The Loss of Faith

Below the bridge of faith is littered with the bones of those who thought they had it.

What is the difference between thinking you have faith and having it, for all you “never were a real Christian” people? There are no former believers—just atheists and agnostics who at one time thought they believed.

To investigate your faith means you’ve already lost it. To purposely eye the underpinnings is to admit you don’t actually trust it. Trust that!

Real faith is blind and those who actually think they see are most blinded by it. To profess your faith means you’ve already lost it and seek validation. Independence is a hard thing swallowed, but your faith was your own. It cannot be transmitted nor can it be hidden away in silence.

To dare into the infrastructure mean you have already outgrown it. The paradox lies in knowing, vs the insecurity of being quiet.

Real faith lies at the bottom, in the bones of those who dared to believe and actually tested the words. Had they only done some research before buying and had dared to use reason and respond to that with honesty.

“Suppression of beliefs is detrimental irrespective of their truth status. If the belief is true, suppressing it will hamper true descriptions of the world. If the belief is false, the assertion of false beliefs will lead to debate which in turn may lead to and deepen understanding of true beliefs. Finally, most of us can rarely see the whole truth, particularly when it comes to social, religious, and political discourse, so the only way of approaching it is through “reconciling and combining of opposites.” So whatever the epistemic status of a belief, suppressing it is harmful to the discovery of truth”—John Stuart Mill

Photo by Mak—Maasaiboys.wordpress

Faith in Atheism

I took some flack a while back linking those two words together. I don’t always ask questions because I already know the answer, but is there a point in unbelief that requires faith, in this case, of a young, lifelong casual believer (thanks grandma) who recently decided he’s an atheist, based on a few arguments from a well known celebrity?

He didn’t come to this conclusion based on inadequate religion, gnawing contradictions or of unanswered prayer, etc, but by believing a cleverly worded argument of a well known person. Is this not a show of faith?

Granted, as Rapar stated, “Atheism is the lack of faith like cold is simply the lack of heat, not a natural state of its own“.

And Tildeb; “WTF? What is that bit all about? Creating a false dichotomy here doesn’t create a more ‘balanced’ opinion; it creates another ‘I’m an atheist, but…’ apologist with a drive by smear at those who have every reason to grant experts higher degrees of confidence in their informed opinions. That’s not ‘faith’ of the religious kind at all Jim, and you should know this by now”

Do I need identify what kind of faith I don’t have? How can you not believe something you haven’t investigated? Have you ever had faith? Have you ever been a believer because of indoctrinating parents?His atheism certainly is faith of a religious kind.

Our culture puts onus our way, a weird position to consider belief as a positive and unbelief as its opposite. But we are unnaturally forced to consider belief and make a decision. I would think an informed decision would make a stronger position. This young man is ripe to fall into a Ray Comfort-style trap, just as he did a Joe Rogan.

So, after this I might rephrase, that his faith is not in atheism, but his atheism is faith in the opinion of the celebrity. Because I guarantee in this case, he knows not enough of either, belief or unbelief to really be a believer or a non.

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.

Reading Atheism

I should probably read an atheist Bible. Being a Twain fan I intentionally read “Letters from the Earth” (thanks Mak and Mary) and have since amassed a small collection based on many of your recommendations. But, like any top-notch Christian who has not read his scripture, I claim full hypocrisy. I ably became a complete non-believer without reading the text.

This exercise from belief to atheism had to be my own. From the beginning I steered away from the publications, videos, only reading a few blogs and having discussions with everyday Christians and “common atheists”, science articles, psychology, and google scholar—and by strict observation of the outcomes of faith vs the teachings. Turned out it was easier than I expected. There is no objective measurement that agrees with religions versions—on anything.

How is it possible to become an atheist without reading the material? How could one have the audacity to break ranks with the masses and see the contra-everything in its entirety? Atheism is natural when you don’t have someone breathing down your neck telling you what it all means.

It’s nice to read the commentary (that’s what most believers do) but by carefully listening to what we are told and comparing it to outcomes—what we see in real life, atheism is a shoe-in. It turns out the god charade is well funded, propped up by laws and defended by the sword. Who but a religion could commit genocides and have its followers defend them? Not just a few missteps when it comes to reality, but every single point. Jots and tittles are important enough to be mentioned in the Bible—so they must be important and investigating them should dissuade anyone from believing anything at all.

