Worth The Dollar

I ran across a comment on Yahoo that asked the question, “Why would anyone subject themselves and their children to religious superstition?” This question came up during a heated discussion about human origins.

The easy answer to this question is, Hope. This is the answer for all religions across the board. Why would they subject themselves to all kinds of strange superstitions? Hope.

You may say, “Well I can hope money falls out of the sky into my lap but it’s a waste of time.” To this you would be right so the hope has to be possible or at least be possible to believe. You can’t find many people who, even trying, can bring themselves to believe money will fall from the sky, but you can find many people who believe they have a chance to win the lottery. Even when you dash them with the odds they will still cling to the hope because they hear about the few people who actually win. In regards to heaven, people hear about the Near Death Experiences where people experience bliss, see God and loved ones. Dashing them with the possibility that it’s all the results of a dying brain will do little in snuffing the hope.

Why not just give the hope up and keep your dollar? You’re probably not going to win the lottery anyway. The hope is worth the dollar to them. A dollar a day is well worth the hope to a lot of people, just like an hour a week at church and adhering to a couple strange dietary requirements is worth the hope to the religious. The moral code of conduct is already there and their conscience is already telling them they need to be better people so to a lot of decent people the moral code is not an issue. If you offered people heaven if they treated people with cruelty then for the vast majority this would be a deal breaker.

But hope doesn’t necessarily mean you absolutely know something will happen. Faith is an action based on possibility and hope…not knowledge. So the question is, “Can I believe it?” If the answer is yes that it’s possible then people will ask themselves this, “which one do I hope is true?” And if the requirements for the hope are not to taxing they will of course pay the dollar.

They will say to themselves, “I will try to be a good person anyway so which one do I

‘hope’ is true: that for being decent I will one day be rewarded for it or for being a decent person one day I won’t get anything?” To people who are going to be decent anyway the dollar is well worth the hope.

First Post

It’s funny…I have had so much to say up till now…I think I’m taking this first Blog post to seriously. So I’m going to just post whatever is on this page by 12 this afternoon.

I’ve thought about the question: “With others that know so much more than I do…with others who are so much better than I am…why should I be broadcasting my opinions to the world?” First I’m not a teacher. If someone is looking for leadership they should not be looking here. This blog is simply my perspective or point of view. It is one voice in the midst of billions relaying experience, perspective, and opinion. Second I am Christian, which caries with it the felt duty of proclaiming and spreading the Christian message. So…I feel like (although I might not be the most qualified) I have a responsibility not to keep silent. This mentality is often annoying to unbelievers, but if we are right then in the end the most annoying was the good neighbor that did what they should have done.

Finally, I have talked and will probably continue to talk a lot about the Christian viewpoint in comparison with the atheist/agnostic perspective. Why…it probably has to do with my time and location in the world (America). If I was born in Ancient Greece I would probably focus on Christian/Pagan perspective. If I was born in middle age Constantinople it would probably be Christian/Muslim. There are probably other underlining reasons why I focus on the atheist viewpoint but what ever the reasons I will talk about them a lot.

Look at that…done by 10:40.

May contain yeast, season with salt.
Jeremy