they sicken of the calm

posted on June 12, 2009
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Last night, a line of bad weather stretched laterally across most of Kentucky, and was moving south toward Nashville.  We were under a Tornado Watch for about an hour and a half.  One of the great benefits of a storm door (which we only recently installed; I’ve never lived at a place with one before now) is the ability to open the main door and watch the outside through a safely-locked triple-pane of glass.  The wind began to thrash the tops of the trees; the darkness over the neighborhood was pierced in staccato bursts by flashes of bright violet.  I opened the door to step onto our landing.  read more

Perplexing revisit

posted on April 30, 2009
filed under ethics, opinion, religion | 2 comments

I have finally gotten around to replying to the remarks made to my original “Perplexing” post (link). I have not approved any of the comments for several reasons.  To wit: one was from a Catholic, another made an unfriendly remark about a prominent Catholic.  And while I don’t judge my friends, neither do I facilitate flame wars - not that these two would flame up, necessarily; in fact I think they would be good friends.  I am just done with online conflict.  I am thus pulling the comments into a clarification of sorts.

To address items point-by-point, the first was how Humanists succeed.  The point was made that humanists have “behaved completely sub-human” in certain cases.  Where I stand behind my original point is that humans can act like animals because we are animals.  Humanism only states that we are animals capable of acting “super-animal” - morality (as mammalian studies have proven over and over) isn’t restricted to humanity, but it comes closest to what appears to be a pull toward the “ought to.”  Thus, when a human acts in any fashion, he or she is doing what humans do.  Is this to say there is no real morality? Of course not; morality is best understood by what protects the family unit, the social order, and the species’ survival.  More on that at some point.

A Christian’s goal is to be “Christ-like.”  I Peter 1:16 - “be holy, for I am holy.”  I Corinthians 11:1 - “be imitators of me, just as I am of Christ.”  Do they? No, as it is written - “all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” - that phrase is present tense in the text (Romans 3:23).  Christians, every one of them, millions at once, are at this very moment falling short of the very thing that they have been commanded (in all three ways: command, example, inference) to do.  Are each of them failures? Not according to me - I’ve explained why - but, according to the Bible, they are.  How Christ supposedly makes up for it is a wholly different can of worms, but suffice to say that my original point still stands - Christians fail at their objective, every time.  That’s the system under which they operate.

I love my Christian friends and family.  But do I need a divine command to do so?  Of course not.  Thousands of tracts have been printed that say that, without God, we may as well run rampant in the streets - killing, raping, stealing at will.  Aside from the fact that Christians make up a phenomenally disproportionate number of prison inmates (especially compared to atheists), it appears evident that there is an “objective” standard of morality that people abide by - perhaps not for fear of eternal punishment, but of the much more temporal sort - but it is more likely that there is a biological pull toward the “ought to” that becomes more and more increasingly developed given the advanced evolutionary state of higher-order species.

Am I denying that “Jesus” should be a model for behavior?  No, of course not.  But to maintain that without him, none of your behavior merits any worth is preposterous and, in itself, insulting to the species as a whole.  Indeed, being unable to control one’s own emotions and exercising violence - specifically in a locale that is reputed to be a “holy place” - is, to most reasonable people, immoral.  Yet this is held up in the text as being one of the defining moments of Jesus’ character.  Seemingly, the only defense offered for this is that Jesus is the son of God - thus “allowed” to do so.

Finally, the common response addressed - Mother Teresa.  I would never minimize her contribution to the world for what is a picture of “ought to” behavior.  But is the pivotal issue here a desire to be a good person, or merely something to do with respect to God?  A quote from her Wikipedia entry:

Of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your Holy will in my regard.

I look at the good she did and see only good.  But to wrap that up in Theism (and the explicitly-stated worthlessness of human morality apart from a divine order) removes any real luster from it and turns it into a simple good work that has no real temporal value.  It turns her selfless contribution to the World Good into exactly zero. How can someone, in all intellectual honesty, do that to her memory?  I love you guys, but how can you hold her up as an example, yet at the same time proclaim its inherent worthlessness?

