Satan's Inches and God's Smelly Feet

Now, I have to admit, I've seen this message on over a dozen church signs and it hasn't changed. Simply put, this message means that if you yield even slightly to the devil, he will give no mercy in his conquest to rule over humanity. What most people don't know is that aside from Satan being a part of the greatest fictitious story ever told, this message applies in many different areas of life. I'll explain.

Addictions, temptations, lustful urges; these all fall into one giant melting pot of things that, if allowed to very slightly inch into one's life, can overtake a person before they're even aware of it. Before the person knows it, they're doing things that their original moral standards wouldn't even consider. The truth is, all of these things are of their own natural origin; no devil or demon uses these as tools to overcome any human being, although on the contrary many fictitious stories use these creatures and situations to give examples, not just the bible. In the book of Isaiah, chapter 45:7, the original translation of the verse states that God creates evil. The original word 'evil' in Hebrew includes moral evil, even though Christian apologists will caution against assuming that the type of calamity that God can create should include moral evil. Then again, apologists will say almost anything to keep their religion alive.

The point is that if God can create the evil and temptations in the world then there is no devil, much less a need for one. But what better way to make God look like the good guy and absolve him of any suspicion of evil than to create a villain, namely Lucifer? Human beings have a major character flaw in that they love to blame other people for their shortcomings, and you can observe nearly anyone to find this flaw, children included. It makes you wonder; if God does exist and does create evil, how do we know that he didn't simply create an alter-ego to blame all of his own shortcomings on? That is assuming that the bible is actually true. Since the Christian religion was created, all humanity had to do was to force their way into the door just an inch, and once the populace gave in, their God became their ruler.

In summary, who is it truly that we need to be cautious of? In the bible, God caused more catastrophic events, more evil, and more sorrow than any other character in the book. In fact, if the bible is true, then God is to be blamed for the state that this world is in today. On the other hand, perhaps I'm just blaming the shield that the cowardly populace is hiding behind. Yes, religion is a shield, but it is an ever crumbling one. Eventually, people will no longer have the shield of religion to hide behind. Then, what will save them from the secularism and sanity that will hopefully creep into their minds inch by inch? It's a thought... just a playful thought.

Why yes, actually, I do.

Well, it seems we have a double whammy today because I'm in a writing mood. Yes sirree, my creative juices are flowing today and just nearly everyday, unlike the day when God decided he wanted a mudball filled with several billion zombies headbanging on a church floor speaking gibberish while eating burned cracker crumbs and imbibing week-old grape juice (try saying all that with a lungful of air and a mouthful of marbles). Indeed, my creative juices are so good today that I was able to interpret what this sign is trying to tell us. The Christian tongue would ask us if we think it's hot here (on this earth) as opposed to the lake of fire, mentioned (as I immediately recall) in the book of Revelations on four separate occasions. Well, my answer to that would be...

Yes. Yes, I rather do think it's hot here. But it's not due to any prophecy that was supposedly told by some bearded cripple or his guide dog. Global warming has been a problem for years and will continue to be until human beings can get a grip on their resources and figure out a way to slowly end the process. The lake of fire, on the other hand, won't come to an end until the fanatical clergy who have hijacked the religion shut their mouths and move on in life or this world becomes secular and sane. Whichever comes first, don't hold your breath for either one. Regardless, it's obvious that none of this lunacy will end until people get a grip on reality and stop believing in fairy tails. In other words, global warming is a reality. The lake of fire is fiction.

A completely perfect god or creative force of any kind with any form of benevolence would have simply created us and left us alone. Permanently. Why? I cannot imagine a perfect being that rewards and punishes the objects of its creation for the nature of being curious. I also cannot imagine a perfect being (of only one presumably exists) that becomes jealous from watching its creations turn to fake gods. If this assclown had been real in the first place, he'd have found another way to let his creations know that he was in fact very real and all-powerful aside from engaging in mass genocide and condoning slavery. And for those of you who have the spine to think that God never did condone slavery, look up the word 'condone'. You'll be amazed at what you can learn when you open up books aside from the bible.

