Rence's Disbelief

Pat Condell's Positive

2010-07-29T21:24:00.000-07:00

Pat Condell's Positive

I like the way Pat discussed the ill effects of having a religion using irony. Not many atheist can be so harsh on religion. And why shouldn't we, when we do know that religion does not give enough merit to be held so dear by any sane person.

On human errors

2010-07-10T23:56:00.000-07:00

Everyone, once in a while takes a wrong turn to the left or to the right. There are no straight paths to success, there are only crooked paths that hone talents, skills, abilities. Avoiding committing errors is like avoiding training. It can also be compared to being resistant to change. And change, is a good thing, I guess.

Committing mistakes are but characteristics of combining imperfect human intellect and imperfect instincts with nature's improbability. Even if our species manage to hone our intellect to surpass our current intellectual capacity tenfold, up to this point, there is no way that the human intellect can act beyond the senses. Sense and perception governs almost 100% of all acts. Choices are acted upon only by individuals when there are choices set, not when there are none given. It can range from a simple yes-no question to a more complex yes-no-maybe-it-depends type. In this regard, mistakes happen when the circumstances at the instance are deemed necessary and sufficient. As what the antagonist in the classic movie "Under Siege 2" said, "assumption is the mother of all f***-ups," same is true in the real world, it seems. Assuming things will happen without real proof that they will (most things eventually happen anyway) in the near future could really shake up decisions that should be well-thought of first in the first place.

Perfecting error-handling should be one of the traits we humans should be perfecting. After all, we don't have time longer than what we have to understand everything.

House Season 4 Episode 13 : No More Mr. Nice Guy

2010-03-21T04:49:00.000-07:00

Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert!

Read the episode guide « HERE »

Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert!

I got curious on how niceness suddenly became a medical condition. Apparently, sudden change in attitude ( shown « HERE » ) shows chemical imbalance in the body. In a broader perspective, niceness may be a better "evolutionary strategy" in social organisms like humans, ants and termites, as discussed by Prof. Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene. This niceness, throught practice, would eventually develop into "societal norms", and later, as the organisms' thought processes improve, be dictated into "organizational rules" or better yet "laws".

Looking at laws this way, makes it easier to accept "punishment" as consequence to breaking the rules. Because now, you are not punished by mere practicing what you want but because your survival as a species altogether is endangered.

A simple law like "Bawal Tumawid, Nakamamatay!" ( Crossing is prohibited, death ensues!) to more complex rule, (say, the revised penal code) though differing in complexity of the rule and rule-breaking provisions, may be construed beneficial to preservation of the species.

So, be nice to other people, be nice to your family, not because it is dictated by your religion, but because you are doing the whole humanity a favor by doing so.

Also, in the other episode the line was mentioned:

"Religion is a symptom of irrational belief and groundless hope. Altered mental status on the other hand is a symptom of porphyria.... People don't change. They may want to. They may need to."

FF Film Fest and Random Thoughts

2010-03-01T12:48:00.000-08:00

FF Film Fest

Last Saturday, I went to U.P. Film Institute in U.P. Diliman to see the first FilipinoFreethinkers' Film Festival. I was impressed at how many people came. I have to congratulate the people who toiled hard to prepare for this event. It is not an easy undertaking moreover, getting people to come and watch movies that would inspire them to think, to criticize, to open up their minds and let their brain faculties work is not an easy task.

Letting Go of God

I really wished that I didn't have to go that early last Saturday. I was enjoying the main feature "Letting Go of God" by Julia Sweeney. I don't know if she was a comedienne of some sort, but I like her style of portraying her "awakening" so to speak.

As my friend Kelly and I walked away from Cine Adarna that day, we talked about our take on respecting people with beliefs other than ours. I explained to him that I do respect people with their beliefs, but I don't respect religion in any way. Julia has a nice way of putting off of people that tries to push their beliefs to her. I don't think that I am going to be like that. I remember about a month ago, a couple ladies from Jehovah's Witness knocked (actually, buzzed) on our door (read: buzzer). I went down to answer the call, when I opened the door, these two ladies started talking about how lucky I am that they were there to bring God's Good News. Just waking up from bed, I looked hard at them. Really hard. Then told them if "God really had a message from me, why give them to you... Tell him to bring it here to me personally instead... Thank you." shut the door, then went back upstairs. I know that they mean no harm. But was that really necessary? I mean come on, if religion is not a business, why this marketing strategy? Were they even paying their flock to perform such "duties?" I think not. And why are they (the flock) doing it? Just to have a favor to their Great Sky Daddy in the after life? Really? That's it? At least Insurances come with notarized paper and you have to pay for it until you die. I really wish that people could see the light on this on their own. Clinging on to religion does not make sense. It's costly and you get nothing from it. It's time consuming and no good comes out of it. It causes panic, trouble and injustice. Promotes diseases and most of all, prevents man's development.

