Dec
30
Brainstormy Morning
Filed Under miscellany, church, politics, web design
I lept out of bed at 7 after little sleep, my mind churning with my punch list items (my extensive to-do list). If I accomplish half of the tasks I’ve documented on my Excel punch list, it will be a highly productive day.
Dad’s Dell
My quite functional budget laptop seems less so today.
Yesterday I received news from Dad that he’s finally ready to purchase a new laptop — news I’ve eagerly awaited for two years — and he invited me to an outing at Staples (they carry two Dell laptop models) and Rafferty’s (one of Dad’s favorite restaurants). Dad bought a Dell Inspiron 1521 and instructed the tech guy at his CPA firm, Frasier, Dean & Howard, to set it up and transfer the files from his old Dell laptop. He brought it home and wanted me to check it out. I think it took less than three minutes for the i-need-new-dell-laptop-too thoughts to creep in.
Church Dilemma Dispatched
Partly as a result of reading an article in the latest issue of Newsweek, the folly of my so-called ‘church dilemma’ was realized. It makes no sense — zero — for me to make yet another attempt to integrate myself into a church of Christ (Wikipedia CoC entry), even a relatively progressive congregation like Otter Creek. I’m tired of pretending to be on the margins of this church just because that’s the way I was raised (not to mention it’s the predominant religion of almost everyone I know and everyone my family knows). More on that later; the point is, a decision on the dilemma feels good — almost as good as my recent decision to vacate (in a friendly manner, of course) the employ of the Nashville landscaping company I’ve been associated with in varying degrees since 2001. There is a strong feeling of freedom that comes with such a decision, even before its implementation.
BestWeb Nashville in 2008
There is fresh hope for the continuation of web services a la BestWeb Nashville in 2008. I received an email from a web developer who seems interested in creating a partnership. I replied to Dario with a brief but hopeful email that made it clear I’m very interested in following up on this to see if a truly win-win scenario can evolve.
Yesterday at work (landscape maintenance in Nashville), I dropped my old school Nokia cellphone on the pavement. It had been nestled in my crotch as I sat in the landscape maintenance truck, and I exited the vehicle without first grabbing my phone; it clattered onto the parking lot of our largest Nashville commercial landscaping client. No big deal, I’ve dropped the phone before; later, I noticed that the green call button did not respond to my increasingly determined pressage. Plus, I’m not sure if whether I can successfully answer a call.
Rather than waiting to see if the phone comes around, I’m going to do what my parents did a month ago: visit the Green Hills T-Mobile store and exchange the old Nokia for the newest free model. In order to get a free phone, I will have to extend my contract with T-Mobile for another two years, but I don’t really have a problem with that.
Evolution of Political Preferences
I still agree with more of Ron Paul’s views than others’, but realistically, what chance would Libertarian-styled proposals have in Congress? I would love to see the U.S. move to zero-based budgeting, and I would welcome a similar approach to politics and governance in general.
On the Republican side, I believe John McCain is the best candidate. John McCain is one of the least partisan Republicans I can name; I want to see unity stand above division. Mike Huckabee is currently my second choice. I believe either one has the potential to unite the country.
On the Democratic side, I would most like to see Obama rise to the top. He may be short on official political experience, but I view this as a strong plus, not a drawback. My second choice would be Joe Biden, but unfortunately he’s a third-tier candidate. While I am not among the Hillary haters, I believe she is too polarizing to unite the country.
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I just wanted you to know how much I enjoy reading your posts. I like how your mind works.
I hope you don’t mind a Glasgowian (KY not UK) reading your blogs…even though I don’t know you. Thanks for sharing. 
[…] I will write a detailed account of the church dilemma and how it was resolved. The short version of the church dilemma’s disposal is found here. Spoiler: I decided it is a complete waste of time and effort and lifeforce (and who knows what […]
I thought your Church Dilemma piece was interesting; you ought to write more about that. I was rescued from organized religion at age 23, thank God!
Here are hundreds of great quotes from famous freethinkers through the ages:
http://www.wonderfulatheistsofcfl.org/Quotes.htm
Environment is a sculptor — a painter. If we had been born in Constantinople, then most of us would have said: ‘There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.’ If our parents had lived on the banks of the Ganges, we would have been worshipers of Siva, longing for the heaven of Nirvana. As a rule, children love their parents, believe what they teach, and take great pride in saying that the religion of mother is good enough for them.”
“And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors.” –Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823
Here are some classic quotes from Mark Twain:
“Faith is believing something you know ain’t true.”
“If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be — a Christian.”
“It (the Bible) is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.”
“A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows.”
“Our Bible reveals to us the character of our god with minute and remorseless exactness… It is perhaps the most damnatory biography that exists in print anywhere. It makes Nero an angel of light … by contrast.”
“I cannot see how a man of any large degree of humorous perception can ever be religious — unless he purposely shut the eyes of his mind & keep them shut by force.”
“If there is a God, he is a malign thug.”
“‘In God We Trust.’ I don’t believe it would sound any better if it were true.”
“It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”
“Man is a marvelous curiosity . . . he thinks he is the Creator’s pet . . . he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to him and thinks He listens. Isn’t it a quaint idea.” [Letters from the Earth]
Mr. Clemens was once asked whether he feared death. He said that he did not, in view of the fact that he had been dead for billions and billions of years before he was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.
- Samuel Clemens “Mark Twain”, American author and humorist (1835-1910).
Benjamin Franklin said:
“I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life, I absenteed myself from Christian assemblies.”
“Lighthouses are more helpful then churches.”
-Benjamin Franklin, American Founding Father, author, and inventor
Honest Abe said:
“The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma.”
- Abraham Lincoln, American president (1809-1865).
Albert Einstein:
“I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religion than it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”
“I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own — a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism.”
“I do not believe in the immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.”
“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for a reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.”
-Albert Einstein, German-born American physicist
President James Madison:
“During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution.”
“In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.”
“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise.”
“What influence in fact have Christian ecclesiastical establishments had on civil society? In many instances they have been upholding the thrones of political tyranny. In no instance have they been seen as the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty have found in the clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate liberty, does not need the clergy.”
[…] Brainstormy Morning […]
[…] other attempts to rejoin a church. I have written extensively on this subject (The Church Dilemma, Brainstormy Morning, Why I’m Now Seeking Community, Benefits of Community: Why Join a Group, […]