In short, I have to say that this world does feel hot and it's getting hotter by the day, at least for me. People who believe that the words in the bible are truth boil my blood faster than people who piss in my cheerios on a daily basis.

God said it. I believe it. That settles... nothing.

"GOD SAID IT. I BELIEVE IT. THAT SETTLES IT."


Yes, that's what this sign says. Unfortunately, it was dark out when I landed this snapshot and as one can see, the flash feature on the camera didn't do this photo any manner of justice. But that's beside the point; enough with the excuses and onto the cold, snarky comments.

Just because someone says something doesn't make it right. Human beings have for years been the most gullible lunatics on the face of this planet and it's all because of the bullshit we can dream up. How ironic it is then that probably more than half of said bullshit is actually believed as truth, despite how poorly fabricated it may be. The counter argument to this is, 'Well, it's God. So that makes it right.' And to that I say, 'No, it doesn't.' And here's why.

In the Old Testament, God gave explicit instructions on how to own a slave despite their background or their ethnicity. Hundreds of years later on modern-day Earth, we sinful human beings have abolished slavery due to how heinous it truly is. We as human beings morally and decisively concluded that placing ownership over another human being is morally reprehensible and threw the whole idea out the window. Now, according to my calculations, that gives us humans one up over God. In fact, most secular and sane human beings would probably agree with me that over 90% of the 613 Old Testament commandments are ignored due to their savagery, stupidity, primitive background, or moral bankruptcy. Or even, all of the above; and this is just ONE example!

I reiterate, just because someone says something doesn't make it right. Yes, this includes God, as shown in the last paragraph. According to the bible, God ordered the mass murder of many millions of people, and he ordered his favorite tribe to do it. An all-powerful god would not have to put itself down on its own creations' level to prove a point, in fact, he wouldn't have to use his own creations to get a point across to anyone at all, assuming of course that he actually was the only one in existence. Human parents can reason with their own children intelligently as to why things are good or bad ideas without the use of violence or fits of rage, but the almighty God of the Bible deemed it necessary to destroy the children of his that disobeyed him or even breathed wrong, proving that just because he says something doesn't make it right. But according to most Christians, God is the ultimate authority and shouldn't be questioned, a fact and idea rolled into one that teaches otherwise intelligent children not to question authority, even though said authority might be wrong. Is God wrong? I think he is. But some Christians do not. What's the difference? I ask questions, the Christians don't. What's that quote... "The only stupid question is the one not asked." I couldn't have said it better.

To sum this up, human beings are curious by nature, and being punished for our innate nature is wrong. We didn't ask to be created to worship something, and if something only created us to worship and love it, then he did it wrong. Do we punish a dog for peeing on the carpet? Yes, but by default we don't kill it. Do we kill our cat for wandering away from the house at late hours? No. While Christians may attempt to point out that we didn't create dogs or cats, we rule and lord over them just the same. The idea that God says something and people believe it and thus makes it right is inconceivable. But if one digs deeply into history, one would find that the Bible is not the word of God, thus he really said nothing at all. And if people are to believe the word of God, then which word should they believe? The Bible? The Quran? The truth is that people will believe anything if it's good, even if it's too good to be true. The people who question what they believe are the only ones who stand a chance at settling anything, and not just because some random cosmic creator said so.

"Believe only half of what you see and nothing of what you hear." - Anonymous

Chaos Control!

Most people that ignore God have a decent reason for doing so, albeit not so decent to the good ole Christian folks. The type of chaos that reigns freely in this world today is mostly a direct result of religion (not simply from ignorance), though not in all cases is it mutually exclusive. People seem to think that because many people ignore God, this results in chaos because of a devil roaming around tempting us. Although there are many reasons for the different types of chaos that are laced through the world today, I'm going to cover the chaos that is religion.

In almost all religious groups, there have been great attempts to establish control, and what better way to gain control of the masses by telling the populace that a priest hears direct orders and ideas from their patron (or matron) god? Throughout Christian history, it has been thought that God came down and gave instructions on how to live life properly, which is laughable at best. Assuming that God is indeed all-powerful, I'm not so sure he actually involved himself directly with his own creations at all. Animals and insects have their own way of life and they got along just fine without God. Dolphins and monkeys did as well, and those two types of animals are considered 'higher intellects'. The argument I've gotten for this is, 'Well, God made us in his image.' This doesn't make a bit of difference, but it -does- explain the chaos that governs our lives.

