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The Communist Origin of the Modern Conservative Movement VI

 
 
Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Thu 4 Aug, 2016 09:38 pm
In 1921 a Norwegian scientist, named Thorieif Schjeiderup-Ebbe, studied the social organization of chickens. He noticed that when the chickens are fed there was a definite order as to which chicken ate first and which ate next. Called the “pecking order” he observed this order remain undisturbed until a new chicken was introduced and then a fight would ensue to determine where the new hen fit into the pecking order. Of course it was a simple observation to realize that men also organize themselves into a pecking order and the same can be observed in Nations.

As long as the pecking order remains intact there is no problem but men unlike chickens are seldom satisfied with their place in the pecking order and want to move up. To maintain peace in the world it is important that the pecking order remain in place.

The invisible world complicates the pecking order because inevitably religion’s Gods tell their followers that they should be number one in the pecking order. The more radical followers of Islam now believe that their God wants them to rule the world to move up to number one in the pecking order. If one intends to move up in the pecking order one must expect to fight for it. How do you justify mass murder? You rob your enemy of his humanity. You make him less than human.

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“Every part of a non-Moslem individual is impure, even the hair on the head and his body hair, his nails, and all the secretions of his body. Any man or woman who denies the existence of God, or believes in his partners the Christian Trinity, or else does not believe in his Prophet Mohammed, is impure in the same way as excrement, urine, dog, and wine.”

Ayatollah Khomeini
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This is a beautiful example of religious reasoning. This message is being preached to young minds across the more radical Moslem world. Those who truly believe are more dangerous nuclear weapons. Imagine a God who wants you to kill all those who don’t believe in him. The Christians did.
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Zardoz
 
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Reply Fri 5 Aug, 2016 08:56 pm
A true believer is indeed far more dangerous than any nuclear weapon. The high figure for people killed in Japan by both atomic bombs is 226,000 that figure is dwarfed by the hundreds of millions killed by religion. The monster is religion but few countries have tried to take religion on. We are just getting a taste of the world to come. The world we leave to our children will be far different that the world we found. They had a problem with one of the local cemeteries when they found out that the owner had been selling the same cemetery lots to several different people. The scam worked for several years until people began to die and someone was already buried there. The Park Board ended up taking control of the cemetery. Religion is like that it has promised the same real estate to the followers of many different religions. The time to collect is drawing near and the collection will be done mob style.

Those that are destined to inherit the earth will be those who can kill the most people the quickest. As for the meek inheriting the earth it will never happen they will be first killed. There are billions of people who believe that the earth rightfully belongs to them and their god. The Christians tried for centuries to spread their religion to the four corners of the earth with varying degrees of success. ISIS’ method of spreading their religion is far different but it is justified by their religion. If your neighbor moved into your house while you were on vacation you would take steps to stop him because you rightfully believe that the property is yours. Now a billion people are being told that the earth rightfully belongs to them and even though their name is not on the deed a higher power, one that cannot be disputed, has told them that the world belongs to them.

The lord God of the invisible world has spoken the trouble is it is men that have put the words in his mouth. We have sailed in the darkness far too long. The distant light is visible but the siren’s song of the invisible world pulls toward the rocks and generation after generation has perished on the jagged rocks of religion.
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Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Sat 6 Aug, 2016 09:38 pm
A computer is just a computer, to accomplish anything it needs a set of directions. We call these directions a program. The program tells the computer how to process incoming information. Riding a bike is a specific program in the brains of those that learned to ride a bike. You may have not rode a bike for years but once you get back on one you take off like you never stopped. If someone never learned it would be a very difficult task. Our brains process information much as if they were a computer running a program. We have a program for mathematics and English. When ask what 2 + 2 we will respond 4 not 10,000 the program dictates the answer and the program is learned much like the skill of bike riding.

