A Different Voice

I’m taking a different approach yet again today. A friend sent this link to me knowing I would enjoy it. And I very much did. So much that I felt I needed to share it with you all. Now, keep in mind I don’t agree with all of it, but I do agree with quite a bit of it. I especially like the fact that he stopped believing in God before giving up the idea of Santa. It’s usually the other way around. But with no further ado, here is a writing by one of my favorite comedians. Ricky Gervais. Read, and please, let’s discuss.

https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.wsj.com%2Fspeakeasy%2F2010%2F12%2F19%2Fa-holiday-message-from-ricky-gervais-why-im-an-atheist%2F%3Fmod%3Dwsj_share_facebook&h=0af74

Also, if you haven’t seen it yet, check out ‘The Invention of Lying”. This film actually shows just how silly a lot of it sounds when you really look at it. And it’s just plain funny.

Barbara Downs Repost

Today is a change from my normal post subject. I posted this last year in honor of my mom, and it was one of my most popular posts. So, I thought I would repost it for Mother’s day once again. Here’s to all the great Mothers, Mommies, Moms, Mas, and Matriarchs!

My mom. The strongest, bravest, most amazing person I have ever known. She gave me a home and a wonderful family when she adopted me, and proceeded to view me as her own blood to such an extent, she once forgot that I was adopted. Imagine that. A mother loving her child so much, that she forgets I didn’t physically come from her. I had to remind her!

She raised my two big sisters and I on almost nothing. I drove her to the office to do all the paperwork to start recieving social security checks. They gave her a printout of her tax claims over her entire life. When I saw what she was making while raising us, I almost cried. Literally! Seeing that, I knew she had to have sacrificed every personal want so that she could provide what we, her children, needed.

Can you imagine doing that? No going to movies. No drinks with friends. No nice clothes. She never even toyed with the idea of dating. We were her entire focus. We were her entertainment. We were her future. Nothing else mattered to her, except the safety, health, and betterment of her children.

In turn, she is our hero. She made us laugh. She sang our silly little songs with us while taking family drives through the country. (“There’s more corn, there’s more corn, there’s more corn on the cobbie, cobbie!”) She showed us that it didn’t take money to be happy. She was our world. She is the person we always knew would be there when we needed her. She is the perfect definition of  “Mother”. When you look the word up in the dictionary, there should be a picture of Barbara Downs.

She’s in her mid-seventies now. Retired and tired. Enjoying not having to go anywhere or see anyone she doesn’t want to.(“I’m in my seventies now. I know enough people. I don’t need to meet any new ones.”) Enjoying being a grandmother to my sister’s daughter. Enjoying the first time in her life, since she was an early teen, that she doesn’t have to go to work ever again. She loves her movies, her “stories” (soap operas), and taking unexpected naps in her Lazyboy. She deserves every second of her retirement. She has no idea how to use the internet, and doesn’t care to. She, sort of, knows how to use a dvd player, but is still a little afraid of breaking it if she touches it. And, although she has taken to texting, tHe TExts ThaT i gET FroM HER Can soMEtIMEs lOOk QUitE Odd, but I still get the message. She loves me and continually misses seeing her son when I’m not there.

So, on this day for all mothers, instead of my normal ranting and raving, I dedicate this post to Mom. The most wonderful, happy inducing person I know. Even though you’ll never read this (note the lack of internet use mentioned earlier), thank you. I am who I am today because of you.

Alright, I need to go call her now, or I’ll be in trouble.

