Bear with me here, this is a cut and paste from another board I post on (A TG Support group of sorts)
I'm posting it here because.... well, because you guys are likely to take it seriously and actually respond with counter suggestions and poke holes in my logic. And I need counterview points in order to smooth out the lumps in my theories and make them palatable to a majority of folk.
There's actually two seperate topics here, the first is kind of a diatribe about the problems with organized religion and a discussion of where things could be improved by incorporating pieces of different religions into one worldview.
Some of this may be out of context too because it's getting pulled out of the middle of an entry in someone elses journal, so some of it was response to things she had said, and they were talking about how their own faith had changed and metamorphosed as they went through their own gender transition process, how much of the dogma had slipped away, but the core remained, and was reinforced by their experiences.
Quote:
Borrowing a theological concept from the Book of … Dune? Yes. Exactly.
Suppose you are a pan-dimensional being that lives everywhere and every WHEN at once. What might you long for?
How about a surprise?
So you create a system that is utterly unpredictable — so much so that the enormous range of potential outcomes creates a bubbling sea of creation that ebbs and flows with waves of probability. Each wave a universe unto itself.
Might this be enough to baffle such an entity's prescience? Probably not. But it sure as hell won't be boring!
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
It's tautologically impossible to be Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnibenevolent..... one of them has to give, but yet most Christians insist that God is all three.
If he knows everything, is all powerful, and always acts to ameliorate the problems of his followers - then none of the faminine or war in this world is possible.
Therefore, because war and starvation and depredation and rape and murder exist, the Christian god does not exist.
He was an anthropomorphism anyways...... "What powers do we think God should have?" " All of them!"
Does this mean that all christian belief is false? Well, the dogmatic stuff, yeah. Dogma, and belief simply because it's what you're told to do.... is pretty much allowing yourself and condoning the brainwashing of your own children. Children should be raised to think critically and assess a situation based on risk/reward, and knowledge should be fostered above all else. That's the thing the Jews got right - a Rabbi is, most importantly, a teacher. The thing the Christians got right? The message of love - Love thy neighbor as you love yourself..... respect. Everything else in Christianity is either built on this simple foundation, or is dogmatic ritual with no purpose or meaning. Muslims...... with Fatwa and Shariat law.... and yeah.... I don't see anything of value in their religion. Buddhism is about the search for inner peace.... it's ultimate introspection.... I have respect for Buddhists, and probably am a Buddhist in my own strange way.... but it's not exactly a religion as it is a life philosophy. The other religions are life philosophies as well, but they surround it with spectacle and mystery to make it seem more appealing.... in other words, they're glitzing it up to make a sale. Christ wasn't the only powerful teacher - Ghandi, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King Jr., Douglas Adams, Bill and Ted....... they've all taught us important lessons, but being a visionary teacher does not make you divine. Jesus of Nazareth was a teacher, a Rabbi.... but as usual, most of the pupils aren't paying attention to what he taught.
Do I believe in a god? No, I don't believe or disbelieve in god. Positing the existence of God merely pushes back the mystery of how one layer. It is just as logical to state to the Big Bang sprang spontaneously into being as it is to say God sprang spontaneously into existence and then created the Big Bang..... either way, empirical evidence shows the big bang happened. All evidence of an active participatory god in our daily lifes is anecdotal and not admissable in court. Does God exist? Who created the Big Bang? Who created God? These questions aren't answerable, except by opinion.
The human mind is capable of many things to protect itself from implosion, one of them is the creation of and firm belief in a mythical being, whether it is the father figure God with his hands lovingly sheltering us from the realities of a harsh universe, or the rape victim who suppresses the memory, or the trans kid who hides in a closet from 12 to 32 not even admitting to herself that she's a woman because of a fear of the rejection of her father.
This was going to be a post in Jennys journal, but I think this is getting it's own thread now.
As a supposedly intelligent species we should be able to fashion an equitable and sustainable moral and ethical code without the imposition of a deity. Since none of us know that we have the final answer, the legal code should be very broad in it's liberties and considerate to all theorems and faiths, and leave the finer points of morality up to the individual and their own religious persuasion.
I.E. The government shouldn't have a position on marriage, it shouldn't have a position on drug use, it shouldn't be putting public money into faith based initiatives, it shouldn't have a position on abortion.
If marriage is a religious sacrament, then how is there a seperation of church and state when you receive a tax break for being married? Should the government recognize marriage, or simply civil unions, with contracts and pre-nuptials being the standard, not the exception.
Why do we tell adults what they can and can't put into their own bodies? Drug use is stupid.... I know this from first hand experience, but no one should have the right to tell someone they can't use a substance recreationally when it's only their own body that is paying the price. It does put a strain on the medical community and on society in that it does cause some crime, so I can justify a "sin" tax assuming we adopt a universal health care system.
That's the next thing, universal health care. We should be concerned with our fellow man, we should actively seek to help them, not leave them to die because they can't afford it. This is the golden rule in action. I don't see why the christians would back the republican parties position on this issue, because it's not the humanitarian answer. It is *not* what Jesus would do.
How is a monogamous civil union any more stable an environment for the raising of children then a plural civil union? In fact, isn't a plural civil union a more stable environment for the children because there are more adults to share the responsibility of raising and caring for the children?
Education funding. The most important resource any society has is it's children. Any money spent ensuring that all children are educated to the maximum of their potential is money well spent. Funding not just special needs students, but also advanced placement and giving those gifted students the push they need to drive themselves. 1% of any population are the geniuses that act as the yeast, if we don't foster their potential development, we don't advance as a society.
Welfare - Touchy subject..... we can't harm the children already born into the system by removing their parents benefits, but the cycle needs to end. I think we should set a date 10 months in the future and say that any child born after this date will not result in an increase to welfare benefits. We'll still pay for the existing children in the system, but we need to stop rewarding innercity young women with their own welfare check simply for getting pregnant. On top of this reform, I believe in workfare rather then welfare. If society is going to support your existence, then you should provide some beneficial service to the community. Children - I believe in expanding and creating an orphanage system to care for the children of those on the dole in a centralized, more cost effective method. If a parent of a child born after the cut off date needs to go on the dole, their child would go into the orphanage until such time as their parent is capable of supporting them. Much of the work of the orphanage's would be accomplished through the workfare system, as I'm sure it would be a popular option among mothers of children in the system to volunteer to work there.
Allright..... I've been all over the place with this post.... I think it's time to post it before I get any wierder.
23 Sep 2008, 3:07 pm
