The Creation Of Gods And Other Human Habits

God, from the Nuremberg Chronicles

Human beings design intelligent designers :~

They use a process which although logically flawed, goes much like this.

• 1. Human beings design things.
• 2. Human beings are intelligent beings who design things.
• 3. Human beings are intelligent beings because they have a capacity to learn, reason, and understand.
• 4. Human beings although they are intelligent, did not design the universe.
• 5. Human beings did not design the universe because they are not intelligent enough.
• 6. If intelligent humans did not design the universe, then it must have been a being which is more intelligent than humans.
• 7. Human beings then go on to imagine and design an intelligent being which is intelligent enough to design the universe.
• 8. Human beings then decide that the degree of intelligence which is required to design the universe is omniscience because in order to design everything, the being must know everything.
• 9. Human beings having designed an omniscient being which is capable of designing the universe as it knows everything, then proceed to call this being god.
• 10. Human beings then go on to imagine what this god must be like. It must be like us, but better in everyway than us. Afterall, we know what we would need in order to design the universe. Therefore our god designer must be like us; but the superdooper version of us. It must be like us, but on supernatural steroids.
  a. Therefore it is not just intelligent like us, it is omniscient.
  b. It is not just benevolent like us, but omnibenevolent.
  c. It is not just powerful like us, but omnipotent.
  d. It is not just in this one place in time and space like us, but omnipresent.
  e. It is not just in the natural world like us, but in a supernatural realm.

(Humans attribute these characteristics to this being because they know that they lack these qualities, and these qualities must be what a being would need in order to create everything.)

• 11. Human beings then go on to claim that because they are capable of imagining and designing a being which is capable of these things and of having these attributes and characteristics, that this is because the being created human beings. Or, because they can imagine and construct epistomologically such a being, it must be because the being actually exists.
• 12. Some human beings even go on to claim that the being created humans in its image instead of the more obvious, where human beings, being intelligent, but not omniscient, created the concept of an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent god.

"We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes." - Gene Roddenberry

(PS: ~ There is a free cookie/biscuit for the people who can state the deliberate logical fallacies in the constructed argument.)

intelligent design gods design intelligence omniscient ID omniscience

Intelligent Designer

Argument: ~ If an intelligent designer exists, it cannot be an omniscient god.

~*~

• 1. What is an intelligent designer?
• 2. An intelligent designer designs things.
• 3. An intelligent designer exhibits intelligence.
• 4. What is intelligence?
• 5. Intelligence is the capacity to learn.
• 6. An omnicient god is a god which knows everything.
• 7. Therefore, an omniscient god doesn't need to learn anything.
• 8. Therefore an omniscient god cannot be an intelligent designer.
• 9. A god which was not all-knowing would be less than perfect.
• 10. Therefore, only a less than perfect god could be an intelligent designer.
  
  
  Same argument expressed slightly differently:

• 1. Definition: X is intelligent means X has the capacity to learn.
• 2. For any X, X has the capacity to learn LOGICALLY IMPLIES that there is something which X doesn't know.
• 3. If God exists then God is omniscient (knows all that there is to know).
• 4. Thus by 3 & 2, God doesn't have the capacity to learn.
• 5. Thus by 4 & 1, God is not intelligent.
• 6. Every intelligent designer is intelligent.
• 7. Therefore by 5 & 6, God is not an intelligent designer.

(With thanks to Polaterality)

LINKS:

• Omniscience
• Anthropomorphism
• Intelligence
• Intelligent Design Advocates Make Death Threats
• On the Unintelligent Idea of Intelligent Design

If complex organisms demand an explanation, so does a complex designer.

By calling god an "intelligent designer" (one who has the capacity to learn, reason and understand); one downgrades an omniscient god, (one who knows everything already), to one who "knows a lot." - beepbeepitsme

intelligent design intelligent designer omniscient intelligence

Proof that the USA is Evil

Watch on Youtube ~ Tickle Me Elmo

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IT BURPS! IT FARTS! IT WETS ITS FUR WITH LAUGHTER!

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Ok, it doesn't do any of those things but it does other scary things. Yes, I added the horns. And yes, it was a joke. Please put the gun down.

*~*

Seriously, I thought this thing was having a seizure or an epileptic fit. Maybe the next model can have flashing eyes to ensure that the owner and doll can have matching concurrent seizures.

