Freedom

I've discovered a lot since I freed myself of the shackles of willful ignorance that is Christian Fundamentalism. Here's a couple of examples.
First, I'm glad I work at a biotech company. It has allowed me to be view the science behind modern biology first hand. Guess what, evolution is true. Our society now has practical uses for the knowledge that evolution gives us! For example, knowing the real origin of an identified infectant allows for quicker development of treatment against it. Willful ignorance of this is equivalent to believing the Earth is the center of the Universe. Modern day reject of evolution by Protestants is very similar to Protestant rejection of Copernicus' heliocentric model of the Universe in the 1500's. It's interesting to note, it is the Protestants that rejected Copernicus, and it was the Catholic Church that accepted him. In our time, the Protestant faiths are waging a similar war against evolution, while the Catholic Church declared that evolution does not contradict the bible. Anyone see a pattern developing here? :)
Second, the Bible and all revered ancient texts are not infallible, nor are they the word of God. There are many completely wrong statements, absolute contradictions, and bigotries that fill the pages of these ancient writings. An example of a false statement, the Qu'ron says (in no uncertain terms) that the Earth does not move and that the Sun moves around the Earth. In fact, the Qu'ron not only states that falsehood, it makes use of it as a justification for further false conclusions. An example of an absolute contradiction, the Bible clearly states two separate and completely different creation accounts. Christian traditionalism and fundamentalism both try to claim that the two accounts are merely a retelling of the creation with a different flavor, or that the second story is somehow a continuation of the first story. When read with a critical mind, the two stories are completely different, and directly contradict each other (not to mention how much both contradict reality).
That's enough of that for now.

New Perspective

The weeks that followed the conversation in my previous post changed me. Before this time, I firmly, religiously and scientifically believed that the soul was not separate from the body; the soul did not exist by itself. I viewed any tales of ghosts, supernature happenings or such matters as superstition, imagination or the work of the devil (the religious side of me still believed in Satan at that time).
Right up to the very moment I heard her disembodied voice speak to me, I firmly believed that such an event was impossible. I'm not going into the few conversations I had with her, other than to say they involved the further exchanges of our expressions for love for each other, and very specific information I had no other way to receive that I later verified.
I am going to say that these events lead me to start questioning my belief system. Point number one that I had to face: Our soul does exist on its own. How? What happens if we die? Most Christian religions accept this as fact, but if my religion was wrong, what does that say about other religions that are based firmly in the interpretation of any ancient texts?
In the past, I read the bible completely through over time, several times. I know its words. So now, I started looking at the bible from a neutral eye. I started realizing there was a lot of ridiculous explanations to cover thangs that the bible says. Then, I realized, there are absolute contradictions in the bible that are glossed over by fundamentalism, and all christian religions. The bible is not the infallible word of God. It couldn't be. Hince my journey began.
I explored and revealed each successive lie I've been told since I was an infant. As my eyes opened slowly opened, old precepts became invalid or simply lost meaningfulness. Through this process, it took me a about three years to completely shed christianity (and all organized religion) out of my veins. I am not a christian. I've discovered all religion is simply a metaphor to explain the unknownable. I choose to accept no one's metaphor any longer. I have been religionfree since I was 28.
It is amazing where a woman's love can take you. In my case, I literally lost my religion. lol

Banking eggs

I recently had all of my money stolen out of my checking and savings accounts at my main bank. All the checks and payments I made were bouncing all over the place. It’s a mess. I have to contact each creditor individually and convince them it wasn’t my fault so they will reverse their returned check fees.
I’ve been unsatisfied with how my bank has handled this affair. They’ve dragged their feet on the carpet of inefficiency. It is likely I will be ending my relationships with this bank and its affiliates as soon as this matter is completely fixed.
Fortunately, I have back up money stashed away in a couple of separate accounts at different banks. The old saying comes into play; never leave all of your eggs in one basket. I didn’t have a lot of money in my separate accounts, but I had enough to re-pay this month’s bills before they were too late.
I have these back up sources because I direct deposit relatively small amounts each paycheck into these other accounts. In fact, the amounts are so small, they don’t make a difference in any given month by themselves. But collected over time, they do add up.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

I also thought that I'd share the most unusual keyword search hit come come across my site that I've seen in a long time: free pictures of hermaphrodites. Ugh!

