Hope is a word humans use to describe the innate feeling that, what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. For instance, sports fans often hope that their favorite teams win. Or we hope that we make it through the day as healthy as we started it. Hope is a human feeling that cannot be given or taken away based on a person’s belief or disbelief in a god. Every human has hope, so the obvious answer to this question is yes, atheists certainly have hope. But I am often reminded, as a nonbeliever myself, that I live a life void of any real hope. I am essentially hopeless. Perplexed Christians wonder how non-believers, no matter how happy they appear to be, go on living without hope in an afterlife. How non-believers can feel safe and secure without the hope of divine justice. There is a fundamental error in this reasoning as I think most non-believers do hope for these things. They just don’t base their lives on it because they do not have substantial reason to believe they will ever come true. Hope against hope as they say.
Religion makes claims to many things, but it does not have a monopoly on hope. There is no doubt that religion depends greatly on the hope of individuals to sustain its dogmatic power. Without the promise of something better, what does religion have to offer? Some people find comfort in believing a god will give them eternal life, or that they are being watched over in times of darkness. While these ideas are appealing, there are others who find comfort in knowing they have control over their own life. That their future is not written in stone. That the trail they blaze belongs to them and not some facilitator in the sky. So just like anything else in this world, we choose the things that make us most comfortable. Because isn’t that what we all strive for? To be comfortable?
In relation to how we deal with adversity, there are two philosophies at work in the world: 1) When times get tough, turn to someone (or something) else to work out your problems. Shed the responsibilities of the world from your shoulders and let someone else take the credit or the blame. Or 2) you can face reality, take responsibility for yourself and endure. Atheists fall in to this second category. As a person who does not believe in the power of God, I can say that in many ways I have an easier time dealing with adversity than someone who does believe. Let me explain: I never get disappointed when my prayers aren’t answered. I never have to wonder why God, the person I trust the most in this world, decided to ignore my pleads for help. I never have to feel like I did something wrong or that I didn’t pray hard enough for Him to care. No, I simply work at making things better and rationalize my successes and failures as products of my own decisions. The believer, on the other hand, will undoubtedly feel the disappointment of not having prayers answered. They might wonder if they were living righteous enough to warrant God’s favor. The mental reconciliation must be tough. Its like a father who promises to be there, but never is and you have to justify why he doesn’t show up time and time again. The feeling of abandonment is very strong and can have lasting effects.
My hope is rooted in what I know. I can take solace in knowing my past was written in my own words, my present is what I make of it, and my future is a blank canvass ready to be painted by life’s glorious colors. So don’t feel sorry for me. I find life very much worth while. If you take a closer look at your atheist neighbors, and there are more than you think, I believe you will discover that what they want most in life is a lot like what you want the most. To make this world a better place- not only for them, but their children, their family, their friends and yes, Christians too.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Why Do Non-Believers Care?
Why do people who don't believe in God spend so much time talking about it? Why do they waste their time and energy trying to battle the word of God and the people who try to promote it? 6 years ago I would have answered this with an "I don't know." But now I know why they do it. Rather, why we do it.
6 years ago my wife became a Christian. This was the result of her need to make sense of her life which was, in her eyes, falling apart. We were having marital problems and she had hoped the divine powers of God would help reunite us again. As fortune would have it, we did reunite and today we are as strong as ever. Although I have never asked her, she likely viewed this as a miracle. That God had willed us to be together for some divine purpose. I, on the other hand, viewed it as the result of a lot of forgiveness. Either way, our lives had changed; for the better because we were a family again, for the worse because now we had another major challenge. How could we ever reconcile the differences in our worldviews, me being a secularist and her being a devout Christian. And most importantly, how do we raise our children?
3 years ago, my oldest son - 5 y.o. at the time- asked me if I was really going to Hell. After getting over the shock, I told him "of course not", but he didn't seem convinced. He had learned in Sunday school that anyone who doesn't believe in God will be sent to Hell to burn forever. His eyes seemed older at that moment-like he had lost a part of his innocence. I remember how concerned he looked and how hurt I was to see him that way. I asked him what he thought would happen to me. He said that I would go to Heaven, because I was a good daddy. I left it at that and we went to sleep. I am sure he slept a lot better than me that night.
