The Wars of Religion Return, by Patrick J. Buchanan

One of the greatest condervative political minds of our day weighs in on Religion and Politics:

Last week’s clash between Dr. James Dobson and Barack Obama is but the latest skirmish in a war that dates back to the time of Christ. At issue: What is Christian truth? Does the true Christian put social peace ahead of his duty to make God’s Law man’s law?

In a speech in June 2006, Obama, citing the Book of Leviticus, which declares homosexuality an abomination, noted that Leviticus also says the eating of shellfish is an abomination and condones slavery.

Moreover, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is “a passage so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application.”

“Folks haven’t been reading their Bibles,” said Obama.

“Even … if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States … whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson’s or with Al Sharpton’s?”

Barack was saying that, since Christians disagree deeply over what is biblical truth, why fight? Let us “try to translate some of our concerns in a universal language so that we can have an open and vigorous debate rather than have religion divide us.”

In Catholicism, this is the heresy of indifferentism, which holds that one religion is just as good as another and all religions can be a path to salvation. The Pew poll out last week reveals that 82 percent of Protestants believe there are multiple paths to salvation, as do 79 percent of Catholics and 57 percent of evangelicals.

A striking development. For did not Christ say, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”?

Dr. Dobson is having none of it. Tuesday, he accused Obama of “deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology.”

“(H)e is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter,” said Dobson. “Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with regard to the life of tiny babies?”

“What he (Obama) is saying here is that unless everyone agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe.”

Dobson has no small point. For in his litany of moral heroes, Barack himself selected no “can’t-we-all-just-get-along?” Christians.

Indeed, Obama celebrates the Underground Railroad and the abolitionists who, to end slavery, took us over the brink into Civil War. He invokes the defiant marchers of Selma Bridge and Dr. King, who chose confrontation and tore the nation asunder rather than see segregation endure.

Obama, however, is now preaching a kumbaya Christianity where leaders who believe abortion is the killing of the innocent unborn are to set their convictions and cause aside in the name of ecumenical amity.

It is Dobson who, in his intolerance of perceived evil, seems in the tradition of the abolitionists, and Barack who appears more like the milquetoast believers of whom Christ said he would spit them out of his mouth because they were neither hot nor cold and whom Dante consigned to the deepest reaches of hell.

Does social peace require the toleration of manifest evil?

In the Roman Empire before Constantine, Christians accepted martyrdom rather than burn incense to Caesar. Thomas More went to his death rather than assent to the divorce of the Henry VIII, declaring, “I am the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”

A disciple of Gandhi, Dr. King is celebrated as a champion of civil disobedience against the injustice of segregation. What would Obama say to massive civil disobedience by those who believe the killing of 50 million unborn children since Roe v. Wade is a greater evil than segregating folks by race in public accommodations?

Would an Obama, who hails the abolitionists and Dr. King, condemn them as divisive? Was not that the charge thrown up at Dr. King?

The divide between Dobson and Barack is mirrored among many who profess the Christian faith. It split the Baptists. It is splitting the Episcopalians. A traditionalist minority has severed communion over female bishops and homosexual marriages.

Barack has a “fruitcake interpretation” of the Constitution if he thinks it requires us to give up fighting for justice because it may be divisive, says Dobson. Here, too, he has a point.

The unbridgeable divide between the two portends a troubled future. Can Americans ever come together if we are divided in our deepest beliefs about morality and truth, where one side believes gay marriage is moral progress, the other holds it a moral outrage; where one side views abortion to be a mighty advance for women’s freedom, the other sees it as legalization of mass slaughter of unborn babies?

There can be no peaceful coexistence in a cultural war because it is at root a religious war. Far into the future, Americans seem fated to face each other again and again “at some disputed barricade.”

Update on Nuclear War coming June 12th

Well, it’s June 28, 2008 and no nuclear war. Damn!! Now I have to pay off the Ferrari!!!  Shit!!

That God Damn Yisrayl ‘Buffalo Bill’ Hawkins asshole!!  You owe me $138,000 !!!  Pay up, Bitch!!

I am anxiously awaiting “The Hawk’s” explantion and the new date for the end of the World. This is twice now that he has been wrong. Jehovah’s Witnesses have him beat by four. They were wrong 6 times to the Hawks two. 

Come on Hawk, you can do better, you fucking deranged conman. I’m serious about the 138K, by the way. My lawyer will be in touch.

All the assholes who changed their name to Hawkins. What fucking morons!

By the way the Witnesses were telling me this in 1974 form “Our Kingdom Ministry”, may 1974, page 3:

“Yes, since the summer of 1973 there have been new peaks in pioneers every month. Now there are 20,394 regular and special pioneers in the United States, an all-time peak. That is 5,190 more than there were in February 1973! A 34-percent increase! Does that not warm our hearts? Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world’s end.—1 John 2:17.”

Hey, assholes that 20 acres I sold in 1973 for $10,000 had a million dollar mall on it by 1983. But I sold it like you said, lived in a camper and door knocked my brains out.

I want my money back!!!

