Life: A Philosophy

In life, we are fated to meet our destiny. This destiny is unchanging because we can not predict it. Any attempt to change our destiny is in affect actually creating it. If you attempt to change destiny by making an opposing choice, you are in fact fulfilling your destiny to make that opposing choice. Destiny is based on the choices we make. If we our headed towards destiny, our opinions are unchanging. If we are not yet in the right direction, are opinions will be altered as necessary. Every decision we make influences our destiny, and our destiny in turn influences every decision we make. Every moment in our lives is a guide. This guide leads us to the path that leads us toward our destiny. Everything is set in stone. Control is an illusion, for we control nothing yet everything. We make decisions that create our destiny, but our destiny has already required us to make those choices to meet it. Time is an unending cycle where everything is possible but only one thing will happen. Good and Evil are two sides of the same coin, so Evil can never be destroyed and Good can never overcome Evil. Every force has an opposite. They are equal, they are the same, and they exist to create a whole. Where there is one, there is the other. Destroy one, the other ceases to exist. Without them, life is just an existence. With them, we find our purpose.  We all have a purpose to fulfill, even if that purpose is to not have a purpose. The goal is not to know your purpose, know the future, or to attempt to change the unchangeable. The goal is to know yourself, and to understand why we have made the choices we make. In the end, every choice we have made has lead us here, and us being here will lead us closer to our destiny. The path is in front of us, and it may be difficult, but it is our path, and it is ours alone. Know Thyself and you will know all that is necessary to know.

Self Dependency

In society, dependency is a very important aspect of living, and there is many ways to do it wrong. If your social, you may mostly depend on people. This isn't a bad thing, but people are fallible and mortal beings that from time to time tend to move to another location. If your religious, you may depend on God. I myself used to do this. The issue with that, besides the fact that praying feels like talking to yourself (and if you ask me, it probably is), is that God has the same return rate on prayers as wishing does. The other problem is that like wishing, YOU ARE essentially DOING NOTHING. If you base your life on a system that hopes for things to magically happen on their own, you are going to be disappointed (and without a house, food, clothes, and everything else). If you want something done in life, the best thing to depend on is YOURSELF. You, unlike other people or God/wishing can set priorities, put in extra effort, and actually get a job done. That's what is more revered in life anyway. People don't really care about how your life was handed to you by someone else, but how you put in the effort to make it yourself, because inside, we all want to be self-dependent.

Under Oath

Why do we use a Religious Holy Book in governmental processes. Isn't church and state supposed to remain separate? Plus, if your not a Christian, you could be swearing on a Harry Potter book and it would feel the same way. Plus, what's the point of the swear anyway. Your telling someone to tell the truth so help them god, yet if their not religious, it's not going to increase their odds of telling the truth. Why don't they just say "Your under oath and lying is against the law." And if they need a book for historical tradition, why not use the Constitution. This is, in fact, a court of LAW you know.

Answers

I find the major issue I've encountered in my mental transformation is that people are always looking for a specific way of living that has all the answers. The honest truth is, no one has all the answers. There is no book you can buy, no speech nor sermon written, no thought ever conjured up that could even begin to create a righteous pathway for every human being on this planet. What's worse is that every group that believes it has all the answers will look at any opposing groups and claim their value is severely lessened because they don't have the answers to every single question ever made. And instead of saying that we can't know everything, people will attempt to increase the value of their beliefs by being apologetic and "creating" ways that they can justify them. People as a whole have become mindless slaves of ignorance and hypocrisy. Only by acknowledging the possibility of our wrongness can we truly find the reality of our rightness.

Our Abandoning Father

Let's talk for a second as though the god from the Judaic Christian Islamic religions is real. This character is often referred to as our heavenly father, so will look at him like humanities father figure. A father that was out of the picture before we are born, pays child support on his own terms, sends us mixed messages on the proper way to live life, and happens to show up many years later to judge us on our lives. What a great example of paternal excellency. Come to think of it, there are a lot of religious families based on the values of white trash. My point is, if you want to find examples of a mentally and physically abusive taskmaster of a dad, you don't have to go much farther than the Holy Books of the big 3 religions. So the next time someone tells us the importance of family values with religion, feel free to look up with a smile and remind them of the great example provided by Our Abandoning Father.

