Taking a short break

Hey everyone,

I’ll be taking a short break over Christmas from writing.

In the mean time this short video should keep you all entertained. It’s completely irrelevant to the blog but it is quite amusing. I'm the one holding the camera :)

"Wake up Luke Morgan"

Have a great Christmas and New Year’s everyone!

Stay safe!

Love Jason

What came before the big bang?

Awesome documentary exploring the question: What came before the big bang?

Finding meaning and purpose in life

This world is shot through with mystery. When contemplating this mystery it can be very easy to find yourself lost in a scary world of deep thoughts and questions. However this state of continual questioning can only keep us going so far, eventually we need to find something that gives our lives meaning and keeps us grounded. For some they draw this from religion, spirituality and God. Others draw meaning from science and the quest for knowledge; some even dedicate their lives to accumulating material wealth, sex, politics and fame. Just about anything you can think of someone has made it their life’s purpose.

Some of us are fortunate. We are born with a gift or ability that from the moment we’re born seem to be destined to excel in. I however, am not one of these people. I have no idea what I want to do with my life. My life remains a blurry, unplanned mystery. I’ve been through many phases in my life, from wanting to work in film and television, building and designing sets, acting, writing, personal training, wanting to be a fireman, becoming a cartoonist and currently wanting to study psychology and philosophy. I’ve worked in a pizza place, a video store, a news agent, a casino, a bus factory for a week; I was an electrician for a day, a labourer for 2 weeks and I currently work for a public transport company designing and planning bus routes, ha! Bet you didn’t see that coming. My personal beliefs went from a believer in God, to a fully fledged Christian, to a middle grounded agnostic! I’m probably the most indecisive person I know... I think, I dunno, I’m not really sure.

One of the things I’ve discovered about this uncertainty for one’s life ambition and meaning, Is just how common it is among us all, especially from people of my own generation. So if you ever thought you were alone in the scary unknown search for your life’s “purpose”, fear not! There are many of us! As for those of you who have got this all figured out, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad envious. But unfortunately certainty just isn’t an option for me; I’m yet to come across the instruction manual for my life with all the answers written down for me. So I’m forced to do the only thing I really can, search for meaning and purpose where I can find it. Let the adventure begin!

My problem with the secular world,

Like many, I find the pursuit of material goals very superficial. Unfortunately it seems the secular world today is pushing a lot of emphasis on the self. The value of a person in today’s society seems to gravitate towards personal wealth, how much money you have, your job and how many properties and cars you own. People more and more are sacrificing time with family for financial pursuits and mums and dads work longer hours away from kids just to keep up. People are often judged first hand from their occupation than how they treat others. The heroes we hold up aren’t the great humanitarians of our time, or the great scientists but the wealthy elite, the pop stars and movie actors.

The pressure to be “beautiful” on the outside is everywhere. Supermodels are considered icons and role models simply because they were born with “perfect” features. You can’t walk into a service station or a news agency today without being bombarded with magazines sprawled everywhere in plain view for our little ones to see showboating on their front covers men and woman photoshopped to perfection with unblemished skin and we spend billions of dollars a year on cosmetics while millions of people around the world still don’t have the bare essentials. I’m not the first person to realise this, we all know it. And most of us, including myself, indulge in this mad consumerist lifestyle regardless. Somewhere along the line we got our priorities mixed up!

The value in religion,

As critical as I am of religion, and despite its hesitancy towards change, its fear driving manipulation and its dogma pushing aspects. When stripped down to its core, I believe religion to be about finding meaning outside the “self”. If religion, instead of trying to become the centre of our moral lives, dedicated its energy into exploring spirituality and mysticism (where it does its finest work) and left us to figure out morality for ourselves, instead of shoving it down our throats for all the wrong reasons. I think we would see a great rise in the common interest in spirituality from the secular world.

Here is a great thought from a book I read recently on morality:

“The link between faith and morality, long accepted as part of the essence of religious life, has been challenged... It is good news for morality, as well. Instead of being the special province of paternalistic religious leaders, the power to make enlightened moral choices now passes to each individual, each family and each community. Liberated from the yoke of religious prescription, morality can quite properly be seen as a secular pursuit: we are not going to be ‘good’ because our religious beliefs demand it of us, or because our faith points to reward in heaven, but because we want to work out a way of living that allows us to be at peace with ourselves and each other.” (Right and Wrong: How to decide for yourself)

All human societies all around the world have some form of a religious or spiritual aspect; there must be a reason for this. There must be a reason why we try so desperately hard to reach beyond ourselves to find meaning. In all religions, despite their differences, one common rule can be found. It’s called The Golden rule, to sum it up, “To love others as you love yourself”. I think true meaning in life can be found when we realise that the “self” is a delusion and when we realise the importance of each other. Perhaps then we might find ourselves on the right track.

Finding the middle ground,

If I can’t find meaning in the consumerist life style of the secular world, and am turned off by the restrictive dogmatism of religious institutions. What else is there? Am I forced to wander the earth in a meaningless existence until I finally meet my eminent demise in which I am welcomed by nothingness? I don’t think so.

Maybe there is some middle ground between the constrictiveness of religion and the shallow quest of materialistic pursuits, where some sensibility and true meaning lie. Maybe we could encourage and hand down to our children the beauty of some of the religious teachings of self sacrifice, self respect and compassion along with the freedom, maturity and liberation that accompany secular values. Imagine a world in which we were able to explore spirituality and ultimate meaning free from narrow minds and closed doors, equipped with only our deepest questions and the desire to know the truth. Maybe we don’t have to “pick a side”? Maybe we can have the best both worlds?

Learning to be content,

I’m slowly starting to learn the art of contentment in my life. I like how Saint Paul puts it in his letter to the Philippians:

“...I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” (Philippians 4: 11-12)

Contentment, as I understand it, is learning to differentiate between our desires and our needs. No matter what we do, we will always have superficial desires, more money, bigger house, nicer car. While I don’t think it’s necessarily bad to think these things, I do think things need to put in perspective first. These superficial desires will always be with us, we will always want more. The art of contentment is realising this, and coming to terms with the fact that happiness will not come with more things, but true happiness will come when we accept our position in life and focus on our needs such as family, friends, food and shelter. If you’re reading this and you’re ALIVE, then I’m guessing you have what you need in life, if your still unhappy than the problem doesn’t lie with not having enough money or material things, the problem is your perspective! We might not be able to control the circumstances around our life, but we can always control our perspectives.

Where I find meaning,

I suppose if I was to reflect on where I personally draw meaning, it would have to come from others. My family, my friends and the friendly strangers I meet along the way. It’s the people in my life that make it worth living, the people that I share this mysterious journey with and that I can relate with simply because they too are human. I find true joy and meaning in the simple things in life like laughing to the point of tears, listening to music that moves me in ways I’m still not really sure how, discovering new things, searching for answers to hard questions, and of course a glass of red wine (or two). But all of these things would be meaningless if I didn’t have people to share them with. I find value, meaning and comfort in the fact that no matter what happens in life, no matter what this is all about, and no matter what happens when it’s all over, I share the experiences and the journey with others just like me.

Much love

Jason

Quote: Dalai Lama

Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.

