and her adventures in Atheism
god
Why Doesn’t God Heal Amputees? We May Have the Answer.
Mar 16th
Photo by The Cambodia Trust (flickr.com)
There is no god. Even if there were, it clearly doesn’t give a damn about you missing some bodily tissue. If it did, it could fix it! How do we know this? Science!
The fabulous website whywontgodhealamputees.com is based on the challenge that if a god is all-powerful, all-loving, and promises to answer prayer, then why won’t this god heal someone who has a missing limb? It’s never happened, and we know it never will. At least, not through prayer.
An exciting landmark has been reached in regards to a gene that may regulate tissue regeneration in mammals (that means humans too, Creationists!). This ability to replace damaged flesh with healthy, scar-free flesh seems to be triggered by the loss of the p21 gene. When the p21 gene is lacking, cells behave more like embryonic stem cells rather than adult cells.
“Much like a newt that has lost a limb, these mice will replace missing or damaged tissue with healthy tissue that lacks any sign of scarring,” said the project’s lead scientist Ellen Heber-Katz, Ph.D., a professor in Wistar’s Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis program. “While we are just beginning to understand the repercussions of these findings, perhaps, one day we’ll be able to accelerate healing in humans by temporarily inactivating the p21 gene.”
[Andrew Snyder, Ph.D. stated,] “In normal cells, p21 acts like a brake to block cell cycle progression in the event of DNA damage, preventing the cells from dividing and potentially becoming cancerous,” Heber-Katz said. “In these mice without p21, we do see the expected increase in DNA damage, but surprisingly no increase in cancer has been reported.”
(Read the rest over at PhysOrg)
If it may work on a mouse, could tissue regeneration be available to humans in the future? Do you think this would encourage or stifle the superstitions about divine healing?
Tract Evangelism
Mar 15th
Jesus loves you so much that he killed himself so that you would receive a mass-produced and over-simplified printed flyer.
When trying to “reach the lost” for Jesus, there are no holds barred and no pop culture topics left untouched.Anything and everything can become a preaching tool. I remember my church giving us evangelism tracts to use during summer vacation as a challenge. They looked like money (see the back of the bill above) and were designed to lure the greedy sinner into picking them up. My youth pastor gave us tips for how to give them out:
- Leave them on the ground; someone will pick it up and maybe read!
- Leave it with your tip in a restaurant (I know someone who left these tracts on the table without any real money as a tip. Yeah, so Christ-like!)
- Put it in an envelope with a bill payment.
- Tuck it into the g-string of a stripper (just kidding! Though I wouldn’t put it past someone to do this.)
How to Avoid Uncomfortable Conversations about Religion
Mar 11th
Ah the internet. Such a font of fantastic, novel, and often useless knowledge. One of my favorite sites to read for fun is WikiHow.com. The user-created content there is often worth reading if you need some simple advice on how to handle different situations.
Some of these wiki entries apply directly to secular folks like you and me. Do you have a friend who wants to ask you how your spiritual walk with god is going? Is your brother confronting you at an awkward time about your lack of church attendance? Do you just want to avoid debates on religion all together? Check out this bit of wisdom about how to handle acquaintances, family, or friends when they want to talk about spiritual matters:
How to Avoid Uncomfortable Conversations About Religion
Photo by hovering dog (flickr.com)
from wikiHow
There is a time and place for everything under the sun, including discussions about religion. Whether you are religious or not, if someone is trying to draw you into a conversation, or perhaps an argument, regarding religion or morality but the timing and situation is awkward and uncomfortable, this article will help you find a way to avoid a heated debate as politely as possible.
Steps
- Resist the urge to argue. It’s difficult to overlook a statement that seems completely ignorant and ungrounded, and you’ll likely have the urge to correct the person. Instead, smile and say “Interesting…”
- Meet it head on with honesty. Be true to yourself and your own feelings. Say “I’m not comfortable talking about that and I’m just not willing to have this conversation…”
- Redirect the conversation.
- Ask about their children, significant other, health, or job.
- Make an absurd joke to deflect the seriousness of the situation. For example, try: “Religion? No, I haven’t seen that movie.” Or: “Religion?! What . . . do you get that at, like, Wal-Mart or Starbucks or something?” Or: “No thanks. I haven’t been able to talk about religion since the last time the Cubs won the World Series.”
- Dead pan, “I am sorry. I have a firm rule to not discuss politics or religion with anyone I’ve not seen naked.” That usually ends the discussion rather abruptly, and on a light-hearted note.
- For people who are insistent on discussing religion, however, they’re likely to return to that topic quickly, so keep the conversation flowing at the level of small talk until you can do something else.
An Atheist’s Letter to God
Feb 12th
One of my favorite youtubers, Lovingdoubt, has written a letter to god (if it exists). She’s not angry at this deity and does not blame it for anything. She speaks to a god who is invisible and unknown by all humankind. The creator of a universe that has left no evidence behind.
At one point, Lovingdoubt apologizes to god for pretending she had a personal relationship with god. This particular portion rings so true to me. If there is a god with an opinion, then I hope it is not offended by the ignorance and pompous sense of importance the theists on earth have shown … that I have shown.
It is insurmountably arrogant to think a god who is truly infinite in every way still gives a damn about a certain short-lived species on one of the specks of dust in the billions upon billions of specks in the universe. To think that this deity made all of this just for us who cannot even understand or discover it all is absurd and wishful thinking at its worst.
We’re told by the Abrahamic religions that Yahweh is personal and obsessed with human behavior and thought. In Christianity specifically, a god commits suicide and murder all at once just for you. Because of your evil nature that you had at birth. How frightening and gruesome is this story?
No wonder people accept Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and confess their sins. The guilt I felt for causing a deity commit unspeakable horrors because it was my fault was too much to bear. I felt obligated to accept this “gift” given to me 2000 years ago (that I had a chance to ask for) because of how difficult it was for this god to give it. Can we say manipulation?
I digress. The point Lovingdoubt is making works without my silly rant about salvation. The god she speaks to is not Yahweh or Allah, but the god no one knows. What would you say in your letter to god?
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