God is incomprehensible but they just know he exists 😵 (justify that one) merciful, just, moral, righteous, perfect, and so on, are presupposed propagandas that any good PR man can repeat enough times pull the wool while their guy is just an everyday oppressor.

Look at what good PR did for Mother Theresa. She’s a claim to fame but never funneled her money to the poor. Instead she jet-set and collected $millions and members to the Catholic Church. That is the true measure of sainthood—not what she actually did to alleviate suffering, which was nothing—but what she said.

What you say virtuously is vastly more important than what you do. Professing faith is the golden ticket to public acceptance while living life by your own rules anyway.

Any religious belief, no matter how silly, is more respected than unbelief. This is enough to know the game is rigged.

Boobies and Faith Traps—By Concensus

The history of boobies and sailing have made their way through the ages. The fearlessness of the seafaring booby bird has made it an easy capture, and even inspired the term booby-prize and booby-trap for the unsuspecting pranked.

The history of humanity runs a close parallel, which now brings us to Švejk, the towering idiot of Czech literature who distinguished himself with an odd way of communicating—he agreed with everyone on everything.

Being agreeable doesn’t make one right, but it can make one comfortable—fitting-in can be the most tasteful, tasteless state in the human condition, when your facade makes your inner a fool, but as a survival tool—agreeing is safe. Švejk is part history lesson, part type and shadow of the common Christian—the, backdoor, subtle bully system where agreeableness gets you friends, at least until you don’t.

Here’s the catch: To believe (or at least say you do) is harmonious in today’s actually post-religious world. “I have compelling reasons to believe in god. My parents are deeply committed Christians and would be devastated were I to reject my faith. My wife and children believe in god…abandoning belief would be disruptive, sending my life completely off the rails”—Karl Giberson

There you have the root of modern belief. We know better…all of us do, but the status quo and the stigma of unbelief can be too great to contemplate—even though we know the stigmas are inaccurate. Believers are boobies—easily trapped and continuously fooled by their own choice. Because it pacifies. It’s easy, and it’s comfortable.

Dissipated Energy- The Collapse of Religion

The Inverse Square Law of physics adequately and scientifically describes the deterioration process and the impending collapse of monotheistic religion as a principle of sound hypothesis.

The fact that Christianity is no longer practiced anyway—they now have shifted to just reading books and watching videos, the speed of collapse is following the inverse square law, where as the Christian wanders farther from the source of power, the dissipation or weakening of faith and effectiveness is squared.

So, as the field increases, the weakness and scope of the field follows a predictable trajectory.

And as the source energy is diluted, chaos ensues at an accelerated rate as electromagnetic fields dissipate. Miracles have ceased (ITEWO).

As you can currently see, no Christians worship the same god and all have there own “pick and choose” methodology, confirming that the source is no longer relevant or in association with the believer (if it ever was).

Soon, in-identity to the source is inevitable and the second law of thermodynamics is a type and shadow of any dying religion, plant, animal, mineral, or any dogma or idea. The collapse began when it all started, and we are now seeing the signs accelerating toward total entropy. Unless there is a new outside force to influence a reboot, the end is in our sights. Sooner than later I hope.

Sunk-Cost Fallacy—Moving Beyond Faith

Coming to the crossroads of unbelief eventually moved to ask the lord for help to believe based on the idea that maybe I had missed something. Show me the way, inspire me, hear my prayers—just one. His answer came as complete silence. No still, small voice. No thunder, enlightenment, or verse popped into my head. Nothing but quiet reflection. Literally every point of the gospel needed ad nauseum excuses and mental gymnastics. I couldn’t do it anymore. Turning to the house I looked back and knew I was alone. I had always been alone. Realizing that changed nothing for me. I found I was capable enough and needed no one to chart my path. So what was I to do?

Up till then I had thrown my hat in the ring of Christianity so many times I can’t remember them all. Acquiescing to “what if I’m wrong”, I never believed I could leave faith. I kept that premise as I no longer had faith in the religion that preoccupied so much of my time and more or less, I dissolved my relationship without a whimper. If there was a god, it certainly wasn’t interested in me.

