Monday,
June 16, 2008 at 5:33am
Hell
is other people. I start to hate life when I talk to people. Now I
understand why I talk to people. I’m trying to find some reason not
to hate life with them around. Science is not a belief system.
Evidence matters. Science is not a belief system. It is the how that
matters. It is where the why’s are coming from that matters. If you
hate gay marriage because the bible says so, then the answer to how
you could hold such a view is “the bible says so.” It doesn’t
even matter that the bible doesn’t say so. All that matters is that
you get to believe what you believe. Understanding that being gay
exists outside of our species, beyond what you feel about it,
independent of a holy book, and within the confines of knowledge
about the natural world, does not mean you “believe” a damn thing
about gays or gay marriage. Your understanding is not your beliefs.
When you confuse the two, problems arise. This is why religion,
faith, and belief in a god are harmful. Your religion teaches you
that you are not supposed to understand things about the god who’s
supposed to be influencing your daily life. Your religion says that
you don’t have to justify your faith and at the same time can tell
you just how wrong the others have it. Your religion is either lying
about one thing, or contradictory. It is dangerous to justify things
on faith. The 9/11 bombers had the faith that they were acting on
behalf of Allah and would go to heaven. According to the rules of
being a martyr, they would get to take their families along with
them. They were completely rational in their decision. They acted on
behalf of their happiness. This is their “how.” How can someone
fly buildings into planes? They can have a belief system that tells
them they will be eternally happy in heaven, and have the best
intentions for their families in mind.
All the things that
didn’t matter with their faith: The feelings of anybody else. The
impact their decisions would send through the world.
The knowledge we have about the Koran’s origins. The passages in
the Koran that are in contradiction. Faith is the most self-serving,
ego centric, knowledge defiant, logic crippling, overly touted, and
ridiculously excusable notion to ever befall our species. When you
say you have faith, you literally are saying “I’m doing this,
believing that, saying this for no reason.” I believe because I
believe. I hate war because war should be hated. I’m not gay
because I’m straight. God loves me because the bible says so. I
feel this because I really do in fact feel this.
I’ve never
asked anybody for anything more than to explain themselves. I’ve
never asked someone if they could play the role of religious
apologetic. I’ve never asked them to read every single thing I
have. I’ve never even asked them to care. All I’ve ever done is
ask questions. When I try to explain the difference between the
“how’s” of science and religion, I’m not preaching a sermon.
I’m not on a pedestal of absolute truth. I frequently ask people to
prove me wrong or stop me for clarification. What happens instead is,
amidst an explanation a comment gets snuck in or a paragraph
explaining to me why my analogy is bad. Every single time I’ve
asked direct questions I get a response telling me where that
question is coming from, or why I shouldn’t ask that question, or
how that question doesn’t relate to the topic, or them asking what
difference would their answer make. I think people are running from
something they don’t even recognize. It isn’t hard to put a
religiously minded person into a logical corner from which “that’s
what I believe” becomes their escape. What happens when those that
aren’t that “religious” by their standards and seemingly don’t
carry the baggage, yet still believe in god? They find themselves at
the same logical standoff, but don’t have the same kind of
reinforcement. They’re move is to go on the offensive right back.
What are they defending in religion, nothing, so here comes their
view about why you shouldn’t be asking what you’re asking or who
you should really be talking to. After all, their belief isn’t
hurting them and they get along with their friends, so it must not be
hurting them either.
It is harmful, disingenuous, and plainly
backwards to practice using “I can’t really explain it” and
“that’s just what I believe” as answers. You don’t do this in
practice. Your daily lives are not talked about in metaphor. When
someone asks what you want to eat, you don’t come back with “well
there’s this feeling in my stomach, I think it might be hunger,
there are so many kinds of food out there, perhaps something like
fries, but not really fries in the “fry” kind of sense, will
subdue it.” When someone tells you that’s hunger and potato
wedges are up your ally, you don’t reply “Well, I think it’s
the spirit of Hungreesha and I respect that you wish to try potato
wedges on me, but I really truly believe I’m really supposed to eat
something else. Why must every conversation about a god or people’s
belief be handled like this. This isn’t even outlandish. Watch for
the immediate parallel. What do you believe? “Well I have this
feeling, I think its god, despite all my other feelings that have
different labels, I think it’s the holy spirit, but not spirit like
ghost haha, and the bible is the only place that makes it real. Hmm,
maybe that’s happiness combined with confusion and excitement, and
I can show you other books have similar themes “O no no no, I
believe its Jesus so don’t even bother with science and historical
parallels.” Why pretend that there isn’t a reason we have school
systems designed to keep everyone on the same page? Math class isn’t
2+2=4 on Monday and 2+2=7 on Friday. Verbs stay verbs and nouns stay
nouns in English. Almost every school agrees that you should have gym
and computer class. Is this because they “believe” 2+2=4 and that
gym will help you stay healthy? NO, HELL FUCKING NO. They KNOW for a
reason INDEPENDENT of their BELIEFS that math follows rules and
exercise improves your body. You don’t pray for the answers to a
test, you LEARN, i.e. get more informed, get more reasons for your
actions, understand where your coming.
