Thursday, 29 May 2014
How to dismiss hell forever
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But many do have such a precious person and these people can vouch for the absurdity of heaven.
They know going to heaven could mean being forever separated from their soul-mate, and then it would not be heaven—it would be hell and there would be no escape, ever.
Actually, it's worse than that. If your soul-mate does not make it to the pearly gates, you know they have been taken to that other place—where screaming and wailing and agony continue without end. If you can't bear to think of your soul-make suffering for even a second, how will you feel when you know they will suffer forever?
This alone should tell you that heaven and hell are fiction. There can be no heaven if there is hell.
The idea of an underworld for the dead is very ancient indeed. It was a dark, gloomy place, or place for recuperation. But a hell of eternal torture seems to be the invention of the fathers of Christianity. No doubt, they saw hell as a powerful recruiting sergeant for their new religion.
But they should have given it more thought. The hell they invented makes heaven impossible and reveals the unmistakable fingerprints of human beings in the entire project.
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
How much do you love your kids?
How you bring up your kids has a massive effect on their lives. I want you to think about doing something amazing for them.
It may mean making a sacrifice and it may be the most difficult sacrifice you have ever had to make or it may be the easiest. I don't know.
I want you to think of the values you would love them to have when they grow up. The values that will make them happy and the people around them happy and will help them to succeed in whatever direction they go.
These values may be things like respecting and valuing people for who they are—not what they are. Things like consideration, honesty and integrity, tolerance, helping others, showing love and encouragement. Teach them to value hard work and enterprise.
Show them how to use their money wisely and how to share what they have. Selfishness does not make people happy, sharing does—whatever they have to share, their time, their support, their money.
And show them how to value THEMSELVES. Repeatedly tell them they are great and never that they are damaged.
Encourage them to be hungry for knowledge, to be critical, to question and to research. Teach them to think for themselves so they will be confident and never taken advantage of. And so they will flourish in our future world and not the one that has passed.
Don't tell them what to think—teach how to think and encourage them, encourage them, encourage them to do so.
If you have a religion, tell them about it but don't force it on them and don't indoctrinate them from an early age. Make a point of reminding them this is what you believe, others believe different things and many people have no religion at all.
Try to leave detailed religious discussions until they are teenagers and can put things into proper context.
Don't be disappointed if they turn out not to share your beliefs; you are not creating little versions of yourself. You are creating new people with good values and their own minds and one day you will hand your world over to them.
Trust them and let them go free.
Read More
It may mean making a sacrifice and it may be the most difficult sacrifice you have ever had to make or it may be the easiest. I don't know.
I want you to think of the values you would love them to have when they grow up. The values that will make them happy and the people around them happy and will help them to succeed in whatever direction they go.
These values may be things like respecting and valuing people for who they are—not what they are. Things like consideration, honesty and integrity, tolerance, helping others, showing love and encouragement. Teach them to value hard work and enterprise.
Show them how to use their money wisely and how to share what they have. Selfishness does not make people happy, sharing does—whatever they have to share, their time, their support, their money.
And show them how to value THEMSELVES. Repeatedly tell them they are great and never that they are damaged.
Encourage them to be hungry for knowledge, to be critical, to question and to research. Teach them to think for themselves so they will be confident and never taken advantage of. And so they will flourish in our future world and not the one that has passed.
Don't tell them what to think—teach how to think and encourage them, encourage them, encourage them to do so.
If you have a religion, tell them about it but don't force it on them and don't indoctrinate them from an early age. Make a point of reminding them this is what you believe, others believe different things and many people have no religion at all.
Try to leave detailed religious discussions until they are teenagers and can put things into proper context.
Don't be disappointed if they turn out not to share your beliefs; you are not creating little versions of yourself. You are creating new people with good values and their own minds and one day you will hand your world over to them.
Trust them and let them go free.
Sunday, 25 May 2014
Did the Resurrection really happen?
"Not so!" Christians argue, "More than 500 people saw Jesus after the Resurrection. That is proof enough!"
They are, of course, referring to Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. But read the entire chapter and you will not see the testimonies of 500 people—you will see one person, Paul, making this claim. Paul, who was writing years after Jesus' supposed execution, was not present at the time and never met Jesus.
How reliable is this evidence? We have to wonder when we read in Matthew 27:51-53 that whilst Jesus was meeting 500 people, the long-dead saints emerged from their graves and walked around the city greeting people.
Did the people mistake the zombies for Jesus or did they mistake Jesus for a zombie?
We shall never know.
But with this quality of evidence one conclusion is clear. Christianity is a project of faith—not of fact.
___________________________
Matthew 27:51-53
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Sunday, 18 May 2014
Who really is arrogant?
Honestly, I am astounded when believers tell me atheists are arrogant.
Here's the thing, believers can hardly help but be arrogant. It's the nature of the beast.
To be a believe in a god, you have to be sure your god is real (despite there being no evidence that it is so) and, for most believers, that entails being equally sure that billions of other people who believe in other gods are terribly wrong.
Actually, it's worse than that. Most believers subscribe to a religion and they have to believe their religion is true which means other religions are false—even if they worship the same god. Look at Judaism. Christianity and Islam for an example of that.
Let's not stop there. Religions have denominations and, again, the believer has to be sure his denomination is true and all the others are false. Just look at the murderous internecine warfare between the Shia and Sunni denominations of Islam to see how strongly denominational beliefs can be held.
All major religions have denominations; Christianity has thousands.
So atheists are the arrogant ones despite the arrogance of the believer, being sure his god is real, his religion is true and his denomination is the correct one and all without a shred of evidence.
The atheist says, he cannot be sure God exists because there are no valid arguments and no evidence to substantiate the claim. So the atheist will not believe God exists until good evidence is found. This is not arrogance—it is humility. It is being prepared to say, "I don't know".
