Chapter One

 

Flying always makes me sleepy.

Even on this icy morning I felt slumber coming on as we rose into the air aboard the Soviet-era transport helicopter from the non-descript pad in the southeast corner of Keflavik Air Base.  The cluster of non-descript and weathered buildings surrounding the pad cleverly disguised the underground technical ops center for our Icelandic operations.

The Council had maintained a presence in Iceland since 1952, shortly after the US Navy established a Naval Air Station in Keflavik under the orders of NATO.  Ostensibly the base was to provide US military assets to defend Iceland against attack, but even the most naïve observer saw the geographic convenience of the base for spying on the Soviet Union during the cold war.

The US had been a begrudging ally of our council since the Revolutionary War.  Throughout history the council had quietly influenced global history by introducing novel ideology or planting the seeds of dissent at strategic moments.  In all likelihood the US would have remained a British protectorate even in modern times without the council’s influence.  Even though they didn’t like it the US made it’s newly commissioned naval air station available to the council without restriction.

In exchange the council provided certain “support services” to the US and it’s military.  Our advanced technology, particularly in communications, helped establish the Naval Radio Transmission Facility in Grindavik, and had also provided a hardened high-speed network connecting Iceland and the US in the late 1980s.  All of this would be conveniently left out of history books, as were all of our actions for hundreds of centuries.

Although it was an unpopular decision, the Council moved it’s main headquarters from Ingolstadt in Bavaria to Keflavik shortly after World War II.  The Bavarian shard had it’s beginnings in the late 16th century and it had quietly survived the turmoil of the subsequent centuries. 

Although it came through two world wars unscathed, the council was apprehensive about the growing tension of the cold war and relocated far away from Germany, which was undergoing increasing scrutiny on the world stage.

On this particular morning I found myself surprisingly comfortable, even though I was sitting on a flimsy canvas seat strung between two metal bars that served as cargo anchor points.  Before pulling my nomex balaclava up over my nose and mouth for warmth I did one last press check on my pistol and opened the bolt slightly on my P90 to ensure a round was in-battery before settling in for a nap.

Before my eyes closed they came to rest on one of several unpatched bullet holes in the walls of the aircraft.  Despite having the latest and greatest engine technology and cutting-edge avionics hiding under the battered fuselage, the airframe was showing it’s age.  I assumed the bullet holes were left over from one of the several “tactical landings” (apparently the Soviet phrase for “crash”) in the early ‘80s as part of the Afghanistan invasion. 

To the casual observer the outside of the aircraft would be seen as nothing more than another aging relic used by the lowest bidding contractor to fly research teams to areas of volcanic activity on the island.  In our case the contractor would appear to be the bottom of the barrel, and thus the least interesting, of the many on the island.

As we passed through translational lift and the vibrations settled to a dull hum I quickly fell into a deep sleep which would last for the next hour and a half until we arrived at council HQ on a plateau in the middle of nowhere.

King James and his UNholy Bible

Character Assassination

Come, have a sit.  Let me tell you about a king that lived a long time ago. It is an offensive story, and rightly so, but I don’t think the good king is going to rise from the dead and sue me for slander.  I just think people need to know about the man who “Authorised” the worst version of the Bible ever created.

Witchcraft

King James had a fascination with witchcraft.  He considered it a branch of theology, and when visiting Denmark, he was fascinated with the witch hunts there.  He amended the previous Witchcraft Act that was in place to move it to common law.  He personally supervised torture of women, and they were subsequently burned or hanged.

Kingly Stuff

In 1597, James wrote a treatise called “The True Law of Free Monarchies” in which he claimed the “divine right of kings”.  This writing claimed that, for Biblical reasons, kings were higher beings than other men.  After Guy Fawkes (catholic) tried to blow up Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder, James enacted religious reforms. (Hmmm… monarchs and religious law… sound familiar?)
James hated Catholics and they hated him.  He had many executed and many of them tried to assassinate him.

The “Authorised” Bible

Fed up with the Catholics, and bowing to pressure from the English clergy, James commissioned a new version of the Bible.  He gave the translators instructions that it must conform to the ecclesiology and episcopal structure of the Church of England.  All 47 translators were members of the Church of England.
By the 18th Century the King James bible had replaced the Vulgate Bible for all English translations.  The Vulgate Bible was the work of St. Jerome, who wrote it in the 4th century.  It was the definitive and official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.
Jerome was a meticulous translator.  For the most part his translation into Latin was accurate (except for notable problems like introducing the word “Lucifer” in Isaiah, which was not in the original Hebrew).
There are literally THOUSANDS of mistranslations, changed words, added verses, manipulated scriptures and it has 419 archaic terms that have absolutely no modern equivalent.
Steve Rudd, who has studied the errors, notes in his page, KJV Only Refuted

• There are over 8,000 alternate English renderings from Greek and Hebrew manuscripts (THAT WERE IDENTICAL)
• The KJV translators included many alternate translations in the margins because they had no idea which was correct.
• There were four revisions of the KJV and they all are different!

 

Some Blatant Errors

• KJV changed “robbers of temples” to “robbers of churches” in Acts.
• “Lucifer” is inserted in Isaiah 14:12, which was a common English name for the Devil in the 1600s.  However, in the original texts the reference is to the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar.
• KJV replaces “Passover” with “Easter” which is a Pagan Roman holiday.
• They replaced “immersion” with “baptism” which in 1611 meant sprinkling water on the head.
• Tithing was changed from being on “all I acquire” to “all I possess”.  The original meaning was to tithe on any INCREASE in your resources, NOT on ALL of them.  This was a nasty trick when trying to manipulate the enemies of James into paying taxes.
• KJV uses “Schoolmaster” instead of “attendant”.  This is egregious.  I changed the notion of the law from “bringing us to Christ” into “TEACHING us about Christ”.  This is where the Pauline scriptures were manipulated from spreading the Gospel to enforcing made-up rules.
• KJV says “ashes upon his face” where the original says, “bandages over his eyes”.  That’s awkward.
• In dozens of places in the New Testament the KJV translates IDENTICAL WORDS and phrases DIFFERENTLY in different places!  The exact phrase is repeated in scripture, but differs in KJV.
• The translator Erasmus was criticized for leaving out the verse: 'the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth' (I John v. 7-8, King James version).  He explained that it was not included it ANY GREEK manuscript he’d ever seen, but that he would go back and retroactively INSERT it in Greek!!!!  The source was found to be from a translation by a Franciscan friar who got it from a DISPUTED VERSION of the Latin Vulgate.  (INTERESTING!  THE WHOLE “COMMA JOHANNEUM” MAY BE WRONG!  Trinitarianism may be a human error!)

A BIG FAT HUGE PROBLEM

Many modern fundamentalists refer to Rev 22:19, which includes the “book of life” and use that to justify eternal hellfire.  The phrase “book of life” was NEVER IN ANY GREEK MANUSCRIPT!  The phrase is supposed to be “tree of life”.

* Let me take a minute and explain why this is a huge problem.  Fundamentalism refers to all those not having their name written in the “Book of Life” being burned forever.  If you remember back in Genesis, the “Tree of Life” was the source of eternal life.

Fundies want you to believe that “SOULS” will be burned.  This is not true.  The New Testament affirms REPEATEDLY that anything “not of the spirit” will be burned up.  This means your body.  Your possessions.  Your works.  IT WILL ALL BE GONE!

YOU, however, are not your body.  Your body decomposes.  Your soul lives forever basking in the presence of God.  It’s true that everything not of the “Tree of Life” will be burned away.  If you recall in the previous verses John states that death ITSELF will be destroyed.

My point is:  YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO!  Not one single person will ever be eternally damned to hell!  There is no eternal hell!
STOP LISTENING TO THIS LIE!  START LIVING YOUR LIFE IN JOY KNOWING YOU ARE ETERNAL AND LOVED BY GOD.  STOP BEING SCARED AND SCARING OTHERS!

Summary

Nearly every ignorant, intolerant or false statement or concept in modern fundamentalism can be traced back to the King James Bible.  It’s the one most of us were taught with and many people actually believe God spoke in Old English!
The KJV is a terribly botched political tool that contains thousands of errors and has caused indescribable grief.  I encourage anyone to confirm these statements on their own, but most of all STOP QUOTING IT BECAUSE IT IS WRONG!

