I AM ... Utterly Confused (A Blog Short)

^{8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.” 9 But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also. - Genesis 38:8-10}

 
<sup>Lesson 1:
As we see in today's blog short God is PRO-cheating with your brother's wife /only/ if you do not "pull out" and cum all over the ground. That man's semen needed to go into that vagina. (***Remember- This book is for ALL ages, even children- so read ALL of the Bible to them. Not just G-rated verses!) So, do not cum on the ground, brothers and sisters!!! This act would have of course been the one and only time it was considered /not/ a sin to have sex with your brother's wife. We all know after this one story it went back to being a sin to cheat or to have sex before marriage or something. Most importantly we see here in this passage that God is (at least in this specific instance) ANTI-contraception... even in the most barbaric, useless, rudimentary form formally called "pulling out".

So, as we all know theism provides the basic groundwork and basis for all objective morality (no exceptions), and as we also know the Bible is the one and only true "Word of God" in existence... Not the Koran or the Book of Moron. No. Only the Bible. We know this though...

Obviously we are to assume then that God is against contraception. I don't need to express to you dear followers of Christ that God is pro-creation of the human race. It is commanded simply to "be fruitful and multiply". Never allow abortion at any time period... even if the mother is 12 years old and was raped savagely. It doesn't matter. Marco Rubio and Pastor/President-to-be Mike Huckabee have made this perfectly clear, and we should accept their revelation from God Almighty. 

As I've shown from God's infallible Word - We cannot use contraception. Period. The Catholic church understands this very well! Thank goodness too. As we all know by now in Africa, getting AIDS is wAAAAAy better than using a condom. That's just good common sense and basic moral soundness.

So the Christians are right to be against Planned Parenthood, on the contraception bit. God clearly would defund Planned Parenthood on the basis that a good majority of their services is providing contraception for women that cannot otherwise afford it. 

Lesson 2:
Now, I've explained before the tiny fraction of what Planned Parenthood does is abortion (only 3%, and none of which is paid for by tax payer money). This seems to be the faulty "feet planted firmly in midair" foundation on which the proponents of the "Defund Planned Parenthood" movement stand on. Well, we may have a problem here... Not that God wouldn't defund Planned Parenthood, because obviously we know God's stance and he's "Anti-not-shooting-your-load-into-a-vagina" but Christians are wrong on the /reasons/ God would defund Planned Parenthood - for the higher percentage of it's services which is "family planning" like providing contraception- /not/ because of it's miniscule 3% abortion services. 

If you are a devout student of the Bible as I am it's clear in his Word - God is actually PRO-aboriton. Not just because God is in control of all things, he pays attention to all living things.. even something as useless as a sparrow!  Clearly the millions of miscarriages can be attributed to God since he is the actual author of all things LIFE! He is used as the author of life in anti-abortion debates, so he must be author of all things dealing with a "woman's womb". You see, you are not Pro-Choice or for a woman's right to choose - because GOD is the author of life and He is the only one with a choice here! See, He is in control. Praise Him! Those millions of (what I call) "Adonai-Authored-Abortions" some people call miscarriages (lame) are part of His cosmic plan for  everything, everyone, and everywhere. Amen.

So, just with that rationale we can say God is pro-abortion... but let's take God at His "Word" (literally).. here's just a few examples.:

Hosea 9:11-16 (The classic standby "miscarriage" abortion method used by God here!)
Numbers 5:11-21(One of the better verses on "Adonai-Authored-Abortions" Praise be.)
Numbers 31:17 (NICE! Forcible abortion method! A sort of rape sentiment -abortion hybrid-combo. Interesting, I like it!)
Hosea 13:16 (oh, this book is like a medical book! Wow... Here is a very descriptive type of abortion  condoned by God - the "ripped-open" womb method. Very sanitary!)

So, reading the Bible we can safely say that God is clearly FOR abortion by condoning it or one can say at the very least God would clearly take it a step further than simply being PRO-choice like many liberals of today and actually be PRO-abortion! and thus be on the "PRO-abortion" side of a debate if they were to have one back long ago when this was all happening, but wait! How can this be?!

God is PRO-life too!?

Psalm 22:10-11 (oh how nice! SEE it's MORE than a fetus!!!)</sup>
Galatians 1:15 (God's grace -apparently something I'm told we all need for some reason-- is available even as a fetus!)
Psalm 139:13,15 (Awe! Cute!)
Psalm 127:3 (Here! Proof being pregnant is a reward, stop killing babies in your tummy!!)

<sup>It's almost as if the Bible is completely confusing and contradictory in so many ways... It's almost as if a consistent picture of God's character attributes is horribly evil, mixed with sort of good sometimes when he, himself/his son make it on the scene... It's almost as if we all just simply are tribal and stick to "our team" or "our social group" and confirmation bias as we plow our way through these issues every day while sticking to "our own" and siding with them. It's almost as if morality evolves over time bottom up and we pick and choose random passages that to us and our group sound much nicer and civil than those weird "babies being ripped out of pregnant mothers" or "God killing some dude for not cumming in a vagina" passages in His Word. 

Lesson 3
WAKE UP!... Let it all GO!
Everything will be OK.</sup>





 

Many New Christians Do Not Do Nuance

I don't do nuance. - President George W. Bush 2/15/2004

Since becoming an atheist years ago, I have noticed when talking to New Christians that many simply do not do nuance. They are intelligent people that are educated in Christian theology but when you read some of their blogs, check out their social media, watch their YouTube pages, or have a discussion about Christianity you find they simply want to keep things extremely simple. In fact one of my New Christian friends wrote a book a few years back titled "Jesus or Nothing". In discussing his premise with me via email he addressed what I pointed out was an obvious false dilemma fallacy.

