Having a Bad Day

I haven’t been on here for ages, and partly it’s been because things have been going fairly well for me. It’s also been largely because my life has been shock full of so much activity that it’s difficult for me to keep up with anything so peripheral.  I’ve been in school full time, work full time, and I’m trying to escape that work by starting my own business… so freelancing part-time.

My world is both growing and shrinking at the same time.  My sex life is essentially out of the window because I don’t have the time to actively maintain it. I’m frustrated, angry, and feel purposeless.  I’m not entirely sure why I’m writing this all down here, but it seems like a good plan.  I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to get out of this rut.  Something has to change.

I’ve been searching for new jobs, but the ones that I’m finding seem to be the same situations but in different places.  I can’t take those.  I’m looking for something part time so that I can focus on my freelance work.

 

Mark Twain's "Mysterious Stranger" in Claymation

This is so creepy… does it remind you of anyone?

 

Rejection of Pascal's Wager

Here’s another version of the rejection of Pascal’s Wager that seems very interesting, informative, and comprehensive.  This, again, is part of the resources that I’m sharing with my sister. Such excerpts are:

In the seventeenth century the French mathematician and theologian, Blaise Pascal (1623- 1663) put forward a wager in his Pensees (Thoughts): If there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible, since, having, neither parts nor limits, He has no affinity to us. We are then incapable of knowing either what He is or if He is … you must wager. It is not optional. You are embarked. Which will you choose then? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager then without hesitation that he is.

Indeed , there is now so much contrary evidence against the historical accuracy of the Bible that the term “biblical archaeology” has now been discarded in professional archeology! [The preferred term now being Syro-Palestinian archaeology. The whole paradigm of archaeology in the Near East has shifted away from thinking of the Bible as a reliable archaeological field guide to that of a collection of ancient fairy tales and legends.

Now let us look at the gospel stories in more detail. We start with the Nativity, the stories surrounding the birth of Jesus told in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. We note that there are many problems with the stories…

Furthermore, critical historical research over the past two hundred years have shown that our “Luke” cannot be considered a very reliable historian. In the twentieth century, with the advent of new methodologies of historical and literary research, scholars made another startling discovery: that the speeches in Acts are unhistorical and are essentially the literary invention of the author. Scholars have also noted that the picture of Paul as presented in Acts is not completely compatible with what we can derive from the genuine Pauline epistles…

One of the myth is that the superior teaching of Christianity compared to paganism helped it spread rapidly and permeated all classes of society. The spreading of the religion was supposed to be supernaturally guided such that its rise became inevitable. Another popular myth is that, through no fault of their own, the early Christians were consistently and repeatedly persecuted and many were killed or executed. A careful examination of history however shows these myths to be what they are religious fairy tales.

Thus we have reviewed the full range of arguments for God’s existence from the philosophical to the “scientific” to the folksy. None has succeeded. The reader is asked to pause for a minute here. If any one of the above arguments actually provides proof of god’s existence, there would have been no need to keep coming up with new ones! Thus this continued generation of new arguments for god’s existence is a tacit admission that all previous arguments have failed.

Of course Christianity today (and for that matter-since its inception) is not monolithic. There are literally thousands of variants. At the last count there were over 20,000 Christian denominations! Within this diversity we can, of course, simplify these into a few major groups…

 

Arguing Evolution: Quote

I love this quote…

Faith is the foundation of Christianity; faith is the absence of evidence. The claim of evidentiary support for Christianity is an attack upon its central tenets.

Fun fact…  gravity is still considered a scientific theory.

 

Arguing Evolution

It seems that I’ve discovered several Young Earth Creationalists in my midst.   I’ve discovered that these people hold these truths to their hearts and minds, believing, without a doubt, that the bible is inerrant and accurate in all ways.  In my next few posts, I’m going to list the resources that I’m using to argue and combat these villians against logic, against reality…

In the meantime, I welcome you to watch these videos.  These are the sort of people you ally yourself with.  If anything, these videos show exactly how crazy these sort of people are.

Listen… watch… fight this.  Fight these sort of people…

 

A Little Bit of Crazy

As you may know, Christopher has recently lost his job.  His school loans have come to term and his uncle refuses to respond to any sort of promise that he made.  This helps to create a situation in my life where I cannot escape from the hardships facing me.  I cannot breathe without thinking of one of the myriad of forces that are just a little too much for me to deal with.  The constant demands of school and work are hard to focus on properly with all of this crashing down on my head.  At this hour, however, it’s all I can afford to focus on.