How many people have put REAL faith, REAL money and devoted a good part of their REAL life to the likes of Hawkins and Jehovah’s Witnesses, with nothing to show for it, except failed prophesies, beliefs that change at the whim of the governing body and hours of free toil door knocking, constructing buildings that belong to the Watchtower Society or working for Hawkins companies? 

There is no way to know, but it’s a safe bet to say too many. 

Another Anti-Jehovahs Witness Rant

Could there be any group that is more arrogant and ignorant than Jehovah’s Witnesses? Well, yea the Democrat Party, but we’re talking religion.

 

 

I know I said that this was not an anti Witness blog, but since they are my experience I will tend to pick on them more than other religions.

 

 

The Witnesses change their beliefs so frequently and subtly it’s hard for the membership to keep up.

 

 

All my Witness life I was taught this, from the Awake,  Oct 8 1968 13-4:

 

“Jesus was obviously speaking about those who were old enough to witness with understanding what took place when the ‘last days’ began. Jesus was saying that some of those persons who were alive at the appearance of the `sign of the last days’ would still be alive when God brought this system to its end. Even if we presume that youngsters 15 years of age would be perceptive enough to realize the import of what happened in 1914, it would still make the youngest of ‘this generation’ nearly 70 years old today. So the great majority of the generation to which Jesus was referring has already passed away in death. The remaining ones are approaching old age. And remember, Jesus said that the end of this wicked world would come before that generation passed away in death.”

 

Well, they changed that. And in 1995. I was still a Witness then and they slipped it by me. The references to it were very subtle. They didn’t have a headline that read “Hey, we fucked up on the 1914 generation thing”. They just slide it in here and there.

 

I didn’t realize it had changed until 2003, after I had left.

 

I looked up all the Watchtower published info on the subject and yes what I believed and they taught for decades as shown above is no longer “the truth”. If I had disputed this Watchtower article when it was first published, I would likely been excommunicated or “disfellowshipped”, in Witness speak.

 

The “Truth” according to the Witnesses changes so much, you don’t know what to believe.

 

The interesting thing here is that I still converse with many Witnesses. I am supposed to be shunned, but I have a lot of Witness friends. As a little experiment, I asked five of them if they were aware that the Watchtower Society had changed its teaching about the 1914 generation. Four said no. They were not aware. One said that he was aware, but he didn’t exactly know the new “teaching”.

 

The irony gets better with this from little quote. The undisputed champs of the religious change up have the balls to critique the Mormons:

 

From The Watchtower 9/15/78, page 11:

 

“The recent Mormon “revelation” that blacks of African ancestry may now enter the religion’s priesthood has left many persons honestly wondering: Who stopped discriminating . . . God, or the Mormon leadership? Church president Spencer Kimball’s letter of explanation to Mormon officials apparently blames God for allowing blacks to remain second-class members of the church for so long: “[God] has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the church may receive the holy priesthood . . . without regard for race or color.”

“However, observers reasonably might ask if the change had a human, rather than divine, motivation. A former Mormon lay high priest who, in 1976, ordained a black to the priesthood and was excommunicated for his action, labeled the recent change a “revelation of convenience just as the decision to stop polygamy [in 1890] was politically inspired.” Indeed it must be asked whether human rights pressure both from within and from outside the church did not influence church leaders, who had based their former race ban on passages in Joseph Smith’s “Book of Mormon” and “Pearl of Great Price.”

“Certainly when religious dogmas are based on man-made, non-Biblical sources, they are bound to be exposed, revealing the very unGodlike qualities of the human source—very different from “the word of the Lord [that] endureth for ever.”—1 Pet. 1:25, “Authorized Version.”

Notice the above says “However, observers reasonably might ask if the change had a human, rather than divine, motivation.”

 

The inventors of “New Light” have the gall to question the Mormon’s change up.

 

You can’t make this stuff up. All from Witness Literature. Look it up.

 

 

A further comment on the above article that says “Who stopped discriminating . . . God, or the Mormon leadership?

I would ask who said Armageddon would come in 1914, the end of WW1, 1925, 1975, within the 20th century and before the 1914 generation died, God or the Watchtower Society leadership?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update on Nuclear War coming June 12th

The Hawk may be on to something!!

An Israeli Cabinet Minister says he sees no way other than war to de-nuke Iran.

Cool!!! Nuke the fucking shit out of Iran and I will change my name to Hawkins!!

Fred “push the button” Thompson

Doomsday Begins Next Thursday, June 12

“Nuclear war will begin next Thursday, June 12, or sooner, according to the latest prediction of self-proclaimed prophet Yisrayl “Buffalo Bill” Hawkins, the founder of a religious sect in Abilene, Texas.”

“It could be turned loose before then,” Hawkins told 20/20 for a report to be broadcast tonight. “You’re going to see this very soon, really soon,” he said.”Unfortunately for Hawkins, it is not the first time he predicted the outbreak of nuclear war.

“Most recently, Hawkins set Sept. 12, 2006 as the beginning of the end.”

“His followers produced an on-line video with a countdown to doomsday.”

“In Kenya, hundreds of his followers actually hid in basement bomb shelters and donned gas masks on the date.”

