I was feeling nostalgic and looked up an old blog of mine...from 2008. This was not the beginning of the blog movement, rather the blog thing had been in full swing for a number of years (neither know nor care about how many years). I had reread some of my posts. I had a blog I titled “WTF” not particularly creative, I know, but it was the tone of my blog; I used this blog for complaining, bitching, moaning, etc., as you do…
Anyway, after reading my post on religion, I decided to repost it here; it has been more than ten years and the sentiments I expressed back then still stand today. I stand behind every word.
Religious Rant
I've got some views to express...and they are not for the faint at heart. If you happen to be particularly sensitive about religion...whatever religion that may be then STOP READING NOW!!!
Ok, so here's a thought I had the other day...a question I've started to ponder. If "God" created man in his image, AND "God" is supposedly omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, etc... then how come "God" didn't create man with the intelligence and creativity to have indoor plumbing, electricity, technology, cars, cell phones, etc.... right from the gate?
I mean, why did it take over two thousand years for all this technology to come about? I'll tell you why - because we EVOLVED, OVER TIME and eventually became more sophisticated...we evolved.
I'm not done with this yet, so here's the definition, courtesy of Dictionary.com, for Omniscient: having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding; perceiving all things. So having said that, if we just go strictly by logic alone, either "God" isn't omniscient (remember: created man in his image) or "God" didn't actually create man.
See, I think, and I'm not alone in this, I think that Man created "God" as a means to explain the unexplainable. Think about it, it used to be heresy to say the earth was round. Heresy! And while this is a pared down paraphrasing of what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, he did say 'How do you control the masses? Fear. How do you maintain control? Hope.'
Isn't that the very definition of what religion is and does for all mankind? The fear of God keeps man in the path of the righteous, the hope of one day getting to heaven, maintains control of mankind. See, I think that thousands and thousands of years ago, there was one smart guy in the tribe (I said 'guy' because it is not an intuitive female trait to desire control and domination, as those qualities are usually linked more with high levels of testosterone) so, yeah, one smart guy in the tribe figured out he could control the rest of the tribe by striking the "fear" of the "gods" into the hearts of his fellows, and tell them that he had the "ear" of the "gods" and that if they all did as the "gods" said (as communicated through him, of course) then there was the hope that they could gain the favor of the gods and grow good crops and live prosperously, and in the afterlife, be rewarded for following the laws and traditions and blah, blah, blah...you see where that all goes…
This seeming necessity to have some sort of entity, that knows more and understands more and controls all that you cannot control, that exists outside of ourselves, is what drives the fervor of religion.
Miracles do happen and prayers do work and I can supply logical reasons why both are true and can exist and occur WITHOUT the existence of any god.
Let's look at the science on a rudimentary level. Everything is matter, and matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Energy is matter, therefore energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Energy is transferred.
There's a great website that I found that is a really comprehensive discussion on the different types of energies.... http://www.ftexploring.com/energy/enrg-types.htm
So go read all that first then come back... Read about energy here. I'll wait...
Right, so I wrote three separate posts, parts I, II, and III. For the sake of continuity, I am reposting them all here...part deux is next.
Religious Rant Part Deux
Right so the reason is that we evolved...but more on that later…
What I really would like to discuss is the Creation Story. Now here's the thing, the Creation Story is one of the main tenets of Christianity - God created the earth and God created man. Well what I would like to discuss is the following:
The Bible doesn't seem to really go into to detail of note about how the earth was populated or rather how the earth's population of two was able to expand and so rapidly it would seem in such a relatively short period of time.
The fall of the Hapsburg Dynasty was in large part due to inbreeding, Charles II had what became known as the Hapsburg Jaw and was also mentally retarded. Mendel's laws of genetics can help explain why inbreeding is a bad idea in humans, you've got to spread that DNA around, change it up a bit, mix it up…
So yeah, getting back to Adam and Eve, after Adam and Eve had children, Adam had a second wife? Which would mean then that Adam's second wife was - wait for it...
his daughter??? Ew! That just gives me the willies...Cane and Abel fought over the love of...wait for it...
their sister???? I find it very interesting how the Bible doesn't address really, the incestuous coupling of one man and one woman with their offspring to propagate the human race. There was no mention of God having created any further humans...so let's just think about that - Adam had sex with his daughter and Cain and/ or Abel (forget which one) had sex with his sister. Did Eve have sex with her sons too?
