Posts by losthobbit

7

A Short Story

by losthobbit in

i wrote a short story this morning in order to express my thoughts.

i call this story "the real genesis," and i posted it on my blog here: http://soberauer.blogspot.com.

i do apologize in advance for the lack of kittens in this story.

losthobbit

Sweet! For $3.99 I'll make a good "prophet" .... lame joke, I know

7

A Short Story

by losthobbit in

i wrote a short story this morning in order to express my thoughts.

i call this story "the real genesis," and i posted it on my blog here: http://soberauer.blogspot.com.

i do apologize in advance for the lack of kittens in this story.

losthobbit

Designs... thanks for your comment. Presumably everything else in my story is true then? :)

7

A Short Story

by losthobbit in

i wrote a short story this morning in order to express my thoughts.

i call this story "the real genesis," and i posted it on my blog here: http://soberauer.blogspot.com.

i do apologize in advance for the lack of kittens in this story.

losthobbit

I wrote a short story this morning in order to express my thoughts. I call this story "The Real Genesis," and I posted it on my blog here: http://soberauer.blogspot.com

I do apologize in advance for the lack of kittens in this story. I know this story would have been much better with kittens. Let me know what you think :)

The Real Genesis

I had one goal, "To make them think I don't exist."

It sounds simple enough... all you have to do is do nothing. Looking back I should probably have done that, but I didn't. This is my story.

Six thousand years ago I created the universe. The universe was small, but flexible. I placed the Earth, an amazing, spherical planet, with the ability to grow to adequately cater for an infinite number of occupants, directly in the center of it.

The Earth was incredible. I distributed rivers and fertile soil evenly throughout the entire planet so that no-one would ever be without food or water. I had special trees which produced fruit, others which produced clothing, and even trees that produced bedding. Wherever anyone went they would be safe, warm, clothed, and comfortable.

I produced some men and women. Every one of them was heterosexual, and very good looking. They had plenty of sex, and each time they did so, the female could decide whether she would like to become pregnant or not.

The people invented lots of games and spent all their time having fun. They never got old, never got hurt, never wanted anything that they couldn't have, and never had any reason to fight. Everything was perfect.

Unfortunately, one day, as they were gathered around a bonfire, one of them asked a question which forced me to change everything, "How did we get here?"

As they sat, roasting marshmellows from the marshmellow tree, they offered various hypothesis:

"Have you noticed how perfect everything is? Someone must have created us."

"That's not possible, for how would such a person have come about? Surely he must have evolved."

"What makes you think it's a he? It could have been a she."

"Whether it's a he or she, nor where they came from doesn't matter. What matters is that they exist."

And so the humans wasted their time trying to contact me. They called to me, and threw things into the sky. They set fire to things, to see if they could get my attention, and started writing big messages in fields. All I wanted to be was invisible.

I simply wanted it to seem like I didn't exist. I thought back to the conversation that the people had, and then it dawned on me... I could make it seem like they were created by evolution, and so I froze the humans and kept them in a storage facility as I started to change things.

I made the universe infinite in size, and created billions of useless planets and stars. I moved the Earth to a completely random location. Then I made all the planets spin and move outward at incredibly dangerously high speeds. I sped up time, so that fifteen billion years would pass. When it was all over I placed the humans back in their surroundings and thawed them out.

"We are not stupid, oh great one!" They shouted out. "Just because things are a bit more random, doesn't mean you don't exist. We see how perfect things still are. We know you're out there!"

"Damn it!" I shouted. All my work had not succeeded. I had to make things less perfect. I had to bring pain. "When I bring pain," I thought to myself, "then they will know that I do not exist."

And so I froze them again, and changed their world. I removed half of the trees, made it very cold in winter, and hot in summer. I removed ninety percent of the rivers and made everything appear to be random. Then I put them back.

"We still know you're out there! They shouted. We know you have given us painful times so we can appreciate the good times."

I couldn't believe it. They accepted my existence in spite of being cold and hot. As much as it broke my heart to do so, I had to bring more pain.

I created hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes and floods. I created insects that would bite and annoy people, large animals that would hunt them, trample them, and eat them, and snakes and spiders that would poison them. I made them smell bad, so that they had to continuously wash themselves, made them grow old, and become hairy. I even made some of them ugly, and some of them homosexual, so that they would not be able to have children. I made them unable to choose not to be pregnant after having sex, and made the women feel lots of pain, especially in child birth. I invented diseases, horrible ones, which would spread in all sorts of strange ways.

"Now you will know that I don't exist, I told their frozen bodies."

I thawed them out, and placed them back on the Earth.

"Oh great one!" They shouted out. "Heal us, mend us, make us well. Soothe our pain. Feed us."

