Fred's Views on Religion and Theism
'Live life without fear, or don't bother living at all,'- Frederick Ayres
I'll admit it: I have very strange views on everything. Very, very strange.
We'll first start with my views on religion and theism. Before I divulge into that, I'll first give you some background information that you might already know.
A theist is the position taken that God is real. A deist is the position taken that God created the universe. Maybe of our country's founders were deists, albeit few were theists. If you're not a theist or deist, you are an atheist, the position taken that God isn't real. There is no in-between position. Some feel that agnosticism is that limbo stance. Alas, it doesn't refer to belief in God, just information concerning God, which is agnostics, is unknowable.
I myself am an atheist. I once believed there was a God, but I began to have serious doubts. I would associate luck with an act of God. I slowly began to realize that I couldn't keep up this delusion for much longer.
I was a Christian for a while. I loved Jesus. Believed he was sent here to save the world. I got baptized and sang the songs. But the doctrine got to me after a while. Some sects of Christianity believed gays would burn in hell while others did not. I found the dis-unity of the religion and its dogma to be the main factors that led to my de-conversion.
I'm currently flirting with humanistic Judaism. If I chose to be religious, I would chose to be a Jew. Except for the token few orthodox Jews, it's a pretty lax religion. Unlike certain sects of Christianity and Islam, all of Judaism preaches peace and unity.
I don't feel any personal shame in being an atheist. I'm sure there are those who wish, perhaps pray for, death upon me. So be it. You have your beliefs and I've got mine.
Of course atheism makes no sense, but neither does any religion. Neither are very good at explaining the purpose of everything, if there is one.
I have no proof of God. Even while I was a theist, I never really did. We all see what we wanna see. Hear what we wanna hear. I sadly can't convince anyone that there's no God... or there that is. People will believe what they want to believe. Some find hope and happiness in religion and belief, while others feel better with the hard facts of science on their side.
It's hard to believe,but I do pray sometime. Of course, in the end, I'm just talking to myself. There's no proof anyone is listening and there never will be any. Prayer does offer one benefit- the placebo effect. It makes you feel good. It makes you feel like good things are gonna happen. In the end, all we want is to feel good and loved. I only pray when I need to know everything will turn out okay, such as before a huge test or if a loved one has just died. I know I'm just talking to myself, but at least I feel better.
I brought up death just now. It's an extremely interesting concept, death is. No one in the history of mankind has ever known what happens to us when we die. But we do know from science how we die. We know that a life ends when the brain shuts off- either from lack of oxygen and/or blood. As we die (or pass out; it applies to both), we see a small opening at the end of a tunnel. This light is one of the brightest things we've ever seen, but it's not blinding. We feel deep joy and ecstasy as we see more of the light. We might even see some various memories of our lives, a sort of life-flashing-before-your-eyes moment. And then that's it. The light is gone and we're dead. No one knows what happens after that.
That bright, white light was our vision slowly deteriorating. We see the light as a small opening at the end of a tunnel because our vision narrows down to a small point right before it deteriorates. The happy feeling we feel is the endorphins (natural feel-good chemicals) being released all over the body to deal with the immense pain of the body shutting down or passing out. We see the memories because the brain is panicking and attempting to stop the process of death.
Many religion people claim near-death-experiences prove God. They associate the tunnel of light as a sort of stairway to heaven. The white light at the end, being heaven or a deity. They place the memories we see as a review of their life; kind of like an assessment of whether or not they can enter the pearly gates. But they miraculously return to life and usually place someone into their experience who wasn't really there. For example, they claim they had a meeting with Christ or their dead mother. While in reality, they didn't meet with anyone. They were simply lying to promote their religion or inspire belief in God or the after-life.
I have a real funny perception of the after-life, 'heaven' as it's usually called. When I was just a tad younger, I pictured heaven as a place where I could have sex with any woman I wanted to. When I was younger still, I saw heaven as place where you could re-live you life and be whomever you wanted to be, such as the president or a movie star. Both of those perceptions are kind of right, actually. Heaven's not an oasis in the clouds with angels and harps. I see the after-life as a sort of paradise with all your loved ones and guess what? It's all inside your head. You are not physically with your loved ones, but rather with the memory that you hold of them. You can go wherever you please, as this is your imagination. You can do anything you want to. This is your paradise; this is your dream. This is what happens to us after we die. It's an endless dream inside of our head.
Surely you object to my perception of heaven. So be it. I believe there's two components to everyone. The body and the being. The body dies. The being lives on in others. Such as when you dream and see a loved one that has died. Perhaps you interact with them. For that moment, they are alive again... or at least your memory of them is. We only truly die when there is no one left to remember us. As the famous quote in Sandlot goes, "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die," All the more reason to lead a moral life: to ensure the memory others hold of you is golden.
We'll first start with my views on religion and theism. Before I divulge into that, I'll first give you some background information that you might already know.
