Let's see now. Radical theists claim the human race has existed somewhere around six to ten thousand years. Of course, science knocks that bullshit into the proverbial cocked hat.
But, let's just go with that 6,000 years nonsense for a moment. Even if that were true, for Christianity to be true, we have to assume "god" didn't give a damn about all those humans who existed for about 4000 years before he got his lazy, indifferent ass around to arranging for that marvelous human sacrifice that finally brought salvation to lost humanity. According to the myth, he even got so mad at them along in the middle that he drowned all but eight of them and sent them to hell in one fell swoop.
I guess he finally got tired of sending everybody to hell and decided to finally offer a way out to a pitiful portion of all those millions who have perished in most of the world since about 33 AD.
What a miserable excuse of a god we unthinking hairless apes manage to conjure up in our pitiful imaginations. Terms like omnipotent and omniscient become laughably ludicrous when you take time to rationally think about it.
C'mon now, do you still seriously believe all that bullshit?
Showing posts with label hell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hell. Show all posts
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
MONSTER GODS
The world is scary. It's especially scary to little kids and those who don't understand the capriciousness of natural phenomena -- like our primitive primate ancestors. When one feels vulnerable and powerless, it's easy to feel terror.
What's out there in the dark, thinking I look delicious? What's under the bed or out there in the darkness where I can't see it? Is that mean person who used to give me the willy's really dead, or is he/she still out there invisibly, waiting to pounce on me? What was that noise?
I remember one time when our parents were gone for part of the evening -- the only time I remember when they briefly left us alone in the house at night for some reason I don't recall. The night was cold, and the old house started creaking and popping as the timbers adjusted to the cold. I was terrified at those strange noises and didn't rest until my parents came back. Then, I slept soundly, content that my protectors were there.
Primitive peoples were a lot like little kids surrounded by a dangerous and awe-inspiring world that was hard to fathom. They just knew they were vulnerable and they sought any source of comfort and assurance they could find.
Nothing was totally secure, whether the stone cave or the somewhat secure hut they lived in. There was the "big bad wolf" -- or worse -- the storm and the flood, any number of disastrous possibilities.
The simplest mistake could have disastrous implications. That's never totally changed, but most rational people don't see supernatural implications in every mishap. Our superstitious ancestors did. Their world was filled with fairies, nymphs, trolls, gods and demi-gods. Everything had supernatural overtones and it didn't take long for the shamans to capitalize on that fact. Frightened people are easy to manipulate and the protection rackets were quick to manifest. Just a little prognostication and fear mongering with magic spells, amulets, etc. added kept them in an exalted state among the population.
Imagination ran wild and was soon orally codified and later written down to make it seem even more authoritative. "The book," whatever it was called, became the final authority to which the priests could refer and the supertitious populace would fall in line. Whatever the book said, or was interpreted to say, became the infallible guide and the older it got, the more authority it accumulated.
If the book promised life after death, that was accepted as reality. If it promised punishment for not falling in line with what the priests demanded, everybody trembled at the assurance that such would surely come to pass if they didn't toe the line.
Fear is a great motivator, and there was one thing everybody had experienced in some way -- the terrible pain of burns. Fire had been a great tool ever since people figured out how to create and use it but it had two faces. Out of control, it was horrific in its effects. It could cause unimaginable pain and scars and a screaming, terrible death.
It didn't take long for the religious authorities to capitalize on that fear. They assured everybody that if they thought getting physically burned was bad, it was nothing compared with the horrible flames their god had in store for them in the coming afterlife if they didn't kiss his and their behinds properly.
We recoil in horror when we hear stories of how people sometimes torture other people. We want to see such human monsters punished and locked away or executed so they can't inflict such terrible suffering on anyone else.
The disconnect is this: how can anyone who recoils in horror over such things worship a god they claim will punish someone who doesn't believe in him or never even heard of him for a spiritiual eternity in a lake of fire that burns forever? Even the sun and other stars don't burn forever, but we are assured that "hell" does, and if you don't get saved by whatever formula is put forth, that's where you are headed. FOR ETERNITY!
Eternity. Can anyone really fathom what that is? The universe has been around now for something over thirteen billion years. I can't begin to comprehend such an expanse of time. Yet, that is a finite peiod. Eternity? That's not finite. It is even more incomprehensible. And, we're supposed to accept in faith such incomprehensiveness? We're supposed to love a deity who would do such a horrible thing to anything or anyone?
