This afternoon has been another spent in deep devotion and conversation with my God. One of the questions that I have not had answered before received an answer today. I wanted to know where everything with mankind went wrong. When did mankind lose its way and its faith?

The answer [...]]]> Originally posted on FaceBook.

This afternoon has been another spent in deep devotion and conversation with my God. One of the questions that I have not had answered before received an answer today. I wanted to know where everything with mankind went wrong. When did mankind lose its way and its faith?

The answer was a little surprising but not unexpected.

Mankind went wrong when it discovered farming! Farming untroduced needs that could not be met from the tribe. Farming needed more and better land so tribes fought over the best land and were merciless in its defence. Farming was labour intensive and attacks were made on other tribes to secure slaves to work the land.

As the farms grew more important it was necessary to have trained warriors to defend them and these costs had to be recovered by using even more slaves to do the work so that there was more money left to pay the warriors and ensure their loyalty.

As hunter gatherers, mankind was subject to the harsh laws of nature. A long hard winter could see tribes being thinned out as members died of starvation as food supplies ran out.

Farming enabled the tribes to set aside so much food that winter deaths became rare – the tribes expanded. Eventually the farms had to organise themselves for their own protection. Towns and villages grew and the demand for food and wealth became insatiable.

Social order was imposed so that the few controlled the many.

Mankind is now a massive element that has permanently destroyed the natural order of things.

Comfortable survival is no longer seen as enough – idiotic geegaws are needed. How is it even remotely reasonable that mankind should have several factories that produce ONLY rubber ducks?

As for faith, it seems we lost that when we refused to believe in the circle of life.

Fanciful tales were created all over the world to explain that death is really only the door way to a new life. Our contentment with our place in the world and the belief in the circle of life were destroyed by those who sought the wealth of the farmers without farming for themselves. They told tales of gods and reincarnation that were the fruit of the imagination they had acquired. Mankind began to worship itself and forgeot where it came from.

It started with farming.

I am having a real problem with social site and Sunday Christians at the moment. Their pontifications and constant references to Jesus in their posts has me wondering what the hell these people talk like when they are not posting.

The levels of hypocrisy that [...]]]>

Am I an MLM product?

I am having a real problem with social site and Sunday Christians at the moment. Their pontifications and constant references to Jesus in their posts has me wondering what the hell these people talk like when they are not posting.

The levels of hypocrisy that are plain for all to see are mind boggling.

A dog called Marko recently rescued and in need of  veterinary help was refused EVEN A SINGLE DOLLAR by all but three people on FaceBook. Two people even told me I was wrong to appeal for help for a dog when people needed help. This is absolutely indicative of the duplicity and lip service the Christians pay to their religion. Even worse, one of these two people even had the gall to post the picture of a loving dog and say how people could learn from them.

There seems to be something basically wrong when a collection of people listen to the words of a man in a frock, especially if that man in a frock is pontificating about homosexual men (the vast majority of whom would not want to be seen dead in a frock!). Why does wearing the frock also require that a shirt collar be worn back to front? Is this to try to fool the Devil that they are looking the other way?

There must also be a reasonable degree of concern when many Christian churches practice a form of mystical cannibalism in order to secure their souls and acknowledge someone who was tortured to death on a cross.

I like to put my faith to the test by asking questions and seeking the opinions of others. It is very sad when the only response I get is from “a Biblical quote for all occasions” – especially when the quote is neither apposite nor transparent. It is fairly obvious that most of these Christians do not know their Bible as well as they could (or should).

One huge inconsistency that has me puzzled by social site and Sunday Christians is the way they claim that everything good is a direct result of the actions of God or Jesus while they are in denial that if He can do good, He could also be responsible for some bad. (After all, He does work in mysterious ways!) One recent film on YouTube showed an athlete winning despite some adverse actions by others. Naturally, there was the sanctimonious claim that it was the strength of Jesus that made winning possible – not the dedication, discipline, training and courage of the athlete. This is crass stupidity because we all know that if the athlete had not won, Jesus would most certainly NOT have been blamed.