LINKS

Here is a great summary of many of the errors:
KJV Errors

My hypothesis on Afghanistan

Thesis:  US Military presence in Afghanistan continues primarily for economic benefit, and not anti-terrorism.

Timeline

1965 - People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan founded (Communist).

1973 - Mohammad Sardar Daoud Khan seizes power in a coup after economic hardship from a corrupt royal family.

1978 - PDPA seizes power in a military coup, killing Khan and his family.  Nur Mohammad Turaki names himself President and begins replacing religious law with Marxist-Leninist law. Women were given the right to vote, forced marriage was outlawed and economic assistance from the Soviet Union began pouring in to build infrastructure.

1978 - PDPA secures billions in promised assistance from the USSR, and tortures/murders 100,000 religious and academic leaders.

1979 - Religious leaders begin insurrection against the secular government, reaching 24 of 28 provinces. Half of the Afghan army defects or joins the insurrection due to the government suppression of Islam.

1979 - Due to the Iranian Revolution the US tries to get involved in Afghanistan, tries to dissuade the USSR from invasion. The US Ambassador to Afghanistan is kidnapped and murdered. US pulls aid to Afghanistan and increases aid to Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

1979 - 1989: Soviets invade and occupy Afghanistan for ten years.  The CIA sends aid to the Mujahedin (Islam) to fight the soviets due to concerns over Soviet control of Afghan oil.

1992 - Islamic State of Afghanistan founded. Islamic militias begin fighting each other with support from Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

1996 - Afghanistan descends into chaos.

1996 - 2001: The Taliban begin attacking and controlling provinces. The Taliban, bin Laden's 055 begin massacring hundreds of thousands of civilians. Pervez Musharraf (then chief of Army) sent Pakistani soldiers to help.

1998 - Taliban blocks Bill Clinton's new oil pipeline through Afghanistan.

2000 - First Predator flight over Afghanistan films bin Laden and his crew walking down the street.

2001 - First armed Predator blows up a copy of bin Laden's house in Nevada. In June.

2001 - September 4 Condi Rice and security leaders stop armed Predator strike plans.

2001 - Ahmad Massoud is the only remaining leader of non-Taliban provinces. He travels to Europe to beg for humanitarian aid and denounces the Taliban and Al Qaeda as poor examples of Islam.  Massoud warns US officials of imminent Al Qaeda attack on the US.  He is assassinated on September 9.

9/11 - US immediately blames bin Laden for attacks.


stuff... stuff... stuff...




2003 - US demands Taliban to turn over bin Laden. They refuse. We invade.

2011 - Bin Laden killed

2011 - Obama commits US military presence in Afghanistan through 2024.

Present:  Northern Distribution Network is built and protected by the US Army, ostensibly to provide non-lethal supplies for Army operations. At the same time friendly governments in the -stans increase oil production in the Central Asia/Caspian region.

Coincidentally the Northern Distribution Network provides a fast-track to the Persian Gulf for oil, without the inconvenience of having to go through Iran or Iraq:

The US currently pays $500 million per year to nations in the NDN infrastructure:

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64969


The final leg of the NDN travels through Pakistan, and would require Pakistan's support. Continuing support would be damaged by US accusations of Pakistan being an accomplice to bin Laden. 

Afghanistan currently has very little hydrocarbon production, but modest oilfields have been discovered near Angot, in Northern Afghanistan.

Transportation infrastructure and security are critical for oil and gas development. Along with the massive petroleum reserves in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea, new oilfields have been discovered and energy companies are noticing.

A tender will be offered later in 2012 to develop a larger oil field in Balkh Province (Kasha Kari bloc), estimated to hold 1.8 billion barrels of oil. Exxon-Mobil is reportedly weighting a bid on the project—an action that Afghan officials say would instill substantial confidence in the investment climate in Afghanistan. (Congressional Research Service)

The endgame, in my opinion is now apparent:

"USAID has funded test projects to develop gas resources in northern Afghanistan. Building on
that aid, there is increasing optimism that private investors will fund at least 25% of a $300
million needed investment for a 200 megawatt gas-fired thermal plant in northern Afghanistan.
The plant would be part of a plan to link Afghanistan’s natural gas field in Shehbergan to the
population center in Mazar-e-Sharif.

TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) Gas Pipeline Project. Another long-stalled
major energy project appears to be gaining momentum. During 1996-1998, the Clinton
Administration supported proposed natural gas and oil pipelines through western Afghanistan as
an incentive for the warring factions to cooperate. A consortium led by Los Angeles-based Unocal
Corporation proposed a $7.5 billion Central Asia Gas Pipeline that would originate in southern
Turkmenistan and pass through Afghanistan to Pakistan, with possible extensions into India.70

The deterioration in U.S.-Taliban relations after 1998 suspended hopes for the pipeline projects.
At a summit meeting in late May 2002, the leaders of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan
agreed to revive the project. Sponsors held an inaugural meeting on July 9, 2002, in
Turkmenistan, signing a series of preliminary agreements. On December 12, 2010, in the
Turkmenistan capital Ashkabad, the relevant leaders reaffirmed their intent to complete the
project. In late 2011, the Asian Development Bank has agreed to finance the project, removing
what had been a major hurdle. U.S. officials view this project as a superior alternative to a
proposed gas pipeline from Iran to India, transiting Pakistan. "

Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance,
Security, and U.S. Policy
Kenneth Katzman
Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs
August 17, 2012 - Congressional Research Service

Conclusion:  I believe significant evidence exists that current US presence, as well as commitments until 2024 for more than 15,000 troops in Afghanistan, is no longer focused on terrorism threats to the United States, but rather security for the economic benefit of the US and US Corporations. Holding Pakistan guilty for support of terrorism would be political and economic suicide for the US, thus the de facto pardon of Pakistan and continued political posturing about the "war on terror".

Say What???

How I Roll

Probably the best thing about writing (my wife thinks it has now crossed over into pathological territory) is that I can say whatever stupid thing I want, AND it keeps me from saying whatever stupid thing I want in conversation, in public and ESPECIALLY Facebook.

Contrary to popular opinion, ADHD does not suck. I love it. You should try it.

I should amend that. ADHD does not suck for me. ADHD DOES suck for people who are trying to communicate with me.

That is why I am slowly realizing that "the movie playing on his screen must be something really different than what all of us are watching". (Thank you Bill Engvall)

I love this movie. I don't know what the hell you guys are watching, but I bet it's Grey's Anatomy re-runs. I don't have any time for re-runs. The lame-ass NBC slogan for re-run season, "IT'S NEW TO YOU!" really pissed me off. Why? I don't know. Sooner or later EVERYTHING pisses me off.

At the start of our shift every night at the ambulance service, EVERY conversation for the next 48 hours with my partner Cole started with the words, "You know what REALLY pisses me off?" and every conversation ended with the words, "....BY GOD!"

I'm starting to realize that maybe (extremely unlikely) that the REST of the world isn't trying to piss me off. In fact, I would go so far as to speculate that the way all of YOU communicate actually serves a purpose. Maybe I'm the one that is pissing you off because I am functionally paralyzed in social conversation.

I'm Just a Simplex Man

In EMS work (ambulance) there is an extensive amount of communication necessary. We communicate all day long, every day, sometimes for 24 or 48 hour stretches at a time. Most of that communication is "simplex" which I will explain in a minute.

While working, except for face to face conversation, all of our communication is done by radio. Many people are uncomfortable with this handheld device because of it's extremely poor sound quality and inability to stream Netflix.

For paramedics, though, it is an invaluable tool. I don't know if anyone reading remembers "party lines" from childhood. When we were young, there was no conference calling, Facetime, googly hangouts and that kind of stuff. We didn't even have anything that started with a lower case "i".

When you made a phone call it was PRECISELY one other person. It's kind of like that thing your Grandma does with the little box with the curly wire at her house.

There was also this thing called a party line. You could dial a number and be connected to a whole group of other adolescent idiots, who dialed the same number, and have "conversation". This was a horrible idea. I dialed the number once in seventh grade. It was stupid. It sucked. I hated it. I hung up.

What was stupid about it? It was like this chaotic unregulated place where ANYONE who had a phone could connect and have a conversation. But, there were NO conversations. Everybody's voice had the same volume and if there was a lull in the stupid noise you, if you acted quickly, could shout out a message.

