Another blogger has sparked a fire under me. Hit one of those buttons that gets the engine sputtering and coughing. Dana, over to Life is Good mentioned her conversation with her minister about an upcoming talk by a renowned Creationist. This man would convince all who listened that the Earth is indeed only 6,000 to 10,000 years old.Bless her heart, Dana was not to be convinced. She obviously is a churchgoing woman. But she is one who has her head screwed on properly when it comes to her religious views. Just the fact she agrees the World is not 6,000 years old and that a little sin never really hurts us that much convinces me of this. Reasonable and realistic faith such as hers seems to me to be just the kind of faith a decent god would be looking for.
This "age of the Earth" issue is one of those subjects I usually just keep locked away in my "who cares" file. Of all the stupidity to get panties in a bunch over, how old the Earth is seems to be about the least important one. It's akin to trying to convince me that it only took six days to make this place. And that on the seventh, The Man took a break, sat in a barco-lounger and sipped cool drinks while he contemplated what he had just done.
The truth just does not flippin matter. To either side of this flash point issue. Rather than accepting the difference in opinion, they would rather waste time trying to convince each other they are right. I swear if there are two things God must have put in play just because he is really an evil bastard would be bestowing politics and religion on us. He had to do this because in reality he has a very sick sense of humor. I would say his comedic interests run to the slap stick side, Three Stooges type comedy. Eye pokin, head bonkin, fall on our butts humor.
Now say that this World is nothing but the accidental confluence of the right chemicals blending together and through their interactions over 4 billion years, the result is us. Put like that I can see why many people who have been hoodwinked from birth that this construction project only took 6 days might raise an eyebrow. But as a disinterested member of the audience, I have to say the people who push the 4 billion year idea have worked a lot harder to prove their point than the folks who believed the first thing they read. If I am to reward my belief on just effort alone, I am sorry but the evolutionists get my vote. They earned it.
The evolutionists say they have all these tools and data to back up thier take. Mathematics for instance. Well we all know after suffering through Math classes as youths, Math is definitely a tool of Satan. So then they say they have a way of telling the age of a rock. First of all, if knowing the age of rock is one of their thrills, I would say they are in need of serious recreation. But anyway, they insist they can discern how old a rock is. Fine. But then they use some kind of chemical magic based on Satanic mathematical formulas and something called carbon deteriation and, blah, blah, blah. Pretty soon it takes on the same kind of mind numbing language found in the Good Book. Instead of "go forth and multiply" it's "through the re-alignment of molecules in the center of the matter, we see extraneous particles exiting at high rates of velocity. We call them snarks and that proves the World is populated through sexual procreation." My eyes roll up into my head when either of them get past certain levels of conversation. As far as I am concerned both of them are tools of Satan. Both use magic to prove their points. And the only thing that really exists is me. And sometimes I am not even sure of that.
Later...............
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11 comments:
Humans love to try to prove everything with math when the universe pretty much doesn't give a crap about math.
Unlike Dana, I don't have religious views, I have spiritual views, and I went through hell to get them. Eleven fucking years of hell.
Just try surviving that trip, not many make it.
I swear if there are two things God must have put in play just because he is really an evil bastard would be bestowing politics and religion on us.
Actually, that would not be any bogeyman god out there. That would be those that make up and write fiction that others take up a belief in.
The truth just does not flippin matter.
I really have to disagree with that.
But anyway, they insist they can discern how old a rock is.
According to my birth certificate my cock is 65 years old, this time around.
But I think that science has dating how old things are down pretty well.
They are spot on when they think that the pope is a stupid old fuck.
Never throw politics or religion into a conversation is my motto.
"My concern is the Rock of Ages, not the age of rocks." - Kirk Douglas playing Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind (1988 TV version).
My eyes roll up into my head when either of them get past certain levels of conversation. As far as I am concerned both of them are tools of Satan.
I don't agree that they're tools of satan, but I totally understand the effect you describe. After about five or ten seconds my eyes start to glaze over.
Oh Crum you're not really here at all. You're just a figment of my imagination. Actually this is all just a dream and some day we'll wake up on a beach with 72 virgins. No forget the virgins I want experienced applicants only.