No religion for me. Thank you.

Skepticism in the information age Part 2 : Information

2009-04-06T01:25:00.004-07:00

Information

Pronunciation: \ˌin-fər-ˈmā-shən\
Function: noun
Date: 14th century

1: the communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence

2 a (1): knowledge obtained from investigation, study, or instruction (2): intelligence , news (3): facts , data b: the attribute inherent in and communicated by one of two or more alternative sequences or arrangements of something (as nucleotides in DNA or binary digits in a computer program) that produce specific effects c (1): a signal or character (as in a communication system or computer) representing data (2): something (as a message, experimental data, or a picture) which justifies change in a construct (as a plan or theory) that represents physical or mental experience or another construct d: a quantitative measure of the content of information ; specifically : a numerical quantity that measures the uncertainty in the outcome of an experiment to be performed

3: the act of informing against a person4: a formal accusation of a crime made by a prosecuting officer as distinguished from an indictment presented by a grand jury

-- source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/information

Based on the first definition, information is the communication or the reception of knowledge or intelligence. As we trace back the source of knowledge, we came across data, and now, information. Information is where data (specifically linked data) becomes useful. Useful in a sense that process data can be "interpreted" and that is where learning begins.

Consider this example. When you were a kid, there are tons of data around trying to get into your head. Many are recognizable, others are not. Since there is not enough experience yet to process the data, most of them are rejected until the data is "fine-tuned" to our specific needs.

A primitive form of Information Filtering, if you will, http://cmc.dsv.su.se/select/information-filtering.html(Primitive as it is confined only to filter information through a single media). Much like info filtering in Computer Science, primitive info filtering has its rules and attributes. I am not a psychologist, so I leave the psychology to them. I'll talk about instead information filtering in computer science. Based on the rules and attributes of information filtering, we can come up with 2 types: automatic and social. Of the two, the more complex, believe it or not, is the first one. Yes, automatic information filtering is more complex because (a) Computers are not that powerful enough to think for themselves and (b) "Intelligent" information filtering, in reality, often needs human intervention, which, falls back as social filtering. Search engines are good example of social filtering through "keywords."

Using this "keywords", we usually "come up" ( another term for generalize ) with concepts. This process is called association. It is the time we use informations, team them up with other information and call them experiences ( level up! ). Example: we know that the term "hot" means danger from fire. When we get somehow burned by "a steaming object," we tie it up with the term "hot" and when we saw "a steaming object" again, we always assume that it is indeed "hot." In this case, our experience tells us that finding "a steaming object" will always lead us to finding "hot." So we stay this way unless there will be another experience that tells us otherwise. For example, we again saw "a steaming object" but this time, the "steaming object" is composed of "ice." Of course, at first we can't believe that the "steaming object" is not "hot" as we used to conclude. It is when we experienced ( using one or more of our senses ) that we can give exemption to our "a steaming object" is equal to "hot" convention in the case of the "ice object".

I haven't done artificial intelligence before, but as I have learned theoretically, if we can combine objects, methods and their properties, create association fast enough to access other objects faster than a blink of an eye ( technically, information should be faster than the speed of light, but since the speed of the light is the speed limit of the universe ...) to be able to emulate to some extent, the function of the complex brain of an insect.

In the next post, I will discuss how skepticism plays an important role in defining "objects"

Skepticism in the information age

2009-03-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

Without a doubt, we are fortunate that the world we are living in carries information faster than, say, about 20 years ago. We can now enjoy the benefits of information sharing and fast information accumulation at just the tip of our fingers.

