9 In 10 Americans Believe In God

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

Why do so many Americans believe in ghosts? Why do so many American adults believe in miracles? Why do so many Americans believe in: astrology, in psychics, in witches, in friggatriskaidekaphobics or in  paraskevidekatriaphobia?"

Why do so many Americans believe in God?

I know why.

It's eye-opening to suddenly discover why so many people claim to believe in the precepts of the Christian religion. After puzzling over the seemingly ludicrous principle of accepting on faith the rightness of the biblical command to love, obey, and unquestioningly serve an unseen but all-knowing and all-powerful 'deity.'

It is because the great majority do not even know what the actual precepts of their individual congregations are. They believe, not what is presented to them (who listens to Sunday sermons?) but what they see inside their own minds -- their own inner concepts of what their God 'should' be, and should be requiring of them.

For example: Matthew 7:1, "Judge not that ye be not judged."

According to the Dictionary, to judge means "to discern, to distinguish, to form an opinion, to compare facts or ideas, and perceive their agreement or disagreement, and thus to distinguish truth from falsehood." Therefore, when we say that a much-lauded evangelical preacher is a "godly and righteous person," we are passing a judgment (forming an opinion) just as much as when we proclaim that a serial killing pedophile is a "sinful and loathsome person."

The true Christian knows "in his heart" that the above-mentioned preacher, should immediately upon his passing, be joyfully joined with the Lord God up in Heaven. And the murderous pervert should descend to Hell and suffer the damnation of perpetual pain and suffering for all eternity. Therefore, since those are the results that 'should be,' those are the results that the bible teaches. Even though it does not.

The difference between what the bible propounds and what the masses of egocentric Christians conclude are two quite different things.
Note:  egocentric means confined in attitude or interest to one's own needs or affairs.

Joseph Campbell said, "God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that."


I have stopped my daily readings of the A+ atheist blogs. Taslima is tiresomely stuck in the men are merciless monsters mindset; Greta has become a meditating, kinky sex addict and latest style-fashion maven. PZ Myers has become boringly predictable. I have taken all three of them off my favorites list.

After all, as I've written many times before, I am NOT (and never have been) an atheist, nor do I even call myself an agnostic. I am, however, a confirmed skeptic and definitely a non-Christian. I do not believe the childishly ignorant writings and handed-down word-of-mouth musings first proposed by unschooled shepherds thousands of years ago.

What do I believe? I suppose you could say that I believe in a different kind of Intelligent Design.

What do I believe? I believe that some unknown and probably unknowable entity somewhere or somewhen somehow could have initiated a process that resulted in the eventual formation of the planets, the stars, the galaxies, and maybe even the entire universe. This entity could be considered (by human beings) as a God, but not the recognized 'personal' God who is interested in or is even minutely aware of the planetary infestation of incidental biological life.

Does that mean that I believe human life is meaningless? Well, on a universal scale... yes. This does not mean that life has no meaning in human terms, in social interaction. Not at all. Man should strive for progress within his community. Seek excellence. Go forward.

And all that jazz.

_____

TRIVIA

Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty years of age or older.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day, August 9 in 1969, members of Charles Manson's cult kill five people in movie director Roman Polanski's Beverly Hills, California, home, including Polanski's pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate. Less than two days later, the group killed again, murdering supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary in their home. The savage crimes shocked the nation and, strangely, turned Charles Manson into a criminal icon.

Manson stayed out of the Polanski house on the night of the crime and didn't take part in the LaBianca killings either. However, he would later be charged with murder on the grounds he had influenced his followers and masterminded the crimes. He is currently serving a life sentence in a California prison.

Manson was denied parole for the 12th time on April 11, 2012. It was determined that Manson would not be reconsidered for parole for another 15 years, at which time he would be 92 years old.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

precept
noun
1. a rule or principle for action
2. a guide or rule for morals; maxim
3. a direction, especially for a technical operation

A precept is a commandment, instruction, or order intended as an authoritative rule of action.

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Samuel Pack "Sam" Elliott

(born August 9, 1944)

Sam Elliott is an American actor. His rangy physique, thick horseshoe moustache, deep, resonant voice, and Western drawl lend to frequent casting as cowboys and ranchers.

Gillian Leigh Anderson

(born August 9, 1968) 

Gillian Anderson is an American actress. After beginning her career in theater, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. Her film work includes The House of Mirth (2000), The Mighty Celt (2005), The Last King of Scotland (2006), and two X-Files films, The X-Files (1998) and The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008).

David Steinberg

(born August 9, 1942)

David Steinberg is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was one of the best-known stand-up comics in the United States. He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson more than 130 times and served as guest host 12 times, the youngest person ever to guest-host. Steinberg directed several films and episodes of many of the most successful television situation comedies of the last twenty years, including Seinfeld, Friends, Mad About You, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and more than 35 episodes of Designing Women.

Melanie Griffith

(born August 9, 1957)

Melanie Griffith is an American actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe for her performance in the film Working Girl (1988). She is the daughter of actress Tippi Hedren, and the wife of actor Antonio Banderas.

__________

Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.
--Napoleon Bonaparte


NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

   

Not That It Matters In The Least

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

Is there a difference between Intelligent Design and Creationism? It depends, I suppose, upon the organization to which you belong, or subscribe to. Religious groups such as Christians, Muslims, and others of similar faiths purport that there exists a God who is all-knowing and all-powerful and who all by Himself created all there is that dwells within the universe -- and, if fact, created the universe itself.