Those of you who know me know that I argue passionately, yet without anger.  I respect each of those who chimed in more than I do myself, and I look forward to getting put into an intellectual full-nelson at some point by one or more of you.  I merely believe that asking and answering hard questions is important to one’s intellectual, emotional, and (if there is such a thing) spiritual make-up; moreso than dismissing the “will of God” as mysterious and incomprehensible.  What you (Christianity writ large) are proposing is almost a “quasi-gnosis” where everything in this life is ultimately worthless save the one moment in which “conversion” takes place.  I don’t think that you want to actually do that, but the way the theology stands, that’s the outcome.

equal time

posted on April 28, 2009
filed under musings, religion, science | leave a comment

I demand that schools teach Intelligent Falling

want

posted on April 28, 2009
filed under musings, shopping | 2 comments

wanted in 2009 - so far

Queensryche - American Soldier (new album from my favorite band evar)

Dan Brown -  The Lost Symbol (next series novel after Da Vinci Code )

California State University, Dominguez Hills - letter of admission to the Humanities MA program

night errors

posted on April 24, 2009
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1:11 AM and I’m just now drowsy. Actually,  I was plenty drowsy when I was supposed to be drowsy and going to bed - that just wasn’t really an option.  So I got over that, and spent the next couple of hours blogging a draft reply to my “Perplexing” post from a month or so ago.   It’s taking longer than I had hoped because (a) it’s really tough to care about anything optional since everything at work is like a daily sledgehammer beating (b) I am rightfully held to a high intellectual standard by my friends and family, and (c) crafting an atheistic diatribe using the Bible is confusing - but only because there’s so much material to sort through.  I don’t know how many times I have been told during the course of an argument “you’re using my words against me” - well, yeah.  How better to make a point?

Nevertheless, the response is forthcoming.

lupus in ovis veste

posted on March 21, 2009
filed under ethics, religion | 3 comments

So I think I’m going to take a break from Facebook for a while. I walked into a minefield that was clearly marked. My bad. I am intrigued how the Persians invented using crucifixion in the 6th century BCE to hurt people. Those who have taken up the cross as a symbol often learn how to use it as a weapon as well. Which begs the question; why do so many Christians feel perfectly good about insulting people in the name of the Bible?

After composing a short recap and then seeing how high-school the whole thing sounded, I’ll just say that when it was obvious that one of my post’s commenters was also an atheist, a Christian jumped in and brandished Psalm 53:1 at me.

The fool hath said in his heart, “there is no god.”

I, myself, used this verse at my “outing.”  I merely added the word, “finally.”   And I have seen it incorporated into a very empowering proverb since:

The fool says in his heart, “there is no god.”  The wise man says it out loud.

All that aside, it is immediately obvious, I think, that this person’s use of that verse at that time was meant very condescendingly, and was intended to be injurious.  The notion that it is better to offend someone than to let “error” exist is, frankly, one of the more medieval aspects of religion that was comforting to be away from.  I believe that evangelical Christians fail to recognize the similarities between their own methodologies and the methods of jihad in Islam.  I, personally, fail to see how intentionally-slung contempt can be considered Christ-like.

The Christian friends I have that do recognize circular reasoning when they see it (god exists because the bible says so and the bible is true because it is written by god and the bible says that god exists) don’t use scripture to “prove” points to me.  Indeed, I don’t disagree with them on anything except how many gods there are.  Out of thousands possible, I believe in only one less than they do.  That, and the notion of “sin,” which is wrapped up only in the idea of an angry sky-father.  A thing is right or wrong regardless of whether or not a god condones it or not.  Genocide is wrong, yet is blessed by YHWH in Leviticus (26:7-9).  Rape is wrong, yet practiced by the children of god in Judges 5 and 21.  Selling one’s daughter into slavery is wrong (it even seems pointless to type that), yet allowance for it is made in the law (Exodus 21).  At this point Christians are quick to state, “but the old law was nailed to the cross.”  But it was God’s law, right?  How is it now all “okay?”  Clearly, right and wrong do not come from a higher source - at least not one detailed in any text we have - and “sin” is a made-up concept (hamartios: “missing the mark” - how many points are the outer rings worth?).