There are ministers, priests, pastors, and other clergy all around the world who have invested a significant portion of their lives in theology, who can no longer manage to hold supernatural beliefs — who have moved beyond faith.  Hundreds of them recognize those sunk costs and are searching for the best way to move on, whereas many others cannot accept the loss of their religious investment, and continue to practice a profession inconsistent with their belief

When living contrary to your knowledge or disbelief, you are living the sunk-cost fallacy. Not willing to give up the time and energy invested in a failure, throwing in the towel on your life to live your status quo, biding in the atheistic closet for fear of losing friends, business, or family because the cost is too high to formally buck the system. Moving beyond faith—the facts are not for everyone. Hypocrisy is easy. What would one do without a god? That’s easy. You’ve already been doing it.

My Older Brother

Born to a fair and middle class life, We wandered and wondered without any strife, four good ol’ boys who loved tussle and swim, to flirt with the girls there was no harm therein, but all that would change from the roof to the floor, when one horrid day came a knock at the door.

Mother and dad were good folks but it seems, they had not yet been schooled in the prophetic dreams, they learned they were sinners and destined to fall, these men at the door who dare gave us their all, instilled in grand doubt and made good things seem pall.

A promised grand life if we follow their book, dad said he would read it but he never did look, he went by their word as a word is a bond, the way old folks did in old days that are gone, so we joined with their church and were baptized us four, and all because someone gave a knock at the door.

Now Sundays were different with no time to explore, we’d sit in the church and keep still to be sure, but being a young lad who didn’t set very good, got my first whippin’ and in the corner I stood, the teacher told dad how I had misbehaved, and I was the lad not even jesus could save.

A dark cloud hung over my once happy face, to be safe and content we did prayers to have grace, but these things they promised we already had, long before the time we found out we were bad, but god we found out he was keeping a score, from the men who had come and knocked at our door.

They taught us of freedom of choice and freewill, then took it away with fear torments of hell, we learned that the devil got into our skins, that gay folks were bad and loud laughters a sin, but I looked for the day I would once turn eighteen, and with two middle fingers I returned to my dreams.

Leaving was easy, adjusting was hard, but still no regrets that I turned in my card, I learned how to choose and the consequence mine, that I could do good without all of the fines, the guilt it still lingers and thoughts come is scores, from so long ago I heard a knock at the door.

Is everyone crazy, I think that they are, confessing their sins and then sinning some more, responsibly daft and delayed recompense, excuses and reasons for time on the fence, waiting for someone to even their score, hate and division then hating some more, ironic hypocrisy blend with the days, the living and loving so often delayed, to wait on another to come make it right, when we have the power to end the long fight.

Geno-Phenotypes vs Religious Nurture- A change in Physiology

I can’t help but notice from day to day how so many can completely ignore the contradictions of religion. Could it be faulty wiring, or are they compelled in some way by their physiology to align with obvious duplicity due to faulty programming? Where but institutionalized patients in state hospitals can you see such a broken bridge between reality versus what is believed? —Religious conditioning

A genotype is an organisms full hereditary information, while phenotype is the organisms actual observed properties. Additionally, an extended phenotype would include what the organism does, such as nest building for birds or dam building for beavers, who change their environment due to genetic programming.

Religious genotypes, phenotypes, and morphology could easily be expounded in analogy with more time, but your natural conclusion can easily see what I am alluding to. It’s obvious to everyone that has not been indoctrinated. The constant denial of the obvious is more than a decision to believe, but they are forced to ignore simple logic by physiology. Here’s how-

A key difference between a religious genotype and natural organic genotypes is one of nurture versus nature. While family traits can be passed on from generation to generation with no effort but copulation, religious traits must be routinely hammered into the newcomer without their choice or consent. After several years of indoctrination, subjects begin to take on the traits of the abuser parent and lose the natural discernment of contradiction due to shifted nueropathways. While religion through fertility is a common occurrence, retracting from nurtured thought duplicity is quite rare. The ability to ignore contradiction has become physiological.

Neurotheologist Dr. Andrew Newberg writes; “As to what’s going on in their brains, he says, “It depends to some degree on what the practice is.” Practices that involve concentrating on something over and over again, either through prayer or a mantra-based meditation, tend to activate the frontal lobes, the areas chiefly responsible for directing attention, modulating behavior, and expressing language.

