down a bit to one side and had to be leveled. Three or four days on a tractor and a laser—or embarrassingly, maybe I could just hold up my hand and command it in the name of Jesus!

—It didn’t work.

After a few days of dozing I came to my senses—I didn’t believe hard enough…God was testing my faith.

It is said that all churches which are founded in error and imposter will come to a shameful end. But if Jesus Christ intends to say that he has established a society of followers who will not fall either into vice or error, these words are absolutely false, as there is in Christendom no church, no society, and no sect which is not full of errors and vices viruses [sic] especially the Roman church though it claims to be the purest and the holiest of all. It was born into error, and even now is so full of delusions which are contrary to the intentions, sentiments, and doctrine of its founder (Paul, P-peter) Because it has contrary to his intention, abolished the laws of the Jews of which he approved and which he came himself and said to fulfill them, not to destroy. It has fallen into the errors of idolatry of paganism, as seen by the idolatrous worship which is offered to its god of death (and child abuse)

And nobody’s is moving any mountains.

“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them—Mark 11:23

I didn’t doubt it, or I wouldn’t have done it. —Enter Explanations

Every Christian thinks the other are doing it wrong. In this I agree.

Galloping Girdie—Built in Flaws

The historic Tacoma Narrows bridge, about an hour away from my old home has a storied, but short history. Lasting only five months after it’s completion in 1940, it collapsed in a 40 MPH wind. The bridge became a case study in frequency vibrations (aeroelastic flutter) that changed bridge engineering forever. It wasn’t necessarily the force of the wind, but the wind at its matching vibration to the bridges natural frequency. WWII interrupted reconstruction, and ten years later the bridge was completed a second time with design flaws corrected.

Correcting the design flaws of religion is taking a bit more time. Monumental collapses in reasoning are shrugged off and reconfigured using the same plans—at will, ignoring religiolastic flutter with the skill only developed by experted faith. Tuning out frequencies and ignoring bends and wobbles, religious professionals deflect contradictory high winds and resonance with a hand-wave. The main reason it survives is the onslaught of new customers, born susceptible and willing to tolerate the wobble only because others have chosen for them to do so.

We can all agree religion is man-made. Like a bridge it claims to safely escort us from here to there, to greener pastures and eternal life in pure bliss—or pure hell. I think I’ll just take the long way home.

2000 years of searching, dead-and-gone promised relief, and still no answers. 1000 year near-monopoly and what has changed for the better? Secular advances in fairness, equality, and laws limiting religious intervention in government.

Now there are two

L’esprit de l’escalier

At the end of every debate we all have moments where we wished we’d remembered to say one final thing—that final nail in the coffin. If only... The French call it stairwell humor—L’esprit de l’escalier, or what you thought to say after the door closed. English doesn’t have a precise word for after the fact, so we’re allowed to borrow from time to time.

We each have unique experiences that led us to here and now. Mine is different from yours, although all equally valid to diffuse the soldered neurons we no longer accept. We literally have a hundred different reasons for abandoning belief.

In debate, some say what we wish we had said—why didn’t I think of that? And others, (including our own statements from time to time) we sigh, look away from the screen, feel the implosion of dumb after hitting the send key, even if it’s just a typo. But, have you ever heard the opposition fall short of convincing, only to know that if they had thought just one step further, they would have had you dead to rights—like an opponent in chess missing his easy checkmate?

This was the feeling yesterday. Loy (as several other before him) had one more line he could have used to hands-down win the argument. It was synthesis of a subtly abrupt clause, one that would automatically turn every atheist into Loy’s corner, but he failed to seal the deal. One time (possibly in his entire life) he had the the opportunity, but chose an aposiopesis of thought, one that could change his life forever, unwinding years of neuronal fixation, causing every comment to be reread in full—I don’t know, you win! Have you ever heard such a thing?

Christianity is the ultimate example of the Tagalog word Layogenic: from far away, it’s OK, but up close it’s a big old mess, leading us to what the Germans say—Fremdschämen (a cousin to Schadenfreude) meaning vicarious embarrassment. I feel for the wasted potential of a life in servitude to an imagination revealed by those in power. Those who have never lived within its regulations themselves. One win that was easily won, and got away.

aposiopesis–

Jonathan-2 Loy-0 —And the Number of the gods

Some comments are just too good to stay buried in the warehouse. It was a coin flip between Swarn and Jonathan this week. The latter has won the internet this morning.

Loy—”Was the number zero invented, discovered, or revealed? How does the invention / discovery / revelation of zero differ from that of God? Both derive from abstract reasoning, not directly or primarily from empirical observation”.

Jonathan—”For one, there is no place in the history of the number zero where the claim of divine revelation is found

A lot of things in the sciences, first exist as a hypothesis (which is usually a product of reasoning), then if the empirical observation matches the proposed hypothesis then the hypothesis is given credibility.

Einstein theories of relativity as is many things in theoretical physics were largely gotten through abstract reasoning

Direct and indirect empirical observation and experiment are what are used to validate an idea.

Even in mathematics, because you came up with an idea through reasoning, does not automatically make it correct. In mathematics, the idea has to be proven.

If you want to prove that god is mathematical axiom, then go ahead,

But if god is a supernatural being that created the universe then you need to have empirical evidence

Thinking about it, zero and god are very similar. Zero was created by man, so was god. Zero is nothing, so too is god”

Here’s the comment link if interested https://jimoeba.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/horrible-ideas-inspire-the-most-philosophy-faith/#comment-9722

And if you’re not following, here’s Jonathon’s blog. He doesn’t post too often, but worth the follow when he does.

The Words of Lana

After a successful day of hive hunting with the kids, I stumbled upon a queen-bee (Lana) that hadn’t left the hive yet for hibernation. I think she finally may after today.

This is the most arrogant and egotistical of all the arguments I’ve been blessed with. From her post “Right…” which she has removed and deleted David K and my comments after tagging atheism in settings.

“When you truly know God and have a close relationship with Him you don’t have to worry about keeping faith. Only a false Christian would lose faith”

And…

“I stand by my words. No true Christian loses their faith. You may question God sure, but you never leave Him. You were never one to begin with Jim. It sounded like you tried to win favour so hard by works yet we are saved by grace when we love God and surrender”.

After my courteous reply about ego, arrogance, and judging others level of faithfulness, she told me “shame on you for running an atheist blog” and closed comments down. I don’t think her faith is as powerfully strong as she implied. Zealots are rarely mentally ready for the big leagues.

Her background in the occult, yoga, and new age, coupled with her surrender to Jesus, is a neurological trap sprung from gullible tradition, suckered by the feel-good lies of TB’s.

Primed first as a child, left jesus to practice various sorcereries. To return to the God she grew up with was an easy neuropathway to reconnect, floods of dopamine (I mean the spirit) confirming old habits die hard—she will be an atheist before New Years if she’s not already. That’s how she came in to the world, that’s how one should leave it. Those that spout the hardest have the most doubt, and she pulls no punches when it comes to seeking validation. It’s obvious she only knows the words…Here’s her latest post if your interested (I’ve given it a half star rating just for the conspiracy crap)

One thing about religious convictions—they are beautifully suited to the arrogance of the week [sic]. I do feel for her as faith crisis is a troublesome time, but when you finally leave the ego/god complex behind, true love emerges for the first time and freedom rings. But first…growing pains. It’s hard to admit you’ve been suckered.

Great eyes for hives. She found both of them

And a happy crazy-eyes bee-hive hunting grandson! Why does he always do that? Lol

A beautiful day in the fall mountains.

Psychology of Belief vs Psychosis and Belief

“The art of being Christian is knowing what to overlook”―Jim

Internet apologists and the pastor have made a leap into the chasm few can crawl out of. I’ve got my ear to the edge, listening for the landing. Instead of enlightened prose filled with answered questions, what do we hear? A word machine that no longer functions to serve the needs of half filled halls, a babbling scramble to philosophize imagination into sensible reality, chambers echoing contradiction in the face of fact. What I’ve learned the past few days is, to say the least, boring but under par from what we’ve come to expect. Science cannot comprehend what Mel learned in bible study. DP’s final cause justifies the means, and if gods people have to use irrationality to further the cause, so be it. And finally, creationist claims to show how the world was made is not making scientific claim.

Does he have any explanation that makes any sense unless he wants it to make sense.. he is by far the biggest, willful contradiction of late. I don’t see how, with a straight face can claim science (a massive, connected group of intellectual researchers, many who are Christian) and a person such as himself cannot see the same things when applying the same questions? We cannot see what you see? Can we see ego? Should I call a MHP?

“The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook”—William James

“How does the clinician distinguish normal, culturally appropriate religious beliefs from psychotic symptoms? Unfortunately, it is not always so easy. A delusion is defined as a fixed, false belief that the person cannot be dissuaded from no matter how much evidence to the contrary. The atheist may readily believe that the religious person suffers from a fixed, false belief, so this depends to some extent on the worldview of the person judging the particular belief. Likewise, deeply religious non-psychotic persons may talk about hearing the voice of God or experiencing a religious vision, such as occurred in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Hercegovina. However, as noted earlier, religious delusions occur in persons with psychosis more than one-quarter to one-third of the time, and may be used to determine whether or not a psychosis is present. Thus, distinguishing religious beliefs and experiences from those that are psychotic becomes an urgent dilemma for the clinician”(1)I should caveat here and add; I think many things are possible among our connectedness as a species. That doesn’t make it automatically god, but an intuition or receptive gene that can play to our benefit. Overdoing it can lead you to an unholy land. Jerusalem Squabble Poison.

