- Jessica
- Welcome to The Secular Gospel According to Jess! In this blog you’ll find everything from cartoons that make me laugh, to quotes that inspire me, to stories of my own personal experience when it comes to dealing with religion and pretty much everything in between. The title of my blog is intended to be ironic, as one doesn’t often hear the word, “gospel”, associated with secularism, but my intent is to preach, for lack of a better word, what I think gospel should really be about: love, rationalism, fairness, equality, human rights, science and truth. Enjoy!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Atrocities in the Bible...just to name a few.
http://www.nobeliefs.com/DarkBible/DarkBibleContents.htm
"Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go." (Judges 19:24-25)
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." (Ephesians 5:22-24)
"And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son...." (II Kings 6:28-29)
"The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed." (Deuteronomy 28:27)
"Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go." (Judges 19:24-25)
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." (Ephesians 5:22-24)
"And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son...." (II Kings 6:28-29)
"The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed." (Deuteronomy 28:27)
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Nature vs. Nurture?
I don't think I have ever met a really religious person who was not brought up, from infancy, to be religious.
I have, however, met many agnostics and atheists who were raised religious and broke away from it, realizing that they believed what they did because they were told to believe it, but that they could discover other ways of thinking on their own.
I have NEVER met anyone who was raised in a secular household whom, upon reaching adulthood, became a devout believer in God. (Though I make an exception for anyone who has struggled with drug abuse or alcoholism and has enrolled in a 12 step program where they are taught, at a very low, desperate point in their lives, that they cannot get better and let go of their addiction without the help of God.)
Doesn't this suggest that it is not that we are born with a need or desire for God, but that it is through indoctrination from an early, impressionable age, that we learn to need and desire Him?
I have, however, met many agnostics and atheists who were raised religious and broke away from it, realizing that they believed what they did because they were told to believe it, but that they could discover other ways of thinking on their own.
I have NEVER met anyone who was raised in a secular household whom, upon reaching adulthood, became a devout believer in God. (Though I make an exception for anyone who has struggled with drug abuse or alcoholism and has enrolled in a 12 step program where they are taught, at a very low, desperate point in their lives, that they cannot get better and let go of their addiction without the help of God.)
Doesn't this suggest that it is not that we are born with a need or desire for God, but that it is through indoctrination from an early, impressionable age, that we learn to need and desire Him?
It's just a theory...
My boyfriend was raised in a traditional Catholic household and his parents and one of his two sisters remain extremely religious (read: Creationists). I don't think my boyfriend realized just how religious they were until recently, when a conversation between he and his father involving their mutual love of nature and the great outdoors lead his mother to suggest that he and his father take a trip to the Galapagos Islands.
Excitedly, my boyfriend added that another cool thing about the Galapagos Islands was that it was the place where Charles Darwin conducted his studies that resulted in the discovery of evolution by natural selection, and that he would love to hopefully observe some of the same species that lead Darwin to his amazing discovery.
"Yeah," remarked his sister sarcastically, "if you actually believe in that stuff."
Incredulous, my boyfriend pressed his family further, trying to understand why they refused to accept the ideas that Darwin proposed some 150 years ago and that are widely accepted among the scientific community.
"What I can't believe," said his father, "is that we're descended from a tadpole. Anyway, evolution...it's just a theory."
(Nevermind how much more difficult it is to believe even half of the things in the Bible.)
My boyfriend countered: "Well Dad, so is gravity."
His father proceeded to claim that the theory of gravity was something completely different and that we can accept a "theory" if gravity's what we're talking about, but if it's evolution, well then, the "theory's" no good.
Unsurprisingly, that conversation set my boyfriend off on one of the most fervent atheist kicks I've ever seen him go on. But who can really blame him?
Excitedly, my boyfriend added that another cool thing about the Galapagos Islands was that it was the place where Charles Darwin conducted his studies that resulted in the discovery of evolution by natural selection, and that he would love to hopefully observe some of the same species that lead Darwin to his amazing discovery.
"Yeah," remarked his sister sarcastically, "if you actually believe in that stuff."
Incredulous, my boyfriend pressed his family further, trying to understand why they refused to accept the ideas that Darwin proposed some 150 years ago and that are widely accepted among the scientific community.
"What I can't believe," said his father, "is that we're descended from a tadpole. Anyway, evolution...it's just a theory."
(Nevermind how much more difficult it is to believe even half of the things in the Bible.)
My boyfriend countered: "Well Dad, so is gravity."
His father proceeded to claim that the theory of gravity was something completely different and that we can accept a "theory" if gravity's what we're talking about, but if it's evolution, well then, the "theory's" no good.
Unsurprisingly, that conversation set my boyfriend off on one of the most fervent atheist kicks I've ever seen him go on. But who can really blame him?
Religious faith.
"As long as we accept the principle that religious faith must be respected simply because it is religious faith, it is hard to withhold respect from the faith of Osama bin Laden and the suicide bombers."
-Richard Dawkins
-Richard Dawkins
Monday, May 2, 2011
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