I still don't understand how any grown up person can read a few lines of any bible and not figure out that it is a fairy tale. But the world is full of those who refuse to make that connection.
Still, there are many fundamentalists who swear that man was created in God's image, and in many interpretations, so were women.
Here are a few translations of Genesis 1:27. Of course, God's English isn't exactly perfect:
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
King James Bible
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
American King James Version
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Jewish Publication Society Tanakh
And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
*********************************************
The anti-evolutionists and other YECs believe there is nothing allegorical about this verse. They "know" evolution can't be true, because he God created he man in he's image (that is my translation). They also "know" that all science that refutes or even attempts to refute Genesis 1:27 is not real science, but feeble attempts to disprove God.
Ok, so then, if man was created in God's image, and that is why evolution is false, then it has to be concluded that God has an asshole. My only question to creationists: Is God's asshole only for show, or does it serve a function?
May 11, 2008
May 4, 2008
High School Made Me Agnostic; It Paved My Way To Atheism
It is hard to think way back to high school (I'm 47 now, so details really escape me).
I do know that it was discussing literature that started making me really doubt the existence of God.
I acknowledge that even though I grew up in an ultra-secular Jewish home, I was brought up to assume God existed. Questions about the afterlife were not dealt with, but again, it was assumed that I had a lot of dead relatives I hardly knew waiting for me in heaven.
I've mentioned this before, we have evolved the susceptibility to believe in the supernatural to help us explain the unexplainable and to help us from going nuts (at least it worked well on our ancestors who couldn't explain lightning).
I had a crash course Bar Mitvah. I was in junior high school (in Canada, grades 7-9, while high school consisted of grades 10 through 13). I remember listening to two songs that made me "think" about the grand scheme of things. They seemed to be played every hour on the car radio: Imagine and We're Here For A Good Time (Not A Long Time).
The songs actually upset me, when I was thinking about the words...the tunes were good though. I started to come to grips that there doesn't have to be a heaven, that this might be our only shot at living.
I'd like to think that every thinking teenager goes through a time, when late at night, insomnia sets in as one thinks about mortality, the universe, even the beginning of time.
My father took me to Bar Mitvah lessons. The person giving me the lessons was probably in his early 20's. I remember after a lesson, my father started talking to my teacher and brought up heaven. My dad asked him about "Jewish heaven." I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember the answer that was given was definitely not cut and clear. I didn't know it at the time, but now I think the teacher was either agnostic or atheist.
The idea of the Bar Mitvah just seemed so irrational to me. Becoming a man? I didn't feel like a man. And besides, now what?
So that brings me to high school and the North York English curriculum. Again, the details escape me and so does the exact year, but grade 11 and a teacher named Mr. Perlmutter seems to stick in my head. Mr. Perlmutter was an ethnic Jew, and it was rumoured that he was from such a rich family that he didn't have to work but did because he enjoyed it so much. He used to call his students "goos." That aside, he had a really good sense of humour. I hated reading, but I looked forward to his class.
Again, I don't know if the books that officially turned me agnostic were taught in his class, but I will rattle off a few of them right now (without reasons why):
1. Waiting For Godot
2. The Stone Angel
3. Who Has Seen The Wind
Again, I can't remember exactly why, but these books got me questioning the existence of God, and coupled with grade 12 physics, a godless universe started making lots of sense.
Fundies, when your kids bring home any of those three books from school, be afraid, be very afraid!
An afterthought. In high school, I walked to school almost every day. It was an 18 minute walk each way. I wonder if there is a correlation having to do with us who are now atheists, and the distance we walked to school. A lot more thinking and reflection occurs during a long walk (assuming you are walking by yourself) than a bus ride, at least in my experience.
Thanks to Simply Jews for linking my blog post questioning theists in his Haveil Havalim # 164 post. Apparently, I'm some sort of opponent:)
I do know that it was discussing literature that started making me really doubt the existence of God.
I acknowledge that even though I grew up in an ultra-secular Jewish home, I was brought up to assume God existed. Questions about the afterlife were not dealt with, but again, it was assumed that I had a lot of dead relatives I hardly knew waiting for me in heaven.
I've mentioned this before, we have evolved the susceptibility to believe in the supernatural to help us explain the unexplainable and to help us from going nuts (at least it worked well on our ancestors who couldn't explain lightning).
