Imagine if......
Imagine if, one day you find yourself staring at the story of everything, then slowly unraveling that everything you were told, is a lie, without any real evidence. To quote Morpheus, "This is your last chance....."
My path toward skeptical inquiry began, not because I wanted to, or, needed to doubt. Rather, it began because, as I looked at different perceptions of God, all within the envelope of Christianity, I saw disagreements, hatred of those who are different, intolerance, and bigotry, well beyond my personal tolerances. This wasn't a whim, which originated in one definitive, instantaneous "AHA" moment, it evolved in series of events, over years, and to this day, that in retrospect, the fact I held on to the faith handed to me years later, demonstrated, I truly wanted to believe. The closing of the door on my Christian beliefs, really begins with reading Genesis in depth, because when I read the bible to try to prove that God & Jesus do not advocate intolerance, against my first real encounter with a fundamentalist church in Central Arkansas, I ended up conceding Christian fundamentalism is closer to too many intolerant laws within the bible, than the layman's version of Christianity I practiced for approximately the first 30 years of my life.
Once I made that concession, I found myself asking a series of questions, that once answered, logically, I had to walk away from the belief I once accepted without serious inquiry.
The bible became my red pill.
Genesis = end.
My wife and I, just celebrated the birth of our second child, and being that she is (I have no desire to convert her, or anyone) a Catholic, and I a Baptist, at the time, the challenge of finding a mutual faith in those days was a sticky issue. Our children were born in quick succession, 14 months apart, and since I was enlisted in the military, moving was a part of what we did. I was attending an weather forecasting technical school for the Air Force by the time my wife entered the last tri-mester with our daughter, and once she was born we moved to Arkansas; by the time our son was born, we already moved three additional times because of housing accommodations.
We both perceived the need to raise our children Christian, and made quite a few attempts to find a church. I had one stipulation, the Catholic church was not an option (I went to a school I thought was Catholic*, until the age of 10, and had an established prejudice, and an personal intolerance I never truly acknowledged until I finally let go of it all).
For the first year of our son's life, we bounced in and out of different churches, never feeling comfortable in any, in fact, we walked out of most services because - you 'ain't' seen religion, until you see religion in the deep south of the US. There were times, she was literally petrified, and I was laughing at the absurdities we saw.
My wife is from Central America, and spoke little English in the mid-late 1980's; the base had English as Second Language (ESL) classes which my wife enrolled in. Those classes were sponsored by the First Baptist Church in Little Rock, and they helped my wife with her English, as well as, getting naturalized. These are the things I expected my fellow Baptist to do, but all the Baptist churches we visited, were marginally better that the Pentecostal lunacy we experienced.
There is a nearby town, called Cabot; but from what was explained to me, this town in those days, had a 'race exclusivity' clause, something somewhat confirmed when a soccer teammate and I, went on a bicycle ride that passed through - nothing real bad, just a lot of 'intense stares' and the teammate was Caucasian, I'm not - he thought it was funny.
My wife's primary mentor, attended the Baptist Church in Cabot, and in an effort to demonstrate her good deeds, she invited all the wives in the ESL class, as a show and tell, and we, the husbands, were invited as well. Most of the guys who attended played on the base soccer team with me, so I knew I would be among friends. After the service, there was a lunch and we had the opportunity to mingle. Being the only Baptist in the mix of invitees, still looking for a church, liked the general flow of the earlier service, I made the attempt to find common ground with the parishioners.
What resulted was the most ardent encounter I have ever had, where it was crystal - my kind, and most of my teammates in attendance, were not welcomed under any circumstances.
I left fuming, with the determination to PROVE to these bigots, they were not acting according to God's principles.
I started with Genesis, and saw a book riddled with scientific absurdities, injustices, and concepts of morality- the worst human being is incapable of. But what stopped me altogether, was finding scriptures justifying the act of slavery, in Exodus. It was at that point I asked the question, most Christians do not dare ask: "Is the bible, really the word of God?"
The practice of slavery is embedded in the history of the South; most Americans haven't deviated from the faith that once killed people for claiming the world is round, and the earth is not the center of all things, until accidental discoveries, and new wealth opportunities appeared, therefore, how do we expect a people whose history was founded on the exploitation of others, to not hold grudges, bigotry toward their former 'property', or resentment over the outcome from the acts of liberation just within the last 150 years?
Especially, if there are quite a few words of scriptures, justifying slavery?
