Friday, September 26, 2008
God's Attributes = Conflicts
In this article i would like to take a closer look at God's attributes and as i go along i hope that you will come to realize the conflicts that arise of such claims of perfection, I have no doubt in my mind that without any much effort of explaining you'll be able to realize the conflict on your own.
First i would like to start with the conflict of God's knowledge of the future, his knowledge of what you and i think in our most inner thoughts, what we feel and how we will feel in the future, how we react and will react to certain events that are bound to happen in the future, and his knowledge of the consequences of our decisions and reactions. Now you might have read in the bible or the Quraan that God has given human kind the freedom of choice so he can test them to see if they are worthy of his good grace. the problem that arise from this attribute is; If God really does know in advance what are the choices you're going to make, and whether you're going to be a devout Christian or Muslim, wouldn't that knowledge by it self take away your freedom of choice? A Christian or a Muslim's answer would be "Yes But God has given you the ability to sin, so that you can repent and then God would reward you" but that doesn't really answer anything does it? because even if God did in fact give humans the ability to sin, he would already know in advance which of us will repent and which of us will still doubt his existence. so giving humans the ability of choice between good and evil doesn't really work very well with God's knowledge of the future.
A good example of this problem can be found in the story of Adam and Eve, the first two humans that God had created in his heaven. After God had created those two first humans he said to them, that they are allowed to eat from all the fruits of the trees of heaven but the fruit of this certain tree they are not allowed to eat of, because when they do there eyes will be opened and they will have knowledge of good and evil, but they disobeyed God any way and they ate the fruit of that forbidden tree, and the first thing they realized that they were naked so they covered their nakedness with fig leafs, after that God punished them and all of Humanity by kicking them out of his heaven to earth. What i constantly ask my self after i hear this story is:
"How could Adam and Eve have the ability to sin if they had no knowledge of evil till they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree?" The question is paradoxical and pauses as a problem for Christians and Muslims alike. The real question is:
"If God knew in advanced that Adam and eve would eat from the fruit of that tree and disobey him, then why did he put that tree there in the first place?"
The second Attribute is the Loving Christian and Muslim God, Any believer of the sky Gods would happily parade his loving and merciful God in front of you, little does he realize that there is nothing that comes close to love and mercy in his God.Even though God claims that he loves you, he is willing to bake you in his super large oven for all eternity if you doubt his existence. Unless you realize this while you're still alive and repent from all your doubts and sins and embrace Christianity or Islam before it's too late. But what if i repent while I'm burning in hell? then would God save my tortured soul? the answer obviously is "NO" even though God loves you when you're alive he wants you to worship him and do all his bidding while you're on earth, but he most certainly hates you and despises you while you choke and scream in terrifying pain and agony in his hell that he in the first place had prepared to those that he love so much. I guess you can see the conflict in this matter. How can a loving and gentle God put some one that he claims to love and wants to save in this kind of horrifying experience?
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
ما يجب على المسلمين أن يسألو أنفسهم
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Why are we here?
Why are we alive? what purpose do we serve by being here? Those questions are not new to any one, certainly to some one who has been contemplating about the reason for his/her existence. Yet so far little did manage to answer that question, but still those answers are nothing but theories and personal points of view on how some one perceives his/her existence. No matter how much thought or how much we wrestle with this question it keeps staring back in our faces with irony, our existence it seems to play a cruel joke as it we stumble around our busy lives thinking that we are so special that the universe revolves around us human beings.
But we're not as special as we think we are, however we maybe special to our selves or to the people we manage to empress with our gifted and highly evolved brains, but we're not any were near to being special in this universe or any other universe for that matter.
As human beings, having the power of knowledge and intellectuality, and reasoning power, we tend to come up with ways as attempts to justify our existence and answer our life long question "why are we here?" as a result some of us come up with brilliant ideas and theories, and some other come up with ignorant and delusional ideas and theories that are not based on any physical or scientific principles. Those ignorant ideas and theories come to us in the form of "religion" "God". because people need to believe that their life has a purpose, without a purpose they feel that their is no meaning to their existence.
That's is not true, believing in the existence of a God, dose not validate our existence, we are here, and we do exist with or without a God, and even without that God, we do have a purpose in life, that purpose is to procreate and to advance, and build and live on this planet, our purpose is to self sustain and to discover the vastness of the universe that we live in as nature has intended for us from the moment we started to evolve from bacterial beginning, and to go beyond the boundaries of this universe, Saying that God put us here so that we can worship him, is by it self as bad as taking large amounts of hallucinogenic drugs and destroying brain cells. Religion has been clouding our minds for so many centuries and it still does the same thing.
Life and Death experience is not a proof of God's existence, and just because some people are able to validate the concept of a supreme being who is able to control our live and see through our every thought at every moment of our lives is not a scientific proof, nor is it an acceptable proof that God does exist.