The message had to be short, like 140 characters. And it couldn't "mean" anything because 140 characters is ONLY long enough to bitch about somebody or ridicule them. Pair that with all the other short messages being shouted, each only long enough to communicate stupid shit or shout-outs to your 'crew' and you get the most  fucked-up, pointless and ineffective method of communicating ever devised.

I never wanted to call back. If people had important stuff to say, kept it short, and took turns I would have loved it. But they didn't. It was a huge fucked-up pile of fecal matter that was complete chaos where people just devolved into seeing who could scream the loudest insult about someone or something else.

Thank God for Facebook. It fixed all those defects in the original system.

What the hell am I talking about?

Simplex communication refers to communication that occurs in one direction only. Two definitions have arisen over time: a common definition, which is used in ANSI standard and elsewhere, and an ITU-T definition. The ITU definition of simplex is termed "half duplex" in other contexts.

What it really means is I have a box and you have a box. I push my button and talk and you hear me. I release my button and you push yours and talk and I hear you. (You must never ever push another person's button, unless they are into that sort of thing. Just be forewarned that pushing someone else's button results in a horrific squealing noise.)

Radios are perfect for technical communication. They are perfect for paramedics. And they are perfect for ADHD because we don't have to listen "while" we are talking.

They are perfect for paramedics, cops, firefighters etc. because when you push your button (unless you are a total dick and ramble) you have the entire audience's attention. Because EVERYONE in the audience has a radio, and because all of the shit all of your are doing is presumably VERY important, you have to make it short and sweet.

Message. Break. Reply. Break.


Beautiful.


Eliminating stupid stuff like manners and social graces makes life much easier.

• Go to 123 Main Street
• We are at 123 Main Street
• What is your name?
• Where does it hurt?
• How in the HELL did you get THAT stuck in THERE?
• Do you have any history of mental illness or are you just "ate up with the dumbass"?
• We are on our way to the hospital.
• We are bringing a patient to your hospital
  
  
  1. He is x years old
  2. His x is really swollen and it hurts like a x!
  3. He inserted an x in his x and now it is stuck.
  4. By 'stuck' I mean he may have to actually marry it now.
  5. He has no allergies.
  6. He takes medicine for ateupwiththedumbassosis
  7. We will be there in 5 minutes 
• Done

This type of communication, simplex, is simple and elegant. Message, Response. Message, Response. When you leave out the greetings, the niceties, the smoke-blowing and ass kissing you wind up with a PERFECT technical communication technique.

Unfortunately...... (There is always an unfortunately....) when you are talking to the hospital, you are most likely speaking to a nurse. In general, nurses and paramedics like each other. In fact, I had a partner that liked a nurse in the bathroom WHILE I was getting all the paperwork together for a patient transfer. 

Unbelievable right? No. The unbelievable part was that he liked her and she liked him and when they came out of the bathroom it had only been 30 seconds!

As a sidebar, THIS is the exact reason that I think nurses from Canada should not be allowed into this country. In the early '90s we were facing a nationwide nursing shortage of catastrophic proportions. Canadian nurses literally poured in by the millions. 

Do you think Canada thought to send us ugly, old nurses that actually knew what they were doing? Hell no! The tiny hospital in my town was populated entirely with young, hot, (polite) Canadian nurses. There was absolutely ZERO healthcare taking place in the 1990s in rural Texas. Too much LIKING and not enough WORKING!

Anyway... it's not the hot, polite, young, hot Canadians I'm talking about.

The thing about nurses is this: They are smarter than you. Literally smarter. They know more stuff and they know Jedi mind tricks like making Doctors think "they" are the ones who actually diagnose and treat patients. 

When there is a jacked-up, trainwreck cluster of a patient, they make the Doctor think "he" is the one that came up with the smart idea to actually TURN OFF THE LIDOCAINE DRIP that is hooked up to the patient with 3rd Degree Heart block. 

As far as the Doctor is concerned, some clueless nurse hooked that IV up on her own without any orders, and although he can't remember "which" nurse was the dumbshit who did it, they DO remember the bright flash, the clap of thunder and the Voice of... well.. themselves that spake unto him that somebody made a huge mistake and the patient will die if he doesn't DO something; followed by a spontaneous hypnotic suggestion that... what the hell is the nurse pointing at... the suggestion that his super power of super smart medical shit... WHAT IS SHE DOING? Yeah! It's a fucking IV PUMP. I get it. JESUS!...  his super smart... HOLY SHIT THAT CRAZY BITCH IS RUNNING LIDOCAINE INTO THAT PATIENT! I MUST SAVE HIM FROM HER INCOMPETENCE!

My point is this. Nurses are smarter than you, and they can do more than one thing at a time. 

Nurses use "duplex" communication which has all these nuances and crazy details that SOMEHOW actually result in finding out what's wrong with the patient, taking care of it for what is likely an EXTENDED period of time (which is mostly due to the fact that you were with him a total of SEVEN minutes, asked him THREE questions and still managed to give him FIVE different drugs, TWO of which were ones that they just added to the ambulance drug box last week, and the in-service training isn't until next month, and you were specifically told to only administer them in ONE SPECIFIC INSTANCE when you are ABSOLUTELY SURE it is smallpox and then only by itself because THE HALF-LIFE IS THREE MONTHS!).

And then you left.

Technical communication is simple communicated. It is simplex. I say this. You say that. 

It is necessarily terse. Adding so much as a "thank you" or farting into the microphone results in the Sheriff screaming at your boss, which makes your job hard to do because you are effectively BANNED from talking to the radio and only have telepathy to communicate patient reports.

Sometimes nurses get frustrated because (oh let's face it, nurses ALWAYS get frustrated) because you call in on the radio without even so much as a "Good morning" or "How was your day?" or an "I'm sorry I didn't call you, it was a tough week, my grandpa died three times and my iPhone would up in his casket. How crazy is that?" and you just start transmitting data.

Mostly that's how my life goes too. The second I know someone is monitoring the channel I open up a one way laser beam of streaming data, oblivious to social protocol and politeness, and then release the transmit button. It's not that I don't WANT to have meaningful verbal intercourse, it's just that I am clueless that someone might actually want or need to transmit important data to me that I didn't even ask for!

For that, I apologize. I will try to do better. I just have to do one little thing first. That stupid smoke detector is beeping again. I could have sworn that they said it changed it's own battery every six months. THAT REALLY PISSES ME OFF, BY GOD!

-----

A while back a brilliant EMS educator, who had to teach both manners to paramedics and self-esteem to nurses got sick of trying to translate how the two groups communicated over the radio.

For my EMS system, the problem was solved with three simple words inserted in big letters at the top of the patient report communication protocol.

COURTESY IS IMPLIED

Square One

After posting my latest rant last night in the comments section I turned to my wife and said, "blah.. blah.. blah.. outrageous.. blah.. Can you believe that?!"

She made me realize something that I had totally missed. I provoked people into a discussion (purposefully) but then all I did was rant! I was so focused on proving everyone wrong that I wasn't listening. That's not discussing. And it isn't fun, which defeated the purpose.

If I want to have fun, then I have to discuss. Discussion shouldn't be about changing beliefs, it should be about exploring them.

So, if anyone is still interested, I'd like to have a discussion and actually listen to you.

My Understanding of Life

This hypothesis is put together from a bunch of different sources and my imagination.

I think humans have three parts:

• The body, which we perceive right now, that also dies and decomposes.
• The soul, which is our individual personality that gives us an identity that makes us unique.
• The spirit, which is what we really are, and which had no beginning and can't die.

These also correspond to the Trinity concept of God:

• The Father, the unique identity that controls everything
• The Son, the body that is the physical part that eventually dies and goes away
• The Holy Spirit - The infinite spirit that we can't see, but that is what we are made of, and which is permanent.

My Understanding of the World

By "world" I mean both Earth and the physical universe. All the stuff here we can observe and interact with. When I can't explain something literally I use metaphors, so don't get hung up on my inadequate descriptions.