*~*

What has been described as the America's "gun culture" or love affair with weapons has always been at least slightly disturbing to me. But not anymore. Having watched the video of Elmo cacking his pants for about 2 minutes, I would be reaching for the nearest weapon to put it out of its misery. If there is anything out there that is begging to be a target, it is "Tickle Me Elmo."

*~*

So my suggestion would be. Spare your sanity, buy a gun and tickle the doll with a round of hollow points.

What will the next version be? These ideas might be popular for political pundits.

• 1. A "Tickle Me Elmo Doll" which allows you to vote in the next presidential election by squeezing the righthand or the lefthand.
• 2. You then stick a USB cable up its cloaca and the vote is registered online and compiled via my server where I tally the votes for a small but fair fee.
• 3. Votes which are "ambiguous" set off the self destruct button located inside the doll's nose thus ensuring a troublefree vote count.
• 4. Also, it would be illegal to sell these dolls to African Americans who live in Florida thus saving valuable time having to delete their names from the list later on.

What about a religious theme?

• 1. How about a Tickle Me Jesus Doll? This would be a hit with people who like to tickle others under the armpits.
• 2. Or a Tickle Me Devil Doll. This doll could cackle insanely for a couple of minutes, and then tell the owner to go to hell.
• 3. Or ~ The New Masturbating Elmo Doll...

I am sure there are readers out there with their own suggestions.

"DIFFICILE EST SATURAM NON SCRIBERE"

humor humour elmo

Jesus Is Imaginary

Watch on Youtube : ~ Prove that Jesus is Imaginary in Less than 5 Minutes

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TRANSCRIPT:

You can prove to yourself that jesus is completely imaginary in less than five minutes. Planet earth. Home to billions of people. More than two billion of earth's inhabitants believe in jesus christ. They believe that jesus was sent by god to give them eternal life. They believe that jesus died but was then resurrected and now sits in heaven looking down and judging us. Yet jesus christ is completely imaginary and we can prove it in three simple steps.

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Step 1 : ~ Open your bible and read 1 Cor 15: 3-8.

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"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."

*~*

We learn three important facts from this passage.

• Jesus proved his resurrection by appearing to people.
• It is OK to appear to people.
• Appearing to people does not take away free will or harm faith.

*~*

Step 2: ~ Read Matthew 18: 19-20

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"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

*~*

Here we learn two important facts.

• Jesus is already here amongst us.
• God will do anything we ask.

*~*

So, Step 3 is simple. We ask jesus to appear. Grab a friend and try this prayer.

Dear jesus, we know that you are in our midst already. We ask you to physically appear, so that we may know that you are resurrected. We have faith that you will answer our prayer as you promise in the bible. In your name we pray. Amen.

*~*

Now, what do you suppose is going to happen? If you are a normal, intelligent adult, then you know what will happen. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

*~*

Here's what we know: ~

• Jesus is already here.
• It would be trivial for him to appear.
• It is ok for him to appear.
• He has promised that he will appear to your prayer.

*~*

Yet, strangely, jesus ignores your prayer. How do we explain what we see here? If you are a normal, intelligent person the explanation is simple. Jesus is imaginary. People who believe in jesus can make hundreds of excuses to try and explain what we see here, but they are all just that - excuses. Jesus is imaginary.

*~*

If jesus were real he would appear to each of us. He would show us that he is the resurrected son of god just like he supposedly showed the people in the bible. Instead, your prayer is ignored. The fact that your prayer is ignored shows us exactly how imaginary jesus is. It is time for us to state the truth.

*~*

The people on earth who worship jesus are worshipping a being who is no more real than the Great Pumpkin. It is time for normal, intelligent people to acknowledge this simple fact. And begin dismantling the last great superstition of the modern era. Would you like to learn more? If you would like to explain the excuses that people use to explain jesus's absence, please visit God Is Imaginary .

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JESUS IS IMAGINARY.

*~*

Comments are welcomed.

jesus , imaginary , bible , prayer , god

Jesus Camp

Picture of the German belt-buckle. 'Gott mit uns' (God with us).

*~*

By now many of you will have seen the "Jesus Camp" video depicting some of the activities at Pastor Becky Fischer's Bible camp in North Dakota. Some of these activities include:

• Speaking in tongues,
• weeping for salvation,
• praying for an end to abortion
• and worshipping a picture of President Bush

"I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the gospel as they are in Palestine, Pakistan and all those different places," Fisher said. "Because, excuse me, we have the truth."