In contrast, when practitioners surrender their will, such as when they speak in tongues or function as a medium activity decreases in their frontal lobes and increases in their thalamus, the tiny brain structure that regulates the flow of incoming sensory information to many parts of the brain. This suggests that their speech is being generated from some place other than the normal speech centers” The Metaphysical Mind

Research also shows that routines and habits actually create new neuro-pathways. A study in the Oct. 20 issue of Nature, led by Ann Graybiel of MIT’s McGovern Institute, now shows why. “Important neural activity patterns in a specific region of the brain change when habits are formed, change again when habits are broken, but quickly re-emerge when something rekindles an extinguished habit — routines that originally took great (pressure) effort to learn. We knew that neurons can change their firing patterns when habits are learned, but it is startling to find that these patterns reverse when the habit is lost, only to recur again as soon as something kicks off the habit again,” said Graybiel, who is also the Walter A. Rosenblith Professor of Neuroscience in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS).

Forcing religious habits into young minds through repetition has a two-fold effect One, essentially taking away freewill of the indoctrinated, and two, manipulating/changing actual neuro-physiology in each subject. Undoing these manipulations requires a long break in the routine to readjust the neurons to achieve clarity.

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it”. Why? Because his neurophysiology has been manipulated—It almost takes a miracle, or some good luck.

Here again we see contradiction in the religion of freewill. They appear to be the ones without it. After physiological changes in the brain seal it by indoctrination and repetition, they simply cannot undo the connections. We would just as well teach a beaver to build a birds nest. No matter what you do, he’ll still end up back at the water.

Who Are You Really? Real de a Ocho

Of what mind am I? How many people are living a conditioned life that is not really them? I have been thinking about this very topic a lot lately, and very few know how to identify who they really are outside of groupthink doctrines and dogmas. Look at our political alignments. Social media is very telling about this, as there are only two ways presented and fought over. Whenever I see this, I remember something I learned many years ago from a professor I admired. Whenever you are given two choices, they are usually both wrong. This deceptive technique has numbed the minds of the masses. What party are you? What religion are you? Coke or Pepsi? Both are cans full of chemicals designed to taste good, but are unhealthy. Do you ever listen to music from other countries? Much of the best stuff never gets heard because we are marketed and influenced at every turn, and individuality is usually styles between two or three choices. Who are we really, without the news, the preachers, and the marketers? Breakthroughs are usual arduous and painful. Self awareness and growth must, at some point be achieved away from the influencers and the noise, and in the quiet of your own mind. Religions remind me of the old Spanish “pieces of eight”, or Real de a Ocho. All pieces come from the same coin, are made of the same material. While very old, some of these are in better shape than others and considered more valuable, but they are still coins. And when a choice is placed before you, it very likely two sides of the same coin. While one may be slightly better than the other, we are typically given two wrong choices, and forced to pick sides, when we’d rather not choose at all. I’m tired of taking sides.

Synesthesia -The Religious Model

Synesthesia is a real condition of crossing senses. Someone may see a color that hurts their ears, while another may see numbers in different colors. It is an interesting phenomenon where senses cross neurons in visual/cerebral perception, and may attribute smells to pain, or shapes such as a triangle may physically perceptually be seen in yellow. Below is one example. A “normal” acuity would see all black, but a synesthesia patient may see green or red. .

And if a subject sees W’s as a color, this test takes less than a second.

Synesthesia is not only seen and present in religion, it is promoted. Seeing a cross can cause tears of pain or joy, hearing a lie can cause belief, and talking out loud followed by an amen, can fondle hope in religious subjects. But this type of behavior is learned, and once believed, it is tolerated.

While most synesthesics feel what they are seeing as normal , 98% of the population sees it as an enigma. To someone that believes in the supernatural god, it may seem natural or necessary, but it is not. But to the theist or the synesthesiac, it requires an outside observer to recognize the flaw.

Thousands of gods have dissipated into near oblivion. Where are they now? They are parked in the annuls and history books, but those from the time thought them to be immortal. While red may be a color, it also may have a smell. Whatever your eyesight tells your mind, deconversion has a sweet ring to it.

Deconversion Science- A New Element

The periodic table has a new element. Chemist at International Labs London (ILL), have discovered a new compound derived from basic, inert, random samples of ambiguous contradictory neurologic impasses. Failed synapse syndrome, (FSS) has been baffling neuroscience for decades, and removal of this newly discovered element is as easy as flipping a switch in the affected religious parties. Element “B” has an atomic mass and weight of zero, carries no electrons, but has a high affinity to synaptic dead space. Early studies show removal of element B causes instant cognitive restoration, and eliminates test subjects ability to rationalize obvious contradiction.

