Friday, June 5, 2009

Top Ten (an ongoing series of purposeless lists)

Top Ten Things Men Know About Women

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10. They have boobs

Rabble, rabble, rabble...

I was watching a science program that set out to scientifically explain some of the miraculous events depicted in the Bible. You know what? They did. Or did they? I guess that all depends on what you believe and not so much what happened. Can a society thrive without religion? The Bible DOES indeed hold some scientific assertions. Has religion done more harm than good? There has certainly been enough killing done in the name of whatever God. There may not be 70 virgins waiting for the average Christian for a glorious death but the Crusades certainly didn't teach us anything either. And when speaking of miracles and visions keep this in mind; schizophrenics hear voices and see visions too. Take for example all the sightings and reports of UFO's. You would think someone would have clear, concrete, irrefutable evidence of aliens or UFO's by now. You tube?

How can anyone say that their religion is better than another? Before you label me as a heretic, agnostic or even atheist or question my faith, you may want to take a closer look at your own. This isn't about anyone. It's about everyone. Have you noticed that pretty much everyone sets their own guidelines and practices within the rule set of their own faith? I try to keep an open mind and a tolerant heart. Faith is such a wonderful thing. Blind faith is such a dangerous thing. To close off your mind to other ideas or input is to live in darkness. We are equally benighted to deny someone else their history because it does not fit with our beliefs. And the main ingredient of enlightenment is you guessed it; light. Would God not want you to seek knowledge? It seems it should be expected to search our souls and spirituality for answers as well as to learn from history. You know, the funny thing about history is? You guessed it. You weren't there and neither was I. However, what I find amazing is…… the people were. Whether Jesus walked on water or Moses parted the red sea or not, the fact is: these people not only existed but their deeds were documented. These events may or may not have been embellished but they must have done something to be written about. Perhaps that's it. Maybe it was that simple. Their deeds may be more symbolic representations rather than actual occurrences. Think about how comforting that would be. In any case whatever they did it was worthy enough to be written about. Every time something is out of our hands doesn't necessarily mean it's in Gods. Keep an open mind. Who knows, in the end the universe may be indifferent to our beliefs.

Where do I stand? Our history will always be a part of us. Learning from our past can only help to serve our future. However, don't you think it's about time we worried less about the deeds of others, be that of historical or biblical figures and concentrated more on our own deeds?

That's just my opinion. But then again, I DID get kicked out of church school. In short? Whether I believe or not, I believe we should let others believe.....
or not.

I'd really like to hear your opinion.

Top Ten (an ongoing series of purposeless lists)

Top ten reasons to procrasinate....

1.

Convince me.

Values are areas of our lives we have established as a result of real or imagined experiences. People generally feel a very strong emotional commitment to their values and values usually come into play when judging behavior in others, ourselves or our society. There are times when our own personal values may clash with the values and morals of others or the social values of the society in which we live. One such would be religion but we have already discussed that. What I learned from that is that people seem pretty rigged about their values and beliefs.

Values and morals are usually learned from others such as a parent or teacher. How many of us can remember hearing our parents or other adults say it was not ok to engage in sex before marriage? Many times the lessons were silent and we learned by watching the behavior of others. However, we still at times deviate from these learned values. Why do we do this? Where did we learn this from? When do we decide to make up our own minds and pick our OWN favorite football team? That is another topic entirely. While we are free to learn for ourselves we also come pre-programmed as a result of our up-bringing with a lot of our beliefs; be that of religion, philosophical or our sense of right and wrong. It would stand to reason that emotions such as remorse or guilt are learned responses or are they taught?

How many of us have disagreed with our parents beliefs on something only to find our lives not so dissimilar after all? It's pretty obvious that you can ask any number of questions on any subject and you will get such wide and varied responses. The question is: is it any wonder? I was once condemned for saying, "The truth is only what you convince others to believe." If we are to disagree on whatever; the existence of God, or the creation of the universe, pepsi or coke, then of course there can only be one truth and that truth is mine…… or yours…. if you can convince me ;)

Someone has to be right.

Followers