Mike’s Faith and Religion Blog

My religious stand has changed since late last year but it’s only now that I’ve fully decided to stand up for it. It’s time I told myself.

Time for what?

I think it’s time for me to start another blog as this one (my religion blog) in particular is no longer relevant with my new beliefs. Of course I’ll still be keeping this blog up but I might not be updating it any more. I say might well because I might just update once in a while – who knows? From now on, what I’ll be actively updating is FilipinoAtheist.Com

I was born in a Catholic Christian family but I eventually became a “Born-again” Christian when I was 16. I stayed that way for 14 years until I finally decided to become an Atheist. But why? That’s a story for some other time. For now, let’s try to see if atheists are evil.

Yes, I know it would be bias to tackle a topic such as this because I am know an atheist but please bear with me…

First, I think an atheist can be no more evil or good than any other person in the world. We are capable of being as good or as evil as anyone else. But of course that’s just talking about capabilities. What about the teachings? Do atheists teach evil?

NO! We don’t teach evil. In fact, we find ourselves more encouraged to do good to prove that morality can be attained even without religion or god. But of course, people who believe in a god or gods will say that the mere fact of not believing in a deity is already evil. But is it?

NO! We don’t believe in god or practice any religion not because we wish to rebel against such a god or religion but simply because we realized that god does not exist and therefore religion is of no point at all. We simply stand for what we have seen is true. But then, god-believers will say that we can’t see the truth because we are blinded from the truth. But are we?

NO! I don’t think we’re blinded from the truth. I think it’d be safe to say that most atheists are atheists because they spent their time seeking the truth and as they went along found out that the real truth is that there is no god at all. We came to this conclusion because we chose to verify the claims of the holy books against facts that have been proven by science. Sorry to say this, but I think those who base their facts only on their holy book(s) are the ones who are blind because they choose to be blind. They choose to believe nothing else but their holy book(s). But of course, people who believe in a deity will say that…

Nah, let’s not continue that because this won’t come to an end. We humans tend to come up with more and more reasoning if we feel zealous about our beliefs. There is however one last thing that I have to say. I’m still learning and studying and if somehow in the future I came across a strong evidence proving me wrong then I won’t hesitate to change part or all of my belief. That at least separates us atheists from zealous believers who will keep on believing their religion no matter what.

Peace!

Here’s a nice joke that preachers might want to use on the pulpit…

An Illinois man left the snow-filled streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day.

When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a quick email. Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her email address, he did his best to type it in from memory.

Unfortunately, he missed one letter and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher’s wife, whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her email, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream and fell to the floor in a dead faint. At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:

DEAREST WIFE: JUST GOT CHECKED IN. EVERYTHING PREPARED FOR YOUR ARRIVAL TOMORROW. P.S. SURE IS HOT DOWN HERE.

Nice huh?

The book of Genesis in the bible tells us that God created man from the dust of the earth and finding man lonely because of lack companionship, put him to sleep, took a rib and out of fashioned woman. Most religions and cults have the same or similar belief and from it came the belief that all women were created from man. Thus was born the lower image given to women.

Being a man, I’d be glad to say that we came first but I’d be happier to accept facts than mere religious beliefs. So, was woman really created from man?

Today I came across an article from Livescience.com discussing the point of why man have breasts. I remember asking my wife that before and we just both laughed and said, may God gave men breasts for the sake of pleasure for most of men definitely can’t breastfeed our children. I said “most” because I’ve heard stories of some men lactating.

So, why do men have breasts? The answer was plain and simple but surprising. It’s because all males are females to begin with. Shocking but true. Fact is all human start out as females in the womb. The article states the default blueprint for humans is a female. Allow me to quote from it (emphasis are all mine):

It’s not until about week six that the fetus also begins to take on the biological accoutrements of gender.

If the fetus has a Y chromosome, testosterone will turn the buds for sexual organs into testes. Once in operation, those testes will pump out even more testosterone and, voila, a penis appears.

Female fetuses aren’t swayed by testosterone and so they stick with the fallback blueprint that calls for ovaries and a vagina.

But the developmental secret here is that breasts and nipples are already in place before testosterone shows its hand and starts shaping cells into male organs.

