The Lasting Effects of Poison

Back when I was in High School I had a terrible time fitting in.  I also had issues with failure. If I thought that I wasn't going to succeed at some project, essay or exam, I would just run!  There was really no one particular moment or individual that put me in this place, but there is one moment that I do remember.

English class.  Oh, English class how I abhor you or more like - oh English teacher Ms. Irwin how I abhor you.  There's nothing like sitting in an educational setting being reminded how ineffective, insignificant and dumb you are.  It's wonderful to sit there class after class listening to a teacher talk about her wonderful and exciting world travels to a class of middle and low-income students.
Once Ms. Irwin noted that I was a Jack of all trades and master of none.  This was surprising to hear - after all, I was only in grade nine or ten.  What exactly was I supposed to be a Master of at that age?  Acne medications?

Laughable

I came across a site that tells readers that it's important to teach children about how to overcome fear, ignorance

"It Will Pass" is an Australian website aimed at liberating fellow Australians from fear, ignorance and superstition, the occultic tripod of law and religion. Fight terrorism by opposing tyrannical and oppressive government.

We dedicate all content herein to the children of this world, that they may gain liberty through knowledge, and salvation through our glorious Creator Yashua (often called our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ.)

Laughable

Trying A Little Too Hard

Here is a little something I found while scanning some news.  The supplied photo with the article does nothing for the credibility of the piece - they should have omitted it.  It looks like nothing more than a cave with lime like deposits.  They could have shown some of the "mosaics" found in the cave.  Anyhow, here is the article - spelling mistakes and all;)

Archaeologists unearth ‘first church in the world’ in Rihab Georgeous Church in Rihab near Mafraq, where early Christians are belived to have taken as a shelter from persecution in Jerusalem. Circular-shaped stone seats, supposedly for the clergymen can be seen in the cave (Photo by Rula Samain)" border="0" width="400" src="http://www.jordantimes.com/img/3000/2858.jpg"> A picture shows a cave under Saint Georgeous Church in Rihab near Mafraq, where early Christians are belived to have taken as a shelter from persecution in Jerusalem. Circular-shaped stone seats, supposedly for the clergymen can be seen in the cave (Photo by Rula Samain) By Rula Samain AMMAN - Lying underneath Saint Georgeous Church in Rihab, Mafraq, is what archaeologists describe as the first Christian church in the world. “We have uncovered what we believe to be the first church in the world, dating from 33AD to 70AD,” said Archaeologist Abdul Qader Hussan, head of the Rihab Centre for Archaeological Studies. The discovery was “amazing”, Hussan told The Jordan Times. “We have evidence to believe this church sheltered the early Christians: the 70 disciples of Jesus Christ,” the scholar said. The early Christians, described in the mosaic inscription on St. Georgeous floor as “the 70 beloved by God and Divine”, are said to have fled from Jerusalem during the persecution of Christians, to the northern part of Jordan, particularly to Rihab, he added. Citing historical sources, the expert said the 70 lived and practised their rituals in secrecy in this underground church. We believe that they did not leave the cave and lived until the Christian religion was embraced by Roman rulers. “It was then when St. Georgeous was built,” said Hussan. Saint Georgeous is believed to be the oldest “proper” church in the world, built in 230AD. This status is only challenged by a church unearthed in Aqaba in 1998, also dating back to 3rd century. The findings in the graveyard near the cave offer valuable clues, according to Hussan. “We found pottery items that date back from the 3rd to 7th century,” he added. The findings show that the first Christians and their offshoot continued living in the area till the late Roman rule. “Going down a few steps into the cave, one would see a circle shape area, believed to be the apse, and several stone seats for the ecclesiastics,” he added. Archimandrite Nektarious, Bishop Deputy of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, described the discovery of the cave as an “important milestone for Christians all around the world”. “The only other cave in the world similar in shape and purpose is in Thessalonica, Greece,” the bishop said in an interview in Amman. The cave also embraces the living place of the first Christians. “A wall with an entrance is the only partition separating the altar from the living area,” Hussan said. There is also a deep tunnel, which is believed to have led the 70 Christians to their source of water, the archaeologist added. Officials in Mafraq say they will capitalise on the discovery to further promote the area. Governor Zeid Zreiqat, who noted Rihab is rich in unique archaeological sites, said that together with the new discovery, these sites can be invested to attract religious tourism. “We are working on developing Rihab to become a major tourist attraction in the near future,” he told The Jordan Times. So far, 30 churches have been discovered in Rihab,” Hussan said. It is also believed that Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary have passed through this area, he added. I particularly like the part where the governor will be "working on developing Rihab to become a major tourist attraction in the near future".  You do need money for serious archeology! FMF