Despite my open doubts, my oft stated questions and my easy accessibility, why are no Christians strong enough in their faith to enter into an open discussion? Why are they so vain and full of pride that they feel that a Bible quote is all that is necessary to win any argument. They won’t even accept the premise that the Bible, having been written, translated and transcribed by men might not actually be the word of God.

The Christian church is on to a good thing. It pre-dated multi level marketing by many centuries and  is actually a brilliant MLM model to follow.

1 - Find a hungry market – people scared of dying

2 – Create a product for the market – a book (the Bible)

3 – Enrol affiliates to service and expand the market – priests

4 – Create add-on products that can be sold repeatedly – indulgencies, holy water, religious artifacts

5 – Make the product a membership with regular membership fees payable – build churches, make collections, tythe the land

This MLM system has created enormous wealth while claiming to be aiding the poor and starving masses. The priests are well known for living in a manner far superior to their poor parishioners. Bishops and higher ranked priests display obscene wealth and contempt for those who should be able to go to them for assistance. Huge swathes of real estate or small pockets of very high value real estate have been acquired and yet they serve no useful purpose apart from the aggrandisement of the priests. The whole raison d’etre of the church is to make money. The buildings are often stuffed with treasures while in the houses nearby poor people cannot eat properly yet still contribute to the already immeasurable wealth of the church.

I cannot believe in a God that would lend itself to such vainglorious and uncharitable activities. It puzzles me that the dichotomy of good and evil should be so perfectly illustrated by the very organisation designed to promote good and banish evil.

Yes. I am having a real problem with social site and Sunday Christians at the moment.

]]> http://www.askoldcoot.info/2012/01/31/trouble/feed/ 0 http://www.askoldcoot.info/2011/11/11/flanders-fields/ http://www.askoldcoot.info/2011/11/11/flanders-fields/#comments Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:17:30 +0000 oldcoot http://www.askoldcoot.info/?p=1166 Of course, John McCrae said it best:-

In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place and in the sky the larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow

Loved [...]]]> Of course, John McCrae said it best:-

In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place and in the sky the larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow

Loved and were loved and now we lie in Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe.

To you, from failing hands, we throw the torch: Be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep

though poppies grow in Flanders fields.

Laurence Binyon, in his poem “For the fallen”, summed up the great debt that we owe to our warriors but his poem is best known as the source of the great eulogy to the dead:-

They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We Will Remember Them.

Give thought, today, for the warriors who, through the centuries, have fought and died for their people, ideals and countries.

Incoming search terms:

• flanders poppies

Looking [...]]]> I notice that readers no longer bother with posts that relate to beliefs or religion. I feel that this represents what is happening in the real world. 

More and more people are losing their faith because they do not know how to defend an abstract idea without recourse to archaic and invalid writings. 

Looking around the world at the moment, crime is on an unprecedented degree of escalation and the authorities are equally using an unprecedenteed degree of insane prosecutions to con the public into thinking that they are doing something about it.

We see home owners charged with assault, manslaughter or even murder because they defend their property and themselves to the detriment of the health of the scum bag who would take both from them if they could.

We see a mother who has had her small son mowed down while holding her hand and killed by a drunk driver being prosecutred and found guilty of the child’s murder (by vehicle).

We see criminals literally getting away with murder because the law allows them far more consideration than the victims.We see physical violence being used as a first recourse because of the lack of fear of prosecution and punishment.

Worst of all, we see a criminal population housed and fed far better than a large percentage of the law abiding general population.

Is there any wonder that the belief in God (any God) and the fear of eternal retribution no longer has any control over behaviour? If there is no belief in a life after this one, why would the feckless among us worry about their behaviour? Have fun today for tomorrow you die – and that is the end of you.

It is a great pity that the churches have failed miserably in their mission to maintain a Godly society. The churches have not been able to get their ideas out of the gutters of the middle ages when the Bible was being promoted as the latest, greatest programme to make you a millionaire by this time next week and being touted as the latest miracle whitener for anyone who chooses a criminal life-style.