"A lot of people die for God," one camper said, "and they're not afraid." "We're kinda being trained to be warriors," said another, "only in a funner way."

"It's an absolute, straight-up us-against-them," Sandler said. "It's, you're either with us or you're against us. … Not only are you a sinner, but you are working for the enemy — the enemy being Satan."

Some cheeky sod edited the Jesus Camp video to express his/her satirical opinion concerning the indocrination of these young people into "warriors for jesus."

WATCH IT HERE: ~ PARODY OF THE JESUS CAMP VIDEO

None of this sounds terribly different to the indoctrination of some young muslims who are trained to be warriors for allah and to die for allah because they ALSO have an intractable faith that THEY claim is "the truth".

Some young muslims also see other religions, but especially christianity, as the great satan, in exactly the same way that these christian children in the Jesus Camp video are being indoctrinated to view islam as the great satan.

On both sides it is about indoctrinating children to: ~

• obey the leader without question;
• worship the leader because the leader is god's/allah's representative;
• become "god/allah warriors" for their nations;
• and to die for their intractable religious beliefs.

When muslims become the "new jews" and must be eliminated, and christians become the "new jews" and must be eliminated; what hope is there for a sane, rational world?

MORE LINKS: ~

• Film Shows Youths Training to Fight for Jesus
• Jesus Camp Trailer
• Jesus Camp Clip - Becky Fischer speaks to kids
• Jesus Camp (ABC news)
• Jesus Camp Clip - Tory - "young disciple"
• Jesus Camp Clip - Becky Fischer
• Jesus Camp
• Opposition to Liberalism, Secularism, Immorality: Hitler's Appeal to Christians
• The Pony Express - Parody "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah! (A Letter from Jesus Camp)"

"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis

jesus jesus camp indoctrination fascism christian parody

Fossil Find Is Missing Link in Human Evolution

Watch on Streaming Video : ~ Hominid Evolution and Development

"Lucy's Baby" -- World's Oldest Child -- Found by Fossil Hunters

The world's oldest known child has been discovered in East Africa in an area known appropriately as the Cradle of Humanity.

The 3.3-million-year-old fossilized toddler was uncovered in north Ethiopia's badlands along the Great Rift Valley.

The skeleton, belonging to the primitive human species Australopithecus afarensis, is remarkable for its age and completeness.

That face, no bigger than a monkey's, was spotted peering from a dusty slope in December 2000. Its smooth brow and short canine teeth identified it as a hominin, a group that encompasses humans and their ancestors.

Skeleton sheds light on ape-man species

The species is Australopithecus afarensis, which lived in Africa between about 4 million and 3 million years ago. The most famous afarensis is Lucy, discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, a creature that lived about 100,000 years after the newfound specimen.

While the lower body is very human-like, he said, the upper body is ape-like:

• The shoulder blades resemble those of a gorilla rather than a modern human.
• The neck seems short and thick like a great ape's, rather than the more slender version humans have to keep the head stable while running.
• The organ of balance in the inner ear is more ape-like than human.

The fossil find includes the complete skull, including an impression of the brain and the lower jaw, all the vertebrae from the neck to just below the torso, all the ribs, both shoulder blades and both collarbones, the right elbow and part of a hand, both knees and much of both shin and thigh bones. One foot is almost complete, providing the first time scientists have found an afarensis foot with the bones still positioned as they were in life.

MORE LINKS: ~

• Remains of earliest child discovered in Ethiopia
• Infant hominid, Selam, helps probe into dawn of humanity
• Ancient Fossil Child Discovered in Ethiopia at NPR
• Palaeoanthropology: A precious little bundle
• Little 'Lucy' fossil found

"If we are going to teach creation science as an alternative to evolution, then we should also teach the stork theory as an alternative to biological reproduction."
Judith Hayes

fossil missing link evolution afarensis ethiopia

My Favourite Things

<< I made this.