There is a SCIENCE
behind math, a SCIENCE behind fitness, SCIENCE behind language, and a
SCIENCE behind beliefs and belief systems. When I ask you if the
world was created in seven days, here’s a list of wrong answers.
Yes, I don’t know, what is a “day” really?, day meant something
different then, what do you mean by created?, seven to god could be
billions to us, what does it matter? There is one right answer and it
is NO. NO NICK, THE WORLD WAS NOT CREATED IN SEVEN DAYS. I SHOULD BE
INSULTED THAT YOU ASKED ME. Science is not the body of absolute
perfect knowledge that you should always turn to for every question
you could ever ask. Science will not tell you if there is a god
independent of space and time because science deals with the natural
world and everything in it. This means, you, me, plants, animals,
chemicals, miniscule quantities, the vast universe, feelings, brain
waves, what it means to be gay, why we would invent marriage, what
shoots off in our brains when we say we’re in love. Proposing a
scientific proven, re-provable, independent of what I think or
believe fact, should not feel like I’m attacking your belief
system. If that is indeed how it feels, you’ve set yourself up to
feel victimized by the real world. It isn’t me trying to make you
feel bad. I don’t get my rocks off making my friends cry or getting
headaches in conversations. Let this one thing if nothing else be
clear, science is right because of how it goes about explaining our
questions, not because we believe in it, not because it was ordained
by Science, the god of peer review. Science is right because it makes
predictions that come true. Scientific truths can be found all over
the world independently by anyone with the tools to find them. It has
to stand up to the scrutiny and is not able to run from questions or
throw its arms up because it doesn’t like the answer it got. It
doesn’t stop when the answer isn’t immediately forth coming. I
“believe” that science is our only method, ONLY METHOD, that will
lead us towards understanding and truth because of its track record.
I read about new innovations and new breakthroughs every day. It’s
miracles can be seen by EVERYONE. I can feel directly influenced by
someone’s hard work and care. Someone who’s played by the rules
of progress. These people aren’t looking for handouts from Jesus
when problems arise that they don’t yet understand. These people
don’t excuse their ignorance with what they “believe” they
should and shouldn’t know.
“We aren’t meant to
understand what god’s plan is for us. “ This fatalistic,
nihilistic, and hopeless view on life is what I want abandoned and
destroyed. This kind of thinking would have kept us praying to the
sun because we never understood disease. Were we meant to know how to
make atomic bombs? I’m sure part of god’s loving plan for us was
to learn how to epically destroy millions of his beings in an
instant. Who are these people telling you what you are and aren’t
suppose to understand in the first place? If it’s so hard to
understand god, why the hell do they just know so deep in their heart
that it was in fact this god that made some miracle come true in
their life? When you pray to god for something to happen in your
life, this is what you’re doing. “God, I know there are starving
kids and suffering people all over the world, but can you please just
say fuck them for a little bit longer and make sure my life goes how
I want it?” “God please change everyone’s free will and
rearrange the cosmos to play out like my petty little insecure human
mind, who can’t understand you, wills it to be.” Instead of
talking to yourself FUCKING DO SOMETHING. Stop with the I wish, I
hope, If only, one day, when I die, who knows, that’s just how
things are, don’t worry…and go out, get an informed position, get
off your ass, learn something. Make a fucking change. Stop pretending
like it is okay to sit back and let life rape you. Don’t say some
bullshit to me about how things matter or won’t make a difference
and then go study for your test because you secretly know god isn’t
going to put you in the class you want. Don’t get a job or save for
the future because no matter what, things are playing out how they
are supposed to. Never think before you speak or worry about anything
because your just a gear in a machine of confusion, you’re not
hurting anyone.
Belief in god is what makes you comfortable,
and proud no less, to spout out contradictions within inches of each
other. Faith allows you to lie about what really concerns you in
life. Religion gives you a massive body of like-minded individuals to
perpetuate the garbling of your thoughts and utterance of
absurdities. If you believe the only answers that matter, or are
real, are ones you’re going to get after you die, then kill
yourself. You can be happy that your just doing what he already had
planned for you. It says don’t kill yourself in the bible? Start
stoning your kids then, isn’t it obviously spelled out? I bet those
become metaphorical stones then. If god is this grand obvious being
then you’d think I could get one single sentence out of any
believer that couldn’t come from a nonbeliever. You’d think the
fountain of evidence overflowing for god would spill out of their
mouths and shut me up. That’s my prediction. The overwhelming
magnitude of his love and truth will just slap me in the face from
some true believer. I’m not hopeful. The awesome power has now
cried, given up, wanted to run away, toyed with me, and remains in
state wondering what my malfunction is. If you don’t know why lying
to yourself is harmful and don’t understand how large groups of
misinformed people can influence public policy ergo your life and
well-being, then keep asking me why belief in god is harmful. If
telling kids an all loving god is sitting idly by for every
hurricane, tornado, and earthquake isn’t harmful to what they’ll
think about love, tell me what is. Of the 200,000 years we’ve
inhabited the planet, god sat with his arms crossed at all the sin
and destruction and randomly decided after 198,000 years to add more
death, or the worse kind of sacrifice, the coming back to life
variety, and calls it mercy.