 When the very institutions that are supposed to teach us how to live our lives to our mutual benefit continue to bleed dry the congregations that still attend, is it any wonder it has all gone bad?

I wonder why creationists do not have a problem with [...]]]> On the second day God created light and saw that it was good. God called the light ‘day’ and the dark ‘night’.

On the fourth day God created two lights, one to rule over the day time and one to rule over the night.

I wonder why creationists do not have a problem with this apparent duplication of effort – and where do they suppose the light created on the second day went to?

So God created man in His own image. Male and female created He them.

Hmmm. So where did the story of Adam’s rib come from and why was it necessary?

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed and every tree in which is the fruit bearing seed; to you it shall be for meat. To every beast of the earth and every fowl of the air wherein there is life I have given every green herb for meat” and it was so.

These précis of the opening verses from Genesis make it quite clear that man and animals were to be vegetarian by nature. The dominion over the earth that God granted to man was not an open licence to slaughter and ingest His creations, indeed it was what it was said to be “dominion”.

Once the opening chapter of Genesis is completed it would appear that “man” decided that this was not a viable truth and changed it. “Male and female created He them.” needed to be ‘mystified’ to ensure the wonderment of the the population at large at the ‘knowledge’ of the priests who butchered the first chapter and added their own money-making ideas.

The first chapter of Genesis does not say how many males and females God created and that was damned inconvenient for the priesthood. How could they manipulate the ignorant and generate a killing impulse if all men were God’s own creation?

Instead of adding this chapter to the ‘discard’ list, the priests treated it as internet marketers now treat PLR – they re-wrote it but left it in circulation!

This arrogant and self-seeking manipulation of Genesis is symptomatic of the whole of the Bible. Where priests required a money making opportunity they created chapters and books that ‘empowered’ them to perform highly paid pseudo-religious ceremonies. They took upon themselves the ability to forgive sins, to cast out devils, to sell indulgences to forgive the most heinous sins, to marry people and the very worst of all of the sacrileges of the priesthood, they decided that they were the voice of God on this Earth and claimed to have direct contact with Him

Since priests are such consumate liars and manipulators of what they claim to be the God-inspired writings that they have selected to form the Bible, why would we believe that the universe was created in six days? Indeed, why would we believe anything they choose to tell us?

And it came to pass that Mary, a married virgin, was visited by an angel and informed that she would give birth to a boy [...]]]> Originally posted to Apsense

And it came to pass that Mary, a married virgin, was visited by an angel and informed that she would give birth to a boy child. On Saturday morning when it was obvious that getting to lie by my feet was the limit of her physical capabilities I began to have fears for her and, as soon as I had walked Chap, I started to call for help.

After five hours of trying, I gave up and sat with my friend. She vomitted a few times without the energy to raise her head and had to wriggle out of it. I don’t know when I realised that she was dying because I simply did not want to believe it but, at about 2pm, it was clear that she was no longer trying to do more than breathe. She seemed to be in no pain and was lying quite comfortably so I was able to remain with her without getting any more angry than I already was about my failure to find a vet prepared to make a house call.

At about 4pm she stopped breathing and her head moved two or three times as though she had a slight cough – then she was still.

I was so very angry that, even a week later, I have not shed a tear for her and was able to discover how I could arrange for the corpse to be removed. Surprisingly this was very simple and very rapid. It was collected within an hour and despite the necessarily functional process, I was pleased that it was treated with respect.

The absence of Scamp in my life did not seem as sudden nor to affect me as much as when other dogs have died. For example, when Abbie died a few years ago, I was heart-broken and bawled like a baby. Maybe my presence during her dying hours enabled me to come to terms with my loss or maybe my anger insulated me from my other emotional responses. Whatever the reason, I have not shed a tear for Scamp and adopted another dog in what might seem indecent haste.

The question that was milling round my head was that age old response to death “Is that it?”

There is now no obvious evidence that Scamp ever lived with me. I have photographs, of course, but there is nothing to show that a great hairy creature that had been very aware of my state of health at any particular time had ever been here.

Is that what death is, the simple erasure of a being from the face of the Earth?

Does our passing count for nothing?