thought of the day.380

Empathy and Veracity. If only these were our gods.

thought of the day.379

I understand that it may offer some comfort to the grieving, but seems to me, to say one has “gone home” cheapens death. Death—as far as we can tell—is final. People do not go frolic in a happy place, thrilled to be “home” at last. Nor do they suffer unimaginable torment in a hell hole. Death, as an integral part of life, should be seen for what it is, clearly and if not unflinchingly, at least honestly.

thought of the day.378

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

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“Preachers and televangelists, mullahs and imams, often seem almost to gloat over natural disasters — presenting them as payback for human transgressions, or for ‘making a pact with the devil’. Earthquakes and tsunamis are caused not by ‘sin’ but by tectonic plate movements, and tectonic plates, like everything else in the physical world, are supremely indifferent to human affairs and sadly indifferent to human suffering.”

~ Michael Shermer

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Not in a second. Not in a minute. Not a moment ago. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Not today. Life exists only now. In this moment.

thought of the day.375

“I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

~ Etienne de Grelle

thought of the day.374

I frequently listen to Christian talk radio when in the car to keep abreast of what the enemies of reason are up to. I almost always feel the need of a long, hot shower after being sullied by so many half-truths, whole-lies and often unabashed hate speech (today’s target was homosexuals). Nothing justifies ignorance like the bible.

thought of the day.373

If I somehow cured cancer, wiped out world hunger and put an end to all wars I would still consider my greatest personal achievement that of breaking free from Christianity. That my own herculean effort contributed to 2 of my 3 children abandoning their Christianity with great ease makes it all the sweeter.

thought of the day.372

“Ethics cannot be based upon our obligations toward [people], but they are complete and natural only when we feel this Reverence for Life and the desire to have compassion for and to help all creatures insofar as it is in our power. I think that this ethic will become more and more recognized because of its great naturalness and because it is the foundation of a true humanism toward which we must strive if our culture is to become truly ethical.”

~Albert Schweitzer

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It never fails to astound and sadden me how Christianity corrupts the believer’s sense of common decency. Christians will defend any and all acts of their God, from infanticide to genocide to ecocide to eternal torture.

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Loving? Not so much.

The number one most often quoted biblical verse is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Yet rarely are the two preceding verses mentioned. Seems few Christians want to talk about how their “loving” God sent poisonous snakes to kill his people (Nu 21:4-9). Some love.

thought of the day.369

The Test of Faith

Genesis
God said wives were to be
A. equal to husbands
B. subject to husbands

Lot offered up his daughters to be
A. baptized
B. gang-raped

God
A. loved all the children in Sodom and Gomorrah
B. burned all the children in Sodom and Gomorrah

Gn 3:16, 19:6-8, 19:24

Exodus
God is a
A. God of peace
B. man of war

God says daughters
A. are to be cherished
B. may be sold as slaves

Moses commanded his followers to
A. care for family, friends and neighbors
B. kill family, friends and neighbors

Ex 15:3, 21:7, 32:27-29

Deuteronomy
God says a man may take a girl to be his wife
A. if she is willing
B. after killing her family and taking her prisoner

A virgin who is raped
A. shall be comforted by the priests
B. must marry her rapist and never get divorced

A husband encouraged to worship a different deity by his wife is to
A. share the Good News with her
B. kill her

Dt 21:10-14, 22:28-29, 13:6-10

Leviticus
Children who curse a parent must be
A. corrected with love
B. killed with stones

God says children
A. are precious jewels
B. may be enslaved for life

God says everyone “unconditionally dedicated” to him
A. is blessed
B. must be killed

Lv 20:9, 25:44-46, 27:28-29

Judges
God made people
A. love one other
B. kill one other

Jepthah thanked God for victory by
A. baptising his daughter
B. sacrificing his daughter

The Israelites found wives by
A. praying to God
B. capturing girls after killing their families

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

Micah
God commands his people to
A. forgive and love others
B. punish and crush others

