Monday, May 24, 2010

Can An Atheist Contribute to Society?

Now that I am an evil apostate, what good can I possibly contribute to society? Can I give meaningful service?

Hmmm, let's see.

On three separate occassions, my BIL called me for help. He owns a rental property and needed my help to prepare it for renting. I helped change locks on the doors. I helped install a swamp cooler. I helped wire in a new light in the basement. I fixed a broken outlet. I lit the pilot light on the water heater and furnace.

That, right there, is easily $100 worth of work that I did. Seeing as how I did electrical work, I could charge even more. But I gladly did the work for free. I didn't even ask for gas money to drive to the project.

Just today...

My sister called asking for my help. She just bought a new washer and dryer and needed help installing them. Attaching the gas supply to the dryer proved to be difficult to do, and, as usual, I was the hero who flew in and saved the day.

By the way, a year or so earlier I spent hundreds of hours at my sisters house doing an extensive remodel. I re-plumbed the entire house. I ran new gas lines. I re-wired much of the house. I not only re-wired much of the electric, but planned out and installed totally new electrical in their basement kitchen. I wired in a switch for the garbage disposal, wired for a range hood, installed GFCI outlets, and wired for the dishwasher, stove, and dryer.

I have a neighbor who doesn't have a car. I will occassionally drive her to a doctors appointment or to the grocery store.

Sometime this week...

A friend of mine needs help installing a new floor in his sisters house. I don't know how many hours that will take, but I could probably ask $60 at the minimum.

Another friend has a project where some electrical work needs to be done. I'm not sure what all it needs, but I could probably ask between $60 and $120 for that work as well.

The fact is...

When I'm not at work, I'm at some project giving someone free labor. When I do electrical work for someone, I'm saving them about $60 per hour.

And I don't give these services because the bishop assigned me to. I don't do it out of the fear of god. I do it out of the goodness of my heart and my genuine desire to help others.

And it does make me happy.

A very common misconception that people have about atheists is that since we don't believe in god, we would slit your throat for $5. But atheists are the most peace loving people of all. We don't feel it necessary to fly planes into buildings. We don't find it necessary to knock on your door and tell you how wrong your beliefs are. We don't judge you. As long as you're not a threat to society, we couldn't give a shit less about what you do or believe.

The truth about atheists is that we understand that our time to be alive is limited, so we try to make the most of every moment. We help people because we want to, not because god will damn us if we don't.

Just look around. Most of the violence in the news is caused by some religious fanatic who thinks that his god wants him to blow up everybody.

People love religion and yet religion produces violence.

People despise atheism and yet atheists are very non-violent people.

You don't have to be one of us, but before you judge, take a second look.

I'll Ask Again... Are Mormons Happy?

In the past, I have explored the question, are Mormons happy?

Mormons have, in response, challenged me right back... are apostates happy?

Let's just stick to the facts. In my experience, Mormons (even the active ones) don't really want to be at church. If you attend an LDS sacrament meeting, just look around. People are sleeping, trying to keep their kids quiet, reading their scriptures, etc. As soon as "amen" is said at the closing prayer, the isles are instantly filled with people who can't get out of there fast enough.

I'm not making this up. This literally is how it is.

However, I am aware that this, by itself, does not prove that Mormons are unhappy.

But it does suggest that sacrament meeting is extremely dull and boring. And it is! I should know. I've sat through hundreds of them.

I have no doubt that Mormons are happy. I remember well going to church and feeling very accepted by those around me. I really did like the people.

It just leaves me wondering...

How many of them claim to be happy because they've always been taught that Mormonism is the ONLY path to happiness?

How many of them genuinely are happy?

I don't think there is really a way to know. However, I would be willing to bet that many of them who claim to be happy, really are not. I wasn't.

I've had Mormons challenge me that apostates are the ones who are not happy. Of course, they base our happiness on their standards. For example:

I am not happy because I oppose the lords kingdom.

I am not happy because I sin.

I am not happy because I speak evil of the lords annointed.

They never once look at me and see that I am happy because I finally learned to be honest with myself. I asked the question, answered it honestly, and followed my heart.

If you live a lie, how can you be happy?

I Just Have One Question...


Why isn't Jesus wearing garments?

Friday, May 7, 2010

The Rapture is Not Biblical

The LDS Church's website has a nice online version of the scriptures and it includes a search feature where you can search for any word or phrase and it will bring up all the matches.

I thought I'd do a little experiment...

You know that absolutely ridiculous belief that when Jesus comes all the righteous people will immediately vanish into thin air? That amazingly stupid belief otherwise known as the rapture?

I went to LDS.org and did a search for the word "rapture" in the Bible.

The following was the result:

There were no occurrences of the word RAPTURE found in the Text of the Old and New Testament.

Ha! The word "rapture" is not even biblical! The word does not even appear in the scriptures. I would really like to know where this laughable belief originated.

Anyone know?

Monday, May 3, 2010

Operation Smile

Yesterday I sat with my family and watched a touching program about children born with cleft lip and cleft palate defects. Children born with this condition in third world countries are outcast and ridiculed because they look different. They often do not attend school due to severe teasing by other kids.

To learn more about cleft defects, click here.

A baby born in the USA will receive corrective surgery shortly after birth and will live a normal life. But in certain areas of the world, the people are too poor or there is no doctor who is trained to perform this procedure. As a result, these children grow up with deformed faces and their chance at a normal life is nill.

Fortunately, there is a program called Operation Smile that provides some relief. With the use of volunteer doctors, nurses, and other very generous people, they are able to go to these children and provide them with a life-changing operation that will make their face look normal. This charity is funded entirely by donations.

It was truly tear-jerking to see these children and their parents as they received this wonderful service. Many of them wept tears of joy at the chance they and their children had received to live a normal life. Even though the families and the nurses often spoke different languages, there was a true feeling of love and brotherhood.

It brought tears to my eyes as I sat and watched it.

If any of my readers are willing and can afford to donate, please visit http://www.operationsmile.org/ It is a very worthwhile charity.

It was a beautiful program and I was enjoying it until someone said of a child who's face had been corrected, "Thank God."

That just ruined it for me. In fact, it made me angry.

You see, "god" deserves absolutely no credit for the wonderful service this charity provides. In fact, if you believe in god as he is generally thought to be, then you believe that god gave these children deformed faces. God is not to thank for this service; god is to blame for it.

It was the very generous donations by average people that made this possible. It was the selfless doctors and nurses who volunteer their time and skills.

It angered me because god, who actually gave the child his/her facial defect (if you believe in that sort of thing), is being praised on this show for the good things that are being done. It angered me because god does not deserve a shred of credit. Again, all the credit goes to the generous people who donated and to the doctors and nurses.

I did not mean to detract from the spirit of love and compassion that this charity provides by throwing in my interjection about god. But I truly feel that credit should be given where it is due. And in this case, god did NOTHING to help these poor children. NOTHING! All he did is give them a deformed face and then ignore their prayers to simply be normal.

One little boy they featured would pray every day for a normal face. He finally got his badly needed operation. But who did it? God? or a skilled surgeon? A skilled surgeon.

I just feel that credit should be given to the correct people; and that is to the kind, generous people who give financially. And again, it is the doctors and nurses who so generously volunteer their time. God deserves no credit and it offends me that anyone would even think to thank him for this service when he had nothing to do with it.

When I pointed this out to my wife, even she had to admit that I have a good point.

Okay, thanks for letting me rant. But seriously, if any of my readers have the means, I strongly encourage you to give what you can to this very noble cause.