“They went home in humiliation when there was no war.”

Did that stop “The Hawk”? No way!! Now it’s June 12th.

To read the full article go to: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5008225&page=1

I am not surprised that there are still people who buy this bullshit. There are a couple things that we can observe and that stand out to me and that seem to be reoccurring themes in these “dooms day scenarios.

There is always the money. From the article:

“Other former members say they are required to buy doomsday food and supplies from a company that Hawkins owns personally, Life Nutrition Products.”

“Everything that he preaches has to do with people buying something,” said former House of Yahweh elder David Als of New York city.”

Pimping God for money is the basis of most of these charlatons and their idiocy.

Also, it seems making up your own religion is a great way to get laid:

 ”In addition to dealing with the beginning of the end, Hawkins is also dealing with some serious legal problems.”

“The Callahan County district attorney has filed felony bigamy charges against Hawkins, alleging he has multiple wives.”

The sex theme is a common thread. Recently, that idiotic Mormon offshoot group, where the men would “marry” 14 year olds and have multiple wives. David Koreshhad sex with multiple members of his organization as did Jim Jones, etc.

But I think the most interesting item of all here is that this guy has predicted the end of the world before. Remember the followers in Kenya and the Sept 12, 2006 prediction?

Why, in any reasonable stretch of the imagination would seemingly sane people, still follow this guy, give him money, put  up with whatever sexual shenanigans are going on in the group and actually change their name to Hawkins?

Oh yes, most of his followers have changed their name to Hawkins. I’ve always thought that Hawkins was a cool name. If my name was Hawkins. I would go by “The Hawk”. Fred, “the Hawk” Hawkins. Very cool. I would probably have to change Fred to something cool, like Lance, or Jake. I could be Jake “the snake” Hawkins or Jake “the hawk” Hawkins” I could wear snake and hawk outfits. Very cool!

Back to reality. I was a Jehovah’s Witness for 50 years and in my case, I was indoctrinated as a child. In my early 20’s I got the religious fervor that groups like this look for and cultivate in their membership, but I had my upbringing which set the stage. I doubt seriously that if I had been brought up in any other religious environment, I would have converted to the Witnesses. My fervor waned as they steadily lost their lusterwith false prophesies and change ups, contradictions in their literature, etc. By 30 or so I was just along for the ride as my family were all Witnesses. Finally, at 50 I just couldn’t stand my situation anymore and I left.

I do understand somewhat what these members are feeling now, before the big June 12 war. And I understand how they will feel after it doesn’t happen. Jehovah’s Witnesses predicted the end of the world or Armageddon would come at 6 separate and distinct times: 1914, the end of WW1, 1925, 1975, before the end of the 20th century and before the generation who was alive in 1914 and understood the events that took place that year, passed away.

I was in the “fervor” phase when the 1975 prediction didn’t happen.

None of these happened and presentlythe Witnesses have no date or time period. Now it’s just ”shortly” it will happen, along with “if you’re not one of us, God is going to kill you”. which is the theme or at the very least the implication of all religious group.

The Hawk is with that, big time: “”No one else has the right to the tree of life, except those that keep the laws of Yahweh,” Hawkins has said in his sermons, which are broadcast around the world” Those laws include buying food from his company.

I think it is significant because we have a real live opportunity to observe “Cognitive Dissonance” at work here. This is the behavioral state most of these groups depend on, weather they realize it or not, to keep most of their membership.

Cognitive Dissonance is a psychological phenomenon which refers to the discomfort felt at a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and any new, conflicting information or interpretation. It therefore occurs when there is a need to accommodate new ideas, and it may be necessary for it to develop so that we become “open” to them.

 

Stated differently, Cognitive Dissonance is a psychological state that describes the uncomfortable feeling between what one holds to be true and new conflicting “facts”.

 

If you look in the April archives of this blog, I have a whole post on this type of behavior. I reference a book and research done Leon Festinger His book is entitled “When Prophecy Fails”. Mr. Festinger observed and studied counter intuitive beliefs and  persistence among of members of a UFO doomsday cult. The members of this cult had come to believe that aliens were going to destroy the earth in 1957. Well, this “cognition” didn’t happen, And yet, strangely, their proselytizing increased after the leader’s prophecy failed.

 

What are the members of this group going to do on June 12? Some will leave. Most are likely to accept whatever reason Hawkins cooks up for the failure of the prophesy and continue to “believe”. 

 

In the interim, just in case, I am going to be wearing my tin foil suit that day. Hey, better safe than sorry.

 

Fred “the Tommy Gun” Thompson.

 

 

Jehovah’s Witnesses vs Real Facts.

This is a post about a recent exchange I had with a Jehovah’s Witness. I have many exchanges with JW’s, most of which I am saving for a big post about, well… exchanges with Jehovah’s Witnesses. I post on many websites and this very well meaning person felt moved to send me an email and it was actually quite thoughtful. I did appreciate it

 

 

 

I responded in an appreciative manner, with a little bit about my personal history etc. and mentioned my blog.