On Saturday, I chopped off all [read: feels like all to me] of my hair.  We’d measured it before my scissors incident and it was 32 inches long from root to end.  Now, it lays on my shoulders, not going past my bust line.  This, for me, is a huge change.  Having hacked it lock by lock, it required some cleaning.  The wench that cut my hair did layers that I did not want and did not follow the only instruction I did give her: I’d like it one even length all the way round.

I can’t wear most of my hair implements anymore, which irritates me.  My hair is just ever too short to use my metal spike, my leather and peg, not to mention keep itself in a bun like my old hair used to.  Whoever said that short hair was less work didn’t know what they were talking about.

 

Cute Quiz

I took a cute little test for shits and giggles… and apparently I am:

• Neo-Pagan (100%)
• Unitarian Universalism (91%)
• New Age (77%)
• Theravada Buddhism (73%)
• Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (72%)

 

The Other Side of Changes

Now, one thing I did not mention about the school bill in my last post was that his uncle promised to help with it.  He swore for lawyers, attorneys, and what-have-you to ensure that there was some benefit to paying these damned bills.  He has folded on his promise, which infuriates me.  I’ve written and sent the following letter yesterday.  I have not received a reply yet.

I am writing to express my feelings on the current situation that is happening.  I would like to preface this with the sentiment that it is extremely unfortunate that the company you have started from the ground up, putting your time and energy into from its inception, is essentially dead.  Its demise is lamentable, from your perspective alone.  I think I understand how much this business has driven your financial success and hope that you are able to recover from this grievous blow.

What frustrates me most about the situation with Chris, however, is your failure to deliver on a promise.  He cannot keep his job under your employ, and that is understandable.  However, one of the promises that you delivered was that you would help with his school bill. You swore to either get him back in school or work out some sort of deal.  He owes to the tune of $22,000 and does not have a degree to show for it.  At a rate of $300 per month, which we cannot afford right now, it will take us more than six years to finish that off, not including interest.

You claimed such interest in helping him, and with such furor, that I urged him to take your job over the steadier job that he already had. So I feel, in part, responsible for the currant situation.

Christopher informed me that you just told him to go in and talk with the school officials.  He has.  Several times.  They refused to let him back into the school.  They refuse any assistance of any sort.  Were he to go back again, the same thing would happen.  Nothing would be accomplished.  That is why you promised to go in, banner flying and sword raised, in the defense of your nephew.

It seems as though you have washed your hands of this, of your promise to your nephew, and the responsibility you claimed you would take in his defense.  Is this true?

 

Changes

Every time things in my life settle down, something stirs up more dust.  It’s almost enough for me to carve my damned tattoo into my skin, ink or not.  I count my blessings, however, because I never seem to be thrown more than I can handle, though that is bound to happen eventually.   Things settle down, work themselves into a pattern, and then the world changes.  Things shatter.  The etchasketch of my life is given a good shake and I need to start fixing bits that got erased.

On Friday, Chris lost his job.  The company he worked for, which his uncle owned, was a truck dispatching service.  They would find drivers for loads.  Now, unfortunately they were stiffed nearly $100,000 from a company that they had already delivered the goods for.  The drivers had to be paid.  Lawsuits would ensue.  Because of this, Chris is now out of a job.  The company is folding and cannot afford to keep in business, let alone continue to employ anyone.

Of course, this comes on the heal of Chris’s school loan, which matured in January.  We need to send out an extra $300 a month.  There are so many expenses, and now this new one throws a brand new kink in things.  The school bill, which we cannot afford at the $300 rate, would be paid off in six years… not counting interest. At least this one, we could see.  His job gave us no warning, unfortunately.

So… here’s to things calming down enough before something else hits us.

 

An Old Friend

An old friend showed up out of my past.  It is interesting how little we change over time.  Certain things alter, baggage is added, some is taken away, problems are resolved, and new problems are put in the old one’s places.  It is amusing, ultimately, because we are still the same people.  Changed, yes, but we are still undeniably ourselves.  The essence that makes us who we are does not seem to change in seven years.

I am comforted to know that seven years ago I was the same person that I am today.  I love who I am today, and realize that all that has really changed is my ability to accept myself and refuse to settle for a situation that makes me unhappy.  It’s odd what it takes to remind you of little things like that.