Hosea 9:11-16
Numbers 5:11-21
Numbers 31:17
Hosea 13:16
2 Kings 15:16
1 Samuel 15:3
Psalms 135:8 & 136:10
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Just Me and My Dad: Rage Against a Father
When I was younger I remember a Bernstein Bears book called "Just Me and My Dad". There is a picture I could not find anywhere in my computer of my brother and I intently listening to my dad reading us this book. We were so happy. He was so happy. But...
This blog entry will have no sentiment.
This is not the blog entry where I talk about the good things between my father and I, and this isn't the blog entry where I perfectly sum up my father and his religion. I don't know how to put that together into something comprehensible.
Here it is: My father doesn't understand the way planet Earth works. When I say I do not know much in biology, paleontology, genetics, anthropology, climate science, geology, comparative anatomy I am being truthful and honest. When I say my father doesn't know any of these scientific fields I am being loose with the word "know". My father does not know a single sentence from a single textbook supporting scientific theories that he outright rejects. There is no time to be respectful and polite in this post, as we sometimes are obliged to do with friends and family. Human life is just too short.
I have spent some time explaining to you about my father and how he thinks. I finally spoke with him the other day about evolution and the age of the earth. This is just a few things of what my father thinks:
Evolution is a mass delusion just like "flat earth theory" was centuries ago. Yes, it's all a lie.
A guy in church once told him a dinosaur footprint was found along side a human footprint so humans and dinosaurs existed at the same time in history.
The Earth is young not old.
The Bible is to be taken word for word as literal truth and this is how he gets all these "truth" nuggets.
I began my discussion with him the other day talking about the amazing fact that we have a host of bacteria living in our guts and how this is so fascinating that the human body is it's own ecosystem.
He replied that it's amazing that some atheists out there think there is no Designer to this beautiful design in nature.
I paused, frozen a bit, stumbled over my words as I attempted to present the Unintelligent Designer theory. I couldn't believe this was happening. I have never told my dad I accepted evolution. I talked to him about all the imperfections in nature like how humans are the only mammals that have the same tube to communicate and eat, thus a vast majority of our species have choked to death.
"Let me stop you right there before you continue..." my dad said. "I do not think humans are animals."
And I rest my case.
I did rest for a brief moment then tried to bring us back to a common vocabulary. Where do you go from here?
There is no way of convincing someone who once told me that our Sun is NOT a star that humans are not a part of the animal kingdom. Biology is dead right from the start apparently according to my father.
I realized at that moment that the very soft spot that made my dad react so abruptly was the very thing that made me transition to an atheist. To look at a human as part of the animal kingdom is opening the door to naturalism. There is more to these mysteries of life than "God did it" or magic. We have explanations for so many things that I was never taught growing up in my Christian science classes. Biblical literalism is laughable when you know the slightest amount of science.
My father argued with me about soft tissue found in dinosaur bones (thus the Earth is young) and Noah's ark being real and dating methods of course are unreliable. My father's church is watching what I can only imagine is a young Earth creationist response/reaction to the recent Cosmos series with Neil deGrasse Tyson on Fox in his church every Wednesday night. Each Wednesday night they watch and discuss this: http://www.icr.org/article/unlocking-mysteries-genesis/
Yep.
I don't want to tell you why the Earth is not 6,000 years old or why Darwin was not wrong. I want to tell you what I feel about my father. I think he is afraid to learn. There is something terribly dark and (dare I say) "evil" about being content with living without knowing, and knowingly doing so. People make stupid "truth" statements all the time about how the world works, "the moon landing was faked", "9/11 was an inside job", "that little boy went to heaven and back", "Islam is the only true religion", "crystals heal your ailments", "my dream means something", " in my past life I was...", "Oh, your astrology sign is this that's why your like this", and so on... We are not taught to think critically from birth. This is something that needs to change for the survival of our species, in my opinion. Hyper-Capitalism mixed with non-critical thinking could be a lethal blow to our species, at least those of us so lucky to live in developed parts of this planet.