Easter For Sale

So, Easter came and went in yet another year, and yet again, was uneventful. No great epiphanies. No sage wisdom from above. Plenty of church signs telling me ‘He is arisen’, and ‘He walks among us’, but someone really needs to point Him out to me. I seem to keep missing running into Him. It’s like John Lennon stated, “He’s got to be good lookin’, cause He’s so hard to see!” Yeah…..come together over someone you can’t see. That makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

Now, I did see quite a bit of other things people were coming together around. Chocolate eggs, chocolate bunnies, and chocolate flowers were everywhere in our Capitalist country. (I, luckily, got something more fitting to my personal tastes. I got a chocolate monkey for Easter………jealous much!?) Plenty of cards, candy, and toys were gracing the aisles of the convenience stores, groceries, and drug stores that I entered throughout the holiday, but not many reminders of the god in human form that I was taught was the whole reason for the extra day off. I mean, yeah, if you hang out in a church or the likes, that little figure who looks strikingly like a fit Ted Nugent on a cross, is everywhere. But, as it seems to me, outside of sites of worship, and the several poorly acted out made for T.V. movies that air all day, you don’t see much of ‘The Savior of Man’ anywhere else. Sort of like regular, everyday life. Just a lot more chocolate involved.

That really doesn’t bother me all that much. God wasn’t originally a part of the party to begin with. This is simply a result of Christianity hijacking yet another heathen celebration, and injecting God into it. It was a ‘Hey, it’s my birthday too!’ type of situation. This has been done, as far as I can tell, because the secular, Pagan celebrations were more popular. More fun. More lively. Something people actually enjoyed. Is it any wonder God got lost in the midst of that? People were already celebrating the fruits of life renewed in the spring. Things that seemed dead all winter came back to life! Trees, flowers, and crops that wouldn’t grow for months now bloomed once again in all their natural glory. The world became green and alive again. That was something they could see. They had physical evidence of it. And they celebrated it. They didn’t need any other reason. Yes, they had to work hard and toil in their fields to make it beneficial, but according to the believers, all their work was for naught if God’s will didn’t allow the land to be fruitful. This message comes across to me as a huge ‘Tsk tsk tsk! Why are you celebrating the land, you savages? You shouldn’t celebrate your hard work and diligence. This is God’s doing, not  yours!’ Kind of a downer, right?

I know the community of believers will see all of this commercialism involved as a horrible warping of their sacred holiday, but to me it just the opposite. The date is being reclaimed by the secular overtones that it originally started out with. This, my friends, parallels the whole debate about taking the phrase, ‘under God’ out of the American Pledge of Allegiance. It wasn’t there to begin with (‘Under God’ was added in 1953, in case you didn’t know.), what’s the big deal about it returning to its original form. As far as I can see, removing God  wouldn’t change the beneficial pluses of either of them. Easter Sunday would still be filled with fun, excitement, and joy. The ‘Pledge’ would still show loyalty to the country we live in.  With no religious connotations involved in either case, we’d have one less thing to fight over while we should be celebrating! And here’s the kicker! Anyone who wants to include Him still can. That’s the beauty of a free country. And we are still a free country, aren’t we?

Hail, Hail, The Witch Is Dead!

In the belief of the Christian faith, Jesus died for our sins. Unfortunately, many people who believe this use it in a manner that I don’t think, if it were true, the act was intended for. Example: In the midst of me trying to remind ‘Christians’ that celebrating a man’s death, no matter who the man is, is not good Christian behavior, believers have stated to me that there is nothing wrong with them celebrating in the streets with the death of a terrorist leader. Their reason? They aren’t perfect. They are sinners. But that’s why Jesus died on the cross, so it’s no biggie.

Yes, I know I’m not using their exact words, but that’s how it comes across when someone tries to tell someone else that right now, at this moment they are doing something that God doesn’t want them to do and the response is essentially ‘Jesus died so I could have these moments!’ instead of saying ‘That’s right! I should stop.’

Think of it in a sense of WWJD. Do you think there is any situation whatsoever that Jesus would celebrate any man’s death? Didn’t think so. So when someone (especially someone who doesn’t believe in God, since you say you are trying to help bring people to Him, not repel them from Him.) points out that you are doing the exact opposite of what you should be doing according to your belief system, don’t tell them it’s O.K. this time because we are all sinners and Jesus died for our sins. Instead, actually make a case for your side and do what your God wants you to do. Otherwise, you are not only misrepresenting your ‘beliefs’, but you are making Jesus more of a scapegoat rather than a savior.