That would be the ultimate cosmic monster! A monster that could not exist in reality. That monster was created to generate fear and keep people under the thumb of those who manufactured him out of whole cloth.
The universe is real. We can see it all around us. Humans are real also, and some of them aren't very nice. We label them criminals and monsters. Yet, we worship monsters conmen have created to scare us into line and cling to that travesty as our "faith."
Let's have done with monster gods and reject the nonsense that champions them.
What's out there in the dark, thinking I look delicious? What's under the bed or out there in the darkness where I can't see it? Is that mean person who used to give me the willy's really dead, or is he/she still out there invisibly, waiting to pounce on me? What was that noise?
I remember one time when our parents were gone for part of the evening -- the only time I remember when they briefly left us alone in the house at night for some reason I don't recall. The night was cold, and the old house started creaking and popping as the timbers adjusted to the cold. I was terrified at those strange noises and didn't rest until my parents came back. Then, I slept soundly, content that my protectors were there.
Primitive peoples were a lot like little kids surrounded by a dangerous and awe-inspiring world that was hard to fathom. They just knew they were vulnerable and they sought any source of comfort and assurance they could find.
Nothing was totally secure, whether the stone cave or the somewhat secure hut they lived in. There was the "big bad wolf" -- or worse -- the storm and the flood, any number of disastrous possibilities.
The simplest mistake could have disastrous implications. That's never totally changed, but most rational people don't see supernatural implications in every mishap. Our superstitious ancestors did. Their world was filled with fairies, nymphs, trolls, gods and demi-gods. Everything had supernatural overtones and it didn't take long for the shamans to capitalize on that fact. Frightened people are easy to manipulate and the protection rackets were quick to manifest. Just a little prognostication and fear mongering with magic spells, amulets, etc. added kept them in an exalted state among the population.
Imagination ran wild and was soon orally codified and later written down to make it seem even more authoritative. "The book," whatever it was called, became the final authority to which the priests could refer and the supertitious populace would fall in line. Whatever the book said, or was interpreted to say, became the infallible guide and the older it got, the more authority it accumulated.
If the book promised life after death, that was accepted as reality. If it promised punishment for not falling in line with what the priests demanded, everybody trembled at the assurance that such would surely come to pass if they didn't toe the line.
Fear is a great motivator, and there was one thing everybody had experienced in some way -- the terrible pain of burns. Fire had been a great tool ever since people figured out how to create and use it but it had two faces. Out of control, it was horrific in its effects. It could cause unimaginable pain and scars and a screaming, terrible death.
It didn't take long for the religious authorities to capitalize on that fear. They assured everybody that if they thought getting physically burned was bad, it was nothing compared with the horrible flames their god had in store for them in the coming afterlife if they didn't kiss his and their behinds properly.
We recoil in horror when we hear stories of how people sometimes torture other people. We want to see such human monsters punished and locked away or executed so they can't inflict such terrible suffering on anyone else.
The disconnect is this: how can anyone who recoils in horror over such things worship a god they claim will punish someone who doesn't believe in him or never even heard of him for a spiritiual eternity in a lake of fire that burns forever? Even the sun and other stars don't burn forever, but we are assured that "hell" does, and if you don't get saved by whatever formula is put forth, that's where you are headed. FOR ETERNITY!
Eternity. Can anyone really fathom what that is? The universe has been around now for something over thirteen billion years. I can't begin to comprehend such an expanse of time. Yet, that is a finite peiod. Eternity? That's not finite. It is even more incomprehensible. And, we're supposed to accept in faith such incomprehensiveness? We're supposed to love a deity who would do such a horrible thing to anything or anyone?
That would be the ultimate cosmic monster! A monster that could not exist in reality. That monster was created to generate fear and keep people under the thumb of those who manufactured him out of whole cloth.
The universe is real. We can see it all around us. Humans are real also, and some of them aren't very nice. We label them criminals and monsters. Yet, we worship monsters conmen have created to scare us into line and cling to that travesty as our "faith."
Let's have done with monster gods and reject the nonsense that champions them.
Monday, March 19, 2012
HEAVEN IS EVIL CONCEPT ALSO
In the event you are not a fan of Greta Christina and would miss her latest blog on heaven being evil, just as the concept of hell is evil, I want to refer you all to it: http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/2012/03/19/social-control-why-heaven-is-evil/.
