Free Will and the Divine Plan are mutually exclusive

Most Christian denominations preach that God has a divine plan. Sometimes it’s a personal, specific plan tailored to each and every one of us; sometimes it’s a broad, sweeping plan that covers all existence together. Sometimes it’s a series of small plans that exist in a hierarchical structure, each plan linking and deriving from other plans. The point is that there is a plan, and therefore the flock must put their lives in God’s hands so his will be done. However, the Divine Plan theory is not without flaw.

Christians love to accredit God’s Divine Plan for all turning points in their lives. A family member dies, a new baby comes out retarded, or winning a marathon – They’re all part of God’s Plan – Thy will be done. Therefore God determines our direction.

In direct contradiction to this plan, Christians also spout that man is unique because we have been given free will. We are free to make our own choices in life, and those choices will shape our lives via their consequences. Therefore we determine our own direction.

Thereto and henceforth I pose this question to you: Who determines our direction?

On the one hand, God has predetermined exactly how he wants Creation to proceed. One implication of being a perfect, all-powerful being is that you don’t make mistakes. Therefore we must assume that his plan was whole and complete before he put it into action.

So what happens when one of us employs our free will to make a life-altering decision that doesn’t jive with God’s divine plan? When one person employs their free will to kill another person, was that murder in God’s plans for both of those people?

This extremely granular level of planning has a direct relation to Determinism. God’s plan is either complete and fully detailed as I have proposed herein, or it is broad and sweeping, and thus is interpreted by us mere imperfect mortals with a vagueness and obscurity rivaled only by the Bible itself.

Therefore there is but one explanation that is compatible with both the Divine Plan and Free Will, which of course derives from Determinism: God made your decisions for you a long time ago.

Because God is unlimited and total, he has an infinite attention span and unlimited time to create this plan. By this proposition he would have to craft everything in all Creation, down to the tiniest quantum imperfection in a neutron on the slime on the back of a worm who lives under the surface of the fifth moon of the third planet of a system in a galaxy in a globular cluster we haven’t discovered yet. Sure, it’ll be millenia before we ever find that slime, but the plan is complete, so he had to plan for it.

You are a result of your genes, experience, and environment. You could have become any number of different types of people, but only one potential outcome was actually realized. But your genes, experience, and environment are all things that God designed. The decisions you make are based on who you are, and who you are is based on God’s design. Therefore, God predetermined the path you would take through life as part of his Divine Plan.

This explanation jives with both theories (Divine Plan and Free Will); but can you accept it as the truth? If not, perhaps you need to reexamine your belief. If so, perhaps I should post a button to donate your 10% tithe.

God made me an Atheist. God made your religion a minority in this world. Who are you to question his wisdom?

Check Yourself: Do You Really Believe?

The vast majority of people in this world suffer from a collective mass delusion.  In this context, I speak not of the God Delusion, but of the delusion that you believe in God.  Allow me to elaborate.

For the purposes of this sermon, I shall assume that you are a Christian, a derivation thereof, or a member of some similar theistic religion. In this case, you believe:

• There is a supernatural supreme being, which:
  • Created the universe and everything in it
  • Smiles benevelently upon all mankind
  • Is unlimited in his power, knowledge, and presence.
  • Has laid out a Divine Plan, by which all things happen. I acknowledge that the level of granularity here is obscure and varies by individual denominations.
  • Created Hell, a place of neverending torment and anguish worse than you could possibly hope to imagine.
  • Created a series of Angels.  One became a “Fallen Angel” named Lucifer/Satan/Phil/Whatever and now rules all of Hell. Occasionally, he manifests himself on Earth to tempt humans into doing evil things.
  • Has a special list of 10 things he does not want you to do.  Depending on your denomination, these rules differ.
  • In refusal to forgive man for his sins by his merit alone, sent his only son to be tortured and killed.  This action alone appeased God’s anger and therefore convinced him to forgive man — But only if he repents after the fact and is truly apologetic for his crimes against God. Otherwise, he shall go to Hell.
• Creation is too complex to have come about on its own, and therefore must have had a designer.  (Note: Anything capable of designing such complexity would have to be more complex itslef, and where did it come from?)

I believe something too. I believe that if you actually believed these things, you would live much more richeously than you do.  You would donate most of your disposable income to charity (Your family doesn’t count), and volunteer six days a week.  You would go to church and pray more often than you actually do. Are your professional, family, and social lives getting in the way of doing these things? If so, you may not be doing enough to appease God.  Remember:

“In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” - 2 Thess. 1:8-9

Although I personally prefer:

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”  – Romans 3:23

One Earth, One Mankind

I have learned through a variety of sources such as this article and Richard Dawkins’ talk at TED (And these are people who do their research)  that Atheists are hated and distrusted more than any other minority in America.  I’d be suprised if I heard it was much different in the rest of the world, but I shall target America because I live here and am more familiar with its culture.

I was taken aback by a startling display of bigotry in the quote “…Atheists fall below Muslims, gays, and every other minority group when it comes to ‘sharing their vision of American society.’” Note in this case, the rampant intolerance is from those in the study quoted therein.

They’re absolutely right – I don’t share most peoples’ vision of American society.  Hear me out and I’ll explain my vision to you; perhaps you will change your mind. As you read it, keep in mind I know what I’m talking about; I’m a Doctor of Metaphysics and an Archbishop.

Imagine

Imagine a world with no concept of God, no religion, no Sunday gatherings of people who collectively share an invisible friend. 