According to the bible, slavery of the Jewish race is forbidden, yet, for the rest of humanity - Do wat-cha-like.
I am not validating any form of bigotry, slavery, or intolerance of others, but in the South, the Christian faith is first before everything else. For ignorant minds, just words such as the following, validates the inhumanity of slavery the south was built on:
"If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies at his hand, he shall be punished. 21 If, however, he survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his property."
(Exodus 21:20-21)
I do not see how any god would endorse this, but as the questions evolved, I concluded, no just god could place faith above deeds. If we are to be judged, if such a thing as an afterlife is even possible, we are to be judged on our actions towards ourselves, our loved ones, our communities, all life on this planet, and the planet itself. "Do unto others" is the universal theme that defines all of our humanity.
With my eyes partially opened, I realized, I always had questions:
When Rastafarism was new, the religious school I attended in Jamaica, painted a picture of a people who were evil and unclean; yet when I once ran away from my caretaker, it was a Rastaman who acted with unconditional kindness and concern, and guided me back to the house I was boarded at. Why was this kind person, who wasn't family, arbitrarily vilified by an institution that never demonstrated any form of kindness, in my youthful perception?
After I was baptized at the age of 13, in St. Croix, USVI, I was instructed by the preacher I admired, to tell a lady in her 60's she was 'GOING TO HELL!' because she answered my question with, 'No, I'm not a Christian'. I asked myself then, who am I to tell a woman more than 4 times my age, her post-life destiny, with no proof?
A few months later, in pursuit of an attractive young lady in my Seventh Day Adventist School, I found myself seated in the Christainsted 7th Day church, one Saturday, and on the receiving end of the hell damnation, because I was baptized in a faith that ate pork, and worshiped on Sunday. 'Don't we all use the same bible?'
......
In September of 1989, my daughter three, my son two, and my wife and I no longer seeking faith, the possibilities of other existence-possibles, appeared under the wing of an aircraft approaching Chicago, O'Hare.
I had just completed a Temporary Duty (TDY) to Germany in support of the Ohio Air National Guard, and was on a flight out of Columbus Ohio, to O'Hare to get my final connection to Little Rock. As the aircraft approached the Sear's Tower, I glanced out of the window, on the right side to see an Orange Orb, southbound, fly under the wing of the plane, just before the plane banked left to set up the final approach. I realized in that instance, we are still a young species, and we have so many more questions to answer.
The answers, if we have any intentions of finding truth, cannot be based on a fleeting moment, intuitions, or any other concepts, or hypothesis without verifiable evidence.
The best answer to the questions we don't have answers to is - 'I do not know'.
Is there a god? - I do not know. This makes me agnostic. I do not pretend to have knowledge in favor of, or against, any particular creator.
Is the god of Christianity, or any other Abrahamic variety true? - I do not know, but, based on the evidence, the history, and our current standards of morality - highly unlikely. The current moral standards most humans employ, is vastly superior to what the bible, or any other Abrahamic based religious text proposes. This makes me an atheist, since, I do not subscribe to any versions of theology, or existing definitions of gods; being an atheist doesn't make me a devil worshiper, as your religious leaders, threatened by the idea of objections, will claim. Both the god & devil, of the bible, are of equal absurdity, from my perspective.
Is there justification to believe more advanced species, influenced human development? - I do not know; even with my experience in 1989, and numerous reports of UFO's, I refuse to construct any conclusions, because I do not have real evidence. It is reasonable to assume, life extends beyond our solar system, and knowledge; but to state our advancement, compared to other earthly species, is because 'aliens did-it', is baseless. Of the the potential claims regarding another influence impacting human development, other than the events here on this planet, and in this solar system, this has a higher degree of probability than the mythical, supernatural claims which dominates western and middle eastern human cultures. There are numerous other claims of human 'genesis' within the spectrum of humanity, and the one truth they all have in common, is no actual evidence. Imagine the liberation stemming from the truth - we do not know.
Yet most believer base their entire human experience, and interactions with others, on the certainty of what they believe they know. Sometimes, with horrific outcomes.
Skeptical perspective.......