I realized something once again today. Life is one day. one hour. one minute. one second. right now. There is nothing more. We cannot fill the human deep-search for "meaning" with religion or woo. We can't fill it with New Age anything or self improvement whatever. We can fill it with /Truth/ and the biggest truth I know is that I am an ape and I am peculiarly alive and conscious (comprised of subatomic particles/waves like everything else that evolve over time) on a rock hurling through space. I know this better than I can know most things. And THAT is a total mind-gasm! No need for fairy tales to bask in the mystery of .. how do I eloquently say,... "what the fuck is happening?" I think I may get a red letter criticism from my philosopher friend on this blog entry as well. We shall see.
My father is deep in the Unknown. And I was there too. He raised me there from childhood. I was "saved" when I was 5. Then 7, then 8 then 9, then 12. I kept getting "saved" over and over when I was a child. Not because I loved Jesus and I really REALLY wanted to make sure I spent eternity with Him in heaven. It was that I was terrified of 1. dying and burning forever in hell. and 2. being "left behind" when the rapture happened and then of course getting my head cut off at some point by the AntiChrist one-world government or dying from some plague.
In conversation with New Christian friends I am reminded that a lot of what we do whether theistic or atheistic is based off of emotion and of course most of this can be traced back to our upbringing and our reaction to it, even as adults. There is truth to this, but I want to remind my New Christian friends that this new hip modern Christianity is nothing but Christianity with out the hell-fire and brimstone (you know cause that shit is awkward!), so I really loathe this idea that Christianity is so past barbarism yet some of my New Christian friends knowingly think I will fucking burn forever. No! it's not my strict legalistic past that scars me .. it's the Christian Dogma that at least my father had the guts to tell me straight up-- if you don't believe in Jesus you are going to burn forever, son! The Christian dogma of hell for the unbeliever is the issue here. So New Christians can stop pretending to be my friends when they know I will burn forever, I mean come on!
My father had good qualities, but his deep ignorance in naturalism and all of it's laws and any of it's brilliant scientific theories kept me in the dark. The school I grew up in was drastically unequipped to teach it's students in the natural sciences. My family isn't all kept in the dark, however. I have family members that are nonbelievers, soon to be doctors and some are realists, but my immediate family has been in the dark, so to speak all my life. Simply put: Religion has destroyed my family's intellect. There are ways the world actually works my family has no conceptual clue about. We are all flawed, and I admit my ignorance, but being content and even confident about a worldview that is completely unfounded, unhealthy, and uniformed is not acceptable.
As radical Islam marches through the Middle East (beheading infidels and committing the brave act of shooting little girls in the face who want to educate themselves) and Middle Age-like Christianity (with it's barbaric ideas of scientific ideas about the world) chokes Middle America it's best to cling to the evidence, the facts, the science. It's best to be a skeptic always in everything. Stop being so goddamn gullible! The death throws of religion are wild and violent in 2014 (*See ISIS) . These things will end. Sooner or later apes will grow up. Sooner or later we'll be another extinct species like the 99% of all other species that have ever lived on this rock in this irrelevant point of the cosmos. We are in that stage and it's happening quicker than you may think, quicker than I can see in my personal life.
So Yes, dad. We are animals. we are apes. Our Sun is a fucking star and it's time you grew up with the rest of us apes and accepted this world the way it actually is and swallow the Truth about what we actually do already know. Some of us that have hope still can fight this tendency to be cowards and ignorant and those that do not accept all scientific knowledge because the comfort blanket of their barbaric superstition is too entangled in their lives.
This is my rant about just me (ape) and my dad (ape) .. and here are some related links.
"Just Me and My Dad"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxs65G56FeQ
Don't buy this: Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis:
http://store.icr.org/Unlocking-the-Mysteries-of-Genesis/productinfo/DUTMG/
"Unlocking the Mysteries of Genesis" trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYzppTgGKu8
Friday, August 8, 2014
Levels of Woo. (Where Do You Rank?) A Blog Short
I'm currently working on a blog post regarding the anthropic principle. Most of the major religions of course are anthropic. Sure it's about God (by whichever name you want to call him) but it's all about Humans and God's relation to them. All other species (and women) are regarded as property to be owned and used for your pleasure, at your leisure. Even the planet Earth itself is merely something to pass through as the real life begins after death in heaven or hell - after humans meet their God for judgement.