Evaluating the power of prayer

Prayer is a crucial component to most religious faiths. It is considered by many a means in which humans can directly communicate to God. Some believers will even go as far as to say God will intervene and help us out if we are willing to readily dedicate our lives to the process know as prayer. For many prayer is a deeply personal affair between them and God, but one thing that can’t be denied is people from all around the world and from all different faiths confess to having their prayers answered in all sorts of wonderful and colourful ways. So, is prayer an actual means of making contact with God? Can we find truth by continually coming to God through prayer? Or are we wasting our time by deluding ourselves into thinking that anyone’s actually listening on the other end?

The unfalsifiable nature of prayer

One of the issues we must first address before we can either validate or falsify the power of prayer is the unfalsifiable nature of everyday prayer. To the believer who prayers every day, God most certainly, no doubt, without question answers their prayers. But what happens when God doesn’t? What is the answer a believer will give when he or she is faced with the inevitable circumstance of a specific unanswered prayer? It usually sounds something like this:

It wasn’t God’s will,
God works in mysterious ways,
He is testing my faith,
His ways are bigger than mine,
He sees the bigger picture.

But of course when a prayer is answered, all glory goes to God right? If we look at prayer through this lens we will never really, truly know if prayer works or it doesn’t, because through this system God can never lose. If the prayer comes to fruition, God wins because he answered it. But, if the prayer courses through time unanswered then it simply wasn’t God’s will or he works in mysterious ways, so he still wins. Now I’m not saying that God doesn’t answer prayers. I’m simply bringing to light the fact that if we are going to look at prayer objectively, if we are going to put prayer to the test and scrutiny of 21st century investigation we need to try to (at least for the moment) put aside our theological glasses and bravely and honestly look at prayer head on and ask ourselves the question, what’s really going here?

Prayer and healing

Naturally there have been many case studies on prayer to see if we can scientifically validate wether prayer actually has a positive outcome on people who are sick.
What I find amusing about these studies is you will find many that suit the outcome you want. Believers in the power of prayer will often site case studies that showed a positive outcome for those that have been prayed for:

http://www.proofgodexists.org/scientific_study_of_prayer_under.htm
http://www.1stholistic.com/Prayer/hol_prayer_proof.htm
http://www.summitlighthouse.org/prayers/Stories-And-Studies/Prayer-Works.html

Sceptics of the power of prayer will often provide case studies that show actually those that have been prayed for had no effect or sometimes had even gotten worse!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/health/31pray.html
http://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2005/07/prayer_still_us.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12082681/ns/health-heart_health

So what’s a well intentioned agnostic supposed to make of this? Does this just lead us to yet another cross road where we must just say people stretch the facts to suit their own agendas? Maybe, but if prayer had no effect on recipients than what would we expect to see?

Let’s take a coin toss analogy. Most believers and non believers will agree that no matter how many times you pray to God, he’s not going to break the laws of nature to win you a coin toss. So if we can all agree that flipping a coin is a completely random process, what happens when you toss a coin over a long period of time? Your heads to tails ratio roughly gets split down the middle. So what does it tell us that with so many case studies done on the effectiveness of prayer that they roughly equal themselves out? If I were to make a personal judgment I think this leans more towards the inefficiency of prayer, rather than the efficiency. Surely if prayer played a larger role in determining the well being of sick people we would see a much higher percentage in the increased health in those that were prayed for. But we simply don’t.

Now I don’t mean to offend anyone, I really don’t. For the record I have prayed for many sick people in the past that have gotten better, and if they were the only subjective experiences I had I would probably still hold to that belief. The only difference is now I look back, I probably tend to give most of the credit to the wonderful doctors and surgeons, rather than the invisible working hand of God. But then again he does work in mysterious and wonderful ways... right?

The dangers of prayer

Can faith in the power of prayer ever be dangerous? Unfortunately yes it can. When things like modern medicine and technology are substituted for complete faith in the power of prayer, this is when things turn ugly:

http://www.komonews.com/news/national/17057006.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-6162918-504083.html

Besides the obvious tragedy that a beautiful innocent child has died from a perfectly preventable disease, I think there is another underlying theme here that needs to be addressed. Aren’t these people, when you really think of it, the true believers! These people are willing to forsake all forms of worldly aid to rely on nothing but complete faith in the healing power of God and take him at his word:

James 5:14-15: "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him." (ASV)

Matt 21:22: "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." (ASV)

Mark 16:18 "they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." (ASV)

If God is pleased with faith than you would think such a God would reward a family for making such a strong demonstration of total faith. But unfortunately for whatever reasons this isn’t the case. I think most people know deep down if they had to make a choice between years of technological advances in modern medicine and surgery or a good old fashion prayer, who their going to choose.

In the case of the young girl who had a treatable form of diabetes, you would think when the parents are met with such a confronting realisation that their child now lies dead on the floor because their prayer hadn’t worked, they would at least begin to question their faith, but quite the contrary. It doesn’t seem to concern them in the slightest:

"Only our faith in God is giving us strength at this time."

I think this goes to show faith is deeply rooted in a persons self. To some of us not even the blatant loss of a child in the face an unanswered prayer can shake us off the foundation of faith.

The positives of prayer

Even if I personally fail to come to the terms that prayer works in the way so many believers confess that it does. I still can’t ignore the countless millions of people from all different faiths that testify to its power. Is it still possible that prayer can still “work” in a positive way for the believer despite my scepticism? Yes, I think it can. I think prayer, like some forms of meditation are great ways to get our focus off of us and to change our perspectives in a more positive fashion. The mind and the body are interdependently connected in ways we still don’t really understand. One cannot function without the other and the well being of one also depends on the other. For example, we all know how stress (a negative mental state) can actually have a direct negative effect on our physical state. People can actually think themselves ill! If this is so, than is it at least plausible that changing our perspective and thoughts to a more positive frame of mind can have a similar positive effect to our physical health? Is it possible prayer works in this manner? If this is so than perhaps regular prayer and meditation (regardless of theological interpretations) is good for us!

For the record I actually think Jesus had it right when he said “your faith has made you well”. I believe the power of prayer has more to do with the hope and faith that we ourselves invest in it. This might explain why so many people, from so many different faith backgrounds can all claim that it is their faith traditions that answers prayers, heals and gives authentic spiritual experience. The human mind is very complex, powerful and not yet fully understood. We do well to wait to see what neuroscience reveals in the coming years.

The only way to truly test prayer

As wonderful as science and data collecting is, I think there really is only one way to really know if prayer actually works,

Try it! I know in the secular world of agnostics and atheists it’s almost Taboo to pray. I do not consider this so. If the bible, or even the Quran, says that the only way to know God and truth is through prayer than what have you got to lose? To be sceptical of prayer is not the same as being a cynic of prayer. Why not take these holy books at their word and test them out? But if I were to give some advice, to really know if this whole prayer thing works, I would ask God for something specific. Many people ask God for a “sign”. Well to me that’s a little too open, this could be interpreted as anything. The very next day you might stumble across a $100 note. Alas! There really must be a God.

If you’re going to pray and ask God to reveal truth then why not ask something deeply personal, that only God (if he [or she] exists) would know. If anything happens let me know! Or maybe God has already answered your prayers, in that case let me know about that experience. I’ve been trying for a number of years now without any luck, but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t but a small speck of optimism left that maybe, just maybe, I might get an answer back.