• The world has a beginning and an end, like the body
• The world has a definite purpose, which I will explain later
•  The world has a set of rules that can't be broken (We can't fly, we can't be invisible, if something hits us it hurts, etc.)
• Our bodies are like characters in a video game. Our spirit is like the player of the game, immersed in it, but existing outside of it.
• Our video game character gets only one life to play.
• Our characters can be killed in the game and then we don't get to play anymore
• Our character (body) getting killed in the game (the world) does not affect us as the players on the outside. 
• We can watch the game after our character dies, but while it's going on we can't interact.
• God is always watching the game, but can't play unless he creates a character with a body to play "for" him.
• The game started to get stupid and nobody was having fun.
• The characters forgot about their player, and thought they WERE the player.
• When they forgot about their players they began to do anything they could to stay alive, including killing other characters, making them slaves, etc.
• God was sitting there watching the game take a bad turn, and He Sayeth, "OH MY... um... SELF! What are these idiots doing?"
• So, God created a character that he played for about 33 years, and he spent some time reminding us of the rules, but also reminding us that even if our character dies, our spirit(the player) is still alive outside the game.
• Before he left, he gave us some clues and some power-ups that would remind us that it is only a game.

Why are we playing this game?

I believe our spirit-selves hang out in heaven with God. I think about 14 billion years ago we were all sitting around and were bored. We had peace, bliss, and we knew EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING. Nothing bad ever happened. There was nothing interesting to do.

I think we (or God or whoever) came up with a game to play. Since we knew everything about heaven, the only interesting thing to do was to put ourselves into a game and find out everything we didn't know, and find out what heaven is NOT.

We could have made a movie, but a 14 billion-year movie would be boring. It would be almost as long as Titanic.

It would only be interesting if we could actually insert ourselves into the game. It's the difference between sitting there and watching your brother play, and grabbing a controller yourself.

The more interactive the game was, the more fun it was.

Just like a game it was only fun if everybody had to play by the same rules. We came up with the rules (or God did) and we all agreed to them.

What are the Rules?

Some of the rules I'm sure about, some of them I'm not sure about, but that all has to do with Rule 1.

1. Everybody has to play at the highest difficulty setting. This means totally forgetting who you really are and where you came from. No cheat codes, no do-overs.
2. You have to be fully immersed and experience what your character experiences.
3. You don't know the identity of the other characters (because in real life we know everybody already)
4. You actions in the game affect other characters in the game.
5. The game has to progress naturally. There is no pre-determined outcome.
6. There is no winning or losing. Our point was to explore and experience.
7. You get to play until your character dies, or turns 80 (or whatever) so other people can play.
8. The more you help other players, the more you enjoy the game, and the longer you survive.
9. If you go around killing other players for shits and giggles, you are going to get whacked.
10. There is a manual, but a lot of us didn't were too ADHD to read it so we just started playing. And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth because we had NO IDEA what the hell was going on.
11. Because the game does not have a defined endpoint it has to develop naturally and the course of the game can be altered by the characters, particularly if a bunch of them group together for a common task.
12. Because the game is still in Beta, there are bugs and artifacts. Some are unpredictable, like natural disasters. Some are purposely created by spawn campers who have a sick fascination with having masses of people play for them. They do this by finding n00bs and giving them a manual they wrote, and telling them, "STFU, RTFM!" and the n00bs do it (because they are n00bs and want to have an advantage).
13. If you play it safe and never go out and experience the best and worst of the game, you will hate it. You are a n00b and you will get pwn3d. Then you will be watching your brother play again and go, "I didn't realize that level was there."
14. FINALLY - It is only a game. When the game is over you go about your normal business. Since it is only a game there are no consequences to you in real life for how you played, although the characters in the game will remember you as a real jerkface.

Realizing this is only a metaphor, what do you think? Does some of it sound plausible, or is the whole thing jacked up?

Thanks!

Questions from Facebook - Part One

My recent provocative declarations on Facebook have prompted a fantastic discussion. Many friends have contributed. I've had comments from an atheist, several fundamentalist Christians, and at last count no less than three pastors.

I'm moving the discussions here so we can follow our thoughts and discuss in a logical order. I've found on Facebook that after a few posts the conversation splits into tangents and we lose track of each other's posts, which renders the topic hard to follow.

Below this post is a comments section to add discussion or questions.

I am going to take the Facebook topics individually, and it might take quite a while to get them all posted for discussion. I will give the topics a unique number. You can then just start a comment or response with that number and you don't have to re-quote.

I'd like to knock these out one topic at a time but I also want to get to all of them.

If you want to quote a statement I made that is perfectly fine too. (I will use initials for the source of who said or asked what, but if you don't want you initials used please tell me.)

FINALLY, I am blessed and excited that friends who have different beliefs than me can take the time to discuss these things. Thank you!

I decided to start with my favorite topic:

Hell!

1 - MB writes: Mike. Hell is real. Hell is the judgement for not believing in the son of God. John 3:36 makes that clear. Heaven is only for those whose names are written in the book of life (Rev. 20 and 21). Heaven is the eternal home of those who have been born again and followed Christ, and God does plan to cast some into hell--an eternal hell. Not all men will repent and believe. Faith is a gift of God.

For the word of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness. But unto us which are being saved, it is the power of God. 1Cor 1:18

1. Eternal Hell cannot exist. I think we all agree that "heaven" (eternal, infinite realm) is real. If heaven wasn't real we would have no purpose for discussion. Assuming you mean an eternal place of punishment, lake of fire, etc. If heaven is infinite, that leaves no room for anything else. Infinite existence, by definition "without ending and without ceasing" requires infinite energy to exist. Anything less than infinite energy would mean firstly that God doesn't have enough energy and therefore when it is expended heaven will collapse and all our existence is moot.
   
   
   
2. The reason eternal Hell cannot exist is because an eternal construct or system is infinite, otherwise it has an ending. Just like above, an eternal construct requires infinite energy to maintain. ALL of God's infinite energy is spoken for in heaven. There is no "double infinity" or "half infinity" because infinity, and God, CANNOT be divided.
   
3. There cannot be two infinite places. Infinite is everything, for all time, in all places. Taking even one quark from Heaven invalidates every single concept in the Bible.
   
4. Hell is for not believing in Jesus - God clearly and repeatedly indicates in the Bible that we have free-will. That is the WHOLE POINT of our physical existence. By your definition, Christian means one that believes in Jesus as Savior and is saved. This creates so many paradoxes that either God (and Jesus) lied about free-will (Remember Jesus doesn't lie) or we don't really have free-will and we will go where we are assigned. Here is the dillemma. Over 5 Billion of the people in the world don't believe in Jesus. There are billions who have never HEARD of Jesus. If what you claim is true then even the ones who haven't heard are going to eternal damnation without even being given the chance to choose. HOW JACKED UP IS THAT? There has never been a satisfactory explanation in human history for this paradox.
   
5. Heaven is only for those whose names are written in the Book of Life. I will set my opinions of Revelation aside. It should have never been included in the New Testament (and in fact 40% of the theologians deciding Canon rejected it). Even if you accept it there is a massive contradiction.  Logically: To get your name in the book of life, you have to be saved. To be saved you have to profess a believe in Jesus as savior. To believe Jesus is savior you have to first BE TOLD ABOUT JESUS. Therefore - if you've never been told about Jesus, DESPITE HAVING LIVED A PIOUS AND LOVING LIFE, you will be burned eternally. Billions of impoverished people, babies, fetuses, etc. are now damned. There is no answer to this. If you claim that even ONE person who has never heard of Jesus will be eternally condemned, then you negate your entire argument that Jesus is "the way, the only way, and nothing but the way".
   
6. Jesus talks about babies and children over and over. He even tells the the disciples that they can't enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless they become like children. Children are innocent. They have no preconceptions about life. They don't have emotional baggage like fear. To become like children means to strip yourself of your baggage. Jesus also said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." If it's within us then how can it be taken away?
   
   Mark 10:15 (I believe Mark is the foundational Gospel that the others used):
   
   ¹³ People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶ And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.
   
   
   
7. Finally - God has a plan to cast some into hell. If God plans to cast anyone into hell, then he must know about their choices in life and have precognition. If he didn't then he couldn't possible have a "plan". To say God has a plan to torture people means we don't really have free-will. It means God is evil and since he knows ahead of time that anyone will be damned then we are in a cruel experiment as dumb animals.
   
8. Before Jesus, Jews had no concept of eternal life as a spirit. Their teachings were of an eternal physical existence, whether in Sheol or on Earth. They believed, and were told, that they are God's Chosen People. This creates a paradox: If Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven, then every person before he was born did not go to heaven. He did not exist yet. There are only two possibilities. Either the Jews before Jesus (God's Chosen) all went to hell or they went to heaven. If they went to heaven a Savior is unnecessary. If they went to hell there is no free will, they didn't have a choice since they didn't meet or believe in Jesus, and they really weren't God's Chosen People, which would then invalidate two-thirds of the inerrant Bible.
   
