Most of the credit goes to you!

Time after time you will hear religious people praise God for his help in the accomplishment of their successes. Let's ignore for now (and this is difficult!) how frequently God completely ignores millions of other cases of starvation, abuse, disease and destitution. But never you mind, he's busy.

These people will say that they did something by the grace of God, or that God blessed them, or that they would be nothing without God--any number of variations. When I hear this, I get extremely frustrated, especially when it is directed towards me. I feel a lot like Eliza Doolittle, actually.



In this scene from My Fair Lady, the men are congratulating themselves exuberantly for having pulled off their goal: training the cockney Eliza well enough so that she passes for an educated Englishwoman at the ball. They completely ignore the accomplishments of Eliza herself. "Now wait, now wait, give credit where it's due. A lot of the glory goes... to you!," Higgins says to Pickering, ignoring Eliza while she is standing right there.

Last week my partner's father was commenting on how "blessed" we are. We live in a beautiful house, make good money, are generally very healthy and have a good relationship. We take care of our house, our bills, our cars, eat well and have some very nice furniture and such. He kept on and on about how everything we did was because Jesus had our backs.

The truth is, we are "blessed" because well, yes, we have gotten lucky, but mostly it's because we have been wise in managing our money, and have worked very hard to get where we are. It took me over six years to finish my college degree because I worked my way through and did not take on any student loans. We both have very little debt, and what we do have is for vehicles. We both have two vehicles, and one of each is paid for--the second could be sold to pay for itself if need be (that being said, I will never take on debt again as my financial philosophies have changed, but that's another story). We have a fully furnished office, fully furnished guest room, a 65" tv, baby grand piano, pool table, an exquisite China cabinet, and a high-end gun safe for our pistols and other valuables.

We rarely buy anything new. All of our vehicles are used, though you wouldn't know that by looking. 90% of our furniture is used, and we don't buy it unless we practically steal it. You would be shocked at how little our furnishings cost. We scour Craigslist, eBay, garage sales and antique shops, and trust me, it pays off. Practically everything used always needs a little TLC, but we're very handy, and our things look brand new. I have things that are 10 times nicer than my broke friends who don't realize they can buy used. All but a few of my fine jewelry items are pawn shop finds. I buy my clothes on eBay, at Goodwill, and at discount shops like Marshall's. If a business is going out of business, we are there to get some deals on things we need. We haggle and barter for everything. We buy one thing at a time, and it's taken us 3 or 4 years to get to where we are. I hope it is only the beginning. I drink my wine on my $75 leather couch from my $0.25 Goodwill wine glass, and look good doing it.

My point is, of the things in life that can be controlled, we can and do control them. We are very responsible. We are creative when it comes to problem solving. Sure, we have fun too, and we definitely buy stuff we don't need, but it's kept to a responsible minimum. We have not saddled ourselves with debt, and we have not burdened ourselves with children.

Nothing that we have done, have accomplished, or will accomplish in the future has anything to do with God. As Higgins says, we must give credit where credit is due, and the glory of our "blessings" is from our own blood, sweat and tears. We have worked our butts off, made [mostly!] wise choices, and it has led to a nicer life.

My father-in-law had the audacity to claim that my partner's life was saved because of Jesus protecting him. When he was a kid, he fell down a hill and collided into an edge of a picnic table with his throat. He's lucky to have not bled to death, let alone still have a voice. It was extremely traumatic for him and his family, not only physically but financially and emotionally. He had to have multiple surgeries over several years. And his own father can seriously look us in the eye and say that Jesus "protected" him. Jesus is a shitty protector, then. Maybe next time he could just prevent the incident from happening at all? My partner was saved because of receiving quick medical attention, and having some excellent surgeons. Humans did a hell of a lot more to help him out than God, and they were able to do so because of their own hard work and sacrifice for years to get their medical training.

I wish people would give themselves credit for the good things that they do. The idea that God is a silent, invisible puppeteer is beyond ludicrous. I can't tell the difference between him being his silent, invisible self, and him not existing at all. God is gratuitously given credit for all the good things, but for the bad things God is mysterious, or everything happens for a reason, or some other excuse. Convenient, isn't it? It makes no sense at all to congratulate God for my good job when others are starving. Why am I worth more than them? Why can I eat and they can't? If God works in mysterious ways, then he needs to get hit shit together, and quick, because that system is not working.

God protects and heals you... but you still need doctors and medicine.

God will get you a good job... but you still have to gain experience, get an education, prepare a resume, apply and do an interview, and you still have to show up and do quality work.

God will hear your prayers and help your relationships... but you still have to listen, compromise and show respect.

God will help you with your financial woes... but you still have to work, get your money organized, be on a budget, pay your bills and set goals.