Test subject volunteers from the Four Square Church and the United States Bible Belt have seen instant results using a osmotic reverse cerebral cleanse, applied in a suppository pill form. Atomizers are currently being developed for nasal administration.

Evangelical chemists at Godwins institute dispute the veracity of the claims, and have directed the institutes science department to consult with Hindu Vedas and Puranas experts to counter the findings. “We know god is in there somewhere”, said one researcher. And, “this Biblio element makes no sense at all” said another. The plea for help dealing with these scientific issues has been ignored.

“Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good” 1Thess 5:21

It’s not the churches. I can tell you Christianity is a calculated, money making machine that will say Anything to keep you on the rolls. Scientifically calculated music and lighting, voice roll speeches and lies from the pulpit to induce trance-like positive feelings and call it the spirit.

Most of you know my story, and I put this scripture to the rest. Not one thing works as it’s presented. Ambiguous beliefs and morality coupled with endless attempts to validate faith, and bogus prayer that is a waste of time. It was even in the dogma. “Pray like everything depends on god, work like everything depends on you”. Do yourself a favor….just skip the first part and go to work. The entire church experience is a propped up shell game of non answers and conflicting “beliefs” from every denomination. Nothing can be verified, and nothing works as it is supposed to. So go ahead. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”Don’t feel guilty for looking.

‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5:21‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Mau Goddess Bastet

I believe the Egyptians were on to something when they acknowledged the cat (Felis silvestris catusas) as a god. Bastet, a half human and half cat, is the closest representation in Egyptology to the Christian god YHWY. Cats toy with their victims who never know why, and the mouse, inferior physically, has to submit and quietly wonder what it all means. Never having to explain “why” and inflicting and allowing misery on those that don’t understand, is the YHWY way. The warring nature of Bastet is a shoe-in that would fit nicely into Christian history.

Reducing Religion Dream Act 2018

The IRS, the FDA, and the APA, are taking what it calls a “historic first step” toward eliminating religions’ addictive properties and concerns of mental health longevity by seeking comments on the impact of lowering non provable belief levels, how lowering of these levels might be accomplished, and whether doing so might have unintended consequences. Non-Profit status of churches and the ongoing mental health threats have forced the IRS and the FDA to combine efforts with the APA in combatting addictive, propagandized religious benefits.

The agencies said that they would eventually propose faith reduction as part of a comprehensive overhaul regulating religions’ unfounded claims. Today’s announcement came in the form of an advance notice of proposed rule making — essentially, a document designed to elicit comments and show what direction the agencies might take if it were to require higher provability levels, and setting a “burden of proof” standard of passed-on and written information. Given the combination of toxicity, divisiveness, addictiveness, prevalence, and the effects on nonusers, religions are in the category of damaging belief that causes the greatest of public health harm,” said James Zell, Director of the APA.

“Religion is the only legal entity that when used as intended will reduce the intelligence and mental wellness of the lives of all long-term members prematurely,” he said, adding, “We’ve known for decades that religion is highly engineered and designed to get users addicted, and euphoria at these levels are regulated in every other industry”. The FDA said it envisions “the potential circumstance where piety levels in faith do not spur or sustain addiction for potential converts. This could give addicted believers the choice and ability to quit faith more easily, and it could help to prevent experimenters (mainly youth) from initiating regular attendance and becoming regular attendees.”

Agenda as follows:

1. Harmful short and long term effects of early indoctrination.

2. Mental illness stemming from guilt, peer pressures, and counter-intuitive learning.

3. Contradictory learning. How giving the obviousness of credulity stunts academic reasoning.

4. How resources and time could be focused on actual fact-based scholarship.

5. Recommendations on faith based non factual learning materials. Fiction/Nonfiction advisory labels and age restriction guidelines.

6. Possible taxes or fines to be levied against churches for compensation to deconverts to assist in recovery efforts and long term psychological therapy.

in a joint meeting next Friday, leaders from all three camps will implement an emergency discussion called “cessation session” to create formal documents to present to Congress. (Hey I can dream, Right?)

TCA Newsflash 3-16-2018

Washington State

TheCommonAtheist

Political Science Experiment 1980 Who Can You Trust?