If we are indeed made in God's image, then it clearly explains why we have a thirst for destruction. God's attitude in the Old Testament was that of a malevolent bully, constantly dishing out punishment to the objects of his creation with little pity or remorse, mostly for acts they did against him. Many of these acts included worshiping other gods (which supposedly didn't exist), disobeying a direct order from him, acting according to our curious human nature, and so on. It purely exhibits how we as humans act today in regards to our fellow man, how children behave in accordance to authority from their parents, and how adults regard other authority figures: at one point or another, any one of these individuals will challenge the other's authority. The result is not to strike the other person dead, though a few passages in the Old Testament condone this behavior.

Being made in God's image does not give us any reason or merit to worship a figment of the imagination. Submission to this 'authority figure' is actually submission to the human beings who created him for that purpose. What better way to get the attention of a bunch of primitive animals than to threaten them with violence that they know very well? Humans are no different, and many of us clearly understand what violence results in: pain. How odd is it that most human beings do their best to avoid physical pain, but allow themselves to become subjects of brainwashing and death threats from a hypocritical god that lives by a famous double standard 'Do as I say, not as I do'?

In short, the chaos in this world is not the result of ignoring God, it's the result of condoning and tolerating the religion that supports him. Religion has always tried to control humanity for its own ends, and it won't ever give up that cause. Each time science or secularism debunks another myth about God, another version of the bible is printed, or another apologist attempts to falsify the claim, or whatever needs to be done to protect their precious death cult. Christianity is losing the battle against atheism, and as a result, chaos is going to grow exponentially due to Christians trying to restore their religion in many acts of desperation. The question is, are we going to ignore the real problem?

Time Will Tell...

Just in case either of my two followers were wondering, I've been on a slight hiatus due to lack of writing material. Worry not, for soon material will be provided!

The Anchor has been stowed, Captain!

Even taken figuratively, this sign's message is lacking in something, and that something is common sense. In the christian tongue, this simply means that one can find comfort simply by opening the bible to find enlightenment within its many pages. I've found a lot of enlightenment of my own within the bible, but it wasn't pretty. Starting with the Old Testament, one can find a lot of bloodshed, moral bankruptcy, and more human error than could be found in the first draft of one of Stephen King's novels. Okay, so I'm kidding about that last part, the part about Stephen King, at least. But truthfully, the bible does have a lot of enlightenment, if one can find where it is. For example, the bible's definition of faith is 'the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen'. If the bible is an anchor, it's catching a bed full of sand.

It's very interesting to note that many people can indeed turn to the bible for moral comfort and support based off of how they are taught to look at things, and one of those ways is not to question God's actions; that he as an omniscient being does things for a reason. For me, that's not good enough. If someone does something that I am opposed to and I know will affect me one way or the other, I demand a reason, and not simply the most 'FAIL' reason of them all, which is, 'because I said so'. Trying to lure people into the trap of 'because he's god' is one of the weakest ways to reassure people that things will be okay. Being taught not to question god's motives is the exact same as telling people not to question authority, just on a different level. Children challenge the authority of their parents constantly, just as we have the right to question god's authority over us, except in this example, our parents are very real and provide us with choices and consequences for our actions, whereas god provides an ultimatum; an eternal reward for submission to his will, or eternal punishment in the lake of fire, the perfect symbol of torture and grief.

The bible is -not- an anchor of any sort and has not yet been able to grapple onto anything solid. As long as people continue to debate its origin and legitimacy, the unholy book will always remain one of the least sturdy foundations on which to base one's life. Proof is evident that the bible isn't trusted, as it has been debated, twisted, rewritten, re-translated, debunked, and recreated so many times that no two versions are the exact same. What's worse is that now people are so desperate to defend it that they claim that some words in the book don't mean what they actually do. The bible is not the anchor in the storm, it is not the word of any god, and it will continue to be the subject of debate for many years to come.