About the time we are learning 2 + 2= 4 we were taught that God created the world and that we should spend our life times worshiping him. When we look around us there is a church full of people doing just that. There is no one in our immediate circle who even questions the fairy tale. Sounds familiar? What if the child is being raised in the Middle East and attends the church of Moslem extremist? In his program he learns that the world belongs to Moslems and all infidels should be killed. In this church he learns what God expects of him. If we write a computer program that specifies the answer 2 + 2 is 6 the computer will tells us that it is 6. We can deliberately program a computer to give us the wrong answer and we can program people to do the same.

Into the supernatural cauldron we mix legend, fantasy, aggression control and supreme authority. This is witches broom as dangerous as any. Then we top off with personal ambition. This program is not only dangerous it is lethal. If we found ourselves on an old episode of Star Trek and found ourselves on a world where computers had take over how would we take control away from the computers? Program different religions into the computers and sit back and watch as they destroyed themselves.
We are perfectly capable of writing computer programs that give wrong answers and we are also just as capable of creating religions that are just as wrong. The chances of one God just happening are beyond any odds we could imagine.

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Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Sun 7 Aug, 2016 09:35 pm
Do you believe that you will be reincarnated? Do you believe that if you are bad in this life you will pay for it in your next incarnation? There are one billion Hindu on earth who do believe this. There are 488 million Buddhists who believe that a person has countless rebirths that inevitably include suffering. One billion Muslims believe that Mohammed was the last prophet and Allah is the one true God. If you ask any of the 2.2 billion Christians in the world they would tell you all those beliefs are nonsense. They would have no problem pointing out the absurdities in the other religions. But then the Christians believe in an invisible God that created the world and all the creatures who roam it in 7 day. Of course the 2 and half billion others would believe that is nonsense.

What exactly determines which religion you belong to? You inherited your religious belief from your parents. At no point did you look at all the world’s religions and make a choice as to which is correct. Religion was a program purchased by someone else and installed in you when you were a child. The foundation belief of Christianity is the creation story and even most Christians know that it is a complete and total fabrication. The Christian right has tried to keep evolution from being taught in our schools for over a hundred years now.
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“I think the most serious lying takes place occurs when people lie to themselves. This is well-documented in the field of social psychology. People hold a distorted perception of the world---based on their preexisting belief system. Somehow mysteriously, all events seem to confirm what they have already known all along. This is true, oddly enough, across the whole spectrum of belief systems.

Jeffery Mishlove, Ph.D.
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This statement describes what happens in religious believers everything that happens affirms their religious belief. They constantly looking for something to affirm their beliefs and surprise, surprise they find it. The country song, “Unanswered Prayers” is an example of how you can justify anything even God not answering your most sincere prayers. A man runs into his high school sweetheart 20 years later and takes one look at her and thanks God for not answering his prayer. It is a win; win situation if he married his high school sweetheart God answered his prayer if God didn’t answer the prayer he was doing what was best for him. Many people go through life like that finding affirmation of their belief in everything that happens.

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Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Mon 8 Aug, 2016 08:53 pm
One thing studies have shown us is that people lie to themselves and one of the most frequent lies is religion.

“Our sensory systems are organized to give us detailed and accurate views of reality,” he says, but once the information arrives in our brains, it is often distorted and biased to our conscious minds.” We repress painful memories, create false ones, rational immoral behavior and jack up our self-esteem. We deny ourselves the truth.”

Biologist Robert Trivers

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It is as our senses give us a photograph of reality and our brains take this photograph and make a painting out of it. The painting is an impressionist rendition of reality. We feel free to leave out details that would make us look bad. With one stroke of our brush we can ignore everything our senses tell us is reality and replace it with one where every physical law is violated. Tells us a God can create the earth in seven days and we will swear that it happened. Tells us we are haunted by ghosts and people actual “see” ghosts.

We think of reality as something that is real solid and tangible and most of all we believe it is shared. But in actuality we are creating our reality as we go along. Our senses tell us that there are universal laws that must be obeyed but with one stroke of our brush those laws can be suspended. It is much like watching a movie about Superman to enjoy it we must suspend our disbelief. For superman to exist he must be able defy gravity and be faster than a speeding bullet. If we looked at that movie without suspending our sense of disbelief it would be utter nonsense. Likewise God can defy gravity and he is much faster than a speeding bullet. When it comes to religion most people will suspend their sense of disbelief and believe the most absurd things. Not only will they believe in the most absurd nonsense they will be more than willing to kill other people that don’t believe as they do in the most sadistic ways.