The Horns of Moses

Imagine yourself gathered around the water cooler after Sunday school class where for several hundred years we would debate and conjecture about Moses and his horns. How long were they? Why would god go such a thing? What color might they have been? Were they transmitters to god? Thanks to Jerome, a heralded father and translator of scripture into the Latin Vulgate bible which was the template to translate the Bible into dozens of other languages, said Moses had horns. This is good evidence to have someone check your work. But Christian will believe anything if it’s in the Bible. That is obvious. But, while they continued to learn about the horns of Moses, no one seemed to mind they may very well be debating about another fictitious character altogether, which is par for the course. If the Bible commenter said Moses was a charcuterie, instead of character, a simple typo would have Moses working in a meat store, and they would believe it for centuries. It’s inherent.

Unicorns, Noah and the ark, creation story and the 6000 year old earth, all unfortunately didn’t exist , except in a time where few could read, and even fewer had even a slight opportunity to question. “All along the mistranslation of the verb karan by Jerome had tragic consequences. For centuries, millions of people around the world have wrongly believed that Moses – and in some cases, all Jews – have horns on their head”.

Even the great Michelangelo was fooled by this, as well as multiple popes, leaders of countries, and other artists depicting the Moses charcuterie with horns. I can however, imagine how this contributed to his temporal lobes…If any of it were true at all. I wonder what else is in the Bible that is purely false?

I stumbled across a fairly new blog from Neil. He provides some very nice, concise context to the contradiction of Christian faith and I think it’s worth a look.

What Is The Meaning of This?

“What’s obvious is that you have no understanding of this verse”—Mel Wild

This is the answer I was searching for. All my life I sought for truth, only to have a book secretly placed in my hotel room by an unknown—a Gideon of the gospel to answer life’s riddles. Now my quest—to find meaning outside of myself. Who am I? Where did I come from? Is this life all there is? Where do I go when I die? As an idiot not trained in the correct ways of god, I thought it best to give reading the nod. I had heard so much about “The Good Book” I couldn’t wait to read it, when it mysteriously appeared in the top drawer of my night stand—appearing like a thief in the night.

It was a real page turner as my mind eyelids raced to keep up. I had always imagined if there was a god he would be really cool, like a good teacher, but it seems I was wrong. Vagued by subtle omission, plagued by violent commission, varied in different renditions, the Bible was a complex, but obvious penning of disturbed control-men with massive egos. The LORD it seemed he was a curse, to opened eyes on every verse, with ramblings of severed foreskins, the fever churned out new revelations to the nature of this paranormal being we strive to emulate. This unseen god commanded authority and men were convinced to do the things his parents would never allow, nor would he do on his own. Mass murders were a way of life, while wives came in scores, but were treated like whores. So I moved on to the Quran.

There was no Muslim book in my extended-stay-express, so I google the book and gave it a test. I called a toll-free and wondered to him, “why no Quran in the nightstand herein,

He gave me an answer, this kind Muslim man, told me of why there was no Quran.

“because guests may take it to the bathroom or other improper place.”

Ah said I, after reading some terse, my thoughts exactly after an hour of verse.

So, Torah and testaments old and the new, Quran and the commentary of some old Jews, stories of Moses who didn’t exist, Noah and Jesus and YHWH’s iron fists, to distance myself from the odd violent word, and all contradictions that flowed so absurd, a snapshot from time of a long distant caste, from authors and prophetic dreams of the past, where violence was king and oppressions reigned true, alone I decided was the path I should choose.

No premixed learning of religious odd ways, no groups on Sundays and limitless praise, no dogmas laundry would I choose to embrace, and rather than sell for integrity lost, I’d call my own shots at no matter the cost.

That verse came in question so plain to be read, but requires a doctorate explanation instead, to offer the grandest of oblique excuse, that not even one such as Satan would use.

Sweeping Generalities and Straw Men

Disagreeing with apologists? That’s fallacious talk! Make a comment about the end result of faith? Straw Man! Make an indisputable point? Sweeping generalities—the root of Christian faith—saving the whole world opens you up to such questions when nothing has been “saved” to-date (some have escaped, but none have been saved) It’s no wonder Apolologetics 101—the “Answer me a question loud and clear, I will answer with a question”, feels like your struck singing a round with the Bobby Van chorus and Burt Bacharach? Apologetics have run out of explanations, so now the good pastor and his echolalia have celebrated “the death of christiandom with a sweeping statement. Although meaning well struggling to make sense of complete ridiculosity, he is once again separating the wheat and tares within his own faith, dividing christiandom from Christianity because the outcome has been disastrous is like separating crude oil from a well. The unintended outcome is never desired in the faith, the goal post is moved to adjust once again, what he believes in.

Mel Wild is revolutionizing a new brand of Christianity, outside of Christianity.

Somebody else might have some fun with this. Here’s my last comment but it’s fun to watch all the deflections. “I don’t get angry mel. Your projecting. When you feel every argument is fallacious, it goes full circle to the fact this is the type of argument religion generates from its core. Fallacy? Funny thing Mel, if you look up the fallacies website, virtually every category has religious examples. It’s so easy to see unless you employ faith. The key to the mysteries is unbelief.

Installing fixtures and base today. Move in this weekend.

Is it something I said?

Me—(Your) Religion has no proof for the existence of god after 2000 years. Can I ask you what facts you have to present? How do you know you’re right? I know enough about neurology and the entire conversion process to know how easily humans are influenced by playing on basic psychology. It’s quite obvious where the god resides. He’s right in your head.

BeaconApologetics—Proof? What kind of proof would convince you? Are you are asking for something that can be seen? Are you looking for something that can be weighed? What kind of evidence would suit you? If you have decided what evidence is sufficient, what is it? I believe you need to find a good Gospel preaching Church in your area and address these questions to the Pastor there. I have many evidences that I have experienced in my life that you would likely blow off as delusional. What evidence would work so that YOU would believe in God? Please do not insult me as I have not insulted you, statements such as “It’s. quite obvious where the god resides. He’s right in your head” does not work for me or anyone else.

He does hold comments until he’s ready to respond. My opinion is defamatory, while his completely fact-less opinions are to be taken at their presup I suppose.

Religious Echolalia

Having someone silently mouth the words you are speaking is called echolalia. Many of us know someone that does this and there are a few causes to address, notably left hemispheric brain injury. Also, some subconsciously do this conversational lip-sync to enhance memory when short term memory is becoming problematic. Nonverbal echolalisis is normal in some, but combined with religion it has proven damaging to entire continents. Religious echolalia is a common practice to polish lies, mimicking and memorizing lines of bullshit horseshit to later flow from the lips of the once silent puppet.

Silently mouthing and audibly floundering apologists have perfected this technique in seminaries across the country. Conversational lip-sync from both sides of the mouth is a skill-set usually reserved for top ventriloquist, but apologists have now taken the industry by storm. Here below our favorite apologist duo, Mel and John caught during warmups

And this dress rehearsal secretly photographed of apologist Wally and Colorstorm. Not sure who is who in this one.

While each team has their own style, rigorous rehearsal and bromance has made the four indistinguishable in print. The cure to religious echolalia is unbelief. Dry your eyes you weepy guys. Jesus ain’t coming, and the truth, however painful, is a reality you can learn to live with.

Insanitybytes in a paid “Ask the Bigot” performance with pastor Ryan Faust, grace church, Seattle.

Mel learning from dad, eventually honing the craft to blow smoke up peoples asses.

Echolalia (also known as echologia or echophrasia[1]) is defined as the unsolicited repetitions of vocalizations. made by another person (by the same person is called palilalia In its profound form it is automatic and effortless.

(N)ow yo(U) (K)now h(O)w it (A)ll h(A)ppen(S)

The Answer

So much of life is searching for answers, prying back the layers to find meaning or substance, years of true devotion and commitment and in the end, the answer was an easy or obvious solution hidden in plain sight. John, over at Nowhere Tribune posted a concise and worthwhile book review about a missionary who came to the realization that people around the world were happy without the gospel and Jesus. He also notes that the higher your level of devotion and study of the Bible and Christianity, the more likely one is to leave it. We are going about this atheism all wrong! All we need to do is promote in-depth bible study. Spread the word! And give John a quick read if you have a moment.

Cockermouth, Hooker, Morehead and Climax

Some towns have names that come with an explanation. For instance, the outskirts of Hooker Oklahoma says; “Welcome to Hooker. It’s a place, not a profession”. Others just let it ride, but if your from Bumpass, Virginia, you know the history came from the French “bon pas” meaning good step. It evolved over time to what it is today. Throw in some slang and accent, and you can kind of picture the process.

Cockermouth, England is famous today for sheep and the annual woolfest. The name comes from being at the mouth of the Cocker river. It’s an ancient market town with a name that can, in today’s slang, raise an eyebrow, especially if it were in Montana. Baaa!

Most towns are just towns and don’t need much explaining when you pass through. Religion, on the other hand, has a lot of explaining to do—It has to. Virtually every verse, every catch phrase, and every doctrine has to be explained ad nauseum in order to understand – relinquish accept the obvious pitfalls in the story. From the Red Sea to the shining star in the east, or the contradictions of all points in between, nothing in reality matches the stories. It has to be propped up on every single point.