God will help the poor and abused... but you still need to volunteer at shelters, donate money to charities and the church.

It seems that we are doing all the work here. God is like that irresponsible guy you get stuck with in speech class for a group project, who is never around to help study or prepare, yet on presentation day he wants credit for his half. And if God were really looking out for you and your family as a result of your prayers and worship to him, then statistically, believers would have better health and lives than non-believers.

If I am able to buy a car, it is because I worked and saved up money and paid for it. If I am injured and surgery saves my life, it is because of competent medical professionals and my own body's natural defenses.

There is no reason to believe that there is an almighty, all-knowing, silent, invisible being floating around, ensuring all your successes yet is mysteriously absent for failures and hardships. You'll do much better to recognize the reality of your own power and creativity, hard work and ingenuity.

--BadSec

More Christian ignorance

This morning I came across an article from Soulwinning.info on the "The Sad Testimony of George Carlin" written by a David J. Stewart. He does a review of Carlin in the following video "Religion is Bullshit":



I did some MAJOR facepalming. Stewart exemplifies perfectly the irrationality of the Christian mind. He says, "Sadly, Mr. Carlin is almost assuredly burning in Hell this moment, having died in his sins," and justifies that with John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” This kind of judgmental arrogance is a big part of the problem with religion. I am pulling my hair out over this. It doesn't even deserve this much commentary. But it gets better.

After watching George Carlin's blasphemous video, I couldn't help but think about the ridiculous theories of Evolution, and how unsaved people blindly, without question, accept the lame and unscientific theories of Evolution by faith.

Oh geez. Ridiculous theories of evolution? There's scientific proof of evolution, you dimwit! People who accept evolution do not do so blindly and without question. They do so after examining scientific evidence, which, by the way, is extremely thorough. Scientific theories must be tested, explained, and re-tested; they must hold absolutely true to reality and fact or else they are thrown out. What sort of tests do religions endure? None. It's a bunch of made-up, unproved, crazy malarky that is accepted blindly and without question. Is there a "God test"? Oh, that's right, we can't test God. Nor touch him, feel him or have a conversation (one-sided prayer does not count). And he's invisible. Aaaaaaand he "works in mysterious ways" that explain his inexplainable behavior. How utterly convenient! A God that can't be seen, touched or questioned because he isn't around to be found. You'd think if he were so all-powerful he could put an end to suffering and hate, cure disease and poverty, and maybe...I dunno... make his existence a little more readily ascertainable for us peons (Nextel has cheap cell phone plans, Jesus). And people believe in him because they have personally felt his love and good works in their own lives. You know, some people feel their imaginary friend's presence too, but at least that is properly diagnosed as a mental illness.

Stewart says that "any honest person KNOWS that God exists." If you ask me, any honest person with a whisp of a brain KNOWS he doesn't, or at least questions him. I miss the days of believing in God. Things were easier. I always had a friend who was there for me and loved me even when it seemed like the rest of the world didn't care. I came to my agnosticism and atheism very gradually and reluctantly. Religion was pretty easy to spot as a complete crock once you unblinded yourself, but letting go of a loving God was not something I wanted to do. I begged him, in my heart of hearts, to show himself, to be there with me. I prayed to have my faith strengthened and renewed but the opposite happened the more I questioned what life was about. I was taught that selfish prayers (please get me a shiny new sportscar!) were never answered because they were wants and not needs, but altruistic desires (please make me a more patient and kind person) were always answered. I didn't ever intend to become atheist, and it was a process that took nearly a decade. It would be a very cruel God who would deny the honest heart access to him when sincerely requested.

If the Bible is true, and I believe It is 100%, then George Carlin died and went to Hell according to 2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9, because he refused to obey the Gospel. I didn't say that, God did.

You didn't say that.... God did. Uh huh. Was that through the talking snake or the talking bush or ....? Oh, I know! God said it through the inconsistent babble of a group of men! Right. Then it must be true.

I know what you're afraid of, Mr. Stewart. You were born with a brain and are intelligent enough to be able to question the universe. But if you even stop to openly question life and humanity you will find your personal world full of doubt; to even question things is a sin. God knows every thought you have so to use your intellect and question articles of faith that don't make sense would be an offense to him. If you were to even attempt it you would have to put away your religious glasses for just a minute, and temporarily forget what you have been taught as "fact". Think. Investigate. Ask. I know you are afraid of hell. But I promise you, it doesn't exist.

"Faith" takes away your obligation to investigate the truth. Faith explains it all. Faith has all the answers. Faith does the work for you. But faith does not reconcile with the facts you can see around you. Faith is the blind acceptance of a man-made theory.

--BadSec