The reason for this is that people involve their emotions when they try to find the reason for their existence, and automatically they always go after the more convenient conclusion, the one that acts as a security blanket, even though reality is not as pleasant as we imagine it, sure it is reassuring to know that some one will be rewarded for their good deeds with a place filled with rivers of wine, and the most delicious fruits. Still it is not reality, reality is here on earth it is among us yet we fail to see it, we fail to see how we are hypnotized by figures of authority that use religion as an excuse to control our thoughts and our behavior and control the way we eat the way we interact with people the way we talk, the way we dress, the way think, the way we walk, that very same authority tells us how we should love, who we should hate, how should we spend our time, they tell us to bend over backwards and give up our minds and our freedom of though and speech, so that they can use us and abuse us and squeeze every drop of blood and dignity that we have left, we are oppressed by religion we feel it exercising it's oppression on us as we pay taxes, as we learn in schools, we are being brainwashed in every waking moment of our life, Yet we still fail to see what they are doing to us, they have us blindfolded from the truth, they draw an ugly picture and promise to deliver lakes of holly fire for those who dare to take the blindfolds off, and promise to deliver heaven to those who obey and live the rest of their lives as sheep, those promises are false, there is no heaven and there is no hell, there is no life after death, our life is what we make of it, God will only exist in our heads, because there is no place for him in our universe, God is nothing but an electric impulse traveling in our neuron networks of our brains, God is nothing, Nothing belongs to no were, therefor we should abolish this false thought from our minds, and set our selves free from the chains of this authority before it destroys us and destroys every thing we've worked for and built.
We came to existence by random chance, there is nothing special about that, but it is the closest thing to logic, saying that God created us does not solve unlock the secrets of the universe, because if God did create us, logic would demand a creator for the creator. Islam claims that the big bang theory is mentioned in the Holy Qura'n, but I will have to disagree with that, after doing some intensive research, the paragraph in the Qura'n about the big bang theory that Muslims seem to tose around so happily has nothing to do with that. in fact, the Qura'n says that God created a flat earth at the beginning of creation, then he built the universe around it in a form of seven layers. what is more ignorant is that when Muhammad explained the universe to his followers he was very much mistaken about the dimensions of our planet, and the distances that separate between us and the clouds in the sky, and the dimensions of the universe it self.
For instance, Muhammad would say that the distance between the surface of earth and the clouds is a 500 year walk. then he would say that our planted is divided in to seven layers, the thickness of each layer is a 700 year walk, which is completely wrong. further more, Muhammad also divided space into seven layers each layer's thickness is equal to a 500 years walk and above that is an ocean the distance from the bottom of that ocean to it's surface is equal to the whole 7 layers of space all put together, and above that is the throne of God.
If i were to run a simple calculation and add up those numbers i would come to this conclusion:
If an average person could walk at least 80 kilometers each day, then we multiply that by 365 which are the total number of days in one year. the result would be 29200 Kilometers per year, then if we multiply that number by 500, the result for that would be 14600000, then multiply that by 7, the result would be 102200000 Kilometers, then finally multiply that by 2, which is the measure of the ocean that sprays above the 7 layers of space, the result would finally come to this distance 204400000 Kilometers.
So, if you travel 204400000 Kilometers deep in to space in a straight line, then you should run in to God. The only problem is, that sun is 500 light seconds or 8 light minuts away from us, in kilometers the sun is 150000000 kilometers away from earth, this means that God is at twice the distance away from us. Keep in mind that the distance of the nearest star which is called Proxima Centauri is 678024000000 Kilometers away from our planet. If that is the case, then logically speaking, If the Proxima Centauri among other far away stars that are visible in the night sky as well as the sun the shines brightest of all because it is is so close to us, then imagine a God who is so great and so big and huge and so magnificent and so luminant and has a very shiny face, who's larger than all the planets and the sun and all the stars put together and who is not as far from us as our sun, wouldn't we be able to see that God?
God exists because we only believe that he exists, God is Freddy Kruger, he haunts our thought and our dreams, and he is only able to harm us if we believe in him. once you stop believing he can harm you no more.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Demonic possession in Islam
Islam has told so many stories about evil spirits that dwell in places such as wastelands, and unclean places like bathrooms. It also told us stories about how those evil demonic spirits posses our bodies and make do things beyond our control.
So what is an evil spirit? In religious definition; an evil spirit (or any spirit) is a creature that “God” created from fire, this creature is invisible to humans, and has super natural abilities. One of those abilities is possessing humans (obviously).
Points of weakness: Evil spirits are claimed to be powerful creatures, but just like any other creature they have weakness points. The most great weakness those evil spirits have is when someone repeats certain verses from the Holly Qur’an, and when praising God’s name when someone feels the presence of an evil spirits.