If only one part of it were true, I think most of us would give another serious inquiry. But reality doesn’t match with even one. Morehead and Climax and Cummings may have strange names in today’s language, but they are real places with real history, but you only have to explain it once. So, next time you’re in Morehead, stop at the booth for a Dickens’ cider. At least you may get a chuckle, which is more than you’ll get from religion. And yes, I went there, but I’ve never been there.

The Age of unReason

“Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst; every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in; but this attempts to stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue us into eternity” Thomas Paine

“Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him [Jesus] by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being”. Thomas Jefferson

Christianity’sinflated numbers is like converting every Ethnic restaurant in the world to Mexican food by changing the sign on the door. Many of today’s customs used in the Church can be traced back to Rome, when Constantine permitted the process of converting the official religion of the Roman Empire from Paganism to Christianity.

But forget the word ‘converting‘. Changing the sign on the door is a lot easier and quicker than changing the whole building. Christianity was created on many customs that were practiced by Jews and Pagans (non monotheistic) at that time as religion and belief was interwoven with superstition. There is no difference today. There are literally thousands of different faiths that merely claim to be Christian.

The apologist answer; “But don’t misunderstand the use of the word ‘converting’; the birth of Christianity was not merely a recycle job. There’s little doubt that early christians adopted well-known customs to develop their religion and doctrine. To suggest otherwise is to say that the seeds sown by God for earlier faiths was a mistake. By definition, God does not make mistakes“.

So there you go, even though it was adapted through false religions, that was the will of god all along to have false religion carry the banner of truth. Ridiculous.

2.4 Billion and 1.6 Billion and no Bliss

With all the power attested by Abrahamic religion you would think the world pure bliss by now, especially with most of faith in the multigenerational stage by fertility, passing on those good christian genes. Late yesterday Professor Taboo made a comment that deserves some attention. “These signs [attesting miracles] will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Here is the world as we would know it if any of it were true. Now remember, christianity has been the dominant, most populous religion in the world for about 1000 years, and is soon to be outnumbered by Islam, who also lays claim to the healing power of scripture and prayer.

The Blind would see—As world domination has maintained numbers of about 65% abrahamic you would expect ophthalmology to be in decline, but the reverse is true. Recent headlines read; “Growing demand for eye care highlights shortage of ophthalmologists”, “Growth foreseen for ophthalmology sector”. However, new technologies through science research and development, many colorblind may now see color, and some deaf are hearing with otic manipulation, computers, and advanced hearing aids. 2000 years into this faith you’d expect they’d have improved the quality of life in some minor measurable form, but evidently nothing what the scriptures says is true. And all done in his name…Well, at least reality gives apologists some employment.

Sick would be healed by prayer—Social media has quadrupled the number of healing prayers, likes for prayers, and shouts-outs of “praying” to bolster the efficacy of prayer, but statistically it appears the overblown passionate flowing of prayer has irritated the big lord of love into hiding. The advent of cell cameras and the internet has actually slowed prayers, healing, and miracles to zero.

Nothing in abrahamic faith can even remotely be verified, nor has it improved life on the planet. Studies have shown their doctrine to be ineffective at healing anything at all. Here’s their answer to that problem. “Study of the supernatural is out of sciences reach“. But statistics show prayer does nothing to heal anything, and quire possibly increases anxiety causing untoward effects on healing.

In His Name the only new tongues that have been spoken is honing, bassackwards splicing of words to obfuscate reality and maintain control through incremental increases in apologetics. Finely tuned inscrutable phrases and religious intellectual verbosity is the purest form of deception.

Book of Mormon Authorship

If Joseph Smith authored the Book of Mormon with an eighth grade education it is quite a feat. Although the book came out in his 20’s, who really knows what he learned or where. A history book issued in his school years when he was 12 obviously had some significant influence. Thanks to the computer age, 100,000 books published in Smith’s time extracted one stunning correlation. The Late War Between the United States and Great Britain by Gilbert Hunt, is a king James style history book used as a student reader about the war of 1812. The Book of Mormon contains over 100 4gram matches (please see this and scroll to the top after loading) to the The Late War. 4gram, or unique 4 word sentences typically will match one or two times per thousand books. It also contains many exact phrases and closely related ideas from The Late War, and the Book of Mormon itself is primarily about war, but then again, so are most other religious texts. Joseph Smith was 12 when the Book entered schools. It was a great success, and endorsed by reputable scholars. The same scholars joseph smith approached to validate the Book of Mormon.

But for myself, there are two other reasons I do not believe Joseph Smith Jr. authored the Book of Mormon, but I believe his father did, and with cooperation in the family business, Jr. was the front man. The tree of life vision of the Book of Mormon is an important piece in Mormon culture and the Book of Mormon. Everybody mormon knows the story. It was also a journal entry from Joseph Smith Sr’ wife, referring to the story told by her husband 19 years prior to the publishing of the Book of Mormon. He was an educated man and had been working on the story for decades, and is the ghost writer if I am right.

I asked my wife the other day when I stumbled across this journal entry, if one of our kids said they wanted us to join with them in a church, would we do it? It was an emphatic “no!” Jr’s parents and all his siblings joined the church and were part of its organizing day. All of them! Then I asked my wife if I wanted the family to join a church, would we all join? Her answer was probably. In fact, that’s what happened to us years ago. The entire family joined the LDS because I was LDS. Jr’s family were all a part of the scheme, as they were with other shady adventures including divining and other occult activities.

LDS apologetics is stating the vision by Sr. was to prepare him to know his son was a prophet. How surprised he must have been when he read the tree of life vision in the Book of Mormon for the first time. Uh, no, not surprised, because most likely he wrote it. Remember the simplest answer is most likely the best answer. Here is a short Mormon article about the vision. Read the comments too, as you can judge for yourself the depth of LDS faith in fiction.

As a side note, most LDS do not know about Sr’s account of the tree of life. Members need to do some digging because this is just another of many failing bilge pumps. The ship would sink pretty fast if anyone does any reading. I would love to hear some thoughts from members on this. What is the current thought on this?

Crossing Wires of Religion

Pulling wire for a house can go a couple of ways. Drill holes. Start at the panel and pull wire through all the holes to each room so each has its own circuit, or if it’s easier, start at the room and pull it back to the panel. Usually it works out to be a little bit of both.

Next, run wire to each outlet and light, connect all the hot with hot, neutrals to neutrals, and grounds to grounds so essentially every wire in the building meets up back at the source. Even little bits and pieces have to be connected or it interrupts the entire circuit. The final step after stapling everything in place is to install each breaker with the appropriate run and wire the panel. It has to look neat and organized so the inspector can understand what you did and pick out any apparent problems or mistakes you may have made. Very good idea to have another set of eyes check your work. It can be quite mesmerizing—a little like editing your own book.

Current flows from the source to each room and appliance, but currently abrahamic religion flows backwards, searching from each outlet, straining, reaching for a source of power that does not exist but in wishing. and disconnected from reality. Each denomination has its own style trying to connect. Their wires are crossed with dead-ends, gaps, looping circuits and shorts, all the while they swear it works! But alas, not one concept would pass inspection even from a casual observer with its contradicting catch phrases, scripture, and imaginary results. Explaining all you want will change nothing if it’s wrong. I am hoping this house wiring works—but just to make sure we are connecting everything using real wire and real electricity. And, if the inspector finds a mistake, I’d be happy to know about it.

Hypnic Jerk – Admitting Atheism

Reactions to admitting atheism in certain circles displays age old evolutionary traits in our closest ancestors.

Hypnic Jerk is not a nickname for Christian apologists, but a sense of falling shortly after going to sleep. We’ve all had this happen after dozing off, then awake suddenly with a jerk sensation or startle. One theory is primates carry this reflex to keep them from falling out of trees. My theory is this; When the first primates became atheists, this was a reaction from other monkeys because one was not “falling” for the BS any longer. We still see it today. The mere mention of your atheism can cause the hypnic jerk, double take, raised eyebrows, blood pressure, heart rate changes, and fear.

Waking and realizing the fall was a false alarm, we drift back to sleep, which is right where they want us. Asleep to the reality that nothing they believe is reality. Asleep to the reality that nothing they teach adds up to anything credible. Asleep to the evidence that there is no evidence. Religious followers need a hypnic jerk to shake them, to wake them. Please, please, keep your hypnic jerks polished and ready to loan. If you start to fall for their nonsense, remember the evolution that got you here.

Panama Howler Monkey.

Clinically Dead vs Biologically Dead

Clinical death occurs when the heart stops beating and the blood stops flowing. Clinical death precedes biological death by 4-6 minutes, whereas clinical death is reversible with intervention, but biological death is not.

Since religion is always the opposite of what we hear, so it is with its death. Christianity is biologically brain dead, but it’s members are pumping on the chest of the corpse and counting compressions as heart beats while claiming a code save. Not sure if you’ve ever done CPR, but it takes a lot of energy, resources and strength to keep a clinically dead person from slipping off into biologically dead. It’s a tiresome process that requires you pass off to other rescuers to keep compressions efficient.

Ceasing resuscitation efforts is difficult at times. Family and friends often urge you to keep trying, go one more round on the algorithms to get a shockable rhythm for a chance of spontaneous heart beat and respiration. At some point you have to call it off. Religion has been in asystole for quite some time, but the members are too attached and too full of need to recognize their beating a dead horse—one that is biologically and clinically dead. It’s time to lay this one to rest.

God Works Through Doctors/Scientists

I’m sure god has already thought of everything, then at the right time to keep up with the needs of his children, he puts the thought “out there” for some laboring scientist heathen to have an “aha moment” of discovery, thus benefiting all mankind and saving the day—But, as always, too late.

