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Yikes...
18 years ago
General
After I wrote my last journal entry, I was sort of out of touch (internet-wise) for a couple of days...and when I logged in to see if anyone had responded to the entry, I discovered that I had been left way behind! LOL I'm still trying to catch up on what everyone wrote.
But I was thinking--maybe we're headed towards a new Enlightenment in this country. People talk about America as being a Christian nation, but really--the Founding Fathers were children of the Enlightenment era. Many of them were Deists, believing in a non-anthropomorphic type of God rather than the manipulative, personal God of the Judeo-Christians. Their overriding philosophy was inspired by the ideals of human rights and dignity. In that way, God was less important than Man, and this seems like a better ideal by which Man should govern himself. After all, no two groups (and sometimes even individuals) can agree on what God is, wants or represents--but we all have a keen interest in our own needs and desires. The Biblical God allowed for slavery and vengeful warfare against non-believers, murdering "sinners" (such as adulterers) but we as enlightened human beings can agree that those things are actually bad.
The government is merely a tool for people to live together in relative safety and harmony...a way for us to regulate our natural passions and greed, so that we don't have fight and kill for basic rights and freedoms. At least, that's all it should be. God really has no business being involved in it--His "laws" are for the benefit of His world, the afterlife beyond this one (if such a thing even exists--another thing people can't agree on or prove in any way.)
Meanwhile...we just need an "enlightened" candidate or two. *sigh* Maybe NEXT time around.
But I was thinking--maybe we're headed towards a new Enlightenment in this country. People talk about America as being a Christian nation, but really--the Founding Fathers were children of the Enlightenment era. Many of them were Deists, believing in a non-anthropomorphic type of God rather than the manipulative, personal God of the Judeo-Christians. Their overriding philosophy was inspired by the ideals of human rights and dignity. In that way, God was less important than Man, and this seems like a better ideal by which Man should govern himself. After all, no two groups (and sometimes even individuals) can agree on what God is, wants or represents--but we all have a keen interest in our own needs and desires. The Biblical God allowed for slavery and vengeful warfare against non-believers, murdering "sinners" (such as adulterers) but we as enlightened human beings can agree that those things are actually bad.
The government is merely a tool for people to live together in relative safety and harmony...a way for us to regulate our natural passions and greed, so that we don't have fight and kill for basic rights and freedoms. At least, that's all it should be. God really has no business being involved in it--His "laws" are for the benefit of His world, the afterlife beyond this one (if such a thing even exists--another thing people can't agree on or prove in any way.)
Meanwhile...we just need an "enlightened" candidate or two. *sigh* Maybe NEXT time around.
In this day in age God doesn't get involved with the Governments because he wishes to show us that our ways will eventually lead to our own destruction. Whether it be 10 years or 1000 years. He laid down a prophecy that when man is on the brink of complete destruction, he would then send his Son to stop it.
The messages in the New Testament from Matthew to Revelations (especially Revelations) tell in metaphoric prophecy what will happen. For instance Theres a reference to the King of the South whom will push at the King of the North. If you study up on it you'll find that In today's time the King of the South is the Current leader of Iran, and the King of the North is the Roman Catholic church. Russia and China will group together to create the largest army which will battle in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
(At least these are things i've translated it to, whether they are true is up for debate)
It is my understanding and opinion, that being said this would make for a cool mature debate, as for my furry side, it was born the day I was born, it was destiny for me to come to love the furry universe, and I never regret it for one second.
Every generation has pointed to elements in Revalations and applied them to their own political current events. They are vague enough that they can be twisted to serve nearly any viewpoint. As for God taking an active role then, but hanging back now...that seems like an obvious evolution of society away from outright superstition...but again--interpretation.
It's wrong according to our very own constitution, but that is the way it is. This is a Christian nation. I'm a devout pissed-off atheist, incidentally, and I don't like the state of things, but what can be done?
It took me a LONG time to allow myself to even venture the thought that there might not be a God even in my own mind--I was taught to be afraid of the very idea of questioning it! THAT is power!
I'm not saying: "this is Christian Nation" because I like it that way, I'm saying it because that seems to be the way it is. I know America started out as a secular nation, but with the aid of the "Communist scare" in the 1950s, Jesus has taken over America. He is in our schools, on our money, in our pledge, and in our laws. What, again, can be done?
Questions for you:
1.) Would you agree that it would be better if America revived the innate secular nature that our government was meant to express?
2.) How could this be achieved when the majority of the country is Christian, a good deal of whom support the concept of a Christian theocracy?