Gone were the days when we used to cram to public libraries to research our term papers. Back then, if people are interested about something, they have to take time off from work just to find resources good enough to read to be able to know a little bit more about the topic they are interested in. Now we have search engines, online encyclopedias and online video tutorials and video essays. Wow. if only our ancestors were given this much information, they could have improved their lives and wars should not have been necessary to change the society.

Along with faster, more convenient access to information, comes skepticism. Today, more than ever, we need to be a little bit more skeptic ( but not to the point of being cynical, we can't test everything under the sun, you know) about the things we learn specially on the internet. We should do our best to scrutinize each and every data that we collect before we base our judgments, decisions and inclinations upon it.

In my point of view, there is no such thing as wrong information. I would rather say wrong interpretation or misrepresented data. I believe that information could only be as wrong as much as how you interpreted it to be.

Let us first trace where information comes from and why should we be truly careful about picking data,information and knowledge from everywhere and I mean everywhere.

Data is the lowest level of abstraction, having information at a higher level and knowledge at a higher level still. (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data). This means anatomically, data is the basis for all information and ultimately, of knowledge. Data could be anything from physical and material objects to concepts and abstracts. Every second, tons and tons of data are created, manipulated and transformed. In computer science, we quantify data by means of its "atomicity". In reality, the "atom" of data we handle everyday travels so fast that we, programmers, developers and database administrators have to abstract so as not to be overwhelmed by everything.

Ok, going back. Although data can be boring ( since each datum cannot stand by itself ), Collection of data is exciting. This is the time that data can be connected to each other to form a "concept." This is what Mr. Tim Berners-Lee is talking about in his appearance on TED (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tim_berners_lee_on_the_next_web.html). Linked Data already forms "concepts." It is at this point that data is not anymore abstract. It can now be represent itself and it is now able to stand on its own. In computer science, we call this information "record." A record is a collection of interrelated data that can represent a concept or an entity.

There. I finished talking about data. Next we will talk about information and everything that goes with it.

I don't want to debate creationists anymore

2009-03-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

There will come a time when a you will tire down a topic. That's what happened to me. I tire on the topic of evolutionism vs. creationism. I don't want to argue with creationists anymore as I grow with more fondness with evolutionism.

So what do I do about my time now? First there is an incoming bulk of work that I have to attend to. Second, I will be spending some time thinking philosophically. That means I have to post from the ground up of philosophy so I can learn and you and I can see the progress of my learning. Not that I haven't learned anything in college. It's just that when you don't use it as often, you tend to mix up things and I don't want to mix up things, that would just be another internet garbage.

So I'll wait for the next post and let's see what's in store for us in this journey.

Renz out.

Atheism is not a fad.

2009-03-07T21:34:00.001-08:00

What is a fad?

A fad by definition ( http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fad ) is:

: a practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal : craze

We can break up the definition into three parts:

(1) A fad is a practice or an interest.
(2) It has a time element ( albeit a short one, or it may be a long one but fads are usually short-lived ).
(3) The practitioners follows it with an exaggerated zeal.

Now, can we ask Mr. Wikipedia how long had atheism been in the planet?

(if you will ask me, I think atheism had been here much much much longer than religion ever was although people were not aware that they’re atheist, these words were not invented before religion was even there)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_atheism

(1) is appropriate, atheism is an interest. What do atheists practice? Skepticism? Freethinking? But there are people outside of the atheism umbrella that do practice some sort of skepticism and freethinking.

(2) Atheism (based on the wikipedia link) had been around quite some time. Although unlike religion, it is not as organized because how can you organize people who, for the first place, approve of the negative (a-theos). It’s like creating an organization of non-ice-cream eaters, or non-Spiderman fans club. Atheists could be anyone behind the spectrum of non-god-believers. In short, atheism fails this definition.

(3) What will atheists follow with a great zeal? Their skepticism? Their freethinking attitude? Maybe so but is that wrong? Is thinking wrong? Is being a skeptic wrong?

Atheism is not a fad. It’s not a belief. Its a state of thinking people succumb to when reason takes over. It’s just being honest that proof for the god concept really doesn’t add up. As Mr. Richard Dawkins once said “We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. “

First Filipino Freethinkers Forum

2009-02-28T20:12:00.001-08:00

This date, February 28 2009, I will always remember it as one of the days I enjoyed so much.