   
   
9. I honestly want to hear opinions on these things. I truly want to know, because if the stated premise is true (IE accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior) Then I am "saved" because I did that in 1982. If hell exists then I am wrong and if I don't start telling people then I am allowing them to be damned.
   
   There is a lot of overlap in what I am saying and what you are saying, IE God is eternal, God loves us, we have the Knowledge of good and evil, therefore we have free will. My impression is that those of you who are conservative Christians believe the Bible is either literally the word of God and inerrant, or is the divinely inspired word of God, and also that it is inerrant. If it is errant in even one place it is imperfect and not of God, because God is perfect.
   
   
   
   My questions for this topic:
10. Question:  Do we have free will, IE the ability to choose life or death, heaven or hell?
    
    
11. Question: How do we resolve the paradox of an eternal Hell, which would require infinite energy to keep it running without end?
    
    
12. Do people who've never heard the Gospel, and therefore never given and opportunity to believe in Jesus, go to Hell?
    
    
13. What was the fate of the billions of people that were alive and died before Jesus was born?
    
    
14. What did Jesus mean when he said,  If the Kingdom of God is within us, what to we have to be saved from?
    
    
15. In Mark 10 Jesus says the Kingdom of God belongs to these children. The children obviously have not reached the age of consent, have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and savior, and have not professed their faith publicly. How do you explain this without contradicting everything else you believe?
    
    
16. Finally, if you truly and honestly believe that everyone who is not a Christian will go to hell, why would you want to go to Heaven? Nearly 75% of the world's population will burn in hell. What could possibly be good about heaven if innocents, children and even your own family members and friends won't be with you? Barring mental illness or sociopathy that makes no sense!
    
    

THANK YOU for taking time to answer these hard questions! I am no biblical scholar and I imagine all of these have been asked and answered for at least 2000 years. I can't wait to hear what you all have to say.

To respond, just click the comment button and use the number that you are responding to.

Mike

Keeping Your Eye on the Ball

Pardon the Interruption..

I wanted to take a brief aside and explain a couple of things about my blog. I sincerely appreciate anyone who takes time to read it. I ESPECIALLY appreciate people who read it, get pissed, and challenge me. A thing is not the truth until every bit of speculation and doubt have been burned away.

The purpose of taking up the blog again is to make myself write, every day, no matter what. These posts will eventually be compiled, edited and published. Don't get me wrong, though, I don't need or want to be a "famous" author. I also don't need, or want, to make money from writing.

I love to write, but I am not an author. I count many published authors as my friends and the type of writing they do (especially novels) requires an attention to detail, inspired creativity and some sort of "work ethic" (I don't know what that means, so I don't have it). Every one of them is a master and I would pay again and again to read their books. I'm not saying this to appear "humble" or "self-deprecating". That is exactly and precisely how I see it.

In light of these things I wanted to say that the reader shouldn't see each individual post as a complete thing that stands alone. They are interdependent and evolving. When I get ready to compile them there will be much trimming of stuff that isn't relevant, or outright wrong, and elaboration on the few things that actually matter.

Today, I started with the idea to present some math and physics to support some of the things I am writing that seem impossible for some to accept. I am going to take a different path, not out of doubt, but because I can't yet explain them in a way that makes sense to someone else. If I claim to write absolute truth, then I need to make damn sure it is clear, complete and actually TRUE.

The failure is not in the information, it is in my ability AT THIS TIME to explain them without my personal bias getting in the way, which would completely invalidate my claim of truth. Today I am going to talk about TODAY.

The Biggest Lie

Something happened today that both pissed me off and revealed such clarity at the same time that it needs to be said. I am not going to discuss what pissed me off, because they are unnecessary details and will hurt people I care about. My cognitive process of "anger" only happened because I let it happen and has nothing to do with the point I am making.

The most cherry-picked, abused, misquoted and murderous (literally, people have died) verse from the Bible is John 14:6 -

"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

That's barely a verse, much less a complete thought.

In spite of the fact that there is a much larger context for this truth Jesus told right then, Modern Fundamentalist Christianity (MFC for short) has used this statement, particularly the last phrase, to divide, demean and condemn people by adding context created BY MFC that is false, did not exist in Jesus time and does not exist now.

A minister that wrote a commentary in a family Bible we have addressed to people who are reading it for the very first time, noted that one of the worst mistakes a person could make was to take a single verse and form it into a belief system.

To understand that turning the answer to a question posed in present tense at a specific time and location that sought an answer right then and there (not forever, especially not to use as a tool of hate) in to a contrived "belief system" that would affect billions, you need to understand the actual context of how it was made.

The scene was the last supper. The disciples still don't seem to understand clearly what they are being told or what they are expected to do. Jesus had already told Judas and Peter that they would betray him.

Jesus has just told Peter that he would betray him three times, but he didn't want Peter to worry about it or feel bad. 

Read the whole story surrounding the quote from chapter 14:

First, here is the complete quote, I will insert it again, with explanations in red.

The Road

 ^1-4 "Don't let this throw you. You trust God, don't you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father's home. If that weren't so, would I have told you that I'm on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I'm on my way to get your room ready, I'll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I'm taking." 

 ⁵Thomas said, "Master, we have no idea where you're going. How do you expect us to know the road?" 

 ^6-7Jesus said, "I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You've even seen him!" 

 ⁸Philip said, "Master, show us the Father; then we'll be content." 

 ^9-10"You've been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don't understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, 'Where is the Father?' Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren't mere words. I don't just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act. 

 ^11-14"Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can't believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it. That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I'll do.


---------------------------------


 ^1-4 "Don't let this throw you. You trust God, don't you? Trust me.[RIGHT NOW, RIGHT HERE] There is[present tense, not "will be"] plenty of room for you in my Father's home. If that weren't so, would I have told you that I'm on my way to get a room ready for you?[Jesus never lied. ever.] And if I'm on my way to get your room ready, I'll come back and get you[I WILL COME BACK AND GET YOU, period, no special prayers or rituals or any other thing is required. Jesus DOES NOT lie.] so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I'm taking." 

(Jesus is telling them AGAIN to destroy their fear, which is not-God, and only lies.)

 ⁵Thomas said, "Master, we have no idea where you're going. How do you expect us to know the road?" 

(This is CRUCIAL. Read it EXACTLY how it is written. Thomas says WE [the disciples at the table] have no idea [right now, right here at the table] where you are going [still misunderstanding that Jesus is going to a 'place']. How do you[Jesus, right there at the table when the question is asked] expect us[the twelve at the table right now] to know the road?[still not understanding that the 'road' is a metaphor, and not a tangible thing]

 ^6-7Jesus said, "I am[present tense, RIGHT NOW IN FRONT OF YOU] the Road, also the Truth[Jesus doesn't lie], also the Life[Life. Capital L. not biological finite life, ETERNAL LIFE]. No one gets to the Father apart from me[Because IS the Father, right now in front of them. He told them over and over and over that He IS God on earth. That what he says is what God says and what he does is what God does. He is not a separate or lesser existence than God. HE IS GOD RIGHT NOW RIGHT THERE]. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You've even seen him!"[past tense, already, God has been here the whole time.]

 ⁸Philip said, "Master, show us the Father; then we'll be content."[Are you serious? He isn't talking allegorically. He is speaking plainly and literally.]
 
 ^9-10"You've been with me[God on earth] all this time, Philip, and you still don't understand? To see[with your own eyes] me is to see the Father[with your own eyes]. So how can you ask, 'Where is the Father?' Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren't mere words.[Don't read anything into it. Don't add to it. Don't twist it. I am telling you the absolute and complete truth.] I don't just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.[Jesus is explaining the authority and the power he has to use the full will and power of God]
 
 ^11-14"Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can't believe that[because you are human and you let doubt run your life], believe what you see[with your own eyes]—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do[with your own hands] what I'm doing[with my own hands that you can see with your own eyes] but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing.[YOU ARE GIVEN FULL AUTHORITY OF GOD and you will do even greater things that me.] You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am[God on earth, standing right in front of you] and what I am doing, I'll do it.[I don't lie and I am speaking plainly and literally] That's how the Father will be seen[by others, with their own eyes, when I am no longer physically here] for who he is in the Son[they will see God by seeing God's work that you are physically doing]. I mean it.[OH MY DAD! Get it through your dense head!] Whatever you request in this way, I'll do. 

