I just recently finished the entire season of Luke Cage on Netflix, and I must admit that I’m impressed. The actor is mediocre at best, but what he represents and goes up against, is something that needed to be brought up and addressed.
Black on black violence
The disdain of “Nigga” or any swear words
His pious mannerism, in reverence of Christianity
Mass incarceration
Crooked politicians in the black community
Drug lords who wield power over the black community
Crooked policemen
Excellent policemen
How law isn’t always ‘doing what’s right’
Trayvon Martin and racial profiling a.k.a ‘implicit bias’
The Black Superman leader
I mean I can go on and on, but this show is excellent. I will write about this later on. It will probably take a couple days to finish.
Does God exist? And if he or she does exist, which God is it. Are you a Christian? Catholic? What denomination? Do you believe in another religion? Buddhist, Muslim, Judaism. What is your belief? Or maybe you are an Atheist.
This is a long debate that has been going on for centuries. I just so happen to be Agnostic. Agnostic, is another way of saying “I don’t know”. Bill Maher once quipped that Agnostics are Atheists without balls, or something like that. Lmao. It is somewhat true. I just am being completely honest. Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene, publicly mocks religion, using science and evolution as proof. And the Christians have Professor John Lennox, author of Gunning for God, who uses the limited ability of science to contest skeptics.
Here is a clip of the debate:
This post is not about right or wrong. I have no allegiance to either side. This post is about how the “Atheist vs Theist” debate is pointless.
Let’s start off with the Christian argument, because I live in America, which is a Christian nation. Christianity, a belief that stems from the collective books of witnesses of Jesus Christ. Combined, they form the Bible. The Bible is the truth to the Christian follower because God is Jesus Christ. There is no other God. The Bible is living proof of their belief.
If I am a Christian and I follow the Bible – word for word- I will be rewarded in the afterlife to a place called Heaven. Where me and my Father, Jesus Christ, will meet in spirit and spend the rest of my eternal life. Heaven is a place with many amenities and rewards for followers who have lived by the word of the Bible. If you are a non-believer, you will be sent to the abysmal pits of hell. You will be banished to Hell, where you will meet Satan and be tortured by demons and burned by the hottest fire you could imagine. This is a real belief that I stand behind, and if you don’t have that belief , than I honestly feel sorry for you. God is giving you the opportunity to change your life and become one with the creator. He can make a difference in your life. I am living proof, he has forgiven me for my sins and can do the same for you. When I approach you about Christ, I am sincerely wanting to save you from the wrath. Christ is coming back, and he is taking only those who have accepted him as their Lord and Savior. Sinners will be left behind with a stamp of the mark of the beasts. 666 will be branded on the guilty sinners forehead , and the world will be a dystopian, chaotic slum. If I die, and I am wrong, what do I have to lose? I will be rewarded with heaven. Science is limited and can’t tell me about what passion I feel for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Now lets go on to the Atheist non-believer who is seen as a Satan worshipper in the Christians view. In America, this is a strong debate; Christians rarely argue with other religions, because Atheists are seen as the Christian’s true enemy. It could possibly be due to the fact that many skeptics don’t live by a moral code. Some do have moral codes, it is impossible to calculate because Atheism is autonomous.
If I am an Atheist and I am disrespected at the mention of Christ, this would be my argument. Religion is a mental disease. Any person with a rational mind knows that there is no God. God is a concept, so Christians are simply worshipping a concept in their brain. Where was God when (insert American tragedy) happened?..Where is the proof of God? Christians have no right to disrespect homosexuals and tell me that I can’t have an abortion. America is supposed to be built on freedom. Ok, so you want me believe a snake convinced two naked people to eat an apple that caused a lifelong curse? That makes as much sense as Harry Potter. Some of the Pastors are the biggest crooks in the world. If you want to be an Atheist, read the Bible. So Jesus supported slavery and murdered children, and I am wrong because I want to have sex with a woman I’m not married to. How about when we die, nothing happens. I have read the God delusion by Dawkins, and I know that there is no God. It is scientifically proven. Science is proving that we actually evolved from a species in the ocean, and evolved into upright mammals. Where is the literature about dinosaurs and things that existed before Christ? Homosexuality is supposed to be a sin, when Slavery isn’t. The Bible contradicts itself several times over.