I would like to congratulate everyone who made this event possible. To the sponsors, organizers, the guest speakers and all the new faces that I have never seen in the first meet up held about a month ago. I really learned a lot from the forum, and I think its a good start.

As what one of the speakers said, it had been a “kid in a candy store” moment for me too. There are so many things in my head that I would like to have someone explain to me, share with me and I found out that there are others like me too.

I can’t wait till the next FFF it may lose the First F but what the heck, there’s a first for everything and when there’s a first there should be a second, a third, so on.

I’ll post some pics grabbed from other people’s camera as I have not taken any with me. :D

2 days to go! Only 12 seats remaining

2009-02-25T10:18:00.000-08:00

http://filipinofreethinkers.org/2009/02/26/2-days-to-go-12-seats-remaining

I can’t wait. Two more days to go and it’s Saturday - The FFFF (First Filipino Freethinkers Forum) will be held 1PM to 4PM (registration starts at 12NN) at the U-View in Fully Booked at 902 Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City.

Join us there when we tackle the issue about Practical Freethinking.

Read more Details at the FFFF website: http://www.filipinofreethinkers.org

Thanks!

On the Fellowship of Freethinkers

2009-02-01T20:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at about 2pm, a group of Filipino Freethinkers (not necessarily atheists, there are deists and theists in the group) got together at the Starbucks' Cafe, Level 6 of Shangri-La Edsa Mall.

What transpired there was more of a friendly chat as opposed to what I expected a group of thinkers would do when herded together in one place. I was expecting a lot of group-segments piled up in their own dogmas, beliefs and aspirations whatever you would want to call it. Instead, I saw one group of people sharing the common interest of forwarding thinking and reasoning not just for themselves but for other people as well.

This made me realize a lot of things.

* If you would try herding a group of cats, you get different meows, different scratches and different disastrous things happening. If you try to herd THINKING cats, you get the same different meows, different scratches and different disastrous things happen but this time you see the difference working together as one

* Freethinkers are feelers, too!

* Freethinkers does not necessarily mean Intellectuals (in the most burgouise-tic sense of it) . They're not necessarily comprised of upper-class people who have so much time in their hands that they have all they for themselves, sitting in a chair in a beach or cave somewhere, doing nothing but thinking. Thinkers instead can be busy people trying to make the most of their lives ( for some of them are sure that this is the only one they have) through self-introspection and observing the world around them.

* Public stigma of Freethinkers that they are too proud of themselves is WRONG!

I say, I had lots (tons) of fun in that friendly activity yesterday. I really hope that there would be more of these (but none-too-soon as I am doing tons of work after lying low the past 2 days). Wish there would be more people ( not too much, though, maybe 40-50 but not a hundred as it tends to get a little bit more difficult to associate names with faces, maybe later) the next time. Don't also forget that on the 28th there would be a Freethinkers' Forum. I posted the details in the past blog, I will be posting more of the details after the next meet which will be next Sunday!

So the Fellowship of Freethinkers adjourned with smile in their faces and hope in their hearts that someday, we will be the instrument in reaching out to people to help them think, make them realize that knowledge and wisdom will always be, ALWAYS BE the greatest weapon against any adversary ( imagined, or unimagined ) they will ever face.

SALUT!

EVENTS: First Filipino Freethinkers' Forum

2009-01-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

There will be an event this coming February 28. 2009 and its called...

The First Filipino Freethinkers' Forum

I'm excited since this will be the first freethinkers' forum that I will be attending.

Before this though, there will be an open session that will be held at the Starbucks top floor, Edsa Shangri-la Mall on Sunday from 2pm to 5pm.

Moving on, the Forum will be held at the Fully Booked in Fort Bonifacio Global City from 10AM to 4PM. Hopefully we can all come so we can meet there and learn new things.

Here's the link to learn more about the event: http://www.filipinofreethinkers.org

Support HB 4110 Reproductive Health Bill of 2008

2008-08-10T02:38:00.001-07:00

Good day!

I just want to reach out to all pinoys and pinays out there to support an online started by the Philippine Atheists Group.
Its about the Reproductive Health Bill.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/HB4110

It goes:

To: Philippine House of Congress

We the undersigned express our support of HB 4110, The Reproductive Health Care Act of 4110.

We fully support the bill's principles as laid out in Section 2.

