Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Nonsense!!!! My Reply

Okay, first of all this 'lovely' little email implies that people who suffer do so because they do not believe in God or do not ask for God to help.

In other words, this is just another take on the 'blame the victim' attitude. Actually, it is highly likely that the 'blame the victim' attitude is biblical.

It is also a blatant lie which stands out a mile to anyone who bothers to think. Duh!

If it were true, then no one who professes to believe in God and who prays to her, would suffer. They wouldn't get sick, no one would ever hurt them, they'd never be poor. I think you get the picture.

I know of a 3 year old who just died of cancer. They suffered. What sort of evil belief system suggests this child suffered because they did not pray or believe? Or worse because their parents didn't?

Now to the last bit of the offending email: no one KNOWS there is a God! You can believe there is, you can feel sure there is, you can be fervent in your belief. But you cannot KNOW.

No human being has access to ABSOLUTE TRUTH. We only have our ideas and the meanings we create. That is it. We do not live our lives based on absolute truth, because we cannot know TRUTH. We live our lives based on our ideas and on the meanings we have created from our experience.


Even though not mentioned in the email, I will also add that the the idea that some people have that their 'sins' are 'paid' for by someone else, that we each have our personal whipping boy, is also clearly not true, no matter how much we may wish to be absolved of out personal responsibility.

How can I feel sure of this?

Simply because we suffer and we die!

IF someone else had paid for our sins, then we would not suffer the consequences of our errors(sins). We also would not die, because the wages of (punishment for) sin is death. Even the Holier Than Thou brigade die.


I have not written about belief in a god or supreme being or divine force or whatever. I see nothing wrong in such a belief. In fact it can neither be proven nor disproved. I also find a definite atheistic point of view to be as silly as a definite religious one.

None of us knows if there is a creator or not. No matter how much we fancy we do.

My objection is to the damaging stories people have made up about God. The damage they do to children by teaching it as TRUTH. I object strongly to evil portrayed in these stories and the inability of many people to see how these stories severely damage the human race.

Also, it disturbs me greatly that people believe them.

Just as an example, there are those that believe that the story of Noah is true. Forget for a moment the Ark and the cute animals walking in 2 by 2 and how lovely Noah and his family were.


WHAT SORT OF MONSTER DROWNS MEN , WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND ANIMALS BECAUSE HE IS PISSED OFF?

More to the point, what sort of person believes in such a monster? Could it be a person who harbours such foul feelings of revenge and destruction? Is this why they are able to accept such a God? Because their God thinks and feels the way they do?

All god's I have so far come across are made in man's image, not the other way around, and as such they very clearly display the worst components of man-the desire for worship and praise, the desire to control, the desire to destroy.

Finally, I often here people say 'if it brings them comfort to believe what's the harm? '

It harms because their comfort is at the expense of others!

It is these 'comforting' beliefs that allowed the Holocaust to happen for one, that allowed Matthew Shepherd to die the awful death he died, that allowed the 11th September attacks and countless other acts of evil.

It is this 'comfort' that allowed slavery, for women to be treated as chattels, for children to be abused(and still so). I could go on.

WHAT PEOPLE BELIEVE MATTERS. Beliefs based on error and evil , no matter how comforting to the holder, costs lives.

Just a cursory look at our world will show this is so.


11 comments:

Twish said...

Actually that explanation is not Biblical, but if you would like a sort of interpretation of the Bible on this topic, I would suggest Two Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage by Madeleine L'Engle. She gives a great explanation of why there is suffering and illness in the world as her husband is dying of cancer and she is forced to care for him and watch him suffer. Not all of us (Christians) are as cold, intolerant and compassionless as it might seem by the impression left by some of the more vocal ones. I would recommend that book anyway. It was excellent!

Anonymous said...

Your comments are "right on" to me. I don't mind if people are "Christian." I don't care what religion they choose to follow. I just find a lot of issue with those who believe they have the right to decree their version of relition is the "right" religion and all others are to be vilified or, worse yet, persecuted in the name of God or Allah or ...

Anonymous said...

Colin,I couldn't have said it better!!!
JaniceB

Anonymous said...

Hear, hear! I have never read a more articulate and logical discourse on the twaddle known as religion. Well done!