A theist is the position taken that God is real. A deist is the position taken that God created the universe. Maybe of our country's founders were deists, albeit few were theists. If you're not a theist or deist, you are an atheist, the position taken that God isn't real. There is no in-between position. Some feel that agnosticism is that limbo stance. Alas, it doesn't refer to belief in God, just information concerning God, which is agnostics, is unknowable.
I myself am an atheist. I once believed there was a God, but I began to have serious doubts. I would associate luck with an act of God. I slowly began to realize that I couldn't keep up this delusion for much longer.
I was a Christian for a while. I loved Jesus. Believed he was sent here to save the world. I got baptized and sang the songs. But the doctrine got to me after a while. Some sects of Christianity believed gays would burn in hell while others did not. I found the dis-unity of the religion and its dogma to be the main factors that led to my de-conversion.
I'm currently flirting with humanistic Judaism. If I chose to be religious, I would chose to be a Jew. Except for the token few orthodox Jews, it's a pretty lax religion. Unlike certain sects of Christianity and Islam, all of Judaism preaches peace and unity.
I don't feel any personal shame in being an atheist. I'm sure there are those who wish, perhaps pray for, death upon me. So be it. You have your beliefs and I've got mine.
Of course atheism makes no sense, but neither does any religion. Neither are very good at explaining the purpose of everything, if there is one.
I have no proof of God. Even while I was a theist, I never really did. We all see what we wanna see. Hear what we wanna hear. I sadly can't convince anyone that there's no God... or there that is. People will believe what they want to believe. Some find hope and happiness in religion and belief, while others feel better with the hard facts of science on their side.
It's hard to believe,but I do pray sometime. Of course, in the end, I'm just talking to myself. There's no proof anyone is listening and there never will be any. Prayer does offer one benefit- the placebo effect. It makes you feel good. It makes you feel like good things are gonna happen. In the end, all we want is to feel good and loved. I only pray when I need to know everything will turn out okay, such as before a huge test or if a loved one has just died. I know I'm just talking to myself, but at least I feel better.
I brought up death just now. It's an extremely interesting concept, death is. No one in the history of mankind has ever known what happens to us when we die. But we do know from science how we die. We know that a life ends when the brain shuts off- either from lack of oxygen and/or blood. As we die (or pass out; it applies to both), we see a small opening at the end of a tunnel. This light is one of the brightest things we've ever seen, but it's not blinding. We feel deep joy and ecstasy as we see more of the light. We might even see some various memories of our lives, a sort of life-flashing-before-your-eyes moment. And then that's it. The light is gone and we're dead. No one knows what happens after that.
That bright, white light was our vision slowly deteriorating. We see the light as a small opening at the end of a tunnel because our vision narrows down to a small point right before it deteriorates. The happy feeling we feel is the endorphins (natural feel-good chemicals) being released all over the body to deal with the immense pain of the body shutting down or passing out. We see the memories because the brain is panicking and attempting to stop the process of death.
Many religion people claim near-death-experiences prove God. They associate the tunnel of light as a sort of stairway to heaven. The white light at the end, being heaven or a deity. They place the memories we see as a review of their life; kind of like an assessment of whether or not they can enter the pearly gates. But they miraculously return to life and usually place someone into their experience who wasn't really there. For example, they claim they had a meeting with Christ or their dead mother. While in reality, they didn't meet with anyone. They were simply lying to promote their religion or inspire belief in God or the after-life.
I have a real funny perception of the after-life, 'heaven' as it's usually called. When I was just a tad younger, I pictured heaven as a place where I could have sex with any woman I wanted to. When I was younger still, I saw heaven as place where you could re-live you life and be whomever you wanted to be, such as the president or a movie star. Both of those perceptions are kind of right, actually. Heaven's not an oasis in the clouds with angels and harps. I see the after-life as a sort of paradise with all your loved ones and guess what? It's all inside your head. You are not physically with your loved ones, but rather with the memory that you hold of them. You can go wherever you please, as this is your imagination. You can do anything you want to. This is your paradise; this is your dream. This is what happens to us after we die. It's an endless dream inside of our head.
Surely you object to my perception of heaven. So be it. I believe there's two components to everyone. The body and the being. The body dies. The being lives on in others. Such as when you dream and see a loved one that has died. Perhaps you interact with them. For that moment, they are alive again... or at least your memory of them is. We only truly die when there is no one left to remember us. As the famous quote in Sandlot goes, "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die," All the more reason to lead a moral life: to ensure the memory others hold of you is golden.
Fred's Views on the Issues and Politics
I find politics and the division of classes to be extremely stupid and useless. Every single one of our politicians is a liar and, in the simplest of terms, full of it.
While I believe that life is the most sacred thing to have ever existed, and that everyone should be given a full and happy life, I support a woman's choice to end the life of her unborn baby. If we take away a person's free will, we essentially take away what makes who they are. If a woman chooses to kill her own offspring, so be it. She chose in the first place, to partake in unprotected sex with a man. Now, she must face the consequences. It may sound cruel, but it's a fact of life.
