Existential Angst

If the Mayan Calendar right then I only have 17 more days before the end of the world. Perhaps this thought led me to do something that I normally don't do, I read the obituaries in the today's newspaper. The reality of death sunk in, especially when you read about people being in hospice and enduring a prolonged sickness. I felt afraid of death, of the unknown and uncertainty behind the mysterious veil, what awaits us beyond this life? Death is inevitable , there's isn't a damn thing I can do to prevent it. The only logical reaction or solace to death is to ask, what was my existence like before I was born? I didn't exist before I was born so it was nothing, well when I die will it be different than before I was born? Will there be something after death, if there was nothing before life? Both are forms of non-existence so how can they be different, if they are the same thing? Non-existence is non-existence. As Epicurus is alleged of saying Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death aint here. And when it does come, we aint here."Non fui, sum, non ero, non curabo (I was not; I am; I will not be; I will not care)

Parenting God's Way

When I was a Christian I signed-up for an email news letter that I still receive from Ever Increasing Faith Ministries, a mega church in Los Angeles founded by Dr. Frederick K. C. Price, who is now an Apostle. The letter I received this week is titled "Parenting God's Way". It starts off "Dear EIF family, God's perfect plan for His children..." I thought about God (whatever this means) as a parent, the only idea presented to me as someone born in so-called Western Civilization, is Jehovah, a bronze age despot, who put his creation (i.e. his so-called children) in a garden to be tempted by a talking snake to eat fruit that caused mankind in a downward spiral that led to murder, war, crime, etc. He blamed them for falling to the temptation that cause hardship on Adam, Eve and their offspring. He confused mankind's language to divide them when they were united, tempted Abram to sacrifice his own son, only to do it himself 2,000 years later, and from this mankind sin was paid for, but nothing changed, there's still murder, war, crime, etc. I don't think I want to Parent God's way, he has not been an ideal parent in my book. Although I think this is a bronze age myth, if this god Jehovah really existed,then he is a bad role model. Think about it. The Skeptical African

Audio Book review: The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis S. Collins, MD