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Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Tue 9 Aug, 2016 09:23 pm
Every hyperpower since the Roman Empire has went into a period of decline before their fall. One thing that happens as the hyperpower fails is that people turn increasingly to religion. In America after the oil embargo Christian fundamentalism rose 43% from 1978 to 1985. Wages in America increased steadily from 1949 to 1973 but by 1986 wages had returned to 1962 levels. When people feel powerless in the real world they turn to the invisible dimension for help. This return to religion in America had powerful political ramification and allowed the rich to manipulate the political system and take 70% tax cuts for themselves.

It is no surprise that increasing numbers of Americans turned to religion. They felt powerless as real wages declined and one of the primary selling points of religion is the illusion of gaining control over the real world. All you need do is pray and your wishes will be granted by the ruler of the invisible world or not. There are some who believe an illusion of control is better than no illusion but the problem is that it deflects energy from finding what is causing the decline and trying to correct it. America rush to religion in the 80s was an effort to turn the clock back. The Christian right brand of fundamentalism was not confined to churches it branched out into politics to remake America in its own brand of ignorance. The Christian right vigorously fought scientific advances trying to stop stem cell research. They fought to take control of all the women reproductive equipment. As America declined people craved the past and in ways tried to recreate. The Christian right believed that God no longer smiled on America and it was because his rules were no longer strictly obeyed not that America was in transition from having the biggest trade surplus to having the greatest trade deficits. The ordinary American cannot deal with trade deficits but maybe if you pray hard enough and go to church on Sundays God will intervene.
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Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Wed 10 Aug, 2016 08:28 pm
On September 21, 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya four armed attackers killed sixty-seven people at the Westgate shopping mall. Most of these mass shooting are suicide missions and no one is left to question about motives after the fact. What made these murders different was that the four terrorists were being directed by cell phone. The attackers were all young men 22 to 23. After the killings Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in a video telling the world that, “It was done to teach these non-believers a lesson.” The terrorists sing on the video about how dangerous Al-Shabaab should be considered.

It is the absolute audacity of religion that drives terrorism. I was asked how the terrorists could ignore the commandments about killing so easily? You have to remember that religions were originally tribal in origin and the restrictions against killing are only against killing insiders in fact outsiders are consider lower than dog dung. The gunmen in this case went through the mall asking people to recite a passage from the Koran to sort out the ones to be killed and the ones who should be aloud to live. The surveillance cameras in the mall provided detailed coverage of the killings. The sickness is religion the belief in an invisible world our rational mind tell us could not exist

By now all of the Christians have climbed high upon their soapboxes pointing out that isn’t all religion that are evil it is just a few. But their memory is short for Christianity killed more people in far more brutal ways. Those that practiced a harmless earth based religion were routinely burned at the stake. It is the audacity that is prime ingredient of religion, the absolute and undeniable belief in one God that justifies murder. Take a Jerry Falwell or a Pat Roberson, big believers in the literal interpretation of the bible; they want to please their God. In the bible is the story of destruction of Sodium and Gomorra by fire and brimstone in divine retribution for un-approved sexual practices. When World Trade Center towers collapsed Roberson and Falwell decided to convince their followers it was God up to his old tricks. That God could and would destroy America for granting homosexuals rights. Do you really believe that the right Christian leader could not convince their followers to kill homosexuals today because if they didn’t God was just waiting in the wings to destroy America for “its sins.” After all it is a matter of survival either take care of the problem or God will destroy America. If it is in the bible therefore it must be true. When the invisible world becomes your commander any atrocity is justifiable.
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Zardoz
 