 

 

 

Well, things went to shit in a hurry. This person was offended by my swearing. This person never mentioned the facts I presented, only that my swearing was offensive. I mentioned that Jehovah’s Witnesses have predicted that the end of the world or Armageddon would come on 6 separate and distinct dates and or time periods and all were false. I don’t know if this person actually read this, but here are the quotes below.

 

 

This is stuff from an earlier post:

 

 

 

Six (6) predictions by Jehovah’s Witnesses that Armageddon was coming that proved to be absolutely false.

 

 

 

1 - 1914 -  1902 -”In view of this strong Bible evidence concerning the Times of the Gentiles, we consider it an established truth that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God, will be accomplished by the end of 1914.” (The Time is at Hand, 1902 edition, p. 99) Note: this same statement was contained in the 1908 edition of the same book.

 

 

 

 2 - End of WW1: “The present great war in Europe is the beginning of the Armageddon of the Scriptures (Revelation 19:16-20). It will eventuate in the complete overthrow of all the systems of error which have so long oppressed the people of God and deluded the world”. (Pastor Russell’s Sermons, 1915, p. 676)
In the same year (1915),

 

 

 

 3 - 1925 - “The period must end in 1925 . . . [This date] is definitely fixed in the Scriptures. Every thinking person can see that a great climax is at hand. The scriptures clearly indicate that the climax is the fall of Satan’s empire and the full establishment of the Messianic kingdom . . . Therefore, it can be confidently said at this time that millions now living will never die”. (Golden Age, January 4, 1922, p. 217)

 

 

 

 4 - 1975 - Watchtower, October 15, 1969 pages 622 and 623:

 

  “More recently earnest researchers of the Holy Bible have made a recheck of its chronology. According to their calculations the six millenniums of mankind’s life on earth would end in the mid-seventies…. Would not, then, the end of six millenniums of mankind’s laborious enslavement under Satan the Devil be the fitting time for Jehovah God to usher in a Sabbath millennium for all his human creatures? Yes, indeed! And his King Jesus Christ will be Lord of that Sabbath.”

 

Notice the use of the definite article “the”. It would be “the fitting time”, not “a fitting time” not “an appropriate time” but “THE FITTING TIME”, to the exclusion of all other times. “Yes, Indeed! And his King Jesus Christ will be Lord of that Sabbath”. Not “might be”, not “could be”, but “WILL BE”. 

 

 

 

  5 - End of the 20^th Century - Again in 1971, they said it would come in the 20th century:”Shortly, within our twentieth century, the “battle in the day of Jehovah” will begin”. From: The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah - How? 1971 p. 216”

 

  

6 - Within the life span of the 1914 generation: Watchtower, 7/1/69 pg395:

 

 

 “People who were only just old enough to understand what was happening to the world in 1914 are now approaching seventy years of age. Yes, the numbers of that generation are dwindling fast, but before they all pass away this system must meet its end in the war of Armageddon.”

 

 

 

 Of course, none of this happened. It’s even more bizarre in light of what the Watchtower 4/1/72, pages 197 says:

 

 

 

 “So, does Jehovah have a prophet to help them, to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come? These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this prophet?…This “prophet” was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah’s Christian witnesses….Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a “prophet” of God. It is another thing to prove it.”

 

 

 

In the face of these facts which I assume this person read, this person went off on the fact that I swear.

 

 

If I said to you “Hey get out of the fucking way! A truck is headed right for you!” Would you choose to dismiss my warning or the factual content of the statement because of the way it was presented.

 

 

 

“Hey, you said fuck!!

 

 

 

To the contrary, I think you’d move your ass out of the way and thank me.

 

 

 

This Jehovah’s Witness chose to ignore my facts because I swear. I see this all the time when I ask Witnesses to please explain the above statements and how “God’s true organization”, allegedly led by God could be so consistently wrong. They ignore the facts, but find another excuse to not believe what I say. 

 

 

 

Cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon which refers to the discomfort felt at a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and any new, conflicting information or interpretation. It therefore occurs when there is a need to accommodate new ideas, and it may be necessary for it to develop so that we become “open” to them.

 

 

 

Stated differently, Cognitive dissonance is a psychological state that describes the uncomfortable feeling between what one holds to be true and new conflicting “facts”.

 

 

 

We see people in denial all the time. You are told you have cancer. You can’t wrap your mind around it and often go into a state of denial. The problem here is that the cancer is not going away. It’s going to progress, or get worse so you can’t deny or ignore it for long. Sooner or later you must face the facts.

 

 

 

 Cognitive Dissonance, cognitive (“cognitions” meaning beliefs) and dissonance (meaning unresolved tensions) basically means your mind wrestles with itself, trying to make sense of two or more conflicting ideas, usually one, a long held belief and the other irrefutable facts that are diametrically opposed to your long held belief.

 

 

 

 The scientist who fist coined this phrase, Leon Festinger, wrote a book entitled “When Prophecy Fails”. Mr. Festinger observed and studied counterintuitive beliefs and  persistence among of members of a UFO doomsday cult. The members of this cult had come to believe that aliens were going to destroy the earth in 1957. Well, this “cognition” didn’t happen, And yet, strangely, their proselytization increased after the leader’s prophecy failed.

