A BIG BANG? - NO, IT WAS A BUTLER'S REVENGE.

I'm writing this post under The Religious Curmudgeon banner but it might easily have gone under The Polemical Curmudgeon, The Philosophical Curmudgeon or The Aluminium Foil Curmudgeon.

Robert the - well, you know, said this in his latest post.

I often hear the accusation that religious belief is irrational, childish, wishful thinking, a crutch, and the opiate of the masses. Well Curmudgeon said this once. Not all at the same time. But he did mention one of them, at least, maybe under his breath.
Anyway, I'm all fired up to answer these accusations.
You see, none of these actually prove the falsehood of God! Their attempt to disprove God backfires. And backfires alarmingly. With a big bang.
Well that's it really. The burden of proof is with the atheist.

That's what he said in full really - I didn't include the image of a suspicious looking Belgian priest who said that he proved Einstein to be wrong though. I don't know why Robert used that - probably thought he was wheeling out the 'big guns' to support his "answer these accusations."

Georges Lemaître  was a very, very clever man who lived and worked among other very, very clever men like Einstein and Hubble. They didn't always agree however with Lemaître stating that Einstein was wrong in some areas and Einstein disagreeing with Lemaître  over many of his papers although Einstein, to his credit endorsed Lemaître's theory of the expansion of the universe. I think Robert was trying to snipe at Richard and me and all of the other atheists out there by using Lemaître as a kind of champion to 'prove' that atheists are wrong. Well, I think that he got in the way of his own backfire.

I found reading about Georges Lemaître interesting. I had heard of him but hadn't read much about his body of work which is substantial and still respected. What I can't fathom though is why someone as intelligent, educated and open-minded as he was, believed in mythical beings and a religion that sought and seeks to confuse, hoodwink and rort its followers - but, that might be a discussion for another day.

Today I want to highlight a couple of statements in Robert's post.

First this: "Anyway, I'm all fired up to answer these accusations".

And then this: "Well that's it really. The burden of proof is with the atheist."

There's a hell of a disconnect there. He gets us all excited by stating that he was going to answer "the accusation that religious belief is irrational, childish, wishful thinking, a crutch, and the opiate of the masses." but instead drifts off into spurious allusion to a Catholic scientist and his brilliant work trying to infer that this defeats 'atheist thinking'. Well, that's about as tenuous as you can get.

After this - and I admit it was interesting and spurred me to read about Georges Lemaître on Wikipedia - Robert wrapped it up saying that 'the burden of proof is with the atheist.' What a crock of shit.

THE WISDOM OF ROBERT - PART ONE

Most of Robert (Robert the apathetic sanctimonious sinner, toilet cleaner, threatener of eternal damnation, music snob and sucker)'s writings, in his posts and comments, go unnoticed or are quickly deleted and therefore lost to posterity (or, maybe appropriately enough lost to 'posteriority' as he would write).

I thought that a series made of snippets from these before they disappear into the ether might be a good idea. Post series are always a good idea and on The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ have proven to be very popular.

I noticed this comment from Robert on one of Richard's recent posts*:

This stood out as it is even more bizarre than his usual insane religious observations and needs to be preserved.

Close observation of cats may indicate that they are involved in deep spiritual activity. They frequently stare at walls, out windows or, disturbingly, at you. They 

are quite obviously having religious experiences and contemplating the universe. creation and ... god.

Yeah right. That's slipping into the realms of fantasy as Captain Mainwaring would say to Lance Corporal Jones.

* For quite a long time this post will remain as Richard's latest post because he doesn't write much nowadays.

IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME

I read something interesting today that kind of upsets Robert's take on Jesus being a one-off and the Catholic Church being the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church".

This old Greek saying came to mind*:

“The excess of a virtue is a vice.”

  – Greek Proverb

Mind you, this old Greek saying might be more applicable:

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”

        – Plato

This is what I read:

THE ANCIENT GREEK JESUS CHRIST : APOLLONIUS OF TYNA

Which is about a doppelgänger for Jesus who is said to have lived around the same time, did the same things, was put on trial and disappeared in mysterious circumstances - maybe ascended into heaven.

The Jesus followers had better artists than Apollonius's acolytes.

To save readers from trawling through the article which doesn't have any references to Robert and very few pictures, here's a summary for you:

• Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana from the Roman province of Cappadocia, who lived in the first century CE, is often linked with Jesus Christ. His amazing story that parallels Jesus has raised controversy among historians and theologians for centuries. He was Jesus Christ’s contemporary and lived circa 3 BC to around 97 CE. Many people at the time believed he was a divine figure who could save humanity.  They both are said to have ascended to Heaven. There are stories of both performing miracles. They were both spiritual teachers.

• Before he was born, his mother had a visitor from heaven who told her that her son would not be a mere mortal but in fact would be divine. His birth was accompanied by unusual divine signs in heaven. As an adult, he left his home to engage on an itinerant preaching ministry. He gathered a number of followers around him who became convinced that he was no ordinary human, but that he was the Son of God.

• He performed miracles  like healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead. At the end of his life, he aroused opposition among the ruling authorities of Rome and was put on trial. But they could not kill his soul. He is said to have ascended to heaven and continues to live there.