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Reply Thu 11 Aug, 2016 08:34 pm
To a true believer the world is made up of only two types of people, those who believe and those who don’t. Of course nonbelievers include everyone who does not believe in your particular brand of religion. This sets up the classic insider group and an outsider group. The terrorist in Kenya saw nothing wrong with executing non-believers they were not members of the inside group. Many think of the Ten Commandments as moral guideposts but in fact many of the commandments concern themselves with setting up and maintaining a religious cult.
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1) “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shall have no other Gods before me. Thou shall not make to thyself any graven images.”
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Implicit in that statement is that other Gods do exist and not only do they exist but they pose a threat to the religious cult. Why have a commandment that allows that other Gods do exist.
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2) “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them. For I the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the inequity of the fathers on the children to the third and forth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.”
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It looks like making images of pretty much anything is out. It is hard to find anything but a short list of the Ten Commandments. I had to go to ten different Internet sites to find an unedited list. Visiting the sins of the fathers on children to the forth generation shows that a morally advanced entity could have never written the Ten Commandments. Jealous of what? The image of Lamb.

______________________________________________________3) ”You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold you guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
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Still nothing to do with morality. You can see the bolts of lightening starting to fly when someone mashes their thumb with a hammer.
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4) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servants, nor your female servants, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For six days the lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed.”
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Seven day a week 24 hours a day operations made many chose between holding a job or doing the Lord’s will. Killing people for picking sticks on Sunday is not as popular as it once was. These commandments serve the purpose of differentiating the insiders from the outsiders. Implicit in these commandments is the license to kill to spread the religious cult. When an old lady in the Dark Ages refused to join the cult she was burnt at the stake as example to anyone who believed they had the freedom to believe differently. Inherent in monotheism is the duty to spread it. The terrorists in Kenya are just following the prescription for monotheism. Not to mention the justification for human slavery.
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Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Fri 12 Aug, 2016 08:44 pm
Historically as one religion attacks members of other religions the fight is suppose to be abut religious principals but in the end it is about economics. In war to the victor go the spoils and that is just as true for religiously motivated wars. The ostensible reason for the Crusades was to recapture the holy lands from the paganism but when Jerusalem was recaptured all the treasure was taken and sent back home.

The witch-hunts may have been religiously inspired but the property and treasure of those burned at the stake was quickly confiscated by the church and those responsible for the killings. The witch-hunts continued for 300 years between 1450 – 1750. As the witch-hunts continued the real driving force may have not been the religiously driven sadistic urge as much as it was an economically driven enterprise. Religion gave license to the most sadistic urges that still lurks in the darkest corner of our emotional brain (animal brain). Since all religions end up forming in group and out group dynamics the hideous acts are not sanctioned against members of the in group but violence is permitted against the out group. The economic motives for religiously motivated violence is as strong today as it was during the witch burnings. Most criminals will tell you it is much easier to take what someone else has than earn yourself. Islam is very appealing to the billion mostly poor of the world who are being told by their more extreme clergy that the world was created by their God and as such its followers are entitled to the world and all it treasure. If religion can be used as a rationalization to burn a 100,000 people at the stake it can be used as a rationalization for any act of terrorism or war. Christianity is no better it teaches it followers that their God created the earth and as such the world belongs to the body of Christ.

Our body is made up of billions of cells. The body of Christ is made up of over 2 billion people it is a surer organism and acts with common goals. Islam is also a super organism and they are about to go to war with each other over whose God is real and whose God is fictional. Like to road raging drivers willing to fight to the death over who cut the other off, these religious Titians will fight to the death and when it is all over they will be sure their God won.
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Zardoz
 
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Reply Sat 13 Aug, 2016 09:03 pm
If you asked most people if they believe in the God the vast majority will answer in the affirmative but when it comes to supernatural world of Gods they will reject 99% of the supernatural world out of hand.
“Aztecs skinned maidens and cut out human hearts for a feathered serpent god. What is your stand on invisible feathered serpents? Aha! Just as I suspected you don’t believe.”
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“At a golden temple in West Virginia, saffron robed worshipers think they will become one with Lord Krishna if they chant “Hare Krishna” enough. Sunday worshipers do you agree or do you doubt the scripture?”

