The Creed for the Modern Thinker

I heard this article on a Ravi Zecharias podcast. It is by Steve Turner, an atheist and English journalist. It was published in a secular paper, and I have copied most of it here...

Here is the creed for the modern thinker:

We believe in Marx and Darwin.

We believe everything is ok as long you don't hurt anyone to the best of your definition of "hurt" and to the best of your definition of "knowledge".

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.

We believe in the therapy of sin.

We believe that adultery is fun.

We believe that everything's getting better despite evidence to the contrary.

The evidence must be investigated and you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in horoscopes, UFOs, and bent spoons.

Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammad, and ourselves.

He was a good moral teacher, although we think basically his good morals were really bad.

We believe that all religions are the same - at least the ones that we read were. They all believe in love and goodness, they only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes nothing because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.

If death is not the end and if the dead have lied then it's compulsory heaven for all except perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

What's selected is average, what's average is normal, and what's normal is good.

We believe that there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.

Americans should beat their guns into tractors and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good - it's only his behavior that lets him down.

This is the fault of society, society is the fault of conditions, and conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him, and reality will adapt accordingly - the university will re-adjust, history will alter.

We believe that there is no absolute truth except for the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds and the flowering of individual thought.

PS - If chance be the father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky. And when you hear "state of emergency", "sniper kills ten", "troops on rampage", "youths go looting", "bomb blasts school" it is but the sound of man worshipping his maker.

What Is Life All About?

The Google search, "What is life all about" has gotten quite a few hits. The very top result is users.aristotle.net, which explains thus:

"You cannot be classified as useless, because you aren't really supposed to have to make yourself useful. Look at the natural world. What is the use of a tree? Well, it has many uses, but it isn't TRYING to be useful. There's the difference. It's just doing what it wants (or so we assume) and in the process of doing that it does its job in the natural order of things. Despite all the rantings of moralists, you are in the same boat. The only way you are ever going to do an ounce of good in the world is to do what you want. Do what makes you happy, or at least what distracts you from your misery.
How, you may ask, does doing what you like do any good? Look around you. Look at people who seem to be trying very hard to be useful. Are they really doing good things for people? Or do they make everyone around them miserable with all their moral uppidyness and incessant busy bodying? I suspect it is the latter. The people who really do others some good are the people who are doing what they like and who aren't very interested in being useful. They are usually interesting to be around, because they are doing things that interest them. They are often fun to be around, because they appreciate fun and know how to laugh and not take anything too seriously. They inspire other people to figure out what it is that they want to do by example, thus causing more people to be interested in life and interesting to be around, fun loving, etc.
Out of all the people we meet in life, these people who are doing their own thing are the people who have the most profoundly positive impact on us and thus make our lives richer in the most fundamental, meaningful way. Can you really call that useless? Sure, working in a soup kitchen will feed people, but if you're being a martyr about it because you don't really want to be there, everyone around you will see right through you and hate you for being moralistic and insincere, and you will end up doing more harm than good. So, revel in your perfect uselessness. It's the useful thing to do."

There are other explanations of equal feeble-mindedness and absurdity for different reasons you may be asking why you exist. They all bash "the moral enthusiasts", God, and anyone that is trying to do something with their life. Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen! Does this explanation of what your life is not disappoint you? Don't you want to have a purpose? Don't you want to know the TRUTH?

Have I got good news for you! You are NOT useless! Or worthless.

If you're wondering about the meaning of life, read the book of Ecclesiastes. If you think life is meaningless, you will find that many elements of life are. Wisdom, pleasures, toils, advancement. Some of these things ARE life to many people. If you live for them, your life is meaningless. But in the last two verses of Ecclesiastes, Solomon states the conclusion of the matter, the meaning of life.

"Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgement,

including every hidden thing,

whether it is good or evil."

That is the duty of man. Fear God and keep his commandments! Trust and obey! It's not, "do what makes you happy" because pleasure is meaningless as well. You will only find fulfillment if you carry out God's plan for your life. He's excited about it! You can be useful to God of all things! Are you ready to find life and find it more abundantly? Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. And you are not worthless - to God you are a precious, special gem. There is so much more the Bible has to say to you - why don't you give it a shot?

If you know what happened

"If a person sins because he does not speak up when he hears a public charge to testify regarding something he has seen of learned about, he will be held responsible."

Today I was reading in Leviticus where it talks about all the sacrifices and stuff. This verse made me look twice. I thought about some possible scenarios for this. There was a scene in TALE OF TWO CITIES that I watched with my friend where there was a nice guy charged for... some complicated crime. The girl witness was friends with this guy, and had seen him do something bad, but she didn't want to say so. I also thought about the opposite - like if something was your fault, but you let somebody else get in trouble for it. And my final thought was the referees in Superbowl XLIII - seeing something, then flat-out lying about it.

All of these things make you guily of sin! Sounds like if you know something important but keep silent about it, it's the same thing as lying.