Death Penalty and Religion

I have recently noticed that their are a large number of religious individuals that support the death penalty. I have an interesting explanation for this. A majority of these people believe that god is the highest judge of the land, and you get judged when you die. I feel some religious people may feel that if someone committed atrocious crimes, giving them death will send them straight to final judgement, where they will be punished. The flaw with this is that if there is no afterlife, you are sparing these people from the alternative, life in prison and possible rehabilitation. Basically, you spare these people from the opportunity of punishment and improvement.  I imagine a time where prisons are unnecessary and everyone helps others out. Is this a pipe dream.......probably. But it's a nice one. Till then however, I don't feel unnecessary death is a positive thing.

God is Not Religion

I don't understand why Religions always try to prove the truthfulness of their beliefs by attempting to show that we were created by a god. Sure, there is really no way of proving that a more supreme being was or was not part of our existence. The thing is however, this argument has nothing to do with your religion. This does not prove heaven, hell, prayers, prophets, purgatory, rebirth, or for that matter, anything. I will admit that their is a chance that a higher being created us, but if one did, we know NOTHING about it. We don't know it's reasons, it's form, or what appeases it. If it exists, it is beyond our past, present, and possibly our future comprehension. So wasting your time trying to please a being that either doesn't exist or is too complex for us to understand its existence is utterly pointless. Maybe one day the unanswered questions will reveal to us the knowledge we've been searching for. Till then, we minus well just live our lives.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

It is now time for me to review the large handbook of the religion that I was formerly a major believer in. Catholicism. This well known system of beliefs is recorded in the 700+ page giant, The Catechism of the Catholic Church (or as I like to refer to it, how to brainwash millions into believing complete and utter BULLSHIT). This gigantic instruction manual, which is not what most call a page turner, tells believers how they must live their lives in order to find happiness in the afterlife. The biggest rule in this book is that in order to find God, you must be obediant to.....The Church. Yes, the same building that has done marvels in Crusades, executions, and collecting vast sources of wealth, only to settle down into the field of child molestation is apparently the greatest man made institution in the world. In order to follow The Church, you must follow its sacred rituals and believe everything that it says (in less than a page, this is already sounding like a big freaking cult). After being indoctrinated through a series of Christian rituals like baptism (without it you cannot go to heaven), communion (everyone must eat Jesus to recieve his love), and confirmation (having an old man put oil on your head is very important),  you have the splendid choice between holy orders (which mean a fantastic life of chastity, and no, masturbation is not living chastely) or marriage. Marriage can only be done through The Church (outside of it, it is considered a sinful abominations and will prevent you from recieving penance, another neccesitty for pleasing the divine taskmaster). You are only allowed to get married once, and it is the only way you can have sex without sin. But before commiting "the deed", you must be informed that the main reason of this action is to procreate, so contracpetives (which are a sin almost equal to murder) are out of the question. In other words, your marraige is either without sex or with 15 children, and when you or your spouse begin to fight over how stupid these rules are, be informed that since you can't break up, you will be in a perpetual state of bitterness till someone dies. Abortion, if you you were wondering, is a sin so severe, doing it will result in your excommuniacation. Catholics are very pro life with fetus', yet if it grows up and breaks the law, The Church is not against the death penalty. So when you finnally snap and kill your spouse, don't think The Church will hesitate to return the favor (However, if you lived a life of faithfull servitude and are dying of a major disease, The Church will do everything in it's power to prevent you from euthanasia). Speaking of children, if you get married in a Catholic church, you are forced to raise the kids Catholic. The church says we should do the best to shove the good book as far down the throats of others as we possibly can. What if you are however not interested in the other sex. The Church says that you are still special in god's eyes, and shall be prayed for.......while you are living a life of chastity and holy works (you are basically born into the position of a priest or nun). The last major importance in living a life of piety is charity. You must help others around you, but don't forget to shove your beliefs at them (I was informed by my priest during a sermon not to live the life of a Secular Humanist, who helps people, but a Evangelist, who spreads the Gospel). If you follow every one of these rules for the rest of your life while praying constantly (and showing up at mass every sunday, and holy day of obligation), you will have a chance of going to heaven, where you will be god's servant.........for the rest of eternity. Basically, you live a miserable and pathetic existence, pretending to be happy while in constant hope of the afterlife. That's why Catholic's and other groups are so "sure" of the Afterlife. If it they waiver in faith of it, they must admit that they have wasted their happiness on a pipe dream. Review- Catechism of the Catholic Church- Rating 1/10 Miserable and Pathetic.

