Divinities, all of them, are the product of fears, hopes, ignorance, and more fears... taken to a point where reason is obscured and what makes no rational sense is made to look like it has.
To take divinities out of religions is an enormous struggle.
To build an ethical foundation based on a humanitarian credo, an enlighting trip.
Confusing a humanitarian, moral existence with belief in what we know does not exist is the core source of confusion in the world.... it has always been like that.... but it does have to go on being like that. The start of change is the final termination of gods, all of them.
Jorge Fernandez
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Mr. Metaxas pushes back against what he calls the “lie that faith and science are somehow opposed to each other.” He thinks the two work in tandem. As he wrote last year in these pages: “There are more than 200 known parameters necessary for a planet to support life—every single one of which must be perfectly met, or the whole thing falls apart.” In sum: “Can every one of those many parameters have been perfect by accident?”
Translation:
Metaxas: "I know nothing about science therefore the Magic Man did it."
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It is so much easier to be religious than to be educated. In the 21st Century, through cosmology, we know the age of the universe is 13.8 billion years and that our solar system is 4..6 billion years. Through genetics, we know that homo sapiens, our genus, is 200,000 years old.
So how old is religion? About 5000 years.
It started with Pythagoras of Samos (5th Century BCE). From his teachings came Judaism's "Torah" (400 BCE). A few unhappy Jews invented Christianity in 100 CE. Then Mohammed, who read the Torah & Bible, took the best of both & wrote his "Koran", (632 CE) for Islam.
Many battles ensued over which of these religious myths was right. Shiites killed Sunnis. Catholics split into Western & Eastern (Orthodox) rite. Western rite split into Catholic and Protestant and killed each other. Over the millennium, millions have been slaughtered for "religion". They are still doing it today.
All for what? For lack of education. For the first myths. For Pythagoras.
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"It is so much easier to be religious than to be educated."
Science hard. Hurts brain.
God easy. No think.
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"If religion in America is dying, then someone will have to explain Eric Metaxas."
That's easy. Metaxas wants to replace science with "The Magic Man did it", as does most of the American population, not to mention the Islamic State.
"faith and science are not opposed"
Every religious fantasy ever invented requires throwing out all of science. Science explains reality. Religions are a denial of reality.
In America (and the Islamic State) there is a never ending religious war against science education, especially evolution. This is disgraceful and reason enough to throw religious stupidity in the garbage where it belongs.
A ridiculous fantasy that requires throwing out all of reality: "And yet all Christian theology has its origin in the wonder of all wonders: that God became human."
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Metaxas is the Dr. Oz of religion.
It's no surprise that Christianity is growing rapidly in Latin America and Africa--the poorest and least educated parts of the world.
Life is so difficult that people will believe, or perhaps claim to believe in god in hope of an eternal afterlife.
Super Lotto has a devoted weekly following as well and is roughly based on the same psychological principle.
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Humans have worshipped pantheons of different Deities, Gods, and Goddesses over the course of history in their quest to understand the universe around them and divinity. From the Cult of Isis, to Celts of Scandinavia and the British Isles, to Mithraic cults, to the Egyptian sun god, to the Hindu pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, and many younger religions as well. So many. The myths, legends, teachings and belief variations are staggering but also contain similarities as noted by some esotericists. Therefore, one occasionally worries that come to find out...the number 42 or the golden ratio truly is the answer to the universe.
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Oh puhleeeze, WSJ, deliver us from the lacks of Metaxas, for too too much of a tax on us he do be! Metaxas is just a latter day Elmer Gantry, another shyster, like practically all preachers.
Send this loving "warrior" to fight ISIS. Maybe he can kill them all with love.
And there's reason enough and more, ISIS, that religion should be kept out of the public square.
Puhleeze! No more of Metaxas waving a fake banana at all the knuckle-dragging WSJ readers!
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“Can every one of those many parameters have been perfect by accident?”
He makes it sound so dirty! The words he is looking for are "random chance", and the answer is a resounding, unequivocal, "Yes!"
Why? There are hundreds of billions of galaxies contained hundreds of billions stars each. The whole thing has been running for over 13 billion years, or quite a bit longer than Bronze Age theology has been around. If you throw the dice enough times, of course you will get the outcome of Earth-like planets. Hundreds of millions of them, most likely.
