Lay Theism

For starters… No.  No you are not.  There is no such thing.  You are not going to hell either.  But, wait, I am getting ahead of myself.

The other day I stepped into a Walgreens for some allergy medication (because I was pretty sure I was going to die), and during the 5 minutes I was inside on a Saturday night at 10pm in North Atlanta, some douche jammed a card into my door handle with this tease on the top:

Am I Going to Heaven?

It’s worth quoting from, if for no other reason than to make this easily searchable by web zealots bent on converting me (back).  I just don’t feel like typing it all, so here are some choice highlights:

The greatest book ever written was published in 1611. It’s name – The Holy Bible – authorized by King James. The reason for it’s greatness is that it is God speaking to us in English words.

Huh?  What a weird way to start a Christian track.  Who cares when it was published in English (words)? Authorized?  Well, thank goodness… then there’s no way it could be manipulated or untrustworthy, right?

The king gave the translators instructions designed to guarantee that the new version would conform to the ecclesiology and reflect the episcopal structure of the Church of England and its beliefs about an ordained clergy.
- Wikipedia

But I digress… it’s not terribly relevant when or how Christian mythology was further corrupted and usurped four centuries ago.  Several billion people don’t believe any of that crap.  Around a billion people actively do not believe in any god or gods, and you won’t be converting them because they have already been saved… by reason.

A couple of more highlights:

If you want to have joy in your heart under all circumstances…
If you want to be totally free from guilt…
If you want the power to overcome things you would like to change in your life…
If you would like to truly care about others, not for what they can do for you, but what you can do for them…
If you would like to never be alone again…

Hey!  That’s a lot like me!  I live that way, but I didn’t need God to make it happen. Getting rid of God, in fact, freed me to live that kind of life. I won’t address each one, but suffice it to say that you can realize these aspects of your life by being kind to others, living by the Golden Rule, getting an education, and generally not being an ass.  Things tend to fall in place when you live responsibly, god or no god.  People who naively cling to god as savior without squaring up the rest of their life are surely up for serious disappointment.  Examples of failures, misery, and hypocrisy are everywhere.

If I get the energy, I’ll type in the rest and say more about it… I’ve attached a scan of the entire thing if you are inclined to dissect it on your own.

Hey, and special thanks to Ken at:

Inprint, Inc.
P. O. Box 76147
Atlanta, GA 30358
inprintincorporated@yahoo.com

Stay away from my car.

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If you never thought there was something seriously wrong with the Holy Bible, maybe you should see what devout Bible teachers have to say about it and its foretelling of prophecy:

The way to identify the beast is by counting. In ancient times, letters of the alphabet served as numbers. The first nine letters stood for the numbers one through nine, and the next nine for the numbers ten through ninety, and so on. In Greek, the current alphabet did not have enough letters, so certain obsolete letters and signs supplemented the system. Every name yielded a number.

However, the identity of the person represented by the number 666 should not be a subject of speculation until that person arrives on the earthly scene. The person to whom 666 applies must have been future to apostle John’s time, because John clearly meant the number to be recognizable to someone. If it was not discernible to his generation, the generation to whom it will be discernible must have lain in the future. If 666 is the number of a future individual, attempts to identify past entities through the number are futile.

This is just sad. There is an entire Bible Prophecy class if you are so inclined.  How about judging the Bible in its historical context versus establishing basic human rights for all:

Often Bible verses that seem unfair or discriminatory to us need to be viewed within their historical or cultural context. For instance the Bible does not condemn slavery and in fact the Bible actually codifies the rules for keeping slaves. Today we find slavery abhorrent and for some of us the idea that the Bible codifies how slaves are to be treated is very upsetting. But in its historic and cultural context that codification of how slaves are to be treated was in fact a hard thing for people of that time to live up to. In other words, that codification made the life for the slave in Israel better than the slaves life would be someplace else.

Jesus H. Christ in a hand basket… slavery has always been abhorrent.  You think that GOD – the creator of the universe, good, evil, etc. would have clued humanity in a couple of millenia ago if it slavery was bad, right? This alone should invalidate the Bible for any right-minded person.  And then there is Gordon Atkinson who successfully made it out of the muck, but then slid back:

I looked in the restroom mirror and said, “I do not believe in God.” I knew this was the truth and felt the need to say it out loud. I was on the other side now. I was an unbeliever. It was like waking up in Tokyo and noticing to your great surprise that you’ve become Japanese. You weren’t raised in Japan, and you have no idea how to use chopsticks. What the hell are you gonna do with yourself? [Huh?]

It wasn’t the experience with Jenny [a woman that died of breast cancer that could not be saved with prayer] that caused my break with God. It was the kids in Mexico, my difficulty in believing parts of the bible, the phony Christians I met along the way, and the hundreds of prayers that seemed unanswered. Jenny was just the last ping of a hammer that had been working on my foundation for a long time.

It breaks my heart.  Here is a man that “works his ass off” [his words] helping people and doing good works, and then he gives the credit to God.  What the hell?!  Dude… there are plenty of people doing good in the world that are not beholden to mythology.  I wish you would reconvert to your birth state (non-believer, pre-brainwashing) and join us without the distraction of God looking over your shoulder.  I think meditation (aka prayer) is wonderful, but don’t pretend someone is listening.

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It’s interesting here in the US how much freedom we have to do or say what ever we wish with regards to our speech and religion. However, I think it’s unhealthy the number of people who cloak themselves in religion to literally steal your money. Some, like Peter Popoff, don’t believe their own bullshit, and are bilking people out of millions of dollars.  Others, like our local Baptist preachers, seem to believe their rhetoric, but they are nearly as aggressive with extracting money from their congregations.  Sitting in a Baptist service as a non-believer now blows my mind.  The Emperor has no clothes, there is no wizard behind the curtain, and religion is like politics without the elections.  It’s truly appalling to listen to these preachers go on about their new sanctuary, and faith-based school, and their mission trips to convert the unwashed masses, and yet leave in a new Mercedes. Since I no longer attend church, I am able to direct my money into charities that actually do good works for people without fear of conversion.

Anyway, I started thinking about it because of the bombing in Pakistan and the recent treatment of religious groups in China.  These events and other less notable happenings occur every day, but isn’t it interesting that so many people have a warped, and certainly different interpretation of their religion? I hope I live to see the day where the majority of us look at the remaining, shrinking minority of pious people left, and say –won’t it be nice when their eyes open and they stop killing, persecuting, and condemning in the name of a myth.

Atheism, History, Politics, Religion Baptist, bible, bullshit, fakes, James Randi

George Carlin is a very bright guy…

This is so good, I can’t stand it.

God loves you… but he needs your money!

There is no Humpty Dumpty and there is no god.

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