The Satanic Bible

The Satanic Bible is the official (un)holy book of LaVeyan Satanism (which is free online in PDF format). Of those of you unfamiliar with this form of satanism, let me inform you that it isn't exactly what most people have in mind. LaVeyan Satanist's don't believe in god or the devil. They are not really "satan worshippers" but fans of lucifer, kind of in the same way that Christian Atheist follow the philosophy of Jesus, yet don't believe he was the son of god. To understand the philosophy of Satanism, you must take every dogma in the Christian realm and imagine it's exact opposite. It's core principles are as follow

1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence
2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams
3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit
4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it, instead of love wasted on ingrates
5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek
6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires
7. Satan represents man as just another animal (sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all fours), who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all.
8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification
9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years

Oh, and they practice black magic (which they use as means for power and revenge), making these individuals very "superstitious skeptics" (if there was ever a contradiction in terms). These people pretty much follow a philosophy of blasphemy and are the image the average fundamentalist gets when you bring up atheism. While some minor parts of their philosophy like lack of repression from dogma and being skeptical in religous matters can be slightly possitive, the dogma as a whole sounds like it was written by a rebellious chld who thinks that if one path in life didn't work, doing a full 180 will make things perfect. Really, all this "religion" does is make you act like an asshole while creating a really degrading stereotype for the rest of us non-believers. It furthers the belief that you need religion for an ethical and moral lifestyle, and without it, you'll end up like.......this. Rating- The Satanic Bible- 1.666/10 Blasphemously Annoying.

Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures

Christian Science has proven to be the craziest, stupidest, and most dangerous pile of b.s. ever passed off as a religion that I have seen as of now. This book is like a mixture between Dianetics and the Bible. It claims that matter is an illusion, and all that is real is the divine mind. Through sin, the mortal mind makes error and causes health problems. If this sounds familiar, that's because this is a near carbon copy of Scientology with a little Jesus thrown in. These people however believe that all suffering is mental, and the only way to solve it is to...........ignore it. Yeah, the same thing that doctors and pretty much anyone over the age of 2 knows not to do, these guys do it with pride. And if ignoring doesn't help.........pray (Cause thats worked well with every hospital patient in the world). These instructions placed in the hands of an unlearned person or a child CAN BE FATAL! Their is nothing good about this book besides 2 sentences which say not to smoke or get addicted to alcohol. Rating- Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures- 0/10 BAD.......JUST BAD.