 

 

 

The failed message of earth’s destruction, purportedly sent by aliens to a woman in 1956, became a disconfirmed expectancy that increased dissonance between cognitions, thereby causing most members of the impromptu cult to lessen the dissonance by accepting a new prophecy: that the aliens had instead spared the planet for their sake.

 

 

 

What they believed didn’t happen. The explanation that that the aliens had instead spared the planet for their sake, solved the internal mental conflict. The “new information” soothed the feeling of uncomfortable tension which came from holding two conflicting thoughts in the mind at the same time.

 

 

 

This Jehovah’s Witness solved his/her internal conflict by dismissing my facts, using the excuse that I swear, so none of what I say has any credability. Thus he/she soothed the conflict between my facts and her/his beliefs. In fact, it’s likely that he/she did not even read the facts presented before seeing my swearing as the “way out” of possible mental distress. 

 

 

The same mental state is what allows the Witnesses to prophesy falsely 6 times and the membership suck it up. This person just parrots what all Witnesses say, now that they are not living with a Watchtower Society prediction to look forward to.

 

 

 

The Witnesses will encourage everyone else to examine their own religion, but warn their own members not to. And the membership sees no problem with that.

 

 

 

“It’s for our own protection” they all recite.

 

 

 

No it’s not. It’s to keep all you fucking brain washed little profit centers in the dark. If you honestly looked at the contradictions in their literature, you can only reconcile them through

 

 

 

a)      realizing they are full of shit or

 

 

b)      irrational “rationalization” type behavior, otherwise known as cognitive dissonance.

 

 

Like the flying saucer cult. Same shit.

 

 

 

As a closing point, this person also assumed I left the Witnesses because I was hurt as a youth, offended by “imperfect men, etc. Is it possible that people leave the Witnesses because they figure out that the Watchtower Society is simply full of shit?

 

 

 

“That can’t be right. We have the truth.”

 

 

 

There has to be something wrong with someone for leaving the Witnesses. There can’t be any problems with the Witnesses. If you do the math, you can extrapolate that over 1 million Witnesses have left the organization in the last 20 years. That’s a lot for an organization of only 6 million. All were defective.

 

 

 

As far as having the “Truth”, which “Truth”? You have to be specific. The current “Truth” that teaches something totally different concerning the 1914 generation than I was taught? Was I not taught the “Truth”? Was it the “Truth” then and not the “Truth”now?

 

 

 

The Witness call this being progressive. If you change the “Truth” that means the former thoughts were not true, or lies. It would be different  if the new “Truth” about the 1914 generation was simply an expansion of the old “Truth”, but it’s not. It’s a total paradigm shift. The generation that was born in 1914, that was central to my beliefs, is now irrelevant.

 

 

 

Of course, there are many instances of the Witnesses changing things and editing later copies of their literature. Most Witnesses don’t want to hear about it.

 

 

 

Remember when  you were a kid and someone was saying something you didn’t want to hear so you put your hands over your ears and yelled loudly “La La la lalalalalalal…”?

 

 

 

Go by a Kingdom Hall (Jehovah’s Witness church or meeting place) when they are having a meeting. I bet you here a loud “La la lalalalalala…..” as they try to ignore real facts.

 

 

Allow me to close with a message to my new Witness “friend”, all Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christians and Religious people in general: Fuck you all, you delusional assholes.

 

 

It’s my blog. I’ll swear if I want. If you want to swear, make your own blog. If swearing offends you than don’t read my fucking blog!

 

 

 

The Plan Sucks!

 

Just a rant based on a few conversations of late.

 

This week a two year old baby boy drowned. He belonged to a family I was very close to.

 

There is nothing sadder. They always say that it’s unnatural for you to outlive your kids and I guess that’s right. You don’t expect a toddler to die. A 70 year old drops dead from a heart attack, and while still tragic and painful to the family, nothing can hurt as deep as the death of a child. So much promise and potential, gone in the blink of an eye, the lives of the parents and relative forever altered.

 

You look at your kids in almost a future tense. School, college, marriage, grandkids and then you die, not after you cost them a few bucks caring for you, I guess as payback for the total carnage they wrecked on your finances and life style as you raised them. That’s if they care to take care of you. Most of us do, a lot don’t. I would like to think I can depend on mine.

 

The death of this child caused me to raise again the age old question of why we are here, why we suffer, why we die, why we grow old, why we cause pain and death to our fellow humans, either as individuals or as groups in war.

 

The basic questions “Who in the fuck is running things?” As a Deist, I have concluded that there is a God/Intelligent Design, but I do not presume to have any exclusive communications with him/her/it and/or them. I have come to this conclusion simply by observing nature and the universe. To me, it’s reasonable.

 

I say I have “concluded” that there is a God because to say I believe in God implies religious faith, which I do not have. I do not believe in any religion. I see no evidence that God. Or whoever is using any group as his exclusive way to salvation, there is no proof the Bible is from God, or that Jesus in fact ever lived. The same can be said for any other religion or holy book.