What Gives You the Right!?

If you don't like or understand my comments, I absolutely encourage you to read the chapter, in context, in it's entirety.

By taking the one phrase "No one gets to the father apart from me." or in the horrible abortion that is the King James Bible that people continue to misuse, "no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" and distorting into an entire religion is, well, absurd.

Appropriating those nine words and twisting them into false, unquestionable and exclusive cult that claims to be the ONLY WAY TO AVOID BURNING FOR ETERNITY is an abomination. To extrapolate that the answer to a question in the context of a specific time and place, meant to give a literal answer to an actual question, into a statement that ONLY THOSE who meet conditions invented by men, and not God, can EVER see GOD for eternity is delusional and, in my opinion, sociopathic.

In fact, abuse of that phrase either by ignorance or outright lie, has lead to the death of millions since the first couple of centuries of Jesus. It has lead to the slaughter of innocent Christians because they repeat the lie and condemn all other religions. This makes the other religions mad, and because they are just as ignorant, they felt it was their duty to slaughter those saying it.

It has led to the slaughter of both Christians and non-Christians BY THE VERY CHURCH the Christians thought they belonged to.

It has implanted irrational fear in the mind of people who otherwise would be inspired and moved to do God's work through Jesus into a lifetime of doubt. It has turned them away from their own sovereignty and made them a slave to a "church". They, in turn, out of fear repeat the lie and condemn those who see it as a lie.

Who gets hurt? The families and friends that are alienated... The people who are suffering who would have otherwise been helped if a fearful person had put down the fear instead becoming enslaved to more fear.. and all the people that had no fear until the person they love and trust comes home and tells them a fairy tell about burning alive unless they go get "saved" (by a preacher, at a building).

If you want to talk about evil, consider this. At least Hitler (the most evil I can think of right now) came right out and said "I hate Jews. I will kill all the Jews." He didn't have to support his opinions with illogical statements. He said he would kill the Jews and he did.

I'm not stating that MFC in any way wants to kill somebody. But continuing a bald-faced lie, scaring people and claiming exclusive possession of the truth, thus ALLOWING innocent people to be murdered, means being an accomplice. Ignorance is no excuse.

Before you EVER tell a single person they are going to hell and that you have the authority to declare it, you better make damn sure you have done the research, possess the facts and can answer the questions. Saying dangerous things like that that provoke fear and hurt without doing your own homework makes you look like an asshole, it embarrasses your church and instead of demonstrating Christ's work (LIKE HE EXPLICITLY TOLD YOU TO) it destroys everything He said in order to make what YOU say the truth.

In human history NOBODY has ever presented factual evidence or even slightly compelling proof of the existence of hell. Ever. 

You've been told EXPLICITLY and PLAINLY that YOU are authorized by the Messiah to do God's work on earth, even greater work than He did. If you can't prove that telling people about hell is God's work, then you are living a lie and destroying any credibility Christianity has, ESPECIALLY those churches that actually DO follow Christ's teachings.

You are creating a future. You scare one person with a hell you don't actually believe in. That person scares two more so on and so on... You have created a tidal wave of lies that will hurt far more people than the one you influenced. 

Why it is a Lie

 It's been shown that Jesus said "no man cometh" was a small phrase, in a small sentence, answering a specific question in a specific place. If you want to see God, look at me in front of your face.

He is saying right here, right now, I am in God and He is in me. We are (present tense) the same.

Here's the part that's hard to believe. Right now and right here as you are reading this, Jesus the man is dead. I don't think even the most hardcore Christian would dispute this. Jesus(God on Earth) said Jesus(the man) would die. He never lied. Jesus the man died.



The disciples were asking him a question that was in the context of what they, the human people, could see (physically with their human eyes) God. God is infinite, and eternal, he cannot be seen or even grasped by a human mind. Jesus, the man, by his own testimony(he never lied) told these men sitting at the table, I AM God, I am standing in front of you in full human form so that if you think you need to see god, literally with your human eyes, he is right here in front of you.

He said that since He (the man) is God's literal, physical and ONLY presence on earth at that time and place, the ONLY way that any human person could see God with their own eyes is by looking at him, the man, right in front of their faces.

Since Jesus the man, that they could see and touch, is now dead, to imply that his physical presence is the ONLY way to God means that THERE IS NO LONGER ANY WAY FOR SOMEONE TO GET TO GOD. That's stupid and illogical.

Remember, He never lied, He said he would die and he did, and he answered a literal question with a literal answer. 

Saying, "Well what he actually meant that his spiritual self was the way..." means he was lying. Just like no human eyes can see God, no human eyes could see Jesus, the spirit. IT DOES NOT FOLLOW. It is not what he said, and no amount of wishing changes it. It was asked and answered right there. 

What he DID say is that these disciples are authorized to do God's work (the actual work Jesus was doing, healing the sick, alleviating suffering, feeding the hungry) in even bigger ways, and by DOING those things people in the future will always be able to physically see God with their own eyes by looking at the WORK you are doing in his name.

He did NOT say, that people would see God with their own eyes by listening to a preacher, getting "saved" from a non-existent terrible fate or wearing fancy clothes to a service every Sunday. 

THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE AT CHURCH. God is not there.

THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE IN A SMOOTH TALKING PREACHER. God is not there.

If you feel like you need to actually see God with your own eyes, go down to a soup kitchen and SEE GOD with your own eyes right now serving soup to the homeless. THAT IS GOD. That is the work of God, authorized by Jesus through the power all of us were given.

JESUS NEVER SAID THAT ONLY CHRISTIANS CAN GET TO GOD. There were NO christians on the earth at that time and place. They did not exist. The concept of a group of people organizing themselves at some point in the future (especially Gentiles) and claiming to exclusively possess God's works and teachings would have been preposterous in that room.

For those people who organized themselves and self-labeled their group as Christians, long after Jesus, the man's, death and turning a literal answer to a question IN THE PAST into some sort of one-liner prophecy that wasn't literal (meaning Jesus lied) and rallying behind it in order to claim 'specialness' is beyond ridiculous.

Jesus gave us authority to understand his ACTUAL plainly-spoken teachings, and the POWER to do God's work, literally, thereby allowing all people to SEE GOD with their own eyes. He DID NOT give us authority to change his words, draw conclusions, or do ANY OTHER THING that is not actually the work of God.

Don't believe me just because I wrote it.

Get off your ass, open the Bible to John 14 and read it. Put away your opinions and 'beliefs' and read it plainly. 

If you come up with a different conclusion than me, based on YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING and not some bumper sticker evangelists words, then come back here and prove me wrong. 

If you, like me, see this as an historical account of an actual event, that stands on it's own, then start reading the REST of Gospels with the same open mind and honest heart. You will read a story that is much more exciting and that makes much more sense than the lie you've been told. 

You DID Build That!

Put Up or Shut Up

For the last few days, both here and on Facebook, we have been looking at some hard questions and answering them with hard answers.  Today I am going to elaborate on my Facebook statement about bad things "happening for a reason".

I am going to set aside, for a moment, the lengthy argument as to why most "bad" things really aren't.  For now we will define a "bad thing" as an event resulting in suffering for the person who experiences it.  (Later on we can talk about doing away with "bad" things in your life)

Events that cause suffering can be classified into precisely two categories.  The first category includes those events that happen as a result of an "accident of nature". There are actually far fewer accidents of nature than we think there are.  If a disaster causes suffering, but could have been prevented by action on the part of a person or persons, then it becomes the second category - events caused by man.

We live in an imperfect world. If we lived in a perfect world where random things don't happen, we would be BORED OUT OF OUR MINDS. Living in an imperfect world does not mean we are slaves to it's accidents and disasters.

Suffering as a result of an unpredictable disaster or accident in an imperfect world is unfortunate, but it does not "Happen For a Reason". That fact is lost on many of the world's ignorant fundamentalists.

In fact fairy tales and outright lies by fundamentalists turn accidents into "caused suffering". How many of these lies have we heard over the years? Asshats like Jerry Falwell have turned a terrible disease, that is the result of a virus just like EVERY OTHER viral disease, into hate.

"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals, it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."

When a "christian" who has a captive audience of millions makes irrational, illogical statements like that, they not only inflict and create hate toward a whole group, they ironically disgust and repel anyone who was curious about "christianity".  What they perceive is that "christians" are lying bigots who purposefully create fear and hate in people they don't like.

