Asok_Yeesrim's Xanga

A couple of Arguments on Atheism

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:54:18 GMT

I was thinking on Pascal's Wager recently, and I realized that many Atheists make a similar (or analogous) gambit. It goes something like this (keep in mind this only applies to those trying to live a good life):

Atheists choose to not believe in God. They try to live ethical, upright and good lives, and strive to seek truth and beauty in the world and themselves. They try to be the best humans they can be (just like religious folk).

Suppose God exists.

If God exists, and it turns out he has the qualities ascribed by theists, then he'll judge humans harshly on the arbitrary criteria he has chosen - i.e., he would be an insufferable bastard. If this be the case, I would be hard pressed to find anyone (atheist or otherwise) who would actually WANT to spend an eternity with such a tremendous celestial douchebag.

On the other hand, if God exists and it turns out he's not basing his judgments on arbitrary factors like a total asshole, then atheists WILL go to heaven by virtue of having lived good and true lives and sought truth, etc. And they may enjoy spending eternity with a fellow so enlightened and so enlightening.

Either way, however God turns out to be in reality (if he exists), the best course of action is Atheism. Or at least Rationality.

Here's another simple argument that was floating in my head.

1. A system where the "punishment fits the crime" is a just system. Conversely, a system where the punishment does not "fit the crime" is an unjust system.

2. The life of man is finite. So, the sum total of evil a man can possibly commit in his life is finite.

3. The afterlife is eternal (infinite). So a punishment which lasts the duration of the afterlife is eternal (infinite).

4. God punishes man eternally (infinitely) for his finite crimes.

5. God is unjust.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:35:34 GMT

I want to fall in love again.

Poll!

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:47:03 GMT

"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history." - Pat Robertson

I know this quote is rather extreme, but this is something that's been on my mind lately. It's a sentiment I seem to hear with some frequency, on TV and in real life (though not of that severity, lol). So I'd like to know what you all think about it.

Do you think Christians are a persecuted minority in America?

I'd love everyone's feedback on this, Christian folk or otherwise.

Arabs are Semites, too

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:08:19 GMT

Antisemitism has quickly become one of America's most despised forms of racism, earning offenders swift and severe retribution. Anyone throwing casual epithets towards the Jews or exhibiting a whiff of unfair business practice against the chosen people can get themselves a severe ass-pounding by the giant throbbing dick that is the American legal system. These offenses are given the blanket term "antisemitism".
But I'd like to point out a very simple fact. Arabs are Semites too.
So for those dishing out casual (and not-so-casual) rejoinders at the magi from the east, or framing their hiring practices to the exclusion of the sons of Ishmael, remember that you're no better than a skin-head neo-nazi Jew-hater. You are an anti-semite. You are probably just as batshit insane as Hitler himself. Because this is the standard of judgment applied to those who hate Jews (ie, Mel Gibson). And by this token, it should be applied to those who hate Arabs.
Just a thought.

I got tagged...

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:15:14 GMT

I was tagged by AlterEgo909, so now I have to say 5 random things about myself.

1. I collect hats because hats are awesome.

2. I collect books because of compulsion.

3. I prefer the woman to be dominant in the relationship.

4. I love nap. And not the sleepy kind.

5. For those wondering about my religion, I do not practice any particular religion. I study religions, and I have practiced many in the past, to know them. Philosophically I am a sort of Deist, and I embrace Humanist principles. I am technically an Atheist, since I reject a personal anthropomorphic God-entity. I'm a Socratic, a proponent of Natural Philosophy, and lover of religions.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:59:01 GMT

I just drew another comic today...

Letter to a Christian

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:50:48 GMT

Preface: This is a letter to my friend's mother. She was concerned about some things I said about Christianity and Islam. She wrote me a letter to respond to what I had said. This is my response to her concerns.