My friend truly believes it's really a simple choice between "the gospel" or nihilism. I let an atheist friend of mine borrow his book to thumb through looking forward to hearing his expertise critique since he is getting his masters in philosophy currently. He asked me if this author realizes that there are many different types of nihilism in philosophy. I am pretty certain my friend understands this, but this is my point... There is nuance within the "nothing" part of the "Jesus or Nothing". Shit, there is nuance in the "Jesus" part of the "Jesus or nothing". There are people that truly believe that Jesus was an extraterrestrial. So it's a false dichotomy right from the title page.

My issue with my New Christian friend's entire concept of "Jesus or Nothing" (the current theme throughout the entire book) is it just isn't the only two choices we have. He'll delicately admit he's aware that there are other choices out there that people can pick buuuut will follow by doubling down on his premise by saying that following all things to their logical conclusions there is only two real choices - 1. Jesus (the gospel) or 2. Nothing (nihilism). But that's only true when you are working within a narrow framework. It's only true when you are working within one context - a Christian worldview. There is SO MUCH outside of this context. There is so much outside of this narrow frame work that it's dishonest in all reality to say that the truth is that there is only two choices. It's not true.

It certainly isn't true to the millions of extremely devout Muslim believers in the world today who could easily say "All(ah) or Nothing". I call copyright on that book title! So the author of that book would also be working in a narrow framework (Islam). To be completely "objective" (a term loved by the New Christians who kid themselves that they have an actual "objective" morality when we all know it's working within a subjective framework - the framework of a Christian worldview) we must say it's really an infinite amount of choices out there.. it could be "Polytheism or Amish apple butter", "tweezers or God's God", "Jews or Jesus" .... whatever you want it to be. The possibilities on each side of the "or" here are endless.

But New Christians don't do nuance. It's THIS or THAT! They are tricking you like any good salesman would. You need this NOT that! In reality there are infinitely more choices besides...

"A supernatural being sent his son - put him into a flesh-suit of his favorite species of ape, had that son killed by that species, had that son raise from the dead and come back to a magical, supernatural home beyond the cosmos all to appease blood sacrifice rules he set up in the first place OR .... One particular definition of nihilism."

Just look at the #Defund Planned Parenthood movement to see my point. Here is another example of New Christians trying to pigeon hole an issue into one clear binary "right" or "wrong" stance. To New Christians it's a baby at the moment of conception. The soul is inserted (by Yahweh) into that "baby" vessel as soon as that sperm meets that egg. God often allows miscarriages and horrific birth defects like something you would see out of a horror movie, but we'll ignore that and pretend it's not true - (That must be "the fall", Satan, sin, evil fallen angel-demons or hobgoblins or whatever).

If you have an abortion about a month after that sperm met that egg inside of you and began forming a baby you are a murderer! There is no nuance here. Ignore that God himself killed actual real Egyptian children (the firstborn of all families and what the fuck, why not... all the firstborn cows too), that doesn't matter though, please stay focused... I have heard it a million times on social media from New Christians. It's a baby INSTANTLY!.. thus any abortion at any time period is killing. I suppose if we were to follow this to it's logical conclusion and have our government be ran by a sort of Christian-style-Sharia law (what I think most Christians are striving for since they vote for these type of politicians) then these women who get abortions would be tried in court for murder.... which if you keep following this logic (most New Christians I've known are FOR the death penalty too- "eye of an eye", right?) so we should kill the mother for killing her zygote. Makes sense.

There has not been one New Christian explain to me why on Earth you cannot be pro-life and also NOT support the Defund Planned Parenthood movement. One merely need to be mildly informed with just one, maybe two simple facts -- that 97% of Planned Parenthood's services deal with women's health that everyone is OK with (not concerning abortion) and only 3% are abortion services .. and of those abortion services ZERO are funded by tax payer money. Why is this still a discussion again?? This apparently escapes them... even those that know these 2 simple facts. However, out of principle we must stand with Team Anti-Abortion because well um.. yeah just because it's relevant now.... many New Christians do not do nuance! Murderer or Pro-creation no matter what.

It also works this way with many New Christians' attitudes on gay marriage. There is a song and dance they do that often amuses those like us that simply want all citizens to have equal rights under the law. wow. what a controversial concept! They are in a bind, torn because their "holy book" explains being gay is an abomination (along with shrimp and wearing mixed fabrics in the same book of the Bible but ignore that) and, we should probably be strongly Biblical and kill all gay people (Leviticus 20:13) while we're at it.

These poor New Christians are the young, cool fundamental-hipster Christians so they often have gay friends that they haven't murdered (some of which are even Christians themselves who happen to attend a more liberal church!); so if they are to be true to their religious dogma (via whatever Timothy Keller, C.S. Lewis, Max Lucado book they are reading at the time because no one's gonna actually kill their gay friends as the Bible commands) and remain "cool" quasi-liberal hipster-Jesus-servants they simply shut down. They don't know how to act. They mostly, and simply avoid the subject like the plague altogether in the real world... only inside the protected tribe gatherings of New Christian peers do they discuss it in a rainbowless room.

This is the crux at what is wrong with religious dogma at it's core. Nevermind all the immoral passages within the Scriptures commanded or often acted out by God himself, the Bible forces ancient ways of thinking on it's followers. Many New Christians simply don't do nuance - it's right or it's wrong. Evil or Good. God or Satan. Theistic evolution or creationism. God-given libertarian Free Will or Hard Determinism. Life or Anti-Life. "Objective" morality or lawless chaos. The gospel or Hard Reductionism.