Danesh Still Has A Lousy Argument

In his latest article "Can a Darwinian Be a Christian" posted Jun 12th 2008, Dinesh D'Sousa uses Micheal Ruse to support his opinion that god/jesus/christianity are real and that Richard Dawkins is a so and so. I've found this is the usual diatribe found in most of Mr. D'Souza's articles.




When Richard Dawkins published The God Delusion, philosopher Michael Ruse was quoted as saying that the book "makes me embarrassed to be an atheist." What especially galls Ruse is Dawkins' pig-headed insistence that anyone who embraces the Darwinian account of evolution cannot remain a Christian.
Ruse is a noted philosopher at Florida State University, an atheist champion of evolution and Darwinism, and author of several critically acclaimed books including Can a Darwinian Be a Christian?
I've been reading Ruse's book, and in it he counters Dawkins' simple-minded argument that God has been proven irrelevant since chance and natural selection now constitute "the blind watchmaker." Ruse writes, "It still leaves open the option of God's designing at a distance. Perhaps God put His design into action through the medium of unbroken law. Perhaps a God who works in this way is superior to a God who has to intervene personally and miraculously."
But doesn't evolution contradict a literal reading of the first chapter of Genesis? Yes, but Ruse points out that there are only two groups of people who insist on reading Genesis in a close-mindedly literal way. The first group is ignorant fundamentalists. And the second group is ignorant atheists like Dawkins.
By contrast, Ruse shows that from earliest times thoughtful Christians like the church father Augustine read the creation account figuratively. And for nearly two thousand years the Catholic Church has followed in this tradition. Ruse adds that while Calvin was a bit more literal-minded than Luther, both leading reformers also allowed for non-literal understandings of creation. Indeed Calvin introduced his doctrine of "accommodation" in which he argued that the Bible is sometimes written in a form as to make itself intelligible to people who are not well educated and don't have a sophisticated understanding of science.
Ruse 's conclusion introduces subtleties that seem entirely beyond the capacity of Dawkins. "Is the Christian obligated to be a Darwinian?" Ruse answers no, but urges Christians to take evolutionary biology seriously because they don't want a Christianity practiced in the dark. "Is the Darwinian obligated to be a Christian?" Again, the answer is no but Ruse adds this advice: "Try to be understanding of those who are." Finally, Ruse gets to the big one. "Can a Darwinian be a Christian?" To which he offers the resounding answer: "Absolutely!"

If one truly understands evolution by natural selection, then any god is only used for filling in gaps the reader cannot fill.  Mr. Ruse's ruse is up.

Israel is upset yet again

So the UN recently passed a resolution for Israel to stop further settlements. Needless to say, Israel is upset, again.  Let's go back in time a few years...

let's start with Ancient Egyptians move to the Canaanites, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, the Arab Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates, Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mamluks, Mongols, Ottomans, the British, and now the modern Israelis and Palestinians.

Although the peoples of Israel and Palestine have been in these lands for a long time, their statehood is actually pretty recent in the history of that particular area of the Fertile Crescent.   Both parties make claim to the land. There is plenty of written history on the matter, but what is interesting is that one is based on reality and the other is based on - you decide.

Genesis 15:18

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates

Exodus 3:8 

And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Ezekiel 20:6 
On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands.