Even though I would prefer, and wish people automatically believe my experience in Sep '89, as fact, the RIGHT thing to do is, be skeptical. Other than my visual, and cognitive experience, and the gentleman seated in row 11, directly behind me, confirming what we both saw, I have nothing more than a memory, and a very unique moment - for me. I am not skeptical of what I saw, I just do not have a method to demonstrate that what I saw is either a, b, c, or d. And, if I were to make a definitive claim that what I saw is was the meatball of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and write volumes of books about it, demanding compliance to my words, or else, without proof, why, in all that is true - should anyone believe me?
Skepticism, may get things wrong at times, but the standards of evidence and the scientific method, are our only hope of ever finding out what our existence is all about. Faith in god, has not solved any of humanity's myriad of challenges. Yet, even though with science, humans in western society have an incredible quality of life, compared to when religion had absolute control of everything, like the dark-ages, over 60% of the US population still take religion's word, over anything science presents (yet the latter is the only discipline that presents evidence) - that's scary.....actually.
Lets for this moment assume there is a god.....
If the god, most people believe in, do not see skepticism as a reasonable approach (because we humans have invented 3,500+ gods), and this super being, simultaneously fails to provide evidence - other than random testimonies, then such a creature has the empathy of a 3 year old, and cannot be affiliated with the moral pinnacles of unconditional love, real empathy, and universal justice. In fact, the concept of perpetual existence with that creature, is my definition of hell, and I prefer to take my chances with where proven evidence leads me instead, and not the whims, or desires, of religious adherents.
I came to this conclusion back in the 1990's, and the more I consider it - the Christian argument for god is petty.......
The following is just a brilliant statement of perspective, demonstrating the fallacies of Christian dogma.
Since I've taken the red pill, seeing the world as you do, is practically impossible now. For those who think I may still come around, no amount of Facebook posts, hell-destined intimidation from fire & brimstone preachers will work, not because I hate your god(s), but because all my efforts to find solid evidence, supporting anything the architects of any religious doctrines claim, has come up empty, on all fronts.
From time to time, I will come here to vent. All are welcome to visit, and respectfully share your thoughts, I don't mind talking about this, and will not disown you if you disagree with me. The challenge is, will you have the same courtesy?
*Edit 05/02/14: Since writing this. I am told the school in Jamaica was not Catholic, but because of some bad experiences with "Nuns" and some of the prayer services, I accepted & believed that it was apparently, in error, as I cannot find any evidence now to support my childhood perceptions.
Imagine if, one day you find yourself staring at the story of everything, then slowly unraveling that everything you were told, is a lie, without any real evidence. To quote Morpheus, "This is your last chance....."
My path toward skeptical inquiry began, not because I wanted to, or, needed to doubt. Rather, it began because, as I looked at different perceptions of God, all within the envelope of Christianity, I saw disagreements, hatred of those who are different, intolerance, and bigotry, well beyond my personal tolerances. This wasn't a whim, which originated in one definitive, instantaneous "AHA" moment, it evolved in series of events, over years, and to this day, that in retrospect, the fact I held on to the faith handed to me years later, demonstrated, I truly wanted to believe. The closing of the door on my Christian beliefs, really begins with reading Genesis in depth, because when I read the bible to try to prove that God & Jesus do not advocate intolerance, against my first real encounter with a fundamentalist church in Central Arkansas, I ended up conceding Christian fundamentalism is closer to too many intolerant laws within the bible, than the layman's version of Christianity I practiced for approximately the first 30 years of my life.
Once I made that concession, I found myself asking a series of questions, that once answered, logically, I had to walk away from the belief I once accepted without serious inquiry.
The bible became my red pill.
Genesis = end.
My wife and I, just celebrated the birth of our second child, and being that she is (I have no desire to convert her, or anyone) a Catholic, and I a Baptist, at the time, the challenge of finding a mutual faith in those days was a sticky issue. Our children were born in quick succession, 14 months apart, and since I was enlisted in the military, moving was a part of what we did. I was attending an weather forecasting technical school for the Air Force by the time my wife entered the last tri-mester with our daughter, and once she was born we moved to Arkansas; by the time our son was born, we already moved three additional times because of housing accommodations.
We both perceived the need to raise our children Christian, and made quite a few attempts to find a church. I had one stipulation, the Catholic church was not an option (I went to a school I thought was Catholic*, until the age of 10, and had an established prejudice, and an personal intolerance I never truly acknowledged until I finally let go of it all).
For the first year of our son's life, we bounced in and out of different churches, never feeling comfortable in any, in fact, we walked out of most services because - you 'ain't' seen religion, until you see religion in the deep south of the US. There were times, she was literally petrified, and I was laughing at the absurdities we saw.
