Saturday, December 8, 2012

My god can beat up your god... infidel


No banks took a hit this week but that doesn't mean other things didn't get hit. Here we see an unexploded bomb from Syria. Imagine that hitting your house. And even if it didn't go off it could do some serious damage. I like my duds of the milk variety thank you very much. Aside from the greed and tribal differences stirring the hatred and fighting in the middle east we have something as old as Methusela making for unpleasant mornings filled with rockets and dead women and children. That'd be religion. It's almost an illness when you think about it. All centered around superstitions of an ancient era when men danced around a fire hoping for a better hunt the next day. I'll explain.

 I used to be a somewhat religious guy but then I had a bout of sanity and all that changed. Like it or not we function as self serving and self protecting organisms in a finite universe. We always wonder where we come from but that question will never be answered. There are no scientific instruments to measure heaven or hell. No Ghost Busters gizmos to measure ectoplasm or the coming of Zool. And there's something that gets echoed several times through out history farther back than the days of Jesus. A concept that some martyr died and will some how magically come back to grace our presents. The idea has been repeated several times even before Jesus. It won't happen. Not unless Doc actually did invent a time machine and Marty shows up on your door step looking for his sports magazine.

 So in our feeble attempt to make sense of this world we call life, superstitions were born. It's our poor attempt at trying to seek logic only too much of it was illogical. Dancing in a circle isn't going to make the crops grow no matter how fervent the effort. And yet like Charlie Brown we always seem to fall for it. It must give some sense of satisfaction or comfort or it wouldn't have prevailed this long. And there's always an excuse when things don't go as planned. Must not have danced long enough or shouted loud enough so we'll have to try harder the next time around. And when that doesn't work we can blame it on some outside force or forces. Remember we were polytheistic before the monos came into being. And the head banging against the wall continues until somebody gets the bright idea that the crops need water and there's a river not too far away.

 Somewhere ingrained in our being is a touch of selfishness. Call it self preservation but it is always at odds with preserving the group as a whole. It creates many moral dilemmas but more so is the motivating factor of fear. I'd almost be certain that the first fear was that of the lack of food and water. But it is the unfounded fears that create the biggest problems. It's that perception that the plants might fail or the river might dry up that can wreck havoc with our ability to think rationally. And hence superstitions were born. It was only a coincidence that shaking a rattle at the clouds produced rains but if it worked once why not try it again? And so rituals were started that soon developed into a religious heirachy we see today all based on things not seen unknowable or illogical.

 Researchers say there's a spiritual part of the brain. I say it's a part of the brain that's trying hard to make sense of the physical world with abstract ideas and not coming up with any good explanations. I might have bought into the religious trap had it not been for the fact that people were tortured and killed for believing scientific facts. And even today there's an arrogance of self righteousness complete with more blood shed and suffering that pervades all religions. Just study your religions' history past and present if you don't believe me. There may be altruistic concepts gracing the brands but that's just the window dressing to get you in the door. Inside it's a different story when the skeletons come out of the closet.

 I've heard some pretty stupid things come out of the mouths of religious people. Most of it about scientific facts. Well here's one for you Sparky. Had it not been for the fact that a few daring souls stepped away from the pulpit and decided to find out things for themselves then technology wouldn't have advanced. The sun doesn't revolve around a flat earth no matter how much you might want to believe it. Global warming is quite real. The earth is more than 6000 years old and computers aren't evil.

14 comments:

BBC said...

I know where we came from but no one believes me so to hell with it.

Maybe I'll get the steel cabinet moved out of here today, maybe I won't, this afternoon I'm going to go drink beer with a cool Canadian chick.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
BBC said...

Hahahahaha

The spammers are getting good.

Tom Harper said...

"Dancing in a circle isn't going to make the crops grow no matter how fervent the effort."

Nah, it's much easier to find a scapegoat when the crops don't grow. That wealthy land-owning woman on the edge of town -- she caused the crops to fail. She's a witch! Burn her at the stake! And then we can take her land.

Demeur said...

Well Billy show her the video at the link and maybe she'll warm up. That is before I delete it. Ooops too late.

You have that backwards Tom. It's that evil 47% who were too lazy that caused the crops to fail.

Hugh G Rekshonn said...

Yours may not be but MY computer IS Evil.

Evil with a capitol E.







"Lord save me from a beer drinkin' woman"

BBC said...

Well, save me from a bar stool queen anyway. But she was very honest about that and didn't string me on so lets move on.

Jim Marquis said...

I saw one of those Gene Wilder memes on Facebook a few days ago and I really liked it..."So out of hundreds of faiths the one you were exposed to as a child just happens to be the "one true" religion. What a lucky coincidence."

S.W. Anderson said...

Religions are the creations of human beings, so they're not going to be perfect. Going back to the ancient Greeks and before, God and his works were, by definition, perfect. Mortals and their works were, by definition, incapable of perfection, because perfection is exclusive to god(s).

Part of the imperfection inherent in man's religions is that they all hold the potential of being exploited and subverted by people who are selfish, manipulative and/or downright evil. Religions attract manipulative people because religions exert power and influence over people's beliefs and actions.

Televangelists tend to be very effective with the power and influence thing. "Keep those donations coming in, folks, so we can continue our divine mission . . . Call 1-800 5555 right now!"


However, wholesale condemnation of religion because of this vulnerability, IMO, makes no more sense than condemning the person who falls prey to a skilled con man. That a religion can be exploited and subverted by some person or persons who are good at being bad doesn't make the religion itself necessarily bad. Like their human leaders and followers, religions can wander off the straight and narrow path but eventually reform themselves and return to the straight and narrow path.

By the way, is organized religion necessary for one to believe in God? My position is no. I think religions need God, but God doesn't need them.

Demeur said...

Problem is they all seem to fall off the rails as time goes on. We have pastors involved with hookers. Pastors buying 16 cars for their 4 member family. Pastors promoting assassinations. And of course pastors promoting hate.

The problem with your last thought is that scripture tells us not to deny the christian brotherhood. Yes I've read the whole book many times. It only seems to divide mankind not make him better. Take any religion and soon it becomes radicalized. Now they have a show called the Amish mafia for cripes sake! What's next Quaker hit men?

Jim Marquis said...

Shaker strippers.

S.W. Anderson said...

Demeur, does the Bible spell out exactly what it means by "Christian brotherhood?" If not, it could simply mean all those who accept that Christ was the son of God, the holy trinity, etc., and not any particular church.

BBC said...

The Christian brotherhood is at the whore house, drop by and ask them what it means.

The Blog Fodder said...

Damn, between you and SW's comment, you stole a blog post I have been mulling for some time. Good stuff here.