Jonathan H. B. Lobl

Do They Really Believe That?

According to this Humanist author; Humanists are not Atheists. Instead, Humanists are indifferent to the God idea. I find the distinction interesting. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/humanistplus/2020/01/could-a-humanist-care-less-about-god/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Imagine+No+Religion&utm_content=44

Truth vs Make-Believe

What the Bible does and doesn't say.

It is the speaker's personal journey. Part of it is his experiences at Oral Roberts University. Part of it is his explorations of the Bible, which convinced him that it's crap history and full of contradictions. Mixed in are his observations of Evangelical people. The speaker is compelling. I think if you give it a chance, it will hold your attention.

From Faith to Agnosticism

Yes.

Christian preachers, like to make claims about the effects of Christ, on the lives of Christians. That their faith has made them more loving than anybody else. More ethical than others. More happy. More stable families. No. It doesn't. The belief persists. One of the expressions of these beliefs, is the various 12 step programs. The most famous is Alcoholics Annonymous. In these groups, the belief persists, that if we admit that we are powerless over alcohol -- and "turn our lives over to a higher power (Christ)" -- we can live our lives sober. A.A. is only the most obvious example of this doctrine. Christ fixes our broken lives. Christ comes into our broken lives and we are healed. More happiness, kindness, love, ethics, etc. We become better people than we are capable of being otherwise. Our natural lives become supernatural, when Christ enters our hearts. What I conclude from this, is that Christians -- and other people -- believe in all manner of silly things -- without evidence to back it up. Beliefs and faith do not conflate with facts. Or reality. In case anybody is wondering -- I've been getting preached at for as long as I can remember. This horse crap is not complicated.

Yes. Just so. Evidence that requires belief, is not evidence. Faith gets in the way. Flat Earthers, Creationists, etc. Pick your favorite example. That takes us to direct observation. Christians are not more happy than everyone else. This much is obvious. Christians are not more ethical than everyone else. This much is painfully obvious. Christians are not more tolerant -- or respectful of difference -- than anybody else. Oh, please. Christians are not more loving than anybody else. This is why so many Atheists are in the closet.

Yes. When bald assertions don't meet reality.

The people who came up with that sublime wisdom; didn't know where the Sun goes at night. They thought that the world looked like a snow globe, with the stars stuck to the glass. Little twinkly things, that sometimes fell to the ground. The rest of the Cosmos, so that our night sky could have lights, for decoration. We have made a little bit of progress in 5,000 years. It's past time to stop worshiping those Scriptures.

In a way, that's true. I'm at the center of my Universe. In one of the Buddhist stories, someone comes to the Buddha with a question. "Is it true that when you were born, you proclaimed yourself the center of the Universe?" Buddha smiled. "Yes. Don't all babies do that?" One of the great discoveries of Cosmology, is that the Universe has no center. This is a lesson which is lost in Genesis: The Creation was a six day process, followed by the seventh day when God rested. Look what happens on the fourth day. 14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. The creation of the Earth, Sun and Moon was a six day process. The rest of the Universe -- He also made the stars. -- was a thought in passing, on the fourth day. Little twinkly things, set in the vault of the sky -- to give light on the earth, It's the kind of thing, that makes it difficult to take the inerrant Word seriously.

I like that one also. It's BIG out there.

"Fun"? Maybe. The majesty of a mountain, in it's glory, is worth contemplating.

Consider the damage done to mountains, by the coal industry. Their strip mining has done worse.

Yes. Of course. The numbers are impossible. All of those animals. Pooping and peeing every hour of every day. In enclosed space. Think of the fumes. Think of the food storage needs of one elephant. Or one lion. They all need water. People want to believe.

Yes. The size. The distances.

You get the night sky without light pollution. It sounds glorious. :-)

Toxic Religious Preaching https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rolltodisbelieve/2020/01/02/christian-lies-were-so-brave-for-being-christian/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=BRSS&utm_campaign=Nonreligious&utm_content=364

Yes. It can be difficult to find quiet spaces. Churches are useful.

Yes. One of the things that does it for me, is a night sky full of stars. It is a feeling of great awe. Or a great thunder and lightning storm. Or a deep contemplation of a mountain. There is no element of worship.

Yes. Defining the word as spirit or soul is useless. What do they mean? All of these esoteric words break down, to invisible assumptions about metaphysics. The deeper we look, the more useless it gets. What happens if we take a shallow look? Defining spirituality as spirit is no help at all. Some of it is pure fluff. Some of it is spirits. More religion. Soul is a religious argument -- like God.

I don't trust this distinction, between Spiritual and Material. Donating blood, which is physical, is a spiritual act. Working hard for money, then donating that money, is a spiritual act. I don't have even a working definition of Spiritual. I do have a disdain for false binaries -- which this definition clearly is. Further, I think that religious people, like Dan, have so poisoned the word -- that it is now useless.

In the current state of physics, the speed of Light is an absolute speed limit. That means that nothing can travel through space, faster than light. I am being careful with my phrasing. It seems that space itself, can expand faster than the speed of light. This is why distant galaxies seem to be moving away from us at such speeds. These galaxies are not moving away from us -- through space -- at faster than light speeds. The intervening space itself, is expanding, at such speeds. In a black hole, a field of space where gravity is so strong, that even light can not escape -- space collapses into a singularity. In the space between galactic clusters -- gravity is weak and space expands. I had to specify. Within Galactic clusters, gravity is strong enough to prevent space from expanding. Also, within galaxies. That is why galaxies can still collide. In about four billion years, our Milky Way galaxy will merge with Andromeda. Science is just beginning, to find out, how weird the Universe is.