My wife is from Central America, and spoke little English in the mid-late 1980's; the base had English as Second Language (ESL) classes which my wife enrolled in. Those classes were sponsored by the First Baptist Church in Little Rock, and they helped my wife with her English, as well as, getting naturalized. These are the things I expected my fellow Baptist to do, but all the Baptist churches we visited, were marginally better that the Pentecostal lunacy we experienced.
There is a nearby town, called Cabot; but from what was explained to me, this town in those days, had a 'race exclusivity' clause, something somewhat confirmed when a soccer teammate and I, went on a bicycle ride that passed through - nothing real bad, just a lot of 'intense stares' and the teammate was Caucasian, I'm not - he thought it was funny.
My wife's primary mentor, attended the Baptist Church in Cabot, and in an effort to demonstrate her good deeds, she invited all the wives in the ESL class, as a show and tell, and we, the husbands, were invited as well. Most of the guys who attended played on the base soccer team with me, so I knew I would be among friends. After the service, there was a lunch and we had the opportunity to mingle. Being the only Baptist in the mix of invitees, still looking for a church, liked the general flow of the earlier service, I made the attempt to find common ground with the parishioners.
What resulted was the most ardent encounter I have ever had, where it was crystal - my kind, and most of my teammates in attendance, were not welcomed under any circumstances.
I left fuming, with the determination to PROVE to these bigots, they were not acting according to God's principles.
I started with Genesis, and saw a book riddled with scientific absurdities, injustices, and concepts of morality- the worst human being is incapable of. But what stopped me altogether, was finding scriptures justifying the act of slavery, in Exodus. It was at that point I asked the question, most Christians do not dare ask: "Is the bible, really the word of God?"
The practice of slavery is embedded in the history of the South; most Americans haven't deviated from the faith that once killed people for claiming the world is round, and the earth is not the center of all things, until accidental discoveries, and new wealth opportunities appeared, therefore, how do we expect a people whose history was founded on the exploitation of others, to not hold grudges, bigotry toward their former 'property', or resentment over the outcome from the acts of liberation just within the last 150 years?
Especially, if there are quite a few words of scriptures, justifying slavery?
According to the bible, slavery of the Jewish race is forbidden, yet, for the rest of humanity - Do wat-cha-like.
I am not validating any form of bigotry, slavery, or intolerance of others, but in the South, the Christian faith is first before everything else. For ignorant minds, just words such as the following, validates the inhumanity of slavery the south was built on:
"If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies at his hand, he shall be punished. 21 If, however, he survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his property."
(Exodus 21:20-21)
I do not see how any god would endorse this, but as the questions evolved, I concluded, no just god could place faith above deeds. If we are to be judged, if such a thing as an afterlife is even possible, we are to be judged on our actions towards ourselves, our loved ones, our communities, all life on this planet, and the planet itself. "Do unto others" is the universal theme that defines all of our humanity.
With my eyes partially opened, I realized, I always had questions:
When Rastafarism was new, the religious school I attended in Jamaica, painted a picture of a people who were evil and unclean; yet when I once ran away from my caretaker, it was a Rastaman who acted with unconditional kindness and concern, and guided me back to the house I was boarded at. Why was this kind person, who wasn't family, arbitrarily vilified by an institution that never demonstrated any form of kindness, in my youthful perception?
After I was baptized at the age of 13, in St. Croix, USVI, I was instructed by the preacher I admired, to tell a lady in her 60's she was 'GOING TO HELL!' because she answered my question with, 'No, I'm not a Christian'. I asked myself then, who am I to tell a woman more than 4 times my age, her post-life destiny, with no proof?
A few months later, in pursuit of an attractive young lady in my Seventh Day Adventist School, I found myself seated in the Christainsted 7th Day church, one Saturday, and on the receiving end of the hell damnation, because I was baptized in a faith that ate pork, and worshiped on Sunday. 'Don't we all use the same bible?'
......
In September of 1989, my daughter three, my son two, and my wife and I no longer seeking faith, the possibilities of other existence-possibles, appeared under the wing of an aircraft approaching Chicago, O'Hare.
I had just completed a Temporary Duty (TDY) to Germany in support of the Ohio Air National Guard, and was on a flight out of Columbus Ohio, to O'Hare to get my final connection to Little Rock. As the aircraft approached the Sear's Tower, I glanced out of the window, on the right side to see an Orange Orb, southbound, fly under the wing of the plane, just before the plane banked left to set up the final approach. I realized in that instance, we are still a young species, and we have so many more questions to answer.