You make many good points about Christianity, many good foundational ideas that come straight from the Bible, all of which I agree with. But I didn't make my claims against Christianity. It's true that Christians, by the book, are to love everyone as themselves. But the truth is that Christians are human too, and many of them fall very short. There are many Christians who view Islam and Muslims as a sort of enemy, a very real and physical threat. It's just a sort of over-generalization, a fear stemming from radical Muslim terrorism.
While Christians don't want to Islam destroyed in any physical or negative sense, the ultimate goal of Christianity is for the entire world to become Christian, for there to be no other religions (because they are all false). So in a very real, sense, Christianity demands a sort of destruction of other religions (the same way a lot of American-driven commerce demands the death of indigenous languages around the world in favor of English). Whether or not that is a bad thing is up for debate. I find it sad and terrible. I don't like the idea of everyone practicing the same religion.
And Christians, Jews and Muslims are brothers more than just being fellow men. Christians would not exist if not for the Jews. The Jews are sort of their parents. Christians got rebellious and ran away from home. Muslims come from the same stock as the Jews and began the same way the Jews did, worshiping the same God (El). The Muslims call the Jews and Christians "people of the book" and used to have great respect for them. It was said that the people of the book had a place in heaven. There are still a lot of Muslims who feel this way, but not enough.
John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me". This is one of the most famous Christian passages, but what does it mean? For Catholics, it means two very real and physical things: being baptized and eating Christ's actual flesh (not symbolic flesh, the actual corpus christi). For Protestants, it's much less clear. I have never really understood what it means. No one comes to the father but through me. I used to think it meant "live as I live, embody my teachings". But nobody really does. It seems to mean something else, but I don't know what.
And is this to say that the best rabbis of all time didn't know God? That Moses and Abraham didn't? They definitely didn't know Jesus. What about natives living in Papua New Guinea in the Medieval Ages?

I am searching. I am always searching. That is my life. It always was. I'm not floundering, I'm not lost, and I don't like people feeling sorry for me. The purpose of my life is to know everything I can. It took me a long time to realize this, but I'm so happy now that I know. That's why I exist. I have to discover the true nature of things. I'm not looking for an ideology that answers all of life's questions. That's ridiculous. I really resent when people accuse me of that. I'm only interested in asking the most basic questions. Because it's not the answers that are so important - it's the questions. That's my purpose - to ask these questions.
Questions like: what is God? Why is there something instead of nothing? Can God be the Nothing? What's the difference between nothing and everything?

The only reason I'm not an Atheist (but I am in the Atheist club here and it's a lot of fun) is because I don't ask the question: Is there a God? Instead I ask: What is God? The best answer I have found so far is that He is Nothing. But also Everything. And that the best way to define things we don't understand is with paradox and dichotomy. But that's another story.

Coloring Book Land

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:10:56 GMT

A delightful webcomic that you should all read.

Protect the Sanctity of Marriage!!

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:11:59 GMT

We as a people must protect the sanctity of marriage. It is imperative.

How?

Love our spouses. And do not stop loving them. Make every effort to make them feel special and needed. Make every effort to make them and ourselves happy.

The divorce rate in the US (cited by the Census Bureau) is 50%. A more modest estimate by the National Center for Health Statistics puts that number at about 43%. That's incredible.

To protect something as precious and important as marriage in the modern age is difficult. Gratification from marriage is not instant, and is often painful.

But excluding specified individuals from marriage does not protect marriage. It only limits basic freedoms promised in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - Thomas Jefferson.

Yes. It says ALL MEN. Not heterosexual men, not white men, not black men, not Republican men, not Democratic men, not landowners, not males. Mankind. All of it. Unalienable. Endowed by their Creator. Pursuit of Happiness.

This argument is closed.

Who (or what) are you planning to be for Halloween?

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:32:39 GMT

I was planning to be Andrew Jackson, but then I cut my hair.

Any suggestions?

Edit: I have decided. Steampunk Mad Hatter.

<>