 

But again I ask “Who in the fuck is running things?” This “God” that I have concluded exists, evidently is not in charge, or maybe he/she/them are and we are like ants on an anthill, being incinerated by the 12 year sadistic future serial killer with a magnifying glass.

 

Of course, I did mention the death of the child and how it upset me in my office and a lady from a neighboring office felt compelled to tell me about Jesus and how Jesus is caring for the youngster, he is in a better place, accepting Christ is a wonderful experience, blah, blah, blah.

 

Let me say first that this lady was not a Jehovah’s Witness. She belonged to some other Christian mind meld. But on an individual level, I did appreciate here attempt to ease my pain, in her own way.

 

But I asked her, why do we die?

 

“It’s God’s plan” she replied.

 

So he planned for us to suffer and die.

 

“If you believe in Jesus, you will go to heaven.” She replied confidently. “Through Christ we have salvation”

 

I asked her why the majority of people on earth are not Christian and therefore not candidates for “salvation”.

 

“It’s God’s plan”

 

Well the plan sucks. Just because she or anyone says its God’s plan does not make it so. But, The Plan as she and most Christians and other believers understand it makes no sense on any level. There is no rational explanation for the human condition, so the believer assumes God has a plan.

 

Being raised a Jehovah’s Witness, I have read the Bible at least 50 times and studied in detail most of it. It basically says that because of Adam’s sin, we all suffer and die. How fucking unfair is that? Anyhow, an individual’s only escape from this is death and the Bible has several versions of what happens to you after you die, none of which are provable. And by the way, if you choose to escape and take your own life, God punishes you for that too.

 

You can’t win, you can’t break even and you can’t even quit the game.

 

But the overwhelming question is that if you assume (or believe) that God created everything, is all powerful and can change things at his whim, than why doesn’t he?

 

“Oh, Jesus loves everyone”. Lucky for us humans. I’d hate to see what we would be allowed to endure if he didn’t love us. The ultimate death of every human has led mankind to invent all types of reasons his particular God would allow human suffering, none of which make a damn bit of sense.

 

Are we being bread on a mass scale, with the ones embracing Jesus (or Allah, or Vishnu) the ultimate pedigree? Is it death to the mutts?

 

There is no rational reason on any level for humans to suffer as we all do, to one degree or another. If God has a plan, please tell us. I have mentioned this before but God could with one appearance, change everything.

 

Suppose the true God is Allah. Prove he isn’t? What if one day in an unmistakable way, he appeared to the whole world and said that Islam was the true religion, this is what happens when you die, this is how I want you to act and worship me, etc.

 

I’d be a Muslim. No doubt. As a side point he would have to appear every twenty years or so, because humans have such short memories.

 

Would you believe in God? I would.

 

“Hey, I saw him in 1982 and then again in 2002. He said he’d be back in 20 years so we’ll see him again in 14 years.”

 

However, we see nothing tangible. If when he appeared he said “Look, it is my purpose for you to live like you do and suffer death. You’ll understand it when you die”. That would be good enough for most people.

 

It’s like Marine Corps basic. They kick the crap out of you and it is most unpleasant. But you know they are doing it for your own good. They want you to be up for combat.

 

Maybe we’re in human “basic”. It would be nice to know why. Hell, even the Marine Corps tells you why.

The Most Dangerous Religion

Most people believe that by far the most dangerous religion today is Islam. Recently Dutch film maker Geert Wilder’s film, critical of Islam and the Quran, “Fitna” was greeted with the customary outrage in the Muslim community and as such now Mr. Wilder is in hiding, fearing for his life.

The film can be seen in it’s entirety at:

 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3369102968312745410

 

 

The noted atheist, Sam Harris had these comments, from his article “Loosing Our Spines to Save Our Necks. The full article can be found at: 

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-harris/losing-our-spines-to-save_b_100132.html

 

“The film has been deemed offensive because it juxtaposes images of Muslim violence with passages from the Qur’an. Given that the perpetrators of such violence regularly cite these same passages as justification for their actions, merely depicting this connection in a film would seem uncontroversial. Controversial or not, one surely would expect politicians and journalists in every free society to strenuously defend Wilders’ right to make such a film. But then one would be living on another planet, a planet where people do not happily repudiate their most basic freedoms in the name of “religious sensitivity.”

 

 “Witness the free world’s response to Fitna: The Dutch government sought to ban the film outright, and European Union foreign ministers publicly condemned it, as did UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Dutch television refused to air Fitna unedited. When Wilders declared his intention to release the film over the internet, his U.S. web-host, Network Solutions, took his website offline.”

“Into the breach stepped Liveleak, a British video-sharing website, which finally aired the film on March 27th. It received over 3 million views in the first 24 hours. The next day, however, Liveleak removed Fitna from its servers, having been terrorized into self-censorship by threats to its staff. But the film had spread too far on the internet to be suppressed (and Liveleak, after taking further security measures, has since reinstated it on its site as well).”