I can’t even see straight
anymore wondering so badly how people think everything is okay
“because it makes them happy.” Did you guys know that I “believe
in nothing”, “real
Christians
believe” certain things others don’t, and that only “if you
believe in the big bang theory” does Genesis propose any problems?
It doesn’t matter that you can’t practice “believing in
nothing”, that every Christian will call themselves “real”, or
that there’s nothing to believe, only acknowledge, about the truth
of a theory. It doesn’t matter if you can understand the direct and
indirect harm it does. All that matters is what makes you happy.
La-de-da.
Updated
about 5 months ago
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Billy
Bowman
(Bloomington, IN) wroteat
9:56am on June 16th, 2008
Before i
read further i have to stop you. This line "Verbs stay
verbs and nouns stay nouns in English" is just plain
wrong. Language is about as clear cut as religion. Verbs and
nouns are sometimes both, and sometimes they turn into
adjectives and adverbs too. And sure there are rules about how
to conjugate them, but fuck the rules if i comes before e when
there's a c involved!!! Y is a vowel, sometimes. It's hard to
say when it is and when it isn't. Ain't used to not be a word,
but it is now.
Ok now back to what this note's really
about.... |
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Nick
P.
wroteat
10:04am on June 16th, 2008
Damn, you
got me Mr. Bowman.
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Billy
Bowman
(Bloomington, IN) wroteat
10:04am on June 16th, 2008
Also i have
to disagree with this: "Science is right because it makes
predictions that come true".
Science doesn't, to my
knowledge, predict anything. It makes observations, and records
them. We can observe the reaction of two chemicals, say sodium
and water, and it will explode. That's not really a prediction
so much as an observation. Science can make models based on
evidence we have, but no one will tell you they are 100%
accurate.
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Billy
Bowman
(Bloomington, IN) wroteat
10:07am on June 16th, 2008
"I’m
sure part of god’s loving plan for us was to learn how to
epically destroy millions."
I like your use of the word
epic here. |
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Nick
P.
wroteat
10:12am on June 16th, 2008
Actually
Bowman you don't have me on the science making predictions.
That's one of its strengths. When a model is proposed it is
with certain assumptions and predictions in mind. When the test
is run and those predictions come true, it adds to the
reliability of the model. The way certain particles will react
or appear at CERN for example is what they are hoping will help
define dark matter. Of course not every prediction is true,
hence revised models and new hypothesis. I guess the easiest
thing to point to would be evolution. Darwin's theory made
predictions about lineage that held through in molecular
biology and anthropology before the technology existed to show
just how right he was. |
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Billy
Bowman
(Bloomington, IN) wroteat
10:18am on June 16th, 2008
Ok now i'm
done making smart ass comments and i guess i can think about
the message of this note.
Now I've been struggling with
these issues you bring up for quite some time as you know, and
have to decided to just stop caring, with regards to what
exactly i believe. I can prove nothing either way, and while i
find myself thinking there is SOMETHING of a higher power, i'm
going to call it luck, or karam, or whatever comes handy at the
time i'm blaming whatever happened to me. For instance, my
wisdom teeth don't hurt at all of any religious fantatic would
say 'Oh God has blessed you bla bla bla...' it was luck. Or i
had a talented doctor. Or karma. I'm going with the talented
doctor for the time being.
I'll continue living my life
based on my morals, and if that's not enough for any God that
may or may not be, so be it.. The contradtction, lack of
answers, and my constant disagreement with so much of what's in
the bible has become too much for me. If god is as merciful
etc. etc.... |
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Billy
Bowman
(Bloomington, IN) wroteat
10:27am on June 16th, 2008
As he's
supposed he'll appreciate my thinking for myself, and not
trying to be good based on what i might be punished or rewarded
for.
People need not get offended when you question their
beliefs, and if they can't answer a question, then they damn
sure need to figure out the answer before they can keep
claiming to believe what the believe. All these methods of
avoiding answering question 'it's what i believe, i can't
explain it.' etc. would be unacceptable in any other part of
life. I'd give examples but you gave plenty.
If everyone
were to base their ideas on facts and knowledge... how much
simpler would the world be.. so many problems that wouldn't
exist...
You know, while reading these notes of your i have
so many thoughts... but everytime i try to share them with you
i lose them.... damn its frustrating... |
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Billy
Bowman
(Bloomington, IN) wroteat
3:54pm on June 16th, 2008
Ah excuse
me.. i guess i misread and thought you said science makes
predictions that always come true... i will agree many
scientific predictions do come true. |
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Nick
P.
wroteat
10:30am on June 16th, 2008
What i do
Mr. Bowman is read someone's writing with word up at the same
time and type answers as I read. Either that our copy
everything and type in a different color next to a line I want
to address. Helps keep things focused for me. |
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Billy
Bowman
(Bloomington, IN) wroteat
10:31am on June 16th, 2008
Hmm.. i'll
keep that in mind next time. Except i'll no doubt forget...
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