Up to that point, religion had never been a significant part of my life. I never cared that much about it. Sure, I was always fascinated with how rational people could accept the non-sensical as reality, but that was their own personal choice. Why should I care? Now things were different. Now religion had forced its way into my home and my life and was now consuming the thoughts of my children. I didn't ask for any of this, but here it was. I didn't want to care, but I had to care.
Common belief among Christians is that atheists are people who don't want God to exist. I can't speak for all of them (as atheists are very independent people and wouldn't want me to), but this accusation is simply not true. I would like nothing more than to know after I die I will spend an eternity with the people I love. As humans, we know with certainty that one day we will die. This is one of the ways we are different from the rest of the animal kingdom. We spend countless hours wondering what the end will be like. There are whole industries built around this very fact (i.e life insurance, legal wills, religion). So naturally, we want to find comfort in death in any way we can. I am no exception. I want to believe that I will live forever surrounded by love. But this is not likely. Atheists deal with probabilities. That is why we demand proof. Proof is the ultimate decider in truth. There is no proof for God. Until there is, you will always have people like me that play the odds.
I know that tomorrow there is close to a 100% chance that the sun will rise in the east and will set in the west. Why is this? Because we know certain things about our Earth and solar system that make this likely. I also can say with a high level of probability that dinosaurs did not live with humans. Why is this? Because nowhere in the history of archeology have we found dinosaur bones buried with human ones. I prefer to live my life on probabilities. I do not find the risk-reward very appealing in the God hypothesis. There are Christians who also concede that the existence of God cannot be determined through reason. So why believe in it at all? Such arguments like Pascal's Wager have been around for decades. Even he realized the existence of God could not be reasoned out. Here is what he said: Even though the existence of god cannot be determined through reason, a person should "wager" as though God exists, because so living has potentially everything to gain, and certainly nothing to lose. In other words, at the very least we should pretend to believe in an unreasonable God so we can get into Heaven - if there turns out to be one. But there is more to this than you might think. There is something to lose even for the Christian if he/she is wrong. The average Christian who goes to a 1 1/2 hour sermon every Sunday is spending more than 5300 hours at church during his/her lifetime. If he/she tithes $20 each time, he/she is spending more than $70,000. If Christians are wrong, they have sacrificed a large amount of their only true existence supporting a bogus idea. Again, I live according to probability. In fact we all do. Non-beleivers just don't ignore the probabilities when it comes to religion.
Outside of my own personal issues with religion, others who battle the mainstream Christian movement get involved because they recognize a danger. They understand that their way of life is at stake if they don't stand up to be heard. Religion is a personal matter, but there are many public issues that have pitted Christians against non-believers. Things such as abortion, stem cell research, prayer in public schools, the faith based initiative, proselytizing in the military, etc. Each issue becomes so complex, bogged down by dogma and doctrine, that we tend to get nowhere as a society and the general public ends up suffering for it. Take for instance stem cell research. The reason the government has not funded this promising field of medicine is because of Christian influence. They believe that the potential for a human being in the 3 day old blastocyst is more important than the 12 year old girl suffering from liver disease. This absurdity can only be manifested through the dogma of religion. Rational sense tells us to fund the hell out of this research so we can start caring for people who actually feel pain, feel fear and feel sadness. But this research is being outlawed or held down in courts by religious activists who want to push their own agenda.
It's when the personal matter of religion becomes a detriment to society that you begin to hear the voices of non-believers across the country. Issac Newton stated that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If his law holds true, people can expect to hear a lot more from non-believers in the future. And I don't blame them.
6 years ago my wife became a Christian. This was the result of her need to make sense of her life which was, in her eyes, falling apart. We were having marital problems and she had hoped the divine powers of God would help reunite us again. As fortune would have it, we did reunite and today we are as strong as ever. Although I have never asked her, she likely viewed this as a miracle. That God had willed us to be together for some divine purpose. I, on the other hand, viewed it as the result of a lot of forgiveness. Either way, our lives had changed; for the better because we were a family again, for the worse because now we had another major challenge. How could we ever reconcile the differences in our worldviews, me being a secularist and her being a devout Christian. And most importantly, how do we raise our children?