(parenthetical remarks) was kind and/or evil enough to tag me also for one of these list things, so here's more than you probably want to know about me:

Things I'd like to do before I die: ~
1. Stay in Raffles Hotel in Singapore.
2. Go back to Paris, but this time in springtime.
3. Be Anthony Kiedis's granny groupie. (in Paris)

Things I cannot do: ~
1. Calculus
2. Chin-ups
3. Reverse park. (Shame shame)

Things I can do: ~
1. Fascilitate
2. Create beautiful things
3. Pretend that I know something

Things that would attract me to my significant other: ~
1. Kindness
2. Kindness
3. Kindness
"Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind." - Henry James

Things I like to say: ~
1. "It's a wigwam for a goose's bridle"
2. "The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today."
3. "Twas brillig"

Books I like best: ~
1. "Alice In Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll
2. "The Twits" by Roald Dahl
3. "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse

Movies I like to see: ~
1. "History of the World Part 1"
2. "Girl With A Pearl Earring"
3. "Frida"

I, in turn, tag

• Ted's Stuff
• Cognitive Diss
• Five Public Opinions

favourite things favorite things Anthony Kiedis pearl earring craft

Is The Bible A Fable?

Image from: ~ The Brick Testament

The Bible And Talking Animals

If there is any evidence that the Bible is a fable, or contains fables, then the presence of talking animals would certainly be a part of such evidence.

The story of the temptation of Eve, right at the beginning of the bible, is the cornerstone of Jewish, Christian, and Moslem theology. Without it, there is no need for salvation. It is clearly a "moral tale," and it contains a talking animal.

Genesis3:1 ~ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

The Bible also mentions an ass that didn't know when to stop talking.
Numbers. 22:30 ~ The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?"

The Bible describes more talking animals.
Revelation 4:8 ~ Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

The Bible also vividly describes satan as a talking animal.
Revelation 13:11 ~ Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. 15. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.

The Bible contains moral tales that involve speaking animals. Therefore, the Bible is a fable.

"You believe in a book that has talking animals, wizards, witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, burning bushes, food falling from the sky, people walking on water, and all sorts of magical, absurd and primitive stories, and you say we are the ones that need help?"--Mark Twain

Fable: ~
1. a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters
a story not founded on fact
a story about supernatural or extraordinary persons or incidents

"What profit has not that fable of Christ brought us!" Pope Leo X.

bible fable talking animals adam and eve mark twain christianity

Atheist On The Bible Part2: Moses

Moses or Sargon in the bullrushes?

Watch on Youtube: ~ Atheist on the Bible Part 2: Moses

Transcript: ~

" I've read the bible. The King of Egypt wants every male hebrew child dead. Now moses's mom puts him in a basket and floats him across the Nile River over to the Pharaoh's daughter. Now, right from the get-go, this is an exciting story. You've got baby killing, mom throwing kids into rivers and hoping they will survive and get adopted. I mean, this is good stuff.

There is one strange thing though, and this story is really similar to an ancient Babylonian myth about a great king called Sargon. Sargon was supposedly found as a baby, in a basket in a river, way before Moses was even supposed to have been born. I just thought that was a little strange. I mean, you wouldn't think that someone would have actually lifted the story from the Babylonians to use in the bible, I mean that just couldn't be true. Could it?

Well anyway, the Pharaoh's daughter finds baby Moses and raises him. Moses grows up and then one day, he sees an Egyptian beating the crap out of a Hebrew. Moses looks around, sees nobody, and then whacks the Egyptian, killing him. Now of course murder is a crime in Egypt, so Moses runs for the hills.

He ends up out in a foreign country by a well where he meets some girls. Some shepherds try and drive the girls away but Moses chases them off. So Moses, the hero to the girls, marries one of them and has a son. His father-in-law sets him up with some sheep and Moses has a job as a shepherd.

One day, Moses is out with his flock, and he sees this bush on fire. It's god. God tells Moses he has chosen him to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt. After this there is this really weird passage about Moses going to an inn and god trying to kill Moses. His wife saves him by circumcising their son. I really don't get it. I mean, why would god want to kill Moses when he has especially chosen him to lead his people? And what does circumcising his son have to do with this?

Well anyway, Moses goes back to Egypt. It's been a while since he had been there, so no one remembers him from before. He goes to his brother Aaron, and they go to the Pharaoh and demand that the Israelites be released. Then there is this pissing match about rods and snakes and eventually god ends up casting down plagues upon the Egyptians. Now let's talk about the first plague.

First plague - water to blood. Now that's pretty impressive, right? Even though the Pharaoh's magicians seem to be able to do it too. And one thing I sorta wondered about, the Egyptians couldn't drink the water for seven days, so here they are in a hot environment, where you'll die without water. If all the water sources are polluted, where do all the people and the animals get their drinking water?