Infallible Bible

One of the defining illusions of Christian Fundamentalism is the doctrine of biblical infallibility. This is the claim that the Bible is the absolutely literal and flawless word of God. Apologists frequently assert that God has actively overseen the preservation and compilation of scripture into its current form. Yet, the very Bibles carried into churches today are the products of centuries of heavy editing, deletion, and political curation.

Looking at the history of the Protestant canon we see that for over two centuries, the King James Bible included an entire section of books known as the Apocrypha. In the 19th century, Protestant authorities stripped these books from the text, declaring them to have "dubious origins." If divine providence was carefully guarding the integrity of scripture, why did God allow flawed text to remain embedded in the Christian canon for hundreds of years?

The myth of an unchanging text is further shattered by the ongoing work of modern translation committees. While some updates attempt to use older manuscripts to correct past errors, the editing process is frequently used to degrade the text. Editors regularly alter, reword, or rewrite verses to obfuscate inconvenient historical references, soften controversial moral commands, or force the text to align with modern sectarian doctrines. Even the venerable King James Version is not a static artifact. It has been quietly revised thousands of times since 1611, shifting language to suit evolving theological tastes. Whether a translation is being updated for academic clarity or sanitized for doctrinal damage control, the underlying truth is that the text is constantly being manipulated by human hands.

This creates a fatal logical paradox for the fundamentalist. If religious committees must constantly tinker with the text to scrub away ancient contradictions or protect modern sensibilities, the Bible cannot be called infallible. By acting as retroactive censors and editors of God’s word, these committees functionally operate as modern-day prophets correcting past divine oversights.

Furthermore, this dynamic of human interference was not a late-stage development. It was the primary driving force behind the Bible's origins. For the earliest centuries of textual development, we have no surviving paper trail. Countless original documents were lost, destroyed, or intentionally rewritten to align with the shifting political and theological agendas of victorious religious factions. If human tinkering is an open secret of the modern era, it was an absolute certainty in the ancient world.

The Bible remains an extraordinary historical artifact and sometimes a profound ethical guide, but demanding a literal reading of its current, heavily edited form is a logical contradiction.

To the clergy and fundamentalist leaders who maintain the pretense of an infallible text, the reality is clear that you cannot have it both ways. If you truly believe the text is the unchanging, perfect word of God, you must stop editing it and restore every verse and book your committees have purged or sanitized. If you accept the necessity of ongoing human corrections, you must confess that the Bible is a deeply human, evolving anthology. Stop defending an impossible dogma, stop misleading your followers, and stop weaponizing human editorial choices as absolute divine law.

Citibank Strangedays

Well, I called up Citibank today to inquiry about the status of my unauthorized transactions investigation. A person from the fraud customer service department picked up my call. I'll refer to him as Gear. So, I asked Gear about the status of the investigation. First words out of Gear's mouth in reply, "Investigations take 14 business days to be completed." Well, I expressed about as much frustration as I am capable in response. When I first reported the unauthorized withdrawals on my account, I was told that I would have resolution in 4 to 5 days. The second time I called, I was also told 4 to 5 days. After the 5th day, I called again. This time, I was told it was 10 days. And now I called on the 11th day and Gear was telling me I had to wait 3 more days. No way!
He put me on hold and did some checking. He comes back and tells me I was right. The investigation is 10 days, and it is done. I will receive the investigation closure letter and my reimbursement in a couple days. Then he tells me the amount of the reimbursement, under $2000. More than $3000 was stolen from me! What the?!
After more time passes, Gear finally figures about that the initial investigation was only opened for one of my two accounts that was affected. So Gear and I had to go through all of the transactions again, and submit two requests (one for each account) for review and reconsideration of the investigation results, all because of a Citibank error!
You know what, I don't know if this means I will get the initial reimbursment amount, or hafta wait another ten days for the correct amount. Arg! So, the saga continues.