So far 25million people have died from aids, and even amidst the prayers of Christian opposition we are making progress towards a cure. But I guess god knows best when to end a life here to spend the rest of the eons in hell. God is compassionate.

Roughly 8million cancer deaths per year, and WHO is anticipating 84million more deaths over the next 10 years. God has revealed the cure bit by bit, but research scientist are just to caught up foray of equations and just don’t get it. More prayer is needed for scientific clarity and also to justify the rise of childhood cancers. But, he knows best—He is kind.

In the 14th century god decided to take a half day off. The plague killed half the worlds population, and the discoveries by Yersin and the Simond led to eventual vaccinations and things stabilized—500 years later—Gods timing is perfect.

“If” there was a god, drip fed scientific advance and drip fed morality based on the demands of secularism is the ultimate in immorality. THE All knowing, all caring, always loving, and always dead last when it comes to human advances, especially in morality—God is just…Just what?

Ask Mel….god is obvious— He’s everywhere!! Yes I say. I see him for what he is, if he were real. Remember, faith NEVER adds up to what it’s propped up to be when you look past the whitewashing

Perpetual Motion Machine

The search for an endless, free energy source has been discovered and as usual, it’s been under our noses for quite some time, or in this case, our fingertips.

Christian apologists have been recruited GE Office Systems for developing a hands-on, in-home prototype using electricity generating keyboards. Since there is no end in sight to the rhetoric and excuses generated, apologists in key population bases have been scheduled to present their arguments for god during “peak voltage demand” based on their time zones. Each apologist will receive metered credits on their power bills, and substation attendants will receive overtime for after hours, long winded diatribes when keystrokes exceed power demand.

While the current prototype generates a substantial, unintelligible-vacuum sound, is is anticipated to blend in nicely with the already numbing tones that whisk their way across the world at light speed from existing modems. As existing arguments for god are at a millennials-long standstill, frustration has trended upward only raising the flurry of apologetic banter.

Confusion Conversion and Christology

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah‬ ‭5:20‬ ‭KJV‬‬ —

Who tells you one thing while you see another? Whoever wrote this was keen to the preachers word games. Don’t be afraid to look for yourself and see things as they are. Nothing adds up to what the preachers say. The church is the corruption. And it always has been. Look at Matthew 23. Somebody wrote that, and it’s about the clergy. Nothing has changed—

The more I read the pastor, the more I’m convinced he is using Chris Langan’s “CMTU, Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe or, “theory of everything”. The theory is difficult to understand at best, and focuses much on incoherent contradiction and terms that the pastor-blogger has adapted to—”confuse readers to believers” platform. It’s heavy on causation and trying to explain itself with itself, or “reality is a language that is talking to itself about itself” type speak.

Langan has an IQ of 200, the highest intelligence quotient score currently in the USA and 7th highest IQ ever recorded. It might take a little time just to understand the summary, but you’ll see terms like ontological and incoherence are big in the theory. I think Mel is using a physics theory hiding behind the computer screen, trying to apply this to his God, and much of the theory can’t even adequately be applied to science. But he does talk an impressive tone.

This is a decent breakdown of the theory. I do believe you been caught peeking pastor.

Twisted terms and confusion reigns, ontologically worded games, to separate the wheat and tares, will take more words that few can stare.

Even irony has lost its track, for some there is no turning back, as good is evil and evils grand, there’s no theology we can understand.

Rude Mofos

Apologetics budding superstar Sheldon Agonson, has taken my statements and converted to mainstream apologetics. I am not angry with his twisting and lying and misplacing my words to analyze them out of context. I am sorry for his soul, as he, like so many before him have proven that lying and twisting is the only convincing argument for Jesus. An update was added to Websterss in line 2. I know, I was warned to stay away, and you were all correct in your advisories. But I’m happy to have another brother in hell to look over to Lazarus and Abraham, across that gulf of misery and lament eternity with me. Hell is for the heathen, but the servants in hell will be the liars. The only reason he would lie the way he has, is he knows there is no hell, and his need for dominating validation has trumped his senses. He continues to play from apologetics 101, and baiting accusations to attract endless replies to pad the stats bar for his two readers. This is either intentional, his reading comprehension is elementary, or English is his second language. I’m willing to give a pass if needed. Sheldon, in one post you have done what most apologist do in three. You have tagged atheism in your post, gleefully stating you were happy to have someone argumentative to call you out on your babbling accusations about atheist laziness to argue with you. Cherry picked points and ignored convincing arguments on morality. Sheldon, you keep saying you want an answer. The answers were given in the first paragraph. You may not like my writing style, but the answer you seek was given plainly. And lastly, you keep directing the comments to your site. Control is key for apologists. Editing and keeping control of the argument on your turf isn’t smart. It’s weak. You know damn well your comments would get eaten alive by our readers, and you hid in the confines of control. Hope you’re better than that with your family, but alas… that is the Christian male working in you. Once again, humanist morality outshines the god of the Bible and his followers. You have repeatedly accused me of attacking the church. Fact checking and quoting scripture is damning to the church on its own merits. I don’t need to attack. A careful reading of scripture shows your roots. And your bias can only be confirmed when you agree with its morality.

Have You Heard the New Testament is Better?

You ever find that your thinking has been all wrong, and had an epiphany that Christianity is all what it is purported to be? Yeah, me neither. A reoccurring theme, that after the Old Testament Jesus fulfilled the law and all the bad god parts were done away with. So we look to the words of Jesus, to “right the ship” of all that had gone wrong wth Abrahamic religion. The New Testament is a kinder, more loving, and gentler version; a higher law, if you will, wiping away slavery, racism, bigotry, oppression, and more. The mean god of the old testament had a change of heart….or did he?

A handful from of a full basket of NT scripture is enough to show that this is complete BS. Modern Christians are banking on you never reading the full text, and if you do they have the tools to whitewash it. A select sampling of scripture is just enough to give you the warm and fuzzies of faith to conversion. Dig a little deeper and find the origins are less than godlike.

Slaves are instructed to obey their masters, (Eph 6:5) and societal decline is greeted with anticipation in Revelation and the gospels, “the end is nigh”, and any day now believers are to hope for the return of Jesus to wipe out all the wrongs of the world, leading Christians to apathy about the health of our planet. Jesus is coming, only after things have gotten terribly wrong, so wrongs are praised as an ushering in to redemption.

Women are still to be silent, men are socially superior to women, demons take the blame for medical problems, owning humans as property is still endorsed, eternal punishment for thoughts of lust or feeling anger is equal to murder and sends you to hell. Now even your thoughts can get you sentenced. Death penalty for children reaffirms OT way of thinking. “He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.” Matthew‬ ‭15:1, 4‬ ‭KJV

And finally, the central point of the New Testaments, is that human sacrifice is a great way to solve your problems.

An old saying that I still love today; You know that little white speck that is on top of the chicken shit? Well, that little white speck is chicken shit too

Slight of hand rewording of bad doctrine is the core of Christianity.

Apologist Answer Ratings Chart

Dedicated to those who keep trying, even though they’re wrong.

Loosely interpreted scripture, tightly bound comments, and microfibrical folicular linguistic divisions (hairsplitting) has caused gastro-apologist scientists to develop a groundbreaking new ratings system to analize [sic] the words of apologetics budding superstars.

Macroscopic analysis of answered questions leads scientist to believe only comfort points are ever addressed, while the truly damming portions of obvious facts are left underserved or proctacally [sic] ignored, resembling answers given in diagram seven, where only bits and pieces of even philosophical arguments are allowed to enter the discussion.

While the acclaimed apologists feel like the image type 4, the disparity between feelings and fact are a unique christian problem, where truth rarely comes into play in their belief system, as this Box of bible facts illustrates.

Frequency and regularity have been consistent in the pastors blogging, allowing for continued observation of the stall tactics mentioned. And, as electronic data is easily tracked and difficult to wipe clean, the pastors words are readily available for examination.

Health department officials have recommended the above “full” facility be pumped and renovated into a two-seater to accompany fellow blogger and church spokesman Juan BrainYawn for prolonged verbal consultations.

How are they doing? Your feedback is important to us. Please rate apologists Mel and John using the Wong-Baker pain scale above, 10 being a bad job, and 0 being a good job, and include any helpful tips or comments.

Comatized by Belief

Finding the right words to describe what you don’t believe, can sometimes be a little tricky. I was commenting on Dr Seggy’s site and I just had to make up a word, since nothing has adequately described how the religious have blindly defended a factless hypothesis of a god to explain our existence. Vehemently defending that belief that took no effort to get, and requires no effort to maintain, yet act like they are gut shot if you question the validity of their faith or their story. Comatized by belief, and blinded by faith in supernatural, abrahamic religion is anything but righteous, provable, or even sensible. And we have to explain why we don’t believe what apologetics, archeologists, science, or believers have failed to show evidence of. Go figure.

DeConversion Hotline

Tired of your old, worn, outdated and mean god? If you’ve seen through the the double talk and the contradictions, if you’ve prayed to no avail, if your tired of defending the invisible god that’s just not there, and your sick of trying to rationalize everything you believe, call Atheist International. Our deconversion experts are standing-by to take your call. 01-884-NOMORE-BS. For an atheist specialist press 1. To get help to be a real Humanist, press 2, and for Agnosticism press 3. Learn quick tips on how to talk ambiguity Free for the next 30 years. Rid yourself of guilt and mental baggage today. Call now!! Operators are standing by.