3.) Do you suppose there would be consequences from a return to absolute secularism, and do you think we can ever have absolute secularism in this country?
The old testament condones:
a.) selling female children into prostitution, thus making them sex slaves
b.) owning, selling, and beating slaves
c.) killing the babies of non-believers, specifically, dashing their heads with rocks
d.) raping female non-believers
e.) stoning (to death) people who commit adultery
f.) enslaving and/or killing non-believers
g.) stoning affianced non-virgin women to death
h.) killing unruly or disobedient teenagers (I'd be dead like 8 times over by now)
i.) genocide
j.) killing gays
l.) killing people who work on the sabbath
m.) killing children that speak or act against their parents
n.) that women should not have any authority over any man
o.) under certain circumstances, killing rape victims
p.) that we, as a species, came from dust then from incest
q.) the mutilation of baby penises
r.) that women should remain silent in the churches
s.) that women should be dominated by and submissive to men
t.) pillaging cities occupied by non believers
u.) that it is dishonorable for a man to cover his head in church, but dishonorable for a woman to unveil her head in church
v.) circumcision is a covenant with god, but he made no such covenant with women... not that I'm complaining...
w.) that all species of animal, (some people imagine this includes dinosaurs) were contained on a boat for 40 days and 40 nights
x.) that it is dishonorable for a woman to shave her head
y.) killing animals that belong to non believers
z.) the forced marriage of women to any men who rape them
Awr... ran out of letters... but there is soo much more!
As glad as I am that you have come to this understanding, it paradoxically pains me to hear that you have lost faith. I remember that I was happiest when I was a believer. But I wouldn't go back. *hug*
Sorry...I'm not an "angry atheist"--although, some so-called "Christians" who spread hate and foster ignorance tend to really get my goat.
I prefer Christians who practice their beliefs without insisting on interfering with MY life and MY rights as a human being. Our buddy Soupa sounds like a good guy. I wish more of them were like he seems to be.
Do you view Saturday as the Sabbath? That must screw with your schedule since our society has rescheduled it to Sunday. Anyway, I admire your desire to honor your Faith in God. If I still believed I hope I would honor that belief with common sense and real earnestness (as you seem to) rather than with artificial and showy piety the way most organized religion does. Faith should be in the heart...not for display.
However, I am a secular humanist. I don't know if there is or is not a God, but I do know that I am alive and I share this world with many other people who deserve the respect and benefits of society that I expect. I view life as sacred, not because I believe in an afterlife, but precisely the opposite reason! Anyway, in the words of my former "prophet" Martin Luther (I was a Lutheran) "Here I stand."
^0^
To pick out passages solely to support agendas is deeply against my beliefs, and it's my personal opinion that if a religious person chooses to ignore the ones you acurrately put as "insane or contradictory...or pointless", will only come to eventually find that they are true and that avoiding them is quite a bad choice on their part.
Martin Luther in my opinion was one of the last few whom spoke with a voice as a warrior. People heard what he had to say, now adays with the war there is no voice to be heard except that we should run, and get out of Iraq. (Not to say that we shouldn't) But the fact remains if we were to pull out now it would embolden terrorists in general and would almost indefinitely cause another severe terrorist attack on innocent lives.
But many people delve into the scriptures thinking or rationalizing that there's got to be more meaning to them then there actually is. Catholics take it to a different extreme in that their roots are forgotten. They in todays day in age believe in Christ, and believe in God, but they don't follow what the bible has laid down. Like the cross, they say it's to help us remember what Christ did for us, but it says in the bible no idols or graven images.
An even though the cross symbolizes Christ being crucified they continue to kiss it, or do the cross symbol on their chest after prayer.
If you were to look deep, and I mean deep into the very, very beginning of the Catholic church you will definitely have a new opinion about who and what they are. I'm not say it's a bad thing, or a good thing, it's up to those that look honestly and with an truly open mind to look into it and know what i'm saying.
The Golden Rule is probably the best rendering of that ideal. You really can't get much simpler than that! It even works great for us secular types.
i say to you Mr. Jefferson. and i hope you all join me and Christopher Hitchens in this...
Build up that Wall!
and... for the sake of... enlightenment... not spam... and i know it's heavy.... but know FA users got tons of time on their hands...
Hitchens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY8fjFKAC5k
Dawkins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm4HbqUKmY0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2epvSAGuLc
Dennet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd6EmF2A3uo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTepA-WV_oE
Alan Dershowitz is also worth a look.
That is the reason why the US is so behind in things, and is nowhere near the potential it could be.
