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The impression forces itself upon one that men measure by false standards,
that everyone seeks power, success, riches for himself, and admires others
who attain them, while undervaluing the truly precious thing in life.
~ Sigmund Freud
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Initial: Frederick
Profession: Psychology Undergraduate
Birthday: days left
Height: 1.76m
Weight: 63kg
Blood Type: A+
Waist size: 29-30 inches
Hobbies: Blogging; Reading; Songs & Movies; Chill out
Most Disliked Food: Anything crustacean - due to allergy
Favourite Songs to Sing to: For You (self-composed) & The Promise
Favourite Body Parts: Nose; Jaws
Schools: Pei Chun Public School (1989 - 1995); Chong Boon Secondary School (1996 - 1999); Nanyang Polytechnic (2000 - 2003); Monash University (2006 - )
While slaving for my psychology report, I suddenly thought of blogging. Out of no reason whatsoever, I also thought it's time to give tribute to a great comedian of our time - my dad's time rather. He's none other than George Carlin. Nope he's not dead yet, and I certainly hope he could live longer to crack more jokes on stage.
This is one controversial video that would get many Christians provoked to the very edge of their seats. But it is really very light-hearted... the way Carlin puts it across to the audience who were, apparently, having a good time. Meanwhile, I'm almost done reading Richard Dawkin's latest book "The God Delusion", and somehow or rather, I came across a quote by Carlin, found in this short film, written as the abstract of chapter 8 in "The God Delusion". Here it goes:
'Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man - living in the sky - who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time... But He loves you!'
- George Carlin
Well, in the name of God, one could do anything, and everything. In the name of dogmatic Marxism or doctrinaire, an insane and unscientific eugenics theory tinged with sub-Wagerian ravings, one could also do anything, and that includes evil. It is the spirit of belief that motivates men to rise up against one another, to the extent of mass killings or genocide. However, if one were to take an average human being who has no staunch belief in the supernatural, or in any dogmas whatsoever, it would be implausible for that individual to cause violence; to kill; to pillage; to destroy; to burn synagogues; or to persecute rival believers of another religion, all for the sake of an absence of belief. On the other hand, if one has a reason to do good, just for the sake of honouring or glorifying God, but not himself, what difference would it make by being a significantly pleasant person just because God says so, and not being significantly pleasant when God does not command that? NO DIFFERENCE! In fact, it is like stealing a sibling's toy when mama's not around or couldn't care less about the matter. But some Christians might disagree with me saying that all these are to be done unto others as though they are doing them unto the Lord, regardless whether God ask of it, it is their responsibility as Christians to be a good testimony to others, since God is living inside them.
It boils down to a simple conclusion altogether. Religion, in this situation, is something like a desperately needed guide for man to embrace in order to do good, to get heavenly rewards (which is lacking in huge amount of evidence), to be morally moulded by a god whom they claim exists, and finally, to be transformed into a better person of a respectable character (as perceived by only within their religious community itself). Note that no religious leaders would tell an atheist, an agnostic, a free thinker, or anyone outside of their specific religion that they have indeed achieved a respectable form of character, without first acknowledging or believing in their god, and having strong convictions to their god. Thus, to theologians or any religious leaders, the only way to develop a positively moulded and spiritually transformed character, is to be convicted to the God they are worshipping, especially to the Christian Evangelical God. In short, anyone that is not a committed believer in a god those religious people are believing in, are considered no better off than anything. Hence, the name callings (Gentiles, the Lost Sheep, the Unbelievers, the Sinners, the Wretched, the Crooked, the Unclean, the Infidels, and interestingly, the Untouchables etc).
One might wonder if a morally sane person would behave far better off than just mere name calling. Such behaviour, was derived from none other than the Holy Book, where God made many statements against the Unclean, the Gentiles, the Unbelievers and so on... I could say no more than just telling you guyz to read more of the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament. Read the bible from cover to cover, which I once did. Ask yourselves these questions: "Do I know exactly what the heck was written inside this book?", "Do I know exactly what some stories inside are describing about?" "Do I have any slightest idea what was written, when did the events happened, and why they did?"
If any Christian were to tell me that we do not take the verses of the bible literally, then how should we take those verses as? The truth is, different individuals have different responses and perceptions regarding language and its interpretation. Do we, exactly know what was going on in the minds of those biblical scholars back in those days, when they were working on the testament? If those concepts or events were passed down by word of mouth, then I would say that the evidence they provide isn't very credible or valid. If they were written in a way that needs interpretations, this would create even more confusion, much less a diverse variation of doctrines that might have resulted in formations of cults and so on. That said, what have they got to hide? Were they hiding from persecutions? Can't be, since martyrs were very eager to die during that point in time. Honestly, from my opinion, no sane or moral man would write as cruelly and brutally like those works found in Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, or Judges. I'm only stating part of the examples. Of course, there are many more other books in the bible which are too much to be listed here.
I've got this question, however, "Why can't we derive our sense of morality from moral philosophies?" Is it too hard to abide by moral philosophies that are deem acceptable to different individuals? The question here is not how one would live a fulfilled life with or without God. Rather, it is a question of whether one could be made free to choose to accept any particular philosophy in this life time, without any religious name callings, nor risking any evident potential of failed ties and relationships, nor simply negative judgments from religious people.
If you have an answer to my question, you are free to express.