God condoning slavery:
If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years. Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom. If he was single when he became your slave and then married afterward, only he will go free in the seventh year. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife will be freed with him. If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master. But the slave may plainly declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I would rather not go free.’ If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will belong to his master forever. (Exodus 21:2-6 NLT)
God killing babies:
Exodus 12:29New International Version (NIV)
29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.
So this argument goes back and forth all night, almost to the point of becoming physical. It is an argument that will never stop happening, because people want to prove that they are right. Here is the truth about this issue. It doesn’t matter. Here is why:
As a country, we are becoming so imbued with trying to be righteous martyrs for our beliefs, and non-belief, that we are forgetting the importance of humanity. I am personally Agnostic and have no idea how the world began. I believe the majority of us don’t know either. I cannot say that I believe that the world was created by a Big-Bang Theory. I don’t believe that man and woman were just magically dropped off on Earth. The world is a complex place to live in, for that reason we all have our own truths. There is the explainable, and the unexplainable. If you get in a car accident and fly out the windshield and land on a tree branch with only a chipped tooth as your injury, who am I to say it wasn’t God who saved you? It may have been extreme luck, or a supreme spiritual unseen deity that saved you. If you were an abusive alcoholic and shot heroin in your veins, went to church and had an epiphany, how can I tell you religion is bad? I honestly don’t know. I steer away from religion because it is too rigid and often encourages unrealistic discipline – The appearance of being Holier that Thou and pious – What do you mean by that? It is when you are forced to look down when an attractive woman is in your presence, because lustful thoughts are offensive to the Lord. I am a mammal and sexual by nature. I cannot help if I am attracted to a woman while having a general conversation. I am a sexual creature. I inherently know I am wrong to publicly objectify her with cat calls, whistles, or bawdy stares, but thinking these thoughts are innocuous. Or how I am supposed to dislike a homosexual male or female because of their sexual desires? How does that affect my daily life routine? Homosexuality is not a contagious airborne disease. It is not something that should be feared. I don’t agree with the Bible’s point of view, and in order to be a true believer of Christ, which means following the Bible, I would have to carry on those beliefs. You have some Christians who ride the fence, and treat the Bible like a delicatessen. These are the folks who pick and choose what part of the Bible they live by, instead of the actual word of the Bible. Some true Christians call these types “Part-time Christians”.
I don’t wish to be lumped in with radical Atheism either. I don’t think it’s hilarious to imperiously mock a person for what they believe in. I laugh at a few Bill Maher jokes, but I refuse to be the guy with the Atheist bumper stickers on my car, wearing an Atheist shirt that disrespects a man’s belief. I totally understand this mode of thinking:
“I am different, look at me. I read a few books and blogs online. I don’t listen to my grandparent’s and I can finally be me. Religion is boring and I hated church also! Gimme a high 5 bro!”
Being an irrational asshole, and disrespecting people publicly makes you as crazy as the guy who is a Tea-Party radical Christian picketing in front of an abortion clinic. We have been so entrenched in this debate, that we have forgotten about humanity. We have been focused too long on BEING correct, and BEING right, that we aren’t collectively GETTING it right. A deadly disease will be just as harmful to a Christian, as it would be to an Atheist or any religion. We have to escape the noise and become advocates for humanity. Be kind to one another in passing, accepting differences that we aren’t accustomed to seeing. I know that we will never live in some utopian fantasy world where we all hold hands and sing kumbaya. Religion and non-religion are both part of life. Racism and bigotry will stand, and wars will continue on. This blog will be another compelling read that floats in cyberspace. I just want to challenge your biases and beliefs. This is meant for you to re-examine how ridiculous we can look, when you realize Earth is a small part of a infinite universe with planets and galaxies that are undiscovered. We are small in comparison to the Universe. Our Sun is a dot compared to “Canis Majoris”, a huge sphere of fire that makes the sun look like a grain of sugar.
Humans could be far more insignificant than we purport to be. We are intelligent creatures, so smart that we have captured the knowledge of other worlds and galaxies. However, I believe that the pursuit of other lifeforms, is more important than an argument between two people who don’t agree on religion. Finally, my last question is. In the MACRO lens, What if human life doesn’t have a purpose, only to exist and re-produce more life?
Thanks for taking the time out to read this long blog. Hopefully you feel compelled to like, share, or comment.
Eddie Star Blog 