I came to the conclusion long ago that the concept of heaven and hell was a ridiculous mythological delusion. It's taken much longer to realize that they are destructive delusions for a variety of reasons.
Rather than pontificate further, I urge you to read this fine post and the multitude of inciteful comments that accompany it.
I came to the conclusion long ago that the concept of heaven and hell was a ridiculous mythological delusion. It's taken much longer to realize that they are destructive delusions for a variety of reasons.
Rather than pontificate further, I urge you to read this fine post and the multitude of inciteful comments that accompany it.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
SWEET, GLORIOUS PEACE!
When I had occasion to mention in an email to the daughter of an old friend who was a co-cultist with me in the old Worldwide Church of God and he and his daughter have now devolved back to traditional Christianity, that I was an atheist, she self-righteously wrote back and consigned me to hell if I didn't repent.
The old "intimidate through fear" ploy! If you can't dazzle someone with your supposed billiance, try to baffle them with fearful bullshit.
We no longer correspond, and the father took offense with my blogs (he's an ardent creationist who imagines himself an anthropologist -- a physically blind one yet) has by his own request exited my list of contactees.
I'm certain they both think I'm a bitter, unhappy old curmudgeon who spends his days thinking hateful thoughts -- in short, totally miserable and headed for unimaginable misery when it soon now is going to be all over for me.
Truth is, I've never had a happier, freer, more satisfying existence.
When I was caught up in religion, I thought I was happy but my life was an endless round of tension and concern. As I look back on it, I now see that I was in constant fear of not measuring up and ending up in that horrible "lake of fire."
Day to day life was no picnic either. In the cult, one felt the judgmental eyes of the exalted overseers everywhere and the absolute conviction that whatever they might miss, the great "sky fairy" certainly wouldn't.
By the time all the tithes and offerings were deducted, there wasn't enough left to buy a decent suit of clothes or go out to eat.
A discontented and Judgmental wife made day to day living a literal misery.
Letting that all go and getting my head screwed on a whole lot straighter has changed my life to one of joy and contentment.
My time is now my own as I don’t worry about what day of the week it is when I want to do something. There was no seven-day creation week by any god, so screw the sabbath.
My money is my own as I don’t feel obligated to give a lion’s share of it to sustain the extravagant lifestyles of pompous liars who claim to be the special representatives of that great sky fairy.
My short life is my own as I no longer worry about what is going to happen to me after it’s over and I no longer “search the scriptures” to make sure how I’m living won’t offend the great sky fairy who magically knows the intimate details of the private lives of billions of people and takes personal umbrage about what they do.
In short, all the tension and fear has gone. Every day is full of joy and interest.
Ah, sweet peace!
The old "intimidate through fear" ploy! If you can't dazzle someone with your supposed billiance, try to baffle them with fearful bullshit.
We no longer correspond, and the father took offense with my blogs (he's an ardent creationist who imagines himself an anthropologist -- a physically blind one yet) has by his own request exited my list of contactees.
I'm certain they both think I'm a bitter, unhappy old curmudgeon who spends his days thinking hateful thoughts -- in short, totally miserable and headed for unimaginable misery when it soon now is going to be all over for me.
Truth is, I've never had a happier, freer, more satisfying existence.
When I was caught up in religion, I thought I was happy but my life was an endless round of tension and concern. As I look back on it, I now see that I was in constant fear of not measuring up and ending up in that horrible "lake of fire."
Day to day life was no picnic either. In the cult, one felt the judgmental eyes of the exalted overseers everywhere and the absolute conviction that whatever they might miss, the great "sky fairy" certainly wouldn't.
By the time all the tithes and offerings were deducted, there wasn't enough left to buy a decent suit of clothes or go out to eat.
A discontented and Judgmental wife made day to day living a literal misery.
Letting that all go and getting my head screwed on a whole lot straighter has changed my life to one of joy and contentment.
My time is now my own as I don’t worry about what day of the week it is when I want to do something. There was no seven-day creation week by any god, so screw the sabbath.
My money is my own as I don’t feel obligated to give a lion’s share of it to sustain the extravagant lifestyles of pompous liars who claim to be the special representatives of that great sky fairy.
My short life is my own as I no longer worry about what is going to happen to me after it’s over and I no longer “search the scriptures” to make sure how I’m living won’t offend the great sky fairy who magically knows the intimate details of the private lives of billions of people and takes personal umbrage about what they do.
In short, all the tension and fear has gone. Every day is full of joy and interest.
Ah, sweet peace!
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