God's unchanging law

(stolen, without any shame whatsoever, from here.

The validity of this letter having actually been sent to Dr. Laura is unknown, but it still makes some great points about people who quote scripture to excuse their bigotry against homosexuals.

Dear Dr. Laura,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.

a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

e) I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an Abomination (Lev 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

g) Lev 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev 19:27. How should they die?

i) I know from Lev 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev 24:10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your devoted disciple and adoring fan.





In other news, I have a headache. My ratties offered to nibble me cutely, but it didn't help.

Its still me

So I'm still here, but forget to post all the time.

I got a new rattie. She was looking at me cutefaced in the store and she was all alone and had been alone in her box for like two weeks. I felt so bad that I caved and bought them and brought her home. I named her Biscuit and she gets along well with Flip, Flop, and Toggle; they snuggle up all four in the nest together, and even seem to be getting along better than usual. When I stick my hand in the cage Biscuit attempts to grab it in her little hands and then noms me.

I saw part of that movie Expelled, as much as I could watch before Ben Stein's voice put me to sleep and made me drool. (Okay, so less than five minutes). From scanning through it, it seemed really disappointing; I had really hoped they would at least make an effort to be relevant in today's society without droning on about 'a loving God', which to me is a deal breaker in any science lecture. It didn't seem like he had a good concept of what his own theory was, much less the one he was competing against. However, I must reserve judgment until I actually watch the movie. Consequently, I may have to judge this movie in five minute increments between naps.

Also: I have a sudden desire to watch old episodes of "Win Ben Stein's Money". I loved that show ^.^

I remembered I had a facebook account. I should do things with it like... I don't know. What do people do with facebook accounts? I sent virtual plants to people and this was somehow suppose to save the environment. I will join some random groups I like too.

Intelligent Design vs Evolution... OR IS IT?

One thing that bothers me most about the ID vs Evolution debate is that people assume they are mutually exclusive, both sides creating a sort of false dichotomy. The fact is there are people who believe in Evolution via Intelligent Design (like several Popes oddly enough, also many Deists, some scientists ) and people who believe in Intelligent Design without believing in an 'almighty' Creator(s) (like Raelians and some other scientists ). Intelligent Design's main enemy, of course, is not Darwinism, since concepts like natural selection and micro-evolution are valid in both theories. Its the religious fanatics who try to 'help' by throwing their holy book at scientists, claim that the Earth was created in only 6 days, or use it to try to push religious indoctrination into schools, which gives the whole thing a false image because the actual theory doesn't support any of those things. I came to the realization that most people I have personally spoken to on the subject haven't actually looked into the science behind either side, even their own side. Most ID people believe it simply because they fear their religion will be invalidated if they do not. Most Darwinists believe it simply because they fear mainstream religion (rightly so), and think any attack on macro-evolution must be an attempt to take us back to the Dark Ages. Alternately, because they did a head count and want to follow the majority of scientists. That's fine and no harm done, but the majority of scientists used to believe in the theory of spontaneous generation. The important thing is to realize that there are legit scientists on both sides, both sides have both religious and non-religious people, and both sides have idiots that speak in all caps or use profanity and lolspeak to get their point across. Religion shouldn't be part of the debate and we shouldn't judge either side by the dumbest proponent, in my view.

Anyway, I have been reading an article by a scientist, but I haven't finished the article yet. Its here. It has a lot of scientific jargon and references so I am sometimes needing to read paragraphs two or three times or stop and check other references to be sure I understand what they are saying and it that it follows. If anyone actually reads that, they can tell me what they think of it. And hell, its a public journal, you can tell me what you think of anything you want whether you read it or not :p

Prayer

My problems with the monotheistic concept of praying for God to do things:

1) If ones believes that the one Deity is all knowing, then why are they asking Them to do things They already know needs done? Even worse is when people believe their Deity inspired them to ask for it, because then the Deity is asking you do tell Them to do something that They knew needed done but has already actively chosen not to do.
2) Begging one's Deity to do things that They already know about is treating Them like a tyrant who could help out of kindness but would rather get kicks from hearing people beg for it. That is disrespectful, in my view.
3) Asking a supreme Deity to change their way of doing things just for one person is presumptuous and the exact opposite of humility. (Apparently George Carlin says it funnier than me.) Even asking them to change it for everyone on Earth is presumptuous, as our planet is a tiny bit of dust in the grand scheme of the universe.
4) Asking for some things is effectively asking a Deity to override people's free will. Examples would be asking for someone to be saved, or asking for favorable election results (Huckabee saying "Well, I didn't major in math, I majored in miracles." springs to mind.) If a 'good' Deity could and would do that, we wouldn't be in the messes we are in to begin with.
5) Saying that a Deity answered a prayer insinuates that one believes other people, who prayed but died or lost out anyway, are somehow lesser than them or are less loved by their Deity.
6) In many cases saying a Deity saved someone, or that it was a miracle, takes well deserved respect and thanks away from the police, doctors, military, or others who actually saved the person. If one really believed God was capable of such things, they would take their sick to a priest rather than a hospital. Its hard to ignore that people who do that typically die.

If a monotheist really believes in their Deity, they should never ask for anything. They should simply believe that what is suppose to happen will happen, and spend more time trying to understand why things happen than asking an almighty Deity to change their way of doing things just for them.