3 years ago, my oldest son - 5 y.o. at the time- asked me if I was really going to Hell. After getting over the shock, I told him "of course not", but he didn't seem convinced. He had learned in Sunday school that anyone who doesn't believe in God will be sent to Hell to burn forever. His eyes seemed older at that moment-like he had lost a part of his innocence. I remember how concerned he looked and how hurt I was to see him that way. I asked him what he thought would happen to me. He said that I would go to Heaven, because I was a good daddy. I left it at that and we went to sleep. I am sure he slept a lot better than me that night.
Up to that point, religion had never been a significant part of my life. I never cared that much about it. Sure, I was always fascinated with how rational people could accept the non-sensical as reality, but that was their own personal choice. Why should I care? Now things were different. Now religion had forced its way into my home and my life and was now consuming the thoughts of my children. I didn't ask for any of this, but here it was. I didn't want to care, but I had to care.
Common belief among Christians is that atheists are people who don't want God to exist. I can't speak for all of them (as atheists are very independent people and wouldn't want me to), but this accusation is simply not true. I would like nothing more than to know after I die I will spend an eternity with the people I love. As humans, we know with certainty that one day we will die. This is one of the ways we are different from the rest of the animal kingdom. We spend countless hours wondering what the end will be like. There are whole industries built around this very fact (i.e life insurance, legal wills, religion). So naturally, we want to find comfort in death in any way we can. I am no exception. I want to believe that I will live forever surrounded by love. But this is not likely. Atheists deal with probabilities. That is why we demand proof. Proof is the ultimate decider in truth. There is no proof for God. Until there is, you will always have people like me that play the odds.
I know that tomorrow there is close to a 100% chance that the sun will rise in the east and will set in the west. Why is this? Because we know certain things about our Earth and solar system that make this likely. I also can say with a high level of probability that dinosaurs did not live with humans. Why is this? Because nowhere in the history of archeology have we found dinosaur bones buried with human ones. I prefer to live my life on probabilities. I do not find the risk-reward very appealing in the God hypothesis. There are Christians who also concede that the existence of God cannot be determined through reason. So why believe in it at all? Such arguments like Pascal's Wager have been around for decades. Even he realized the existence of God could not be reasoned out. Here is what he said: Even though the existence of god cannot be determined through reason, a person should "wager" as though God exists, because so living has potentially everything to gain, and certainly nothing to lose. In other words, at the very least we should pretend to believe in an unreasonable God so we can get into Heaven - if there turns out to be one. But there is more to this than you might think. There is something to lose even for the Christian if he/she is wrong. The average Christian who goes to a 1 1/2 hour sermon every Sunday is spending more than 5300 hours at church during his/her lifetime. If he/she tithes $20 each time, he/she is spending more than $70,000. If Christians are wrong, they have sacrificed a large amount of their only true existence supporting a bogus idea. Again, I live according to probability. In fact we all do. Non-beleivers just don't ignore the probabilities when it comes to religion.
Outside of my own personal issues with religion, others who battle the mainstream Christian movement get involved because they recognize a danger. They understand that their way of life is at stake if they don't stand up to be heard. Religion is a personal matter, but there are many public issues that have pitted Christians against non-believers. Things such as abortion, stem cell research, prayer in public schools, the faith based initiative, proselytizing in the military, etc. Each issue becomes so complex, bogged down by dogma and doctrine, that we tend to get nowhere as a society and the general public ends up suffering for it. Take for instance stem cell research. The reason the government has not funded this promising field of medicine is because of Christian influence. They believe that the potential for a human being in the 3 day old blastocyst is more important than the 12 year old girl suffering from liver disease. This absurdity can only be manifested through the dogma of religion. Rational sense tells us to fund the hell out of this research so we can start caring for people who actually feel pain, feel fear and feel sadness. But this research is being outlawed or held down in courts by religious activists who want to push their own agenda.
It's when the personal matter of religion becomes a detriment to society that you begin to hear the voices of non-believers across the country. Issac Newton stated that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If his law holds true, people can expect to hear a lot more from non-believers in the future. And I don't blame them.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Diary of The Hated American
I find that I must be well behind the curve when determining truth from fiction. It seems that everyone else has subscribed to the God hypothesis but me. I often find myself wondering where I went wrong. Did I miss something in school? Was I watching NBC when God did his news conference on ABC? Perhaps there was something profoundly important my parents forgot to mention when I was young and impressionable. No matter, I am now in this predicament regardless of how I got here. I guess I’ll have to blame all of the teachers in my life for steering me wrong and hiding the most obvious truth from me.