“Ancient Greeks thought a multitude of gods lived on Mt Olympus ---and some of today’s New Agers think invisible Lemurians live inside Mt Shasta. What is your position on mountain Gods---belief or disbelief?”

“In China in the mid 1800s a Christian convert said God appeared to him, told him he was Jesus’ younger brother and commanded him to “destroy demons.” He raised an army of believers who waged the Taiping Rebellion that killed as many as 20 million people. Do you think he was Christ’s younger brother---or do you doubt it?”

“During the witch hunts, inquisitors priests tortured thousands of women into confessing they blighted crops, had sex with Satan, etc---then executed them for it. Do you think the Church was right to enforce the bible command, “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live” Exodus 22:18—or do you doubt this scripture?

These are just a few of the examples listed in an article by James A Haught
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It is clear from the examples above that people do have a filter when it comes to the supernatural. People can apply their rational mind to the supernatural but they have one blind spot and that is the culturally sanctioned religion. While we would not believe in a feathered serpent God the Aztecs would not believe in a grandfatherly God who lives in the sky. Feathered Serpents Gods or Grandfathers Gods are accepted because the culture around you accepts them.
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Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Sun 14 Aug, 2016 07:56 pm
It has been shown that people would reject 99% of the supernatural ideas but accept the 1% of supernatural ideas that are cultural ingrained. There is no other field where the culture establishes whether it is acceptable. Mathematic is as valid in Japan as it is India or the United States. What is accepted as supernaturally true in different cultures varies as much as night and day. What is surprising is that we don’t question the fact that our concept of supernatural is so different from culture to culture. When a country has an established religion other religions can hardly make a dent. If one religion was more valid than others we would expect that religion would be able to replace the other but it doesn’t happen.

Religion is a product of a culture; culture is not a product of religion, which is the common sense explanation. If there was one true supernatural explanation why would there be so many different supernatural explanations? In many cases when the culture perishes the religion of that culture died also. Certainly the link between cultures and religions are far stronger than previously believed. Religion acts as a glue that bind cultures together it gives members of that culture something important in common, a shared vision of the super natural. Each culture spawns a supreme authority figure that gives more power to control members of that culture. The authority of supernatural was obvious in the American court system where witnesses were required at one time to swear on the bible. It wasn’t enough that they could be charged with perjury if they lied. They were asked to swear on some of the biggest lies ever told. But whether authority is real or imagined it works in many cases.

Each culture has a vested interest in maintaining their explanation of the supernatural and it has paid dividends for years and will continue to so in the future. Implicit in the view that the supernatural is necessary is the belief that mankind could never accept the truth. That fantasy is necessary to keep control of the population. That without the authority willingly granted to the supernatural society would spin out of control. In a word it is the belief that mankind is naturally “bad” that is a foundation belief of most religions. That morality stems from the authority of the supernatural over us. When in fact we now know that morality is inborn in most of us it is our sense of empathy that built our laws not Jesus Christ. We no longer stone people to death, cut their hands off for stealing, kill people for working on the Sabbath, or burn witches at the stake.
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Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Mon 15 Aug, 2016 08:35 pm
Why the rush towards Armageddon? In order for the world to end the Jews must once again be in possession of Israel and the Christians are raising as much money as possible to keep Israel afloat. If a rational person believed that putting Jews in possession of Israel would hasten the end of the world why not do everything in their power to prevent the Jews from having control of Israel? I have heard of death wishes but they are usually confined to oneself. In this case they have a death wish for everyone, friends and family alike and they are quite willing to put their money where their mouth is. A death wish is hardly rational but a death wish for everyone on earth is far worse.

This speaks to the rationality of religion and of those involved. Many times the end of the world was given a day and time that it would end but when the appointed time came the world did not end. The faithful just picked another time for the end of the world. Why are the faithful in such a hurry to see the end of the world? Prophesy; if you have a prophet his prophesy must come true to validate that prophesy. For two thousand years Christians have longed for the end world because this would be the ultimate proof of their belief.