Second plague - frogs. Now what the hell is wrong with frogs? They eat tons of insects and never harm anyone. Besides you would think that the frogs wanted to move to greener pastures because their water got turned all bloody. For what it's worth, the magicians were able to create frogs too. Although all the frogs did die the next day. I was curious, why would god want to kill off all those frogs he created?

Third plague - lice. Fourth plague - flies. Fifth plague god kills off all the cattle. And what did he have against them? I mean firstly he wiped out most species of cattle during the flood, keeping only two of each animal and then now he's wiping out herds of cows. It sounds like the man has got a grudge.

Sixth plague - boils. Seventh plague - hail. Eighth plague - locusts. Ninth plague - darkness. You'd think that a sane leader would just kick out the Israelites after so many problems. Well the Pharaoh was going to, but here's the thing. God purposefully hardened the Pharaoh's heart so he wouldn't do it. So much for free will. I mean, instead of wanting his people freed, god actually wanted the Egyptians to hold onto them so they could suffer even more.

Finally, the last plague. God sends Moses to teach the Israelites that animal sacrifice is a good thing. He wants the Israelites to sacrifice lambs to him and smear their blood on their doorways. So for the final plague, excluding the Israelites, god kills every first born animal and baby in Egypt. He killed puppies, kittens, babies, cattle, all the first born men and animals - everybody. Well, I am going to leave that blatant contradiction right there. It's there. I'll just ignore it for the moment.

I want to concentrate on the idea that this supposed loving, forgiving god, killed all the first born babies of Egypt. Now you can't blame the Egyptians for god killing their babies. You know, I have heard people say that it was the Pharaoh's fault. Well, the people didn't vote for their Pharaoh. They didn't have a choice as to who their leader was. He was their leader by birth. Now a just person, a just god, would not blame them for something they had no free will over. Would he? Also, the Pharaoh didn't have a choice in this because if you remember, god hardened the Pharaoh's heart and made him stop the Israelites from leaving and then chasing after them. (Exodus4:21 ~ The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.)

So finally Moses and the gang are released out of Egypt. Unfortunately, the Pharaoh then goes after them with an army but they cross the Red Sea through the big mystical thing and they all get away. However, one thing that seems really strange is, did you know that there is no record outside of the bible that the plagues or the exodus actually ever happened? Nothing. You'd think there would be some evidence of the exodus in records from somewhere else. I mean, it couldn't just be some kind of mythological made up story, could it?

Now, I should say that some people think that there is one piece of supporting evidence. The Leiden Papyrus. It describes Egypt as facing several disasters including the river is blood. This was written sometime between 1850 and 1600 BCE. However, the problem is the dates don't jibe. If the bible is true and accurate, then the papyrus was dated several hundred years before the exodus. In other words for the papyrus to be real evidence of the exodus, we would have to erase our knowledge of Egyptian Dynasties that we have records of.

It would be a far easier explanation to say that the papyrus was adopted into the bible by a story-teller. Of course, that would mean that the bible wasn't true. But this brings back my point, if the bible is true, why wouldn't there be any supporting evidence for any of these things.

Now apologists say, it is because the Egyptians didn't record mistakes or loses. Is that true? The Egyptians were meticulous record keepers with writing skills, math skills, an economy. Wouldn't we see a decrease in the cost of frog legs as supply outwayed demand? Wouldn't we see someone's recorded poems or songs about their dead sons? Wouldn't we see a notation about a jump in prices after all the cattle and crops were destroyed? Something? Anything? This would be a bigger coverup than the JFK assassination or the Roswell conspiracy combined. Because we are talking about a coverup that involved all of the people in Egypt.

~*~

(So, what is that contradiction? In the fifth plague god had already killed off all the Egyptian's livestock, so there were NO first born animals left to kill in the last plague.)

LINKS: ~

• Sargon of Akkad

"My changeling mother conceived me, in secret she bore me. She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid. She cast me into the river which rose over me. The river bore me up and carried me to Akki, the drawer of water. Akki, the drawer of water, took me as his son and reared me." - Neo-Assyrian text (7th century BC)

atheist bible moses plagues Exodus Old Testament sargon

Which Man Is Not A Religious Nut?