These lies, just like the truth, are what creates the future.  YOU create the future with your words and your actions. What was an opportunity to treat the suffering, heal the disease and use the power and authority granted to you by God, thus resulting in a future where AIDS patients are seen just like other patients, where much more funding is available for AIDS research, where a cure might have ALREADY HAPPENED... was instead used to create the future (our present) where homosexuals and AIDS patients are seen as lesser-than-us, where rich "christians" donate their money to hate mongers like the Salvation Army instead of AIDS research, where millions of "christians" have turned into mindless hate-brokers, and where millions more are suffering needlessly because one asshole turned an entire generation away from teachings that could have relieved them.

That did not "HAPPEN FOR A REASON". That happened "AS A RESULT OF" opportunistic lies, hate, bigotry, arrogance, ignorance and ego.  It was not entirely "AS A RESULT OF" Falwell, though.  How many "christians" denounced him? How many "christians" made the conscious decision to destroy the not-Real cognitive processes of doubt, hate, anxiety and fear so that they could KNOW right then and right there that fundamentalist "christianity" is a complete and total lie?

"christians" and Atheists

We have proven over the last few days that our physical existence is not-real (illusion), that our beliefs are illusions, that the existence of "real" things is in no way related to our "beliefs" and that our sole purpose in this physical life is to act out of Love (infinite spiritual love, not romantic love).  We've also proven that emotions like fear, doubt and hate are not-Real illusions that are a result of a few pounds of goop in your head telling your (not-Real) body lies.

Knowing these things has unexpectedly answered a question I've had for a long time that made no sense to me.

I've known quite a few self-labeled Atheists. I've known thousands of self-labeled "christians" also. The thing I couldn't figure out is why all the Atheists I know spend much more time helping others, giving to charity and doing things like campaigning for social justice. Why would somebody who expected to cease existing at some point spend so much effort helping others? What would be the point? They even seem to prefer helping professions also. I've known atheists who were teachers, nurses, military and emergency responders.

I've rarely seen cynicism from Atheists, unless it is to ridicule a "christian" who does something that is in complete opposition to their "beliefs".

On the other hand only a very small number of the thousands of self-labeled "christians" I've known have demonstrated that level of compassion, empathy and selflessness. Why would people who profess to having given their entire existence to God, and relinquished all control of their actions to Jesus, spend so little time doing THE ONE THING COMMANDED BY JESUS?

The answer? Atheists have nothing to prove! They don't agonize over whether their actions will please a bearded man in the sky. Their charity donations aren't going to subsidized mega-churches and Italian suits for TV preachers. Whether they consciously realize it or not they are using their God-given authority to actually DO the things christians talk about.

Having a belief in God, or not, has absolutely nothing to do with His existence. Having a belief in God, or not, has absolutely no bearing on what happens to you when you die. One belief is no better than another, and as we have proven, beliefs mean absolutely nothing! They are not real! They do not reflect on reality.

Many Christians base their entire (not-Real) lives on mistakes and lies created by other (not-Real) imperfect human beings. The label "Christian" is absurd in the first place.

This is going to be a shock to some of you, but Jesus' last name WAS NOT Christ. In fact, his first name wasn't Jesus, but that's for another day.

"Christ" is a title. It's meaning is "annointed" or "messiah". Jesus didn't give that title to himself. He also never claimed exclusivity or denying the ability to be anointed to others.

The label "Christian" means "belonging to". Thus, "belonging to the anointed".

Jesus didn't use the word Christ or the word Christian. He also didn't say that only the special few that got their card punched by saying a prayer and getting baptized were the ONLY ONES that belonged to him. THE WHOLE WORLD belongs to him.

He didn't go around healing "Christians". He healed the sick. He served the ones that modern Christianity shuns. He didn't pick and choose. And he didn't direct YOU to pick and choose.

What He DID do was to give the world the absolute truth. He gave the world an absolute command.

He gave each person absolute authority to find and speak the truth. He gave each person absolute power over ALL things when they do the work he commanded.

All the rest of the garbage that is associated with Christianity today was dumped there by MEN. Hell, fear, doubt, 'special status', superiority over others, a special 'heaven' that INCIDENTALLY will be occupied solely by those people that go to your church that you really can't stand being around.

If you buy into the garbage, you miss the message. If you really believe that even one person who doesn't go to your church will burn alive at the hands of the god you claim to worship, then you are either mentally ill or sociopathic.

What it Means

You create the future. It doesn't matter if you believe that or not, it is the truth.

The thoughts and actions you take right now permanently create future events that don't travel in a straight line, but cascade and build and become huge influences down the road.

Thoughts and actions that arise from Faith (absolute reliance and trust in God) create events that cascade and expand and result in a growing of Love.

Thoughts and actions that arise from fear, uncertainty, indifference, ignorance or hate cause a powerful and expanding wave that create more of those emotions for other people.

The universe doesn't "happen" to you for "a reason". The future isn't a predetermined sequence of events engineered to teach you a lesson.

You have been given the power and the authority to create the world by your actions. That is a huge responsibility right?

Doing things out of Love, by pushing forward, aggressively, without ceasing with complete reliance and trust in God, plants a seed that will grow into a forest because YOU HAPPENED TO THE UNIVERSE FOR A REASON, not the other way around.

Stop letting "life" live you. Stop scaring yourself into immobility by assuming you suffer for a purpose.

Use the power and authority you have to DESTROY the fake fear, worry, doubt that make you suffer. Use the power and authority you have to plant a seed that others will see grow into a forest that doesn't need to be watered by hate, or threatened with punishment if it doesn't grow exactly as its told.

When you do that, even if only one single person sees it and repeats it, you have created a huge event in the timeline that will not only continue, but grow.

Make life your bitch.

Truth, Whole Truth, Nothing But Truth

Recap

What do we know about Truth? We know that Truth must, by definition, be true in all times and places. Truth existed before us and will continue to exist after us. Further, it is complete (the whole truth) and unconditional (nothing but the truth).

The word "human" when I use it means your current physical incarnation in a body.  YOU are not human.  You exist separately from, yet intimately connected to, your body. When the body dies, you do not die. The REAL you knows the truth. The human you has forgotten it, but can remember it.

Humans are limited.  They have a beginning and end. Truth is not limited. It is without beginning or end.  Humans have no capacity to fully define truth, since naming it or describing it makes it finite.  Finite things are not real.  They are illusions.

We can, however, get very close to knowing what Truth is by the same method we previously used to define God.  Instead of asking what IS truth (which is ineffable) we must ask what is Truth not.

Therefore, when you discard everything that is not-Truth, you can get a very real understand of what Truth actually is.

What is not-Truth?

• opinion
• dogma
• belief
• something that is true only in some places, or some times
• something that is not complete, or leaves out parts 
• a conditional statement (if, and, but, only, also, because)
• correlation 

Truth is Absolute

Truth is absolute.  It is true at all times and all places.  Truth IS.

You need to understand that existence of the truth is in no way dependent upon you.  Your belief is irrelevant, your calculations are irrelevant, your "faith" and your conscience are irrelevant. The person saying the truth is irrelevant. Jesus saying something, for example, does not make it true simply "because" he said it.

Don't get me wrong.  Jesus consistently and repeatedly spoke the Truth. He did not cause the truth, or start the truth. Truth WAS before, after, with and without Jesus. Jesus had the authority to speak the Truth. We, also, have the authority to speak the truth but we rarely use that authority because of the not-Real, not-God things we talked about yesterday. Fear, uncertainty, doubt, insecurity...  Get rid of the not-Real and only the Real is left.

"Push forward, aggressively, without ceasing..."

Setting you Free

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

This is Truth. Holding to his teachings makes the Truth apparent. Truth will set you free. Truth will SAVE you. Notice he doesn't place any other condition or requirement or addendum on this statement. Freedom now. Freedom here.

THIS is how Truth relates to the topic yesterday of the real meaning of "saved". The Truth doesn't set you free "at some time in the future".  It doesn't set you free "at some place where you will have to wait in line and explain yourself". It doesn't set you free "IF you go to an evangelical protestant church, walk to the altar, say a magic phrase, get baptized, and then not really if you do something wrong in the future".

The Truth will set you free. PERIOD. NOW. HERE.