Imagine a world with no wars, paracide, genocide, or petty bickering over who belongs on a piece of land.  If two parties want it, they can share it.

Imagine a world where our incredible military budget could be spent on things we need as a people: Free healthcare, education, social security, and welfare for the few people who actually need it. 

Imagine a world where people don’t fly planes into skyscrapers, nor place bombs in cars and embassies.

Imagine if children were taught we are one mankind; there are no bad guys, there are no Islamic Fundementalists, and there are no blood fueds.  We work to better ourselves as one people.

Imagine if children were not indoctrinated from a young age to believe a certain religion; but rather introduced into the concept — the theory – of God, in a Theology lecture in college.

Imagine how much we could all cherish and appreciate the lives of ourselves and our fellow man, if only we didn’t have to worry about him bombing us.

Imagine if we hadn’t lost great works of man in huge fires brought on by religious wars.

Imagine “One World”, instead of “One Nation”.  Imagine no “Under God”, no controversy over the 10 Commandments at some courthouse.

Imagine no Crusades, no WW2, no Dark Ages. 

Imagine if we hadn’t stymied the great works of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Johannes Gutenberg, and countless others.

Imagine if the Roman Catholic Church never had more authority than science.

Imagine what year we would have gone into space if we hadn’t been held back by the shackles of our minds. 

Imagine critical thinking.

Those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it.  Theistic religions are big cycles of ignorance to history; or at least of failures to apply that knowledge.  Learn from our history. Go out and spread the word; improve mankind.

Ordained as an Atheist Minister

Today I received my Ordainment Package from the Universal Life Church. While the Ordainment was official on Feb 1, 2009, the paperwork and related items take some time to go through the US Post Office.

I have been granted the title of Archbishop, a member of the upper echelon of ministry. I have also been granted a Doctorate degree in Metaphysics, as it is the offered field of study that most closely resembles science. Thereto and herein, I shall suffice the role of a Minister, Priest, Pastor, or whatever euphamism you wish for a man of the cloth; despite the fact that I shall only wear my ceremonial garb during… well, ceremonies.

I shall use this blog to preach unto you, my flock and unwitting passers by.  Henceforth, if you wish to bear witness to my sermons, you need only Bookmark this site and return at an interval of your choosing. For this is the Internet, where sermons are available on demand and archived indefinitely.

Unlike the church down the street on the corner across from a 7-Eleven, there is no predefined interval nor schedule for these sermons. I shall preach as I find the time and subject matter.

Religious Children

I’ve had enough of people introducing their Christian kids, their Catholic kids, their Mormon kids, and their little baby Scientologists.  Have these parents actually taken the time to analyze what a religious child is?

Your kids are too young to have:

• Collected all available information about the religion you’ve decided they believe in
• Collected all available information about the other major religions across the world
• Critically analyzed each of these religions to reach an understanding of what it means to be Protestant, Islamic, Jewish, etc.
• Compared and contrasted the various religions to determine the similarities and differences therein
• Utilizing a critical thinking process, make a mature decision based on the evidence available

In fact, most of you probably haven’t done this either – but I let you get away with calling yourselves Christian because you believe that you believe — But I digress.  

You have indoctrinated your children. You introduce them to the concepts of God, religiousity, and spirituality. You may have introduced them to even more complex subjects as Intelligent Design and why your religion is the only right one, despite being massively and ridiculously outnumbered.

The key point here is that this indoctrination has occurred while the children are very young, before their critical thinking skills have developed.  Therefore, your children grow up “knowing” your religion is the right one, in exactly the same way they know their parents will protect them and taking candy from strangers is a bad thing. 

That is to say, they don’t have a grasp of the underlying concepts and they lack the capability to analyze these concepts in a rational, unbiased manner. Because of this, they have no choice but to accept it as the truth.  Their parents are always right, right?

One must simply examine the geographic distribution of religious demographics to see this process in action.  India is 80% Hindi, Israel is 76% Jewish, America is 78% Christian (in one form or another), Mongolia is mostly Buddhist, and so forth.  Religions in each region get replicated and (to some extent) modified as they pass down from each generation to their children.

Lesson Learned:  There is no such thing as a Christian child.  There is only the child of Christian parents.

Inaugural Inception of the Heretical Skeptic

I am a heretic, a skeptic, an infidel, a godless heathen, and all those other words your parents and pastor use to scare you; for I am an Atheist — I do not believe in the supernatural, and that includes Yahweh, Ba’al, Zeus, Vishnu, and whomever your god(s) may be.

I am not a Pagan, nor a Wiccan, nor a devil worshipper; for I am an Atheist — I do not believe in the supernatural, and that includes Gaia, Aura, Satan, and golden idols.

You will not see me sacrificing calves to the gods, nor clubbing baby seals for fun and profit, nor stealing the donation money from the Salvation Army; for I am a moral man — I define my own sense of right and wrong, outside of the doctrine of Religion or Law.  Yet somehow, I know it’s wrong to kill someone in cold blood, except in time of war or in self defense; but I digress.

I am but one of over a billion Atheists in this world. We are a silent majority. We outnumber Hinduism, Chinese Traditional, Buddism, Judaism, Scientology, and the followers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. We are outnumbered only by Christianity and Islam. We comprise 16% of the world’s population, our numbers continue to grow, and we’re not going away.

There is no cause to be alarmed; we wish you no harm. Over the forseeable future, I shall endeavor to provide you with information about us, why you should welcome us, and why you are wrong.