There is no difference between intelligent design and creationism. It's all a bunch of hooey. Or, as Dr. Sheldon Cooper would say, "It's all hokum."

The above is the conclusion to which I arrived after reading page after page of obfuscation proposed by supposed thinkers and philosophers. It seems to me that not a one of them knows what he (or she) is talking about. They have concocted theory after theory and labeled them facts. I have to admit that I came to my conclusion based, not upon any or all of their high-blown postulations, but upon the results of my own empirical observations of this Earthly human comedy over a significant (to me) number of years.

Organized Religion. Yes, hokum is absolutely the precise word for it.


I recently viewed a short video regarding Benny Hinn, the 'World’s Greatest Scammer,' who reportedly is worth $42,000,000. In the video he is recognized by a passerby and gets called out at the airport. It's about time someone had the guts to tell it publicly like it is.

Watch it here.

_____

TRIVIA

Elephants are the only land mammals that can't jump.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day, July 6, 1976 in Annapolis, Maryland, the United States Naval Academy admitted women for the first time in its history with the induction of 81 female midshipmen.

In May 1980, Elizabeth Anne Rowe became the first woman member of the class to graduate. Four years later, Kristine Holderied became the first female midshipman to graduate at the top of her class.

WORD FOR TODAY

coolth
noun
-  cool
-  pleasantly low temperature.
-  articles, activities, or people perceived as fashionable.

In heating, ventilation and mechanical engineering if you apply energy to a substance or system you are adding 'warmth', likewise if you remove energy you can be said to be adding coolth.

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone

(born July 6, 1946)

Sylvester Stallone is an American actor, screenwriter and film director. Stallone is well known for his Hollywood action roles. Two notable characters he has portrayed are the boxer Rocky Balboa and soldier John Rambo.

George Walker Bush

(born July 6, 1946)

George Bush is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd President of the United States of America from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. The eldest son of Barbara and George H. W. Bush, he was born in New Haven, Connecticut.

Burt Ward

(born July 6, 1945)

Burt Ward is an American television actor and activist. He is best known for his portrayal of Robin in the television series Batman (1966–68) and its theatrical film spin-off.

Janet Leigh

(July 6, 1927 - Oct 3, 2004)

Janet Leigh (born Jeanette Helen Morrison) was an American actress and author. She made her film debut with a starring role in The Romance of Rosy Ridge in 1947.

Over the following years, she appeared in several popular films of a wide variety of genres, including Act of Violence (1948), Little Women (1949), Holiday Affair (1949), Angels in the Outfield (1951), Scaramouche (1952), The Naked Spur (1953), Walking My Baby Back Home (1953) and Living It Up (1954).

Leigh married actor Tony Curtis in 1951. The couple received significant media attention and starred in five films together: Houdini (1953), The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), The Vikings (1958), The Perfect Furlough (1958) and Who Was That Lady? (1960).

Leigh played mostly dramatic roles during the latter half of the 1950s, in films such as Safari (1955), Touch of Evil (1958), and Psycho (1960)

__________

Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.
--Marilyn Monroe

NASA TV
   

On Religion (Yes, Again)

While conducting personal research regarding religions, I recently read in The Dominion of War by Fred Anderson and Andrew Cayton that the Aztec religious system demanded the blood of human beings to maintain the balance of the cosmos and insure that the sun would rise each day. By 1500 approximately 50,000 prisoners of war had to be taken annually to serve as sacrificial victims.

Now that, to me, is hard to believe -- that the entire populace of a 'civilization' could be taken in and their lives guided by such nonsense. Of course, it is just as hard for me to believe that a few men could be so immersed in their own set of religious beliefs that they would actually conspire to fly airplanes into public buildings and kill thousands of innocent people. Or that a group of nomadic shepherds could proclaim themselves as The Chosen People of The One True God, in effect branding all other peoples as dogs... thereby fomenting unrest, violence, and brutal hatred of their race and religion by millions of other human beings throughout history.

Serious study of the history of religions can make your head spin. People, it seems, will believe anything no matter how fantastic if it is presented to them convincingly and is something they want to believe.

One of Lewis Carroll's characters said, "If you set to work to believe everything, you will tire out the believing-muscles of your mind, and then you'll be so weak you won't be able to believe the simplest true things."

Despite Lewis Carroll's warning, I'm afraid that after seven decades I have tired out the believing-muscles of my mind,

But I am not an atheist. I do not blather from a soapbox (or a blog) and shout out that "There is no God and all religions should be abolished." Those who do so are (in my estimation) no different in their narrow-minded thinking than are the religionists or the theists that these science worshiping naysayers preach against with such scorn.

The modern militant atheist pooh-poohs the recently proposed idea of 'Intelligent Design.'

It seems to me that Intelligent Design could be the method by which human beings on the Earth came about... but not by any of the simplistic personal gods proposed by organized religions. To say, as do the atheists, that some kind of race or entity could not have set in motion human kind is even more an example of vanity than is religious 'faith' itself. How can one declare so definitely that some being or non-human race of beings exist that are absolutely undetectable by human senses and totally unimaginable to human cognition could not be powerful enough to have 'created' thinking man from a previous prehistoric animal state?

After all... as of now, there are more than 500 million Facebook users worldwide, and the company is valued at more than $43 billion. Who would have believed that?

__________