Ubi sent this to me. I guess there is a real hotline too. Here is the link

Bully Sticks and Converts

My son in law has a beauty of a German shepherd pup. He’s 8 months old and just untrained, goofy, and overly friendly. They have been giving him bully sticks for chew treats and he just loves them. I’m happy the dog is happy, but does he know he’s eating dehydrated bull penis? I don’t have the heart to tell him, but would he understand anyhow?

Christian newbies can also be full of zeal and eager to share their recent conversion in praise to their lord. But do they know what the ingredients are? When one finds out the inner fallacies of the church and the discrepancies and excuses, what kind of taste is that going to leave in his pallet? One can try to spruce it up with seasonings or cut it up and add it to a stew, but deep down he knows he’s still digesting a line of BS. If he tells his friends the bowl is full of bull penis first, do you think there would be any takers. The facts of religion must be disguised to be palatable for human consumption. And once you know what’s in it, you won’t want to try it no matter how you slice it.

No Wrong, No Doubt

Honesty and Christian apologetics is the fifty first shade of grey. Advancing the lords work requires the utmost skill and knowledge, and serious fudging of the truth from time to time. “I don’t know” is an ok answer, but confirming any personal doubt or lack of knowledge is not the apologist way. No chink in the armor of god can be displayed.

As I can only speak for myself, here is why I immersed myself in apologetics–Doubt, Doubt, Doubt! Doubt is what puts you into apologetics. After many years of innocent faith you investigate below the surface and come to the crossroads of doubt. Next, spend the rest of your life trying to prove you’re not naive and gullible. I spent 20 years reading Qumran, Nag Hammadi, Dead Sea scrolls, and miles of Bible commentary and scripture trying to find proof and validation. I never did. But in Christianity the conversion process is to “believe” before you know the details, then apologetics takes the rest of your life wading through cleverly worded arguments trying to prove yourself right. Faith, them knowledge, then doubt, is the fuel that keeps Christian apologetics alive. And doubt is inevitable when there is no substance but supernatural hearsay.

Archeologists Discover Massive Water Valve

TCA Newsflash 2-17-2018

Happy World Flood Day!!

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Northcoast Oil And Hydrocarbon (NOAH) geologists coupled with geophysicists and a Johannesburg based archeological team unearthed a massive water valve south of Addis Ababa during an open pit oil investigation. Dubbed immediately ” The fountain of the deep”, the valve measures 30 meters in diameter and is made of an unknown metal component. The valve is free of rust and appears operational.

“This is no coincidence ” says team leader Jorge Medirás. The discovery occurred on world flood day, commemorating 4365 years since the great flood. A memorial service is planned to honor the 8 survivors.

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep were opened up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭7:11‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Archaeologists are currently deciphering curious markings indicating at least 12 additional pre Babylonian valves are in existence at various global locations. No windows have been discovered. More to follow.

Science is a Matter of Trust, Not Faith

I may have cracked the code on this one.

Trust – reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.

Faith- “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews‬ ‭11:1‬ ‭KJV‬‬

I do not have an iota of faith in science, but I do place some trust and confidence in science and scientists because of the prior and continued successes all around us. It has a track record of measurable performance. Religion still has none. The paradox of religious faith is also found in scripture. Let this next part soak in a second.

“If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?” John‬ ‭3:12‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Was Jesus a scientist, or better yet, astrophysicist? The Greek word for heavenly is Ouranos, pronounced (oo-ran-os) meaning – heaven, the visible heavens: the atmosphere, the sky, the starry heavens. I digress.

Monotheistic premise today does not believe the earthly obvious, but holds to faith to explain what is otherwise clearly known.

Fundamental knee jerk resistance to science is holding the religious hostage to faith. If they won’t even admit to proven basics, how will they understand more complex disciplines like physics and evolution?

Better off Without the Law

Adding burdens to an already busy life is the Christian way. They can’t help but share, but are we better off not knowing? Without the law we cannot come under condemnation from their god?. “Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭4:15‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“So, according to Bible, if you don’t tell me, I am not accountable. So why are you telling me? I have a guess…but please,…

I feel compelled by the sprit to make a word correction to a popular verse. What is promised versus what is real are most often two different things.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you stress”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28 KJV‬‬

Adding a new form of tactical manipulation filled with ambiguous writings and hidden meaning is not peace. Nor is sifting through endless interpretations excusing archaic morality and promoting divisions a form of rest. Quite possibly at the end of the verse it should say “the rest”. “The rest”of the story is adapting to a new way of life making excuses for unanswered prayer, or excuses for immoral scripture, or belief in 6 day creations, or unicorns and talking snakes, what day is the sabbath, and constant threat of hell and apocalypse. Rest? How about anxiety and non-answers to an already difficult life. Adding a new discipline takes time and effort. Living with Abrahamic religion always ever-present hell threat and manipulation promising relief if you can just “do it right” (if you figure out what that is in 30 years) is not rest. It is psychological tail chasing. And don’t get me started about prayer!! And don’t forget to shake the dust off your feet when you leave.

The Way it Was

I, Having been indoctrinated and guided carefully into belief and faith most of my life, and having studies most lengthy and focused in one particular area of religion I have come to the point where the things I believe, even though preposterous, I believe are true. They will stand the test of time and scrutiny, for my knowledge of these beliefs is vast and as solid as the very foundation of reason and right. I cannot be swayed in my faith, for god has shown me through revelation and feelings and the persuasion of his servants the truth, and now it is my obligation to share that truth with you. To push and persuade you to believe as I believe because I am right! My singular disciplinary approach has not given me the “well rounded” preposterous man made knowledge base to blend experience of the world and science causing a man made “common sense”, but my knowledge is directly linked to god through his prophets by his holy word. How can you doubt the truth when it is the most useful thing in the world to maintain order and peace? Through fantastic miracle, god has used regular men to convey his word in a most uncanny and unlikely fashion. He has used deplorable sinners, forgery, and money grubbing lying preachers to pass his truths and to preserve his words for all the world. Who could do this but a god? Who could circumvent the physical world and the learning of men in such a way as to bind their very tongues with his absolute truth and authority and perfection? My presuppositional truth will dare to challenge your very existence with an ambiguous, morally elastic, fraudulent piece of imperfect, infallible literature that causes the entire world to endless conjecture and debate. You will believe this “one” all perfect god has revealed himself, not to all his subjects, but to only those few that believe in him without any proof of existence. Neither spiritual nor physical evidence is needed. You will believe based on my word and the confusion the words create. You will believe in spite of doubt because of fear and persuasion of the most loving kind. This is the blindness of faith in gods. This is where a person stays without careful scrutiny of the facts and an ounce of self awareness. This is the prison of fear to peek outside the lens if faith and see the world is not as they said, and the courage to see inside the faith is not what they said either. This is the nonsense of being raised in faith. Professing wisdom they remain fools.

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” -Aristotle

“You have the right to defend the belief that you are right, but in the end belief is not truth. Why is appearing to be right and self validation more important than truth?” You have nothing to offer to the discussion when all you have is belief. Jim

Trichoglyphs, Behavioral Traits, and a Russian Fox

Who would think the common hair whorl could spawn such genetic and behavioral implications?Trichoglyphs, or hair whorls in horses and cows and the direction of the whorl can predict certain behaviors such as left and right handedness and temperament. The higher the hair whorl in a horse, the more flighty and unpredictable the horses behavior. Dressage and jumping horses tend to be highly athletic and ambidextrous and double hair whorls are common in the sport. The clockwise or counterclockwise rotation of the whorl can also determine handedness in horses, and in K9’s making dog selection for guide and service dogs an important predictor in success. Right eye dominant dogs are less distractible when being led, and choosing the correct dog for such purposes can save time and training costs. “Dogs are both left- and right-handed, he explained, and this has an influence on their selection as guide dogs for the blind because the dogs are trained to work on a person’s left side. He cited a 2012 study in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research that showed that success was higher for right-preferent and ambidextrous dogs, and that the presence of a whorl on the dog’s left side of the head and thorax was associated with a right visual bias.

Abnormal and multiple trichoglyphs are common in birth defects in humans. Most notable in correlation with brain function abnormality. Hair follicle develops at the same time and from the same material as brain development in embryos.

Russian Fox Experiment

Dmitri K. Belyaev, a Russian scientist, may be the man most responsible for our understanding of the process by which wolves were domesticated into our canine companions. Article Here

Belyaev domesticated 40 generations of silver fox, retaining only foxes with mild temeperment towards human interaction. Not only did the foxes eventually behave like domestic dogs, but their physical characteristics changed as well. Drooping ears, changes in fur and odors were significant as well as cranial and jaw structures.

“Even Darwin noted, in On the Origin of Species, that “not a single domestic animal can be named which has not, in some country, drooping ears.” Drooping ears is a feature that does not ever occur in the wild, except for in elephants. And domesticated animals possess characteristic changes in behavior compared with their wild brethren, such as a willingness or even an eagerness to hang out with humans. If you don’t think evolution is possible, look at how one simple seemingly harmless invisible trait can virtually change the whole animal in a relatively short time frame.

What about us?

As we began our own “domestication” process 12,500 years ago, what were we like? Who were we? What changes in physical features and thought have happened to us? What caused us to collaborate our superstitions into groups defending and promoting a god? Has “civilizing” turned us superstitious and neurotic, or were we always that way?

Why Does The Word Worship Bother Me so Much?

