I BELIEVE

And really, that says it all, very neatly.

A great deal of organized religion these days seems to run on the ideals of-
-believe in this story, all others are evil
-do as I say or be condemned to eternal agonies
-give us your money so we can spread the good word
-push my word to the unwashed masses so that they will know me

Just to fill in some questions before you ask

I believe that there is an existence beyond what we can physically see, touch, hear or measure. Call this existence God, or The Force, The Great Spirit, Allah, Buddah........ or what ever you wish.

I believe that this existence, who I choose to call God, is a part of us all. We are all a part of God, and as we are as humans, we have chosen to be here to learn something new. The best evidence of this, to me, is the last trip I made to Hawaii when I was still in the Royal Canadian Navy. The ship went through the roughest storm the western Pacific had scene  in 50 years and my ship sailed right through the middle of it. We sailed through 11 meter (33 foot) seas for 6 days. Now I know that 11 meters isn't the worse that anyone has ever done but for me it was.

I was terrified for 6 days.

For 6 days the ship bounced back and forth, doing 20 degree heels to port and starboard.
The upper decks had been placed out of bounds making all of us enclosed in this 100 meter steel tube. For six days I learned that I could be terrified but would still have the strength to carry on and do that job at hand. During that six days I was part of the bridge team, part of the medical team, part of the janitorial staff, part of the galley staff. I did it all because it needed to be done. I learned that I could do all of this while being terrified.

On the seventh day, the sun came out from behind the clouds, the seas flattened out and I knew I had learned something important about myself.

This is what I believe we are all here to do. To learn something, so that the sum total knowledge and experience of us all can be added together for the betterment of us all

Omnipresent? Omnipotent?
I don't think so. There is always something else to learn, there is always some place new to see.

This is what I believe.

My beliefs are the correct ones, for me. If you want to know more about how I believe, ask and I will answer. If I want to know more about what you believe, I will ask and hope you will answer me. I will not come up to you and tell you that what you believe is wrong and I will not listen to you doing the same to me.

If you wish to believe that someone born 2000 years ago died to save you from sins that you did not commit, so be it. I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a real live person who was conceived and born as we all have been and will be. I believe he lived his life the best he could, helping those who he could help. Did he cure blind people? I believe he could have. We have doctors today who are giving sight to those who can not see. Did he raise Lazerous from the dead? I am sure he could have, I did once. There was sailor on the ground in front of me who was not breathing and had no pulse - Dead by all knowledge that existed way back then. I and two of my mates brought her back to life.

My beliefs, I have them, they are mine. Your beliefs, you have them, they are yours. Keep yours to yourself and I will not push mine on you.

As a parting thought, I friends who have very strong beliefs in several different religions. These people I count as people as friends, not because of what they believe or don't believe, because of the actions they take towards others. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Athetiest. We are all capable of improving the world around us just as easily as we are able to ruin.

How cool is this

If we all had religious leaders, political leaders or people we admire like this, I think we would all be a little bit better off

Suffer The Little Children

Is this what they mean when they say this?

God, Good Guy or Evil Overlord?

Jesus of Nazareth, Allah, Elah Shemaya, all names for the same belief, the one and true God.
Almighty, all knowing, merciful, the just, peace, love, all attributes of God.

"Allahu Akbar!" the last words spoken by a suicide bomber, just before his load of explosives rip through a crowd of shoppers at the bazaar.

"God told me to," claims Mark Chapman as John Lennon was buried.

"God is on our side, we are the victims" is claimed while rockets fall on school children in Israel.

Where is the love of God when people use his name to maim the innocent? "In God We Trust?" as his head is dunked below the waterline again.

Allah is merciful? What mercy is there in making children hate? In planting bombs in places where the innocent will be slaughtered? 

God must be hate have a headache of massive proportions listening to all the prayers to him. Half of them ask for healing and happiness, the other half for death and destruction. When did God become such an angry person? Is he really all about killing those who he created? 

Do as you will as it hurts no one. Nice, peaceful and it keeps God from being blamed for your actions

Sunny Day

Here I sit at my desk, looking up at the sky from the window in front of me and I wonder - what does it all mean?
There has been the struggle of "Is there a God" and if there is, "Who speaks for him"
going on for thousands of years and still we are constantly being told by both sides that they are the correct one to believe in.

Atheist - is there really nothing that can't be touched, seen, felt or measured in some aspect? Is there no wonder, nothing to strive to understand?

Non-Atheist - is there really a being above us, watching us, protecting us from the evils of the world? Are we really just a play thing for some great omnipotent being?

Why is it that neither side of the coin is will to see another point of view? When you flip a coin it will come up heads or tails most of the time. Who wins when it ends up on its edge? Do both players lose? Or will they both win?

Somewhere between the side of the Atheist and the Non-Atheist lies the truth of the matter. When we can all see that the coin has landed on its edge, we will all win and the earth will be a much better place to be.

Woman Abuse in Afghanistan

Today I woke up and thought of another great crime that was being committed, the abuse of women over in Afghanistan.
 How horrible is it to hear of child brides, women not being able to drive, "honour" killings, women being forced to wear specific types of clothing, being denied access to medicine,.....
The list goes on and on. These terrible things happen daily and it is all blamed on the ancient traditions of the people. How convenient to  have such a ready made excuse.
What can be done to stop this from continuing? Well, right now there is a multinational force in Afghanistan, out there, amongst other things, to stop this horror from being perpetuated. At this moment, the main part of the  multinational force is the US. It is good to know how wonderful things are in the developed, civilized world.

Or is it?

How many times do you hear of a women getting raped and then having to suffer through the humiliation of watching the attacker sneer at here while she is put on trial for "asking for it".
And what about Mr Santorum, the guy who wants to run the US (God help us all). Did he not say that any woman who is raped and a child is conceived of that rape, that the woman should carry that "gift from God" to term. What kind of crap is that? Is it any less horrific than what is happening in Afghanistan?

Down in the US, women have to look hard to find access to an abortion, even if it is medically necessary. Then, if they find a way, they have to brave the religious zealots who are sitting in front of those offices. The same people who say life is sacred are the very ones who are shooting Doctors.

"But that is what is written in the Bible!" they call to their defence. Yes, the bible, written thousands of years ago by, Men. Yes, men. And don't throw that "they were spoken to by God to write it" crap. The guys who shot JFK, the pope, John Lennon, they were all "spoken to by God" and we have decided that they were all crazy.

Yes, women are being abused in horrible ways in Afghanistan and many other areas of the world.
Let us not stand up showing how great we are over here until it can be said the same thing doesn't happen here.