Love you all

Jason

Does God make sense?

Great series that spans multiple views from an unbiased persective. I share this mans views and struggles.

http://www.closertotruth.com/video-profile/Does-God-Make-Sense-Full-Episode-/918

Check out any of his videos and interviews on www.closertotruth.com

Debate:The resurrection of Jesus

Debate between Prof. Gary Habermas and Dr. Arif Ahmed on the Resurrection of Jesus

T-shirt

I recently found/bought a T-Shirt that so perfectly sums up my world beliefs its scary!:

To Live is to move, to explore is to exist.

SEEKERS OF

THE TRUTH

Destined to forever roam in search of answers. Living for the moment. Uncertainty is their home, adventure their drug, with empty pockets & open minds they venture on.

The road is Life.

Debate: Christanity or Athiesm

Frank Turek Vs Christopher Hitchens on what world view better explains reality.

Religious Intolerance: Sam Harris

Some challenging thoughts from Sam Harris

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=28523494

Jesus camp / hell house

Here are two of the most unbiased documentaries ive seen on two separate evangelical Christian movements moving across America. These documentaries are wonderful in that they don’t push you in any particular direction. They only give us, the audience, a glimpse into the lives of these people and a platform to form our own agreements and objections to their stories.

I think these videos present us with a great opportunity to discuss perhaps some of the likes, dislikes, concerns or agreements we may have with certain aspects to the evangelical Christian movement. There is much to be discussed here and so I will start things off with my own personal thoughts of the films. Please feel free to add your own thoughts or disagreements with any aspects of the films or my thoughts.

*Be sure to watch the films before you read my thoughts.

JESUS CAMP (part 1)

Jesus Camp Part 2 (the rest of the parts are on youtube.)

HELL HOUSE (part 1)

Hell house Part 2 (the rest of the parts are on youtube.)



My thoughts on the films

Jesus Camp

I first watched this film as a Christian quite some time ago. Even in my Christian mindset I was absolutely disgusted at what I witnessed. First and foremost I think there needs to be a clear distinction between this type of Christianity and the Christianity I was subjected too. While similarities are there they are definitely two different world views. Becky Fisher and company make up a small (unfortunately not small enough) fraction of the evangelical Christian movement. Many of my Christian friends would absolutely object to this kind of child abuse. But in fairness, I think it’s a lot easier for the non Christian to find the indoctrination of children in this manner morally concerning. After all, if there really is a hell, then wouldn’t it be ok to condition kids at such an early age in the ways of a “true” Christian?

To me this film displayed actions and behaviour that were nothing short of child abuse. I feel for these children, as do many Christians. In my opinion children should always be given the freedom to make their own minds up and never have beliefs pushed upon them. But If were being realistic, parents are always going to instil their own morals and values onto their children, so naturally a Christian or a Muslim is going to pass on what they believe to their children. I don’t feel I have a right to tell parents how to raise their own children. But I do have a right to raise my own concerns for children in general. I am a participating member of this society and I object whole heartedly to the idea that a child from an early age should be subjected to the kind of brain washing, fear driving, religious indoctrinating bullshit that we witnessed in this video. Children are our future.

Hell house

I really enjoyed this documentary. There were some people in this video that scared me, and no, they weren’t any of the people dressed in demon outfits. It was mainly the church pastor with the moustache. There were also people that I absolutely loved. Such as the single dad raising all his kids, my heart broke watching his littlest one have a seizure. Again a lot of my objections are on the same page as Jesus Camp and again, my personal experience with Christianity was nothing like what you see in the film, and the two should not be confused. But there are similarities that need to be addressed. This films focus is a lot more on the fear driving aspect of Christianity rather than the indoctrination of little ones.

My main issue with this film (to state the obvious) is the fear! Why so much fear? Is it really so necessary? Surely at this point in history we can look back and see some of the biggest mistakes made in the past have been caused by unwarranted fear. Governments use it, disastrous political regimes have used it and many religions use it. Fear can drive a person to do almost anything and is a great way to keep large groups of people in line. However If we want to keep our minds straight and think clearly, we need to rid ourselves of unnecessary fear. If you fear the afterlife it’s obviously going to radically cloud your judgment. You’re going to cling to the first thing that comes along and promises you some sort of comfort.

The truth is no one knows what happens after we die, and Christianity isn’t the only religion claiming eternal torment for those that don’t follow. We can’t live our lives in fear of what might or might not be in the afterlife. We can however learn to make good moral choices without fear and intimidation. I love my dad, he doesn’t have to threaten me with punishment for me to listen to him, and neither does God. Although to be fair to God, he (or she) is never the one doing the intimidating, Gods not the one writing the books, building the hell houses and spreading the fear, it’s the people conveniently passing on the message for him. Bless people :)

My other major objection was the final scene of the film when some of the church members began describing their view of the world and how it’s all about to come to an end. Here is one young lady’s response:

“I truly believe the end times are right upon us and there happening right now... the world is the worst that it have ever been, its and ugly evil world, and that’s a scary thing, but at the same time it’s a good thing because that means that Jesus is close to coming and is about to come back for his bride.”

Any belief system, religious or otherwise, that builds in you such a pessimistic view about the world as the one above, is not one that is going to further the progression of a civil, free society. The day we stop thinking or caring about the world and its future is day we find ourselves in big trouble.

These are just some of my thoughts and concerns. Please help me out and share with me your thoughts, wether you agree or disagree.

Much love

Jason

One of my favourite prayers

May I be no man's enemy, and may I be the friend of that which is eternal and abides.
May I never devise evil against any man; if any devise evil against me,may I escape without the need of hurting him.
May I love, seek, and attain only that which is good.
May I wish for all men's happiness and envy none.
When I have done or said what is wrong, may I never wait for the rebuke of others, but always rebuke myself until I make amends.
May I win no victory that harms either me or my opponent.
May I reconcile friends who are wroth with one another.
May I, to the extent of my power, give all needful help to all who are inwant.
May I never fail a friend in danger.
May I respect myself.
May I always keep tame that which rages within me.
May I never discuss who is wicked and what wicked things he has done, butknow good men and follow in their footsteps.

- The Prayer of Eusebius (a pagan who lived some two thousand years ago,as quoted in Gilbert Murray, Five Stages of Greek Religion)

What does it mean to be sceptical?

How many of us dismiss ideas and claims simply on the basis of them sounding absurd or ridiculous? If were being honest, id say most, if not all of us. I suppose one could even say it’s natural to judge incoming information with our current understanding of reality. But is this what it truly means to be sceptical? To stand from the sidelines knocking down anything that we may have a pre conceived idea as being implausible or false?

We are all sceptical of something, whether it’s an area of religion, politics or science. But how many of us dare go to the trouble of actually putting in the effort of genuine research into what we are so sceptical of? How many of us actually know what we’re talking about when we say were “sceptical” of something?

Critical thinking is not the same as cynical thinking. This quote from philosopher Massimo Pigliucci explains this nicely:

“I think that a crucial aspect of being skeptical, of engaging in critical thinking, is not the idea that you reject claims because they seem absurd. That’s not being a skeptic, that’s just being a cynic. It’s just denying things for the sake of denying it. The idea of skepticism is that you inquire — that you do the work.”