Images of myself sitting at someone’s feet in continuous homage while they express their love to me as I obey their every desire. Prostrating routinely as they enter my presence so I can give sips of wine and hand feed grapes placing one at a time in the mouth of a superior being while softly singing songs of praise and greatness. Blessed be thy name oh holy god. All the while being very conscious not to mention any of the other gods, for my sweet everlasting is a jealous god and vengeance is looming. Eternal reverence and adoration. How heavenly as we look down at all the suffering fools that didn’t believe while coddling the majesty. Anyone want to join me in worship? 6:00 Tuesday PST. BYOB.

What is it They Want?

“I shall speak forth my sentiments freely, and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the house I consider as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfil the great responsibility which we have. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense?” –Patrick Henry-

How long must we bow to the untestable, ambiguous, immoral, misinterpreted, oft quoted pseudo knowledge of divisive fable of a god that is created to control minds of the superstitious and believed by the gullible masses? How many prayers must be offered into the vacuum of space without a hint of reciprocity before we can open the minds of those masses and reach meaningful human potential?

If sensible people don’t have a sensible discussion, stupid people will have a stupid one.

Believers and Make-Believers – Is there a difference?

Believers in Make-Believe were congratulating themselves after two hours of debating and attempted grandeur. Is it possible to “win” a debate when all if your evidence is complete horse shit and smug showmanship? I read where John Lennox “wiped the floor ” with Dawkins. With what? Make-believe? The pluralistic ignorance of religion is strong. has some sweet history of success in other arenasNorth Korea is the current leader several Muslim countries all tied for 2nd place. Keep moving and agree. It’s safe there. But nowhere on earth can beat the USA in pluralistic ignorance about biblical histories that have been debunked years ago. Accepting fraudulence is a way of life for make-believers. Remember the story that broke about gold plated chariot wheels found in the Red Sea. “What they found strewn across the bottom of the reed sea has shaken the religious and scientific community,” says Rood. “Cameras mounted on remote-controlled submarines revealed coral-encrusted chariot parts, horse and human remains strewn like battlefield wreckage on the bottom of the reed sea.” Years later they are still working the story which was fake news. Snopes. But there are new stories still on the web pushing this. Is it only here you can “be all that you can be” by hanging on to the disproved and claim a cover up is hiding the truth. Only in Christianity can you quote gospel commandments as gods law given to a prophet that didn’t exist. If you’re wondering “am I the only one?” No. You’re not!

The Gospel Behind Apparitions

TCA News Podcast Script 1a

2-2-2018

Apparitions caused quite a stir in out last segment, so let’s follow up with some explanations. Our first caller stated “The only reason I converted to Christianity in my teens was because I saw the face of Jesus in a tortilla”.

I wasn’t sure if the caller was being sarcastic or not, so we’ll address this on a serious note. “Your welcome. Was it a corn tortilla or flour? Tortilla de maíz or “corn tortilla” would signify Christ as a Latin American figure, while flour has a broader range of ethnicities and we could justify a white Jesus using that logic. Was the tortilla already cooked? Post resurrection apparitions are demonstrably more prevalent in cooked tortillas, whereas uncooked could have a range of 33 years to work with and could be a juvenile apparition ranging up to the bearded version we see the most. I’m happy you had such a spiritual encounter.It is remarkably as justifiable as any other I’ve heard”.

Other factors come into play here, but as the caller took the answer off the line, I’ll have to assume a few follow up questions here. Was the tortilla an authentic variety or store bought? Store bought tortillas are uncommon for verifiable apparitions second to a strict assembly line structure. Authentic hand-made are more common as the transfers of belief systems can spiritually influence the potential outcomes. For the atheist homes, use a hot iron type press to maintain apparition free tortillas.

Branyan Apologist

TCA Newsflash

2-1-2018

Christian apologist and ego-fed blogger John Branyan made the pages of the world renown Urban Dictionary today from his Indiana home. Branyan, famous among locals as the “little apologist that could”, had few words for reporters, which is rare for the “eager pleaser of the man from Nazareth”. Fame and notoriety are nothing new for the man known as “Brain Yawn”, in certain blogging circles. Branyan Apologist! It’s official! Congratulations John. Although not accustomed to having anything approved, Urban Dictionary set a new approval speed record of 28 seconds. Seems they knew you were coming, lurking, watching, waiting to pounce and mine out any potential opportunity for conjecture. Congratulations!

Were Abraham and Muhammad Primatologists?

What distinguishes Abrahamic Religion from the apes? The apes could not write their ideas of territory, food, male dominance, and sex into law. It was all about protecting what they had and staying at the top of the clan.

Mixing Science and Faith

Maybe Christianity could adapt some scientific principles. They could claim it as gospel like they did paganism and mythology. But I don’t believe the two will ever mix because science is unprejudiced. Don’t forget their core! They are waiting and praying for god to come back and slaughter all the rest of us. That little tidbit says a lot about how they really feel. It’s a religion that is divisive and racist and prejudice to its core, and piety sets dividing lines to fight every step of social equality or scientific advance.

Richard Dawkins on The Cosmos

“Even if we don’t understand how it came into existence, it’s not helpful to postulate a creator because a creator is the very kind of thing that needs its own explanation. It’s a hell of a lot harder the explain how a god came into existence than to explain how a simplicity came into existence”.

Oxford Museum of Natural History Dawkins vs Lennox

Fascinating Deconvert of Islam

I read this tonight, and knowing very little about Islam it was fascinating to read some of his posts to see an inside view of a different than Christianity twist from an Iranian Atheist. Very interesting read. http://decentatheist.com/2018/01/24/why-is-god-so-angry/

Why do Hard When Simple is Hard Enough?

I used to write a lot of songs and they just kept getting more and more complex, when finally my buddy said, “why do hard when simple is hard enough”? Musicians have made great music with two and three chord songs. Simple is beautiful. Perfecting simple is outstanding.

It is easy to get mired down in the weight of all the information trying to sway you this way and that. Try this: Go someplace quiet. Throw all your preconceptions and indoctrinations in a big pile and burn it. Think what it would be like to face everything you ever learned about religion was a lie. It’s a pill that needs to be swallowed. Think how easy this is without someone trying to influence you in order to validate themselves. Try to show a little self awareness and open your mind. You don’t need convincing circular conjecture and apologetics to know the truth. The truth rarely needs a footnote, or, an explanation to an explanation. You can’t justify one iota of doctrine, or one miracle or prayer unanswered without rationalizing the deficiency of god or being outright deceived. The cliches don’t solve your problem. They are these; “You pray in your time, and god answers in his time”. “We can’t imagine the wisdom of god”, or “He is testing your faithfulness. We just can’t comprehend god”, or “he wasn’t meant to be healed because god is testing his faith”. Why would god need to do that? These are some of the most common excuses for god, passed on from generation to generation. When you look at the objectives there is nothing here but excuses and ambiguous text of archaic language allowing for multiple interpretation and confusion. By design.

I know. I was in it for 50 years and nothing added up. I had several “spiritual” experiences that were based on lies. Positive emotion is not the holy spirit testifying to you. Feeling good by passing off your responsibilities to another entity is psychological feel good. Nothing more. Nothing has changed but the feeling someone is watching over you. They aren’t.

You don’t have to know the science behind it. I didn’t. All you have to do is face the reality that you might be wrong, and look at the failures of religion openly and honestly. It’s about three things. Power, control, and money. Every institution is corrupt. You think religion has escaped unscathed? Hell, they’re the ones that initiated all the corruption. Pointing fingers, deflecting and distracting. The devil has no horns. That is the trick. The devil wears a suit and tie and holds a microphone. Quit making excuses for gods and failed preachers and let’s start working towards something productive instead of wasting millennia of time running in circles chasing hidden meaning of ancient writing that doesn’t come true.

Why do hard when simple is hard enough? Life is pretty peaceful since dumping the hope of an invisible being that instills guilt and racism and has a history of mass destruction and murder. Why do hard when simple is where you find true peace. That is a motto to live by.

The Gods are Doin Their Thing

I’m a little upset with Boreas today. Snow is too wet and trees are down all over the property. Hoping all of my Dryads are safe and sound. I checked my Yggdrasil and it is doing ok. Yggdrasil is my immense mythical tree that connects the nine worlds in Norse cosmology.

And the turkeys came for a visit while I was cutting two trees off the road to the house. They love dinner rolls.

Thank Artemis they are good. Today I am a god. The god of snow shoveling.

Where is the Insane Asylum??

This must be the new go to argument against atheism. Twice in two days. I just learned from A bit of Orange that because I don’t eat my young I have already rejected atheism and I’m ready to be saved. Don’t bother checking his site as he blocks any comments he can’t answer. Here ya go.

“I don’t doubt that you and your family love each other. I merely point out that atheism offers no basis to give value to love or priority to your duties as a parent or spouse. On atheism, there is no good and evil, so the difference between loving your children or killing and eating them differs only in the normative evolutionary path our species has taken thus far, and the moral code AGAINST killing one’s children forced on western culture by the Biblical worldview. Other animals eat their young, why should YOU not do so if we are merely animals as Atheism claims?

Also, your love for each other is merely chemical brain states, such as being hungry. When you tell your children you love them, then if they were REALLY atheists, they ought to respond, “Oh, you are?”

Here’s my point- if you love your family and know that loving them is BETTER than killing and eating them, then you have already rejected Atheism. I believe you do love your family. I just want you to see that you are already rejecting atheism. After that, you may see that you have a heavenly father who loves you, and is waiting for you to come home”.