I had a crash course Bar Mitvah. I was in junior high school (in Canada, grades 7-9, while high school consisted of grades 10 through 13). I remember listening to two songs that made me "think" about the grand scheme of things. They seemed to be played every hour on the car radio: Imagine and We're Here For A Good Time (Not A Long Time).
The songs actually upset me, when I was thinking about the words...the tunes were good though. I started to come to grips that there doesn't have to be a heaven, that this might be our only shot at living.
I'd like to think that every thinking teenager goes through a time, when late at night, insomnia sets in as one thinks about mortality, the universe, even the beginning of time.
My father took me to Bar Mitvah lessons. The person giving me the lessons was probably in his early 20's. I remember after a lesson, my father started talking to my teacher and brought up heaven. My dad asked him about "Jewish heaven." I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember the answer that was given was definitely not cut and clear. I didn't know it at the time, but now I think the teacher was either agnostic or atheist.
The idea of the Bar Mitvah just seemed so irrational to me. Becoming a man? I didn't feel like a man. And besides, now what?
So that brings me to high school and the North York English curriculum. Again, the details escape me and so does the exact year, but grade 11 and a teacher named Mr. Perlmutter seems to stick in my head. Mr. Perlmutter was an ethnic Jew, and it was rumoured that he was from such a rich family that he didn't have to work but did because he enjoyed it so much. He used to call his students "goos." That aside, he had a really good sense of humour. I hated reading, but I looked forward to his class.
Again, I don't know if the books that officially turned me agnostic were taught in his class, but I will rattle off a few of them right now (without reasons why):
1. Waiting For Godot
2. The Stone Angel
3. Who Has Seen The Wind
Again, I can't remember exactly why, but these books got me questioning the existence of God, and coupled with grade 12 physics, a godless universe started making lots of sense.
Fundies, when your kids bring home any of those three books from school, be afraid, be very afraid!
An afterthought. In high school, I walked to school almost every day. It was an 18 minute walk each way. I wonder if there is a correlation having to do with us who are now atheists, and the distance we walked to school. A lot more thinking and reflection occurs during a long walk (assuming you are walking by yourself) than a bus ride, at least in my experience.
Thanks to Simply Jews for linking my blog post questioning theists in his Haveil Havalim # 164 post. Apparently, I'm some sort of opponent:)
April 28, 2008
Edward Current Takes No Chances: He Converts To All Religions
This is just really really funny:
The next time a Christian (usually) presents you with Pascal's Wager, it might be best to refer him or her to the above video.
Of course, there is also the Atheist's Wager:
(1) It is possible that God exists and it is possible that God does not exist.
(2) If one believes in God then if he exists then one either receives an infinitely great reward or an infinitely great punishment and if he does not exist then one loses little or nothing.
(3) If one does not believe in God then if he exists then one either receives an infinitely great reward or an infinitely great punishment and if he does not exist then one gains little or nothing.
(4) It is better to either receive an infinitely great reward or an infinitely great punishment or gain little or nothing than it is to either receive an infinitely great reward or an infinitely great punishment or lose little or nothing.
Therefore:
(5) It is better not to believe in God than it is to believe in God.
(6) If one course of action is better than another then it is rational to follow that course of action and irrational to follow the other.
Therefore:
(7) It is rational not to believe in God and irrational to believe in God.
The next time a Christian (usually) presents you with Pascal's Wager, it might be best to refer him or her to the above video.
Of course, there is also the Atheist's Wager:
(1) It is possible that God exists and it is possible that God does not exist.
(2) If one believes in God then if he exists then one either receives an infinitely great reward or an infinitely great punishment and if he does not exist then one loses little or nothing.
(3) If one does not believe in God then if he exists then one either receives an infinitely great reward or an infinitely great punishment and if he does not exist then one gains little or nothing.
(4) It is better to either receive an infinitely great reward or an infinitely great punishment or gain little or nothing than it is to either receive an infinitely great reward or an infinitely great punishment or lose little or nothing.
Therefore:
(5) It is better not to believe in God than it is to believe in God.
(6) If one course of action is better than another then it is rational to follow that course of action and irrational to follow the other.
Therefore:
(7) It is rational not to believe in God and irrational to believe in God.
April 24, 2008
A Few More Questions For Theists and Especially Creationists
I love trying to get creationists to think. My experience though, is that they really don't want to think that much. All their answers are in a little book written a long long time ago by people who didn't understand electricity, amongst many other things.
Alrighty, first I'm not aiming this question at only creationist Christians, I'm aiming it at any religious person:
Lets assume that you believe your religion is the "right religion." Have you ever pondered if your religion is in fact the right religion?, and do you believe it to be the right religion 100%?