I think we all owe it to ourselves to be a little more sceptical of the world around us.

If you’re sceptical of a political idea, then do the research from both sides. Look into the pros and cons. Equip yourself with a little background knowledge of politics and some of the mistakes made in the past.

If you’re sceptical of an area of science, such as evolution, then read books and journals from scientists in the field, watch scientific documentaries and lectures. Educate yourself on the arguments for and against.

If you’re sceptical of religion, read books from religious perspectives, research the history from both sides of the spectrum. Read the bible, read the Quran and if they say the only way to know truth is to ask God (Allah), then try it! Test out the claims. That’s what it truly means to be sceptical.

Don’t fall prey to the laziness of cynicism. Truth won’t be found by shouting blindly from the sidelines. Truth, if it can be found at all, will be found by honest, genuine inquiry.

Jason

A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking has always been one of my favourite scientists. I’ve always admired him for what he’s accomplished despite his illness. His documentaries and interviews always grab my attention and he never seises to amaze me with his vast knowledge and ability to simplify complex elements of the universe into something a lay person such as myself can understand. This book was originally written for just that lay person who doesn’t know much about theoretical physics or quantum mechanics (basically 99% of the population). I opted to go for the audio book version in this case; I find it much easier to listen at work this way. I own a hard copy but it’s a little tricky, and if I must say a bit mischievous, to read at work.

A brief history of time is not a new book; in fact it was first published in 1988 (the year I was born). Some major advances in technology and theoretical physics have been made since then, but it still remains a monumental book for its transition from a life’s work in understanding the cosmos into simple terms that everyday people like myself can grasp. It has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and was on the London Sunday Times best seller list for over four years.

However If you think this book is going to be a walk in the park, you will be horrifically mistaken. Be prepared to have your brain pushed to its limits. I lost count how many times I had to rewind some parts and stop all other activities I was doing to focus my full attention on the subject at hand. I still don’t really understand the general theory of relativity, but I’ll be dammed if I let it beat me! In saying that there were moments when Stephen laid out complex concepts to which he would explain in the simplest terms. These were my favourite parts of the book, were after listening to an explanation, it felt as if light bulb went off in my head and I just got it. His explanations of the big bang and gravity were simply beautiful and very helpful for a simpleton like me to try and visualise and understand the crucial role gravity plays in our universe.

A friend of mine has brought to my attention that there is another lighter version of this book called “A briefer history of time” which is a little easier to understand. This might be a better option for those of us who don’t have much of scientific background. After reading this book thou I’m contemplating waiting around for the “briefest history of time”! Stephen Hawking remains one of my all time favourite scientist and I look forward to reading his new book “The grand Design”, which from what I’ve heard about it so far seems to be a bit controversial... excellent! If you want to try to understand the universe, if you want to know what science reveals about the big questions, this is the book for you!

Jason

The Case for Christ

Book: The Case for Christ
Author: Lee Strobel

I’ve been meaning to read this book for a while, actually so long I think I was a Christian when it was on my to read list, (I need not spell out the irony of me finally reading it as an agnostic). Many Christians hold Lee Strobel as one of their champions of reason. He is a very smart guy, and from what I can tell he seems like a pretty genuine guy too. I love watching his faith under fire series in which he gets speakers from all across the board to battle it out. I also think he makes for a pretty fair moderator. As a Christian I used to love hearing his testimony of how he came to faith through this long journey of weighing up the facts and deep investigation. He sounded so convincing!

The book starts out in this fashion. Lee begins with his own personal journey of faith and how he became a Christian. Lee, having experience as a journalist is a very persuasive writer. Lee made some statements at the beginning of this book that set things up to be quite promising. It was shaping out to be a good read! I actually had a lot of fun at the beginning of this book, I was enjoying reading some of the answers from top Christian scholars and I thought Lee was asking some really good questions, sometimes even surprising me with a question I didn’t even think to ask myself!

However at about the half way mark, I began to find the book quite dry. I liked it, I was having fun with it, but the answers from the evangelical Christian scholars were all beginning to sound like broken records. Some of the arguments being put forth by some scholars have already been refuted by other prominent scholars. It was also around this point I had realised Lee had only interviewed Christian scholars with an apologetic purpose. I was after a fresh perspective, an argument from a different side, maybe a more liberal Christian perspective or even a secular scholar, someone with a little less theological and emotional baggage that could possibly get in the way of deciphering truth from the gospels and other historical sources. But so far Lee seemed to be avoiding the opposition which made me wonder.

It was when I got to chapter 6 “The rebuttal evidence” I thought things might start to heat up. He begins the chapter with his usual real life court case story and then proceeds to talk a little bit about the Jesus seminar; a mixed group of scholars who don’t agree with the conservative literal interpretation of the gospels that Lee is so desperately trying to prove is true. Here is how Lee starts this chapter:

“Now that I had heard powerfully convincing and well-reasoned evidence from the scholars I questioned for this book, I needed to turn my attention to the decidedly contrary opinions of a small group of academics (the Jesus seminar) who have been the subject of a whirlwind of news coverage... ” Page 111

“But I wanted to go beyond the headlines and to unearth, as commentator Paul Harvey likes to say, “the rest of the story”...” Page 112

I remember thinking to myself “awesome”! Now we finally get to hear from scholars that have different opinions. Who might he interview I wonder, seeing how he’s talking about the Jesus seminar, I wonder if it’s going to be John Dominic Crossan? Or maybe even Robert Price? I’ll tell you who it was... neither! Lee in his built up speech about hearing from those who oppose the conservative Christian view of biblical scholarship goes to interview yet ANOTHER evangelical Christian scholar who is well known for defending scholarship from the “heretical” Jesus seminar.

It was at this point the book began to go downhill from me. All the promises of genuine journalistic enquiry into what we know about Jesus were beginning to sink lower and lower. I think I realised at this point this book wasn’t indented for sceptics who have done a little research on both sides. This book sole purpose is to convince those who have already been convinced. Sorry Lee, I think you’re a top bloke but if your idea of genuine enquiry into truth is too interview one side’s proponents one after the other, you’ve lost me.

Although I found the book very one sided, let’s remember that Lee is an author. Authors don’t write books that no will buy. They are usually aimed at a specific targeted audience. But the problem I have with this book is it’s presented as an honest, open journey for truth when it shows clear signs it isn’t. The obvious being his lack of interest in alternative views, but more subtly the language he chooses to use. On many occasions I caught Lee phrasing a sentence that seemed quite odd for someone who is supposedly on a search for genuine truth. For example, at the beginning of chapter 6, he refers to the Jesus seminars views as “troubling and wildly publicised”. Why would someone on “a quest for truth” who according to page 14 is “setting aside my self-interest and prejudices” find an alternative view “troubling”?

Lee has extensive knowledge of the legal system and how court cases work, knowledge he acquired through his years as a journalistic investigator. He often refers to real life stories that have taken place in a court to use as a type of metaphor to set up his interviews:

“In this quest for truth, I’ve used my experience as a legal affairs journalist to look at numerous categories of proof...These are the same classifications that you’d encounter in a courtroom. And maybe taking a legal perspective is the best way to envision this process – with you in the role of a juror.” Page 15

Well the most obvious problem I see with the analogy of a court case is that Lee fails to interview any scholars or sceptics that have different points of view to the ‘experts’ he’s interviewing. This is rather like having a court case in which we only hear from the defence and not the prosecution (or vice versa). Does that sound fair? Does that sound like someone who is genuinely after truth?