Things I ask myself about religion

These are things I ask myself about religion, and always try to have more tolerable answers:

How sure are you of your chosen belief? Are you still skeptical of it? Watch out; If you are 100% certain, you may have been brainwashed. :) How often do you intentionally look up information that contradicts your chosen belief to see why someone doesn't believe in it?

Do you accept those people of contradicting belief that harm no one with their belief? Not just tolerate, as that insinuates that they are a displeasure to be around that is 'dealt with'.

How do you deal with those of contradicting belief that ~do~ harm others with their belief. Do you have the moral highground on them, or have you found yourself acting no better when faced with them?

Do you love those who believe different than you in spite of what they believe.. or because of what they believe?

Have you ever suggested that someone seriously consider your belief without having seriously considered their belief? Have you looked into any belief other than your own, or did you just automagically accept the first thing you were told?

Does the information you have on other religions come from people in your own religion who may or may not have accurate information themselves, or from the religion itself that you are getting information on?

Do you know what love is?

It seems many Christians can't even get along with each other, much less show tolerance and love for others. Whatever happened to loving your enemies?

Above all else, these two factions seem to be getting into a fight in Bethlehem because their religions celebrate Jesus's birthday on different days. Do these people really think that when they get to Heaven, God will turn some of them away because they used the wrong date to let Jesus blow out his 2000-some-odd candles?

This sort of thing frustrates me, and just goes to further the stereotype of Christians as being hateful, malicious people who are incapable of any semblance of tolerance above forcing others to be exactly like them.

Christian or not, one thing holds true: If you only love those that are like yourself, then you do not know love, because you only love yourself.

Faith begets violence and death

So in this article on faith in the military, one soldier says his faith helps him justify his actions in the war.

And that is the whole problem.

Faith justifies violence. People say atheists are amoral and faithless, and think that this makes them violent, but this makes them the opposite of violence.

I have no faith in God or fate. Thus I have no excuse for violence, and I would not kill another human being EVEN IN MY OWN DEFENSE. How many Christians will make that vow, despite all the talk of 'turn the other cheek'? Few if any, because they believe everything is written in the sky for them, and that their actions are justified even if it means innocents will die.

Want to argue this? Tell me just one single military conflict of the last decade that wasn't based on someone of one religion hating another. Just one.

And these soldiers saying that God will protect them need to wake up. To say that you are certain God will protect you is to say that all those troops that have died were faithless and evil, which is clearly not the case, especially from their view.

No. Your God, supposedly both all powerful and all loving, has allowed this mess to continue. Again, either your God is all powerful, in which case he couldn't be all loving when you look at the results of his creation, or he is all loving, in which case he wants to help but is powerless to do so because of the mass idiocy of his followers.

Where is your God now?

A terrible tragedy occurred when a young child was crushed by a church parade float. I don't mean to make light of this at all, quite the contrary. But..

Anyone that is a member of that Church should think. They believe in an all-mighty loving God; -why- would an all powerful God allow -his- float to crush a small child? Where was their all-powerful loving God when their innocent child was crushed?

They should consider this, and then find a new religion that doesn't include such a contradiction.

You can't even make a Doomsday cult these days without it turning against you.

Or just my inane babbling about religious cults and massive tangents on the subject.

Get a load of this. It seems that a small 'cult' in Russia has holed themselves up in a cave and are threatening to kill themselves via ignited gasoline if anyone attempts to come in after them. The 'Doomsday cult' believes that the world will end next May.

If only we were so lucky.

Anyway, they refuse to come out... even at the beckoning of their own leader, who they believe has been pressured by the government.

My first response to this is "Who cares?". Its every person's right to kill themselves for whatever reason they desire. The only thing that makes me care is that some of them are children who are likely not making the decision for themselves, nor can they be expected to be able to even if asked. That is a problem...

Anyway, on to my view of 'cults':

1) The word 'cult' is overused by mainstream religions, as many brand any odd ball or different religion as a cult. They give loose definitions of what one is, but these fall short since many of these things in their definition applies to normal religions too. For instance, a cult goes to great lengths to keep members or not allow them to leave, and I have talked to people who have had that problem with 'legit' mainstream religions.

2) About 'suicide' or 'doomsday' religions, I think they are counterproductive. Religion should be something that gives you peace and sets your mind at ease. Any religion that orders you to kill (others or yourself) counters the main tenant that any religion should keep sacred. That is why even if the leader of my religion, or someone I believed to be the creators themselves told me to harm others or myself, I would refuse.
This itself should be an teaching of any religion; if my religion asks me to do something that I consciously consider wrong, then I am free to disregard the order without fear of reprisal. This is, of course, somewhat of a tangent.

3) On suicide itself, its a sad thing when someone feels that their only outlet is suicide. At the same time, however, it is every consenting adult's right to do it. What makes 'mass' suicides horribly wrong is that you have people influencing other people to do it as well.
If someone is ready to not be alive, they should do it for themselves and not involve others. They should not blame others. They should not encourage others to join them or to feel guilty that they are gone.

4) One thing I have to mention is that the article doesn't make clear why the government cares that the people are in the cave. If they are not harming anyone, they should just be allowed to wait until next May to find out the world isn't ending, then most of them will go home, disappointed but alive. Its like having a bear at your camp site. Are you going to walk out and poke it with a stick to try to get it to go away? No, if it isn't after you then you're going to quietly wait for it to leave. Why make an awkward situation into a bad situation?