The More We Learn, The Less We Know.

So, I have been known to say that I believe science will someday be able to explain all of the questions that we don’t have answers for today. From the responses that I have gotten from people when I say that, I feel I need to expand on that a little more. I want people to understand that I don’t think we will ever know everything. I don’t believe that is possible. See, that’s the thing about infinity. There is no end. And I do believe that the multiverse is infinite. Within this situation, we still continue to try to answer the questions we have using scientific study. We study, learn,and quite often are surprised by what we find, but we progress. Things that were considered ‘magic’ in the past, we now can explain sensibly thanks to science. I think that the same will occur in the future with the things that we don’t understand today. Now, the reason I don’t believe that we will someday figure out EVERYTHING is that every time we find an answer for a question that we have, several more are usually raised. Each time we learn something new, it opens the door to other enigmas to unlock. As far as we know, that process may never end. To be honest, I hope it never does. Maybe that is the reason we are here, if there has to be one. A purpose of progressing, moving forward through time and space infinitely. Learning what we can learn, and finding whatever we find. No one actually knows what we may find the further we travel away from Earth. No one can tell us exactly what it would be like if we ever were able to study a black hole from the inside. Well, not too long ago, humans were in the same situation when pondering things we know about today. No one knew there were these microscopic organisms called germs that could make us ill. No one knew what we would find with a chance to study the surface of the moon while on the surface of the moon. But that changed. When we answered those questions, we suddenly had new ones to study.  I believe that will continue to be the case as we stumble forward in time, and hurtle farther into outer space. That sounds pretty exciting to me. I think that’s enough of a reason to exist.

All In Good Time

I have been told several times, by believers, that they feel just looking at the world/universe and all of it’s wonders is proof that God exists. They ask “If God didn’t make all of this, then how do you explain why it is all here?”  This doesn’t make sense to me. Why doesn’t it? Because that is the same reasoning our ancestors used when they believed in Odin, when they believed in Zeus, when they believed in Ra. I’ll give you a scenario:

Skeptic: “I don’t believe Odin exists.”

Believer: “Then how do you explain the lightning and thunder? How do you explain why no one ever returns from the mountain top, where they live, alive? Who do you think decides what happens, good or bad, in our lives?”

Skeptic: “I don’t know.”

Believer: “So how can you think so foolishly that Odin and the gods don’t exist?”

I’m sure that argument was completely convincing without the knowledge of how lightening comes to be. Without the tools or knowhow to reach the peak of a mountain. It all seemed magical and otherworldly. But in todays world, we have more information. We’ve been to the top of the tallest mountains in the world. Guess what. No immortals living there.

Just because we don’t understand why we are here, or how the universe works doesn’t prove someone orchestrated everything. Yes, it is possible. I understand that. But with as much doubt as I have that someone actually did consciously create everything, I have even more doubt that, if someone was behind it all, it was the God from the Bible. As I’ve said before, Man has put his mark on everything he as ever come in contact with. Written text is far too easy to edit, change, and warp for me to think that a 2000 year old book hasn’t been adapted to suit the men who compiled it.

Therefore, I have no more reason to believe in the God from the Bible, than I do Odin. This ‘proof’ that is presented to me is simply science we don’t understand yet. We know how lightning works today. We know the image of a god chucking a bolt of lightning like a javelin is simply untrue. I think, sooner or later, we will find the answers to the modern questions that we have that some consider proof of God in today’s world. Everything is within walking distance if you have the time.