Chapter 1: Dr. Collins was raised by Agnostic Parents who allowed him and his brother to join a local Presbyterian's church choir. He graduated high school at the age of 16 went to college at The University of Virginia he was an agnostic became an atheist. He went to Yale for a PhD in Chemistry two years into a quantum Physic program took a course in Biochemistry was hooked, he applied to Medical School and enrolled at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He went into the emerging field of Genetics where look for errors in the genetic code which lead to discoveries in down syndrome, sickle cell anemia, etc. (Doesn't these Genetic errors show that no personal god exist?). After graduating from medical school he was a resident at UNC, an elderly woman, who was a Christian, and dying from a painful disease asked him what was his belief,he was uncertain, this hunted him for days, he saw his willful blindness and arrogance. He looked at the facts what he called the cliff-note version of the world religions, he visited a local Methodist minister in Chapel Hill and asked him various question, the minister gave him a book by C. S. Lewis titled Mere Christianity. He found a book that answered the questions he was asking. He became a Deist due to Lewis' argument from the Moral Law i.e. the universal awareness of right or wrong (what about psychopaths and sociopaths? How is the Moral Law missing in them?) and selfless altruism. He believes that atheism is a failed explanation for the moral law and altruism and that agnosticism is a cop-out. Chapter 2 1. Is belief in God wishful thinking? The longing for something that transcends us could be a guidepost that there is something there that can fill it. He uses C. S. Lewis as his answerer, people feel hungry therefore there must be food, a duck feel the need to swim therefore there must be water, etc. Which lead to since there is a longing for something that transcends us there must be a God. 2. Hasn't religious belief caused a lot of harm? 1. Many wonderful things has been done in the name of religion ex. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, etc. 2. Religion (i.e. what he calls "the church") are made-up of flawed people which why we know there is a moral law that we cannot keep and God has provided the remedy his sinless son. 3. Why does God allow evil or suffering? He argues that we have free-will and if god always intervene this could lead to chaos. Also, a lot of the suffering is self imposed we create weapons, drugs, etc. He gave a moving example of his daughter's rape as an example of suffering and admits he does not understand why God allowed it to happen, (Is one person free-will more important than another, like the rapist free-will vs. his daughter's; why was her free-will not to be raped not honored?). Natural Disasters? God plans are not our plans i.e. God works in mysterious ways. He quotes C.S. Lewis again in that we want a benevolent grandfather, perhaps God uses suffering for soul-building, perhaps we learn more from suffering than good experiences. he uses Dietrich Bonhoeffer suffering and death in a Nazi camp. He could in a dim way see his daughter's rape was a lesson in forgiveness. 4. How can a rational person believes in Miracles? C. S. Lewis in his book Miracles "Every event we call miracles are eventually presented to our senses" Dr. Collins uses Bayes Theorem to explain the probability of miracles. He admits miracles are rare but goes into how the Universe is something that can't be explained by our sciences, and ask is this a miracle? Chapter 3 Origins: He discusses the Big Bang, Anthropic Principle, Heisenberg principle of uncertainty. He argues God is supernatural he is not limited by time thus he concludes he could create us via natural selection by evolution. He discusses Literal Interpretation vs. Non-literal or Allegory, where he quotes Saint Augustine "In matters that are obscure and beyond our vision we find in Holy Scripture passages that can be interpreted in various ways... in such cases we should not rush head long on one side so that further progress in search for truth, justly undermine our position, we too fall with it..." Chapter 4: Life on Earth: Of Microbes and Men Intelligent design: Paley's Watch Maker Analogy, Paley argues 1. Watch is complex 2. Watch has an intelligent designer 3. Life is complex 4. Therefore, life has an Intelligent Designer. Dr. Collins shows the flaw in the argument by using lightning as his example if the watch maker analogy is true and thus intelligent design then one could argue that 1. Electricity comes from the flow of electrons. 2. Electricity comes from an electric company. 3. Lightning comes from the flow of electrons 4. Therefore, Lightning comes from an electric company. In the remainder of Chapters 4 to 6 is his case for the evidence for evolution from a genetic and biological evidence. Chapter 7 Option 1: Atheism and Agnosticism (When Science Trumps Faith) Dr. Collins believes Atheism is like theism it is blind faith. He quotes Stephen Jay Gould claim assertion that science cannot neither prove nor disprove god. He next defines agnosticism that the term was created by T. H. Huxley, which is defined as the knowledge for the existence of god is unknowable. He could in a general statement that agnosticism is a cop-out; and it is rare to find an agnostic who have looked at the evidence and that most have become believers once doing so. Chapter 8 Option 2: Creationism (When Faith Trumps Science) In this chapter he defines the Young Earth Creationism (YEC) as the belief that the earth is less than 10,000 years old, and the humans are special creations. YEC accepts micro-evolutions but doubts macro-evolutions, believe in a worldwide flood; approximately 45% of Americans believe in some form of YEC. He thinks YEC and modern science are incompatible because Young Earth Creationist think a literal interpretation of their sacred books i.e. the Bible, Quran, etc. is necessary and that any other belief is on a slippery slope. He thinks the bible is to reveal the nature of God not a scientific book. YEC at least some argue that God is using science to test believers faith. Collins believes YEC eventually leads to spiritual and scientific bankruptcy for that risk what Saint Augustine warned about falling with YEC when new evidence disproves it. Chapter 9 Option 3: Intelligent Design (When Science needs Divine Help) Intelligent design argument comes from the idea of irreducible complexity and Phillip Johnson a Law professor at UC - Berkley is considered the father of ID, created the Discovery Institute, (what have they discovered?), other proponents of ID are Dembski and Behe. Three propositions of ID is 1. Evolution promotes an atheistic worldview and must be resisted by believers in God. 2. Evolution is fundamentally flawed because it cannot account for the intricacy complexity of of nature an example they often use is the complexity of the eye and bacteria flagellum. 3. If evolution cannot explain the complexity of life then there must be an Intelligent Designer. He concludes that scientific objection to ID is that it is not a scientific theory, because it does not present any falsifiable evidence. Chapter 10 Option 4: BioLogos (Science and Faith in Harmony) He opens the chapter with a Presbyterian minister , a father of one of the graduates, at his graduation asked them to consider three things 1. What will be your life's work? 2. What role will love play in your life? and 3. What will you do about faith? He joined the American Scientific Affiliation and briefly discuss how it is evidence of faith and science in harmony. He then discusses theistic evolution which he claims has six proposition 1. The universe was created by God, approximately 14 billion years ago. 2.The properties of the universe appear to have been precisely tuned for life. 3. While the precise mechanism of the origin of life on earth remains unknown, it is possible that the development of living organisms was part of God's original creation plan. 4. Once life began, no special further interventions by God were required. 5. Humans are part of this process, sharing a common ancestor with the great apes. 6. Humans are unique in ways that defy evolutionary explanations and point to our spiritual nature. This includes the existence of the knowledge of right and wrong (Moral Law) and the search for God that characterizes all human cultures through out history. He concludes that God who is not limited by space or time created the universe and established natural laws that governs it, seeking to populate an otherwise sterile universe with life using evolution was the mechanism to do it. He gave these creatures free will, intelligence to know the moral law of right and wrong and knew they could not obey the moral law. He admits that belief in God will always require a "leap" of faith. Chapter 11 Truth Seekers He discusses his trip to Nigeria and his experience of Agape love when he helped an poor Nigerian farmer. He concludes the chapter quoting Einstein Science without religion is Lame and how science can be a form of worship, quotes Proverbs 19:2. What barriers prevent belief in God? Of all the worldviews he concludes that atheism is the least rational. He believe there are pure waters of spiritual truth carrier in rusty containers. Appendix In the appendix he discusses Stem Cell, specialized medicine based on DNA, cloning, SENT, PGD, etc. He believes and concludes that faith-based bioethics is not recommended due to religion's historical suppression and false piousness. I agree with e-Skepic's conclusion that Dr. Collins dismisses the Young Earth Creationist and Intelligent Designers when he claims they are arguing from the god the gaps i.e. ignorance but then Dr. Collins uses a god of the gaps (i.e. ignorance) when he refuses to acknowledge that there could be other answers for the so-called Moral Law, mankind's desire for transcendence, and the anthropic principle/fine tuning. He ultimately admits belief in God requires a "leap" of faith and thus in admitting this he knows there is and thus provides no evidence for belief. Therefore the language of god is a lost translation because his evidence is not based on science (knowledge) but on faith. Indeed,Truth cannot conflict with truth. Think about it...

