The Glorification and Worship of Torture

On the other hand, I appreciate such shows and their gory details of the scourging, flailing and flogging. Mel Gibson’s Passion was especially graphic and cringe-inducing. This is the core essence of all religion: intolerant, violent, bloody. A theme Christianity has held steadfast for two millennia. I love pointing out how consistent the church is in keeping to this evil bloody theme even today. Yes, it is and I am pleased the church displays its ongoing penchant for evil so openly. Makes things a bit easier when advising people what philosophies to avoid in life.

Regardless of whatever candle2 perceives in his interpretations of what the “cross” is/was/supposed to be, there is a political dimension to the use of the cross as a universal symbol of Christianity.The orthodox and catholic cults have the figure of the crucified Jesus on the cross complete with nails in both hands and feet. The protestant cults take the Jesus figure off the cross and use the cross sans Jesus as the symbol of their beliefs.The orthodox keep the jesus figure because he represents the pain and suffering, the sacrifice of blood and death that he suffered for all humanity to cleanse us of our sin. In this, we, the believer, the faithful, are spared the stain of sin and thus may enter into everlasting life with the holy spirit.The protestants resurrected the body of the Christ off the cross to symbolize the defeat of death and the gift of everlasting life a resurrected Jesus promises to all that would follow him.In either case these religions use a known torture device as a revered figure. These religions believe their flavor of god demands torture, pain, blood and sacrifice to wash away the filth with which their god made us. People believe this crap.

I've been at this for a long time. I know your gutter religion very well. With you as one of its priests I know your cult is an ancient fantasy myth that has tortured humanity for millennia. Like all religions yours is but another death cult. Moronic imbecile. Priest. Liar.We know your religions and the evil poison you propagate in the human mind. Yours offers nothing more than any other demonic cult.

In this case the only response to his repeated inanity is ridicule. Note that in fact my characterization of him is accurate if not civilly rendered.

You got to me, Percy. Thank you.

No, I do not know if there is a god or not. What I do know is that I am a materialist (on steroids). My world view.The physical evidence does not support a supernatural entity like a god existing in this universe. At this time for humanity this is the only reality the universe has shown us.Oh, but supernatural means no physics, right? No. Any god who diddles with his creation has to do so by moving particles of mass and energy around.Did I mention physics on steroids? This is it.To accomplish his purpose that means massive numbers of particles are moved in ways that would appear to be changed from the expected natural motive force, appear to violate causality, contrary to what we know physics requires. This is the hard physics, the steroids. There are no present viable options.If these particles move contrary to our universe-wide never-violated experience of physics then … we gotcha! Big data point for god!... or dark matter. That’s how we found the dark matter phenomenon, particles moving contrary to what they should. We really are good at seeing this stuff. So, no god-data-point this time but if we see like things in the future we’ll talk.The physics doesn’t support god. At least not one that diddles in his creation. All we have left is emotion or logical reasoning to guide us. Did I mention my world view? On this question emotion is a known impediment to logical reasoning. It doesn't matter ... at all.So, for me that logical reasoning goes like this.Any earthly conception(s) of god(s) are non-starters. There are too many of them and they are too inconsistent in almost all things. They cannot all be right. But they can all be wrong. Physically, materially, there is no hard (on steroids) evidence that any of them are real, genuine, authentic. And we have a pretty good idea of the evolutionary imperatives, the human psychology and the violent histories that precipitated the earthly gods from human consciousness. None of them can realistically, intellectually, qualify as a god of this universe. I have nothing to hold there.When I look out at this universe the only thing I see are stars. We have nothing that speaks to anything physical of a creation by some supernatural overseer. We have questions. Lots of questions. As our technology and enlightenment grow we answer these questions. We look everywhere light can reach us. We see nothing of god.The only one-off anomaly we see in all the cosmos is life on earth. Intellectually we know there (must) be other life somewhere in this galaxy but, again on steroids, we have no evidence.Therefore, if there is a god of this universe then we only need look at earth life to see his handiwork, his systems. We can see what he did, here, on earth. What did he create? Evolution. Survival of the just fit enough and much of that in anguish. Death. Nice god.If he set the stage then walked away, effectively there is no god but what he left behind is anguish and death. If he diddled(s) in his creation, after setting this plan in motion, having created evolution and the psyche of humanity, and having the ability to diddle but not abate the anguish of life, he is an evil god.I pray there is no such god. I pray such intended malevolence did not poison this cosmos or any beyond.It would be nice to have everlasting life, maybe. Depends on the particulars. It would be nice if there was a god and my soul continued. I would like to travel the multiverse seeing the different life forms and the great cosmic spectacles. But, steroids, the arch of human life does not bend in that direction, so it appears, and there certainly is no physics to my desires. I would give it zero chance.What is left is Gaia. A blind, emotionless, uncaring, unknowing force of world-creating and world-destroying cosmic powers. A personified conception of the reality of this universe. Whatever created this space, this existence, put Our Lady Gaia in charge. She ply’s her Physics with a steady, perfectly consistent and violent hand. She has no choice. Neither do we.To some this is unsatisfying. No eternal answers to our most fervent existential desires. I do not look forward to my all too soon approaching death. I do not fancy the idea of an eternity of oblivion. But we have no other choice. Nothing else is in the cupboard.There appears to be no god. Earth myths of an afterlife are known to stem from our human emotional angst. What we do all have worth celebrating is that we … I got to live. I am forever thankful for having this experience where an infinity of possible others never did. I got to enjoy Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Ice Cream and girls.So, yes, candle2, I know the one true god better than most.