Exactly who, and what can you trust? I was a senior in high school in Issaquah, Wa in 1980. My teacher had us take a test to decide if we were liberal or conservative, democratic or republican. He told us to be very observant of his behavior during the semester, and at the end we would take a short survey. At the end of term, he asked us each to write what we thought his political views were. We each cast our votes and Mr Johnson revealed that he was a lifelong democrat and was politically active. Here’s where it got interesting. Every student in the class thought he was the same party as them and their family. Virtually split down the middle. Students of republican families thought he was a conservative, while the others thought he was a democrat. We have to be very careful to see life without strict confirmation bias. While nearly impossible to separate yourself from your upbringing, self awareness and acceptance of other viewpoints, and seeing past stereotypes is a good start to finding balance. Only then can we maybe see the world as it really is, or how it could be.

Seeing the good in religion is easy when you been raised in it and told your whole life what a blessing it all is. Identifying the harm it does requires you to step outside of yourself and consider other views are possibly more valid than your own indoctrinations. Facts can be uncomfortable, but the facts of religion are disastrous and incompetent. It would be nice to move past the superstitions and wasted, time consuming debate over “which god” and how great he is, and move on to solving some teal problems. Religions have promised a multitude of blessings, but in the end you make your own way in the world anyway. There’s nobody there. Religion only makes you think someone is watching. Differing religious views are two sides of the same coin. Heads I win, tails you lose is a very old trick. Trust your own observations of real evidence. Faith is a cop-out of reality and it takes no discipline or achievement to obtain it. And that’s the way they want it.

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

1820 Apostate Memoir

Unknowingly an innocence of my own doing struck calamity to my congregation a fortnight ago. To me it was a most natural of decisions that caused all of the fuss, but to them it was tears of the grandest sobbing heartache. When I no longer believed, it was the only logical conclusion to leave faith behind and make my own way in the world.

Reasons for my departure were no less than two small things that glared an ominous stare into my logic for two score and two years. The first being the inefficacy of prayer, and the other being the ambiguity of the book and the conjecture of the preachers.

How many offered prayers have disappeared into the vastness of space in behalf of me and my kin? How many silent mumblings have I uttered, calling upon god to walk with me and enlighten with his counsel? Hundreds of days I dare say (with a hint of current embarrassment) have distracted me from focusing on other tasks laid before me. Waiting as I did for the almighty to give me a clear hint of inspiration, I’m sure a year or two of days was spent on such matters. And not one time in all my efforts did he make himself known to me. I addressed the issue with my current and former ministers and each encouraged me to continue on, that god’s ways were at best difficult to know, and nearly impossible to understand. I relented. Acquiescence is a terribly wasted life in my opinion as of now, although being the faithful type I did “give in and let God”, as they say. Let god do what, dare you ask? That is a good question and presume at this point you will hear my answer.

At ten minutes per day of prayer and a brief study over 40 years equals 2433 hours. Just a hundred days of my life. But if that were all I would be content. I attended faithful mind you, and also kept the building at times and performed various duties on the lords errand.

Classes to be taught and monies to count and meetings and conferences to attend to. On average I would venture a modest guess at about 7-10 hours per week. Even as a boy there was labor and classes and seminaries to attend. On the low side of 7 hours per week I could safely render an accurate guess of about 806 full days including my morning and evening rituals and not including travel.

And at what point might you expect the lord to show himself in some subtle, fantastic way? Day 807? No. That is the day I had a moment of clarity, skipped meeting and went to the river. It was over. Not one thing had worked as promised, though faithful I had continued all those years. In my mathematical studies I can most frequently determine answers of the most perplexing kind. In religion, no answer given is sufficient to cross the void of truth or evidence. Faith is a manipulative ploy with no end to measure. I will let god proceed and continue what he always favored. Nothing at all. Good day! Jim-TCA

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.

Ten Commandments

Which of the ten commandments has been most effective at preventing crime? Which one has stopped the most carnage, adultery, lying, and so forth? Do you have a personal experience where in a heat of passion and you were just about to kill someone, and you thought, wait! That’s against the rules?

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

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!

What to buy next?