Source: LiveScience – Why Men Have Breasts

I’ve heard this before from my high school biology teacher (see it pays to listen in class) but back then I was just concerned with my grades than with the facts. He told us that men are flukes of nature. If it was not for the Y chromosome, we would be living in an all-female world.

Science states that man was created from woman and not the other way around. This is a proven fact and I believe is agreed upon by all men of science. The article I referred to above also had some interesting comments regarding the topic that I suggest you read.

Looks like the bible is wrong once more.

Here’s a question I wish everybody who comes across this to pose to themselves. Ask yourself, “What would I do if my children didn’t love me?” Let’s say that you’ve been a good parent (father or mother) and that you did everything in your power to make your children happy. You gave them everything they need so they can live better and fuller lives. You were always there when they cried and you picked them up when they fell down. But still they didn’t love you, what would you do?

Would you still continue loving them? Or would you banish them from your home? What would you do?

What if you took a good beating for your child’s mistakes to such a point that you were hospitalized only to find out that your child didn’t even bother visiting you in the hospital or leaving a note beside you? Would you still love your child? Or would you make sure that he or she gets punished?

You see, I’m asking you this question because I’m thinking why would an “all-loving” God send me to hell if I didn’t love him back? Why would this God let me suffer in eternity if I chose not to respect him? Did he create hell so that unbelievers would believe? So that they would love him, perhaps out of fear?

My answer to my own question on what I’d do if my children didn’t love me is simple and straightforward. I’d still love them. I might use the rod once in a while but I will never ever banish them from my presence. Never will I let them suffer. The more they hate me, the closer I’ll bring them to my heart because that is the only thing I know that is right for me to do.

What about you? What would you do?

That very question was being tossed among Christians before Constantine became the first Christian leader of the Roman Empire back in the 4th century.  Back then, Christianity was so inconsistent that debates were so often among Christian leaders and one of the most common topic for debate was the divinity of Christ.

Christianity had two major sides before – one led by Archbishop Alexander of Alexandria – said that Jesus was just as divine as the Father.  While another camp called the Arians who were led by Arius the preacher said that while Jesus lacks in absolute divinity.

This division among Christians led Constantine to invite the bishops into his house in Nicea back in June 325 and there he suggested a compromise – saying that Jesus and God is of the same “substance”.  He however did not elaborate on what he meant by substance.  Amazingly, the bishops accepted this compromise which now teaches among the majority of Christian churches that Jesus is both God and man.

So, was he right?  Many will agree but there are still those who would not.  Personally, I think Jesus – if he ever existed as we know him in the bible – is just man and not God.  Maybe Constantine was inspired by God or maybe he’s just one heck of a genius.

Did Jesus rise again from the dead?  Well, that’s another topic for another day.

Holy week came in a bit early this year but that’s because it doesn’t really have a fixed date. And as changing as the date of this particular holiday are the things that I observed among the people as they go along their pilgrimage to the Grotto shrine here in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

Years back, I’d often see old people who are honestly religious and devoted walking for kilometers among the rest of the thousands of other pilgrims finding their way to Grotto. Some of them would carry religious statues and photos, praying along the way. Others go as far as carrying crosses, wearing thorny crowns and whipping their backs with homemade scourges.

Slowly, as each year passed by, less and less “real” devotees and more and more people who are nothing more than just curious are coming to Grotto. This year, we see women wearing really seductive clothing. Trying to beat the women in seductiveness are the gay people who wear really really short skirts. Then of course there are the men who feast their eyes with these hot sights. I heard people cursing instead of praying, young unmarried couples kissing in the streets instead of doing penance and lots of thieves in the streets.

While I’m not a religious person myself, I find it really surprising that are a lot less pious believers nowadays. Immorality seems to be more rampant most probably because today’s role models are immoral themselves.

I saw three cases of cellphone snatching just in front our house – perhaps God’s own way of punishing these mongrels. The poor ladies can’t do anything but scream “tulungan nyo ako! magnanakaw, magnanakaw! tulungan nyo ako!” (help me! thieves, thieves! help me!) There was even a case when one of the snatchers fired his gun to scare the victims.