I think it all boils down to the notion of being “forgiven.”  As a Christian, you can be a complete dick to anyone, at any time, and just pray for forgiveness and you’re good to go.  I’m talking about the practicing Christians, not the theoretical ones who “love one another.”  And I realize that there are well-known atheists who are assclowns, but they’re not going about preaching that morality comes from beyond reality.  If you have no objective moral standard, and you don’t have objective moral behavior, then that logically follows.  If you DO have an “objective” moral standard, but you still don’t have objective moral behavior, then what good is the standard?  Is there even really a standard?  It follows, then, by some historically bizarre inductive logic, that if one can imagine a standard that has never been met and then proffer that as a basis for ethical behavior, then one can imagine the existence of a god which can’t be proven, and sell that to the masses - at the point of a sword, if necessary.

perplexing

posted on March 21, 2009
filed under ethics, religion | leave a comment

In Humanism, our expectation is to act as if we were humans - and we succeed, every time.

In Christianity, their expectation is to act as if they were Christ-like - and they fail, every time.

How can the system be designed to fail and be expected to work for people?

almost an oasis

posted on February 7, 2009
filed under health, musings | leave a comment

I can’t sleep. I did sleep earlier, about three hours. But, since I wasn’t where I should have been (in bed, instead of upstairs in front of the television), my sleep got interrupted. Generally, when my sleep gets interrupted, I can’t fall back asleep easily. This is why I usually get only four or five hours of sleep every day. My body will almost never let me sleep past six or so any morning. Watching TV usually makes it worse, as something usually gets my mind going. Plus, I consistently ignore or punish my sleep signals - the moments when your body is telling you it’s time to sleep (usually by putting you to sleep). I force myself to stay awake to watch even more TV or something. I am convinced that if there is a Devil, television is his church. Other than the pursuit of the humanities (history, music, art, usw. - all of which we should be getting from books, museums, theaters, and concerts), TV is a high-definition, commercial-filled waste of time and money. And I’m just as hooked as anyone - clearly I’m not ringing up my cable company and telling them goodbye.

It’s two a.m.
The fear is gone
I’m sitting here waiting
The gun is still warm
Maybe my connection
Is tired
Of taking chances

I always think of songs when time comes to mind (time, time, time - see what becomes of me). This is also the problem - the thinking.  I get to thinking about this, and then that, and then another thing - I think like I surf the web; any given topic is far off from my original one.  And thinking is the only thing that keeps me awake.  If my brain starts to slow down I will get drowsy.  Ten at night, ten in the morning, it doesn’t matter.  One of the reasons I’ve become a regular drinker of Rockstar.  It’s the only energy drink I’ve found with Ginkgo in it.  GB feels like nitrous oxide for my brain.  It feels even better than the mental rush after a good cigarette (as if there were truly such a thing - and yes, I quit a long time ago).

She says, baby
Its 3 AM, I must be lonely
When she says baby
Well, I can’t help but be scared
Of it all
Sometimes

What I should probably do is read.  There are over two thousand books in this house.  Many of which I’ve never read.  I’ve set myself a goal of reading fifty books this year, and I’m almost done with two (I have broken my cardinal rule about “one book at a time” - I’m splitting if one is fiction and one isn’t).  My headache is gone, at least (I didn’t mention that earlier).  Truth be told, however, it was a sinus headache, and the Sudafed and Advil have worked nicely.  As well as providing the classic Psuedoephedrine side-effect of sleeplessness.  I can sleep with a hangover pretty well - it’s one of my favorite remedies.  Sinus pain and caffeine withdrawal, however, will keep me up.  Caffeine withdrawal is an interesting one - I’ve actually had to brew coffee to get to sleep.  I’ve never had much of a problem with caffeine, though.  Mike, Kelly, and I (two of the people I’ve lost complete track of) used to go to Cafe D’Roma in Little Rock, and have a pipe and coffee until they closed, which was about midnight or so.  The tobacco shop in LR across from the school had a chocolate blend that went perfectly with a huge mocha.  Of course, John Kelly would have his triple espresso with sugar and be conked in the car before we got home.