Something to think about, eh? So when my mother asks me in her accusatory tone "You would rather think that you come from a monkey?" I respond with, "as opposed to the thought of coming from the incestuous coupling of one man and one woman, um yes, I would."
And theoretically, given the advancements with science, the mapping of the human genome, tracing one's family lineage...should it not then be possible to trace the origins of man all the way back to Adam and Eve through DNA? Nope. The answer is - wait for it…
we EVOLVED dammit!
Ok, that's it for the moment. There very well could be a part three...stay tuned...
And for Act III
Religious Rant: The Third Act
Now don't get too excited...the "third act" might intimate a hint of finality...but there are plays with 5 acts, so get comfortable...I'm in this thing for the long haul.
So my first religious rant introduced the concept of energy as opposed to an omnipotent entity or deity of any kind, and that's what I'd like to focus on.
I misquoted Bartlett's World Christian Encyclopedia so here is my correction: There are 19 major world religions, which are subdivided into a total of 270 large religious groups, and many smaller ones. Christianity is but one of those 19 major world religions, of which there are 34,000 separate Christian groups that have been identified in the world. I mention this so as to address that I am, across the board, denouncing the existence of any and all deities of any kind, found in any religion.
Now that we've got that sorted...energy, which exists whether or not I believe in its existence, is everything. If you've read anything from that first link that I provided, then you can stipulate in agreement to that statement. If you haven't read anything about energy, well then go click on the link in my first post on religion, read it, all of it, then come back.
Here's the thing, energy is everything, in everything, a part of everything, the processes that which energy is transferred are work and heat. Now bear with me here, given that everything, and I mean absolutely everything has energy either kinetic or potential, energy affects other energy. I'm talking on a very cellular level here and as such, two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time, it's a law of physics.
Let's ruminate over that for a moment: two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time. So when you give consideration to this, that two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time, let me give you some real life applications of this law of physics.
Two molecules cannot occupy the same space at the same time; if you're wanting something new in your life, (new job, new home, new partner, etc...) there's no room for the new to enter your life, as long as you are holding onto the old. It has quite a range of applications...but let's get back to the molecular level. Energy, molecules of energy can't share the same space so, they have to move each other around. Energy moves other energy around. Energy affects energy; this is the reason why miracles can happen and why prayers can work. Energy affects other energy; get it?
Prayer is focused energy, focused on changing other energy. You may be saying, "well, then how come, even though I prayed for days that my (fill in the blank - mother, sister, father brother, son, daughter, etc...) died?" Well, I think that is because sometimes there are other forces, other energies moving in the universe that cannot be changed because of the strength and force with which they move.
See, the inherent problem that I have with the existence of any intelligent deity of any kind is this: why would a so-called benevolent, loving god allow for so much suffering of innocent children, war, famine, poverty...etc.? And don't you dare tell me "because Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil" and don't dare tell me that it's because of the devil either. All of that is utter bullshit. As far as I can see, if there were intelligent deities, then they are sick sadistic bastards for allowing all the pain and suffering of innocent children. I just can't buy into the idea that we are all on this earth to suffer. I don't buy it, not even for a nickle.
Then there are people who would to a point agree that religion is man-made, they would say that spirituality is god-made. I still don't buy the concept of a deity, because throughout history man has demonstrated the need to explain the unexplainable, to make sense of it all, and that is why in my opinion, man created god. It's simply a matter of logic.
That’s it for my religious rant. I don’t doubt that people will come at me with bible verses and the like, but let me just say this, if you are going to quote me verses in the bible, then you need to provide the empirical data to back up those bible quotes.
Thank you for reading.