thought of the day.108

Test of Faith. Judges

God made people
A. love each other
B. kill each other

Jepthah gave thanks to God by
A. baptising his daughter
B. killing his daughter

The Israelites found wives by
A. courting them for 40 days to be sure they were equally yolked
B. capturing virgins after killing their families and friends

Judges 7:22, 11:30-40, 21:8-12

thought of the day.107

In this age of environmental crises, the Golden Rule of "treating others as you would like to be treated” might be better understood as “what you do unto others you do unto yourself.”

thought of the day.106

The findings of countless dedicated scientists in the diverse fields of geology, paleontology, biogeography, zoology, botany, comparative anatomy, molecular biology, genetics and embryology all point to the fact of evolution. But the fundamentalist Christian preachers know science better than the scientists and have done their part to encourage half the population of the United States to reject mountains of evidence in favor of belief that man was fashioned from dirt and woman from a rib bone. This denigrating of facts in favor of faith is but one example of the danger of religious leaders.

thought of the day.105

“Free thought means fearless thought. It is not deterred by legal penalties, nor by spiritual consequences. Dissent from the Bible does not alarm the true investigator, who takes truth for authority not authority for truth. The thinker who is really free, is independent; he is under no dread; he yields to no menace; he is not dismayed by law, nor custom, nor pulpits, nor society--whose opinion appals so many. He who has the manly passion of free thought, has no fear of anything, save the fear of error.”

~ George Jacob Holyoake, The Origin and Nature of Secularism, 1896

thought of the day.104

Argument over the idea of a holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost led to a dark history of persecution, murder, war, and an industry (Church) of much nonsense. How much more peace might we enjoy if our holy Trinity was: Be Grateful, Compassionate and Aware.

thought of the day.103

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

thought of the day.102

Test of Faith. 1 Timothy

Women in church are
A. equal to men
B. not allowed to teach men

Women in church
A. are free to speak
B. must keep quiet

Slaves of Christian masters must be
A. set free for it’s a sin to own a human
B. especially obedient

1 Timothy 2:8-15, 6:1-2

thought of the day.101

It seems Reality is deep like an ocean and all we see is the surface—
and even that glimpse is obscured by our human frailties.

thought of the day.100

With all his threats of torturing people in hell,
Jesus would be the Devil if he wasn’t a myth.

thought of the day.99

“Another important doctrine of the Christian religion, is the atonement supposed to have been made by the death and sufferings of the pretended Saviour of the world; and this is grounded upon principles as regardless of justice as the doctrine of original sin. It exhibits a spectacle truly distressing to the feelings of the benevolent mind, it calls innocence and virtue into a scene of suffering, and reputed guilt, in order to destroy the injurious effects of real vice. It pretends to free the world from the fatal effects of a primary apostacy, by the sacrifice of an innocent being. Evil has already been introduced into the world, and in order to remove it, a fresh accumulation of crimes becomes necessary. In plain terms, to destroy one evil, another must be committed.”

- Elihu Palmer, Principles of Nature; or, A Development of the Moral Causes of Happiness and Misery among the Human Species, 1801

thought of the day.98

It’s said prostitution is the world’s oldest profession, but the priesthood, begun by the shaman or witch doctor, is likely older, and screwing with minds as religious leaders do, is far more immoral.

thought of the day.97

The complete absurdity of Christianity is seen in the Fundamentalist Christians who insist The Flood happened as told in the bible. For to argue for The Flood is to argue that their god of “love” is not only responsible for killing every child on earth and their families, but that their “perfect” god is also responsible for the most miserable failure of all time, for as soon as the earth dried, God was killing people all over again, now using angels of death, horrible diseases, fire and brimstone, poisonous snakes, starvation, and perhaps most despicably of all—commanding humans to carry out his dirty deeds of murder and genocide.

thought of the day.96

The delusion of having access to the ultimate power in the universe, through prayer and “holy” scripture, allows for the ultimate justifying of any idea or action, no matter how harmful, making “God” the most dangerous of all ideas.

thought of the day.95

Test of Faith. Numbers

When people complained about being hungry, God sent
A. bread to sustain them
B. poisonous snakes to kill them

God was pleased when Phinehas saw a foreign woman and
A. shared the Bible with her
B. drove a spear through her

Moses had his men take thousands of moms and kids and
A. baptize them
B. murder them

Numbers 21:4-6, 25:1-13, 31:1-18

thought of the day.94

“One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said. "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.”

~Jack Handey

Happy April Fool’s Day!