I was born in a small town smack-dab in the heart of America. Some say, and I agree, that the American experience is best exemplified in the Midwest. The people are hard working, tough, courteous, kind and have a strong belief in patriotism. Each person’s value is determined by what he does and not what he says. This seemed reasonable enough. You can usually find the troublemakers by simply listening to who is TELLING you how good they are rather than showing you. I guess I fared OK as I always seemed to avoid stealing, killing and maiming anyone. I guess I was lucky because I don’t remember God telling me not to do those things. I suppose God and chance can exist at the same time. Our town’s most anticipated holiday of the year was the Fourth of July; Christmas came in second just ahead of hunting season and Thanksgiving. I lived the American experience every day of my childhood. I was proud to be an American. I honored it and adored it, as did my friends and neighbors who accepted me and everyone else who believed in doing the right thing.
Today I found out in a national survey that my fellow Americans hate me. They hate my lack of ethics, and my lack of morality and hope. They hate what I represent, yet I don’t see how it’s possible all of these people ever got the chance to know me. My time is usually spent in quiet reading and I usually try to avoid crowds. I guess it might be a product of hearsay. It could have been that nasty John Freeman whom I told on for stealing back in 4th grade. Yes, I’m sure he has something to do with this. At any rate, the numbers indicate that Americans just don’t like or trust me. I am currently thanking my lucky stars that I got married before this survey was published. These same people say they would have a hard time allowing their daughter to marry me. I can only imagine how hard it would be now to convince my in-laws that I truly am a good person-despite what everyone else was saying about me. Timing is everything my father always says.
I read an article that the former President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, declared (off the record) that atheists should not be considered citizens of America. What would I be then? I have never known life outside of the United States and I surely don’t want to leave the freedoms we have in this country for the oppression of another. Citizenship, I thought, is not dependant on religion. I was born here, cultivated here and contribute my time, money and energy here. I am a citizen by birth. Why wouldn’t I be a citizen? I need to ponder this for awhile. I’ll get back to you.
[6 hours, 6 minutes and 6 seconds later]
Religion is to blame! George H.W. Bush hates me because of it. Not because I don’t have it, but because religion exists. Without their being a choice there would be no divide. The fact that religion demands a choice is enough to send the world into chaos, apparently. You either are a Christian or you are not. There is no in-between (unless you count Catholics and Mormons). Now I stand at odds with people whom I would otherwise have no quarrel with. This is saddening to me as I am sure it is to you, reader. I constantly hear how religion brings people together, but all I see is how it labels and filters people into piles. I’m in a pile now. The one that people are sticking their nose up to and spitting on. I don’t know what I did, but I am sorry. Sorry that our previous generations of American parents allowed this catastrophe to happen. I am too distraught to continue writing. I shall gather myself and return.
[7 minutes later]
I am often told this is a Christian Nation. This is something quite different than an American Nation of course. You see, a Christian Nation is a place where only the Christians get to do what they want. They get to make the rules and impose whatever view they see fit on everyone else who is not ‘Christian’. I have had many fruitful discussions with Christians regarding our founding father’s most illegitimate claim. You know, that pesky one about how state and church should be separate? I am told this is not what the fathers had in mind when they wrote it, well not literally anyway. It’s not what the words say that matters anyway, but rather what American life was like before the Constitution was enacted. You have to “read between the lines” and “take into context” what the establishment clause says in order to really understand it. Interestingly, this method reminds me of the field of Christian apologetics. Always on the hunt for a new way to circumvent difficult Bible passages and contradictions by slight of hand or slip of tongue. The only problem is our founding fathers weren’t writing in befuddling parables or clever poetry. They meant what they said and said what they meant. No amount of sorcery will change that.
So is this a Christian Nation? No, I don’t think so. It most definitely is a secular nation made up of people who came here to start a new life. America has always prided itself on being the melting pot of the world, accepting people of all nations who share in the dream of freedom. A place where hard work and an honest tongue can breed success. Being born and raised in this great land, I too share this dream, and I accept all people from all countries to join this greatest of nations. And I do it without asking them to become Christian first.