When I commented the other day on a blog comparing the fallacy of atheism compared to Christianity, the guy fired back that I sound like a disciple of Dawkins and Ehrman, and then he blocked me. But the truth is, I have never read either of them. If the reasons I left faith are the same as they’ve written about, I guess you can figure it out on your own using you good old fashioned brain, minus what’s lacking in religion with sugarcoated faith. Prayers don’t get answered. Ever! But you all know the excuses. “God knows best”, or “he’s just testing your faith” or ” you pray in our time, but god answers in his time”. B frickin S! Then the scripture is an elastically moral fraud that demands ones full attention and years of endless debate and conjecture. The unsolvable religious Rubiks’s cube. I gave it my full attention. The reason I left is simple. Things never added up the way they were supposed to. Nothing made sense unless it was explained over and over. Then someone would explain the explanation so the explanation made sense. But in the end it is a charade that people believe only because they want to. They feel the need to. If you have a quiet few days you can figure this out. Looks like I need to buy some Dawkins and Ehrman? I really got a lot from John Zande’s 2 books and am science and physics fan. What should I read next as a relative newbie?

Personality of a True Believer

True believers as defined by Eric Hoffer have personality types that need something or someone to latch onto. About 35% or more of the population craves someone else make decisions and rules for them to live by. We spot religion 35 points before tipoff! Here below is a telling statement about religion, and this quote is not even about religion, but personality types.

“True believers are not intent on bolstering and advancing a cherished self, but are those craving to be rid of an unwanted self. They are followers, not because of a desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy their passion for self-true believers “are eternally incomplete and eternally insecure.”(1) Well if that doesn’t just about nail it.

He continues with this-

Before ending this section, I want to talk about the people who are most susceptible to conversion and joining mass movements. I am convinced that at least a third of the population are what Eric Hoffer calls true believers. They are joiners and followers … people who want to give away their power. They look for answers, meaning and enlightenment outside themselves.

This personality type will always be with us. They look for some sort of spiritual leader, whether it’s religion, multilevel marketing groups, or the Jidda. Some place they can shed their burdens or gain acceptance in a group. Even a mythical one.

“In my years of conducting seminar trainings, I have constantly run into true believers. All I can do is advise them to seek the True Self within, where meaningful personal answers will be found. I teach that the basics of spirituality are self-responsibility and the attainment of self-actualization (being compassionate, while also accepting others without judgment, expectations, blame or attempting to control.) But most of the true believers just tell me that I’m not spiritual and go looking for someone who will give them the dogma and structure they desire”.

So maybe Atheism should be a belief system. Do we need a mantra and some chants and promised salvation to tap into this untapped resource? Nah.

Believers sq + need x acceptance is congruent to Religion. I love math!

Go Away My Wayward Son (really)

What do you get when you cross a porn addict with a preachers son? Read on! (Equation Answer below)My area is pretty heavy with SDA, JW, Mennonite and a sprinkling of evangelicals, but SDA has the market cornered on truth because they do Saturday worship. (I heard the sermon many times). One particular family we’ve gotten to know pretty well is SDA. All of their problems come from god because “he tests the most faithful”. He really said that! He has also personalized his brand of SDA for, according to him, “they don’t quite have it right”. He was the wayward son of a preacher but now he’s back with a porn addiction (his wife confided this to my wife) and desperately seeking the respect of his father. He poses deep religious questions on Facebook then his friends spend hours enlightening each other as he sits and watches, but not responding. They have their 3 kiddos on a tight leash and rule over them with godlike love and a wooden spoon, and have absolutely nothing in the house that is not SDA related. The kids are all under 8 and they’ve never seen a video or story book that is secular or scientific of any kind. They homeschool, which in their case revolves around watching church videos. I think you’re getting the picture. None of them can read a word. It is pathetically hard to watch them cripple these kids to the theistical beliefs and growing up to think that without Jesus they are nothing but sinners laden with guilt and shame. Total indoctrination. Total rule. Physical discipline, and withholding valuable necessities to help them cope in the world. Total dependency. It’s disgusting. What happened to free will? What happened to trusting god? Where is the faith? They are so insecure in their faith they have to force the kids single line theology to protect them from the evil in the world while at the same time dispensing ignorance and evil. He’s determined his kids will never sew their wild oats and obsesses that they never do what daddy did. He talks openly about the enormities of his youth like a serial killer revisiting his dead bodies, but forbids the kids any leeway to make decisions or mistakes that would help them grow into human beings. It’s part of the Christian way. It’s disgusting. but who am I to judge?His family and friends commend him for his godlike parenting. I think he should just go away. Go away my wayward son. There was peace but now there’s none.R is religion, P is porn, guilt is represented here by the infinity symbol, 0 squared = overcome and overcompensate. the answer = BAD PARENTING

The Double Slit- A Practical Application

Most of you are familiar with the double slit experiment in physics where photons change their behavior and properties merely because they are being observed. It’s just barely more detailed than that, but if you’re not up to speed in armchair physics click HERE for a five minute cartoon summary. What physicists fail to realize is we’ve been watching this behavior in the theological sciences for many years with much bigger particles than quantum mechanics. In fact, entire organisms have displayed the “particle duality” phenomena. The quantum model of the universe has been masterfully hidden… Right in plain sight!

