Bible Camps

It might seem ironic that I was once part of the "bible camp machinery" in the sense that I was part of a few kids programs growing up and also on staff at a Bible camp but not directly involved in the so-called brainwashing counselling of children. The truly awful thing about these camps is to coerce young children into making a "major life decision" when they can't even prepare their own meals, drive, vote or even think critically. Not only that, but to guilt them into believing they have no self-worth and are in need of redemption lest they fall into the hands of a wrathful god and perish forever in a place of torment is tantamount to emotional abuse.

The usual trappings of such camps are fun activities during the day, relatively decent food, and then a guilt-ridden sermon to put you in your place and confess your sins and make a decision for Christ...and then talk about it after at your cabin.

I was never exposed to extreme camps that were portrayed in "Jesus Camp" but the gist of it was pretty simple...if you DIE TONIGHT, you're SCREWED if you don't accept this over-the-top message.

The Non-existent Bargain

There are several things I would like to write about but I must be very careful how they are worded as they are personal and also represent a slight risk to someone's identity. However, after a conversation over the long weekend I asked a rather personal question. There are those among us that have changed dramatically over time and for good reason as they adopt to a more critical thinking methodology and as a result, ultimately change their whole paradigm as a result of evidence based living. As a consequence of that whole paradigm shift, friends will get miffed, families might get torn apart, marriages may end, life gets tough...

So the question is...Did you keep your end of the bargain?

I suppose it depends on the definition of the bargain. You see, as a former believer, I can understand why I could get shunned by friends and family although I think their reasons are pretty silly. But I lucked out on the whole "Christian marriage" thing because I never went ahead with that. Others have not been as fortunate. "Christian marriage" is something one enters with the understanding that the Christian god is at the centre of said marriage. If you stop believing in that god, then what? There are non-believers that will say "you didn't keep your end of the bargain...

Are they right?

In some instances I suppose they are. But I also must argue that, in the case of the non-believer, that bargain and/or agreement is rooted in fantasy and not reality. Therefore, there is no real, tangible arrangement. That is to say, "Christian marriage" is just a myth, a nonsensical institution that has no basis in reality. On a very basic level, it is an institution that has co-opted our basic evolutionary reason to exist, to eat and replicate, or reproduce

Are they still right?

I really don't know for sure. One thing I do know is that relationships falter not because of one reason. There is an accumulative effect at work that suddenly culminates into a complete dissolution of that relationship not unlike bringing down a modern airliner...there are just many, many factors that can accumulate to ultimate disaster.

You could still argue that the non-believer did not keep their end of the bargain, but I don't think it's a very good one, at least for me. For one, I would have to ask what you expected from the other person and how much you truly loved the other person for who they were, or who you thought they were, if in fact that was realistic etc.

We change. We evolve. That is reality. One of the few things that is certain in life is variability...Just not sure it's a good reason to end something special.

A problem of scale (Feynman's Gripe as I call it)

Over the last couple of weeks watching debates, looking around the interweb for different clues I am constantly awestruck at the scale of things like the overall size and age of the known universe or the geological column. Even today I am just sort of staring at the recently issued International Chronostratigraphic Chart and just ponder the vastness of geologic time. Getting one's head wrapped around the fact that life has only existed on this planet a meagre 20% of Earth's geologic history takes some mental exercise, but even now, the awe never stops. The thought of "so simple a beginning" just scratches the surface of this mammoth scale of time.

Then I hear something "about us". You know, a human myth story or how something above them is influencing them or how some constellation holds the secret to their success. So the wheels in my often cluttered head start turning and I think, how local, perhaps how arrogant such a thought is in the backdrop of the awe and wonder of the shear scale of everything else. And yet, how incredible it is that we are here even talking about it. Mere stardust, people of the stars. A friend of mine who divulge something rather incredible recently said, more or less that we are "the universe concious" which in the light of being mere stardust, was incredible to know. I had sort of known that, but never really thought about it much until now which to me boggles the mind far more than our invented myths and stories of our ancient gods and other things. The fact that we are awake, in the sunlight pondering these things about how our world works, that alone is satisfying enough.

Richard Feynman got it right. You can find out just how right he got it here. Feynman said "Those are the mysteries I want to investigate without knowing the answer to them. So …altogether I can’t believe the special stories that’ve been made up about our relationship to the universe at large because they seem to be…too simple, too connected, too local, too provincial. The “earth,” He came to “the earth”, one of the aspects God came to “the earth!” mind you, and look at what’s out there…? how can we…? it isn’t in proportion…!"

He was right. It just isn't in proportion.

Weather Bomb of Memories

The recent Great Flood of 2013 created a scenario in our basement where I had to start going through a couple of things. We were spared what could have been much worse as only about 10mm of water actually infiltrated the basement. I think I know the cause, but I don't know. But anyway, in going through things I came across an old bible, some letters and pictures dating back to what appears to be 1993. I have fond memories of that time. It was about first, real loves, how I use to think (a friend of mine reminded me of that later in a Facebook PM), and the goings on in life. Hell, even the Toronto sport scene was much better then.

Like I said, those memories are fond. But they don't come without pain either. As I sit here and type this, I'm at times left wondering....what the hell was I thinking? Times have changed. I no longer worry myself about scriptural literalism, dispensationalism (thanks unnamed friend!), or worry about things that now I feel have very little merit in the grand picture that I see now.

Oh well...It was a fun ride. I figure that bible of mine has some monetary value and will be placed among my other books, out of the damp and cold basement and in a more dignified position of a dry bookcase. No book really should suffer a damp fate.

Cheers.

The End First

I took this pic (Flower Pot Island, Ontario) long after my slow deconversion from Christianity through Deism to Atheism and it sums up where I am now. But it wasn't always so. Those very same rocks I stood on, photographed and explained looked very different to me years ago. I was fed lies about them. And spread the very same lies about them to others. Ultimately the "idiot" in the story is me. Former Idiot now. This blog will tell that story, piece by piece, little by little. And other ramblings.