Friday, February 24, 2012

Worship of the God named NoGod

I met someone the other day who said, “I believe there is no God!”  Then said I “show me this God called NoGod, and I too will believe!”

I’m sure this is not a new event.  I’m sure that this type of thinking is as old as time.  I’m sure that the god nogod has always been and always will be, for this is how it must be among intelligent beings.

It has been said by many that we all worship the same God.  And that when we pray, this god hears our prayers.  The universal god of all, worshiped by each according to the customs and teachings of the society in which each of us has been born and raised.

I reject this premise.  I reject it, for it is a lie, meant to deceive.

Most of the world revolves around two great religions.  When I was growing up, I believed that the predominate faith of the world revolved around Christ, the son of God.  And although many factions of that faith existed, in the end, we all prayed to this being in one way or another.  Either to his Father, as he has directed, or to him, as our needs have directed.

Either way, the being to whom we seek for guidance, direction, solace, and blessings, is Jesus of Nazareth spoken of explicitly in the New Testament, and implicitly in the Old.

During my youth, some 50 years ago, a great movement began in which we as a society embraced the thought that it is possible that this God to whom we refer so often, could very well be a myth.  And therefore his teachings, which we as a society publicly embraced, are actually arbitrary, and shouldn’t be forced on everyone.

One of the most fundamental aspects of this God that the Jews have given us is embodied in his teachings of choice.  In other words agency.  We as intelligent beings, may choose.  And at the heart of his teaching are the Ten Commandments.

Over the years, these principles of how we live have become arbitrary, in our choosing how to live.  If god is a myth, what makes these ten principles of society so important that we must pattern our lives after them?

If there is no god, then we are free to choose what we believe is right and wrong.  And so this philosophy has been growing for the last 50 years, a cycle of two generations, going on three.  This is not a new thought, it is as old as time.  But in the context of this nation, its founding and the constitutional basis of its existence, this shift in thinking creates some serious conflicts.

The two major gods in the world today are the god of Israel, brought to us by the Jews and labeled as Christianity, and the god of the prophet Mohamed, and labeled as Allah, the father of the Islamic nation.

Can these two gods be the same in the end?  Since we all come from the same father, then this must be true.  Or at least, that is the premise by which many believe, that this god who created all mankind, hears and answers the prayers of all his children, no matter by what name he is called.

Although this would work in the general sense, this type of thinking also ignores the Christian concept of conflict.  That good and evil actually exist.  Light and darkness.  Right and wrong.  Christ and Lucifer.  That in choosing how and what to believe is actually choosing between the right way to live, and the wrong way to live.  A choice that leads to happiness or sorrow.

What if these two great gods of ancient myth, actually exist?  And that they have somehow managed to establish their own religion, which through their faithful followers, rules the nations founded so very long ago by the fathers of the now present faithful children?

What is at the basis of Christianity, as presented by Jesus?    What is at the basis of Islam, as presented by the prophet Mohammad? 

As I understand it, Jesus conferred with angels and beings sent by god and then presented us with the things that he was taught along with an organized church from which we gain guidance and direction on a daily basis.

As I understand it, Mohammad  conferred with angels and beings sent by god and then presented us with the things that he was taught along with an organized church from which we gain guidance and direction on a daily basis.

Rules to live by, which form and fashion our lives, our thoughts, and the essence of our very being.

In the end one of the gods gives a choice in how we live and what we believe, the other compels us in how we live and what we believe.  One of the gods allows us to be who we want and do what we want, as long as we do so with respect of others and within a framework of laws which protect all from malice and harm.  One of the gods requires everyone to live according to his dictates, under penalty of imprisonment or death.  The only option is to believe, or die.

And then there is nogod.  Within the framework of a free society, or a Christian based government, this is also a choice.  And many have chosen nogod to worship.  A shifting code of values, that inevitably becomes a basis by which to live.   A world in which nogod exists, is a world filled with gods, for each intelligent being, by his very right of intelligence, becomes a god.

And the greatest and most powerful gods are the ones with the most money and political power.  Those gods that have risen to positions of wealth and power, either by birth or education.  Since nogod exists, whatever greatness they have obtained is by their own doing, and therefore they feel it is important for all to believe as they do and act as they think all should act, for after all, are they not great?  Are they not as god?