We are pattern seeking, conspiracy driven, mammals that have a hard time thinking the universe doesn't revolve around us. Just span back through the years of scientific thinking to see this. We think the universe has us at the center. Not just our species but each of us as individuals. Our subjective experience forces us to view the world through this collective anthropic lens. These characteristics combine to make us very illogical, even in 2014 with all this modern technology, light speed travel and communication, in a booming information age. Don't get me wrong. We are on average smarter than we were a few hundred years ago. Though you wouldn't think so if you visited a local mall or Walmart in this country. Idiocracy is very rampant. Just turn on a TV. (Ouch! my balls.)
It's not just religious superstition that dominates the minds of this country. Many of us are pulled in by the lure of all sorts of unsubstantiated claims. Some things like Alchemy have gone into the waste bin of history, but something equally as unscientific such as astrology is still widely accepted among the population. Many laugh it off when confronted by a skeptic, and comment that they know it's silly but the patterns are there, you can't deny it. Leos and Capricorns just act that way or fill in the blank. Cognitive dissonance is strong with things like these. These people know better but almost enjoy the hobby of the belief itself. It's odd, but many people do this. These things we skeptics call "Woo". It is a term used to describe anything that has no actual evidence to back it up.
Just browse the New Age section at a local bookstore and you'll see the levels of Woo. There are many books on conspiracy theories. Many conspiracy theories (the really good ones that are still around today) have some kernels of truth to them, some points that are factually sound, however these facts are forcibly connected together by the conspiracy theorist to present a faulty theory. Random facts (that may be disturbing or alarming) shouldn't always necessarily be connected to fit a narrative. But that's what appeals to our mammalian brains. We have evolved and done so well by connecting patterns and making theories and stories about the world we live in. We probably needed these traits to survive throughout our evolutionary past. We simply outsmarted our prey.
I was browsing through the Christian and New Age sections the other day at Barnes & Noble and I wondered what a chart would look like for ranking one's "Woo". If the highest marks signified the most extreme cases of Woo how many "Woo" marks would I get? I think a ranking chart could look something like this...
(Ranking from Highest Levels of Woo to Lowest Levels of Woo)
1. Religion.
Of course this is a huge category that we could divide into subcategories of the most ridiculous of religions with clearly some blatant problems like Scientology and Mormonism. Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism would be next of course (these awarded some less Woo points due to the fact they have the social stigma involved - simply, they are the most popular in our world today and culturally ingrained in so many people from birth) Buddhism would be last more than likely. Buddhism is an atheistic religion. There is no god in the religion, however there is much unsubstantiated superstitious nonsense with ideas like Karma that have no evidential backing behind it. This of course goes for prayer (in whatever religion you are in, to whatever god you are praying to). Prayer is the ultimate anthropic signpost. God cares about you, don't ya know? There is zero evidence prayer works in any way. There have been controlled experiments and prayer has not met the burden of proof in any way shape or form.
2. New Age
This is a broad category like religion. This umbrella would contain under it conspiracy theories (9/11 was an inside job, the Illuminati are controlling everything, big foot, Sasquatch, Loch Ness Monster, ghosts, JFK assassination, ancient aliens, alien abductions, etc) homeopathy, astrology, remote viewing, crop circles, astral projection, alternative medicine, chakras, crystal power, and so on. These things could of course also be ranked within this category. Obviously if you believe in the David Icke theory that our powerful world politicians are actually shape-shifting Reptilian Aliens then you are probably at the top of the list. Even my friends who are conspiracy theory buffs don't go that far down the rabbit hole usually. Of course there are actual Unidentified Flying Objects (identified as such correctly by an bystander since they don't know what they are), but there is no reason to believe these crafts are alien crafts from outer space. Let's try military industrial complex first. Of course there are such things as crop circles, but they are made by crop circle artists who are all (as far as we know) human. Homeopathy and crystal healing have no sound scientific evidence on either side. The same goes with remote viewing, and astral projection is actually sleep paralysis.