No matter what I did, they still believed that I existed, and so I thought, if there's nothing I can do to make them think I don't exist, maybe I can just place the blame on someone else, and so I told them, "Twas not I! Twas the evil one! Twas the DEVIL, who gave you such pains, because you are a naughty bunch of moany, groany dimwits! But nevertheless, I am GOOD. I will cure your diseases, and feed you. I will give you warmth and comfort you. I will de-odorize your bodies and make your poop smell good. But whatever you ask for, do it quietly. You're such a noisy bunch, and I can hear your thoughts."

And so it was that I had some peace for a little while.

Little did I know that the dimwits had written down everything I had said. They made copies, and shared it amongst themselves. They spoke continuously about the writings, making up theories, expanding the written works with their nonsense.

After four thousand years, the writings had expanded to thousands of pages, filled with strange sayings and laws that I had supposedly made up. Their writings covered the entire Earth, but whenever they were transferred, changes were made. The east of the Earth had completely different writings to the west, and the middle, between the east and the west, was just completely muddled up. As I began to learn more I discovered that even in small areas, where they had the same writings they argued day and night about tiny details.

"I will end this, once and for all," I told myself. "I shall come down there and say something so ridiculous, and contradictory, that none of them will ever believe in me again."

I lay awake in bed that night, thinking of what I would tell them, writing down my ideas. I would tell them:

I am the great one that created you, and he is my father.

I am good, and just, and I will burn you eternally, so that you will have unimaginable pain for eternity if you don't believe in me.

The world will end in this generation. (When the generation dies out, they will have to stop believing in me)

Pray to me, and I will cure your diseases and remove your evil spirits. (When they eventually figure out the scientific method, they'll understand the problems with this.)

And so I went down to Earth and told them, and once again, they wrote down everything I said, copied it, made changes, and spread it throughout the Earth (except to China, because they had laws against this kind of thing).

Two thousand years later I returned and discovered that one third of them still believed the four lies that I told them.

Some philosophers had almost figured me out, but the rest of the world were dumfounded. The most notable of philosophers were these guys:

Adolf Hitler said, "Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it."

Charles Taze Russell, the fellow who invented the Jehovah's Witnesses, figured out nearly all the contradictions in what I said. His little organization almost had it, but instead of realizing that I was lying, re-translated my writings to say what he wanted them to say.

And so I ask you, dear humans, after doing everything God could possibly think of to try and make you believe that he does not exist, what more can he do to prove it to you?

4

Any thoughts on this video??

by 3dogs1husband in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msjfqs7cdti&context=c3648adaadoegstopdskjlmiha25eqg4fojrpjbiyk.

losthobbit

Nice... although I started looking at a couple of her other videos and they're seriously depressing.

8

God of the Paradox

by dark angle in

hi all!

i found this vid amusing.. god of the paradoxhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7jclyinery.

losthobbit

well put, JWF

32

Why don't JWs do much in the way of charity work?

by ilikecheese in

jw
friends

so i argue with the boyfriend a lot about the fact that i think charitable work is every bit as important as preaching when it comes to serving god.

every church i've ever gone to has some sort of community outreach, if not several outreaches, that have little or nothing to do with preaching.

and i made the point that if these people know you're affiliated with a church, they'll think a little more kindly about christians, too, which would help in the whole witnessing arena.

losthobbit

Just a thought...

Is it better to:

1. Give to beggars (those who don't work / can't work)?

2. Buy stuff (effectively giving to those who work / own companies)?

3. Spend your time and / or money trying to find and promote a fair system that could benefit everyone?

My preference is 3 is best, then 1, then 2.

38

Have you ever successfully persuaded anyone?

by losthobbit in

i've had many conversations with religious people and am always surprised that i am never able to get anyone to put their programmed beliefs aside and process the logic that proves how unreasonable their doctrines are.. so, i'm wondering, have you ever successfully persuaded someone to change their mind about something that they had been brainwashed with, and if so, how did you do it?.

thanks in advance .

losthobbit

Hi Tammy and Shelby

I think we just have different understandings of the word punishment, because I actually completely agree with you. I think the bible gets punishment and revenge muddled up. Anyway, I won't carry on about that, because I really agree with what you're saying there :)

With regard to what you've both written about faith not being the same as religion... it's another case of words having a different meaning for different people. I would define religion as having faith, or belief in a deity. You may use different words for different things, but it seems we would agree more if we had the same understanding of those words :)

Shelby, I'd like to comment on what you wrote previously: "I am not sure that you can understand, grasp, or perceive MY method... as I would explain him to you. Even more... I am often left with no choice but to assume you don't even WANT to... won't even condescend to entertain the possibilities, let alone try to understand them. My experience has been that, while dear ones like you want folks to at least CONSIDER what you're offering... you're no longer willing to even reciprocate and CONSIDER what I might share with you."