Is our modern society’s consideration of religion lower than before? Are people starting to think that God doesn’t really care and so they rebel in the thought that nobody really is watching? I actually find a rebellious Christian more dangerous than a true non-believer simply because a rebel is trying to prove something to his so-called God while a non-believer simply is a non-believer and doesn’t try to prove anything to any God because he doesn’t believe in God in the first place.

Well oh well, there goes my observation and a few lines of my own personal comment on what I’ve seen. What about you, what did you observe?

I’m a man with a hundred questions and I’m never satisfied with canned answers that are supposed to silence the foolish. When I converted to evangelical Christianism back in 1994, I was so certain that God himself has called me into his grace and so I accepted his offer to make him my lord and savior. For years, I happily – without any hesitation whatsoever – spent my life in service to God. I studied the bible, listened to Christian leaders and politely asked questions about certain sections of the bible that either I couldn’t understand or that appears to be in conflict with the supposed nature of God. Answers poured in and slowly I realized one thing.

One of the questions that I asked God and fellow Christians was about the genocide committed by the Israelites in the Old Testament wherein Israeli soldiers were commanded by God to slaughter nations – men, women and CHILDREN. Indeed, this has been an age-old question to which no satisfactory answer (at least one that would appease the way we modern humans think) was given. There is however one ultimate answer that kind of ends the discussion, not because it is satisfactory but merely because the discussion becomes pointless after this answer is given and it’s called GOD’s PREROGATIVE.

WordNet defines prerogative as a right reserved exclusively by a particular person or group – wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

If you understand what the above definition means (which I believe you do) then you would certainly acknowledge my sentiment in saying that any discussion after such an answer would be pointless simply because it puts God above any law – even those that he himself gave. One Christian once told me that “after all, these laws were given to man for man to obey and not to God for God to obey” and another one even said, “So what? He is God, he can do whatever he pleases.”

This brings me to my next point. Would you obey a God who doesn’t practice what he preach? Would you follow a God who gave Moses the Ten Commandments saying “Thou shalt not kill” and eventually told the same Moses to slaughter the Canaanites – men, women and children? In fact, even the cattle were to be killed. Would you give your life to a “loving God” but cannot at least spare the children so they can be taught the ways of God?

No, I’m not trying to disprove his existence here (that’ll be something for some other time) but merely trying to offer you a thought – one that has bothered me for quite some time already – to obey a God who kills the innocent. I can easily tolerate the idea of killing the men and women because they would most probably have lived “evil lives” (evil relative to the God of Jews and Christians). I cannot however swallow the thought of killing children whom have not even made a decision on whether or not they would follow the footsteps of their parents. But well, it’s God’s prerogative to do so. After all, you might say, he gives life and he has the right to take it back but that my friend to me is a very weak answer.  Why give someone a gift if you’d just HARSHLY take it back?

At this point in my life, all I can say is that I won’t serve such a God. Perhaps, God owes us (or maybe just me) an explanation about this matter. Am I being arrogant here? Why would I, a mere human, would demand an explanation from God? I don’t think it’s arrogance nor is it demanding to ask God a question about something that I don’t fully understand.  If he is indeed God then he can easily give us the right answer. Wouldn’t you want an explanation too? After all, what’s wrong with asking? In fact God gave us the prerogative to ask and to seek to which he answered that we shall receive and find. If he can use his prerogative, then I’m simply using mine.

Cheers!

It’s been quite a time since I last posted an article of my own in this blog mainly due to the tons of stuff that I have to do at work and my other obligations. The reason why I decided to write this amidst my workload is that it’s just plain wrong. Today, I’ve received an email – actually the second of this kind – from a friend who is a Christian warning against watching the movie “The Golden Compass“. Here’s the letter itself.

For anyone with kids, grandkids other relatives or friends who this may concern, I have checked it out at

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp and it is true. Read the info on the link.

All,

There will be a new children’s movie out in December called “The Golden Compass”. The movie has been described as “atheism for kids” and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled “His Dark Materials” that was written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and secular humanist who despises C. S. Lewis and the “Chronicles of Narnia”. His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis’ symbolisms of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series.