Please. Spare us.

In the real world, the more you learn about philosophy, cultural studies, sociology, economics, and science as a whole the more you realize things are definitely NOT black and white. There are 50 shades of grey at the very least! (*You're welcome for that.) Clearly we can see the simplistic "this or that" mentality played out on full display in young Earth Creationists. Most of the New Christians steer clear from the Ken Hams and Kent and Eric Hovinds of the world and consider themselves at the very least Old Earth creationists. They no longer say all species (I'm sorry "kinds") magically popped into existence 6000 years ago and then just sort of micro-evolved until now.

No. Thankfully the vast majority of New Christians have finally accepted what every field of science shows to be a proven fact: the theory of evolution by natural selection and the common ancestry of all species. However, there are some New Christians that treat this topic like they would gay marriage.. it's easiest not to discuss why they don't accept evolution (per se) when all of science shows it to be true (with mounds of evidence). When pressed they usually just change the subject. Because let's be honest, it's hard to say you accept science and scoff and laugh at those simplistic, silly atheists that think there is a conflict between academic Christianity and the sciences when you deny the foundation of all of biology and genetics. You can't do both. Sorry, even our species MACRO-evolved from single-celled organisms billions of years ago. Deal with it. Stop dancing.

In reality, the journey of our species is an awkward, painful, luck of the draw, evolutionary story with so much death and suffering encasing most of our species existence. As anthropologist Robert Ardrey once said, "We are born of risen apes, not fallen angels." Morality came sprouting forth sloppily as we emerged millions of years ago. Science /does/ nuance. Evolutionary biology /does/ nuance! When studied we find our ancestors pieced together morality through subjective concepts, ethics, philosophy, and religion... all of which did not come from somewhere "out there" in the cosmos in some supernatural realm... it came from within our brains, intertwined with our emotions, over many years of gregarious, social existence among our fellow apes. We built our morality, it wasn't bestowed upon us by our imaginary celestial daddy as those ancient books say.

This is how everything came to be- evolved - bottom up and it's /all/ nuanced! It's all in the details. Just watch the video I posted below from Richard Dawkins to see the beauty of nuance in evolutionary biology. It's fucking amazing! He presents visualized interpretations (snapshots) of our own species back through time and you'll see animals that don't look anything like us the further back in time we go!

Nuance: It's something that thrills us, feeds the insatiable curiosity, stimulating our intellect to discover our species past and the birth of morality in our species - an ongoing social experiment that we have clearly not perfected yet. It's not so simple that all things horrible and immoral on this particular planet  = two words for an explanation: "1. The 2. Fall". NO! It's more nuanced... Everything is more nuanced. All of everything that ever is and was or will be is not in one fucking book. It's not black and white. It's much more complicated and life is much more interesting and complex because of this. Beware of those that want to sell you simplicity or "the answer" to life. There is no such thing and as grown ups we should all know this by now.

Sites:

My friend's "Jesus or Nothing" book for sale:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jesus-or-nothing-dan-dewitt/1116874863?ean=9781433540462

Here's some full-blown "Not Doing Nuance" in all it's glory (Prager University's "The Truth bout C02"):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDWEjSDYfxc

Information on abortion:
http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/health-info/early-abortion-options/

Beautiful Nuance by Richard Dawkins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ClZROoyNM
 

Multiple Eye Witness Testimonies of Jesus and Other Things.

No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact which it endeavours to establish. - David Hume

Dear atheists,

Do you have any New Christian friends? Do you know people that are in the business of religion, whether it be at a seminary, Christian college whether a pastor, a Christian teacher, or a youth leader? These are people that literally make a career off of their particular brand of religion (it's how they make money)... Many of you have friends and family that are still religious and see their social media light up with posts like "abortion is murder!" or "Marriage is between one man and one woman" or "#defundplannedparenthood" or whatever narrative the conservative Republican talking heads decide to push on their followers for the week.

I have noticed in reading many of my friends writings on social media, blogs, or speeches on YouTube that they often call those that do not accept their choice of a religion (Christianity) "skeptics". It's strange because it seems to be used with negative connotation behind it. They, in the same breath, would say that there is absolutely no conflict between science and religion yet seem to not understand how a term like skeptic is a positive thing if one is to think scientifically. There is no situation that being skeptical is bad. It may be unwarranted continuing skepticism like say in the new movement that said we faked the Pluto flyby or that 9/11 was an inside job or the birther movement or global warming is all a liberal hoax or whatever, but it's never bad to be a skeptic going into any claim.

We as atheists know this. Obviously, we have been presented in life with the positive claim that there is a god and this god is the god of the Bible and then throughout our lives are sloppily shown all sorts of lines of reasoning for this from a strange pieced-together ancient book mixed with a whole heaping helping of random overweight sweaty yelling pastors with bad haircuts telling us this means this and this means that and this is the right way to live and don't do that. It's a lot to take in and it's mostly began as brainwashing in children, but I digress. And I've got a little personal there! Let's just say we atheists have found the "evidence" presented for a god to be lacking on all fronts.

I would assume that not all New Christians would talk negatively on being a "skeptic". I think some would acknowledge its inherently good to be skeptical of all claims - even their religion.. then would just suggest they have evidence for this religion's validity. Evidence for the validity of Christianity hinges almost wholly on Jesus being a real human in history first and foremost. There is a small minority of Bible scholars in what's called the Jesus Seminar that are mythicists. They do not think Jesus was a real historical figure but merely concocted over time borrowing from many other myths before and during this time period when the New Testament was written.