I was born in a small town smack-dab in the heart of America. Some say, and I agree, that the American experience is best exemplified in the Midwest. The people are hard working, tough, courteous, kind and have a strong belief in patriotism. Each person’s value is determined by what he does and not what he says. This seemed reasonable enough. You can usually find the troublemakers by simply listening to who is TELLING you how good they are rather than showing you. I guess I fared OK as I always seemed to avoid stealing, killing and maiming anyone. I guess I was lucky because I don’t remember God telling me not to do those things. I suppose God and chance can exist at the same time. Our town’s most anticipated holiday of the year was the Fourth of July; Christmas came in second just ahead of hunting season and Thanksgiving. I lived the American experience every day of my childhood. I was proud to be an American. I honored it and adored it, as did my friends and neighbors who accepted me and everyone else who believed in doing the right thing.
Today I found out in a national survey that my fellow Americans hate me. They hate my lack of ethics, and my lack of morality and hope. They hate what I represent, yet I don’t see how it’s possible all of these people ever got the chance to know me. My time is usually spent in quiet reading and I usually try to avoid crowds. I guess it might be a product of hearsay. It could have been that nasty John Freeman whom I told on for stealing back in 4th grade. Yes, I’m sure he has something to do with this. At any rate, the numbers indicate that Americans just don’t like or trust me. I am currently thanking my lucky stars that I got married before this survey was published. These same people say they would have a hard time allowing their daughter to marry me. I can only imagine how hard it would be now to convince my in-laws that I truly am a good person-despite what everyone else was saying about me. Timing is everything my father always says.
I read an article that the former President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, declared (off the record) that atheists should not be considered citizens of America. What would I be then? I have never known life outside of the United States and I surely don’t want to leave the freedoms we have in this country for the oppression of another. Citizenship, I thought, is not dependant on religion. I was born here, cultivated here and contribute my time, money and energy here. I am a citizen by birth. Why wouldn’t I be a citizen? I need to ponder this for awhile. I’ll get back to you.
[6 hours, 6 minutes and 6 seconds later]
Religion is to blame! George H.W. Bush hates me because of it. Not because I don’t have it, but because religion exists. Without their being a choice there would be no divide. The fact that religion demands a choice is enough to send the world into chaos, apparently. You either are a Christian or you are not. There is no in-between (unless you count Catholics and Mormons). Now I stand at odds with people whom I would otherwise have no quarrel with. This is saddening to me as I am sure it is to you, reader. I constantly hear how religion brings people together, but all I see is how it labels and filters people into piles. I’m in a pile now. The one that people are sticking their nose up to and spitting on. I don’t know what I did, but I am sorry. Sorry that our previous generations of American parents allowed this catastrophe to happen. I am too distraught to continue writing. I shall gather myself and return.
[7 minutes later]
I am often told this is a Christian Nation. This is something quite different than an American Nation of course. You see, a Christian Nation is a place where only the Christians get to do what they want. They get to make the rules and impose whatever view they see fit on everyone else who is not ‘Christian’. I have had many fruitful discussions with Christians regarding our founding father’s most illegitimate claim. You know, that pesky one about how state and church should be separate? I am told this is not what the fathers had in mind when they wrote it, well not literally anyway. It’s not what the words say that matters anyway, but rather what American life was like before the Constitution was enacted. You have to “read between the lines” and “take into context” what the establishment clause says in order to really understand it. Interestingly, this method reminds me of the field of Christian apologetics. Always on the hunt for a new way to circumvent difficult Bible passages and contradictions by slight of hand or slip of tongue. The only problem is our founding fathers weren’t writing in befuddling parables or clever poetry. They meant what they said and said what they meant. No amount of sorcery will change that.
So is this a Christian Nation? No, I don’t think so. It most definitely is a secular nation made up of people who came here to start a new life. America has always prided itself on being the melting pot of the world, accepting people of all nations who share in the dream of freedom. A place where hard work and an honest tongue can breed success. Being born and raised in this great land, I too share this dream, and I accept all people from all countries to join this greatest of nations. And I do it without asking them to become Christian first.