God
A. guards his people from enemies
B. abandons his people to enemies

God brings
A. enlightenment and mercy
B. ruin, destruction and hunger

Micah 4:15, 5:3, 6:13-16

Amos
God brought his people
A. food
B. famine

God sent his people
A. rain to nourish their crops
B. wind to dry up their crops

God sent his people a
A. miracle cure
B. killer plague

Amos 4:6-12


1 Kings
On his death bed, David called for
A. forgiveness and mercy
B. revenge and murder

Solomon became king after
A. serving people
B. murdering people

God promised Jeroboam he would
A. never punish sons for a father’s sins
B. kill all his male descendants

1 Kings 2:1-9, 2:13-46, 14:9-11

1 Samuel
God
A. keeps his promises
B. breaks his promises

The “spirit of God” made Samuel
A. kind and peaceful
B. furious and threatening

God told his people to
A. love their neighbors
B. kill men, women, children and babies

1Samuel 2:30-36, 11:6-7, 15:1-3, 27:8

Second Samuel
Jerusalem became known as a holy city after David
A. prayed God’s blessings upon it
B. slaughtered its inhabitants

When a man tried to keep the Covenant Box from falling, God
A. blessed him
B. killed him

God punished David for adultery and murder by
A. having him relinquish the throne
B. having his wives raped for all to see

2 Samuel 5:6-10, 6:1-8, 12:5-15

Lamentations
Who invited enemies to murder beloved children?
A. Satan
B. God

Who angrily pursues people and kills without mercy?
A. Satan
B. God

Who brought such starvation that mothers ate children?
A. Satan
B. God

Lm 2:22, 3:43, 4:10

2 Chronicles
God helped
A. heal 500,000 Israelites
B. slaughter 500,000 Israelites

God and his army
A. fought for truth and justice
B. attacked shepherds and stole their sheep

God had the king of Babylonia
A. build schools and hospitals
B. murder men and women, young and old

2 Ch 13:13-18, 14:12-15, 36:17

Jeremiah
God said he’d make people eat their
A. words
B. children

God
A. loves children
B. starves children to death

God said he’d
A. love people unconditionally
B. kill people mercilessly

Jeremiah 19:8-9, 11:22, 13:14

2 Kings
God sent bears to
A. lay down in the manger
B. tear children to pieces

God sent an angel upon 185,000 soldiers to
A. fill them with his holy spirit
B. kill them all

Jesus’ own ancestor, Manasseh,
A. spread the good news about Christ
B. sacrificed his son as a burnt offering

2 Kings 2:24, 19:35, 21:6

Ezekiel
God said he would make parents eat
A. stale bread
B. their children

God punished people by letting them sacrifice their
A. best goats
B. first-born sons

God said he would send
A. angels to protect children
B. armies to burn children alive

Ezekiel 5:9-10, 20:25-26, 23:25

Hosea
God told his people he would
A. surround them with love
B. attack them like a lion and tear them to pieces

God told his people he would
A. nurture their beloved children
B. kill their beloved children

God’s punishments include
A. 40 days of fasting
B. having babies heads smashed and pregnant women ripped open

Hosea 5:14, 9:15-16, 13:16

Isaiah
Horrible, painful diseases are something
A. Satan sent to cause great suffering
B. God sent to cause great suffering

God sent armies of men to
A. feed the hungry
B. bash babies and rape wives in front of their husbands

God says the world will know he is LORD by making people
A. love each other
B. kill each other

Isaiah 10:16, 13:14-18, 50:26

Psalms
Serve God with fear or
A. you’ll be unhappy
B. you’ll suddenly die

The righteous are joyful to
A. do what is right
B. wade through the blood of the wicked

Happy are those that take babies and
A. teach them the ways of the LORD
B. smash their heads against rocks

Psalm 2:11, 58:10, 137:9

Joshua
Upon entering the city of Jericho, God’s people
A. preached about God’s mercy
B. slaughtered everyone

God made the sun stand still while his people
A. distributed food and clothing
B. slaughtered people

Needing a place to live, God’s people
A. searched for uninhabited land
B. attacked a city, killed its people, and claimed it for themselves