And in the end, they, the new gods who believe in nogod, rule with benevolence.  Forcing us to live as they dictate and choosing for us the life style that is most conducive for our happiness.  And because they are gods who follow nogod, it is important to recognize that we must protect the earth from ourselves, and not waste the precious resources.   Therefore, lesser beings that by their very nature are not great and powerful, but are to be looked upon as the machinery by which the greater and more powerful beings, those with wealth and the scepter with which to rule, are sustained, must be controlled and regulated, guided and directed in how each life is lived.

We, the ruled, must not destroy this earth by our gluttony of the natural and limited resources.  We, the ruled, must not destroy the earth by changing the weather, or overpopulation, or, or, or whatever the popular notion of the followers of nogod currently choose to believe.

In the end, this god named nogod, takes from us our agency.  Destroys our ability to choose.  And leaves all who are left under his treacherous rule, in chains.  Chains of ignorance, poverty, and servitude.

So I propose that there really is only two gods. 

And the god nogod?  He is actually the great deceiver, the prince of darkness, who captures the soul, and carefully leads his followers down to a place called hell.  For he whispers in their ears and says, “Believe it not, there is no heaven and there is no hell, for I am not and Christ is not, only man exists.”

Thursday, September 22, 2011

What if?                                                                                                               September   2011
What if Jesus really meant exactly what he said when he spoke the words, “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
What a novel idea.  The idea that Jesus would actually speak clearly and distinctly concerning the topic of linage.  Why is this so hard to comprehend?  Why does the very nature of this thought scare everyone into denial?
Large segments of our population would rather believe the ridiculous notion of man evolving from a disorganized state to the complex human form in which he now resides, then the more logical possibility that man actually started as a complex human form and is evolving, as is dictated by the law of entropy, towards a disorganized state.
What if the Father of whom Jesus is speaking, is that same being that began all life here on the earth?  That would mean that we actually know the name of this being.  For we are told the name of the father of all living in the same book that we learn of his son, or at least the prophet Isaiah’s declaration of the coming of his son.
This would put the ‘alien visitors from space’ believers in a more favorable light.  The odds are better for their beliefs than the masses that insist on clinging to the notion of evolution.
Oh the doors that open when you free your prejudicial mind.  Adam is our father by the very context of the Old Testament.  If the Old Testament is to be believed.  Some historical flaws seem to exist, and need reconciliation with geological reality.  But that will all be worked out in due time.  Kind of like you in spirit form, after being torn from your body by death, looking around and saying “well that explains a lot of things!”
And this notion that Adam was organized as a man made out of clay and sprinkled with magic dust?  That would definitely be the simple version for a simple mind.  Someone definitely didn’t think that we could handle the truth; and reading what people write on the subject of God and man, leads me to agree.
By the very nature of life, Adam would have a father.  Whoa!  Hold on!  Stop opening doors!
The truth is, what we know is less than what we don’t know.  Considerably less.  But at least Jesus was speaking clearly and distinctly, pointing us in the right direction.  That is if you have the courage to listen, and proceed in the direction he is pointing.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

A few words to my friend gregg...

Someday when we meet God, and there is a God, I could only wish for one pure and simple friend, like you, that will reach down, lift me up, and assist me to stand, so that with you by my side, supporting me and giving strength, I could look into the eyes of a just and eternal God, stripped of all that I once used to hide myself, naked before His blinding, penetrating gaze,-- the gaze of He who is without end, the eternal God of endless glory-- and with my voice, a mere whisper, barely audible above the numbing silence of that moment, beg for mercy.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Prelude to the symbolic world of Lehi

Interesting how all science comes to the same conclusion.  Man should not exist.  There is no logical, scientific, model in which Man exists.  Actually, there is no scientific model in which the plants and animals should exist here on this earth.  Actually, there is no scientific model in which the earth could exist.

Lehi and his symbolic world.

A great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth.  And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine.

I figured it out.  I finally realized where I am in the symbolic representation of what is going on here on earth.  It was all a matter of perspective.  Where exactly am I standing in Lehi’s visionary world?