If there was no religious doctrine stating that homosexuals were evil and that the God of love deeply hated them, then there would be no problem with homosexuals. To this day, homosexuality is frowned upon in over half of the world's countries and it's illegal for gays to marriage in nearly every country in the world. Homosexuality has been observed in the animal kingdom. Scientific experiments have proved that being gay, or bisexual and so on, is not a choice of sinful nature. It is flat-out nature. They were born that way. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't do a damn thing about it.
I don't support the Afghanistan war or any war that has gone on past its expiration date. We should never go to war for the mere reason of revenge or for the matter of resources. We should only go to war to protect the innocent and save the lives of as many people as possible. War is glorified by television and video games, but the reality is that war is abhorrent and futile. War cannot give life, it can only take it away.
Moving onto business and economics, in the early years of the Bush era, there were huge amounts of regulation being cut. Regulation is the only thing that regulates our stock market and keeps our economy in check. The finger has been pointed back and forth as to who is the cause of our economic collapse. If we only forgot about finger-pointing and began to regulate again, such as we did in the final years of the Clinton era, nearly everything would improve.
Some argue that the great economic times of the Clinton era were brought on by Reagan and his so-called 'Reaganomics'. Whether that's true, it depends on the historian you ask. But one thing is for sure. The Republican house and the Democratic president showed great maturity and brought our deficit to $0. If only that sort of bipartisanship could be shown today. I assure you that wonders would be worked.
Sweden is a prime example of a great country, for the most part. It ranks among the most peaceful and happiest places in the world. Sadly, in recent years, Islamic dogma has plagued its politics. The point is that the country is socialist. And, of course, socialism is bad! Or that's what we've been told, anyway. But here's another zinger-- our country is already partly socialist. Must be Obama, right?! Nope, this country was socialist long before his inauguration. The postal service is socialist. Social security is socialist. In fact, the large loans we gave to 'our' companies is socialist. It sure as hell wasn't capitalism, which is described as the separation of business and government.
From what I can see, socialism ain't all that bad. But, being the uptight greedy American that I am, capitalism is the way to go if I want the big bucks. But is it morally right of me to step on all those who have nothing in attempt to make a buck? Of course not. But that surely seems to be the American way.
While I believe that life is the most sacred thing to have ever existed, and that everyone should be given a full and happy life, I support a woman's choice to end the life of her unborn baby. If we take away a person's free will, we essentially take away what makes who they are. If a woman chooses to kill her own offspring, so be it. She chose in the first place, to partake in unprotected sex with a man. Now, she must face the consequences. It may sound cruel, but it's a fact of life.
If there was no religious doctrine stating that homosexuals were evil and that the God of love deeply hated them, then there would be no problem with homosexuals. To this day, homosexuality is frowned upon in over half of the world's countries and it's illegal for gays to marriage in nearly every country in the world. Homosexuality has been observed in the animal kingdom. Scientific experiments have proved that being gay, or bisexual and so on, is not a choice of sinful nature. It is flat-out nature. They were born that way. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't do a damn thing about it.
I don't support the Afghanistan war or any war that has gone on past its expiration date. We should never go to war for the mere reason of revenge or for the matter of resources. We should only go to war to protect the innocent and save the lives of as many people as possible. War is glorified by television and video games, but the reality is that war is abhorrent and futile. War cannot give life, it can only take it away.
Moving onto business and economics, in the early years of the Bush era, there were huge amounts of regulation being cut. Regulation is the only thing that regulates our stock market and keeps our economy in check. The finger has been pointed back and forth as to who is the cause of our economic collapse. If we only forgot about finger-pointing and began to regulate again, such as we did in the final years of the Clinton era, nearly everything would improve.
Some argue that the great economic times of the Clinton era were brought on by Reagan and his so-called 'Reaganomics'. Whether that's true, it depends on the historian you ask. But one thing is for sure. The Republican house and the Democratic president showed great maturity and brought our deficit to $0. If only that sort of bipartisanship could be shown today. I assure you that wonders would be worked.
Sweden is a prime example of a great country, for the most part. It ranks among the most peaceful and happiest places in the world. Sadly, in recent years, Islamic dogma has plagued its politics. The point is that the country is socialist. And, of course, socialism is bad! Or that's what we've been told, anyway. But here's another zinger-- our country is already partly socialist. Must be Obama, right?! Nope, this country was socialist long before his inauguration. The postal service is socialist. Social security is socialist. In fact, the large loans we gave to 'our' companies is socialist. It sure as hell wasn't capitalism, which is described as the separation of business and government.
From what I can see, socialism ain't all that bad. But, being the uptight greedy American that I am, capitalism is the way to go if I want the big bucks. But is it morally right of me to step on all those who have nothing in attempt to make a buck? Of course not. But that surely seems to be the American way.