It is true at any point in time, at any place, under any condition. It doesn't depend on or require your belief, your acknowledgement, your agreement, your faith or even your understanding. There is NO BECAUSE. There is no rationalization, discussion, experiment, question, guessing, wondering or grace period.  

You WILL know the Truth NOW. You will know the Truth HERE. It will set you FREE right now, right here.

This statement is plain and simple.  Hold to my teaching. Love one another. There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear.

What's the point?

The point is that once you are free you have no more suffering. The make-believe emotions that torment you are exposed as bullshit. There are no more filters. There is no more guessing. 

When you are set free you see clearly the fake drama that is playing out around you. You see the world for what it really is. You see that the people around you are actors, stuck in roles that they mistakenly believe define who they are and that make them MISERABLE.

You see that the people you love are suffering needlessly. They can't remember who they are and therefore see themselves as a limited being in a limited universe with limited choices.

Being free means that you exist now. The past does not exist. The future hasn't happened yet.

The most important point of being free is that you are given authority to relieve suffering. 

You are given authority to speak the truth. 

You are given authority to free others from everything that is not-Truth, not-Love and not-God.

You are given authority to "push forward, aggressively, without ceasing..."

(thanks to wjb)

  

Belief != Truth

A Failure to Communicate

One of the biggest mistakes people make in religion is the attempt to define God.  At first they ask questions like, "Who is God?  What is God?  What does God want?".  It's an easy mistake to make but unfortunately these questions are not the ones that you need to ask to find out the truth.

You cannot name or describe something that is infinite.  Naming something makes it small and finite.  You are not your name.  You are not your description.  If you can't even define a physical human being, that has a beginning and end, how can you name or describe something that is infinite and beyond description?

What God "wants" is a silly question.  You KNOW the answer.  You also have the free will to listen and act on it, or to ignore it.  You have the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil.

Since you can't ever answer the question of what God "is", the best you can do is to discover what God "isn't".  Finite things are easy to define.  Anything that is infinite cannot be described.  Try to write down the number infinity.  You can't!  And that is only a simple number.  How do you expect to define God?

The only way to even begin understanding God, is do define what is not-God.  Finite things are things that have a beginning and an end.  Since God has no beginning and no end, anything that is finite is not-God.

Belief is Doubt

All the talk about whether people "believe" in God or "believe" in Jesus is meaningless.  To say that you "believe" something implies that it can be doubted.  Believing or not-believing is meaningless to God.  God exists and no human "belief" changes that.

When is the last time you told someone, "I BELIEVE the sky is blue"?  That sounds ridiculous.  You say, "The sky IS blue."

Do you teach your kids, "I THINK the sun will rise tomorrow." when they are overwhelmed with something that is happening right now and you want them to know it will get better?  NO!  "Believing" implies there is margin for doubt.

You tell them, "The sun WILL rise tomorrow.  There WILL be a new day."  Not only do you speak this to comfort them, you speak it with authority.  You don't 'believe' the sun will rise.  You "KNOW" the sun will rise.  And it doesn't make a damn if all the other 7 billion people on the planet believe it will happen or not.

It is ridiculous that we speak trivial things with authority and without doubt, but when it comes to the important things we say "I believe..";  Belief comes from the mind.  Belief leaves room for doubt.

Your beliefs have a beginning, and an ending.  Your beliefs are subject to change.  Your beliefs are not-God.

Religions are not-God

Religions have beginnings and endings.  Religions change.  Religions elevate themselves and their followers above others.  Religions only serve God when they inspire and heal and comfort.  The first time a religion says that even one person is undeserving of God's love, or that one person will be punished or that one person cannot know the presence with God without it, that religion becomes blasphemous.  

Does God care about blasphemy?  Why would he?  Blasphemy is a label invented by humans to convince people that they know what God wants.  The words of a group of miniscule, finite, ignorant humans do not change the unchangeable.  However, those words DO change the changeable and hurt people.  Religion that hurts people, or that excludes people, is not-God.  Hurt is not-God.

Hell

 

If hell is defined as a lake of fire that will burn people for eternity after they are dead, then it is a lie.  The spirit does not feel pain.  Ask any one of the millions of people whose bodies have "died" that got to experience their spirit for a brief time before returning.  THERE IS NO PHYSICAL PAIN AFTER DEATH.  

Pain is the result of chemical signals from the body to the brain so that the brain knows to stop doing whatever it is telling the body to do.  Pain requires a physical body, a physical nervous system and a conscious brain.  All these things stop existing at death.  They are finite.  Pain is not-God.  

Since the body and pain have a beginning and end, there is no way to inflict it upon a spirit that has no body.

The lake of eternal fire is a scare tactic invented four hundred years after Jesus' death because people were falling away from "the church".  The lake of fire is a man-made fairy tale inserted into history to scare people back into church.  

This does not mean, however, that a place of torment doesn't exist.  Some people who have died and returned report that there is a "place" of despair and sadness where some go when they die.  This place is not forced on anyone, and they can choose of their own free will to remain or leave.  

Those who are there are working through terrible things that happened to them during their lifetime, or the terrible things they did while human.  Some of them are not even aware of others around them and they are in a place of loneliness.  This place is not eternal, though.  

You will never be 'sent' to this place against your will.  Free will applies to the afterlife as well as it does here.  If you find yourself 'there' when you die it is crucial to remember that you are free to leave, or free to stay, if you need to.  God gave free will.  If it was ever taken away that would mean God is a liar.  Lies are not-God.

Being "Saved"

 

This brings me to my last point for this post, but I am far from done.

Christians use the word "salvation" to try and prove that their way is the only way to "get" salvation.  However, salvation in the fundamentalist sense and usage, is at best a misunderstanding, and at worse an insidious lie.

To actually read the words of Christ, and discern them, unveils the true meaning of "saved".  He explained to his apostles over and over, in plain language, what they were being saved from.  Salvation is not some abstract reward in the afterlife for seeing how many people you can convert to your personal beliefs.  It is not something that any person, or church or preacher can give or take away.

Salvation is something that is available right now, and right here.  You will never hear a Megachurch TV evangelist scream to the crowd, "The Kingdom of God is within you!"  If the church members heard this, and understood it, they would never come back to that church!

Being saved means to be freed from your suffering due to your doubts, your misplaced beliefs, your fear and your hate RIGHT NOW, not when you die.  Being saved means understanding that all of these feelings are NOT REAL, and you don't need them!  

In fact. when you burn away the ignorance, fear, hate, condemnation, anxiety, sadness... You truly understand that these are not-God.  Truly following the teachings of Christ requires you destroy those things in you that cause doubt.  

When you throw away all the garbage that causes you misery and pain; when you use your free will to do what Christ tells you - strip away your 'clothing' to reveal what is within and what is truly you, you are saved - not from "damnation" but from all the things that are keeping you from feeling love and loving others!

In fact, when you get rid of EVERYTHING that you've discovered that is not-God, you will finally understand (as much as is possible in a human mind) what God actually is.  It's not a mystery or a secret for a chosen few.  It is something that is right in front of your face, spoken and written and practiced for thousands of years.  God IS love.  Anything that is not-love is not-God.

You don't need to be "saved" to go to heaven.  You will go there because that is your home.  That's where you came from, and that's where you return when this game ends.

You don't need to be "saved" from a make believe eternal fire pit.  It is not real, and therefore not-God.

You need to be saved from your own ignorance and prejudice.  You need to be saved from the lies you've been told your whole life from humans that have a beginning and end, that are not-God.  You need to be saved from your doubts, your feelings, your 'beliefs', your 'faith'.

Love is infinite.  Love has no beginning and no end.  Love is unrequited.  Love is not dependent upon your beliefs or even on your refusal to accept it.  Anything that doesn't have these properties is not-Love.

Finally, remember that you are given the authority find the truth.  You are given the authority to speak the truth.  The truth has no beginning.  The truth was always there and it is within every single person.  The truth does not require belief, or faith or justification.  

The Truth IS faith.  Faith is infinite, without beginning or end.  Faith isn't hope.  Faith isn't belief.  Faith isn't knowledge.  Faith is not arbitrary.  Faith cannot be defined, either by a church or a religion.  Faith is what you DO when you are "saved" from doubt because you KNOW the Truth.

There is a quote by a great author that tells it exactly how it is:

"Faith: to push forward, aggressively, and without ceasing, in total trust and reliance in God."