The second question pertains to those who answered the last half of the first question "YES," and it also assumes that you are still a member of the same religion you were raised in.
If your parents gave you up for adoption at birth, and your new parents were a different religion, do you think you would be a believer in your new parents religion? Be honest. Ok, try to be honest.
Now, a question to those of you who do not accept evolution.
If evolution was proven to you, and I know this is a hard stretch for the wilfully ignorant creationists, but still, if it finally clicked in that science is not a vast conspiracy to disprove God, but is in fact a study of empirical facts, that includes rigorously tested theories that explain facts, would you have to give up on your current religion?
I've had a recent discussion on Youtube with a Muslim who accepts that life came about around the Pre-Cambrian explosion, but doesn't believe in evolution of man. He believes (wrongly) that Pre-Cambrian life didn't have ancestors. I asked him if he thinks man was created during the Pre-Cambrian timeline. He has yet to answer me.
For those who accept the earth is ancient, but still don't accept evolution of man.
When did God poof life on earth? And when approximately did God poof man into existence?
I don't expect many comments from theists. I rarely get them when I ask for them. I'd really like to see real answers though.
In the meantime, I'm starting to get tired of the "atheists have no basis for morality" garbage. So I will fight back again, with a video I made and posted last year. It includes quite a few questions for creationists:
Bonus question to theists: Did I make your brain hurt from having to think so much?
Alrighty, first I'm not aiming this question at only creationist Christians, I'm aiming it at any religious person:
Lets assume that you believe your religion is the "right religion." Have you ever pondered if your religion is in fact the right religion?, and do you believe it to be the right religion 100%?
The second question pertains to those who answered the last half of the first question "YES," and it also assumes that you are still a member of the same religion you were raised in.
If your parents gave you up for adoption at birth, and your new parents were a different religion, do you think you would be a believer in your new parents religion? Be honest. Ok, try to be honest.
Now, a question to those of you who do not accept evolution.
If evolution was proven to you, and I know this is a hard stretch for the wilfully ignorant creationists, but still, if it finally clicked in that science is not a vast conspiracy to disprove God, but is in fact a study of empirical facts, that includes rigorously tested theories that explain facts, would you have to give up on your current religion?
I've had a recent discussion on Youtube with a Muslim who accepts that life came about around the Pre-Cambrian explosion, but doesn't believe in evolution of man. He believes (wrongly) that Pre-Cambrian life didn't have ancestors. I asked him if he thinks man was created during the Pre-Cambrian timeline. He has yet to answer me.
For those who accept the earth is ancient, but still don't accept evolution of man.
When did God poof life on earth? And when approximately did God poof man into existence?
I don't expect many comments from theists. I rarely get them when I ask for them. I'd really like to see real answers though.
In the meantime, I'm starting to get tired of the "atheists have no basis for morality" garbage. So I will fight back again, with a video I made and posted last year. It includes quite a few questions for creationists:
Bonus question to theists: Did I make your brain hurt from having to think so much?
April 18, 2008
Peanut Butter Evolution Revisited
This maddening 2 minute video, Peanut Butter, The Atheists Nightmare! is definitely worth watching again:
The reason I'm bringing it back is because recently I've been getting quite a few comments by creationists the satire video I did in response to the one you just viewed. Besides the video I did is freakin hilarious (I'm a legend in my own mind!), and it needs to be viewed by more and more people.
Amazingly, many atheists and other science minded individuals took my video seriously. If you expand the comments (and there are over 300 of them), you'll see what I mean. I understand, because my portrayal of a homeschooled creationist isn't too far off the mark. Even though in the video description, I clearly label the video as comedy and satire....oh well.
But now it looks like I got linked to a creationist site. And the comments I've been getting are the usual "evolution isn't science" bull crap.
The reason I'm bringing it back is because recently I've been getting quite a few comments by creationists the satire video I did in response to the one you just viewed. Besides the video I did is freakin hilarious (I'm a legend in my own mind!), and it needs to be viewed by more and more people.
Amazingly, many atheists and other science minded individuals took my video seriously. If you expand the comments (and there are over 300 of them), you'll see what I mean. I understand, because my portrayal of a homeschooled creationist isn't too far off the mark. Even though in the video description, I clearly label the video as comedy and satire....oh well.
But now it looks like I got linked to a creationist site. And the comments I've been getting are the usual "evolution isn't science" bull crap.
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