“What do you mean” you say? If you “observe” Theists they behave predictable and conform to well established patters. But alas, when alone the behavior becomes less predictable. The pattern becomes unpredictable. But a new super secret recording device has been remotely observing this phenomenon. Google has surpassed Shakira with a new number one hit “Their clicks don’t lie”. Without any prejudice they have found the highest population of religious coincide with the highest use of hetero and gay porn based on clicks per 1000 in population. Utah and Mississippi neck and neck for first place. But when they are under normal observation there in no indication that they are randomly straying off the detection screen. So (c1)<c2= p=hx2) = (piety =hypocrisy squared) And I thought they were anti porn. Hmm.

So physicists are right after all. What can be discovered in the quantum world is a predictor of what we already find in the macro world. We just had to look in plain sight. This is why they say—

Why do you always take two Mormons fishing with you? If you only take one he’ll drink all your beer.

Inside Out

Usually you all know nothing about how your efforts here in presenting Atheism and Humanism can affect just one person once in a while. But you all have stuck with it. I see many familiar names from when I was posting religious spew on your blogs a few years back. I was pretty nice about it but was curious too. Having my own belief questions I wanted to see how my arguments stood up outside of the faith. I tried to have an open mind and really see things from another vantage point.

One day I was asking some questions and interjecting my beliefs, and I mentioned I was really just trying to understand but would never leave religion. Violet (I think was the name) jumped in and said “you will”. “That if I really was serious about learning about life outside of faith that I would eventually leave it”. That really stuck with me and I stewed on it for quite a while. She knew if I saw what was real outside of that lens that I would at least know a decision had to be made. Believe it or don’t believe it. It was a choice! How right she was! That moment was pivotal in my deconversion.

I have always sought truth the best I know how. I don’t care to be right, I just want the truth wherever that may be. If I’m wrong I’ll admit it. I won’t defend a position I know in my head is wrong. That moment started a long search outside of the church and its approved doctrines and materials. Actually took about three weeks of full time searching and trying to justify staying in the faith. Once I peeked at the reality and reasoning there was no going back. After 50 years of church and Jesus I walked away. My wife and kids were in Panama City on vacation during that time. When they came back to the jungle I told them what I wanted to do and why. My wife had done her own looking and promptly agreed. We gathered up all of our church crap, the manuals and home school religious items and scriptures and burned it all. I burned books! Never regretted it for one moment. Free baby!

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you all for your insights and mentoring me in your blood soaked heathenistic pagan smart ass ways. Sometimes good sense does rule the day. Life without church is life indeed! Glad somebody told me! Is an excellent example of how I felt. Thanks Shiarrael!

Where is Violet anyway? Haven’t seen her in quite a while. Give her my regards if any of you know her.

Free Jeep Rental $50

Cozumel is usually a pretty good idea. We stayed at an all inclusive resort with the dive club, and of course while you’re in they try to get you to the timeshare presentation. Usually I won’t go to these, but we had nothing going on for the day so we figured “what the heck”? Get a free jeep for the next day and just say no to everything in the sales pitch. What could it hurt?

I’m a math guy on just about everything, so I did the calculations and we could buy this timeshare for what we were already paying as regular guests. Not a great deal. It was like the Outlaw Josie Wales and Ten Bears. ” I’m ain’t promising you anything extra”. So we walk with our Jeep coupon and the next day go to the counter. With tax and other fees it was $50. $50 for a free Jeep. Hey! This reminds me of church! We had to pay for something you’re supposed to get free. Being an exmo, going to long boring meetings and was a way of life, and getting pressured to do things you don’t want to do is really the way of life. In the end, what was supposed to be free from jesus cost 10% of your income or no blessings. No exaltation, no temple marriage, no important callings. Nada. It’s the equivalent of buying free tap water. Pretty good scheme.

Many thanks to everyone here for sharing your insight, knowledge, and cynical as hell anti- religious wisdom. WP was a big part of my deconversion.