February 7, 2009, 6:00 pm by dc-agape.

I have found a way to add gadgets to my blog.  1and1.com does not allow its clients to edit the format of the blog site.  As a result, I will add the gadgets that I want on each page of my blog at the bottom of specific posts.

On the previous post, Atheism: Love, I have attached the Biblegate.com search gadget and also the Google website translation gadget.  Please use and enjoy the new addition.

Posted in State of Mind, Introduction | Print | 3 Comments »

February 7, 2009, 10:53 am by dc-agape.

All forms of philosophies have been used for the evil.  Christianity is full of it: the Crusades, the Witch Hunts, and even slavery.  The Muslim philosophy is turning out to be just as bad: terroristic attacks on numerous countries.  Even the Jewish philosophy is not immune: look at the devastation of Gaza (by Harry Shannon at TheSpec.com).  Many claims that Atheism is no different: Hitler, Stalin, and Mao.  But all three of these allegations were about ethnic cleaning not Atheism.  Atheism by far is the most peaceful philosophy man can embrace.  The reason for that is that Atheism grasps a level of love that no other philosophy can achieve.  In this post I will explain why love is central to the Atheist movement.

Atheism does not create the “us vs. them” thought patterns that all religions do.  Atheism itself is not coherent and as a result there is no us.  Without the “us vs. them” mentality we do not see other people as less human or less deserving of “salvation”.  An Atheist recognizes that all humans are equal; it is their faith in imaginary beings that create the discord between Atheist and religious people.  Our philosophy on life attempts to use all the tools at our disposal to explain life and create meaning for the benefit of all humanity.  It is this idea that makes us love everyone equally and creates the hope for the future that I described in my last post on Atheism.

But there is more to Atheism’s value of love than even this.  We recognize that this is the only life that all humans have.  As result, we understand that everyone deserves to have the best life here and now.  We are a small percentage of the US population and to make things worse we are one of the most despised minorities (from the religioustolerance.org website) here as well.  Of course, being a small despised minority gives us a unique perspective on the world…I am sure that other minorities in the US understand this point with crystal clear insight.  This unique perspective gives us even more insight in the injustices of the US theocracy.  Most of the Atheist out there must remain closeted because of fear from the “loving” christians in our country. For example there is VJack at Atheist Revolution that lives in a very “christian” (Bible-belt) part of the US who knows that it would be great folly to loss his anonymity.  As a result of these experiences, most (not all) Atheist have great love for their fellow neighbors.  We want what is best for our neighbors, for our country, and for our world.

It is true that the definition of “best” is subjective.  Christians believe that it is best that everyone is saved; Muslims believe that it is best that everyone believes in Mohammad.  But what is truly best is that we live in peace without the fear of religious terrorism, that everyone has an equal chance to become President, that no one is killed for being different, and many other that can be discussed. This is the love the Atheism represents and is determined to create. 

My next post on Atheism will be about “The Purpose Driven Life” that Atheism provides not the Christian example (which is somewhat hypocritical).  Why would you make a profit off helping your brothers and sisters in Christ?  Doesn’t that go against the 1^st century teachings of in the Book of Acts:

Acts 2:44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

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Posted in Atheism, State of Mind, Becoming an atheist | Print | 1 Comment »

February 7, 2009, 7:35 am by dc-agape.

     We have reached the Tower of Babel.  Humanity has spread and has found a place to build a large city.  Since they are all from one source they speak a common language.  All the people decide to work together and build a tall building in this city.  YHWH gets curious and comes down to check it out.  For some reason the omnipotent omniscient creator has to come down to see what we are doing.  So what does the loving YHWH do…he gets angry that we are in unity and he gets afraid that we can do anything we want.  He then punishes us for his fear and anger.  He scatters humanity and confuses our common language.  What a guy!

     This story does lead to an interesting situation in the present day.  Almost all of humanity has a common language, again.  And due to this common communication we are again like in the story of the Tower of Babel.  I wonder if YHWH is getting worried that we might become like the people of that time.  Will his petty jealousy punish us again for finding unity?  Will he scatter us and confuse our common language again?

     The next part of the chapter covers the genealogy of Shem’s offspring.  The lifespan of these people is much longer than YHWH had declared in this verse:

Gen 6:3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

It would seem that YHWH has forgotten this statement.  The earliest son’s of Shem live for at least 400 years and only after the 6^th generation did the 120 year edict come into play.  Because of Shem’s 600 year lifespan he witnessed the birth of Abram, his great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson (9 generations).  What is more astonishing is that Noah is still alive when Abram is born!  For some reason Terah, Abram’s father, decides to move away from home, and all his living relatives.  Here at the end of chapter 11 we have Abram in Haran. 

    Two of the study notes are quite odd.  The first one is in reference to Genesis 11:27-25:11.  This one claims that YHWH is going to try one more time to get this human thing right.  He created Adam, and that didn’t work out the way he wanted.  So he saved Noah during YHWH’s flood, and that didn’t turn out right either.  Now after the Tower of Babel, YHWH is going to try it one more time with Abram.  Does YHWH just not learn?  Is he really omniscient?  He sure does not seem to be reading these chapters.  The other study note is about verse 11:31.  Somehow we know that Abram’s father, Terah, is an idolater.  I guess that would explain moving away from the family that YHWH saved from the flood.  Hearing Noah and Shem recount the flood over and over for decades must have been living hell!  Just to let you know…Noah didn’t die until Abram was 56 and Shem died when Abram was 106.  We don’t know when Terah moved to Haran, but we know that it was after Abram was married to Sarai.

Posted in Genesis, Readings | Print | 1 Comment »