And it is rational...
Read More
Here's the thing, believers can hardly help but be arrogant. It's the nature of the beast.
To be a believe in a god, you have to be sure your god is real (despite there being no evidence that it is so) and, for most believers, that entails being equally sure that billions of other people who believe in other gods are terribly wrong.
Actually, it's worse than that. Most believers subscribe to a religion and they have to believe their religion is true which means other religions are false—even if they worship the same god. Look at Judaism. Christianity and Islam for an example of that.
Let's not stop there. Religions have denominations and, again, the believer has to be sure his denomination is true and all the others are false. Just look at the murderous internecine warfare between the Shia and Sunni denominations of Islam to see how strongly denominational beliefs can be held.
All major religions have denominations; Christianity has thousands.
So atheists are the arrogant ones despite the arrogance of the believer, being sure his god is real, his religion is true and his denomination is the correct one and all without a shred of evidence.
The atheist says, he cannot be sure God exists because there are no valid arguments and no evidence to substantiate the claim. So the atheist will not believe God exists until good evidence is found. This is not arrogance—it is humility. It is being prepared to say, "I don't know".
And it is rational...
Thursday, 15 May 2014
Why don't Christians bring slavery back?
In the Bible, God clearly condones slavery—the type of slavery where slaves where bought and sold, where slaves were included as a man's estate when he died, where a master could split up families, where beating slaves was no crime, even if they were killed, so long as they survived the beating by a day or two.
A man could even sell his daughter to act as a bonded "wife" (sex slave). Slaves could be taken as the spoils of battle. All this ordained and legitimised, apparently, by God.
Some Christians defy logic and tell us the Biblical rules on slavery were a kindness; a way for people to repay debts and survive.
They are clearly wrong but why do they go through hoops to excuse their God for this? If God is the absolute moral authority for all of us, they should assume the moral high ground and argue that slavery is moral, right and proper.
They should fight for slavery to be re-introduced today.
But they don't because they know owning other people is a terrible, inexcusable moral evil and they know their God condoned it. And that is hard to take.
Read More
A man could even sell his daughter to act as a bonded "wife" (sex slave). Slaves could be taken as the spoils of battle. All this ordained and legitimised, apparently, by God.
Some Christians defy logic and tell us the Biblical rules on slavery were a kindness; a way for people to repay debts and survive.
They are clearly wrong but why do they go through hoops to excuse their God for this? If God is the absolute moral authority for all of us, they should assume the moral high ground and argue that slavery is moral, right and proper.
They should fight for slavery to be re-introduced today.
But they don't because they know owning other people is a terrible, inexcusable moral evil and they know their God condoned it. And that is hard to take.
Tuesday, 13 May 2014
How faith rescued Christianity
Imagine the men who invented Christianity sitting round a table...
At the head of the table sat an old man with an unruly beard, a checked shemagh covering his head. He looks at the men around the table, "OK, we've agreed Jesus is the son of God, we've added the ancient Osiris story about the death and resurrection—we know every god has to have that. But, we still need a strong rationale for the death. Ideas? "
Silence.
Long silence.
At last, a young, clean-shaven man at the end of the table said, "If I may sir? We could link the death right to the beginning and say Eve brought sin into the world and Jesus died to take it away? We could make Jesus a sort of human Kapparot chicken!"
Collective intake of breath followed by nervous laughter.
A grey-bearded man wearing a kippah, seated halfway down the table shook his head, "Please everyone, we need to take this seriously. No-one is going to believe that story!"
Nodding of heads around the table.
The young man courageously stood his ground, "But they will. They will. With faith they will believe ANYTHING."
The young man was dead right. Two thousand years later, two billion people believed the story. Pity I never asked his name.
NOTE for fundamentalist religious readers. I don't claim this actually happened—it's just a story. Like Christianity.
Read More
At the head of the table sat an old man with an unruly beard, a checked shemagh covering his head. He looks at the men around the table, "OK, we've agreed Jesus is the son of God, we've added the ancient Osiris story about the death and resurrection—we know every god has to have that. But, we still need a strong rationale for the death. Ideas? "
Silence.
Long silence.
At last, a young, clean-shaven man at the end of the table said, "If I may sir? We could link the death right to the beginning and say Eve brought sin into the world and Jesus died to take it away? We could make Jesus a sort of human Kapparot chicken!"
Collective intake of breath followed by nervous laughter.
A grey-bearded man wearing a kippah, seated halfway down the table shook his head, "Please everyone, we need to take this seriously. No-one is going to believe that story!"
Nodding of heads around the table.
The young man courageously stood his ground, "But they will. They will. With faith they will believe ANYTHING."
The young man was dead right. Two thousand years later, two billion people believed the story. Pity I never asked his name.
NOTE for fundamentalist religious readers. I don't claim this actually happened—it's just a story. Like Christianity.
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About Me
- Nildogma
- As a 20-year-old I was insatiably curious about the world and passionate about rejecting superstitions and all kinds of false beliefs. I still am today. Sometimes when people believe things that are not true, it make little or no difference but sometimes the consequences can be disastrous and deadly. Now, I do what I can to help people improve their thinking skills, especially in how they impinge on core beliefs, such as cultural values and religious beliefs. I have an active Facebook page for which I create memes and write articles almost daily. I also engage people in on-line debates. You can find me here: https://www.facebook.com/bill.flavell.1 I lecture at universities around the world and present or debate at public meetings. I also, draw on my management consultancy background to help freethought groups, almost anywhere in the world, to get organised, develop strategy and improve their media and presentation skills. If you would like me to present at your university or for your church group or freethought group, please contact me.
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