Stub

This post is just a stub to let people know that I'm still alive. Things have been pretty hectic at work lately, and I'm too busy de-stressing whan I get home to make any meaningful post.

If I don't stop now, I'm going to start ranting and raving like the lunatic I pretend not to be.

Hopefully, I'll be able to say something coherent this weekend.

Later,

NOMA

Stephen Jay Gould (an evolutionary biologist), in a attempt to reconcile science and religion, introduced the concept of Non-Overlapping MAgisteria¹

The basic idea is that science says stuff about the physical world, religion says stuff about the spiritual world, and never the two shall meet.

Nice idea. Doesn't work.

Here's why:

Religion says some crap about God (gods? bipolar? MPD?)
Science: "Talk is cheap, show me the evidence."
Religion: "No way, NOMA says I don't need physical evidence."
Science: "Fine. Go away."
Religion: "I won't. You have to teach my stuff, too."
Science: "Teach your stuff in philosophy or art appreciation or something."
Religion: "My stuff is as real as yours. I can prove it."
Science: "Talk is cheap, show me the evidence."
Religion: "Well, you don't know everything."
Science: "True, but irrelevant."
Religion: "If you don't know, then it's God."
Science: "What?"
Religion: "God fills the gaps in your knowledge."
Science: "Those gaps are shrinking fast."
Religion: "You can't prove God didn't use science to do everything."
Science: "What happened to NOMA?"
Religion: "NOMA says that you have to respect my position."
Science: "No it doesn't. It says that we have to stay out of each other's business."
Religion: "Really? Well then it and you will both have to go."

If religion really stuck to spiritual things, it would never make any testable statements. As soon as it says something testable, it has violated NOMA. Religion (particularly Xianity) does this all the time, then cries "NOMA!" whenever science says that it's full of it.

Later,

¹Rock of Ages, 1999

Dark Angel

I just finished watching the series Dark Angel.

It was pretty awesome. Not because of Jessica Alba (although her presence didn't hurt), but because it fell into one of the (several) sub-genres of science fiction that I particularly like.

It went two whole seasons. Two. Longer than Firefly, sure. But Firefly didn't have James Cameron's name attached to it.

The series finale was great, but there is still a lot of story left to tell. A couple more seasons worth, at least. I don't know why the show was cancelled, but it was on FOX, so I have suspicions. (see my previous post about Firefly)

Like Firefly, I somehow missed this show while it was being aired.

I just did some looking on the internet. It seems that FOX nixed a third season of Dark Angel in order to air Firefly.

Heaven forbid a network have two science fiction shows at once (Why don't cop and lawyer shows have this rule?). Now I really hate Rupert Murdoch.

Later,

I'm not celebrating, mind you. I just can't dredge up any grief.

Jerry Falwell is dead.

Pres. Bush said Falwell had lived a life of "faith, family, and freedom".

In a hate-mongering, hellfire-and-brimstone sort of way.

This guy blamed pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays and lesbians , the ACLU, People for the American Way, and anyone who has tried to "secularize America" (I wonder if he included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Ben Franklin) for the 9/11/2001 terrorist attack in New York.

He's gone now.

Meh.

Later,

Read this

You should have no problem with this, and that's pretty cool.



Look in the comments for the "translation"

Later

Edith Cecelia Nageotte Marley: Nov. 25, 1908 - May 9, 2007

My paternal grandmother died yesterday. I'm not good at expressing emotion. So I won't, except to say that I'll miss her.

Later,

NeedGod test

I just surfed into this really funny test (thanks to joshua, who left a comment a few posts ago).

It claims to determine if you are a good person. And if so, if you are good enough to get into heaven.¹

I doubt anyone will be surprised to learn where I am bound.

After telling me that I'm going to hell, I was asked if this fact bothered me. Well, duh.

I was then told that it should, and given some nonsense about selling my eyes.

Would you sell one of your eyes for a million dollars? How about both eyes for ten million? No one in their right mind would! Your eyes are precious to you... but they are only a "window" for your soul. Your soul (your inner being, your life, your personality) looks out through those eyes. Consider how precious your eyes are... then realize that Jesus said that Hell is so horrible that you would be better off tearing out your own eyes than ending up there for all eternity (Mark 9:43-48).

Perhaps you feel safe because you don't believe in Hell. This can be likened to standing in the middle of a busy highway and shouting, "I don't believe in trucks!" Your belief or disbelief in trucks will not change reality. The same applies in this situation. Your disbelief in Hell will not cause it to cease to exist. God has given us HIS WORD on the existence and purpose of Hell... LOOK HERE to see what God says in the Bible about Hell.

Would I sell one of my eyes for a million dollars? In a heartbeat.

Both for ten million? I'm not sure, but it'd be really tempting.

(However, since neither of them works properly, I doubt I'll be getting any offers)

"Your soul (your inner being, your life, your personality)", uh huh, read this, then come talk to me about my soul.

As for what "Jesus said," CS Lewis once tried to "prove" Jesus' divinity with his "Lord, liar or lunatic" spiel. Either Jesus was divine, or merely a great teacher. If he was merely a great teacher then his claims to divinity were either lies or lunatic ravings, either of which rule out his being a great teacher. Therefore Jesus was divine. The argument is based on a false dilemma. I find "liar or lunatic" to be perfectly reasonable (they aren't mutually exclusive, either). There is also the possibility that the biblical Jesus never really existed.

That second paragraph is pure bullplop. (BULLPLOP!) There is some pretty solid evidence that trucks exist. Where is the evidence of hell? Threats contained in the Bible only affect people who already accept the Bible as true.

Later,

¹ I thought the Christian doctrine was that you can't get to heaven by good works; that you must be Saved^TM