• To prove that he lived on after dying, he appeared again to at least one of his doubting followers, who became convinced that in fact, he remains with us even now. Later, some of his followers wrote books about him, and we can still read about him today.

• Apollonius defied the bloodiest tyrants who ever sat on the Roman throne—Nero and his successor, Domitian. Apollonius fearlessly traveled from one end of the Roman Empire to the other, inciting revolutions against the despots, and establishing egalitarian communities among his followers, who bore the name of Essenes, early Christians.

• Jesus-like miracles performed by the Greek philosopher. Among the miracles that were attributed to him by Philostratus, was saving the city of Ephesus from a plague. It is also claimed that he brought the daughter of a Roman Senator back to life. In one case, he stopped a follower from marrying a woman who turned out to be a “lamia,” a type of disguised demon, and, in doing so, saved his life.

Spooky eh?

* I'm lying. I had to do a Google search to find it.

FLOATERS

Noah's Ark popped up again or was briefly mentioned in comments on Robert's blog.

Richard started it with this:

Robert answered with this:

And I lobbed this in:

Well, to date no views have been received from Robert, The Vatican, Trent Horn or Stefan the Polish person so we really don't know what Robert meant by saying that 'protestants' are removing sections of the bible.

As the Religious Curmudgeon I frankly can't be stuffed researching, interpreting and writing a post on something as patently silly as The Flood and Noah's ark so have just found a cartoon that highlights the nonsense.

Yes, that's right, Robert's god threw their* toys out of the cot when he realised that they had fucked up.

"5The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”"

Genesis 6:5-7

* Note the use of the gender inclusive term 'their'. While I don't like the use of this term, when it comes to referring to God it saves me from having to write 'he/she/it'.

DOCTOR DOCTOR ......

'' I FEEL SO BAD ..." 

Doctor, doctor, I feel so bad
This is the worst day, I ever had
Have you this misery a very long time?
Well if you if, I'll lay it on the line
You've got to put on your sailin' shoes
Put on your sailing shoes
Everyone will start to cheer
When you put on your sailin' shoes

And we know that Lowell George died of a heart attack after a heroin overdose.

 

Richard wrote a post recently: IS THERE A REASON THERE IS SUFFERING IN THIS WORLD? which, although he was giving a bit of stick to a Hutt Valley church, asks a very big question - one that religions have not to date satisfactorily answered.

The existence of pain, suffering and unhappiness is grist to the mill for charlatans and fraudsters who prey on the weak and the inflicted for their own means - usually money. Yes I am talking of churches here in their many forms but also I'm talking of the pharmaceutical industry and the bogus and fringe medical industries. We are all familiar with the internet and TV advertisements for quick cures, diet regimes and health boosts. The Health supplements industry is really just a modern form of the 19th century snake oil sellers.

I'm in the middle of watching a Netflix series - Painkillers about the development of oxycontin, one of the worst and most addictive opioid medications that killed hundreds of thousands of people in the USA, destroyed families and communities all while making an evil and conniving 'drug baron' family rich beyond measure. These soulless bastards knowingly peddled their poison to the vulnerable and had the gall to appear as philanthropists and indeed saints, helping society. Bastards! Thank Robert's god that they got their comeuppance but at what cost?

SACKLER FAMILY WEASEL OUT

 

Six billion dollars is a lot of money for sure but this family squirrelled away a lot more and now it seems they are again evading responsibility for the mess that they created and are trying to appear like the good guys. Bastards! 

The Sacklers - sack of shits that they are might have been exposed and reinvented themselves but the money grabbing hasn't gone away. The medical profession has a lot to answer for in unnecessarily prescribing high dosed and potentially addictive medications in order to give patients quick fixes (pun intended). Years ago a useless and incompetent GP prescribed Di-Gesic for my mother who was having hip pain. Di-Gesic was banned in USA and in Australia and New Zealand before being subsequently relisted after lobbying from the manufacturers.

When my sister, who is a doctor, discovered what mum was prescribed she asked her to dump the lot and then remonstrated with the GP, an elderly chap she had no confidence in. She arranged for mum to be transferred to another doctor's clinic nearby but to date wishes that she had reported the first GP to the medical council for this and for other mistakes.

A few years ago I underwent the worst pain in my life with a bout of shingles. A doctor at a walk-in clinic in Auckland prescribed some very strong pain killers which knocked me about a bit. When I returned to Whangarei I told my regular GP about this and the side effects and after discussion the strongest form of analgesic I take is paracetamol.

The Old Girl, when she had a hip replacement operation a few years ago, again in Auckland was prescribed some very strong medication that had high doses of codeine in it. I hope it wasn't oxycontin. She used it briefly but discontinued as soon as possible because it was making her woozy. 

I believe that in these cases prescribing such strong medication was an easy way out and should not have hapenned but it seems to be the way now that GP practices and medical centres are owned and run by commercial businesses. Patient well-being is secondary to profit and quick turnaround.

Oxycontin might at long last be under control but new, more powerful and more dangerous opioids are wreaking havoc anew, the worst being fentanyl.