When it comes to belief in evolution based on country.. the US is pretty far down.
http://scienceblogs.com/retrospecta...../08/figure.gif
Religion is a viral meme... what might the antibody look like?
Also, people are stupid. They rely upon God to give clowdy answers to complex questions that their stupid minds can't answer.
"Why does Carbon bond with Oxygen?"
"Because God made it that way."
"And why did Mommy kill Daddy?"
"Because it was God's will."
Stupid people and their stupid minds.
I know so much because i have read it, studied it, taken it apart, researched it from its roots, found out what it really says discovered the well-meaning assholes that re-interprete them for thier own opinions.
I have studied all religeons to thier cores, the beginings of what they originally stated.
There were always in every religion across the entire world two sects set up inside of each religion; one is the preists the top preists. They alone know the real truth, but are afraid to answer questions from the other group that always takes one particular point and runs with it as an absolute when it was mis-spoken in the first place, this other group is the masses. These are the ones that mis-hear what is said since the preists are mostly scholars and cannot communicate as well as salesmen or charlatans. So wars and other people are made into slaves because of a lack of comminication.
I have studied all these because I have a different agenda than everyone else. I am a Magician.
I want to applie what is said for the betterment of others, (since finding out it unbalances too much to simply help yourself to the unbalancing of everyone around you). BALANCE is the point of any religion.
You won't find it on the surface spelled out that way ie not in code, because it was understood you'd take it wrong!!! So instead it is written in parables. That way, you'd have to mull it over in your mind before acting upon it, take some time to weigh all the repurcusions before you act, ie maintain balance.
Man is Balance.
Politicians are not balance, they are extremes, some are more extreme than the others, which makes them more scary than the others.
The last few years are far less turbulent than the sixties were, Why? was a mindful Democrat in control?
No a mindful lesser evil than the extremes of the Democrats was in 'control' such as it was. trying to balance everything that was intent on upsetting everything done only so that this one headline could be called "Right"
"See! See! We were right to impeed everything, and accuse everything, and report everything, and disrupt, destroy, ridicule, lie, alter truth, mis-report everything, because see after such an orchestrated concert of attack the Republican has FAILED" as headlines.
BUT nothing every on the other side's failures like the 'Riots in the streets', the Human rights violations upon our own citizens, the Veitnam war. each of these happened when a Democrat was controlling things. recently there were other things NEVER reported because the line is "anti-Bush, anti-Republican anti-truth" why? oh because it is like running with that one point as the one truth 'cause i read it in the new bible known as the New York Times.
To run something as large as a government some things need to be withheld. some things need to be kept secret.
B-E-C-A-U-S-E we still have many enemies out there that blame us for everything that ever happened to them in history! (even before 1776!) -Regardless we are the continuation of some other enemy of thiers. Knowing this and seeing the nay-sayers (that are those that say 'nay' ( hee hee)), anyway the other political side will leap upon anything to show they're platform is right, better, good, even if it shows what the rest of the world is certain is really the case the USA is completely insane - which isn't the case. We simply have factions that can only get ahead by undermining the other side even if it causes a bigger mess of everything.
Factors all want thier way, no one understands balance is the only way.
And the exception taken out of context (how many times do i have to explain this?) that says God hates Gays, is only another "lets run with this!" first propogated by R.S. Beale in the 1840's, ...his interpretation, not what is written, nor what it really means!
Polotics and religion are too intertwined to attempt to unravel one from the other. in essense politics actually came to be from a viewpoint of "my religioin is better than yours!"
In magic you always need to balance, both sides equal intensity, both are needed to have existence stay managable. Imbalance is not the point, but it is what most like to take and run with, it gives them political clout.
Peace be with all of you - be good to each other it will balance out the meaness already in existence - or just go have sex with someone you love.
Me i'm going to do something i love, Draw something sexually explicit, and furry.
:)
For example has there been even one presidential candidate who has even mentioned the steadily rising price of gasoline? Of course not. When was the last time Hillary was filmed at the gas station filling up her limosene? The only reference to the problem has been indirect 'I can get the US out of the major oil-producing Middle East faster than any of the other candidates!' promises. Yup, if we abandon the oil-producing region to the Islamic fascists everything will be rosey. CLUE: Gasoline is made from oil.
It's just more of the same-old same-old with one party putting up wanna-be game-show hosts who try to out-do each other with promises of giving away more than anyone else can while the other party is as imaginative as a bunch of comatose bank presidents. No wonder fewer and fewer people are going to the polls to vote.