Science isn't a smarmy smile and a bunch of BS.
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[As he wrote last year in these pages: “There are more than 200 known parameters necessary for a planet to support life—every single one of which must be perfectly met, or the whole thing falls apart.” ] - Ah, yes, this is a reference to the most intellectually dishonest opinion piece I've ever read in the WSJ. But, I guess willfully misunderstanding (or misconstruing) scientific concepts can reconcile the fundamental epistemological differences between science and religion...or perhaps not.
The hundreds of reader comments that disgraceful article elicited changed no minds, and it produced no meaningful dialogue. I'm under no illusions that this comment will be any different.
Suffice it to say these concepts are unrconcilealable:
1. Revelation v. Discovery
2. Prophecies v. Hypotheses
3. Appeals to authority v. Observational data
...and this is a BIG ONE
4. Faith v. Skepticism
I'm guessing (although honestly, I've never listened to his radio show) that "Miracle Monday's" are not approached with any pretext of the skepticism that's been a hallmark of Western science over the past 400 years.
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That is the worst essay I've seen in the Journal in a long time.
A guy figures out how to make money talking on the radio about his god and pretending that his god is GOD, and suddenly he has all the answers?
If more people spent their time and energy on creating things, making things, selling things and educating kids so they can do the same instead of worrying about their gods, this would be a much better world. Religions start wars and are used to justify beheadings, firings, genocide and so many horrible things just because people can't stand to be disagreed with when it comes to religions.
I understand why so many people believe and have to believe, but the time and money wasted on religions is incalculable. The Middle East would be a much more peaceful place, I think, if its religious leaders didn't poison minds with hate.
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The more religious leaders use Christianity to justify: wars, tax cuts, racism, and imposing their views on others, the more people are going to turn away from religion in general.
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Christians think like young children.
If God is who Christians profess him to be, then It must be acknowledged that not only did he present himself to the world in a very confusing manner that has spawned so many conflicting ideas as to his nature and message, but he has also failed to prevent false information from being disseminated that directly attacks his very existence. This is a two-pronged roadblock for people to overcome if they are to ascertain the truth- an inconsistent and unreliable scripture that’s further eroded by a cavalcade of contravening information.
Some Christians will claim that God purposely allowed this situation to test peoples’ faith, but the more likely truth is that it is the result of a man-made religion combined with the non-existence of any god to filter the flow of information.
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Science has enabled the blind to see. Christianity has not. Science has enabled the deaf to hear. Christianity has not. Science has enabled the dumb to speak. Christianity has not. Science has fed the multitudes. Christianity has not. Science has cured most of the worst plagues of humankind. Christianity has not. Science has enabled paraplegics to move about independently. Christianity has not. Science has uncovered the secrets of the universe. Christianity has not. Science has taken us to moon, to the planets, and the comets. Christianity has left us stuck on earth.
Lastly, Christianity has promised us an eternal life, but has done nothing to extend our earthly lifespan. Science has doubled our life expectancy in the past 150 years. And if immortality is ever achieved, it will be science, not Christianity, that will deliver it.
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For 160 million years, approximately 225 to 65 million years ago, the Earth was a dinosaur planet. There was no question who ruled at the top of the food chain. But Christianity suggests that God created the Earth so he could have a place for his ultimate creation- human beings. If this is so, does it make any sense that he allowed the dinosaurs so much time, given that they had no significance in the eternal matters of his theology?
The answer to the question is ‘no,’ it makes no sense whatsoever. Modern humans have existed for at most 200,000 years, or 1/800th of the reign of the dinosaurs. The history of dinosaurs on this planet is significant evidence that the Earth was not created for humans and that there was no god directing the script.
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You worship a god who kills millions just to see them suffer in pain?
From 1347 to 1350, a devastating pandemic hit Europe causing the death of approximately 25 million people, one third of the population. Entire families were wiped out and some villages were made into ghost towns. Houses became empty because all of inhabitants had died. Fields and animals went untended causing crops to fail and the animals to die. Most people thought that a vengeful God caused this catastrophe and the remedies of choice were prayer, fasting, and mystical rituals. All of these were ineffective, of course, and when there seemed to be end in sight, most people thought the world was coming to an end.
