Worship of Mithra
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- Created on Saturday, 16 March 2013 07:04
- Published on Saturday, 16 March 2013 07:04
- Written by John Draper
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If you stand back and look - the practices and beliefs of the worship of Mithra are almost identical to Christianity. Virtually all of the elements of Christian rituals, from miter, wafer, water baptism, altar and hymns, were adopted from the Mithra and earlier pagan mystery religions. The religion of Mithra preceded Christianity by roughly six hundred years and at one time covered a large portion of the ancient world. It flourished as late as the second century. The Messianic idea originated in ancient Persia and this is where the Jewish and Christian concepts of a Saviour came from. Mithra, as the sun god of ancient Persia, had the following similarities with Jesus:
Can God change his mind?
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- Created on Thursday, 14 March 2013 06:35
- Published on Thursday, 14 March 2013 06:35
- Written by John Draper
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When people pray, they want God to change the future. Otherwise, whatever will be, will be. Every believer would agree that god is all-knowing - and also that to exist before time began, to have created time, he must know everything at all points in time. That means he must know what is going to happen to me in the next minute or next year. He must know that I am writing this and that it will be made available for the world to see. He must know everything I'm going to do - free will or not. Christians will say -"he sees that you have rejected him and will continue to do so and feels sorry for you - but you brought it on yourself."
So in the case of Christians, he must know that they are going to pray to him to cure someone or to work some other kind of magic and he must know that he will be changing some future event that they asked for. That is, praying is just something that God knows people will be doing. So, as far as god is concerned, he does not change anything; he just knows about the prayers that will be said and is able to decide what to do in advance. He does not change his mind. In fact since he knows the future, he cannot change his mind - the concept of change does not apply since it requires the concept of time that does not exist for god!
Secularism
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- Created on Tuesday, 12 March 2013 06:33
- Published on Tuesday, 12 March 2013 06:33
- Written by John Draper
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Lately, atheists have been pushing secularism and Christians and Muslims have seen this as anti-religion but it's not that simple. "Secular" today means the separation of Church and State. It started in the early Church around the 4th century when Augustine talked about two "cities": one that ordered the things of the earth (civitas terrenae) and one that was ordered by God (civitas dei). This new idea was used by various people for their own ends - for example to reinforce the doctrine of papal primacy, emphasizing the idea that the visible Christian Church was the actual manifestation of the civitas dei and, as a consequence, was owed greater loyalty than civil governments. But others stressed the important role played by the civitas terrenae and that it was autonomous - separate - and this concept eventually prevailed.
Christ said that world would end 2000 years ago
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- Created on Sunday, 10 March 2013 06:26
- Published on Sunday, 10 March 2013 06:26
- Written by John Draper
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Jesus told his listeners that the world as people then knew it was coming to an end. What he meant by "end of the world" is described in Matthew ch. 24, Mark ch. 13, Luke ch. 21. All describe earthquakes, famines, wars, false prophets, religious persecutions, turmoil and general total chaos. Since no one would know exactly when this would happen, he warned that people should keep themselves ready at all times. But in Matthew, Mark, and Luke he says "This generation will not pass away till all these things take place." Since the lifespan at the time was about 30-40 years, it would be safe to say that he was saying the world would end in less than 20 years after he was speaking.
Do animals pray?
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- Created on Friday, 08 March 2013 06:20
- Published on Friday, 08 March 2013 06:20
- Written by John Draper
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Before you say "of course not", see the picture below. And ask yourself, "how do we know?" We can't communicate with them; we can't read their minds; we don't know what they think. Maybe they have a soul and feel spiritual things. We know they have emotions (fear for sure, but also contentment and happiness). So why shouldn't they be spiritual/mystical. And if so, why not a soul? Why should humans be special? Maybe animals have also "fallen", like Adam and Eve? Or maybe not.
But this is not to be taken seriously. I could go on and invent a whole set of dogmas about animals and their religions but they would be just as meaningless as the ones invented for humans.
Other ways of knowing
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- Created on Monday, 04 March 2013 06:01
- Published on Monday, 04 March 2013 06:01
- Written by John Draper
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It's easy for an atheist to say (and think) that the only way to decide something is to use the scientific method. It uses evidence and facts and has a method that is rational and logical and produces results. (Scientific Method for Atheists). But it's not that simple. People who are strongly religious will often say that "Science doesn't know everything" and "There are other ways of thinking and knowing". Atheists and scientists would all concede that there is still much to learn and that science does not know everything. "People of Faith" want answers for everything so turn to religions for answers to questions that they think are not yet resolved by science. The second comment implies that the scientific method is not the only way to find out the truth. The idea is that we should discover things through faith or revelation from someone who claimed to be God or a messenger from God. The catch of course is that the sources have to first prove that they are divine or divinely inspired.
Which religion should I believe?
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- Created on Wednesday, 06 March 2013 06:23
- Published on Wednesday, 06 March 2013 06:23
- Written by John Draper
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Muslims truly believe that they are right and that only Muslims will go to heaven/paradise. OK, so I should become a Muslim. But Catholics believe that if you commit just one mortal sin in your life you will go to hell if you don't see a priest and confess before you die So I should become a Catholic - I need a priest! Fundamentalist Christians believe I need to be "saved" to end up in heaven. I don't think I'm "saved" so I should join them. Others believe that I just have to be a good person - whatever that means. Who decides what's good? Can I have sex outside marriage? Can I skip prostrating myself towards Mecca 5 times a day? Hindus and Buddhists and various other groups have quite complicated beliefs - which one of all these is right? And how do I decide?
Assuming I do decide - how do I know I chose right? Do I take the imam's or priest's word for it?
Religions are pre-occupied with sex
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- Created on Saturday, 02 March 2013 06:31
- Published on Saturday, 02 March 2013 06:31
- Written by John Draper
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If you want to get a religious person upset, be tolerant of gays, abortions, sex outside marriage, prostitution or any of the taboos related to sex. Religions care more about mostly victimless sex sins than they do about violence, robbery and even murder. Rape is really a crime of violence using sex and everyone condemns rape but why all the other sex sins? It can be explained scientifically in terms of our species needed to have evolved with sex taboos that would ensure the survival of our species but there do not seem to be any strong prohibitions in the bible or the Qur'an against promiscuity. In fact multiple wives are common or encouraged, you have to look through many thousands of words to find anything against gays; abortion is not mentioned and in fact sex is hardly mentioned. Most of the stories are about other subjects. Yet sex is a pre-occupation.