And this from Numbers 13

verse - 27 This is what they reported to Moses: “We went to the land where you sent us. It really is a land flowing with milk and honey. Here’s some of its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are strong, and the cities have walls and are very large. We even saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountain region. And the Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and all along the Jordan River.”

verse - 30 Caleb told the people to be quiet and listen to Moses. Caleb said, “Let’s go now and take possession of the land. We should be more than able to conquer it.”

So...

Even though there were people already living in this land, God basically says tough shit, and his "chosen" people can take whatever they need. This occupation is henceforth known as "Zionism".  And the rest is history.  So the Israelis are upset that they cannot keep taking what a man made deity has promised them. 

Shame really.

Christian Foundations of Marriage

Read this shit if you wish.  If you don't know where these passages are from they're not from the Islamic Book of Fables (IBoF), nope it's from the Christian Book of Fables (CBoF).

Perhaps this misogyny was acceptable back then (I doubt it though), but I would like to think that as a species we have PROGRESSED past this ancient mentality. 

Enjoy...

1 Corinthians 7:1-40 ESV

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ...

Ephesians 5:22-33 ESV 

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ...

There are far more gems in the CBoF but this is just a couple to wet your whistle.

Peace out man,

FMF

The State of Things

It's been some time since I've posted anything.  But I thought that today was as good as any other day to report on how I see things in the world today.

The United Kingdom has (in a mostly uninformed way) decided to leave the European Union.  The "Leave" side is basically saying that by being in the EU that the UK is losing its UKness - its autonomy and its sovereignty.  The UK doesn't have a reputation of playing nice in the sandbox - they want to own the sandbox.

After days of terrible markets and scary politics, the future of the UK is probably going to be pretty shaky.

The US is on its way to a federal election.  The Republican front runner seems to be Donald Trump and the Democratic nominee is Hillary Clinton.  Donald Trump's platform is basically making America great again - I'm not really sure what he's referring to.  When was America ever "great"?

Hillary Clinton suffers from Ivory Tower Syndrome.  She's way too far up the political wahzoo to actually know or care about the average american taxpayer.   I'm not saying the she doesn't know her shit - she's probably one of the best political minds in the US, but she's not really that attractive to the general (mostly uninformed) electorate.

Most of the world sees the US as a joke at the moment.  I've never seen a US President so disrespected before the way President Obama has.  The references made to his daughters and the first Lady are shameful - I realize that the americans value free speech but that shit was just fucking awful.

Presently in the US it seems that Donald Trump may be getting his wish of making America great again.  Racial tensions are high between the black community and non-black community over a series of black deaths at the hands of police.  Shit is really getting out of control just like the 60's.  Maybe that's when America was great - beating on black people.

The Arab world is one big shit storm with attacks from the Islamic State (Daesh) and other fringe groups that want recognition from these sick fucks.  I realize that not all of the fighters are religiously motivated, if they were they would all be one truly stupid bunch - for if their god is soooooo powerful why can he not eradicate evil from the earth on his own?  Why does he need puny humans to do his work? Because he's not that powerful - so why would you believe in this god's power when he clearly has NONE.

So how do we explain to these truly ignorant parasites that every person on this planet is entitled to peaceful self determination?  How can we educate these gullible individuals that their ideals are those of criminals against humanity?  

Peace - let's work on it

What makes me

I see so many people talk about a home land, returning to the "home" of their fathers, family - or whatever.  I think it sad that these folks believe that they aren't whole for these and so many other reasons that really have nothing to do with who they really are. I truly believe that these people are missing the big picture.  We are all sailing on a ship in as vast and immeasurable ocean and all most of us want is to have a nice voyage without storms and sea sickness.  So we really have to drop our identity issues and just be people for fuck's sake.