Calculation For Who Created Evil
Before there was nothing but God.
Now there is good and evil.
Case closed.
Now there is good and evil.
Case closed.
Doesn’t It Make More Sense?
I was driving home in my car the other day listening to a popular Christian radio show (I know, hard to believe). The show's host, to his credit, takes challenging calls from its listeners and answers questions that often are considered taboo. Things like, “Will God punish me for believing in evolution?” or “How come there are two different stories of the creation in Genesis?” The radio host usually answers the questions in a convincing manner-many times citing chapter and verse to back up his point. I am amused and entertained by this show and have to say I am a regular listener.
Yesterday a caller (who is a Christian) brought up an interesting topic; prayer. He asked the host why praying in public was such a big deal for Christians since the bible says Jesus and Elijah both taught that prayer should be done in private-behind closed doors. Regrettably I failed to hear the host's response as I began thinking about the issue myself and how this topic has become a recent rallying cry for today’s Christians. It seems you can turn on FOX or CNN any day of the week and find a Christian complaining about the lack of prayer in public schools. According to the devout faithful, this is the real reason why America is suffering. I too believe that a person’s religion is a personal and private matter and should be practiced in private. So if everyone agrees, why do Christians want to make prayer a public matter? Will praying in schools, as opposed to praying at home for instance, really make a difference when it comes to crime rates, poverty, hunger and illness? Do schools possess special (prayer) transmission powers that our homes do not? Perhaps it’s neither of these. Instead, maybe it’s simply a way to try and gain access to impressionable minds. The heads of church will never admit it, but isn’t it obvious to everyone? Isn't it?
Prayer is a fascinating religious dogma. Science has repeatedly proven that prayer does not work yet Christians continue to practice it with fervor. Why? For comfort? Because the preacher tells them to? Not only does science discount prayer’s usefulness, but the whole idea of prayer makes little sense in the context of who Christians claim their god to be. God is supposed to be an all powerful and all knowing being who possesses a master plan for the universe and everything in it-even us. Each individual has a God-anointed purpose. Now ponder this: when we, the imperfect sinful humans, pray to the perfect God to ask him for favors, we do it in hopes that he will hear us and intervene to fulfill our wishes. In fact, the bible preaches that if we pray in Jesus’ name, we will receive whatever we ask for. Does this happen? Of course not. Does it matter to Christian's? Apparently not. But why?
God knows what was, what is and what is to be. His master plan is perfect and without fault (so we are repeatedly told). We would expect nothing less from a perfect god. Now lets put on our Ponder Hats: Let’s say you (the Christian) pray to God to heal your very sick friend Nikki. In fact you ask your whole church to pray for Nikki. Despite your extreme efforts to let God know you want your friend healed, if healing Nikki is not in God’s plan, all prayers for her will go unanswered. The opposite is true as well: If it IS in God’s plan and IS His will, your friend will be healed.
So a rational person has to ask him/herself: Is prayer really necessary to begin with?
God's plan is a perfect plan. There is no changing it. If it needs to be changed then its not a perfect plan, right? SO, God will do what he is going to do in accordance to the plan-despite what you ask of him. This is only human reasoning here, but if we are unable to comprehend the master plan, our calls for Godly intervention (prayer) is a pestilence at best. God doesn’t and shouldn't care what we pray for. He is going to stick to the perfect eternal plan regardless.
You might say that God has the ability to change the future if he wants to. I suppose an all powerful being can do whatever he wants, but if he does that, did he really know the future in the first place? [Again put your ponder hat on] God would have foreseen himself changing the perfect eternal plan (he knows the future) and thus would have planned for the change. So he still has an eternal perfect plan, it just contained the prediction that he was going to change the future to accommodate your request to heal Nikki (even though he really didn't plan on it initially). As you can see, this can get very messy and confusing. So we must call upon the suggestion of the 14th Century logician William of Ockham who said the simplest answer is likely the correct answer.
Doesn’t it make more sense that prayer is just a means to create and maintain a relationship with an imaginary being? That God may in fact really not exist? It is true that if we talk to a wall long enough, we will begin forming an attachment to it (Just ask Tom Hanks how bad he felt when his volleyball 'Wilson' fell into the ocean). Just like a child and his favorite stuffed animal or blanket or imaginary friend, we are able to convince ourselves that someone is on the other end of the unplugged phone despite the fact we know its not possible.