In short, if ever there was any storm to overcome the strength of an anchor and its chain, one need only look on the internet for religious debates. An anchor is a sturdy object, capable of grounding an entire ship and everything it contains. The bible has failed to do this, as mankind still argues over how legitimate it really is. How long until it finally loses hold on humanity and we are finally free of its 'virtuous' shackles? Only time will tell.

Bible + GPS = Bottom of a Lake

If the believer's GPS is the bible, then they really are up shit creek without a paddle, and that means they're paddling through the shit with their hands. Why is this an issue for me? Think about it; GPS units sometimes have the tendency to instruct you to turn left into an open field, thus misdirecting the person using it. This obviously leads to problems.

The main argument I have gotten from this so far is, 'Oh, but a GPS unit is a man-made device, so...-' This is an extremely weak argument because the bible is also a man-made device, and it was NOT god-inspired. Many people who have picked up the unholy book and believed its contents have also committed crimes and used the words within as an excuse. If you find that hard to believe, look up the story of Andrea Yates. You'll shit yourself.

The bible, for the GPS it is, has been the subject of debate for centuries in the fact that many people talk about the direction they want their lives to go, or which way the bible leads them, or the direction that god has planned for them. For some people, this GPS has provided some relief in the form of not going completely batshit crazy. For others... check out the story of John List.

In conclusion, I can only say that humans are trying to improve GPS systems each and every day, so that eventually the electronic devices won't misguide us into a lake. As for the bible, well, the improvements that are made are pushing it and its laughable religion further and further towards mythology, which is where it needs to be. A secular world is a sane world, and one without the dominant control of religion leaves it free to roam in whatever direction it so pleases.

Death is Certain, But Eternity is Not.

I cannot even begin to describe how many annoying signs I've seen that have to deal with eternity. We all know that death is certain, after all we can't put it off forever. Eventually the grim reaper is gonna come-a knockin' and we'll have to face the facts, but one of those facts won't be eternity. However, to those who don't believe me, I'm going to make a comparison just for you. I hope you loathe it.

Take the one thing in this mortal life that you enjoy doing the most. For me, it's programming and writing script for video games; a simple job, but it can get tedious in the times that I have to figure out where an error in the coding is located. Now, take that thing that you enjoy doing and try to imagine performing that task over and over for the rest of eternity. Non-stop. Scared yet? I sure am, my hobby would drive me batshit nuts. So why in the world do Christians seem to think that worshiping and praising God for all of eternity is supposed to be the best thing to happen to us? Could you imagine having sex for eternity? I know I couldn't.

The thing that gets me the most is that heaven is supposed to be a place where light shines constantly; there is no sunset, nobody sleeps or feels any form of negativity at all. Everything is peaceful and full of people singing their asses off for God. I'd have a problem with this right off the bat. Say again that perhaps you have fallen in love with the most beautiful person you could ever hope to meet, but perhaps they don't share your faith. According to the bible, apostasy is the one unforgivable sin that can send a person to hell. Now suppose you both perish at the same time, with you going to heaven, and your true love cursed to damnation. If one is forced to be happy in heaven, I'm suggesting that the person who went to heaven won't remember anything about his mortal love. This kind of thinking would drive me insane. I'd sooner offer my soul to the devil himself to spend eternity with my true love than to be separated from her. This isn't suggesting that I believe in such things, however. It's merely an example.

The point is that nobody can give a reason why eternity should be taken seriously. The idea of eternity cheapens the experience of life for a lot of people. As an atheist, I view my life as the only one I'll ever have, and in a way, that makes it much more precious and valuable. As a result, I'm going to do my best to do good to others, help the needy when I can, and generally make every attempt to be a good person. Am I planning for eternity? In a way, I am; in the effect that I hope I make the future for the people around me that much brighter and more pleasant. But what I'm not planning on is meeting the fictitious asshole that condones mass genocide of innocents. Why? Because he doesn't exist.

"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it, petty, unjust, unforgiving, pathologically insecure, a control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty, ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. Those of us schooled from infancy in his ways can become desensitized to their horror".

-- Richard Dawkins, Pg. 51 [The God Delusion]