We will just write them off as being wrong for now simply due to the fact that the majority of Bible scholars (the experts) think that the stories of Jesus in the New Testament were based on a real person living at that time. This doesn't automatically grant that the stories surrounding this real figure in history were not tacked on or embellished in any way to make this figure look more miraculous, but we'll set that aside for the time being.

Now, if you were to ask one of your New Christian friends what they think "proves" Christianity or at least gives the greatest line of evidence for it - they would say - the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It proves the gospel. You see, first we must grant them the core "blood sacrifice" cosmic rule that demands an all-powerful God /or at least the "son" part of him/ must die to atone for the sins of all human beings throughout history and into the future is an actual thing. So whatever... let's do it... we let them have that, something there is no evidence for - it's just in an old book. So OK. We're giving them a lot already, I know, but let's keep going...

The next step is to examine if these things are true. Did Jesus exist?... we will just say yes here. He was a human being that existed in history. Did he die? We'll grant this as well. He did die on a cross. History shows it, right? Did he raise from the dead? (see, this is the apologists' slam dunk! if you can show Jesus rose from the dead this means to them that the whole message of gospel is true- thus Christianity is true) Do Christians actually believe there is evidence for this to satisfy us skeptics that Jesus rose from the dead?

Yes. Yes, they do. We merely need to look at the evidence to see!

A friend I was introduced to by another friend (both of which are New Christians) has a video I posted in the link below. Check out his stuff, he's a really nice guy. He has a video explaining how we can know the New Testament is reliable and it's not all just made up, or copied wrong, or altered like a bad game of "telephone". YouTube any lecture or debate on Jesus' resurrection from William Lane Craig. This is also where the New Christians find comfort... they can show by delving into ancient accounts that the resurrection of Jesus was true. How do they know this? - three key words - EYE WITNESS TESTIMONY. This is the defining proof for the validity of the gospel. You see, MULTIPLE witnesses saw Jesus after his resurrection. The New Testament itself was taken directly from eye witness testimony. Not just one person.. MULTIPLE eye witnesses! Also, the direct eye witness (a disciple of Jesus - Peter) who was with Jesus the whole time told the Apostle Paul and many others his stories of direct accounts with Jesus (keep in mind there is no proof for this just granting it for now - it's inferred this happened this way, no solid evidence.) So does this confirm the validity of the stories in the New Testament?

Borrowing from Carl Sagan's creed, when I've asked proponents of Jesus' resurrection for extraordinary evidence (extra evidence, more than the usual amount of evidence for a given historical figure), they say we actually have more evidence for Jesus' existence than many very well established historical figures. In other words by ways historians get information on the validity of fact-person over fictional-person, Jesus wins this compared to many other historical figures we today assume are real. Of course, this is just Jesus' existence... I don't think I've ever heard any New Christian say that we have more or even as much evidence for Jesus resurrection than another historical figure doing a specific act or deed. Maybe they will address this contention sometime for me.

Also, it seems they miss my point about the "extra evidence" I require. Even if Jesus has more historical proof than Alexander the Great or whatever historical figure we take for granted it doesn't matter - I don't have to GIVE MY LIFE to any other historical figure except Jesus ... if the gospel is true. So give me something more than shitty spotty evidence if you expect me to give more than a moment's notice of learning who you are like I would with Alexander the Great. You need to earn my following with more and better evidence!

Say it is true ... let's give the proponents of Jesus resurrection the benefit of the doubt and say ALL the eye witness testimonies are really people that are all reporting the same thing. They are real testimonies, not fabricated or falsified. It seems what we are left with is what the Christian apologist wants - accurate, multiple eye witness testimonies of Jesus after he was raised from the dead! Is this proof of the truth of the gospel?!

Well, I would suggest that if we are to use this "multiple eye witness testimony" as valid proof of an event taking place then we must take into account many other events in human history. The Christian apologist would likely be a skeptic in many of these other "multiple eye witness testimonies" such as UFO sightings or other religious experiences. In fact there have been several UFO sightings that have not only been witnessed by multiple people and reported to the local news, but have also been filmed by multiple people! So why would anyone be skeptical when we have film of this account? Why would people that accept multiple eye witness testimony as evidence of an event that happened thousands of years ago and was written down decades after the event not accept an event that multiple people experienced and even filmed?

This is inconsistent. And shows your confirmation bias, New Christians. Address this. Now let me address you:

What we do know is that eye witness is one of the WORST lines of evidence to rely on. Multiple court cases in this country alone have shown this to be the case. We are wired for bias. Listen to this for an example of what I'm talking about:

http://www.npr.org/2015/07/06/418585084/the-new-science-behind-our-unfair-criminal-justice-system

We are pattern seeking mammals and we are inclined to make major mistakes in connecting patterns and forming theories in our heads; creating false stories, attaching blame, biased for those reflecting our race, gender, and socioeconomic status. We are not reliable. It's a fact. And these biases and unreliable, unfair connections have real consequences convicting the wrong person in trials. We are horrible at identifying things from memory and our memory is faulty. And this is all in 2015, we are talking about thousands of years ago when we talk about Jesus' resurrection. Why on Earth should we be inclined to assume our memory was better then? Why on Earth would we assume that biases weren't at play in the eye witness testimonies of Jesus? Why do we mostly all understand that eye witness testimony (even from multiple sources on a single event) in 2015 is unreliable yet somehow think multiple eye witness testimony is somehow reliable in the past? Magic? We can say magic I guess... God's magic? Faith? That illogical gap there was all fuzzy wuzzy woo to connect it all together? We should just have faith in this? There is a certain level of faith here? Is this it? Honestly, New Christian?