No. No. Fuck you, priest. It can. No. Yes. No. No. Yes. See my last post above. That explains my views on gods. Did you miss it? I’m certain your apologetics provides a reason for this fantasy. I’m sure you can justify your god being evil. This is the sickness of religion. This is the poison. This is how you justify your god’s torture and cruelty to humanity. You are a priest of this temple trying to excuse evil with flippancy.Candle2, your god is a fake. Intellect and history know this. It is a holdover myth from an archaic time in human evolution. Nothing more. That you cannot see, understand, comprehend the reasons we know this to be true is your own intellectual failing. You are a religious dumbshit and you have become a lying proselytizing fucking priest.

This is an article of faith. It is false. The authors were all religious nutjobs and lying priests just like you. They are complicit in fostering this evil on humanity as are you.

Your posts mean nothing. You are a priest. You lie. Your god is a fiction, a fantasy with no reality. There is no purpose to existence other than that WE make in our own lives with our own minds. Your god, being non-existent, has no impact, purpose or meaning in this universe. It is YOUR purpose to foist this evil on humanity. The fault is not with your non-existent ghost but with the evil fantasy you priests concoct to lie, move and control those who are too damn dumb to see the reality. The problem is with the power abuse, bloodlust, pain and evil suffering practiced by you priests. The blood. The death, suffering and pain your believers commit upon humanity at your command to further the inhumane goals of the warlords you choose to serve. First, show me this god you insist exists. Second, see all the above.

Yes, priest, we heard you 3500 years ago. You lied then and you're lying now.

My problem is that I'm old and have lost interest in half what I used to fight for/against.Religionists have nothing new to argue and the fifteenth repeat of the same old song, even from the stunted new generations, gets a bit boring especially since we all already know the answers before the same old questions are inevitably asked. We are left with the unimaginative bible thumpers citing rote from AIG or the real crazies like Candle2 who barely have the intellect to participate in any rational way.I show up here multiple times a day to see if Percy has any new toys for us to play with, hear of any new experiences from a favorite group of friends like you and to see if Tany has any bug or moon pictures ...... pictures?Something about an eclipse? They are not here that I have seen. Against all my reminders and admonitions you forgot to take the lens caps off, right Tany?