The AK is KO'd

Chad Elliot, also known as the Atheist Killa, maker of the Elliot argument and notorious for his videos as fivethirty is well known for angering the Atheist community. His argument claims that Atheists are illogical and unless they could show provable evidence for the universe being eternal, created from nothing, or a 3rd possibility, he would continue making fun of them. Just recently I challenged this guy to a debate. After setting everything in stone, we decided on making it at 11:30 est last night. Earlier that day, I posted a copy of my argument on his Creationism and the Origin of Life page, which is well known for having such comments removed. My comment however, stayed until a little after 10. Then by the knowledge of some fellow atheists, I found out that the Creationism page disappeared. I thought it had been banned and started to celebrate till I found out that he in fact had a second page called TheElliotArgumentCannotBeDefeated. I immediately posted my argument on that page while other atheists did the same. The pic at the bottom is my post. My argument was " The Elliot argument is illogical for a few reason. The 1st being that STE and SCPNCEU are both logical possibilities for the uniververses creations. http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2011/08/16/the-physics-of-nothing-the-phi/ and http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-theory-of-parallel-universes.html show how both of these theories are actually possible. The second problem with the Elliot argument is that it fails to take account that their are an infinite amount of possibilities that like the God theory, cannot be Provence or disproven. An advance race of extraterrestrials could have formed the universe. The point is that Atheism can be just as rational as theism." This was at around midnight. By 8:30 this page was gone too. Were these pages deleted? Probably. Though I don't want to be to arrogant,  I think I have enough knowledge to say that we wont have to worry bout the AK, at least for a little while.

Parental Reaction

Today I started thinking about how I am going to tell my family I am agnostic atheist. I know it's not going to be easy but fear how hard it will actually be. I've seen many post from different individuals that say they have been screamed at by angry parents or even thrown out. This and the fact my parents church, who still consider me pious, are donating money for me to go to Nicaragua for a mission to help abandoned children is whats keeping me from telling anyone until I'm out of High School. I keep you posted on this difficult journey.

Dianetics/Scientology

Dianetics is a "science" created by L. Ron Hubbard. It claims without real scientific proof that all health issues in the body are mental and are caused by engrams, or pain that is "trapped" inside cells (it also considers homosexuality a sexually deviant condition). The reactive mind, or the part of the body that deals with vital functions takes these engrams and turns them into psychological illnesses. If you were lost at the word engram, don't worry, I had the same issue. The problems with these theories is that they have not been proven and are brought up from the sales pitch of a used car dealership. This "science" then leads into Scientology, the religion of the Thetan or spirit. This is when shit get's crazy. They believe that an intergalactic lord named Xenu dumped alien beings into volcanoes on earth millions of years ago. The spirits or thetans of these beings went loose unto the prehistoric race of humans, causing them to evolve. They claim once humans are free of engrams, they can posses supernatural powers. The only positive and non batshit crazy thin about this religion is its philosophy. It's philosophy is that humans must have a goal to further their individual selves, their communities, their species, and life as a whole. Rating- Dianetics/Scientology- 3/10 Really F@*cking Crazy.

The Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is the one of the best examples of a religion based on manufactured truth and delusions. This book, read by Joseph Smith out of a hat on golden plates plates only he could see that were given to him by an angel, tells the story of ancient hebrew people that were told by God to make a boat and sail over to America. If you think that's the craziest b.s. you've ever heard, wait, cause there's more. This book also said that God cursed some of the tribe with dark skin, reinforcing the racist belief that white people are better than anyone else. The resurrected Jesus visits these people and tells them all of his well known speeches. The good half of this tribe is then destroyed by by the bad half, who then forgets about the whole experience and is never heard from again. What's scares me about this religion is not it's insanity, nor the fact that it has a big following, but the fact that a presidential candidate that actually has a chance of winning is part of it. Can you really trust the intellect of a man who believes this stuff ? Only time will tell. Rating- The Book of Mormon .000001 WTF ?

The Bible (New Testament)

The New Testament is like The Empire Strikes Back. It's a sequel that is quoted and often more enjoyed than the original. This book, though often contradictory (read Old Testament post) has alot better morals and beliefs to it than it's first half when it talks about Jesus. Then, the story shows the early church. The accounts aren't very believable or moral as the Jesus story, but bearable enough to pass them off as a direct to dvd style sequel. Then the book takes an interesting twist with Paul's letters. These letters, which openly condemn homosexuality and say that women must obey their husbands like a child is very disturbing. I don't understand how such a follower of Jesus can change teachings of peace and love into hate and sexism. After baring through Paul and other early church founders letters, we get to Revelations, a.k.a. Apocalypse. This story, which can be extremely difficult to comprehend, shows how God will allow the most gruesome disaster to the claim the lives of billions of people, some of which will then spend an eternity in hell. Just as you thought that god had controlled his anger issues, he suddenly relapses into a violent fit. If one wants a good source of morals and virtues, the Jefferson Bible is a much better suggestion. Rating- The New Testament 4.5/10 OK