Then you've lost me in an intellectual discussion... You're whole "proof of Jesus' resurrection" comes tumbling down in front of us. Multiple eye witness testimony proves fucking nothing! And you know it. Stop saying it does. You have a deep confirmation bias for your tribe to be the right one, for your religion to be the right one, for your god to be the right one. It's dishonest, it's clearly special pleading when you do not treat other claims the same as you do yours.

There is a something that seems crystal clear to me the more I look into it. Religion is like a colossal worldwide role playing game. It's followers are like those who obsess over the details of Lord of Rings or Game of Thrones. Only with a role playing game or these movies and shows, people know it's not real. In religion you embody cognitive dissonance at it's purest form. You start with a completely faulty premise, with no evidence to support it- the concept of God. A premise that has been hashed out and debated for thousands of years, but a concept that when specifics of a theistic god are examined have been debunked philosophically and scientifically years ago. The logical arguments are over.

The game is over but these people are still playing it as if it is real! Christian Universities flooded with budding New Christians eager to learn about the details of real-life-"Dungeons and Dragons/Religion", youth groups, church camps, mega-churches, apologetics seminars all hashing over the minute details of something that is all made up. Something that has no actual concrete foundation in science, logic, or anything in the real world at it's core. It's all smoke and mirrors reflecting emotion, community, fear, tribalism, superstition- each bouncing off each other in different combinations....

All built on .... Nothing.

I understand the pull. I used to be religious. I wrote a blog about what I think is happening regarding "human deep time" and the draw to the ancient woo... by default many things look magical and mystical from this vantage point so far from it's origin.. Religion began a long, long time ago, many different ones existed, those that survived human history still contain that "magical" and "mystical" pull that gets us because we realize it's old so it must be revered and it must be wise.

It's not, it's vestigial. It's not real. You are not talking to someone other than yourself when you pray. You are not pulling the laws of nature to adjust this or that because your imaginary father in heaven is at your call. This is absurd and it's well past time to put these things to rest. You are playing a game that is all it is, dear New Christian,... please let it go with the rest of us that realize we do not need these mental crutches anymore. If it means a purposeless universe.. at least we're not lying to ourselves and hashing out details of a fantasy to make consciousness easier for our species! Your lines of evidence are faulty and you are very deeply clouded in your own confirmation bias - steeped in culture and family history. It's weighing you down and you know it. You know the intellectual debate has been lost years ago and at best we are left with a sort of deistic god. A god that is indistinguishable from an atheistic worldview. Just let it go. We're not alone in the universe. We have each other ... There is a lot of us here on the other side waiting for you! I hope you come over soon. We'd love to have you.

Sources:

William Lane Craig: Did Jesus Raise from the Dead?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NAOc6ctw1s

Timothy Paul Jones on "How We Got the New Testament":
https://vimeo.com/131499553

News report of UFO sightings by multiple eye witnesses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeaBZyBTRiM

UFO Cases with Multiple Witnesses:
http://www.ufoevidence.org/Cases/CaseView.asp?section=multiplewitnesses

Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Injustice by Adam Benforando:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unfair-adam-benforado/1120377337?ean=9780770437763

Victory! God's Will Was Done! - Planned Parenthood Survives: More Thoughts on Christians and Abortion (A Blog Short)

But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. 

- Numbers 5:20-21

Today God's will was done on the floor of the U.S. Senate! Just hours ago the Senate democrats voted to NOT cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood... proving either God has no power on American democracy or that God's will is for Planned Parenthood to continue to have federal funding .. OR one could always just go with the standby - it's because of "the fall" or that this world is cursed by the worst evil angel or something. It works this way with prayer too! Those that prayed for Planned Parenthood to be defunded did not have their prayers answered. Why? God's will? Mysterious ways maybe? Whatever answer you get in reality to your prayer there is always a "Christian reason" for that answer. It couldn't just be random life events playing themselves out at all in a universe devoid of cosmic purpose or anything. No. That's just unthinkable!

This whole debacle stemmed from a heavily edited undercover video by a conservative news group that has been proven misleading due to the parts being edited out. Also, all news is edited, yes - but what you find scrapped on the editing floor, so to speak -if it in fact changes the context when put back in and disproves the very thing you are suggesting this edited video proves -- then THAT'S dishonest. That's like quote-mining or cherry picking scientific data to prove your stupid points (something creationist morons like Kent Hovind Ray Comfort do constantly.)

Republican congressmen and Christians old and new alike took to the blog-o-sphere and social media calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. #DefundPlannedParenthood While this was happening basic facts on the ground lay ignored, brushed aside, or possibly just undiscovered by the supporters of this legislation. This would easily be corrected with a mild skepticism and a quick fact check that would lead readers to what Planned Parenthood actually does! Only about 3% of what Planned Parenthood does daily are abortions (of which 90% or so are before the first 20 weeks, and no federal funding is allowed for this - which seems like the point of this whole fucking thing!!!) So by cutting Planned Parenthood essentially those that follow Jesus are denying help to poor women. Something Jesus would say you were doing unto him ... Matthew 25:31-46. Nicely done there.