This has bought the fundamentalist Christians and fundamentalist Jews together as they have found a common cause. Fifty percent of American Jews are considered “lapsed” they no longer belong to a synagogue. They were born Jewish but no longer wish to belong to an organized group.
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“I am not the only one facing such knee-jerk reactions from the institutions dominating public Jewish discourse. Rabbi Wolpe a respected and published rabbinic scholar now on the pulpit at Temple Sinia in Los Angles, made headlines for daring to suggest to his congregation that the Exodus may not really have happened the way it is described in the Bible. Or at all. Although question has been pondered out loud by rabbis ever since there were rabbis, today it is too dangerous a topic, and Wolpe is described as a silver tongued devil. Why?

From an article entitled: “God has Left the Building” by Douglas Rushkoff.
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I wish the Jews would tell the Christians even they didn’t believe the stories in the bible but then the support for Israel would go down the drain. The Exodus of course did happen in the movie “The Ten Commandments”
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Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Tue 16 Aug, 2016 08:56 pm
Is there hope for the Middle East? Or will they continue to wallow in ignorance and superstition for an eternity? Islam is displaying all of the darkness that made Christianity the world’s leading religion. Ignorance has an extremely high correlation with religion. So what we should be looking for is light of knowledge taking hold. Iran is one of the countries that worries America the most. Iran is on the verge of developing and atomic weapon. An atomic weapon in the hands of a fundamentalist Islamic state is a frightening prospect because it would be the first atomic bomb in the hands of religious extremists. Islamic fundamentalist would use the atomic bomb to spread their religion.

Seventy percent of Iran’s population was born after the Islamic revolution meaning they do not feel bound by the values that drove that revolution. America had supported the Shah of Iran and the Islamic revolution was anti-American. Another important change has taken place in Iran is that 90% percent of the population is now literate even in the rural areas. A good education is the enemy of religion and the Internet in Iran is leading the younger generation to question the traditional religious values. Religion is a cold-hearted dictator that stands on the neck of the population insisting that religious traditions of thousand years ago continue unquestioned but an education sometime teaches someone not only to recite the words but to actually think independently.

Young Iranians have started to post on the Internet.
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“The Revolution finally bought the clerics on the scene stripping them bare so they could perform their magic shows…and this same revolution will kick the clerics out once and for all from the political scene…

Europe struggled for five centuries to banish religion and superstition from political and social life making a lot of sacrifices along the way. Our country will be the first country in the Middle East to go on this journey in relatively short time frame. We must make the hard and hazardous journey ourselves. There are no chains harder or stronger than the chains of religion and tradition…

The revolution is unstoppable until it reaches its final destination: the birth of a humanitarian culture and a democracy. Towards the end of the revolution, no cleric will be able to go to village and tell people: “They don’t allow us to have Islam.“ Believe me defending religious rule will be impossible then. This rebirth has to happen in our country.”

Blogger Siprisk
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Zardoz
 
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Reply Wed 17 Aug, 2016 08:53 pm
“Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” What is encouraging is that at least some of those in the Middle East are attempting to learn from our past mistakes with religion. Another Iranian Blogger writes:
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“In the name of God.
I commence with the name of the supreme God, the God of Zoroaster, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed, the God of life itself. On the eve of the holy month of Ramadan when we are al guests of God, the stench of terror and revenge is in the air.”

“The air is the air of the Middle Ages when the tyrant clergy in the name of holy dictates and the protection of the faith would burn the bodies of worthy men and women.”
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Those in the Middle East are well aware of the parallels between the development of Western religion and their current state of their religion. Monotheism allowed religion to grow more powerful than government. Those with the keys to invisible world could make kings dance like outlaws made city slickers dance with their 44. Those who were the gatekeepers of the invisible world were also the ones who decided what God had to say. Kings may not have feared God but they did fear the Pope. The Pope wielded the power of the Roman Empire long after the Roman Empire ceased to exist.