3. Purpose Driven Lives and Everything Happens for a Reason
This is where I rank the least amount of Woo. Most people think anthropomorphically all the time. I know I do. Most people do as we live our daily lives. We sort of have to don't we? But thinking that the universe has a plan or a purpose of everything happening for a reason basically means you think that our species is the pinnacle of the universe. This of course ties into the heart of all religions, but even the nonreligious can think that there is some deeper meaning to events in nature and we are at the center of this meaning. We've all heard -- "Oh I had this dream one night and then the next day I saw the same thing in my dream!" The matrix is glitching! Coincidence? No Way! This is the Cosmos telling me something. What does it mean?! There is no meaning to these dreams. We dream every single night and we forget about how many times we dream nonsense. Of course in a large number set of "dreams each night" you are bound to eventually have a dream about something that coincides from your day the next day. It's not the universe telling you something - it's just mathematical probabilities. The same thing goes with rare events happening. Things that seem like the Universe is "telling you something", showing you a sign are just something that happens. It's simply a matter of probability taking from the mathematical principle called the Law of Large Numbers. Basically it states that given a large enough universe with large enough options through large amounts of time and you are not only bound to get rare events happening but it is a mathematical certainty that you will. Thinking even remotely mathematical about the world is truly eye opening.
You all may be depressed now but don't just sign up for nihilism just yet! Despite what you may have heard http://www.theolatte.com/ the choices are not only "Jesus or Nothing". We have options. We can be happy basking in the most Truth we know about the universe and reality in any given time period in human history. That's intensely mind-blowing! You don't have to wallow in this idea that we are so insignificant (which we are) compared to the Cosmos. You don't have to dwell on the fact that there is no cosmic purpose that involves you. Just think of us as the universe knowing itself. You can think of us as a highly intelligent species understanding the universe more than any other species we know. That's fucking awesome! How is that in any way depressing? There couldn't be a better time to be alive! Educate yourself and read away that Woo!
I know I usually post links to check out after one of my blog entries. Here's a "red pen" criticism from my friend about this blog... Enjoy:
We are pattern seeking, conspiracy driven, mammals that have a hard time thinking the universe doesn't revolve around us. Just span back through the years of scientific thinking to see this. We think the universe has us at the center. Not just our species but each of us as individuals. Our subjective experience forces us to view the world through this collective anthropic lens. These characteristics combine to make us very illogical, even in 2014 with all this modern technology, light speed travel and communication, in a booming information age. Don't get me wrong. We are on average smarter than we were a few hundred years ago. Though you wouldn't think so if you visited a local mall or Walmart in this country. Idiocracy is very rampant. Just turn on a TV. (Ouch! my balls.)
It's not just religious superstition that dominates the minds of this country. Many of us are pulled in by the lure of all sorts of unsubstantiated claims. Some things like Alchemy have gone into the waste bin of history, but something equally as unscientific such as astrology is still widely accepted among the population. Many laugh it off when confronted by a skeptic, and comment that they know it's silly but the patterns are there, you can't deny it. Leos and Capricorns just act that way or fill in the blank. Cognitive dissonance is strong with things like these. These people know better but almost enjoy the hobby of the belief itself. It's odd, but many people do this. These things we skeptics call "Woo". It is a term used to describe anything that has no actual evidence to back it up.
Just browse the New Age section at a local bookstore and you'll see the levels of Woo. There are many books on conspiracy theories. Many conspiracy theories (the really good ones that are still around today) have some kernels of truth to them, some points that are factually sound, however these facts are forcibly connected together by the conspiracy theorist to present a faulty theory. Random facts (that may be disturbing or alarming) shouldn't always necessarily be connected to fit a narrative. But that's what appeals to our mammalian brains. We have evolved and done so well by connecting patterns and making theories and stories about the world we live in. We probably needed these traits to survive throughout our evolutionary past. We simply outsmarted our prey.
I was browsing through the Christian and New Age sections the other day at Barnes & Noble and I wondered what a chart would look like for ranking one's "Woo". If the highest marks signified the most extreme cases of Woo how many "Woo" marks would I get? I think a ranking chart could look something like this...