We all hope for a healthy Filipino society. We believe the bill will help us build such a society where reproductive health care is available to anyone and everyone, free of discrimination on age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, and religious affiliation or non-affiliation. Where policies concerning reproductive health care that affects everyone is not dictated by any particular religion or belief system. We believe in the right to choose one's method of planning a family and spacing children, or to choose to have no children at all. The rights of the individual to choose according to his conscience don't fall under the aegis of self-proclaimed moral authorities of the religious establishment.

The Philippines is a nation of diverse religious beliefs/non-beliefs. No single belief system represents the whole diversity of Filipino religious and non-religious thought or belief nor does any of its leaders speak for all its adherents. The continued opposition by the leaders of certain sects is a clear encroachment on the rights to free choice on reproductive health methods and services of every Filipino, and trample on the rights of those who do not adhere to their beliefs. We strongly condemn the negative campaign being waged by these leaders to mislead its adherents by misrepresenting the bill's content, and by resorting to using dogmatic, unscientific, and out-moded beliefs to support its arguments.

We strongly support the legislation because we believe this is for the well-being our nation in particular and humanity in general as we face the future of a planet with limited resources.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

It’s for our own good as citizen of this country. We would not want to end up like China, paying tax in order to keep our children, do we?

What's Up! Roman Catholics' Youth Day

2008-07-16T11:49:00.001-07:00

Hi blog,

THE WORLD YOUTH DAY

The Catholics are calling it the world youth day.

I used to be a part of this almost 13 years ago. I don’t regret ever going there nor do I want to remember it but hey, there’s just no use. Whenever this event comes up, I am reminded that I was once a blind follower.

Time to take away the blinds that cover the said “occasion”

THE WORLD UNTRUTH DAY

First, as one blogger pointed out, (can’t quite figure out where I read it) it shouldn’t be called the World Youth Day. It’s d*mn offensive. Could you please call it “THE CATHOLIC YOUTH DAY”. Better yet, call it the proper way: “THE WORLD UNTRUTH DAY” .

Second, it is not true that welcoming all these people would boost your tourism economy. For pete’s sakes, they are there because of the EVENT and not for TOURISM. Believe me, after they had gone to your place because of this event, they will not be back in a long time, well at least most of them won’t. You ask why? BECAUSE your WORLD UNTRUTH DAY participants are FUNDED by the people who, themselves cannot go to the event. How many poor people live their lives, working, striving really hard just to have food at their table 3x a day, 7 days a week, give ALMS to their churches just to be wasted on these “righteous” people to go to other countries to have fun, to mingle with other people. What if you put all the money you have, instead of giving the Pope a pope mobile, which he really doesn’t need if he just stayed at the Vatican, and gave all the poor people enough CAPITAL to START THEIR LIVES to become productive, earning citizens of their respective countries.

Third, what is the essence of sending the youth to these events? As far as I know these gathering help in reinforcing the FUDs (Fears, Uncertainties, Doubts) about reality. In my time, we are taught (not made to realize, btw) that all men( and women of course) are sinners. What’s wrong with that? For one, it is a BIG LIE! Sinners, to whom? Sinners of what? What did I do wrong? What did I do to deserve everlasting punishment in fire and eternal torment? (maybe this blog, but who cares) Nothing? Are you sure? I know I am. Hell is the sickest, vilest idea that man ever came up with to control other people. It is created by man’s imagination and nothing else. It is the scariest scare tactic that should stop spreading and anyone who spread the lies that Hell is real should be made to shut up.

Heaven, too, is a product of malicious thinking. Promising rewards of good fortune, good health and blissful happiness without proof should be sued for false advertisement. People
live just one (conscious) life. After that, nothing else. Promising people that they would be better off without anything in this life is like asking them to set aside all that makes them happy and free. In truth, the heaven concept contradicts with practice of liberty for all men.

Fourth, shame on you people. Calling it the world youth day. Pure arrogance. Unadulterated pride and sheer arrogance. You are NOT the world and the world is NOT you. Catholicism is but 6% of all religions in the world. If you want to call it world youth day, invite other religions and non-believers, too. If you want to celebrate (not celibate :) the world youth day do it secularly.

===================================================================

They are at it again!