I was born in city of Winnipeg in the province of Manitoba in the Country of Canada which happens to be on the Northern part of the continent of North America.  I happened to be the son of two European parents who, like many, immigrated to Canada - the reasons are irrelevant.  As I was "growing up" my parents taught me many things, introduced me to foods common to their part of the world and stories and customs of their little part of home.  Now that I've grown up (still growing up in fact) I realize that all those things - city of birth - nationality - generational heritage and taste for seafood are only small parts of what I am - almost irrelevant.  To me, the things that make me, what I feel are relevant in what I am - to partially quote a singer - are the steps I take, the moves I make, the cakes I bake, the hand that I give, the empathy that I feel, the words that I speak and the love I give.

Peace and respect

When in Rome...

It would seem that global conflict is something we humans just can't get away from.  I'm not going to get into reasons for conflict, but I would like to address one aspect of the fallout.  In times of conflict, we pretty much have two choices - fight of flight.  I would like to address the flight aspect of the conflict issue.

War/conflict/suffrage sucks.  There are people/countries who recognize this and feel that it is the right thing to do and help out those who are dealing with war/conflict/suffrage.  One of the main reasons that countries around the world are able to help out is mainly because those countries aren't experiencing war/conflict/suffrage. 

The term "si fueris Rōmae, Rōmānō vīvitō mōre; si fueris alibī, vīvitō sicut ibi "  was attributed to a fella from around 300 c.e. (common era) and is Latin for “if you should be in Rome, live in the Roman manner; if you should be elsewhere, live as they do there”.  What I would like to purpose is that folks/refugees that are welcomed by host countries could respect the host people/country by heeding these words spoken about 1600 years ago.  

One of the reasons that countries can help out other folks in regions of conflict is because there is order.  Order is achieved with laws, rules and regulations that everybody must abide.  This includes those are are fortunate enough to be hosted by a generous country.  We are all expected to behave and conform to social system within that country.

I would ask that any newcomer to a country consider this.

Thank you

Believe what you want - to a point

I am one that supposes that every single person on this planet has the right to believe whatever they wish - to a point.  The problem for me comes from those who have a belief in something that has a direct or indirect negative impact on me or my perceived negative impact on others. I am especially concerned when the beliefs of others manifest into "actions" that have a negative impact on me or others.  One of the many things that concerns me regarding belief and the actions associated with those beliefs is the foundation of these beliefs.

Take vaccination for one instance.  The fact is that disease would be rampant all around the world if it were not for vaccines - this fact is result of extensive scientific research and on-going development.  The Anti-Vaxxers would have you believe that vaccines cause health problems and this is why you should not vaccinate your children. There is evidence that shows that vaccination may cause undesirable effects on some individuals, but without vaccination those undesirable effects would pale in comparison to the countless deaths that would occur around the globe without vaccination.  The mere "thought" of people believing that vaccinations should be stopped is concerning to me, but taking "action" and having a mouthpiece go on television and spout their uninformed belief is what really gets my goat.  I would appear that the foundation for the anti-vaccinator is due to misinformation and not an honest application of flimsy research.  I realize that we live in a "free" society, but it shouldn't mean that we are "free" to say and do whatever we want without consequence.

I also hold that religious people have the right to believe what they wish - to a point.  If you don't understand what I'm referring to just read the Old/New Testament or the Quran/Koran.  Jews, Christians and Muslims consider their holy books as the foundation of their belief. The problem I have with people who believe the stories or "wisdom" found in these books is that many followers place their beliefs over the rights and the very lives of others.  Some followers are willing to perpetrate atrocities based on their beliefs - or rather a gross misapplication of those beliefs. Like I have mentioned before - I don't have a problem with what you believe - to a point.  The point I am referring to is:  the point in which one's belief supersedes another persons right to exist or a persons right to live the way they wish - as a responsible law abiding world citizen. In this respect there are far too many so -called religious followers who's beliefs are toxic to the rest of the world's population. I believe that some of the toxicity in these people hiding behind the veil of religion is borne out of the reality altering/mind bending stories coupled with an unceasing bombardment of selected hate passages found in these holy books. It is everyone's job to tackle these, or any, toxic beliefs - no matter where they are found. It is my belief that we all have the the right to life the way we want to live it - to a point.

FMF