But I refuse to fall prey to the same crime of ignoring information I’m accusing Lee of, so here is a response I’ve found from Lee on why he didn’t interview any liberal scholars with alternative views in his book, make of it what you will. (I recommend reading the comments too):

Lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-2

Overall I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in biblical scholarship. It’s at best a good collection of the arguments from one particular side of the spectrum. But don’t be swayed by Lee’s provocative writing style, one only needs to take a step back and look at the book as a whole too see this wasn’t a genuine search for truth. There is always another side to the story. If you’re going to read this book than I recommend you follow it up with Misquotting Jesus by Bart D Ehrman, Jesus: A revolutionary biography by John Dominic Crossan, Jesus for the non religious by John Shelby Spong or for a direct response point by point, The case against 'the case for Christ' by Robert M Price. This will give you a far broader perspective of biblical scholarship and open your mind to a number of different possibilities. Then you will truly be able to, in the words of Lee, “reach your own verdict”.

The Ancient Roots of Our Judeo-Christian Sexual Prohibitions

An interesting article I found on a little history of sex and religion.

http://www.cybercollege.com/history.htm

Michael Schermer lays out our top 10 best answers to the biggest question of all, "why is there something instead of nothing". Great read.

http://www.bigquestionsonline.com/columns/michael-shermer/the-biggest-big-question-of-all

Rabbi Schmuley

A really great post by Rabbi Schmuley Boteach,

http://blog.beliefnet.com/rabbishmuleyunleashed/2010/09/my-purpose-in-debating-christopher-hitchens-on-the-afterlife.html

The Great Moral Questions

This is another one of those big issues that just simply can’t be solved by one 22 year old in one blog post. But I am more than willing to open up the conversation and share some of my thoughts and views on morality and ethics. Feel free to add your own :)

Where do we get our morals from? Why do we feel guilty when we do something “wrong”? Why are compassion and love “good” and hate and murder “evil”? Under the banner of morality and ethics is a vast number of confronting and reasonable questions that one has to ask themselves.

So what is morality and where does it come from?

Morality through Holy Scripture,

Some believe our morals and ethics come from God through inspired scripture. That inside a certain holy text are the rules and guidelines God wants all humans to follow to live good moral lives. I have a few problems with this view. If you believe that God is revealed to us through the bible or the Quran for example. Then you have to account for the atrocities God commands of his people in the Old Testament:

Deuteronomy 3:3-7,

So the LORD our God also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors. At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them - the whole region of Argob, Og's kingdom in Bashan. All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages. We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city - men, women and children. But all the livestock and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.

Joshua 6: 20-21,

When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it - men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

Numbers 31:15 -18,

"Have you allowed all the women to live?" he (Moses) asked them. "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD's people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.”

A common answer for this is we don’t have a right to judge God on the basis of who, when or how he chooses to end someone’s life. He is the author of life and therefore has the right to take it away as he wishes. Ok fair enough, I guess if God really did give us life it would be well within his right to take it away as he chooses.

BUT!

If the God that is the author of our moral intuitions is also the God revealed to us through Holy Scripture. Why is it so many of us are morally outraged at the previous scenarios ordained by God through scripture? The idea of slaughtering a baby, regardless of race or religion, is to me to most disgusting, perverted act any human being can commit and the very idea that a moral God would command such a thing is incomprehensible to me. Can you imagine the poor mothers screaming for mercy as “God’s people” came in chopping their little ones heads off? In human society today, when dictators come to power that bring nothing but misery and suffering to people and command the slaughter of woman and children, do we praise them and worship them? Do we say, oh well they have a right to do it? No, the actions make us sick to our stomach and we combine with the rest of the world to try and rid ourselves of such an evil. I think it’s fair to ask then why do we give God a free pass in our holy scriptures? Why do we turn a blind eye to this and refuse to call it immoral as far as our moral intuitions are concerned?

Who is really exercising their moral intuition here? Someone that just believes whatever is in Holy Scripture has to be true, or those of us that judge the individual actions by their own merit, according to our moral intuitions. Why even defend such passages? To me it’s pretty clear if there is such a "moral God”, he or she had nothing to do with the commandment to slaughter an entire population, this sounds like the typical work of an ancient tribalistic society justifying its thirst to squash its surrounding “enemies” who worship a different God and have a completely different culture. Why not truly exercise our moral intuition when reading scripture, accept the things we know are good, like the lessons on love and compassion that are clearly in the bible and Quran and put an end to the silly justification of moral acts so heinous they make modern day human dictators look like the Easter bunny!

Our Moral Conscience,

Our moral conscience and our sense of guilt play a large role in defining our moral choices. Is this too a gift from God to help us discern right from wrong? Maybe, but what we need to take into account is the differences in moral conscience between different cultures and religions. If a Muslim man missed one of his 5 prayers he is commanded to make throughout the day, I dare say he will feel a strong sense of moral conviction. If a Jewish man dishonours the Sabbath he too would feel a strong sense of moral conviction. Would a Christian or Hindu feel the same feelings of moral conviction or “guilt” over the same actions? I think not. So, does God have different rules of morality for different people OR is our moral conscience largely shaped by our culture and religious upbringing?

But the question still remains. How do we decide right from wrong?

Well I don’t think our moral decisiveness is quite as black and white as some would have us believe. Our moral intuitions arise from a myriad of different influences. Our family, culture, friends and our religious beliefs all play a huge role in defining what we consider to be moral and immoral. If we look throughout history our idea of what is “moral” and “ethical” has radically changed from era to era. Slavery used to be a big part of our dark history in the west and was only abolished in 1807, cat burning was seen as entertainment in France in the Middle Ages and even into the Renaissance, dozens of cats were thrown into a net and hoisted over a fire and burned alive to which people would gather around and laugh and clap. Polygamy was once common practice, the suppression of women’s rights and public executions as social entertainment have all played their role in Christian societies once upon a time. If our moral conscience comes from an absolute source, than why is it our concept of morality is a progressive process?

Even something you would think an obvious moral decision like murder can have two opposing sides. Take war for example, some people believe in just war, some people believe all war is immoral. Some people believe in an eye for an eye, some people believe in turning the other cheek. Some people believe that using embryonic stem cells is murder, some people believe it isn’t. Our moral conscience seems to be divided between us and very much influenced by varying forces around us and in my opinion cannot be used as an argument for the absolute. So is right and wrong nothing more than someone else’s opinion of truth? Do we then have a right to question each other’s morals and ethics? I think we do.

Morality from a practical point of view,

I believe morality like everything else on this planet has gone through a process of evolution. Society’s that discover that when people work together as a group, create good environments to raise healthy children for the next generation, have easy access to food and water and good relationships with their fellow neighbours are the kind of society’s that are going to flourish and prosper in this world. Those that don’t will be on the straight path to extinction. How long do you think a society will last if its moral code was “murder and steal from anyone you want?” My guess is not very long.