The Catholic Priests are at it again in my country. These people simply has no respect for the government and the government should not pay respect to those people who can’t respect the government. There is nothing wrong in going against abortion. I don’t care if you are for or anti-abortion (but please, before you EDUCATE your followers in these matters, do it scientifically). If you want your followers to fight against something, coercion should not be at the top of the list. Threats of ex-communication and massive smear campaign against people who pursue reproductive health laws in the Philippines are not the ways of a “True Christian” , or is it? By your actions, you tell people that you are pro-population explosion. You are pro-poverty ( remember prayers and how it keeps money in your pockets and away from poor, hopeless souls?) and you are anti-human race.

I am not FOR abortion, that’s for sure. I think it’s all up to the person. People, if you don’t want abortion, start at the roots. Explain the process of reproduction and the repercussions thereof to kids who are old enough to understand. Don’t scare them. Don’t give them false pretenses that you should DO it with the one you LOVE. Remember, at a young age, LOVE could be really really really really really deceptive. Teach them the truth. Give them the tools that they need to make that decision clear in their head. Or at least, when they really decide that they want to experience it (coitus) , they would be smart enough to use protection.

One thing is for sure though: people are lazy. We all are. Lazy enough to ignore that our environment does not heal itself without our help. Lazy enough to ignore that the children, indeed our future would never be without our guidance and help. We are too lazy to understand that there are some things that we need to seek out and pass on to others so that eventually, we would have answers to our most sought-after questions.

Boldly, I say, these priests are too lazy to tell people “it’s ok. You can have fun.” because they are not having any as a punsihment for being to lazy to have real jobs that will be most helpful to the community.

Without religion, there would be no mouths to feed. Only hands that work.

Renz here, OUT!

Live and let live

2008-07-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hi blog.

Once again, I am offended by people acting strange around fellow atheists.

I hate it that people (Pinoys, listen up!) thinks we are out of our minds not to believe in a super supreme (pizza) being living in the sky watching us in each and every move we make.

I can only say one word : arrogance. This is plain, simple arrogance. I know that I could never acquire all the knowledge that the universe has yet to reveal, but I know and you know this, that IF there is such a thing as an invisible fairy father in the sky beyond our comprehension, would you think it would be interested in your own little evil heart? Sheesh!

And IF it is indeed, why would it? Have you ever thought of that?

What?

It loves you?

Huh? Come again?

LOVE? HA! Got you! Love is human emotion. Love is needing ... Love is wanting ... Love is ... Well, you get the picture. You love because you feel good about it. You feel something COMPLETING you. You feel something INSIDE stirs UP and making you FEEL good. These are purely HUMAN EMOTIONS. This is ANIMAL INSTINCT. One needs chemical imbalance to SEE, HEAR, FEEL LOVE. If you don’t know what I mean, go google up love’s REAL ingredients ;)

------

I’ll be 29 on the 14th, that is, if you are here on Earth and the Earth haven’t swayed more than 140,000km from its current orbit. Let’s see. I am an atheist (We’re all born atheist, until indoctrinated to be not so) again for the last 6 years. Wow!

Compared to the Earth’s ~~65Billion Years~~ haha I feel so stupid the earth is approx. only 4.5 Billion years old TalkOrigins.org, ha! I feel like a nano second!

Well. I’m tired still have to do something.
Gonna get back to my plans of taking over the world.

Bwa ha ha ha ha

Good night.

Atheist Blog

2008-06-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

Hi blog!

No rants, just curious. Aren’t Manny’s (Pacquiao) and David’s (Diaz) friends, families and peers, fans etc. all praying for the same thing? Gee, smell bias in there? Oooohhhhh

It was sad to hear ( read, actually), almost a week now, that one of the truly honest people is now dead ( dead, not passed away, he hates euphemisms *laugh*). I am talking about George Carlin. He’s a good comedian. He always makes me laugh. I know that he would not be able to read this. So, to George’s kin, you’ve got some good genes in your system. I just want to honor George by greeting you instead. Though I never get to see him perform live. I will miss his antics. Thanks for the good laugh.

I passed by St. Francis Square ( ugh, xtian influence is everywhere ... ) and I was rattled by this xtian music playing loudly in a bazaar. Sheesh ... The nerve. If you want to hear praise songs, can you please keep it to yourselves? One more thing. The Judeo-Christian Idea of God is not the merciful of all if you will analyse that “Good Book” of yours. I reckon you haven’t really read the book or if you had, never cared to see the uber-murderous intent of the being you worship as “God.”