In the West we don’t think of religion having as much or more power over our lives than government but the West had to wrestle that power away from religion. During the Christian reformation the Catholic shattered into a number of different denominations and once Christianity was no longer a single voice but a choir of different voices it became far less powerful. In the West the gatekeepers would no longer have the exclusive voices they enjoyed for over a thousand years. Divide and conquer is good military strategy but in this case the enemy divided themselves. Divide and conquer may be the best strategy and the key to losing the stranglehold Islam has on the Middle East. All religions are political structures with constant internal power struggles. They all want to be the alpha Ayatollah.

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Zardoz
 
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Reply Thu 18 Aug, 2016 08:54 pm
The question that is always on the faithful’s mind is when will the second coming happen but they are all sure that it will happen any day now.
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1) The Essene sect of Jewish ascetics saw the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 66-70 in Judea as the final battle before the arrival of the Messiah.
3) A French Bishop, Hilary of Politers announced the end of the world would happen in the year 365.
4) Another French Bishop, Martin of Tours, announced that the world would end between the year 375 and 400.
5) Hippolytus of Rome, Sextus Julius Africanus, and Irenaeus all predicted Jesus would return in the year 500. One prediction was based on the dimensions of Noah’s ark.
6) A Spanish Monk, Beatus of Liebana, told his followers that the world would end on Apr 6, 793.
7) Sextus Julius Africanus revised the date of doomsday to year 800 long after he was dead. No date has ever been revised as much. This was smart of him on his part because no one could tell him how wrong he was.
8) Gregory of Tours calculated the end of the world to be between 799 and 806
9) Thiota declared the world would end in 848.
10) Several Christians predicted the world would end in 992-995.
11) Pope Sylvester II predicted a Millennium Apocalypse, a good round number of 1,000

The list is partial list taken from Wikipedia
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What did Jesus say about the second coming? He was extremely specific in the bible about when the second coming would occur. Why is it that with all the calculations that no one paid any attention to Jesus? Why? Because it didn’t happen then either and then it became like a jump ball everyone had a shot at it.

“There are some standing here today who will not taste death, till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom.”(Matthew16:28)

This statement is very specific and places the end of the world in a man’s lifetime but it did not happen. A doomsday cult needs a doomsday. If you can’t trust the bible who can you trust? Anyone.

“This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.” (Matthew 24:34)

And so once the promised second coming didn’t happen Christianity should have been written off as a fraud.
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Zardoz
 
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Reply Fri 19 Aug, 2016 07:26 pm
How could Jesus have gotten it wrong? He was an all seeing and all knowing God and he could not get the date the world would end correct. The day the world would end is a pretty big event we might see if he didn’t remember little Johnny’s birthday but the end of the world.

“There are some standing here today who will not taste death, till the son of man coming in his kingdom.” (Mathew 16:28)

No he did not stutter he made it perfectly clear thought the date was not exact he we can be sure everyone who heard him make that declaration has been dead for almost 2,000 years.

To keep the religious cult alive the threat of the end of the world must be as current for each new generation. It is fear that drives religion not love of God. People don’t say that they are afraid that they might miss out on loving God they will tell you they are afraid of burning in Hell or that when the world ends they will not be whisked off to heaven. To make the faithful come to church they must make the threat of the end of world real and current. No preacher is going to come out and tell his followers that Jesus said the world would end almost 2,000 years ago and that was just another of his many lies.

If lying is wrong did Jesus sin? After all he did bare false witness. Well it was just a white lie to get people to join his religious cult and the cult is the most important thing.

Tomorrow I could claim that the end of the world will be on December 31, 2016 and that I had been contacted by aliens from another planet who will give the good people on earth a ride in their spaceship to their planet on Dec 30, 2016. To qualify for this ride you would have to give away all your earthly possessions. The question is would I find people willing to go? Yes this scam has actually happened on more than one occasion. People are so sacred of a date that passed thousands of years ago that they would willingly go with aliens.
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cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Fri 19 Aug, 2016 07:53 pm
Do you have another life? Just curious.
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Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Sat 20 Aug, 2016 09:12 pm
Jesus is more of a politician than a religious leader on occasion. During the Civil War the Southern Baptists said that Jesus was pro slavery and they were right. Jesus gave precise directions as who could be a slave and who could not. Beating your wife might have been frowned upon but beating your slaves was permitted.

