Blind faith

One would think, wouldn't one, that those who purport to be deeply religious would at least know well, and understand, what is written in their own holy book. Historically there is good reason, in Christianity, why this would not be logical to believe. The bible was not even translated into English until 1382, but still not widely available in English until 1535 when it was first printed. Even then there were precious few people who could read it. Catholics could not even get their knowledge in church until the 1960s as until then mass was always given in latin.

So it's no surprise that actual religious knowledge among the deeply religious is poorer than you might expect, and studies have shown that atheists tend to know far more about what is actually written in the bible than their christian counterparts.

A good illustration of this has recently arisen in the USA. 

Unless you have been living in a cave, you will be aware that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the USA have been acting in a way than can be fairly compared to the Geheime Statspolizei of nazi Germany. There are numerous accounts of them behaving in a manner both unconstitutional and indiscriminate. Such as this case.

Unsurprisingly the conduct of ICE has resulted in numerous protests, such as this one, where protests stormed a church where the pastor is himself an ICE thug.

This protest has attracted the attention of the US Attorney General who claims to be a christian. She has stated;

This ignorant bimbo seems to be unaware that Jesus is purported to have done exactly that, and the story is recounted no less than four times in her bible. 

Perhaps she should try reading it once in a while, instead of just using it as a prop.

Martin Luther King

 Today, Monday the nineteenth of January, is Martin Luther King day. Not a date that is observed much in the UK, but in the USA it's a national holiday. One wonders what he would think if he were alive today. The current situation in the USA give the appearance of regression, of having lost all the progress made over the years in the field of civil rights. The closet racists, and mysogynists have been emboldened to emerge from under their rocks and logs to freely vent their hatreds, encouraged by the deranged demented lunatic who sits festering in the White House. His vile infection even seems to have reached us in the UK, where our own nazis fantasise about gaining office.

But in despair there is always hope. Hope that the current chaos prevailing will turn to order if we work and even fight hard enough to that end. King himself had a message for those who despair.

"Only in the darkest night can we see the stars"

Martin Luther King 1929 - 1968

Final word?

OK, can we finally draw a line under the article of fantastic imagination called "The rapture"?

 I wouldn't count on it.

Internal Monologue

     Well, here we are on 6th October, the revised date of the rapture. Nothing has happened so far, but the faithful have specified a window of 2 days, 6/7, and, with the impact of time zones it will be another 48 hours before the realisation will hit that it's not going to happen.

So why exactly do people believe so intensely that they are somehow going to float up to heaven, where they anticipate smugly and gleefully watching those of us left behind all suffer and die?

     Could it all be that they're fucking arseholes who revel in the misfortune of others and are desperately hoping that it does happen?

     A common theme is that they believe it because they have been told, directly or indirectly, by god himself. People like Joshua Mhlakela, or Mike Johnson, who sincerely convey that god speaks to them. Wow! Why do they believe this?

     DZ has a theory. 

     Like the majority of people, DZ experiences an internal monologue. In his every waking minute his mind is constantly engaged in thought. About anything and everything, from the sublime to the ridiculous, the banal to the profound. Questions, answers, reasoning, conclusions. It never stops. From the moment as a young child he was able to think. If he tries to blank out his mind, he finds himself thinking about not thinking.

     He had always assumed that everyone had this. But it also has never occurred to him that this experience was anything other than the workings of his own mind. Like having a dialogue with yourself inside your own head. Sometimes he would drift into articulating his thoughts. Yes. DZ occasionally finds himself talking to himself. No-one takes any notice these days. They all assume you're talking on the phone. 

     But he has never entertained the idea that these thoughts come from anywhere other than his own mind.

     But then he read that some people do not have this internal monologue. He was astounded. Do some people really walk around all day with nothing going on inside their head except their immediate experience. Is there really no little voice inside their head exploring the abstract, the potential, the theoretical, the fantastic, like a constant friend. 

     Apparently true.

     But once in a while, DZ postulates, a little voice does pop up in the empty mind of one of these people. This must come as a huge surprise. If your mind never normally talks to you it must be disconcerting when, rarely, it does. And it seems to DZ that it would be logical to assume that the voice has come from outside. Add in religious fervour and it's obvious what has happened. You've just had a message from god! This might account for the fact that, when god talks to these people, he invariably says what the empty head wants to hear. He lacks the experience and the insight to understand that it's just his own mind finally breaking through.

     I suppose I could have it the wrong way round. Perhaps god has always been trying to talk to me.

     

Prescience

 With regard to the predicted rapture that didn't happen, only a week ago DZ wrote "I predict that we'll all still be here on Wednesday, and that the faithful will claim to have miscalculated. And they'll give another date." 

Well we didn't have to wait long. Entirely as predicted Joshua Mhlakela has obliged. Blaming the failure of his prediction on a miscalculation he has come up with a new date. The 6 and 7 October. That's next week. Apparently it has something to do with using (or not using) the Julian calendar. 

So the failure is all the fault of this guy.

Julius Caesar

I wonder what Mhlakela will be saying on October 8th?

Wrong again

 DZ wrote a few days ago about the impending rapture. The date for this has come and gone, and nothing has happened. Sadly all the religious nutters have not floated off into the sky. Hardly surprising. People have been predicting this event  since 1830, which is when the concept was invented.

This time it was all kicked off by this guy.

Joshua Mhlakela

Mr Mhlakela claimed that he was informed of the impending event by Jesus himself, who came to Joshua in a dream.

DZ would normally regard people who claim to speak to Jesus with some scepticism. But there are lots of people out there who want it to be true, so they believe it and hope. There are scores of previous similar episodes and the credulous don't seem to learn from the experience. For the time being they've gone quiet. Some of the more fervent will now have to deal with the consequences having quit their jobs, or disposing of their possessions.

But rest assured, when the next prediction comes along, as it assuredly will, they'll believe it again.

Ophthalmology