Religious tolerance? Get out of here. Theists could not even tolerate theists of other religion. I have no respect for theists and theism. I really don’t. I may keep quiet around people when they are talking about their beliefs, but inside, I am really laughing. What’s there to respect? These age-old traditions are repeatedly proven to tell people things that are not true, and worse, tell them that what they teach are “Truth(s)” that “shall set one free.” I say they are LIES. Lies that bound them to their “Pastor (Masters)” , taking their hard-earned “EVIL MONEY.” That their “GOD” always has problem producing for his “Children,” which, by the way needs “EVIL MONEY” to be able to live one day at a time “To give HIM praise.” Come on people! Wake up! You don’t need to believe in this bozos. They themselves, if only had they been honest to themselves, have doubt in their hearts. They themselves are not sure if the ever-loving, sweet, merciful “God” would be kind enough not to burn their souls for all eternity. Speaking of eternity, did you ever wonder why I am not afraid of burning in the lake of fire (if it really does exist ?) Think of it, you will burn forever, but you will not die. Eventually, you will get used to the heat and torture and all that shit by the time eternity fades off. (THINK: every foreigner I came to meet, always “gets used to” the heat here .)

It’s 430AM already ... My my my time surely flies doesn’t it? I leave these thoughts to you kiddies. Stop worrying about your “God” I am pretty sure, that with the number of angels that surround him all the time, he doesn’t bother about you, or me, or any piece of scum here on earth that he will someday destroy even if he LOVED the people in it.

Roll....

Start of Disbelief

2008-04-30T08:46:00.000-07:00

Even if time is Imaginary [ based on what Mr. Stephen Hawkings said in "A Brief History of Time"], I recall the first time doubt crept my senses. As one fellow Atheist said in a mailing list, it did not occur to me, rather, it was inevitable that I was awaken to the fact that I just cannot believe in an omniscient, omnipotent, omni-benevolent Fairy "Father" in the Sky. I still can recall when I first learned to think before I leapt.

I cannot forget that fateful night, 14th of July 1992. Quietly, I was moved to tears realizing how futile our efforts in "cleansing our soul" is after reading the Book of Revelations. I was reading the part where the seven seals are broken, and already 4 of the 7 trumpets were sounded. Indeed, Horror, Horror, Horror it is. At my age of 12, nothing can be more horrible than to realize that the world we lived in. The same world where we created sweet memories. The very same world that we have come to love, will be ended in one of the most terrible if not the most terrible way that I can imagine. That night, I prayed that if "The Father" is really up there, can he be more merciful towards us, His people, and revoke what was written in that "Sacred" book.

Next morning, I was thinking in class, is there a way that we can avoid this terror? I was too young then so I passed this thinking for several years (another 12 more .) This morning, I was beginning to doubt of god's mercy.

After 12 years. After 4 failed colleges. I began to lift myself up. I started my quest in finding out the truth about me, and the world where I live in. I wrote several questions, essays, poems about life and living. Unfortunately, none of them made it to this day. I can still remember though, at one time I was so at peace that I again realized that one day, all of this will end. I was a member of a Christian Church at that time and opening the bible is common to me. Instead of giving me hope, it gave me depression. I looked for help and found none. Instead, I was told over and over and over again that I am a sinner. I have to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior and all of this will be gone but what the heck.

I got tired of this. I know that I am not perfect, but, I am not THAT bad. There may be some things that I did wrong, but, I am not qualified for a wrath that will never end. Think about this: if you really love someone, would you punish them for all eternity if you could?

What is punishment for? The main purpose of punishment is for humans to realize that they had been wrong. After punishment, what comes next? The lesson. Ahhh!!! of course!

Keeping this in mind, what is eternal punishment for? Hmmmm..... And if this punishment is eternal, when will the lesson be learned? Ahhhh....

Think for a moment and ask yourselves these questions.

I know I often do.

First Post

2008-04-13T22:49:00.000-07:00

Good day!

I am not an avid poster. I just want to clear my thoughts on every day thinking. If I were not to do this, my head will explode. Hope that I can please whoever is going to read these things.