“Of course, there were immediate calls for a boycott of Dutch products throughout the Muslim world. In response, Dutch corporations placed ads in countries like Indonesia, denouncing the film in self-defense. Several Muslim countries blocked YouTube and other video-sharing sites in an effort to keep Wilders’ blasphemy from penetrating the minds of their citizens. There have also been isolated protests and attacks on embassies, and ubiquitous demands for Wilders’ murder. In Afghanistan, women in burqas could be seen burning the Dutch flag; the Taliban carried out at least two revenge attacks on Dutch troops, resulting in five Dutch casualties; and security concerns have caused the Netherlands to close its embassy in Kabul. It must be said, however, that nothing has yet occurred to rival the ferocious response to the Danish cartoons.”

Mr. Harris’s point is well taken. The Non Muslim world, genuflects to the Muslim world, whose mission is to destroy all Non Muslims.

We, the Non Muslims are pathetic in our responses, which are basically, “We’re sorry we offended you. Please continue to plan to kill us”

There is looming in our near future a religious conflict between the Muslim and Non Muslim world that will rival the last World War and has the possibility of surpassing it in death and violence, in the very likely event that it turns nuclear.

The West, while it can, should take whatever action necessary to nip this in the bud. But for some reason, we don’t. We need leaders with clear vision and purpose and we get empty suits who call for “change” with no real plan or strategy to implement such change. In fact, in Barrack Obama’s case, he hasn’t even said WHAT he is going to change, never mind how. What a piece of shit he is.

Presently, I think we can count out any real action by any of the three presidential contenders. Hopefully we get some real leadership before we are all totally fucked.

It is not so much that we stand the possibility of loosing our world dominance, but if we loose to the Muslim world they will impose their religion on us, or kill us, likely the later.

Is this fanatic lunacy the exclusive franchise of the Muslim world?

Hardly.

I would take you back to the time of the Inquisition and the Crusades when the Church of Rome dictated every detail of your daily life. Were you forced to go to church, under penalty of death? Yes you were. If the technology existed for you to make a video, critical of the Catholic Church, like Wilder’s film “Fitna is critical of Islam, what would have happened? You’d be hiding in a hole somewhere too, under the threat of death.

I don’t want to, in anyway minimize the danger Islam poses to our future. It’s real and we will be faced with it sooner or later. My point is that religious attitudes and inclinations are all the same, save for the circumstances.

The Church of Rome gradually lost its influence and hold on society and once free of that brand of religious lunacy, we flourished.

Do you think that if the Government sanctioned any religion, Catholic, Mormon, Judaism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, whoever that you wouldn’t be required to participate at the religious level required of most citizens in Muslim states?

Don’t think for a minute The Pope, Old Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts or the late Jerry Fallwell, if they had the governments backing wouldn’t drag you ass at gunpoint to church every Sunday and several times during the week.

You’d have a 10% tithe deducted directly from your pay check and the “Moral Police” would make surprise inspections of your home, looking for porno, short skirts, literature and videos, anything “unbecoming a Christian”. If they find anything, your whole family would be hauled off to a “love camp” for rehabilitation or if that didn’t work execution as the “seed of the devil”

This happened! I mentioned the inquisition but do you remember the Salem Witch trials? This shit is real and as I said, not the exclusive franchise of the Muslims. They just live in countries where they allow this type of stuff.

Of course, the Holy Christians would water board the gayness out of homosexuals and if that didn’t work, do you think they would think twice about beheading them?

Religion is a putrid stain on humanity. Islam stands out now only because their society presently permits and in fact encourages the enforcement of Muslim law. The same intolerance lives in the hearts of all religions.

 

 

 

.Beware of the Armadillo…and other funny stuff

In my last post on Cognitive Dissonance, my very good friend “Cary” gave some suggestions on how to get rid of Jehovah’s Witnesses when they come to your door. They were so good I decide to include them in today’s post along with other “Witness” humor.

                      How to get rid of a Jehovah’s Witness:

·         When they ask, “Can I talk to you about God?” Reply, “Sure, what would you like to know?”

·         Answer the door with a bloody knife and say, “I’m sorry, could you come back in a half hour? We’re not done with the virgin yet.”

·         Answer the door with an automatic weapon and say ‘Allah be Praised!

·         Ask them for their address. When they ask why you want it, claim that you want to appear on their doorstop uninvited so that you can peddle your own beliefs.

·         Look smug and tell them that your God can beat up their God.

·         Tell them you already have your own religion. When they ask what it is, wince a little before confessing, “er, I’m not sure if it’s legal in this country

·         A chalk outline of a human body on the pavement, and a few copies of “The Watchtower” scattered around…

·         Answer every one of their questions with “What do you mean by that?” This might take a while, but you and your loved ones can have fun placing bets on how long it takes for them to leave.

·         Ask them to explain the story of Elisha and the Forty-two children. Tell them you have a pet bear you’d like to show them.

·         Invite them in to see your fine collection of dinosaur fossils.

I found a few others, written around the Jeff Foxworthy type theme, “You might be a Jehovah’s Witness if…………” Some of these will be more appreciated by those with Witness experience, but for the most part, they’re a hoot.

·        If you see no problem with arguing that a loving god would never create a hell, while at the same time promoting the idea that this same god is about to kill all non-JW human beings in an earth wide carnage in a fair judgment, you are a JW.

