First of all, I would like to extend my condolences to the victims of yesterday's tsunami which struck Samoa and American Samoa. Those who follow this blog would know that one of the recurring themes here is how the senseless savagery of natural disasters stands as a testament to the proof that there is no God (at least in the sense conceived by Judeo-Christian religions).
The article I would like to feature for the purpose of ridicule today is by Presbyterian pastor Rev. Richard Phillips. It's called How Do Christians Explain Natural Disasters and can be found at: http://www.bmaboston.org/CC/article/0,,PTID307086%7CCHID559376%7CCIID1936184,00.html
Basically, Phillips' explanation is as follows: we are all sinners deserving of whatever natural nastiness comes our way. The only person who didn't deserve to die was Jesus Christ, God's perfect son. So suck it up ... prepare for the return of Christ because that will mark the end of natural disasters in our fallen world.
That's right ... babies sucked out of their cribs by tsunamis had it coming. If you can swallow this kind of mental bat shit, there is nothing you won't believe.
this is hard to stomach. did you the Dawkins last night? his Ray Comfort impersonation had me dying with laughter.
ReplyDeleteHi Jordan. No, I passed on Dawkins because it was sold out by the time I went looking for tickets (nothing listed on ebay when I checked). In any event, I saw Dawkins last year when he spoke at MSU. He is quite entertaining but, you'll have to admit, ridiculing Ray Comfort is akin to shooting fish in a barrel.
ReplyDeleteMy son loves the book "Bats at the Beach". I think that your reference to Phillips and bat shit in the same post is insulting to the bats.
ReplyDeleteSo what kind of universe would you create?
ReplyDeleteWould there be any bad stuff?
If so, why?
If not, why not?
If you created the universe, would you care about bad stuff?
Would bad stuff have a purpose?
Would the bad stuff just be random?
If you created the universe, what would it's purpose be?
Would no purpose, be a purpose?
If you created the universe, would you need something to love?
Would you want to create things that automatically loved you?
Would you rather that those things love you because of a free-will relationship?
What would you do if the people that you wanted to love you rejected you? Would you care?
Just some questions, if you were God?
Think about it!
proof that there is no God (at least in the sense conceived by Judeo-Christian religions)
ReplyDeleteWell, no. All it proves is that a ret-conned "good God" does not exist. I'm failing to come up with a literary character as evil as the deity of the Hebrew/Old Testament. His behavior towards Job? Lot? Eve? And they were of his chosen people. We're not remotely near his treatment of the inhabitants of Egypt, Canaan, and Jericho. Not to mention every other contemporary of Noah's family.
Iago pales. Sauron pales. If anyone can think of any examples comparable to Yahweh, please let me know.
Also, guano is valuable and useful. Just sayin'.
Think about it!
ReplyDeleteOFFS. I'm completely sure atheists have thought about this more than you think they have, and fairly sure they've thought about it more than you have.
I love how religionists think that atheists have not thought about the issue, and that it is atheists' responsibility to disprove their god hypotheses. But stepping around those for a moment, this is not Sunday School, and you are going to have to bring a little more intellectual weight to the table. Start with:
1. Why, in your universe, should prayer work?
2. Why should someone who has never heard the Bible be condemned for not believing in a merciful deity?
3. Why should a deity care whether his creations love he/it or not? If he/it does, why doesn't he/it demand that sparrows love him, too? Snails? Bacteria? Rocks?
4. And the big one: what the fuck is the rationale for killing untold people, some of whom worship him, some of whom do not, for reasons entirely beyond anyone's control.
I'm looking forward to a presumed Unitarian Universalist squirm, but I'd like to ask that you reply honestly, if you are not UU.
There are sophisticated arguments to be made, but you are nowhere near making them. So, "Think about it!"
Walsh asked: So what kind of universe would you create?
ReplyDeleteGreat question. My answer: If I was God, I wouldn't create a universe for the same reason that I don't waste my time playing the Sims. I simply have better ways to spend my time. I certainly wouldn't create sentient beings and then demand that they love me. Hell, I'd have to be sadist to commit people to eternal damnation if they chose to disregard my existence in circumstances where I chose to remain invisible. Think about it ...
I, on the other hand. I like puzzles and games. What I'd probably do is set up a whole bunch of different universes, with different fundamental constance (the strength of a hydrogen bond, the speed of light, the Planck distance, etc.), wind them up, and watch them gooooooooooo!
ReplyDeleteWhat I wouldn't do is wait billions of years, then convince one species on one planet in one star system in one kinda-ghetto section of one galaxy among a hundred billion that I created all that for them. Then, I would never answer prayers, because intervening in a simulation is boring cheating.
Thing is, I'm not God. But that's because God is no one, and no one is God. And the cool thing? A deity did not need to wind up this universe and let it go. We have this universe with a set of physical constants. We know that these physical constants create an environment in which life can evolve and exist, because we did and we do. And, even with hugely conservative estimations, life should exist on at least quadrillions of planets in the universe. Pretty cool, eh? And yet, you (Walsh) and your ilk think it is cooler if the whole incomprehensibly-big-and-fantastic universe was created just for you. The arrogance! Aargh! Think of all the species in the world. Think of all the planets in the galaxy. Think of all the galaxies in the universe. And all this is ... for you? You and your co-religionists? You were granted "dominion" over the other animals? You believe that God created one man, one woman, fully formed and adult, somewhere in the Fertile Crescent, distinct from all other lifeforms, alone in a huge universe. I will grant that your co-religionists did not always know the size of the universe (fine, no one did) -- but what is baffling to me is now that there is proof, you still stick to your blinders, presumably because it feels yummier if you are Lord Over All.
Fuck, man. You make fascists look humble.
"constants". Sorry.
ReplyDeleteWould there be any bad stuff?
ReplyDeleteIf so, why?
If not, why not?
Dude, "bad" is subjective - which renders your thread kind of pointless.
For example: If you lose $100 bill, someone else may find it. You will have a bad day, they will have a good day.
There is no such thing as "bad" or "good" - it's up to the person experiencing it.