Dear Christian, here is another idea to consider - In 2013 and 2014, over 3.5 million patients were provided birth control services by Planned Parenthood. This was something many Evangelical Republicans were against. But that’s about 3.5 million potential abortions prevented! You cannot logically have it both ways. Have some foresight! what would happen if you would have gotten your way today and Planned Parenthood was defunded? Suddenly these millions of people are without birth control which of course will lead to more abortions! Just think about what you are doing before calling something to be defunded completely by the federal government. Plus, as I've stated many times before 97% of what Planned Parenthood provides is healthcare for women, and even men. This includes breast screenings to check for breast cancer, contraception, free STD tests all for women who cannot afford them in our crazy mostly-FOR-profit health system in this country!

Are there issues with Planned Parenthood? Of course, my libertarian friend rightly pointed a few of them out to me in an email today, but we have to look at the priorities of the Christian Republicans. See where loyalty ultimately lies. My friend is not like a typical Republican. He's consistent, but most of the Republicans calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood are not! Unlike my libertarian friend, they don't have a problem with corporatism in Wall Street (where no one of the lower class benefits) but point out the evil corporatism in Planned Parenthood (which women of lower incomes DO benefit). All I'm saying is the priorities are backwards... we can talk about reinventing Planned Parenthood (as "sometimes libertarian" Rand Paul wants to do) to non-profit groups and so on but let's first focus in on corporatism and crony capitalism on Wall Street, or the banks, and large corporations... then we'll get to a this program that gives healthcare to poor women.

***Late Addition -

Dear Christian, 
... as you sulk about the Planned Parenthood legislative decision today, reminding me of the still continued sulking of the Supreme Court Decision (you know those evil black robed elites that legislate from the bench! - which of course you were FOR in deciding our President in "Bush Vs. Gore") -- can you answer why you're weeping over terminating human fetuses without a central nervous system is not on par with actual death of innocent children in say Iraq in our last war? Most of the Christians I knew then were in full support of that war of choice and we didn't hear a single peep on the crushing of a baby's skull by an American bomb or a sharp shooter blowing the head off of a child as we saw at the beginning of Clint Eastwood's movie. These are actual babies, fully developed children not the size of a kidney bean. 

There is disproportion in your lament of early death. And of course, this is just human beings. The overwhelming majority of Christians I've met in my lifetime consider the Earth something we are commanded to "subdue" - which of course means supporting the mass consumption of animals - the genocide of other species of animals by our hands is just God's intention for his favorite species. These ideas, this dogma that puts humans above the animals in all things, and pulls us out of the natural order is at the core of the problem with the global environment we are facing today. We are like giant toddlers, using toddler logic (just look at the 2016 GOP Presidential candidates for a clear example of this.) This country is getting more progressive though... as we've seen lately and I think we are experiencing the death throws of an antiquated, outdated way of viewing our place in the cosmos - religion.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out. American may be joining the rest of modern industrialized countries at the grown up table soon. We will see. 

"Tea Party Republicans"... Love big government that hurts people and are against big government that helps people. Fuck them. - A text from "Gog" 1 min. ago.

Why Christians Should Be Pro-Abortion (a Blog short)

The people of Samaria must bear their guilt,

because they have rebelled against their God.
They will fall by the sword;

their little ones will be dashed to the ground,

their pregnant women ripped open.”

Hosea 13:16

Dear Christian,

Have you ever considered that being pro-life, or against abortion, is an irrational position to take from your perspective? If the precious human soul with intrinsic value is worth just as much as any other human being with a beautiful intrinsic soul than we can safely say that all lives matter to Christians. I think most of you would agree. Most of the Christians I know would say that these precious little souls with intrinsic worth even if aborted would go straight to their creator/Father God when they are murdered at Planned Parenthood. Also, most of the Christians I know believe in a hell (whether it be an actual lake of fire or separation from god in some tormented way) and that all human souls have that chance to hear the gospel and if rejecting it they will face judgment in the afterlife. All except babies that haven't reached this "age of accountability" yet. So, there is a loophole. Die or be murdered before you reach this age (usually around 4 or 5 years old or something, I've heard) and you escape God's judgment. Thus of course showing original sin doesn't actually begin in our species until about age 4 or 5.

But more importantly, Christians, by doing the simple math it's much more probable a human being would go to hell if he/she survives past that "age of accountability" than if they were simply aborted by their mother before they were born. The success rate for an aborted fetus going to heaven is at 100%. If minimizing suffering is hinged on morality and getting to heaven to be with our Savior is the end goal Christians must stop being pro-life and join us liberals who are for a women's right to choose. Anything else would be logically inconsistent.

*Original idea from my friend, Steve.

Pluto: A Scientist Explains / A Christian Apologist Explains (A Blog Short)

 

NASA's New Horizons space probe has finally reached its destination - Pluto! We are now seeing stunning images from the dwarf planet's surface. I was reading a new report from NASA.gov today and one portion of the report gave me chills. Science is always changing with new evidence and reworking it's theories and completely scrapping some. In this report it talks about how due to the active geologic surface and lack of craters on Pluto (showing a very young surface compared to most icy moons in our solar system) scientists are forced to rethink ideas of geology on icy worlds. There must be a form of energy to be making this happen on Pluto, but all the standard ideas of how this happens are not sufficient in explaining how Pluto's geology is active enough to create mountain ranges. 

Many religious people do not understand science and how it works. They take science's best attribute: it changes with new evidence! - and speak out against it as if this is a bad thing. They of course are assuming all things work as religion does - dogmatic over evidence based. I pictured how differently a Christian apologist would tackle this situation on Pluto. Christian apologists know the answer of course is in the Bible or through a Christian worldview - we just must retro-fit reality and history to this answer. We can bend things to fit what we need because we know the answer FIRST then we attach reality to this answer. Not in science. Science is bottom up and evolves with new evidence to form the overarching theories. This is why science when compared to religion is far superior. I know I know. They are two different things and some scientists are Christians but I am talking about religion and science as a whole not specifically those practicing each.