Before I get the barrage of  “Christianity is about faith, not proof!” responses, I know that already. Believe me, I’m reminded on a pretty regular basis by the members of the flock of this fact. That is a subject I’ve touched upon several times to date. Anyone who has read this blog from the beginning knows how I feel about that excuse. It sounds a lot like “The Wizard of Oz” to me. “Behold the all powerful Wizard of Oz…….but don’t look behind the curtain lest you find out he isn’t real.” The Wizard was a man made ruse meant to intimidate people. I simply think that is more likely, concerning God, than the idea of an all powerful being. What do you think. What seems more likely to you. One single entity creating everything out of nothing, or men creating deities to try to explain what they don’t understand? I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen more examples of one rather than the other.

Morals Without B.I.G. Possible? or WWYDWGW?

Belief in God. Do people really need a belief in a higher being to believe in doing the “right thing”? To know what is positive and what is negative? To practice love instead of hate? In many of my debates about religion in government, several times people have asked the question: “If we don’t have God, where will we get our moral compass!?” Well, how about this? How about we get our moral compass by looking at the results our actions have on others we touch? I don’t need a deity to know when I’m wronging someone. I don’t need a set of commandments to tell me I shouldn’t kill another human. I don’t need a “Living God” to prove to me that every life matters. I believe most people don’t need that. I think most people learn this on their own through experience. The “Gee. I didn’t like when that was done to me, so maybe I shouldn’t do it to someone else.” idea. I don’t think we need a God to learn that.

The Bible says that God is omnipotent. (No, that doesn’t mean He can’t have children.) That means, among other abilities, He knows and sees all. Everything! He is everywhere, all the time. That creates a dilemma for me. When I was a child, I was once told that good character meant doing the right thing when no one is looking. In the Christian faith, that opportunity is never available. They are always on God’s radar. They are never doing anything without someone seeing. More so, their actions are always being seen by the one and only individual that matters. The one and only true law enforcer. You want to talk about the ultimate “Big Brother” situation? It’s right there. He doesn’t need cameras. He doesn’t need bugging devices. He doesn’t need to send a mole in to spy on you. He’s always watching.  That doesn’t give anyone the ability to earn character. At that point, it simply becomes ‘following rules’.

When someone tells me that they are doing something good because ‘God told them to’, it sort of makes me sad. It makes it look like they don’t have a mind of their own. It makes it look like they are not personally sincere in their actions. It makes me wonder why they can’t simply see it’s the right thing to do. Or when someone uses the argument of ‘What if you are wrong, and there is a God and a Heaven and a Hell?’ That tells me they are only trying to be righteous to avoid punishment. That wont be true righteousness. That’s control by fear. They aren’t being good, they are acting good out of fear of eternal damnation. Where is the character in that?

Some will argue that it isn’t a situation of Big Brother is watching, because God is perfectly good. Now, they don’t mean that in the context of “You ruined a perfectly good day.” They mean that He is so inherently good, it is impossible for Him to do anything but. That doesn’t hold water for me. I think that even the most perfect leader should give those under him the chance to act without being watched. That’s a good way to learn about true character. I know, I know believers. He knows what is in your heart. He doesn’t need this ‘test’ to know your true character. But what about you? Do you actually know what you would or wouldn’t do if you knew your God wasn’t watching? Would you still do your best to follow His word if you knew He would never even know about it? So, my question isn’t WWJD?, it’s WWYDWGW? What would you do without God watching? And don’t forget, he is watching! So even if you aren’t honest to me (or more importantly, to yourself), ‘He knows your heart.’ What do you say? Any of you up for this?

A Hot Button Subject, Literally!

I would like to start off today’s post with a ‘welcome’ to all the new readers that have recently decided to make the questionable decision to look into my mind. I do believe a nice mention (and convenient link placement) in Chris Chamberlain’s “Bites” blog, which he writes for the Nashville Scene magazine, led quite a few of you to Doc Thinks. You can find Bites here:

What You Should Be Drinking at Flyte: Stone Vertical Epic Ale

Thank you for reading, and thank you, Chris, for the mention! And by all means, I’m here to learn and debate. Don’t be afraid to add your voice, and comment on anything that you feel you would like to say after reading. All of my posts, from the first to the most recent, are available as well. So if you are new here, look back into the past and check out what’s been said so far. With that said…let’s go.