(Ranking from Highest Levels of Woo to Lowest Levels of Woo)
1. Religion.
Of course this is a huge category that we could divide into subcategories of the most ridiculous of religions with clearly some blatant problems like Scientology and Mormonism. Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism would be next of course (these awarded some less Woo points due to the fact they have the social stigma involved - simply, they are the most popular in our world today and culturally ingrained in so many people from birth) Buddhism would be last more than likely. Buddhism is an atheistic religion. There is no god in the religion, however there is much unsubstantiated superstitious nonsense with ideas like Karma that have no evidential backing behind it. This of course goes for prayer (in whatever religion you are in, to whatever god you are praying to). Prayer is the ultimate anthropic signpost. God cares about you, don't ya know? There is zero evidence prayer works in any way. There have been controlled experiments and prayer has not met the burden of proof in any way shape or form.
2. New Age
This is a broad category like religion. This umbrella would contain under it conspiracy theories (9/11 was an inside job, the Illuminati are controlling everything, big foot, Sasquatch, Loch Ness Monster, ghosts, JFK assassination, ancient aliens, alien abductions, etc) homeopathy, astrology, remote viewing, crop circles, astral projection, alternative medicine, chakras, crystal power, and so on. These things could of course also be ranked within this category. Obviously if you believe in the David Icke theory that our powerful world politicians are actually shape-shifting Reptilian Aliens then you are probably at the top of the list. Even my friends who are conspiracy theory buffs don't go that far down the rabbit hole usually. Of course there are actual Unidentified Flying Objects (identified as such correctly by an bystander since they don't know what they are), but there is no reason to believe these crafts are alien crafts from outer space. Let's try military industrial complex first. Of course there are such things as crop circles, but they are made by crop circle artists who are all (as far as we know) human. Homeopathy and crystal healing have no sound scientific evidence on either side. The same goes with remote viewing, and astral projection is actually sleep paralysis.
3. Purpose Driven Lives and Everything Happens for a Reason
This is where I rank the least amount of Woo. Most people think anthropomorphically all the time. I know I do. Most people do as we live our daily lives. We sort of have to don't we? But thinking that the universe has a plan or a purpose of everything happening for a reason basically means you think that our species is the pinnacle of the universe. This of course ties into the heart of all religions, but even the nonreligious can think that there is some deeper meaning to events in nature and we are at the center of this meaning. We've all heard -- "Oh I had this dream one night and then the next day I saw the same thing in my dream!" The matrix is glitching! Coincidence? No Way! This is the Cosmos telling me something. What does it mean?! There is no meaning to these dreams. We dream every single night and we forget about how many times we dream nonsense. Of course in a large number set of "dreams each night" you are bound to eventually have a dream about something that coincides from your day the next day. It's not the universe telling you something - it's just mathematical probabilities. The same thing goes with rare events happening. Things that seem like the Universe is "telling you something", showing you a sign are just something that happens. It's simply a matter of probability taking from the mathematical principle called the Law of Large Numbers. Basically it states that given a large enough universe with large enough options through large amounts of time and you are not only bound to get rare events happening but it is a mathematical certainty that you will. Thinking even remotely mathematical about the world is truly eye opening.
You all may be depressed now but don't just sign up for nihilism just yet! Despite what you may have heard http://www.theolatte.com/ the choices are not only "Jesus or Nothing". We have options. We can be happy basking in the most Truth we know about the universe and reality in any given time period in human history. That's intensely mind-blowing! You don't have to wallow in this idea that we are so insignificant (which we are) compared to the Cosmos. You don't have to dwell on the fact that there is no cosmic purpose that involves you. Just think of us as the universe knowing itself. You can think of us as a highly intelligent species understanding the universe more than any other species we know. That's fucking awesome! How is that in any way depressing? There couldn't be a better time to be alive! Educate yourself and read away that Woo!
I know I usually post links to check out after one of my blog entries. Here's a "red pen" criticism from my friend about this blog... Enjoy:
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