I’m inside the building. 

That’s me on the fourteenth floor, standing in the hall near the elevator.  I’m not really interested in finding a balcony to look out over the beautiful unobstructed view, or the party room where we can drink a little or drink a lot according to our party spirit.  Drugs, liquor, licentious love.  Pick your party.  It’s all here in this grand and spacious building.

I really just want to get out.

So this is how I figured it out.  I looked around, couldn’t see any buildings with mocking people.  But I began to notice that there are a lot of people who really struggle with the concept of a God.  Educated people.  People who fill the void with the ever increasing information gleaned by observation and refined by science.

Interesting how all science comes to the same conclusion.  Man should not exist.  There is no logical, scientific, model in which Man exists.  Actually, there is no scientific model in which the plants and animals should exist here on this earth.  Actually, there is no scientific model in which the earth could exist.

Even the big bang supports this concept.  Entropy, a building block of science, everything going from an organized state to a disorganized state.  Which would simplistically be what the big bang is all about.  Something blowing up, spreading debris from one end of the universe to the other.  So how, in the name of He who does not exist, does that which is moving from an organized state to a disorganized state, suddenly reverse its natural flow to coalesce into something so organized as an earth with all of the infinite variables necessary to sustain life.

Those who deny the existence of God want to believe that someday (hope hope hope) science will find some evidence somewhere that proves it is in the natural order of things to go from disorganized to organized.  An empty hope. 

And the best part?  They mock those that believe in a God.  Anyone who would believe in a being so powerful, that he can defy entropy. 

This argument, and the mockery in the absence of any kind of good argument, has been going on for a long time. 

Interesting how a fictitious character named Lehi (you know, from Joseph Smiths imagination), came to this elusive conclusion. “If there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.  And now… I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon.  And to bring about his eternal purposes in the end… man, he… created our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine, all things which are created…”

Wow!  What fertile imagination!  180 years of scientific discovery later, and the only logical conclusion possible, was already reached by Joseph Smith and his imaginary friends.

Everything I have, everything anyone has, is a gift from God.  The building, the fine clothes, expensive jewelry, computers, electronics, planes, trains, and automobiles.  Fast food.  This whole incredible construct of life.  A gift. 

Science has discovered the existence of life before Adam and Eve walked out of the garden.  Even man.  100,000 years of man on this earth.  Only six thousand years of man since Adam.  So what did the 94,000 years of man look like?  A whole lot of time passed with no real change.  Just another beast on the earth.  Existing.

When Adam walked out of the garden, he came with knowledge of God.  Knowledge of science, literature, art.  An intricate and expressive language, written and spoken.  And the world changed. 

And when it changed, man began building an imaginary building.  Because even though Adam was well aware of a being with the ability to create and sustain life, the concept is too hard to really grasp, by those whose universe begins and ends with them.

And I was born into this imaginary building.  An illusion of the genius of modern man.  Seriously, after thousands of years with little or no change in the way life was lived, a series of new and innovative thoughts just started jumping into heads?  The industrial revolution just happened because we somehow got smarter?   

Like I said, “how do I get out of this building?”

Monday, November 15, 2010

A thought on the subject of God.

Which person are you?
When you are told that God exists, you say that is impossible.

When you are told there is no God, you say I am possible.

Leland Sycamore

Monday, November 8, 2010

Lets talk about Ghosts and Hearst Castle

While going through some photos i had on file, I found these pictures taken during a tour of the Hearst Castle.  When I first went through these pictures a few years ago, I quickly dismissed them as just poorly lit or over-exposed.  However looking at them now, I see that I was mistaken.  The wispy, light threads that appear to "over-expose" part of the picture, are actually spheres'.  Large spherical shapes, which others believe to be the photographic version of ghosts.  I always thought that was silly.  But now....I'm not so sure.


So if you are looking for pictures of Ghosts at the Hearst Mansion or Hearst Castle in California.  Here they are.


And to quote a famous lion, from the land of Oz, "I do believe in ghosts, I do, I do, I do!"













And as you can see, the ghosts at Hearst Castle are really attracted to my wife, as am I.



And one more ghost following us down stairs.