I wear a pin on my favorite leather cap that reads ‘God Loves You. Some Restrictions May Apply’. Before anyone gets bent out of shape, hear me out on why I love it so much. I’ve got a couple of reasons why.

The first of which is the fonts that it is written with. The first part, God Loves You, is written in a larger font than the second. In fact, the second part is printed so small that most people tend to make that squinty, scrunched up face that folks make when straining to read. Therefore, some don’t bother to read it as they respond with a sweet, yet automatic blessing or nod of agreement. For me, that represents how so many people don’t bother to look a little closer to get the whole story. They take what they are given, without any effort on their part, and miss the whole meaning. When I notice this happening, I respond with “Look a little closer.” I have to be honest, I get great pleasure out of this. The many varied reactions I receive run the gamut. From shocked horror, to confusion, to pure surprise, all are entertaining. My favorite reaction by far, though, is honest curiosity. The inquisitive response of “What do you mean by that?” or “Do you really feel that that is true?” This usually strikes up some informative conversation. I get to hear different points of view on the subject. Whether I agree or not, it’s almost always interesting and enlightening. It also brings to light how uncomfortable most people feel discussing religion. I find that odd. An apprehension to discuss a subject matter that many use to form their opinions, and base important life changing decisions upon that can effect us all! That has never made sense to me. As I’ve said many times, I believe we can’t discuss it enough. We need to discuss it. I feel it is imperative to understanding each other.

When my little button stirs someone’s curiosity enough to lead them to discuss it with me, it gives me the opportunity to state the other reason why I love it so. Understand it is not a statement on whether or not God exists, it’s more of a representation of how  I believe Man has terribly warped the idea of a deity who loves unconditionally. A perfect example of this misinterpretation of ‘The Word’ that I’m speaking of would be a sign that I saw being held up by a young woman claiming to be Christian marching at a gay marriage opposition rally. The sign read ‘I don’t hate gays, God does.’ Wow, right? I know, I know. This is an extreme example, but I think it shows just how easy it is to change the original meaning of a good idea. A perfect example of how, if you don’t step back and understand that the possibility of being in the wrong always exists, you can be paving your road to the proverbial Hell rather than Heaven. It shows the dangers of not challenging those in power no matter how powerful, pious, or popular they are. Scholar or scientist, Preacher or politician, President or Pope. Everyone needs an ego check from time to time. If the powerful aren’t kept in check, that leads to absolute power. And I think we all know where that leads.

So if you happen to run into me, I hope that instead of being offended by the phrase on my button, you will discuss it with me. You might actually make a difference in my thinking. After all, there is always the possibility I might be wrong.

Phantoms and Pharaohs

It’s strange. I’ve found that just because you know it’s not there, it doesn’t disappear as easily as you would think. I’m speaking of dealing with the realization that the likelihood of there actually being someone in charge of all of ‘this’ is rather slim. But even with that epiphany, or possibly in spite of it, the old habits die hard. I still find myself shaking my fist at the sky when frustrated. Or thanking some invisible force for something good that has happened, only to remind myself that, most likely, there isn’t anyone listening. That bothered me at first. I thought that maybe it meant someone was there. As if that was some sort of proof! Then the fog cleared, and I realized that it was simply habit. Forty years of blindly believing it sort of ingrained it into my psyche, I suppose. I likened it to that phantom limb phenomenon. Like when someone loses an arm or a leg, yet they still feel pain or an itch in said limb. I’m so used to the idea of it being there, that my brain still acts as if it is there. Weird.