The Bible (Old Testament)

The Bible is one the most famous (and infamous) religious text. It is revered as divine truth in many countries, one of them being the Vatican. This single book is revered as single leading source of morality and judgment. When I started reading this book, I noticed a few interesting details. The first being that many biblical characters lived over 500 years old. This was weird for me because the average lifespan in that age was less than 45 years old. I blew it off and continued on, like a good Christian. Thats when I began to notice that the God I had known from all my Sunday School classes was a malicious being. In less than 3 chapters, he condoned incest, rape, murder, torture, and animal abuse. In the following chapters, he allowed child abuse, the death penalty, infanticide, and many, many, MANY other horrifying punishments. He even allows for children to be slaughtered by a bear for making fun of a bald prophet's head. I was only able to find one positive feature, that rich farmers were supposed to allow peasants to go through their vineyards and let them eat as much as they needed to survive. 1 positive fact doesn't get rid of 1,000 bad ones however. This book is also filled with contradictions. For a full list of contradictions and atrocities, visit thethinkingatheist.com/page/refuting-the-bible. Rating- The Old Testament 2/10 Unacceptable.

Religion

I presently have a goal to read all the famous pieces of literature. I'm beginning that goal with the "Holy Books" of Religion. After reading a holy book, I will make an analysis of it on this blog. Stay tuned for more.

Who Am I

I am an agnostic atheist. I am a pacifist and supporter of peace and human rights. I go under the alias Mark Staco for the present time because of the difficult situation I am in. I am not a spawn of Satan, devil worshipper, or hateful. I am a human being, and though my views may differ from yours, I feel we can all still peacefully coexist in this world.

Rights

The battle for rights is a complex issue. It starts in frustration and ends in victory. It is a battle fought in the mind and on the street. It faced by waves of hatred, criticism, and intolerance. The only way to fight back is through compassion, love, and acceptance. When the other side uses violence, be pacifist. When the other side insults you, give them compliments back. And when your beaten down as far as you can go, and you feel as though there is no way out, stand up tall, face the world, and yell out your battle cry. They may take away your rights, your belongings, and even your life, but they will never vanquish your spirit. Your the one who's fate is on the line, not theirs. Now get out there and show the world that as long as their is hatred, violence, and persecution, you will not remain silent.

Manifesto 2

If you have no knowledge of a topic, you should not be commenting on and stating what you think about it. Beliefs are not facts, and unless you have facts, your beliefs are opinions. Opinions don't win debates, they start them. Just because YOU believe something DOES Not mean it is true and that EVERYONE must follow it. Accept that you may be wrong and others may be right if you want others to do the same.

Manifesto 1

Of my beliefs, I hold the highest respect, honor, and personal duty to hold fast to the respect to life and dignity of ALL living creatures, no matter the age, race, color, gender, and sexual orientation. I have a lower but no less important respect for creeds, AS LONG AS they hold the same honor for my most important respect. Until we all hold these same respects, we cannot find peace.

I Don't Know

I am hitting an interesting yet frustrating point. I am starting to see the lack of knowledge and opinion of beliefs I have on certain topics. I am in the midpoint between Atheism and Agnosticism, finding that my skepticism pushes to one side but my firm attainment that we really have no knowledge and we may remain in this state of ignorance as long as the human race remains. I am at the point however, where I've decided that arguing about the existence, nature, and laws of a god, goddess, supreme being, or any other master of the universe is pointless. We as a country, a species, and a life form of this planet have enough major problems in life, and wasting time trying to assert that your beliefs have a right to be adhered to more than the next person is a great way to prevent progress. It amazes me how no other scientific questions are so bitterly and violently fought about than the ones that involve the beliefs of a religious institution. The only sure thing about the argument is that it will end, either through peace, violence, or extinction.