Anonymous said...

Hooray, Colin! I couldnt agree more. In my opinion, religion is one of the most evil forces in the universe. I find it offensive when people preach at me. The god of the bible is a sadistic egomaniac created by man to keep the most dispicable humans in line. You said it much better than I.

Maggie said...

I storngly believe in God or a 'supreme being' who really does very little to meddle/direct/control our lives...
I also believe you can suffer and hurt and die while being a very good, very religious person...bodies just do that to you..genetics, life habits, accidents--it all happens, and no one can totally control what happens.
Your pain is real and is NOT a punishment, neither is my sister Mary's...I'm several years older than her but her body is far older than mine, not her fault, not mine and Not God's...jsut some of the stuff that happens...
I will keep you in my prayers, your posts are a bright part of my days as is your blog, Maggie in IL

Anonymous said...

Ah, an interesting discourse to be sure. Many people do not understand the difference between religion, and spirituality. It is easy to ascribe the actions of foolish, mean, or otherwise man onto the "deity" of a particular religion.

Throughout time man has repeatedly imposed much in the name of religion that simply is not in the Holy Books of the world's great religions.

I am a Christian myself but I certainly do not judge others for their religion. Just as I would hope others would not judge me.

There are extremists in every "religion", even the non-religion "religion".

In the end, we are still dealing with humans who have their own experiences and biases. Some of us are good at loving each other and being tolerant of differences, and some unfortunately are not. It is not necessarily a function of their religion, however. A good example would be our muslims. They are not all terrorists and just because there are a number of fervent extremists who are, does not mean that the Koran (or Allah) teaches or commands them to be.

I rather imagine that was a personal choice at some point. A good example of how teaching hatred (and this can be directed to anyone, anywhere, regardless of religion, non-religion, race or whatever) is itself the true evil.

Unknown said...

iodarts; you don't have to move out of the followers of the Xtian religion to find the same mind set as the fundamentalist muslim you give as an example. You could also have given fundamentalist jews or Hindu's as an example.

Also, it isn't just the fundamentalists that have a problem. Even the so called moderates do because they are still promoting a 'sacred text' which is full of evil.

I agree spirituality and religiosity are different-but in my book if one calls oneself a Xtian Or anything else) one is not in the first camp.

Anonymous said...

I had rather thought that my comments indicated that evil behavior is a human thing, not restrictive to one particular religion, or lack of religion. As for the books being full of evil, well, we all have our own opinion. I will not say that the holy book of the muslims, buddists, hindi's, or any other group is full of evil unless I have had an exhaustive study of them.

Not just a read through, but an understanding of the culture and the context in which they were written. We all have to be careful not to judge, not to assume, and certainly not to have a holier than thou attitude (and this exists outside those with a professed faith as well).

Case in point, I am now in "camp 1" though I don't know what that camp is.

I do believe that there is such a thing as being a little hypocritical in assuming the worst out of anyone because they belong to a particular religion - or not, while believing ourselves to be tolerant, diversified, enlightened, and intelligent.

It just seems there is little tolerance and much condemnation, and it doesn't just exist in one direction.

To be honest, I have been a Christian my whole life, and I have never witnessed first hand what has been ascribed to us as a group. I have never seen anyone with the attitudes that have been rightly called hateful.

What I have learned, I hope, is to be patient, kind, and giving. To be accepting, loving, and tolerant.

Anyway, thank you for allowing me to express my thoughts. This is your blog and I do know I am visiting your home. My comments are not meant in any disrespect, just another point of view.

Unknown said...

Iodarts wrote:To be honest, I have been a Christian my whole life, and I have never witnessed first hand what has been ascribed to us as a group. I have never seen anyone with the attitudes that have been rightly called hateful.

Knitman replies: then you have kept your eyes and ears closed. Or do not recognize hate.

Anonymous said...

I get where you are coming from. HOWEVER, your own post reads like some messianic stuff I get stuffed through my letter box - just another view point, yet in the SAME I know better than you style.
Hmm.

You may well be right and in some of what you say, I feel sure you are right. But you are over zealous and condemnatory, just like those you accuse.

It is difficult. Are we not being bigoted ourselves when we take it upon ourselves to determine the bigots and sound off about them? I think so!
Sara