Three-thirty in the morning,
Not a soul in sight,
The city’s looking like a ghost town
On a moonless summer night.

If you care, you can Google all these lyrics.  When I look at the clock, they just pop into my head.  I’m pretty sure I’m not infringing anything.  I’m actually feeling a bit drowsy again.  I remember a night that my dad wanted to “help” by renting me a room at a motel (that’s with an “M”), and there were so many things that were wrong with that room - it was like every cliche out of a trucker movie.  Seriously, the door would not latch.  It had, at some point, been kicked in, and the strike plate would just pull right through the frame.  The flimsy little pseudo-brass chain worked, however.  So did the chair jammed against the door from the inside.  At one point, after watching MTV for about six hours, I finally fell asleep. For about an hour.  At five o’clock, my mind said “get up, get ready, and get out.”  I still had a day of running wiring under my Mom and Dad’s house (my childhood home), and a drive back to Nashville.  I pulled over at no less than three rest stops to take ten-minute naps and grab more coffee.  It was probably the most surreal six hours of my life.

It’s 3:45 and I can feel sleep coming.  My body and I are going to agree.  But I leave you with a lyric from the greatest “I-shouldn’t-be-awake-but-dammit-I-am” song EVER.

It is 5 AM
And the sun has charred
The other side
Of the world
And come back to us
And painted the smoke over our heads
An imperial violet.

It is 5 AM
And you are listening
to Los Angeles

how does your garden grow

posted on January 24, 2009
filed under religion | leave a comment

This is taken from the Forum at the webcomic Questionable Content, but it is actually a paraphrase of a piece that Antony Flew wrote in 1950 called Theology and Falsification.

Anna and Kate are walking down the street when they come to an empty lot.

“Look at that beautiful garden!” cries Anna, “It must be tended by a particularly skillful gardener!”

“What are you talking about?  It’s an empty lot full of weeds!  It couldn’t possibly be tended by a gardener.” is Kate’s reply.

“He must tend it to grow that way.”

“I have never once seen a gardener there.”

“You must have simply missed him.  He must come only at night, when you don’t walk by here.”

So Anna and Kate decide to watch the garden.  They keep watch for days, and don’t spot a gardener.

Kate shrugs and says, “I guess there’s no gardener.”

“He must be invisible.”

“… invisible?”

“Yes, that’s why we couldn’t see him.”

So Anna and Kate build a fence.  When Anna suggests he might be able to fly, they put a net over the fence.  When Anna suggests he might be very small, they put a solid dome over the entire plot.  Then Anna suggests he might be intangible.  Kate gets fed up.

“You’ve got an invisible, intangible, flying gardener whose garden looks exactly like there isn’t a gardener.  What’s the difference between that and a gardener who doesn’t exist?”

Now before you non-atheists get all “hurr, hurr, Flew converted!” on me, please know what you’re talking about before you choose to speak about it.  Read his Wikipedia entry (link above), and be prepared to amend what you think you know (or gloss over the truth and make something up, whatever your choice is).   From a BBC Interview:

Q What view do you take of what is happening in America - where presumably you’re being hailed now as… one of them?
A Well, too bad (laughs). I’m not ‘one of them‘.

nice place to visit

posted on January 21, 2009
filed under musings, religion | 1 comment

“This world is not my home
I’m just a-passing through”

- Alfred Brumley

Well, fine, but please hurry on through. Please be polite and leave everything like you found it.  Preesh.

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