It should be no surprise than that the religions and cultures that have survived with us today are the ones that emphasize kindness, love and teamwork (At least within their own tribes). I suppose if you really wanted to you could argue that maybe this was God’s plan all along. Maybe he oversaw the process of moral revelation throughout the ages so we would truly know the difference between right and wrong, and the reason our morals are evolving is because they are moving closer towards Gods true enlightened values. Maybe, but a series of questions then arise about the kind of God that would allow us for millenia to kill each other and perform acts of unspeakable cruelty on our fellow human beings while idly watching from the sidelines. But I suppose this is still within the realm of possibilities. But whether God is the author of our morals or not still doesn’t take away the practical and rational reasons behind being kind and loving and the fact we SHOULD act this way towards our fellow human beings if we want to see all of us prosper in this world, and for now that’s good enough for me.

Conclusion,

If we strip away bit by bit our religious understanding of morality I think it’s pretty clear that when it comes down to it morality isn’t about trying to please God, it’s not about trying to make it to the pearly gates or from fear of burning in hell forever. When it comes down to it morality is about common human decency. It’s about both realising and acting on those feelings of empathy and compassion we all feel towards each other. As Sam Harris writes:

“No tribal fictions need be rehearsed for us to realize, one fine day, that we do, in fact, love our neighbours, that our happiness is inextricable from their own, and that our interdependence demands that people everywhere be given the opportunity to flourish.”

Is it any surprise that all the religions that are with us today have one connected theme throughout them all? It’s called the golden rule. And if you had to sum up morality in one sentence, this would be it:

Christianity: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” Matthew 7:12

Confucianism: “Do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no resentment against you, either in the family or in the state.” Analects 12:2

Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” Udana-Varga 5,1

Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have them do unto you.” Mahabharata 5,1517

Islam: “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” Sunnah

Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.”Talmud, Shabbat 3id

Taoism: “Regard your neighbours gain as your gain, and your neighbour’s loss as your own loss.” Tai Shang Kan Yin Pien

Zoroastrianism: “That nature alone is good which refrains from doing another whatsoever is not good for itself.” Dadisten-I-dinik, 94,5

But does it really matter where we draw our inspiration to be loving and compassionate? Shouldn’t the important part be in the actual actions themselves? Whether we draw our inspiration from religion, God, science, nature, philosophy or just a common understanding of what it feels like to be human. Whatever it is, just remember the thing that has brought us this far is the realisation that we are the same, that what I feel you feel also and the best feeling I know in this world is to love and to be loved, so i will do my best to return the favour. So whatever it is that inspires you to be a more tolerant, kind and loving human being, I say hold onto it, And let others do the same.

Peace,

Jason

Book Burning

There have been two events that have sparked some attention in news headlines recently. One of them was the proposal by American Pastor Terry Jones to burn the Koran on September 11 2010 "to remember those who were brutally murdered on September 11th 2001" and to send a warning "to the radical element of Islam":

http://www.news.com.au/world/us-pastor-terry-jones-promises-to-hold-koran-burning/story-e6frfkyi-1225915614362#ixzz0zSHwDFxG

The other is by Australian Alex Stewart who made a youtube video of himself ripping pages out of both the bible and the Koran and smoking them:

http://www.news.com.au/national/lawyer-alex-stewart-smokes-pages-from-the-koran-and-bible-and-says-we-should-get-over-book-burning/story-e6frfkvr-1225919970728

When I first read about the Koran burning pastor, I was outraged. Like many other people, believer and non believer alike. I could not comprehend what this man was trying to achieve by his actions or how he thought burning a holy book that over a billion people profess a faith in would help the victims of the September 11 attack. So it should be no surprise than that I struggled to justify the actions of Alex Stewart.

Now I am not religious in any sense. I will be the first one to tell you that and I actually agree with Alex when he says:

"It's just a fucking book, who cares? It's your beliefs that matter”

And after looking through the comments, I found it quite interesting a few Christians agreed as well:

Mal Posted at 9:20 AM September 13, 2010. Good on you Alex! What is so terrible about burning the Koran or bible? Only the superstitions in our minds. It's just paper and ink - get over it!! And I say that as a Christian. Comment 82 of 160

Jonathan of Sydney Posted at 9:19 AM September 13, 2010. Being a Christian I quite like this. The bloke is entirely correct of course. It has nothing to do with the paper, it's the actual message inside it that counts. Comment 80 of 160

dnb Posted at 2:17 PM September 13, 2010. I'm a Christian and a conservative one. For me they can burn whatever books they wanted, Bible is not the exception. Like this guy said it just a book. I have it though on my iPhone as apps. so who cares. But if you burn my iPhone, you got to pay me for it or give me an iPhone4. I'll take that. :-). Comment 121 of 160

I just wished to God (figure of speech) he had expressed it through words instead of such a strong demonstration of unbelief. If he had to express his concern through such strong actions then he should have at least included not only religious books but much loved secular and atheist literature as well, such as Richard Dawkin’s “The God delusion” and Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”. Just to really drive home the point that the books themselves are not what’s important.

Clearly the man must have known the repercussions of his actions before going through with them. He would have know full well he would be offending a lot of people and didn’t seem to care that much. I agree there are people out there that take religion to the extreme and take their religious faith far too serious. But what should our response be, more intolerance and purposely offensive behaviour? Do we really think this will resolve the issue?

What did Alex really think believers (the audience I assume he was trying to reach) would take from his video?

“Oh yeah, because you just smoked the bile and Koran, I guess the book I’ve believed in all my life really is bullshit. Thanks Alex.”

Whether I believe in any holy books or not is irrelevant. People do. And not just those annoying, outspoken, in your face believers, but also the old woman who has been through nothing but hardship all her life, and it wasn’t the Australian atheist institute that helped her through life. It was her faith, her faith in the words of a particular holy book. Is she hurting anyone, no. Is she trying to convert the world to her belief system, no. Shes simply holding onto a belief that helps her through hard times. Religious faith should always be a personal matter. An openly discussed, thought out, researched but personal matter.

Has political correctness gone too far in our society?

Yes, I believe it has.

Should religious belief be analysed and critiqued like any other discourse?

Yes, it should.

Is the answer to start burning anything and everything that gives people a little hope to their lives?

No, I think if we really put our minds to it we can come up with a far more civil and productive way to have an open ended conversation about religious faith in our society.