That hasn’t been the only side effect of this situation. I’ve also noticed that, even though they have become one of the most powerful communal/financial forces in the world, many in the current Christian community seem to believe that they are still being persecuted. Honestly, one person actually said that non-believers don’t ever get a backlash when they speak about what they believe, but if a Christian speaks publicly about what he believes, he’s met with adversity. Wow. Really? Apparently, it’s common for the everyday preacher to get death threats for speaking to their congregation. Yeah…..no……I don’t think so. News flash for the Christian community: YOU ARE THE MAJORITY. Especially in this country. You’re no longer fighting an uphill battle, with Romans at your heels, or Pharaohs calling for your heads anymore. You’ve got the largest voice in history, and yet a few simple questions make you react as if you are in danger of being thrown to the lions. If you don’t know the answer, just say so. There’s nothing wrong with not having all the answers. It’s okay, that’s not a sin. Well, the bible doesn’t say it is, anyway.

Now, let me make this statement very clear before you all start sending your angry responses. I understand that not all Christians are like this. I know, and am friends with, many that aren’t. I’m talking about a select group within the group. I’m not referring to all Christians. Unfortunately, I have found that it is the majority of Christians that I have debated/talked with that respond this way. I am genuinely inquisitive regarding the subject, therefore, I have many, many questions and confusion on why so many people subscribe to, what I see as a convoluted, veiled, and hard to decipher belief system. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it often in the future. This stance I take isn’t out of spite, but pure amazement toward this phenomena. Unfortunately, when I ask said questions, with pure desire to try to understand, I’m usually met with defensiveness and hostility. Rarely do I get intelligent, well thought out responses. Notice, I did not say answers, but responses. I understand that most people don’t have ‘answers’, but what I’m looking for is reasons as to why people fully and totally believe in ideas that have no tangible reasoning. And, I’m sorry, but the response of “The Bible says so.” is not acceptable. The Bible was written by men. Period.

Most often, I get the response of “Why are you so pissed off about this? You seem to be holding a lot of anger concerning this!”. What most don’t understand is that it’s not anger. It’s a passionate defiance against a belief that I was raised on, or in my opinion, duped by for most of my life! You know that feeling that folks feel after they are ‘reborn’ where they want to shout it out from the mountain tops? It’s the flip side of that for me. I want to try to wake people up from this fantastic dream world that they have been fed from birth. This magical elixir called Jesus, that is the cure for every bad thing they ever did, or will do, in their lives. I don’t believe that there is an end all, be all super fix for all that socially or emotionally ails you. If you wrong someone, it’s up to you to right things between the two of you. Going to a priest and confessing your sins doesn’t make it go away. Try this. Punch someone you don’t know in the face, go repent to God, and then go back to the person you punched. I want to know how much the person you punched cares about how many ‘hail Marys’ or ‘our Fathers’ you said before that person reciprocates. I know, I know. It’s an extreme example, but I’m trying to make a point. Confessing your ‘sins’ to a priest doesn’t absolve you to most people if you have wronged them. Making an attempt to RIGHT the wrong goes many, many more miles toward absolution than confessing to a priest. Or preferably, yet much more unlikely, not wronging said someone in the first place!

An Itch In My Craw, and Common Sense.

Before I go into the subject matter of today’s post, I want to explain something. I’ve been writing about Christianity because I grew up in that milieu. It’s what I know best, religion-wise. I’m not intentionally aiming at any certain belief system, it’s just that this is the one I’ve tried, to no avail at this point, to make sense of due to my background. I say that in the hopes that Christians will understand why it has been the subject of choice. Yes, it is a bit of a rebellion and an attempt to rewire the thought process that time and repetition has taught my brain. A rebellion against the whole idea of a god in charge of everything. I am drawn to the Christian view of the subject because it’s what I was taught to believe while growing up. I imagine if I grew up Jewish, Muslim, Taoist, or Druid, that would be my focus. Alas, none of those were the case. I grew up Christian. Therefore, I talk and write about Christianity. With that said, off we go.