Unbelief

My story of unbelief began near the brink of my 16th birthday. At that time, I noticed that I was getting closer to adulthood and needed to decide on my beliefs and views on the world. My parent's weren't the greatest people to get advice from on this decision because they did not think for themselves. My Father was a Grade-A example of what I call the Indoctrination Cycle. This is when one is indoctrinated into the belief and religions of their caregivers and in turn do the same process to their own children. He was originally a Republican but after the 2008 election, he began to diverge into the slot of hard-core conservatism. All of his life views and beliefs could be summed up in an hours worth of Fox News and talk radio. His entire life had been based on living the beliefs of others, be it parents, Navy superiors, or TV/Radio hosts. Instead of keeping an open mind, anytime he came in contact with something contrary to his beliefs, he put it off as just another "Liberal Media Bias". My mother is an extremely compassionate and caring individual, but is sadly caught is the type of Christian that shrugs off religions problems as "something only God knows". Taking into account that these were not the best people to base my entire view of life on, I decided to make a mental journey through the realms of religion, politics, literature to attempt to create my own thoughts and views on the world around me. I decided to be unbiased as possible while at the same time not believing everything I was told. I began this intellectual process with the Bible, mainly because I was raised Catholic and wanted to look upon my religious world with innocence and logic. As I began reading this 1,000+ page book, I began to notice notice things that no one ever taught me in CCD and Religion Class. God in the Old Testament was a combination of ancient beliefs and prejudices. It was weird to think that such an omnipotent being would hold fast to such discrimination and hatred that we as a society have been trying to rid the world of for years. It was strange that a loving being who created the world would cater to the selfish wants of an ancient group in the middle east, helping them slaughter and destroy anyone who didn't believe in the same religion. He could have easily just have taught people how to compassionately try to convert people to the wiser way. These day's, it would seem like utter madness to kill someone for disagreeing with us. There is irony in the fact that most people who are strong believers in freedom of speech and religion are also supporting a book that is the complete opposite of it. A wedge between me and Catholicism had just begun to form. After the Bible, I read the God Delusion as an insight into Atheism. This book had many rational ideas, yet did not fully divert me from religion. What really did harder damage was my religion teacher. She was a fundamentalist Catholic who attempted to answer every question about religion. What really started to snap the rope between myself and religion is when questions I asked were getting answered in a way I didn't think possible from "religious" people. She was a pro life person, but when asked about the death penalty, she was in full support of it. Apparently man has no right to end the life of a being in the womb, but the second it grows up and is shown to be guilty of a crime he may have not of even committed, it's perfectly justifiable. That hypocritical statement began to shake the very foundation of my beliefs. What dropped the bomb on my former religion though was when I asked her why God would assist in the slaughtering of entire cities of innocent men, women, children, and animals. Her answer was that the Old Testament was a different time, and that God had to take whatever measures necessary to prevent his followers from being impure. I was mortified. She had just unknowingly justified terrorism and put it off as being a product of it's time. At this point in my life, I had internally renounced Catholicism. Any attempts at ending the closet atheism were halted in fear from my Mothers constant sayings of necessary belief to my Father's threats of HAVING TO GO TO CHURCH in his booming voice. Besides my conversion to being more peaceful and accepting, I was the same exact person, but I knew if I revealed anything to my parents, they would react the same way as finding out your son had just became a Satanic Cult Leader. I began to find that the most knowledgeable and supportive person in my life was not even related to me. My uncle by marriage to my aunt, an open minded and transgendered individual, was probably the only physical person I knew whose views I could truly grasp, understand, and accept. He had been through in the closet periods with his own family and friends, making him able to really understand what it is like to have to pretend to be someone else of fear. I also am recieving church funds for a mission to help abandoned children in Nicaragua, which I feel could be taken away due to my circumstances. I know that eventually I will be forces to reveal the truth to my family. Till then, I must live under the alias Mark Staco.