I could rant forever about how trying to pass off creationism and intelligent design as a "valid scientific theory" pisses me off. I could also rant forever about how trying to paint all religious people as anti-intellectual pisses me off. But I won't.
Bottom line is they are two extremes and in looking at them people seem to forget the millions of people who find a way to meet in the middle and tolerate each other.
Middle Ditch has it right.
BBC - Nobody survives the trip. If the truth mattered, you'd pay more attention to it. If you were a Bible thumper I would guess you'd favor the Old Testament. It does not matter if there is a god or not in my mind. We are on oue own. That much is obvious.
Middle Ditch - well some of us just cannot help ourselves. It's like a hot stove or wet paint.
El Cerdo Ignatius - No of course they aren't I do not believe that. I would have to believe in Satan to seriously consider it. But I will say that both the scientific and the religious communities have within their ranks people who care nothing about the results of their actions on the rest of us.
Demeur - See, I knew it. This is just a dream. I am actually going to wake up in some hotel room with palm trees swaying in the breeze outside. I will weigh 40 pounds less and have more hair on my head. Some babe in a swim suit will walk through the sliding glass door dripping wet and smile. "You finally woke up. You have a bad dream poor darlin? Let Mama take care of you. But first drink this." And she will hand me a cool drink clinking with big chunks of ice.
Bull - You snuck in while I was replying to the others. The problem is the fringes are often allowed to run the show because most folks don't care enough to take them on. Especially if they go to the same church, work at the same place, or live in the same town.
Not injecting politics or religion into conversations might be a way to avoid unpleasant situations. But not doing it at all is not right either. The whackos on any side count on a sizable number of people not standing up and voicing their concerns. Avoiding the conversation does not make it go away. It just puts it off until another day.
I appreciate your sense of humor. You made me laugh out loud a couple of times, as I read through your last five entries. (Your fiction too) I love SF/Fantasy.
Religion and politics. The two most likely guilty parties for 99% of all conflict (War between nations) and even some conflicts at/in homes.
Which is to bad, as they are billed to be the thing to fix all our problems.
I must say though there is a difference between religiosity, and spirituality. Which I think has to do with respect for and relationship with, God, people, and nature.
I am an ordained lay minister in the church I fellowship in, not out of guilt, or even because I think if I didn't go to church I'd go to hell, I go because it is a real community that cares about each other and about the larger community we live in.
We rent a building, so we can spend less in mantinance and more helping in feeding and clothing the families who are struggling. No strings attatched.
I've enjoyed your entries because you present a genuine view of life as you've live it and what it has meant and been for you. Valid concerns and real issues. And you write well.
The question of evolution and creation, really doesn't matter to me. We are here now, what difference does it make how long it took, or how that all came about.
It is the here and now, and what we do with that. Not the past, no matter how interesting, not the future, no matter how enticing.
We can only live right now. This is the eternal moment.
How we treat people, even when they may not seem to deserve our consideration, we have no idea what their lives have been.
You mentioned guilt about not riding you bike sort of like what some may feel about missing church.
I find guilt a useless emotion, unless it brings us to some introspection of what we are doing or not doing that either is hurting ourselves or others and by doing this, in someway change our direction.
I don't flick guilt or let it stick to me when others do it.
It is sort of like pain in the body, it is there to say, hey, pay attention here. Take note, wake up. There may be something important here.
Linda McGeary - Thank You for the good words. I do appreciate them. I am with you about the cause of war. But one thing. The line betweeen Politics and Religion is so fuzzy it is often difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. Or when one is used to cloak the other. For this reason alone, I have a very jaundiced view of the both of them.
I have no problem with spirituality/religion. I feel the two are the same until they become organized. And then it becomes religion. For this reason alone, I would say the current two party system we have now and their struggle is just two religions trying to overwhelm the other. Something similar maybe to the Reformation that started in Europe so many years ago. Two organizations with common heritage who have decided that stupid difference of minor points necessitate that they become enemies. And then the rest of the population suffers as one or the other exerts their will over the suffering masses.
Your approach is what I would like to see not just in the religious/spiritual culture but also in the political culture. Sadly, I wonder if it is not too late for either. Rigid lines seem to have been drawn.
So we need to start a holy war and shed the blood of our enemies? I just want to make sure that I'm reading into it what I want to read into it.
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