#JesusLovesYou

And JB poses this beauty only in order to sidetrack the conversation as he does. “Where do you get the idea that Christians shouldn’t kill natives”? Because of evolution and atheism we we would actually justify the stronger spaniards in killing pacifist natives that don’t comprehend killing. It wasn’t natural for them, and he can’t see that it is unnatural to use a law/bible to justify slaughter.

He doesn’t really know that it is mostly natural to not kill. Only a law splitting Christian can master that.

Why would anyone reject a humanist view that protects life and promotes freedom better than religion?

i would like to explore a solid answer to these thoughts though.

H.G. Wells

“Investigations into the beginnings of religion have accumulated steadily throughout the past half century. It is only by great efforts of censorship, by sectarian education of an elaborately protected sort, and the like, that ignorance about them is maintained.”

H. G. Wells

Might is not Right

Bartolome De Las Casas sailed to the “New World” in 1502 and recorded many of the things he saw in his book, “The Devastation of the Indies”: Quote – “With my own eyes I saw Spaniards cut off the nose, hands and ears of Indians, male and female, without provocation, merely because it pleased them to do it … Likewise, I saw how they summoned the caciques and the chief rulers to come, assuring them safety, and when they peacefully came, they were taken captive and burned … (The Spaniards) took babies from their mothers’ breasts, grabbing them by the feet and smashing their heads against rocks … They built a long gibbet, low enough for the toes to touch the ground and prevent strangling, and hanged thirteen at a time in honor of Christ Our Savior and the twelve Apostles …

Then, straw was wrapped around their torn bodies and they were burned alive … When the Spaniards had collected a great deal of gold from the Indians, they shut them up in three big houses, crowding in as many as they could, then set fire to the houses, burning alive all that were in them, yet those Indians had given no cause nor made any resistance …They would cut off an Indian’s hands and leave them dangling by a shred of skin … they would test their swords and their manly strength on captured Indians and place bets on the slicing off of heads or cutting of bodies in half with one blow.”

On every island Columbus ‘discovered’ he planted a cross, claiming ownership for his Spanish Catholic patrons.

I do think the spaniards were doing there religious duty here according to Ezekiel. “When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.”

‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭3:18‬ ‭KJV‬

The Finite Human Mind Cannot Comprehend

I’ve heard this one before, but I just want to know who gets to determine what I can comprehend? I think we’re ready now. Go ahead. Explain it.

Now I know how few people depend on Answers dot com for their religious questions, but this did get 7200 confidence votes from a guy named fowl1. Good job. Thanks for the material Christians.

Why Fasting is Important

The first Sunday of each month the LDS have fast and testimony meeting. Members fast 24 hours as a general rule. Typically you would have dinner the night before, skip two full meals, than have dinner again the following evening. Somewhere between the 15-20 hour mark you’d have your testimony meeting. Mormons tout the health benefits and spiritual awareness of fasting, but rarely is the caveat considered. Fasting alters brain chemistry and sugar uptake Opening brain fazes to a more programmable state. During this drowsy state of weakened physiology you listen to 20 or so people tell you they know the church is true, and other anecdotal Mormon doctrine and testimony. The science of Physiology works! So does monthly brainwashing.

Really?

It’s not even a very good hoax. Who is it that leaves all their sensibility at the door for a poorly written hearsay of a long ago past? It is now the grown equivalent of a massive federation bureaucracy driven by incoherent laws with rogue outposts crying “lo here” and “lo there”. Their making this stuff up! The only thing keeping it afloat are the gullibles that won’t look at real knowledge to change it, and the other passengers that are driving the ship with the zeal of a half eaten library book. Just the way it was planned.

Sunday I have a very special post that would appreciate your input. Thanks so much.

Desperation

raging ragged desperation keep the charade alive, stoke it fan it stay in overdrive, never sleep oft repeat the same words that you heard, soon you must prove but your proof is absurd, and waning thoughts need fresh blood to pump energy to the veins of the craft, when all else fails turn out gullible youth to prove your tales-the best remedy not always true and tried, but new with lies that have felt the heat of a perfectly staged revival without real knowledge can keep the flame alive.

Sell it by zealot!

Theism

Spotting a liar

I follow a blog by psychologist Dr Perry, and this week his topic is spotting a liar. Here is number 2 on the list, but the entire article reminded me of some apologists that frequent our blogs. 2. They don’t answer the specific question that has been asked. A person who is lying will avoid answering the question and will instead make a convincing statement. The statement may be true but it is not an answer to the question. For example, when you ask your child if they skipped school and they answer by saying “I would never do that. I am a good student.” In another example, say you are missing money at work and ask your coworker, “Did you take the money that was here?” and they answer by saying, “I have been working here for years and am a good person.” These statements might be true, but they are not answering the specific question that has been asked. The person is trying to convince instead of convey the truth. Convincing statements are a strong indicator of lying. You might need to ask more questions to get to the truth”. But that doesn’t mean you’ll ever get a straight answer.

Radical Atheistology

Four things or five you need to start deconverting from any invisible mythical sky god religion.

1. Read. Read more than just the official versions your church allows. You’ll be surprised what they hide from you. If you all ready know? Shame on you and skip to step 2. Stop apologizing for them. Read something contrary. You’ll be surprised at the common sense kindness of the atheist community. Smart, accepting, and reasonable. Not for power, not for money, not for control. For a free mind and acceptance. For peace. Really!

2. Observe. Even the simplest observation on your own time can easily overturn the miles of apologetic writing your church has split hairs to write. Don’t forget to look around you. Take a hike in the canyons. The earth is older than that. Cmon man! And there’s more!

3. Critical thinking. For instance, the jesus story has been told almost verbatim by several ancient civilizations long before Christianity. Virgin birth, half man, half god, dies to save everyone, celebrated at Christmas time and they were gods. But hey! This time it’s for real. Right! Think about it. Look it up. It’s all out there. Just peek outside the box. You’ve been duped! And there’s more!! Way more.

4. Whiskey. Relax. The world is not coming to an end. No one is coming out of the sky to save or rapture you. It’s up to us to fix our situation. So let’s put away the waiting for Jesus and praying for the end to come soon and get to work. We’re wasting time. A lot of time. Enjoy life and be brothers and sisters. Religion divides what otherwise would be whole. Try it. What is there to lose. What you’ve been doing is not working. Give it a chance! Peek!

If you’re still here this might be for you. I have a secret surprise I’ve waited for the end, and this is very typical of the folks I’ve met. They are liberated from guilt and they are happy. They have a high moral standard based on natural laws and consequences and we love the earth. A true deep desire to preserve the world. Our way of life

Follow some atheist books and blogs. The basics will get you by, but there is a world of good reading and real knowledge out there.

I was a follower for 50 years I’m sorry to say. I’m actually a little embarrassed by it. I walked away a few years ago from the mind games, guilt, ambiguous doctrine, cover ups, brainwashing, poorly translated mythology I was supposed to analyze and work out my salvation. If I guess wrong? Oops. Sorry jim. You’re going to hell. It was all a trap to keep me payin and prayin and obeyin. Believing a stifling dogma has consequences that restrict growth of the mind and well being. And I defended it!

respectfully–jim, the common atheist

Did I miss anything?

Sometimes a Stranger is Fiction

I got a flat tire last year on a remote gravel road, and as I was changing my tire an old blue sedan came barreling up the road. I called to my dog but he was so engrossed in a hunt for field mice he wouldn’t hear me. Right as the car approached my dog bolted my way across the road and bam! The car never slowed down or stopped. My dog laid in the ditch. He was dead. I sat there. I think most of you have lost a pet before. No explanation can tell you how devastated I was. I cried. I prayed. God help me. After a little while had passed I collected myself enough to finish my tire, and just as I was about done my dog licked the back of my neck. I was in shock. In complete joy. How? No way! As I held Roger I saw a man hurry across the road and down a steep embankment. I shouted “hey”! I ran to the edge where I last saw him and he was gone. Nothing. I knew what I had seen. I knew my dog was now alive and not a scratch on him. God had sent his holy angel to help me. Thank you Jesus thank you Jesus. God hears our prayers, and in our most desperate times he is here for us. To comfort. To heal. To help.

Should I post this story on Facebook and ask for likes, amens, or shares. I could strengthen testimonies with a story like this. The problem is … it is just a story. Total fabrication. While most church stories contain a wee bit of truth, I’ve seen first hand how they grow bigger and better with time.

The churchers and their preachers embellish nearly everything they say to tug at your emotions then attribute it to god. And I’m not even close to exaggerating here. Just last week god the father and the son and the Holy Spirit visited a friend of mine in the form of three hummingbirds! What the hell do you say to that? If people are looking for miracles, they’ll get them. Or see birds. (Below is the area where none of this occurred)

Why the “What have you done for me lately Church” is hard to leave

As soon as I was old enough to safely go to church my parents brought me before the congregation and I was given an official name and a blessing. A name which would be recorded in the records and make me an official unbaptized member of the LDS. I was about a month old! Hey, thanks for that. Of course I don’t remember this, but those blessings take place the first Sunday of each month just before Fast and Testimony Meeting, where the members share their beliefs with the audience. This was the beginning of the indoctrination of Jim, as for the next hour I would listen to many testimonies that day about how true the church was, and how god played a role in various members lives that week. “I know this church is true” was proclaimed from the pulpit and into every rooms intercom. Even while I was in the mothers lounge, i could hear the testimonies of those who would soon be raising me in the church. Hey! No second opinions allowed either. Whenever a stray Mormon would stand up to bear his soul, and offer how he really felt about the church he would be escorted out. No second opinions needed! This is the true church!