The Black Plague offers a multi-faceted demonstration of the non-reality of the Christian faith. First, it convincingly showed the ineffectiveness of prayer, as God ignored millions and millions of prayers of the suffering Europeans. Second, it showed the callousness of God to human suffering, as the plague caused pustules and tumors to grow almost visibly, fever, vomiting of blood, and pneumonia as victims suffered immense pain for up to a week before their deaths. Third, it highlighted the failure of God to enlighten people of the causes and prevention of disease either through scripture or divine revelation. Had this been done, the range and scope of the outbreak would have been much less severe. Fourth, it revealed God’s flawed design of the human body to be so vulnerable to this pathogen.
In short, the Black Plague is exactly what would be expected from evolution, a godless process that has no preference or partiality for humans. For an objective observer, it provides a compelling clue that Christianity is false.
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During the holiday season, many Christians object to greeters who say “Happy Holidays” as opposed to “Merry Christmas.” It is one of many manifestation of their insecurity. They use the terms “war on Christmas” and “war on Christianity” despite enjoying a numerical super-majority. An affront on their faith is seen as being disrespectful, though they feel free to criticize and belittle any opposing belief system. They don’t seem to understand that saying “Merry Christmas” is being somewhat insensitive to Muslims and Jews, for example, and, certainly, they would be incensed if someone greeted them with “Happy Hanukkah.”
This type of hyper-sensitivity can only exist within the framework of a fragile belief system, one that is highly dependent on faith as opposed to solid evidence. To give a counter example, people who believe in evolution are not in the least bit upset when a creationist spouts their nonsense because the evolutionist is standing on a mountain of scientific evidence supporting his claim. Christians do not have that luxury and most are in a continual state of cognitive dissonance as new discoveries and events are constantly challenging their beliefs.
If Christianity was true, its followers would exude a quiet confidence and would glibly brush off any and all contrary opinions, secure in their faith, backed by compelling evidence.
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Science has absolutely nothing to say about the existence of God. As Popper asserted, a proposition is only scientific if it can be falsified. That is, you must be able to think of a circumstance that would disprove the proposition. If you posit that there are no aliens, the discovery of one alien would disprove your proposition. That means your proposition was scientific.
But it is not possible to disprove the existence of a transcendent god. By definition, such an entity is unknowable. It is impossible to come up with a test to disprove its existence. Hence, science has nothing interesting to say, one way or the other, about religion. They are completely incompatible epistemologies.
The reason I post on this issue is because Mr. Metaxas insists that science supports religion. That's straying on our turf. You guys go and be transcendent all you want, but don't claim that we make statements of ANY kind about religion.
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"The Death of God Is Greatly Exaggerated"
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"The Death of God Is Greatly Exaggerated"
A magical being (Zeus, Allah, God, Magic Man) is not real now and it never was real. What died was the god fantasy which was invented to explain what ancient people didn't understand.
Not everyone got the memo but the god fantasy died in 1859 when Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species." His ideas were so powerful (and now supported by two centuries of scientific discoveries) the god-soaked denied the whole thing, a problem that continues today.
Darwin showed that a magical being was not required to explain the development of new species. It's fair to say if the god fairy's magic wand was not required for something that complex, it was not required for anything else.
Darwin killed Mr. God. Good riddance.
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The earth is one of 8 planets orbiting an ordinary star, that itself is in an ordinary spiral arm of one of approximately 200,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe. And every galaxy has at least 100,000,000,000 solar systems.
200 Billion times 100 Billion equals a very big number. Our middle-of-nowhere planet is equivalent to one grain of sand in the Sahara Desert. If Earth disappeared nobody would notice and nobody would care.
Our planet is not a big deal. We are not a big deal. A magical master of the entire vast universe (if we want to pretend the ridiculous god fantasy is real) would not think we are big deal. But that doesn't stop the god-soaked from pretending the Magic Man listens to human apes pray.
My point is the god-soaked need to grow up, stop being cowards, and face facts. We are all alone here. There is no magical being watching over us. We're just animals on a tiny planet. There is no magical soul that magically flies to a magical paradise for dead people.
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