Prayer is an absolute necessity for religions. Without it, people could not become attached to the invisible. With it, it becomes harder for us to realize we are just talking to ourselves.
Yesterday a caller (who is a Christian) brought up an interesting topic; prayer. He asked the host why praying in public was such a big deal for Christians since the bible says Jesus and Elijah both taught that prayer should be done in private-behind closed doors. Regrettably I failed to hear the host's response as I began thinking about the issue myself and how this topic has become a recent rallying cry for today’s Christians. It seems you can turn on FOX or CNN any day of the week and find a Christian complaining about the lack of prayer in public schools. According to the devout faithful, this is the real reason why America is suffering. I too believe that a person’s religion is a personal and private matter and should be practiced in private. So if everyone agrees, why do Christians want to make prayer a public matter? Will praying in schools, as opposed to praying at home for instance, really make a difference when it comes to crime rates, poverty, hunger and illness? Do schools possess special (prayer) transmission powers that our homes do not? Perhaps it’s neither of these. Instead, maybe it’s simply a way to try and gain access to impressionable minds. The heads of church will never admit it, but isn’t it obvious to everyone? Isn't it?
Prayer is a fascinating religious dogma. Science has repeatedly proven that prayer does not work yet Christians continue to practice it with fervor. Why? For comfort? Because the preacher tells them to? Not only does science discount prayer’s usefulness, but the whole idea of prayer makes little sense in the context of who Christians claim their god to be. God is supposed to be an all powerful and all knowing being who possesses a master plan for the universe and everything in it-even us. Each individual has a God-anointed purpose. Now ponder this: when we, the imperfect sinful humans, pray to the perfect God to ask him for favors, we do it in hopes that he will hear us and intervene to fulfill our wishes. In fact, the bible preaches that if we pray in Jesus’ name, we will receive whatever we ask for. Does this happen? Of course not. Does it matter to Christian's? Apparently not. But why?
God knows what was, what is and what is to be. His master plan is perfect and without fault (so we are repeatedly told). We would expect nothing less from a perfect god. Now lets put on our Ponder Hats: Let’s say you (the Christian) pray to God to heal your very sick friend Nikki. In fact you ask your whole church to pray for Nikki. Despite your extreme efforts to let God know you want your friend healed, if healing Nikki is not in God’s plan, all prayers for her will go unanswered. The opposite is true as well: If it IS in God’s plan and IS His will, your friend will be healed.
So a rational person has to ask him/herself: Is prayer really necessary to begin with?
God's plan is a perfect plan. There is no changing it. If it needs to be changed then its not a perfect plan, right? SO, God will do what he is going to do in accordance to the plan-despite what you ask of him. This is only human reasoning here, but if we are unable to comprehend the master plan, our calls for Godly intervention (prayer) is a pestilence at best. God doesn’t and shouldn't care what we pray for. He is going to stick to the perfect eternal plan regardless.
You might say that God has the ability to change the future if he wants to. I suppose an all powerful being can do whatever he wants, but if he does that, did he really know the future in the first place? [Again put your ponder hat on] God would have foreseen himself changing the perfect eternal plan (he knows the future) and thus would have planned for the change. So he still has an eternal perfect plan, it just contained the prediction that he was going to change the future to accommodate your request to heal Nikki (even though he really didn't plan on it initially). As you can see, this can get very messy and confusing. So we must call upon the suggestion of the 14th Century logician William of Ockham who said the simplest answer is likely the correct answer.
Doesn’t it make more sense that prayer is just a means to create and maintain a relationship with an imaginary being? That God may in fact really not exist? It is true that if we talk to a wall long enough, we will begin forming an attachment to it (Just ask Tom Hanks how bad he felt when his volleyball 'Wilson' fell into the ocean). Just like a child and his favorite stuffed animal or blanket or imaginary friend, we are able to convince ourselves that someone is on the other end of the unplugged phone despite the fact we know its not possible.
Prayer is an absolute necessity for religions. Without it, people could not become attached to the invisible. With it, it becomes harder for us to realize we are just talking to ourselves.
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