Jason

Quote: Richard Feynman

“I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong. If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain … In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar.” - Richard Feynman

Testimony of Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)

I, like many others, am a big Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) fan. I find his music simply beautiful. But what I find even more interesting about the man is his conversion to Islam. I recently stumbled upon his testimony on the web. In the west Christianity is our dominant religion, it is part of our cultural heritage and history and so when we are first subjected to other religious testimonies it can often takes us back a bit. Especially if we have been taught one particular view our whole lives. I am a big proponent of comparative religion. I think it’s so important to learn all we can about each other’s religions and cultures to help us build stronger bonds of understanding and tolerance. I’m not just talking about reading a book called “understanding Islam, and why it’s wrong”. I’m talking about genuinely trying to see the world from another person’s perspective. I think this testimony from Yusuf Islam has some great insights into some different aspects of faith that some of us in the west might not be used too:

Testimony of Yusuf Islam (Formerly Cat Stevens)

All I have to say is all what you know already, to confirm what you already know, the message of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) as given by God - the Religion of Truth. As human beings we are given a consciousness and a duty that has placed us at the top of creation. Man is created to be God's deputy on earth, and it is important to realize the obligation to rid ourselves of all illusions and to make our lives a preparation for the next life. Anybody who misses this chance is not likely to be given another, to be brought back again and again, because it says in Qur'an Majeed that when man is brought to account, he will say, "O Lord, send us back and give us another chance." The Lord will say, "If I send you back you will do the same." I was brought up in the modern world of all the luxury and the high life of show business. I was born in a Christian home, but we know that every child is born in his original nature - it is only his parents that turn him to this or that religion. I was given this religion (Christianity) and thought this way. I was taught that God exists, but there was no direct contact with God, so we had to make contact with Him through Jesus - he was in fact the door to God. This was more or less accepted by me, but I did not swallow it all. I looked at some of the statues of Jesus; they were just stones with no life. And when they said that God is three, I was puzzled even more but could not argue. I more or less believed it, because I had to have respect for the faith of my parents. Gradually I became alienated from this religious upbringing. I started making music. I wanted to be a big star. All those things I saw in the films and on the media took hold of me, and perhaps I thought this was my God, the goal of making money. I had an uncle who had a beautiful car. "Well," I said, "he has it made. He has a lot of money." The people around me influenced me to think that this was it; this world was their God. I decided then that this was the life for me; to make a lot of money, have a 'great life.' Now my examples were the pop stars. I started making songs, but deep down I had a feeling for humanity, a feeling that if I became rich I would help the needy. (It says in the Qur'an, we make a promise, but when we make something, we want to hold onto it and become greedy.) So what happened was that I became very famous. I was still a teenager, my name and photo were splashed in all the media. They made me larger than life, so I wanted to live larger than life and the only way to do that was to be intoxicated (with liquor and drugs).

IN HOSPITAL

After a year of financial success and 'high' living, I became very ill, contracted TB and had to be hospitalized. It was then that I started to think: What was to happen to me? Was I just a body, and my goal in life was merely to satisfy this body? I realized now that this calamity was a blessing given to me by Allah, a chance to open my eyes - "Why am I here? Why am I in bed?" - and I started looking for some of the answers. At that time there was great interest in the Eastern mysticism. I began reading, and the first thing I began to become aware of was death, and that the soul moves on; it does not stop. I felt I was taking the road to bliss and high accomplishment. I started meditating and even became a vegetarian. I now believed in 'peace and flower power,' and this was the general trend. But what I did believe in particular was that I was not just a body. This awareness came to me at the hospital. One day when I was walking and I was caught in the rain, I began running to the shelter and then I realized, 'Wait a minute, my body is getting wet, my body is telling me I am getting wet.' This made me think of a saying that the body is like a donkey, and it has to be trained where it has to go. Otherwise, the donkey will lead you where it wants to go. Then I realized I had a will, a God-given gift: follow the will of God. I was fascinated by the new terminology I was learning in the Eastern religion. By now I was fed up with Christianity. I started making music again and this time I started reflecting my own thoughts. I remember the lyric of one of my songs. It goes like this: "I wish I knew, I wish I knew what makes the Heaven, what makes the Hell. Do I get to know You in my bed or some dusty cell while others reach the big hotel?" and I knew I was on the Path. I also wrote another song, "The Way to Find God Out." I became even more famous in the world of music. I really had a difficult time because I was getting rich and famous, and at the same time, I was sincerely searching for the Truth. Then I came to a stage where I decided that Buddhism is all right and noble, but I was not ready to leave the world. I was too attached to the world and was not prepared to become a monk and to isolate myself from society. I tried Zen and Ching, numerology, tarot cards and astrology. I tried to look back into the Bible and could not find anything. At this time I did not know anything about Islam, and then, what I regarded as a miracle occurred. My brother had visited the mosque in Jerusalem and was greatly impressed that while on the one hand it throbbed with life (unlike the churches and synagogues which were empty), on the other hand, an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity prevailed.

THE QUR'AN

When he came to London he brought back a translation of the Qur'an, which he gave to me. He did not become a Muslim, but he felt something in this religion, and thought I might find something in it also. And when I received the book, a guidance that would explain everything to me - who I was; what was the purpose of life; what was the reality and what would be the reality; and where I came from - I realized that this was the true religion; religion not in the sense the West understands it, not the type for only your old age. In the West, whoever wishes to embrace a religion and make it his only way of life is deemed a fanatic. I was not a fanatic, I was at first confused between the body and the soul. Then I realized that the body and soul are not apart and you don't have to go to the mountain to be religious. We must follow the will of God. Then we can rise higher than the angels. The first thing I wanted to do now was to be a Muslim. I realized that everything belongs to God, that slumber does not overtake Him. He created everything. At this point I began to lose the pride in me, because hereto I had thought the reason I was here was because of my own greatness. But I realized that I did not create myself, and the whole purpose of my being here was to submit to the teaching that has been perfected by the religion we know as Al-Islam. At this point I started discovering my faith. I felt I was a Muslim. On reading the Qur'an, I now realized that all the Prophets sent by God brought the same message. Why then were the Jews and Christians different? I know now how the Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah and that they had changed His Word. Even the Christians misunderstand God's Word and called Jesus the son of God. Everything made so much sense. This is the beauty of the Qur'an; it asks you to reflect and reason, and not to worship the sun or moon but the One Who has created everything. The Qur'an asks man to reflect upon the sun and moon and God's creation in general. Do you realize how different the sun is from the moon? They are at varying distances from the earth, yet appear the same size to us; at times one seems to overlap the other. Even when many of the astronauts go to space, they see the insignificant size of the earth and vastness of space. They become very religious, because they have seen the Signs of Allah. When I read the Qur'an further, it talked about prayer, kindness and charity. I was not a Muslim yet, but I felt that the only answer for me was the Qur'an, and God had sent it to me, and I kept it a secret. But the Qur'an also speaks on different levels. I began to understand it on another level, where the Qur'an says, "Those who believe do not take disbelievers for friends and the believers are brothers." Thus at this point I wished to meet my Muslim brothers.

CONVERSION

Then I decided to journey to Jerusalem (as my brother had done). At Jerusalem, I went to the mosque and sat down. A man asked me what I wanted. I told him I was a Muslim. He asked what was my name. I told him, "Stevens." He was confused. I then joined the prayer, though not so successfully. Back in London, I met a sister called Nafisa. I told her I wanted to embrace Islam and she directed me to the New Regent Mosque. This was in 1977, about one and a half years after I received the Qur'an. Now I realized that I must get rid of my pride, get rid of Iblis, and face one direction. So on a Friday, after Jumma' I went to the Imam and declared my faith (the Kalima) at this hands. You have before you someone who had achieved fame and fortune. But guidance was something that eluded me, no matter how hard I tried, until I was shown the Qur'an. Now I realize I can get in direct contact with God, unlike Christianity or any other religion. As one Hindu lady told me, "You don't understand the Hindus. We believe in one God; we use these objects (idols) to merely concentrate." What she was saying was that in order to reach God, one has to create associates, that are idols for the purpose. But Islam removes all these barriers. The only thing that moves the believers from the disbelievers is the salat. This is the process of purification. Finally I wish to say that everything I do is for the pleasure of Allah and pray that you gain some inspirations from my experiences. Furthermore, I would like to stress that I did not come into contact with any Muslim before I embraced Islam. I read the Qur'an first and realized that no person is perfect. Islam is perfect, and if we imitate the conduct of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) we will be successful. May Allah give us guidance to follow the path of the ummah of Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). Ameen!