·        If you believe that it is an example of love and kindness to visit with your grandchildren while forcing your ex-JW daughter to sit in the car outside, you might be a JW.

·        If you think passively taking in repetitious brainwashing at several meetings a week is a delightful spiritual experience, you might be a JW.

·        If you cannot imagine that people are capable of ethical and loving behavior outside of complete social control, you may be a JW.

·        If you feel that it is ethical behavior to shun (rather than counsel) people in your religious group who have committed a sin, you may be a JW.

·        If you allow a corporation to take the place of God, you may be a JW - or you may just be an American making an offering to the real religion of the majority - money.

·        If you think the spiritual center of God’s Kingdom is in New York City, you are either a stockbroker or a JW.

·        If you have ever reported a spouse to the elders for requesting oral sex, you are probably a JW.

·        If you feel guilty for having a friend or two outside the membership, you might be a JW.

·        If you think it’s an act of unfaithfulness to God to get an education or a decent job, you might be a JW.

·        If you feel you have a great wealth of Bible knowledge - despite never having gone to school beyond 12th grade and/or never having read any biblical scholarship - you might be a JW.

·        If you think the name “Jehovah” appeared in the original writings of the Greek Scriptures, you are a JW.

·        If you believe that only anonymous and somewhat secretive organizers in Brooklyn can dictate which bible texts are to be interpreted literally and which symbolically, you are a JW.

·        If you believe that there is only one correct interpretation of a biblical text, you are a poor reader, a fundamentalist, and possibly a JW.

·        If a biblical statement outright disagrees with what is taught in the Watchtower - but you believe the Watchtower is correct, you are most probably a JW.

·        If you consider cleaning up a messy backyard to be practice for working in the “New System of Things on Paradise Earth”, you are a JW (especially if you routinely think in capital letters).

·        If you think demons choose to reside in jewelry, furniture, china, books or blue smurfs, you might be a JW.

·        If you feel that death is much more important than birth, you might be a JW.

·        If you think that all men with facial hair are unacceptable, you might be a JW.

·        If you think that Overseers (district or circuit) do not receive a salary, you are a JW.

·        If your reaction to someone wearing a cross is the same as a vampire’s, you might be a JW.

·        If you think JW’s are not an authoritarian cult, you are probably a JW.

·        If you think the Watchtower is not a brainwashing tool, you may be a JW.

·        If you think field service does not involve agriculture, you might be a JW.

·        If you think elders can be 30 years old, you might be a JW.

·        If you can imagine newspaper headlines that read “All humans on earth except JWs are destroyed!” with joy in your heart, you’d be a JW.

·        If you have constant pain in your right shoulder and can’t unclasp your right hand, you probably have “bookbagitis” - making you a student or a JW, but probably not both.

·        If you can’t have a conversation with another human being without saying “Jehovah,” you are a JW.

·        If you are a male and your first reaction to a brief interruption of a meeting - by the entrance of a beautiful woman wearing a miniskirt - is “how immodest that sister is,” then you are a JW or Gay.

·        If you eat turkey on Thanksgiving, have the whole family over for dinner and feel guilty about it but insist that it is only because “everyone had the day off” and “turkeys were on sale,” you are a JW  denial.

·        If you wrap presents in brown paper to give each other on “Family Gift Day,” you are a JW with too many “worldly associations.”

·        If you have awful dreams about getting caught holding someone else’s cigarette and no one will believe you that it’s not yours, you’re probably a JW.

·        If you can’t buy a pair of shoes without thinking about how comfortable they will need to be while walking down residential streets in 95 degree heat, then you may be a JW.

·        If you are a woman who just bought a dress that comes down to your mid-calf, has puffy sleeves, a collar that button to your chin and lace trim, then you are a JW with a part at the next Assembly.

·        If you have a child that is 3 years old that sits quietly for hours at a time while adults discuss mind-numbingly boring topics around him, you have broken your child’s spirit and you might be a Jehovah’s Witness. The Child, however is either dreaming of the day he can leave home or plotting to smother you in your sleep.

·        If you believe that God ignored everyone for nearly 2,000 years, and then suddenly gave His truth to a man who sat around drawing pictures, “selling miracle wheat” and studying plans of pyramids trying to show how they fit into Bible prophesy, you must be a JW.

·        If you think that all R-rated movies are too worldly and corrupting for grown adults to watch, but Bible stories featuring murder, rape, adultery, incest and the gruesome death, described in vivid detail, of the unfaithful are spiritually upbuilding, you might be a JW…or another type of Christian asshole.

·        If you can’t pick up anything to read without also picking up something to underline or highlight with, you might be a JW.

·        If you insist on calling the New Testament the Greek Scriptures, you might be a JW.

·        If - when you drive by a church or synagogue or mosque or temple - you suddenly feel smug and superior, you might be a JW.

·        If - when you drive by a Kingdom Hall - you suddenly feel all warm and fuzzy, you might be a JW.

·        If you’re sure your neighbors are all conspiring against you, you might be a JW. It