Clearly, Pullman’s main objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that “my books are about killing God.” He has even stated that he wants to “kill God in the minds of children”. It has been said of Pullman that he is “the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed.”

While “The Golden Compass” movie itself may seem mild and innocent, the books are a much different story. In the trilogy, a young streetwise girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle to ultimately defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as “a very powerful and convincing mistake.” In the final book, characters representing Adam and Eve eventually kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH. Each book in the trilogy gets progressively worse regarding Pullman ’s hatred of Jesus Christ.

“The Golden Compass” is set to premier on December 7, during the Christmas season (and staring Nicole Kidman), and will probably be heavily advertised. Promoters hope that unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie, that they will enjoy the movie, and that the children will want the books for Christmas.

Please consider a boycott of the movie and the books. Also, pass this information along to everyone you know (including church leaders). This will help to educate parents, so that they will know the agenda of the movie.

So what about it? Shouldn’t I support the request in the email? By all means no! I haven’t watched the movie yet since it’s still yet to be shown in the movies but that’s beside the point. What bothers me is how this people act against atheism who have not done them any harm – or if any most probably just a little – that they want to actually boycott the film! So here’s my reply to the email.

Hi To All!

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this movie and in fact I don’t see anything wrong with atheism. How many wars have you seen in the name of atheism? And how many wars have you seen that were started and fought in the name of God? The 9/11 Plane Attacks on the World Trade Center were inspired by belief in God. Most wars in the middle east are fought as Holy Wars between The God of the Jews/Christians and The God of the Muslims. And there have been many murders by both Christians and Muslims that were made in the name of God. Of course, you might say that these people were lost in their belief or that they didn’t fully understand the things that they have to do but that’s beside the point. I think a world without God will be a far more peaceful world than a world with God.

On the other hand, what if God can really be killed – as will be portrayed in the movie The Golden Compass? If he can be killed then he is not god at all and if he is truly god then he cannot be killed – what are these people so afraid of? Are they afraid of what this movie might “teach” their children? Are they not themselves brainwashing their children by teaching them from childhood to obey the teachings of their own religion and consider other religions as evil??? If such a movie is indeed an abomination then I say let God himself deal with it. Let him punish all those involved in it and let him not allow the movie to be shown on the big screens. However, my greatest fear is not what God will do but what the believers will do… Will they burn down movie houses? Will they murder the author of the movie? The director, the producer, the actors? Will they threaten them? Will they start rallies that will clog our streets and might even cause violence? I hope not but such fears are not far fetched as the world has already seen such acts made in the name of God.

Lastly, if Christians, Jews, Muslims and all of the world’s religions are allowed to announce their belief then why not the Atheists? If movies in the name of Jehovah, Yahweh, Christ, Allah, Mohammed, Buddah and the rest are allowed to be shown in the movies then why not movies about Atheism? Is it not unfair to allow the “believers” to do what they want to do – and perhaps even start wars in the name of their Gods – and not allow the Atheists to simply express their thoughts either in plain words, books, or in this case a movie? I can’t remember any war started in the name of Atheists but I do remember wars started in the name of Allah, Jesus, and Yahweh – some wars so grotesque that God even orders his followers to slaughter an entire city – men, women, children, and even cattle.

Just my two cents worth…

Now, my dear reader what do you have to say about this?

Are you a fundamentalist Christian?  Not sure?  Check out this top ten signs of a fundamentalist Christian which I received in my email just today.

10 – You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 – You feel insulted and “dehumanized” when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 – You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 – Your face turns purple when you hear of the “atrocities” attributed to Allah, but you don’t even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in “Exodus” and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in “Joshua” including women, children, and trees!

6 – You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 – You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 – You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs — though excluding those in all rival sects – will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering.  And yet consider your religion the most “tolerant” and “loving.”

3 – While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in “tongues” may be all the evidence you need to “prove” Christianity.

2 – You define 0.01% as a “high success rate” when it comes to answered prayers.  You consider that to be evidence that prayer works.  And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 – You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history – but still call yourself a Christian.

So, are you a fundamentalist Christian?