When do evil spirits possess humans? There are so many scenarios for an evil spirit to possess a human such as when you enter a bathroom (un-clean places) without praising God’s name (Thank God for Jeff the powerful bath cleaner), or when you’re walking in a complete wasteland where all evil spirits dwell, Not believing in God’s existence, urinating or defecating on the holly Qur’an, and lastly when you go to sleep without saying your prayers.
Of course, everything mentioned above is a huge load of nonsense. And of course there is no such thing as evil spirit or demonic possession. And if you’re a religious person, you must be asking yourself, “If it’s nonsense, then why do millions of people believe in it?”
In all my discussion about religion, I find myself returning to the very same argument that sparked the beginning of religion and everything else that we take and take not for granted. The Brain, it is the one organ in our body that makes us know that we exist, our brain naturally needs to ask questions and find answers as part of its natural role to gather information that can best serve us in our every day struggle to survive in our man-made-jungle.
So what does demonic possession has to do with our brain? Well, surely you must’ve gone out in to the dark woods one day, and felt un-easy as if a presence of something watching you and out to get you. The reason you feel fear when walking alone in dark places is the natural reaction of the mind to that kind of place, it is a defense mechanism as if you’re brain is telling you to be careful. Our brain is always keeping us on full alert when we’re in a place that looks like is filled with danger or in a place that a predator could be lurking in the shadows.
Islam exploits our fears of unknown danger, it tells us stories about evil creature that watch us from other worlds waiting for a chance to possess us and control our bodies and brains. And yes Islam benefits a lot from making you feel afraid. For a very simple reason; when we’re feeling week and afraid we wish that there is someone powerful that can take away our fears and make us feel relieved, This is when Islam tells us to turn to a holly delusion to rid ourselves of a fear that Islam itself has planted in our minds, a person who keeps counting on a delusion to put his/her mind at ease, is at risk of losing his/her sanity to that very same delusion.
Counting on an imaginary God to save us from evil spirits is as depending on Spiderman to save us from the green goblin. Neither of them exists, so why are we so afraid? The basic reason for our fear is because of all the stories that we hear from early ages, it’s not any different from when a child learns not to touch hot objects, the experience can be excruciating and prints a trigger in the mind that makes a child afraid of getting near hot objects in the future. In our everyday life we are exposed to graphic violence on television, even at an early age, not to mention that we find ourselves drawn in to watching horror films that has an indirect impact on our way of thinking.
The point is; that our fear of evil spirits does not make them real, as long as we can understand the reason and history behind such an idea, the fear will go away. Islam was not the first ideology to come up with such mythical creatures; they are also mentioned to exist in all other religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism … etc. It seems like using the “demonic possession” propaganda is Islam’s way of making a person dependent on a illusionary God to save him/her from a predator that does not exist in the first place.
Many people of this day and age have wised-up, and decided not to believe in such superstitions yet millions and millions more in 3rd world nations believe in the existence of those creatures, even though they have never seen it or felt it. The fact of the matter is that people who are not willing to probe deep to find answers find themselves accepting superstitions as facts.
There are people suffering from unknown psychological problems that make them act and behave abusively to others or to themselves, thousands of years ago, those psychological illnesses were considered demonic possessions, and were treated by strapping down the sick person and beating them with torture tools as to expel the evil spirit inside them. Since then science has advanced and realized that religion was wrong about demonic possession, as it turns out that the human brain is a very complex thing, and most of the time it confuses between fact and fiction, because there is a very thin line between sanity and insanity.
Living and working in Saudi Arabia for more than five years, has given me a chance to closely observe the fear of that, which does not exist, even though were living in the twenty first century there are millions of people here swapping stories about demonic possessions, a colleague of mine at work is always concerned about his father’s psychological state, he claims that his father is possessed by an evil spirit, that makes him behave hysterically, so instead of taking him to a professional psychologist, he admitted his father to an Imam, naturally the Imam declared that his father is possessed by an evil spirit, and that he would have to expel the evil spirit by using the traditional methods, not only his father’s condition got worse but now he is also beaten up by superstitious person who believes that he has the knowledge of curing people and giving fake hope to them. Taking that in to consideration, my colleague hasn’t learned from that experience and took his father to real doctor; instead he took his friend’s advice and admitted his father again to other Imams.
What it all comes down to in the end is this, that our ignorance and unwillingness to accept science as a fact, and the willingness to accept religion’s mythology is the main reason why we are in danger of hurting ourselves and the people around us. The universe is vast enough and filled with so much mysteries that science may not be able to explain at this point, but that doesn’t mean that it is not capable of finding the answers eventually. Religion was wrong about so many things, it was wrong about the earth’s movement, and believing that physical sickness was caused by demonic possession, Religion was wrong then, and it’s still wrong now, and it will still be wrong in the future.