Joshua 6:20-21, 10:12-14, 19:47


Proverbs
He that loves his children
A. nurtures them like a garden
B. beats them with a rod

To deliver a child’s soul from hell
A. pray for them
B. beat them with a rod

A child learns wisdom by being
A. taught well
B. beaten with a rod

Proverbs 13:24, 23:14, 29:15

Numbers
When people complained about being hungry, God sent
A. bread to nourish 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. butcher them

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

Job
Satan killed all of Job’s sheep and shepherds after
A. God forbid such wickedness
B. God allowed such wickedness

Satan killed all of Job’s children after
A. God forbid such wickedness
B. God allowed such wickedness

Satan caused Job great physical suffering after
A. God forbid such wickedness
B. God allowed such wickedness

Job 1:16, 18, 2:1-10


NEW TESTAMENT

Acts
Believers helped spread Christianity by
A. writing books
B. burning books

An angel of the Lord
A. showered Herod with God’s grace
B. killed Herod with flesh-eating worms

Ananias and his wife Sapphira were
A. loved by the Lord
B. killed by the Lord

Acts 19:19-20, 12:21-23, 5:1-11


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


Matthew
Jesus said he came to bring
A. peace
B. a sword

Jesus called a mother and daughter
A. God’s children
B. dogs

Jesus said to fear
A. nothing—for he will protect you
B. God—for he can burn you in hell

Matthew 10:34, 15:21-28, 10:28

Revelation
Jesus promised to throw Jezebel
A. a party
B. on a bed and make her suffer terribly

Jesus’ angels will
A. bless all of mankind
B. kill a third of mankind

Jesus will rule the world with
A. love and wisdom
B. an iron rod

Rev 2:22-23, 9:15, 19:12-16

Mark
Jesus reminded people about the command to
A. love and protect children
B. kill children who curse their parents

Jesus referred to a mother and her sick child as
A. his precious sheep
B. dogs

Fathers who leave their children for Jesus’ sake will be
A. cursed for abandoning their families
B. rewarded with 100 times more children

Mk 7:10, 24-28, 10:29-30

Luke
Jesus told his friends not to fear people, but
A. fear only fear itself
B. fear God, who after killing, may throw them into hell

Jesus came to bring the world
A. peace and harmony
B. division and family strife

When Jesus comes again it will be like
A. heaven on earth
B. when God slaughtered everyone in Sodom

Lk 12:4-5, 12:49-53, 17:22-30

more to come...

thought of the day.368

Ahhh, such sweet Christian love...right out of the "Good" book:

"Whoever does not love the LORD — a curse on him!"

~ 1 Corinthians 16:22

Paul curses unbelievers in this life and Jesus promises eternal torment for them in the next. Lovely gentlemen those two.

thought of the day.367

We’ve come a long way, baby!

On this date in 1527, Felix Manz was drowned under sentence of the Zurich city council for believing in baptism for cognizant adults rather than infant baptism.

thought of the day.366

Mark Twain, describing the Christian Bible in Letters from the Earth, 1909:

“Also it has another name – The Word of God. For the Christian thinks every word of it was dictated by God. It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies… But you notice that when the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, adored Father of Man, goes to war, there is no limit. He is totally without mercy – he, who is called the Fountain of Mercy. He slays, slays, slays! All the men, all the beasts, all the boys, all the babies; also all the women and all the girls, except those that have not been deflowered. He makes no distinction between innocent and guilty… What the insane Father required was blood and misery; he was indifferent as to who furnished it.”

thought of the day.365

“I will seek elegance rather than luxury, refinement rather than fashion. I will seek to be worthy more than respectable, wealthy and not rich. I will study hard, think quietly, talk gently, and act frankly. I will listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with an open heart. I will bear all things cheerfully, do all ...things bravely await occasions and hurry never.”

~ William Ellery Channing

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“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

thought of the day.363

2009 was a very good year. :) May 2010 be even better....

thought of the day.362

To believe God answers prayer is to believe one shares in omnipotence — perhaps the grandest of all delusions.

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The journey is the destination. Enjoy the route.