Review of The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives

I just finished listening to an audiobook by Leonard Mlodinow titled "The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives". It is an interesting book on how our lives is rule by chance. If one thinks about how the random events happen in their lives, for example, my parents were both from rural towns in the South, NC and VA but met in New York at the Savoy Ballroom and I am here writing about it. As for whoever wrote Ecclesiastes(if you agree with Bart Ehrman's Forged:Why the Author's of the Bible Are not who we think they are:) he states, Ecclesiastes was not written by Solomon, but a forgery, however the alleged forger got one thought right when he wrote in Ecclesiastes 9:11 "I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all." (NIV) This is probably the best one sentence summary of a book. I think the best part of the book was his advise for overcoming confirmation bias in Chapter 9 in which he states: 1. Understand that random events too produces patterns 2. Question your perceptions and theories 3. Look for evidence that we are wrong, as we spend time looking for evidence we are right. He states in his conclusion "What I've learned, above all, is to keep marching forward because the best news is that since chance does play a role, one important factor in success is under our control: the number of at bats, the number of chances taken, the number of opportunities seized. For even a coin weighted toward failure will sometimes land on success. Or as the IBM pioneer Thomas Watson said, "If you want to succeed, double your failure rate."The anonymous author of Ecclesiastes 9:10 states something similar "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. " This book made me ask the questions, does randomness rules or are things determined? Or Is determinism an illusion and randomness reality? or Do things start off random and then determinism kicks in? Think about it.

Random Thoughts

I am thinking about how the idea of something does not mean it actually exist. When someone say for instance, do you believe in god? I understand to a certain extent what they mean by god, but at the same time if someone ask me if you believe in unicorns? I understand what they mean, but this in no way means that a unicorn actually exist nor for that matter, does this means a god exist. In other words, just because you understand the idea of something does not mean it exist. Also, I was listening to a presuppositionalist on The Thinking Atheist podcast, and the only comment I would say to a presuppositionalist is; I agree we all start off with a preconceived notion of something, but what happens if what you're presupposing is false, you're stuck. However at least with science, if whatever I am presupposing is not backed up with observation or others cannot duplicate my hypothesis then I have to accept that I could be wrong and have to look for another explanation that matches or best explains what we observe. I finally get why the fine tuning argument is an ultimate failure of an explanation for the existence of god. My refutation of the fine tuning argument is called the lottery, in a universe with billions of billions of galaxies, solar systems, stars and planets, I would find it more improbable that none of them would have life. For example, someone in the United States even with odds of 1 to 330,000,000 eventually hits the lottery (a matter of fact in the recent Mega Millions 640 million jackpot three states had a winner), thus with billions of galaxies, solar systems, suns, and planets eventually you will find one with life, because here I am thinking and writing about it, and I feel like I hit the lottery, if one thinks about the probability of even being borne, it seems improbable but yet I am here and it does not mean it was fine tune, but means we happen to hit the jackpot in a universe that has a lot of lotto balls. Think about it.

God, The Afterlife, and the meaning of Life

Does belief in god(s) gives "our" life meaning? According to Oxford Dictionary The definitive record of the English language, meaning is defined as the significance, purpose, underlying truth, etc., of something, etymologically it means to intend. I understand how the idea of an objective force which create something implies a purpose or intention. However, if we don't know what this purpose is, does it give us meaning? Or is it a purpose to the one who created it and not necessarily to what was created? I have heard god at least Jehovah, created us for a variety of reasons from caprice to having dominion over his other creation. However, as Thomas Paine once wrote unless this was revealed to me too, this is hearsay and nothing more and thus it does not give my life a meaning. Also, how does an afterlife give this life a purpose? Some argue that this life is a precursor or a reward/punishment for the next, however how does a two year old who died when he was killed by his 12 year old brother or a four-year old girl with down syndrome who was stabbed to death by her mother life has a purpose or a meaning in the next one? ( these are two examples that I found when I searched the internet with a simple phrase "two year old murdered by..." and these two incidents where some among many that the Google search found) In other words, how does a very short life span demonstrate that life has a purpose? For even if life has a purpose of what Schopenhauer called the will to live, then everything would live at least long enough to procreate? However, my examples clearly shows everyone doesn't live long enough to reproduce. Is there a purpose to life? If there isn't does this mean, that life is meaningless? I know that I don't know.