“shall begin to beat the men servants and maidens, and to eat and drink and be drunken; the lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him…and will cut him in sunder…and that, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. (Luke 12:45-48)

A Supreme Being advocating corporal punishment of slaves? How could Jesus advocate physical punishment? Is it any wonder that the bible end up being used to justify slavery in the 1800s? Jesus was wrong side of one of the biggest political issue in American history. For someone who did not claim to be a politician he involved himself in many political issues.

Jesus did not believe in social justice, he believed if you were poor you should just accept your fate. If you were a slave you should be happy to be a slave. Jesus really didn’t come to improve the world he came to insure that people would worship God. There were a lot injustices that he could have railed against, like slavery, but he didn’t. Although Jesus makes no attempt to cure any of the real evils of the world he promises the poor they will be rewarded in the next life.

It clear we were not dealing with a man or a God but a philosophy, the philosophy of the vested interest. Those in control of most of wealth want to remain in control of that wealth and justify the status quo and a philosophy that justifies that distribution of wealth, religious or otherwise, is useful to the rich and the politically powerful.
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Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Sun 21 Aug, 2016 08:31 pm
One of the most troubling things about the more extreme religious cults is that they try to isolate the cult members from their friends and family. In order to program cult members they needed to isolate them. They do not want their friends or family to be able to influence them in any positive way. All of their social connections are other cult members. The world witnessed just how strong the cult influence was when 1978 when 918 members of the People’s Temple participated in a murder/suicide. The 918 who lost their lives were the most Americans civilians to die in a single instant up until 9/11. Jim Jones used religion to gain control over his followers. Mothers not only willingly drank the poison they poisoned their babies.

Where did the model for the use of religion being more important than family responsibilities come from? Jesus of course he believed religion was the most important thing in the world. Religion was more important than family. Jesus demands that his followers drop everything and follow him.

“And he said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him. Let the dead bury the dead… And another also said, Lord I will follow thee: but first let me go and bid them farewell, which are at my home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hands on a plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:59-62)

‘Two of his disciples actually leave their father mending the fishing nets. (Matthew 4:21,22).”

Did you ever hear of the disciples’ wives or children? No, because they walked away from all of their family responsibilities to follow a religious cult. This was the model that religious cult leaders of the 60s and 70s put to use. The belief that religion is the most important thing in life is indeed a dangerous idea and it originates in the bible. We as a society condition our children with this idea and wonder later why they joined an extreme religious cult.
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Zardoz
 
  2  
Reply Mon 22 Aug, 2016 08:40 pm
Jesus is “a walking contradiction partly truth and partly fiction.” Jesus contradicts himself so often it is hard to believe he is the same person and he contradicts himself so often it is highly likely that he is a composite of different characters.

For instance do you believe that you can cast out devils?

“In my name shall they (the saved) cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues: They shall take up serpents: and if they drink any deadly thing. It shall not hurt them; and they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” (Mark 16:17,18)

This was shortly before Jesus was to die. He empowered the faithful to do many of the miracles he preformed. Do you feel that you can lay hands on the sick and they shall be cured? If you are a true believer you do because you believe what Jesus says is true.

What is your position on drinking any deadly thing? Is your faith strong enough to advise your children to demonstrate how strong their faith was and my use of was is correct because your children will be past tense? But Jesus says…

How about serpents if your preacher bought a whole bunch of rattlesnakes to church Sunday would you be the first one to grab a snake to demonstrate you were a true believer? I didn’t think so. But Jesus says…

It seems to me you must believe every word or believe none of it. Many have died taking up serpents in WV. When they die do people say that Jesus lied to them? No they say that the person that died faith was not strong enough. There are over 120-documented deaths of people who took up serpents some of them are preachers. I have got it they need hands laid on them after they get bit.
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