Watching our nation’s political system in action recently, something has been bothering me. Something has been bothering me quite a bit. What this is is the fact that I live in a nation where most people, it seems, say they believe a certain belief, yet live a life that doesn’t parallel the system they say they claim to believe in. Not even close. Quite often they vehemently lobby against the edicts of their belief. Now, I understand that humans are fallible, and that being Christian doesn’t mean being perfect. I understand that very much, in fact. If you have read previous posts, you’ve seen I’ve admitted that many times. It has been one of the focal points of my argument against the existence of God. But the actions I see show that there are very few people that are trying, truly trying to align their lives with the teachings of the Bible. Yet we have a popularly accepted idea that we are a Christian country. Unfortunately, living in the comfort of our modern world, especially in our country which thrives on capitalism, it’s very hard not to live well beyond what we truly need. That alone goes against what the Bible teaches.

Now, sometimes being an outsider, as I have become regarding Christianity, let’s you see things differently. You can step back, and see the forest and the trees. Just as Christians can look at other religions in the most basic terms, I can now look at Christianity in it’s most basic form. I can simply look at what is written. What the words, or “The Word” if you want to take it to extremes, say. It’s one mistake I think most believers make, forgetting that they are simply reading the words of other religions, and not living within the religion. They are looking at them from an outsider’s perspective. You can see what is wrong with it more easily. Like how easy it is to see that someone else is in a bad relationship, and yet you may not see that you are in an even worse one. In that light, after reading the Bible in a few of it’s different versions, I see that most people who call themselves Christian in our country aren’t really trying very hard to follow the teachings of Christ. Excuses are made. Rationalizations are contrived. Adaptation, and personal opinion is injected into their lives to make them feel better about the fact that, if you take the words for the meaning that they have, they don’t live the lives that their God wrote the rules for. They live well beyond what they need. And I do mean need. Anything more than need, in the Christian faith, is greed. To support this idea, I will take a quote from C. S. Lewis’s “Mere Christianity”.

“If our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc, is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small.”

Do you understand the gravity of that? Do you get what he means by that? That means that everybody who has more than he can spend to live a comfortable, humble life, probably isn’t doing what God and Jesus says they should be doing according to the Bible. According to “God’s Word”. And Lewis himself, being a very successful writer, fell into this trap more than most who are reading this.

Example: Owning a cell phone goes against that idea. Now, I know many people will bring up the argument of, “These days you can’t conduct business. You can’t connect to your customers. You can’t easily keep in touch with your family without one.” The argument that somehow, God understands that times have changed, and His word should change with it. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if you believe the Bible actually is the word of God, then you are taught that His word is timeless. The times should adapt to His word, rather than the other way around. Anyone who owns a cell phone, a flat screen T.V., or a computer, luxuries that we don’t actually need, but have just become accustomed to, is going against Jesus’s teachings. Understand that’s not my opinion. That’s not me judging others. That’s simply what His teachings lay out in relatively plain words. If you have more than you need, you aren’t following what the Christian doctrine asks of you. That is the realization that made me stop calling myself a Christian. I realized, due to how we are conditioned to live in our modern world, I wasn’t truly trying to be Christian. I didn’t want to. I liked the comforts of my life, as most of us do. I had worked hard to achieve the level of comfort I had, and knew I would continue to try to better my comfort level. That’s not why I came to the determination that there was no God. Those were other reasons all together. I hope you understand that. It’s simply why, at that time, I realized I shouldn’t be calling myself a Christian. I wasn’t trying to be Christian. Not anywhere near to the point that the Bible asks of me.