From: ~ Meet An Atheist ~ Mel Gibson - Great Christian Role Model

Gee, they all have beards, and we all know that beard-wearers are inherently evil. lol

Saddam Hussein : ~

"Allah is on our side. That is why we will beat the aggressor."
"God is on our side, and Satan is on the side of the United States."

Bin Laden:~

"The country of the Two Holy Places has in our religion a peculiarity of its own over the other Muslim countries. In our religion, it is not permissible for any non-Muslim to stay in our country."

"We--with God's help--call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it. We also call on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan's U.S. troops and the devil's supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson."

Mel Gibson: ~

"F*****g Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Gibson then asked the deputy, "Are you a Jew?"

"There have been a lot of unusual things happening-good things like people being healed of diseases; a couple people have had their sight and hearing restored. There was even a little six year old girl (visiting the set) who had epilepsy since she was born and had up to fifty epileptic fits a day. She doesn't have them anymore, for over a month now."

There you have it. Politicians will use a citizen's religious beliefs as a political tool, as Saddam and Bin laden both appear to do.

And some people are just tools when they are drunk or sober, as in the case of Mel Gibson.

tool : a person who is impressionable, easily used by others; LOSER; WANNA-BE. ("That guy is such a tool. He would do anything to be accepted.")

religious nut mel gibson saddam hussein bin laden

Beelzebub Has a Devil Put Aside for Me

Watch on Youtube : Beelzebub Has a Devil Put Aside for Me

My fate for being a non-believer is obvious in all its musical glory. I am condemned to eternal head banging whilst singing "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Beelzebub or Ba‘al Zebûb appears as the name of a deity worshipped in the Philistine city of Ekron. There appears to have been little, if any, meaningful distinction between Beelzebub and the polytheistic Semitic god named Ba‘al. Monotheistic Jewish reference to Baal was almost certainly pejorative, and grew to be used among other terms for Satan. Hence the name also later appears as the name of a demon or devil, often interchanged with Beelzebul.

The demonization of the deity is thought to have been one basis for the personification of Satan as the adversary of the Abrahamic god, though other influences such as the Zoroastrian Daeva may have contributed.

The source for the name Beelzebub is in 2 Kings 1.2 – 3,6,16 where King Ahaziah of Israel, after seriously injuring himself in a fall, sends messengers to inquire of Ba‘al Zebûb, the god of the Philistine city of Ekron, to learn if he will recover. Elijah the Prophet then condemns Ahaziah to die by Yahweh's words because Ahaziah sought council from Ba‘al Zebûb rather than from Yahweh.

(Tsk Tsk. God competition rears its ugly head.)

So, if "Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me" does this mean a devil whose specific purpose is to torture and harrass me, or is it one that I get to annoy? Now if the latter is the case, what would be the best way to annoy it? I figure the complete collection of Billy Ray Cyrus music should just about do the trick. :)

LINKS: ~

• Freddie Mercury
• Queen (band)
• Bohemian Rhapsody Lyrics
• Sean Penn Calls Bush A Dumb Beelzebub

beelzebub devil satan bohemian rhapsody queen baal

Secular Humanism VS Christianity

Watch Secular Humanism versus Christianity, Lawyer versus Theologian.

Evangelical Christian apologist William Lane Craig debates humanist atheist lawyer Eddie Tabash at Pepperdine University, February 8, 1999.

Secular humanism is a humanist philosophy that upholds reason, ethics, and justice and specifically rejects rituals and ceremonies as a means to affirm a life stance.

Christian Apologetics is the field of study concerned with the systematic defense of Christianity. The word "apologetic" comes from the Greek word apologia, which means in defense of.

Eddie Tabash: "After a lifetime of spiritual search, I have concluded that the best evidence, to date, makes it much more likely than not that there are no supernatural beings involved in our universe and no God or gods."

William Lane Craig: "The gospels are not only trustworthy documents in general, but as we look at some of the most important aspects of Jesus in the gospels, like his radical personal claims, his miracles, his trial and crucifixion, and his resurrection, their historical veracity shines through."

See what you think after listening to the debate between Craig and Tabash.

LINKS: ~

• Lawyer vs. Theologian: The Tabash-Craig Debate
• William Lane Craig VS Eddie Tabash on Google

"Is man one of God's blunders? Or is God one of man's blunders?"
Friedrich Nietzsche