By Yusuf Islam January 1st, 1985

http://www.usislam.org/converts/yusufislam.htm

Visions Of The Future

A series called Visions of the future just finished airing on abc. The final episode named "the Quantum revolution" just completely blew my mind. This series gives us a great perspective on just how valuable science is to our world and where science will take us in the future. It is both wonderfully exiting and if i am to be honest, somewhat frightening at the immense scale of the possibilities that lay before us. This is a must watch for anybody and everybody. You wont be disappointed!

To watch the video click here:

Visions Of The Future, Episode 3: The Quantum Revoltution

Intelligent design

As someone who confesses genuine enquiry into truth, it’s imperative that I challenge my current way of thinking from time to time so as not to box myself in with black and white dogmatic views. If there is one thing I’ve learnt on my journey of truth is that more often than not there seems to be two sides (often more) to every story. Lately I’ve been looking into evolution. Evolution is something I’ve found myself on every side of the argument. I started out as a young earth creationist, believing in the literalistic biblical view that the earth was roughly around 6000 years old. It wasn’t until I was challenged by a few science educated Christians who held theistic evolutionary beliefs that convinced me to start educating myself on the theory of evolution and look more into it myself. This in turn led me to theistic evolution which I held for a while until my theological views began to fail me and I now preside within a naturalistic evolutionary world view, with strong feelings of agnosticism when it comes to the origin of those first elements of life.

I recently watched this interesting documentary on intelligent design:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6180420007079654158#

I think intelligent design as a philosophy asks some very good fundamental questions about the complexity of life. However I think its bad science to stop at a point when observing the biological functions of say a cell, and say oh these parts are irreducibly complex, therefore it must be intelligently designed. I don’t understand what that achieves? Or how that is science? Unless a theory can be tested, or give us predictions about the future in which to validate the hypothesis, than it simply isn’t science. Science is about continually gathering data and asking ourselves questions about the natural world and pushing the boundaries of our knowledge. Lots of things in our past have looked to be “intelligently designed” only for science to discover natural laws that govern these once thought mysteries. It doesn’t make sense to me to stop at a point when we’ve come so far in evolutionary biology and say this is irreducibly complex and this is far as we can go. Now let’s be honest for a second, there is a lot science is yet to explain, but just because we can’t explain something today doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a natural explanation or that we won’t be able to find one tomorrow. A short look through the history of science will reveal this.

Another point I just can’t shake is that intelligent design seems to have a great deal of underlying theological and religious implications to its observations. By saying that something is irreducibly complex and intelligently designed actually tells us, well nothing. Unless of course you bring whatever theological designer you wish to the table. This opens up the flood gates for anyone with a certain perspective on who that intelligent designer was. This is fine in the arena of philosophy or religion, but not in science. Science says nothing on whom or what that designer was. To insert a particular designer is nothing more than playing God of the Gaps in our lack of understanding about certain scientific or philosophical questions.

Overall I felt the documentary was very one sided (as most documentaries are). Many times in the documentary I was waiting for them to interview other prominent scientist in the same field who reject intelligent design and irreducible complexity (which there are many!) But they never showed up. So to even things up I found a couple of lengthy videos that argue against intelligent design, not only have I found two great men of their scientific field, but I have found two scientist who hold strong theistic beliefs, in that they believe in a God, yet reject intelligent design as a science and call it out for what they believe it really is. I’ll leave it up to you guys to make up your own minds:

My 5 dinner guests

A close friend of mine asked me recently if I had to choose 5 people, alive or dead, to sit down with and have a glass of red wine (or two) who would they be? It was a bit of fun so I thought Id share with you the 5 people that I went with, it was hard to choose just 5! No doubt as time goes on and I learn more about the figures that have shaped our history and the people alive today that continue to do the same, these names will change. But for now! This is my awesome foursome, plus 1!

Charles Darwin – While Darwin didn’t invent evolution, he was the first man to organise his findings in a compelling theory called natural selection. I’m currently reading through origin of species and the first thing I noticed is how meticulous the man was. His attention to detail was incredible, at times mind boggling! As a Christian I hated Darwin, giving in to all the perpetuated nonsense I was told about him being a bitter old man who invented evolution because he hated God and Christianity. Then I did what so many fail to do, I read a book about him. Turns out he wasn’t so bad after all! Another thing about his book that strikes me is the humility of the man. He has an entire chapter of the book dedicated to problems with his theory and how we should discard it if we can’t find this or that. Who does that! I would love to see what Darwin thinks of his theory in light of new discoveries about DNA and through fossil records.

Sir Isaac Newton – Newton is believed to have had the biggest influence on modern science, some say even more influential than Albert Einstein. His work on universal gravitation and the three laws of motion are said by some to be the single greatest individual achievement in the history of science. A lot of his work goes straight over my head and I struggle to understand it. But clearly the man had a brilliant mind if he was able to discover the laws of motion in complete solitude. He is also quoted to say: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Which I think is a very insightful statement. Although I have read from some sources that he was a bit of a jerk. He also was a man of strong religious faith, so I think he would make for a very interesting addition to the dinner conversation.

Jacque Fresco – Jacque is the founder of the Venus project, a non profit organisation that is committed to social change and finding solutions too many of the problems we face in our society. He is a man of unique and original ideas and is dedicated to doing what he can to ensure the future of the earth and us. Some of his thoughts and ideas are quite radical and not without controversy but he is I believe a man of sincerity and creativity. I would love to listen to the things he has learnt from a long experienced life and ask him tough questions on where he believes we should move in our society.

Mahatma Gandhi – Ghandi inspired India to break free from the oppression of the British. What makes Ghandi special is he did this without firing one bullet or raising one fist. Ghandi was a pacifist. We are now at a point in our history where our destructive technology has developed the capacity to destroy the entire earth along with all its inhabitants. This kind of technology and power has never been available to us until quite recently and unless we can begin to develop diplomatic and constructive solutions to the differences we have with each other I’m afraid it’s all too obvious what the outcome will be. I would love to get Ghandi’s opinions and ideas on how to achieve these diplomatic solutions without the use of war.

Jesus – Jesus was another person in history who fought against oppression. Jesus was born in Judea in a time when the Roman Empire had expanded and held occupancy over Israel. The people were also under the control of corrupt religious leaders. Jesus inspired his fellow Jews not to put up with oppression and to stand up to those who stood over them. His teachings of ethics and morals were far beyond his time, even people today struggle to live up to the concepts of forgiveness and compassion that Jesus taught. Whether you accept the accounts of his divinity or not, his practical teachings for life are something we can all learn from. Would love to see what Jesus thinks of the world today and what he thinks of the organised religions that established themselves after his death and claim to be working in his name.

I want to give a Special mention to Joan of arc, Helen Keller and Mother Teresa. Some AWESOME ladies who have inspired and influenced people throughout history, I did not mean to choose all men, they just happen to be 5 people who have influenced me in some way :)