At home it would continue. Exposed to everything mormon. Pictures of jesus and prophets and primary songs. Family home evenings every Monday for twice weekly indoctrination. Family prayer morning and night along with personal prayer. They even taught me what to say. How thoughtful.

Progression of church member Jim

Baby blessing –check

Baptism at 8. -check

Priesthood at 12 -check

Early morning Seminary 4 years. Check

Higher priesthood at 19-check

Temple endowments -check

Mission -check

Marry in the temple- check

Children -check

Memorize countless scriptures and songs – check

Endure to the end– hmm. Not so fast.

Pay Pray and Obey

Keep paying

Questions. Not allowed

Endure to the end, endure to the end

Learn the things you weren’t supposed to learn.

Be bold enough to question

Church court and discipline

Attend in shame.

Fade away. Resign the church. Lose all your friends. All!

In the Mormon faith you are taught if you don’t endure to the end, keep the commandments and keep paying your tithes til the day you die you won’t be saved. You can lose your salvation. Everything done to the children is focused on member retention. Keep you engaged. Don’t give you time to think. Here is how they did it to me

Scoutmaster 15 years. That’s an extra day at the church every week

Early morning Seminary teacher entire school year 8 years total

Home teacher to multiple families each month 30 years

Young men’s presidency 6 years

Adult Sunday school teacher 4 years

Ward missionary 4 years

Finance clerk 2 years

Membership clerk 2 years

Elders quorum presidency 8 years

Multiple tours in some of these callings. Oh!, and work a full time job to support my family.

I was also a pretty good speaker so I would give talks frequently on Sunday.

Frequent temple attendance

Temple initiatory worker 4 years

Veil worker 4 years

By the time I was 50, I had done about 75 years of service callings in the church. This is fairly typical, but not good enough. Pray pay and obey til you die if it will account as nothing.

It’s no wonder it is so hard to see the fallacy of your ways when it is all you know. Variety makes things right.

Don’t forget to look around you. Be humble. You might be wrong

Believers and Bernoulli’s Principle

Misapplied evidence of god. An old friend from school was in an accident a couple of days ago. I have to share this thread and comments.

“With everything I’ve endured the past 3 yrs. I was beginning to wonder “WHY” oh Lord is ALL this happening to me!!!!!! Questioning where is God in all of this. For those who know me, my faith has never wavered in these trying times, until this accident. I’m at my breaking point!!! Asking “why me Lord” what the hell have I done to deserve ALL of this shit!!!!!! Until this morning…..I was sitting on our front patio looking@our water feature,which has 3 staggered height rocks and there sat 3 hummingbirds, yes 3😲 3 male hummingbirds, for 1 they are extremely territorial and always chase each other off, but there they all sat drinking the water for what seemed like an eternity!!!!! My mouth was wide open@this amazingly beautiful, spectacular reminder that the Lord is ALWAYS with me through EVERYTHING❤️For me, the 3 hummingbirds was such an obvious sign of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, right there in plain sight, just for me!!!!!! It was the most spiritual experience that I will forever hold onto💞 Here’s some comments– I commented in Latin “SanctaeTrinitatus ad Avem“. (The Bird Trinity). She replies “oh Jim, that’s beautiful”. Hehe.

Asimov shares an example of misapplied. This from The Ratliff Notepad is part of the old Asimov speech. We are the stagecoach people. We can show the obvious, but the tales are memorized from childhood, and they should have never left it. Why does this matter? This codependent behavior with god hamstrings the faithful and stunts their progress. She has the power to take control of her life. Her situation has not changed, but her attitude has. How much time wasted, waiting, hoping, that god will come fix this mess, when we have the power to do it ourselves?

Smug if by Faith

Recently looking at a little bit of Mel Wild, and just ran into this comment thread where John Z got gamed by this dude up above (in his own mind). He claimed victory several times, ignored questions, and was generally wrong about everything, but he backed it up with the hard, solid evidence of faith. He smugly won the day, and no amount of reason could sway his internal victory as the checkmates rolled off his keyboard. As instructed in the thread, I have prayed about it in Zande’s behalf. I also took the liberty to bless his food. I got the answer I desired by randomly opening the Old Testament, and in miraculous, ambiguous fashion from forgers inspired by god I was made to see the light. The post and comments is exactly why children don’t play ball in the men’s league. No matter the score, we can all claim victory! This was a painful display of zeal without knowledge. I could only guess, but is Banyon from the US where hanging on to disproved myth is a badge of honor? I have a relative that just knows what she knows. No amount of overwhelming evidence can shake that. No sound reasoning can spoil it. “Be humble. You might be wrong” only applies to the faithless I suppose.

ps.. I would link the thread but is just too painful. If you missed it, lucky you.

Suicidal and Mormon

I guess appearing to be perfect is taking its toll in Utah. Mormons are prescribed antidepressants at twice the national rate, and teen suicide is on another record pace this year and 5th highest in the country, climbing each year. Why so sad when you have all this truth and worthiness? I can tell you the pressure in the community is always in the judgment seat. There is a conflict in the mind about reality and what you’re told you believe, and sexuality is governed to a very unhealthy level using guilt and shame as a tool to exact clean living. Also they apply high expectations that are infrequently met regarding teen love and masterbation, declaring those as sins next to murder in severity. Grow up with that guilt trip! I’m surprised any of those kids make it into their 20’s.

I grew up in this culture and the pressures to go on a mission, marry early and in the temple and start pumping out kids is huge. If you fail? Families and congregations are disappointed and judgmental. Whenever I’d move to a new ward, the bishop would call you in for an interview to see what kind of Mormon he was dealing with. One of the first questions was “did you serve a full time mission”? From there they can judge the depth of your commitment and what kind of callings you could perform. I’ll tell you, the day I walked away was a collective sigh of relief to me and my wife and kids. It is no wonder to me what’s wrong in Utah, although health official are stumped as to what’s going on because no one discusses the elephant in the room. You want to know what’s going on? Ask anyone that was courageous enough to get out.

Jesús Viene

(Jesus is Coming) According to a coworker of mine, almost every local, national, or world event is opening another seal, or relates to 1 of 4 horseman or a prophetic fulfillment. I believe him a lot because of the TBN podcasts he listens to all the time. And I mean all the time. So he really knows. He’s actually super smart, and he wrote a letter to president Obama, and now Trump. Still waiting to hear back but his warning about the coming apocalypse needs to be heard by the higher ups. Why does he do this? Two reasons. God spoke to him. The train blared its horn right when he said amen to a prayer he was offering. That was a sign. And 2, he’s worried about us. He’s not worried for himself because he is going to he taken up. Miss the whole thing. But really, what a nice guy.

Christians Unaware

Evidently I have the light and don’t even know it. Jesus is working through me, and I don’t even know it. Twice this week I had brief discussions about my non belief, and twice my mere countenance was attributed to Jesus working through me. And I would be a Christian if I understood the message. I am a “Christian unaware”. (Billy the kid 2nd left in a rare photo with Pat Garret on right)

But see the reason I’m not Christian is that I do understand the doctrine. I also understand the control mechanisms at work. I also understand that if I pray, nothing ever happens unless you look really hard for subtle non existent hints that your prayer was answered in some way other than what you wanted. For your own good. I also know I can get spiritual followers by telling big emotional lies that mimic the spirit. I also understand that to make sense of it takes a lot of hairsplitting explanations and then you have to just decide to believe it because that is the only way it makes sense.

On The Problem of Good

Once in a while you stumble across something so contrary to the main views of the world that is so compelling, so convincing, that you really have to evaluate what you think you believe. As a fairly new deconvert, I found this a compelling and contrary view of good and evil, and it presented itself very plausible and convincing. A work that is very hard to counter without interjecting words like “belief” and “faith”. Another reviewer on Amazon put it well–“The research and supporting argumentation is frighteningly persuasive and would pass any Doctorate board of review.” Thank you John for the excellent work. Much appreciated! You can find the book here. On the Problem of Good (The Owner of All Infernal Names) https://www.amazon.com/dp/154247793X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_t4wkAbD9VC5W1

I’ve been Proselytized!

A nurse at work told me yesterday I seem like a believer. Are you? I said no, I don’t believe in any gods at all. Nothing. She got a puzzled eyebrows raised look on her face for just a second and told me “wow I’m surprised. You just seem so nice and have that way about you”. I guess you were all supposed to look like monsters. (not sure who to credit here. Got it from Bill’s site at badatheist)

We had a nice conversation though and she offered me the best book she ever read that convinced her to Jesus. She was so sure I just hadn’t had it explained to me proper. (Just what I want to read. More apologetics). Let me be honest I said. I won’t read it. I’ve read a ton of them and I just don’t believe any of it. Not a lot of atheist in my neck of the woods(at least that will admit it). I’m pretty sure I was her first based on her stutter. I gave her my top three reasons and she bore me her conversion story. It was all pleasant enough, but she couldn’t really grasp the fact that I’m just not interested at all. Nunca

The Antithesis of Answers

In Christian apologetics the most complex answer is the best one, because it is the only one that will wear out the investigator to the point where they just look at the overwhelming picture and say, “well, 2 billion people can’t all be wrong. Can they”? I was embroiled in it for years explaining the defense of the Mormon faith until I got too tired. It went against my simple solution brain. Even the best thought out answer requires additional explaining and hair splitting. You really have to choose to believe or not. It’s that simple. Then if you believe it you’ll know it’s true. Got it!