Side note - I have heard often from some New Christians that something "to consider" (never quite using the phrase "evidence for") is that the overwhelming majority of humans throughout all of human history have believed in a god. These New Christians are aware of argumentum ad populum fallacy so they try not to say this proves theism outright, but of course it's something "to consider" for the atheist. I often respond with breaking this down... If we are to flirt with logical fallacies here- could we not then delve deeper into the human population and gain statistics (especially since the rise of modern science and philosophy when we mostly stopped using magic as science)? What percentage of those in academia are atheists compared to theists? Why is it most scientists and most philosophers are atheists? Could we then not make the argument (if it's sorta-kinda OK to flirt with the logical fallacy) that at the cream of the crop of human population (those with the highest IQs) the majority are nonbelievers. Does this say anything? The majority of the people in America think all climate scientists are evil liberal hoaxsters working for communist take over or at the least think they or their favorite news pundit knows more than all of climate science as a whole. The majority of people in this country believe in supernatural beings like angels and that praying works since God reaches down into the natural world to affect things by asking him too (sometimes). The average population of this country at least and many others are embarrassingly stupid, naive, and uneducated.

I'm being facetious, of course in this blog. I don't envision William Lane Craig trying to give a Biblical/God-centered answer for Pluto's geology any time soon, but why not have a fun go at it? A Christian apologist would look at these unanswered questions about the geology on Pluto and say, "see! Evidence of a higher power! God of the Gaps indeed! They could say science can't explain these mountains or where this energy is coming from to affect this dwarf planet's geography! - therefore - God himself MUST have molded them into existence only to have Neil deGrasse Tyson demote his newly formed planet! Further evidence that Neil deGrasse Tyson is working for Satan! Keep in mind too that God apparently invented black holes. Um, why?? If we take the religious teleological view that everything in this cosmos has a purpose, a plan, a design - please explain to me the destructive power of a black hole ripping apart his own creation. Jesus, this way of thinking is so primitive!

In all seriousness, shed all beliefs that are based on zero evidence... keep your eye on the ball and live skeptical of claims made - even those made by scientists and atheists. Research and fact check. Remember, we all fall subject to confirmation bias and presuppositions in arguments. The most accurate way we can live is to live scientifically and to do good philosophy - question things and seek out evidence that could debunk your truth claim and see how it holds up. If a position is unfalsifiable (god), or ill-defined (god) and you are accepting this "theory" of reality maybe rethink your reasons for doing so in the face of the lack of evidence. It's akin to having a zero in the denominator. It's undefined. You're view of the universe, if you are a theist, is "undefined". It's a burden of proof issue, theists are positing something - God and the claim that he exists and so on... As atheists we are taking the humble position of looking at each of these claims and finding no valid reason to accept them - thus adding up to our position as a non-theist or an atheist. So stay focused, get back to school maybe, get in the books, do the hard science and read good philosophers and embrace reason and skepticism to believe as many true things as possible before you die and try to leave the world a better place than how you found it. These are things we should all strive for!

Sites:

From Mountains to Moons: Multiple Discoveries from NASA's New Horizon's Pluto Mission:

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/from-mountains-to-moons-multiple-discoveries-from-nasa-s-new-horizons-pluto-mission

The Rise of the New Victimhood

 

There has been a top news channel in the U.S. that in the past decade or so has created an alternative reality for many of its viewers. This constant straw-man mentality at Fox News headquarters began in the George W. Bush era. Fox News was first in line among the cable news channels to promote Bush's war in Iraq. The liberal talking points dissenting against this war made it onto Fox News but strictly for the purpose to prop up their bias. These weak-wristed liberals were always circled by the entire cast of strong patriotic pundits then pummeled like a boxing bag in front of their cheering angry viewers. How could any traitor in America possibly say there are no WMD in Iraq or that there was no connection between Hussein and Bin Laden?!

The equation back then was simple... Fox News = supporting the troops. Fox News = supporting our Commander and Chief. Fox News = patriotism. Fox News was the place to go for 100% propaganda for U.S. exceptionalism with no exception. There was not a critical bone in their body when it came to war decisions or of the President that just so happened to be a Republican at that time. Fair, Balanced programming at all times.

With the advent of the Kenyan, Marxist, Muslim, otherwise known as President Obama, Fox News viewers began to become reclusive and more clickish... as they huddle in family outings to Golden Coral to bitch about President Anti-Christ in many smalls towns across the Midwestern United States. Their loyalty is strong to Fox News and has moved beyond brand loyalty and reached a somewhat cult-like following. They greet their day with "Fox & Friends" and sip their warm milk before bed watching "Red Eye" for some late night hate-giggles. Their position was proudly exclaimed to not be an intellectual position, it was a "gut" position. Raw emotion fueled by nationalism. They missed their "gut-reactive President" when it came to bombing other countries. They missed his cowboyesc, anti-educated ways!

Meanwhile in the real world President Obama's foreign policy was about as hawkish as President Bush's foreign policy. He wasn't starting any major war with any countries that never attacked us but he was still bombing countries without approval. The technology advanced, so now the President could use robots to bomb other countries. This of course angered many on the left, some that even voted for him, but living right next door, the Fox News viewer was injesting the narrative on their favorite television channel right off the cliff of anything resembling reality.