It's the downside of human nature I guess. People going for pleasure regardless of consequences and unscrupulous bastards - snake oil salesmen and priests - taking advantage of them and meeting their needs.

Lady in a turban, cocaine tree
Does a dance so rhythmically
She's cryin', and a singin' and having a time
and gee that cocaine tree look fine
You've got to put on your sailin' shoes
Put on your sailing shoes

STRANGER THAN FICTION

 There's a school of thought that aliens - beings from other planets with more advanced civilisations - visited Earth over many millennia and influenced technological and social advancements.

I don't subscribe to this but, on the other hand don't entirely discount it either because there are still many unexplained events, structures and reports of just that. Most of these are mixed up in religious beliefs, lore, practices and artefacts and could very likely explain the more bizarre aspects of the various religions particularly those relating to beings from the 'heavens'.

What prompted this short, almost filler post is that Robert posted a pic of His Lady on his most recent post (I use the term 'post' generously).

I don't know why Robert posted this along with this little incantation -

'Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee

Blessed are thou among women.'

- there was no explanation. Maybe it's some sort of Catholic religious feast day today to do with the old bint being 'assumed' into heaven.

Anyway, the image is bizarre and reminded me of something. I did an internet search and found these images:

 These suggest that Mary might have been jet or hydro-propelled upwards into 'heaven'.

More likely than that (but still incredibly unlikely) the stories, lore if you will, that became religious belief and subsequently depicted in paintings was initiated by some spaceman flying about.

Well, it's more credible than Robert's view anyway.

MORE WEIRD SHIT THAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE IN

.

There's so much weird shit that this will have to be the first in a new series.

I've forgotten most of the rubbish that the nuns taught me from the Catholic Catechism when I was a child. For those who don't know, the Catechism is not unlike Grimm's Fairy Tales except that the big bad wolf and Rapunzel are more believable  in those.

Actually I just discovered that the Grimm brothers wrote some Christian stuff as well like The Twelve Apostles and Our Lady's Child.

*******************

The Twelve Apostles

The story begins 300 years before the birth of Christ. The Brothers Grimm imagine that Peter is born to a poor woman, the eldest in a family of 12 children. One day Peter walks deep into a forest, where he becomes disoriented. He is visited by a small boy (an angel? The Christ Child?) who shines with brightness, and who leads Peter by the hand to a beautiful place (heaven?) where the child rocks him to sleep. One by one, 12 children are lulled to sleep by the shining young boy; and as the Brothers Grimm tell the story:
“They slept … three hundred years, until the night when the Saviour of the world was born. Then they awoke, and were with him on earth, and were called the Twelve Apostles.”

Our Lady’s Child

In this story, a woodcutter and his wife have a child, a little 3-year-old girl. So poor that they had nothing to feed her, the woodcutter was distressed; but the Virgin Mary appeared to him in the forest and told him that she would take and care for their little girl. The child lived happily with the Virgin Mary, playing with angels and thriving on the heavenly food; but one day, Mary told her that she was going on a long trip. The child could look through 12 doors to see the beauty and the joy behind them; but the 13th door, which was locked, must not be opened.
The child disobeyed, taking the key and peering inside to see the Holy Trinity; but upon Mary’s return, she lied and said that she had never opened that door. For her disobedience and her deceit, she was punished — returned to the earth, where she lived in the forest and survived on roots and berries. Several times, Mary comes to her and asks if she looked through the door; but each time the girl, now a grown woman, lies and is returned to her misery. After great struggles, finally she admits her sin, saying, “Yes, Mary, I did it.” She is saved from a fire and granted a happy life. The Virgin Mary spoke kindly to her, saying, “He who repents his sin and acknowledges it, is forgiven.”

*********************

But I digress. Today in Robert's latest post he reminded me of some Christian nonsense I was taught and, surprisingly forgot.




Now that's truly bizarre and it's a wonder that the Brothers Grimm didn't have a go at it. The concept is wacky enough and there are endless possibilities for God to get it wrong (like he /she/it did in the first place).

I looked up the internet to see what the various nutters have to say on the subject and, unsurprisingly, there is lots there. Here's are some outtakes:


"Down here, our bodies have been weakened by sin -- but in heaven, all that will be behind us, because by His death and resurrection Christ conquered all sin and sickness and death. The Bible says that in heaven Christ “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21)."


"Do you get a new body when you go to heaven?
Our old, physical body will be left behind; our new, spiritual body will be “raised up.” The Scripture reveals that our resurrection body will be a spiritual body perfectly suited to be with the Lord forever in Heaven. The apostle Paul agreed with Jesus' words and timing according to 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 (ESV)."



"What does Scripture say about heaven and the new body?2 Corinthians 5:1-10 NLT
We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies.What is the doctrine of bodily resurrection?"

There were hundreds of these and ranged from literal interpretations like the one Robert adopted through to metaphorical scenarios with many shades in-between. All of course are nonsense.

Robert's belief that "God will give me a new body on the last day and it will last forever" is quite fanciful but, with the rise of AI and what the Chinese are doing with robotics nowadays who knows?