This is actually a pretty good way to persuade me, because I've previously written about my love for open mindedness. What you wrote here I take as a challenge, to try to prove to you that I do try to be open minded. I spent many years trying to find answers to my questions by praying, and asking for other peoples' opinions.

I do, however need to say that logic and rational thinking are universal, and apply to everything. I've spoken to people before about logic problems in the bible, and they simply respond with something like "We don't understand God... his thinking is above our thinking." That's all fine, but at some point beforehand you have to use very accurate logic or rational arguments to decide that you can actually trust your source of information about God.

So Shelby, I would expect the following from your method: that it is either very obviously logical, or that it has been tried and tested and proven. If not, maybe it is pointless telling me, but please go ahead and explain to me the method which you used to determine your point of view, and I will do my best to try and see it through your eyes.

When I was a Christian, I had my methods by which I determined my faith. I was embarrassed to talk to people about my beliefs, and after many years I realized that the reason was because I had not been honest with myself, because my methods were flawed.

Peace to you too :)

Stephen

38

Have you ever successfully persuaded anyone?

by losthobbit in

i've had many conversations with religious people and am always surprised that i am never able to get anyone to put their programmed beliefs aside and process the logic that proves how unreasonable their doctrines are.. so, i'm wondering, have you ever successfully persuaded someone to change their mind about something that they had been brainwashed with, and if so, how did you do it?.

thanks in advance .

losthobbit

Hi Tammy

You wrote "Speaking personally, I need Christ and His help to be at peace. To forgive, to show mercy, to love friends and enemies, to show patience and forebearance against those who do me wrong. That is what HE does for me. I trust in His mercy, his forgiveness, and his promises. Christ is the Truth of God. Not religion."

For me, I understand forgiveness because I try to think rationally.

Let me explain:

- Revenge is mainly about being unwilling to control anger. This is typically irrational.

- Punishment is about keeping order, and not necessarily inflicting pain, but pain can be a byproduct. This is typically rational.

I understand, and love people simply because I am human, and I know it's right. I don't need Christ or God to tell me that.

I dream of a time when we will all be able to gather together to learn about love and forgiveness and to socialize, without the necessity to believe in any deities. For me the closest thing to that is the Zeitgeist Movement, which I have spoken about before.

38

Have you ever successfully persuaded anyone?

by losthobbit in

i've had many conversations with religious people and am always surprised that i am never able to get anyone to put their programmed beliefs aside and process the logic that proves how unreasonable their doctrines are.. so, i'm wondering, have you ever successfully persuaded someone to change their mind about something that they had been brainwashed with, and if so, how did you do it?.

thanks in advance .

losthobbit

Thanks for your thoughts, Tammy, Hofer, SA and Rebel8. Lots to think about here :)

38

Have you ever successfully persuaded anyone?

by losthobbit in

i've had many conversations with religious people and am always surprised that i am never able to get anyone to put their programmed beliefs aside and process the logic that proves how unreasonable their doctrines are.. so, i'm wondering, have you ever successfully persuaded someone to change their mind about something that they had been brainwashed with, and if so, how did you do it?.

thanks in advance .

losthobbit

AGuest... thanks for your comments.

I realize that what I said may not have been very tactful. Sometimes out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. I could guess that most athiests would consider themselves rational and religious people irrational, but never admit it out loud.

It's a bit like people who worship a god they believe is going to send me to hell, but they will never admit to my face that they think I should burn forever.

Perhaps I should explain something about rational, or logical thinking... what you need to understand are tried and tested things like the scientific method and Mathematics. There is a fixed process to rational thought. Irrational thinking comes about when these processes are not adhered to. Rational thinking is like building a wall. You start with the foundational bricks, simple pieces of undisputed knowledge, and build onto those. If any brick in the wall is disproved, everything above it falls down.

Irrational thinking is more like spagetti.

I'll summarize what it says on Wikipedia about the scientific method (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method):

Define a question
Gather information and resources (observe)
Form an explanatory hypothesis
Perform an experiment and collect data, testing the hypothesis
Analyze the data
Interpret the data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypothesis
Publish results
Retest (frequently done by other scientists)

Consider applying this to your religion: Form hypothesis, try to disprove them, try to get your friends to disprove them. Once you have something solid that no-one's able to disprove, you can lay the brick, and use it as a foundation for the next brick. Your goal is to try to get the wall to fall down.

The scientific method is used to build cars, planes, medicine, etc.

Homeopathic medicine is something which has not passed the scientific method. For this reason it's called "alternative medicine", or in other words, "a substance that does nothing."

Here's a simple test for a religion... I'll use the scientific method, and put petrol in my car. Someone else can empty their fuel tank and pray... and we'll see who finishes the race first. There was a story in the bible where the prophet Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to light the altar and Elijah wins. Strange that no-one can get the same results these days.