The answers, if we have any intentions of finding truth, cannot be based on a fleeting moment, intuitions, or any other concepts, or hypothesis without verifiable evidence.
The best answer to the questions we don't have answers to is - 'I do not know'.
Is there a god? - I do not know. This makes me agnostic. I do not pretend to have knowledge in favor of, or against, any particular creator.
Is the god of Christianity, or any other Abrahamic variety true? - I do not know, but, based on the evidence, the history, and our current standards of morality - highly unlikely. The current moral standards most humans employ, is vastly superior to what the bible, or any other Abrahamic based religious text proposes. This makes me an atheist, since, I do not subscribe to any versions of theology, or existing definitions of gods; being an atheist doesn't make me a devil worshiper, as your religious leaders, threatened by the idea of objections, will claim. Both the god & devil, of the bible, are of equal absurdity, from my perspective.
Is there justification to believe more advanced species, influenced human development? - I do not know; even with my experience in 1989, and numerous reports of UFO's, I refuse to construct any conclusions, because I do not have real evidence. It is reasonable to assume, life extends beyond our solar system, and knowledge; but to state our advancement, compared to other earthly species, is because 'aliens did-it', is baseless. Of the the potential claims regarding another influence impacting human development, other than the events here on this planet, and in this solar system, this has a higher degree of probability than the mythical, supernatural claims which dominates western and middle eastern human cultures. There are numerous other claims of human 'genesis' within the spectrum of humanity, and the one truth they all have in common, is no actual evidence. Imagine the liberation stemming from the truth - we do not know.
Yet most believer base their entire human experience, and interactions with others, on the certainty of what they believe they know. Sometimes, with horrific outcomes.
Skeptical perspective.......
Even though I would prefer, and wish people automatically believe my experience in Sep '89, as fact, the RIGHT thing to do is, be skeptical. Other than my visual, and cognitive experience, and the gentleman seated in row 11, directly behind me, confirming what we both saw, I have nothing more than a memory, and a very unique moment - for me. I am not skeptical of what I saw, I just do not have a method to demonstrate that what I saw is either a, b, c, or d. And, if I were to make a definitive claim that what I saw is was the meatball of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and write volumes of books about it, demanding compliance to my words, or else, without proof, why, in all that is true - should anyone believe me?
Skepticism, may get things wrong at times, but the standards of evidence and the scientific method, are our only hope of ever finding out what our existence is all about. Faith in god, has not solved any of humanity's myriad of challenges. Yet, even though with science, humans in western society have an incredible quality of life, compared to when religion had absolute control of everything, like the dark-ages, over 60% of the US population still take religion's word, over anything science presents (yet the latter is the only discipline that presents evidence) - that's scary.....actually.
Lets for this moment assume there is a god.....
If the god, most people believe in, do not see skepticism as a reasonable approach (because we humans have invented 3,500+ gods), and this super being, simultaneously fails to provide evidence - other than random testimonies, then such a creature has the empathy of a 3 year old, and cannot be affiliated with the moral pinnacles of unconditional love, real empathy, and universal justice. In fact, the concept of perpetual existence with that creature, is my definition of hell, and I prefer to take my chances with where proven evidence leads me instead, and not the whims, or desires, of religious adherents.
I came to this conclusion back in the 1990's, and the more I consider it - the Christian argument for god is petty.......
The following is just a brilliant statement of perspective, demonstrating the fallacies of Christian dogma.
Since I've taken the red pill, seeing the world as you do, is practically impossible now. For those who think I may still come around, no amount of Facebook posts, hell-destined intimidation from fire & brimstone preachers will work, not because I hate your god(s), but because all my efforts to find solid evidence, supporting anything the architects of any religious doctrines claim, has come up empty, on all fronts.
From time to time, I will come here to vent. All are welcome to visit, and respectfully share your thoughts, I don't mind talking about this, and will not disown you if you disagree with me. The challenge is, will you have the same courtesy?
*Edit 05/02/14: Since writing this. I am told the school in Jamaica was not Catholic, but because of some bad experiences with "Nuns" and some of the prayer services, I accepted & believed that it was apparently, in error, as I cannot find any evidence now to support my childhood perceptions.
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