The narrative that has always been true and strident with Fox News is that they and their viewers are under attack from the overarching, overpowering, radical left agenda - led by the current President of this country. Fox News and their viewers are always the victims. This can be seen on any of their programs on any given day. Turn it on right now and look at the banner at the bottom of the screen and chances are that Fox News or their viewers are being victimized by the left.

It's a total scam. It's a bait and switch with such obviously fake bait. Fox News has convinced it's worshippers that mere labels are powerful enough in discussion. No evidence or facts are needed in arguments. Simply calling someone a liberal, socialist, leftist will win the debate automatically for you. We see this everyday with many of our friends and family on social media. Also, the louder you yell your point the more true your point becomes (*see earlier O'Reilly Factor).

Fox News never addresses actual "wars on..." that really need to be debated and addressed in this country; they create "wars on..." out of thin air - "the war on Christmas", "the War on Christians", "the War on the Rich". There are actual "wars on..." like "the war on drugs", "the war on terrorism", etc that could be debated but are largely ignored as most things are of any substance on these bastions of hyper-sensationalism.

The biggest victims painted on Fox News is Christians (some of their most devout viewers). These Christians are being persecuted by liberals and by atheists. We have seen this in many cases such as the Hobby Lobby case and clashes between church and state in regards to displaying the ten commandments or other religious monuments on public grounds. Also, if you want a group to really loathe Fox News will provide that for you - the ACLU!

However, the newest victim card being played on Fox News is homosexuals stepping on the rights of the religious (let's be honest though - only Christians, they're not talking about Muslim rights). This is furthest from reality we've seen the Fox News victim strategy bend. It is becoming a sound rule that if you take what Fox News identifies as the victim and bully in a situation then flip it - you'll most likely find in reality that the bully is actually the victim and the victim the bully. This has a pretty strong success rate. Try it!

Fox News would have you believe that it isn't that homosexuals are being denied service due to their sexual orientation from a business like a bakery (not unlike black people during segregation in the 60') but that it's the homosexuals and those in support of their cause that are trampling on the rights of the religious business owner to refuse service due to their religious belief.

See, flip it - there's the truth! You merely need to watch Fox News in reverse to get the truth!

Fox News would have you believe that it isn't that homosexuals are being denied their equal and constitutional right to marry as heterosexuals can (not unlike interracial marriage a few decades back), but that it's the homosexuals and those that support their cause that are trampling on the rights of the religious to make it unconstitutional for two people of the same sex to get married.

The other arguments against gay marriage from Fox News are what I like to call "ARGUMENTS FROM THE FUTURE!" where we see the pundits and conservative guests who apparently dabble in prophecy and fortune telling argue an issue that is not happening at present time - the ultimate alternative reality straw man argument! They suggest (with zero evidence) that soon the government will force all churches to marry homosexuals just as they marry heterosexuals.

This has caused many churches, like my father's home church to vote on changing the constitution of their church to reflect their strong stance against gay marriage. This has turned Glen Beck even redder and more down the rabbit hole of conspiracy on his channel. He has created what he calls the Black Robe Regiment consisting of thousands of pastors and ministers that would be willing to die before marrying two gay people.

The reaction from the Supreme Court's decision on legalizing gay marriage is one of the funniest most pathetic things I've ever seen from conservatives happen before my eyes. On many of the podcasts I listen to, the hosts simply turn on the endless audio clips of these reactions from religious Republicans and laugh to tears. In some ways I feel sorry for them because they look like fools to the rest of the entire world for caring so much about something that doesn't actually affect their lives at all in any single way.

Lastly, if you are a Republican and/or Christian I want you to do something that many of you have not been trained to do.. it's something that is the exact opposite of what Master Fox News tells you day in and day out for decades - I want you to put yourself in someone else's shoes. I know, I know, this could be dangerous. You may very well find that the worst problem facing this country is not government assistance to poor people. However, in this thought experiment you may just find some clarity.

Focusing hard, put yourself into the shoes of an atheist living in America today. I want you to picture waking up and turning on the news and watching segment after segment of how Christians and the Christian worldview is far superior than not being a Christian. Oh, and it's also under attack by you and your ilk. I want you to imagine opening up facebook to see multiple friends and family members of yours quoting Bible verses and talking about who's praying for what and/or who. I want you to imagine a hit movie degrading your position as merely a self-loathing, misguided philosophical position and making millions of dollars painting all atheists this way. The straw men are all around you. You are one too as an atheist - everywhere you go.

If you are like me and work around books, you are surrounded by top selling titles that have something to do with boys going to heaven and coming back, Jesus this and Jesus that. There is no escaping "god bless you's" and "purpose-driven EVERYTHING!" We have a section in the bookstore I work in called "Christian Health/Wellness" .. what does that even mean? Should we carve out a section for "Christian Neurology" or "Christian Biology" too?

You can image there are times when you feel like pulling your hair out because you cannot escape it! Religion and God are everywhere!

Who is the actual victims in America? Obviously, I have perspective and realize that there are more oppressed people in this country, but keep in mind that being an atheist is the most distrusted stance one can have in this country and money follows the demographic. Fox News on almost a daily basis paints atheists in a negative light. Almost as bad as they paint Muslims. I am not sure which is more hated on Fox News. It's a toss up.

Christianity isn't under attack - a vast majority in this country are Christian and even larger number believe in a celestial father! It's everywhere! It's in all sporting events, on billboards, on social media, on television, on news programs, on monuments on public property, on our money and not to mention there is a church on about every block! If this is what it's like to be a victim can I be a victim for a while?! Can we atheists be a part of the Fox New's New Victimhood?! It looks like a pretty nice standing to have in this country!