I’m hoping that people understand that this post isn’t a debate about whether or not God actually exists. This is simply an observation that, according to the Bible (and I know I’ve drilled those words “according to the Bible” into many of my statements here, but it’s because I feel the need to remind everyone that it isn’t my take on it. It’s simply a fact.) people in our country aren’t trying very hard to truly be Christian. If they were, we wouldn’t have so much trouble convincing the rich and ruling population of our great nation that they should be helping people in need. We wouldn’t have hospitals that refuse aid to people who don’t have insurance, while the doctors drive home in their fancy cars to their fancy homes. We wouldn’t have to remind people that they are fortunate to not have to worry about how they will pay their next month’s worth of bills, or worry about how they are going to earn the money to feed their sons and daughters, or worry about how they are going to find the cash to keep their car running so they can get to work. The wealthy would willingly give to those in need. We wouldn’t have the debate of whether or not government should decide how to distribute the excess personal wealth of our country. Our fellow Americans would be doing that on their own. Our wealthy not only don’t want to part with the abundance they have, they want more. With the fact that the wealthy run our country (And make no doubt about it, the wealthy run our country), we are not a Christian country. Our actions, as a nation, prove that. Our country does not practice Christian ideals. It does not take a Christian stance. I think that people who consider this country Christian are even more misguided than those who very happily and willingly live beyond their needs and continue to convince themselves that they are trying their best to be Christian. I’ts an untruth, by definition. It’s a fantasy world that has been created in people’s minds so that we can legitimize our lifestyles to feel better about the comfort that we live in, while we know there are others that lack, not only comfort, but basic needs.

Please know that I understand that I am one of these people as well. I though, unlike Christians, have the convenience of lack of a belief in a God. I simply believe in the idea that we, as humans, have the control over what each of us does to make the world around us better for those we come in contact with. I don’t believe it’s our duty lain down by some higher power. I simply belive that helping each other makes sense. It simply makes sense. I believe if we don’t start working together, instead of creating more reasons to disagree, we will wipe ourselves off this planet. Whether it happens by accident, or deliberately makes no difference. We now, as a race, have that power to erase Man from this earth. Therefore it’s more important now than it ever has been to realize that we should be helping each other. And make no mistake, if we do eliminate ourselves from the mix, trees will continue grow, rivers will continue to run their paths, and rains will still fall. The Earth will begin the process of covering up all evidence of us ever being here. Even beyond that, comets will continue to streak through the cosmos, planets will continue to circle their suns, and stars will continue to burn pinholes into the night sky. There just won’t be any humans to look at them any longer. That’s how insignificant we are to nature. To think we are so important that we are the only form of life that really matters in the long run, seems insane to me. Nature itself, the process that nourishes us, the situation that makes it possible for us to live on this planet, wouldn’t miss us if we were gone. In fact, it would thrive without us.

I mentioned, at the beginning, that watching the recent election set me thinking and writing on this particular subject. I see our country going to hell in a hand basket while the Democrats and Republican argue over whether the basket should be red or blue, and the Independents and Tea Party movement keep trying to convince us that we need a better basket. Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem like any of them understand that the most important thing right now would be to get out of the basket altogether. Although I don’t subscribe to any particular political party, many people would say I lean heavily to the left. Well, I can’t really argue with that. My ideas line up with the left much more often than with the right. I’m surprised that the country, if it truly considers itself Christian, isn’t more left thinking than it is. From what I have read in the bible, if He had to choose between calling Himself a Democrat or a Republican, I think Jesus would choose the donkey over the elephant.(He reportedly opted for them in the past.) He would be telling the rich and powerful in our country that they not only aught to be living more humbly, and giving the extra that they have to those in need, it’s their duty. Unfortunately, I don’t think He will be showing up. I believe the rich will get richer, the poor will stay poor, and those in control are going to drive this country straight down the road to hell while arguing over what to do with all of their money. Unless things change, this is where we are headed. Unless all the people with sway in our government who call themselves Christian actually start acting like Christians, we will continue down that road. Until the leaders of our nation start being more concerned about making sense rather than making money, we as a nation, will continue this downward spiral. I don’t see them making that change any time soon, though. I just hope I’m gone before we hit bottom, and the rest of the world begins to divide our nation’s land between themselves.