Religion is superstitious wishful thinking. Religious people have not outgrown their childish beliefs in fairy tales, legends, and myths. This immature way of thinking is expressed in prayers. Supposedly prayers are means of communicating with the divine but it seems to be that the communication is only one-way. Shouting inside a cave is better than praying because at least you will get an immediate response.
At best, the answers of a deity or deities to prayers are subject to the interpretation of the believers. For instance, some say that the Judeo-Christian God answers prayers in three ways, namely, YES, NO, and WAIT. However, this statement is senseless. It is just a safe way of saying that God is really unreliable when it comes to answering prayers. You can pray to a potato and you will surely receive the same three possible answers of YES, NO, and WAIT depending on your own interpretation.
Prayers are self-contradictory and futile because of four main reasons:
1. If God is all-knowing or omniscient, prayers are not necessary because he already knows what we need. It would be redundant to constantly remind God of the things that we need.
2. If God has a divine plan (e.g., the manner and time of death of a love one), certain types of prayers are meaningless if they contradict this plan.
3. If God is all-wise, prayers are meaningless because mere mortals cannot change the mind of God by pointing out certain deficiencies in their lives.
4. Prayers of thanks and praise are merely ego-boosting. How can an omni-potent and omniscient God benefit from our expression of gratitude and flattery?
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[Republished from: http://philippineaffairs.com/]
The last time Michael Jackson was in the Philippines was in December of 1996. It was a two-day concert that was part of a historic world tour. It was the third and last world concert tour of Michael Jackson as a solo artist. That was almost 13 years ago. He was only 37 years old then. He might not had been in the apex of his career that year but he was still well-enthroned as the undisputed King of Pop Music.
Although the issues of child sexual abuse were already hounding him in 1996, these issues were not enough to discourage some 50,000 Filipinos to attend his concert. In spite of the dizzying prices of the concert tickets, many Filipino fans waited for more than 8 hours at the entrance of the Asianworld concert site in Parañaque just to make sure that they would have the best vantage view to watch the performance. The social elites, celebrities such as Garry Valenciano (a Michael Jackson imitator), politicians, and ordinary Filipinos were among the audience.
After 13 years, 13 Grammy Awards, and more than 750 million albums sold, Michael Jackson now entered the pantheon of celebrity gods and goddesses. He will be forever immortalized as a cultural icon of his era and one of the greatest music performers of the 20th century.
The Filipinos are one with the world in mourning the loss of a great man. In spite of his eccentricities and controversial lifestyle, Michael Jackson was a consummate genius in his own right.
Michael died on Thursday at around 2126 GMT (5:26 a.m, Friday, Philippine time). It was presumed that he suffered from cardiac arrest.
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For almost three years now since I have started this blog, I have somewhat kept this blog secret from my wife. Thankfully, she is not really fond of searching my name in Google. Otherwise, she would have easily found this blog. Although my wife knows that I have several blogs, I have not put emphasis on this particular blogsite. In one hand, I was ambivalent about revealing the existence of this blogsite to my wife in fear that she would be angry at me. After all, I was the one who converted her to Mormonism. When I became an atheist, I thought she would feel somewhat betrayed if she found out about my new conviction. I really did not want to hurt her feelings. At the same time, I did not have any intention of converting her to atheism. On the other hand, I also wanted her to understand me. It is ironic that in the back of my mind I was really half-hoping that she would read this blog so that she could understand me better.
It was really a gradual process before I have finally revealed to her the existence of this blogsite. It took almost three years. I first became inactive in attending church services. Some circumstances also contributed to our lost of enthusiasm to attend church services. One of which was my job relocation. We were seldom able to go to our local Mormon church because of the impractical distance. It gave me the opportunity to gradually show her the doctrinal and historical errors of the Mormon Church.
However, I have not fully revealed my atheism. I just told her that I was just seeking the truth. I have not discouraged her to pray or believe in God. In fact, I have not even protested when she started teaching our three-year old son how to pray. She has her own convictions but she was not really fanatic about the Mormon Church. She too eventually became inactive from attending church services even when we finally returned to our former residence after I was retrenched from my job. However, I still saw that she still had some emotional attachment to our unofficially "former" religion. We often confide with each other about the merits of having a religion, especially now that our son is already starting to have questions about certain religious-related things he sees on television and learns from his playmates. Our son also has recently started pre-school class.
It was only about two weeks ago that I finally encouraged my wife to read about this blogsite. We previously had some discussions about religion in general. After some sort of debate, we both agreed that science is a better and more reliable test of reality compared to religion. It actually started with a dinner table discussion. We were then planning her return to school. She was then thinking of taking up a course in physics. Our conversation eventually led to a discussion about the origin and nature of the cosmos as defined by physics. In the course of our conversation, it became clear to her that I do not anymore believe in an intelligent designer. She was not angry, surprised or depressed when I finally revealed to her that I am an atheist. She told me that she already knew. She just did not want me to be pontifical about it.
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When religious leaders and intolerant conservatives condemn something as immoral or abomination, they have the ever-reliable quotations from the bible. They will hurl all sorts of pestilence on you if you happen to disagree with them. How can mere mortals ever question the wisdom of God? Well, the reality about this judgmental attitude of most "righteous" religious people is that they suffer from selective bible quotation syndrome (SBQS). They always try to retrofit verses to support their agenda. They would select one passage of "absolute truth" but ignore others. One best example this SBQS is the issue of homosexuality. Most religious conservatives would quote Leviticus 18:22 to prove that homosexuality is immoral and unacceptable. One notable conservative is Dr. Laura Schlesinger. She once mentioned in her radio show that homosexuality should not be condoned under any circumstance because the bible declares it to be an abomination. One listener of the radio show posted this open letter in response to Dr. Laura's assertion:
Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law.
I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge
with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual
lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly
states it to be an abomination. ... End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of
God's Law and how to follow them.
1. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odour for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned > in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.
4. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring > > > nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but > > > not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
5. I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2. The passage clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?
7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if > I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How should they die?
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we
just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help.
Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
Your adoring fan,
James M. Kauffman, Ed.D.
Professor Emeritus
Dept. of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education
University of Virginia
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"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." -- 1 Timothy 6:10
The Bible supposedly covers all moral issues. However, it does not specifically have commandment that condemn gambling. This is perhaps the main reason why the some Christian churches, particularly the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, condones and even encourages gambling for a cause. Community Bingos, raffle draws, lottery, and
online casinos are some of the main sources of revenues of established churches. In the Philippines, for instance, the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church has regular cut on the proceeds of the government-owned casino, the Casino Filipino, and other big
online casinos. It also gladly accepts money from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes and Lotto Office.
It seems that the Philippine Catholic hierarchy has a double standard when it comes to gambling. In one hand, the bishops and priests condemn lesser forms of gambling, particularly the illegal number game of the masses, jueteng. On the other hand, the same hierarchy seems to tolerate and even encourage big-time gambling, including
casinos. The hypocrisy does not end here. There are some reported incidences that local parish churches also receive proceeds from local jueteng lords as regular contribution for so-called charity works, such as funding the building of churches and supporting the personal vices of corrupt priests.
There was once a time that the late Jaime Cardinal Sin (what a coincidental pun!) was quoted in the media saying: "Even if it would take talking to the devil, if it would mean peace, I will talk to the devil. And I was even willing to use the money of evil in order to help the poor." I never thought that Robin Hood philosophy is incorporated in Catholic theology.
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