Kill the Babies?

Okay. I was thinking about Pass Over.  First of all, I'm not clear on one thing. When god sent all the maladies into Egypt, was it all of the non-Jews who suffered? Or, just the Egyptians?  What about the non-Jewish slaves? Did they all suffer the same torture as the Egyptians? If so, that wasn't fair.
Also, after all the horrible things... then god gets to kill the babies?? What gives with that? I mean the supreme intelligence in the universe and the best he can come up with is kill the babies?  How about put the Egyptians to sleep for a week while the Jews leave? Or, blind the Egyptians for a week. Of course, that wouldn't have been an act that would instill the fear of god in everyone.
Then again, there's the story of King David and Uriah. David kills Uriah so he can have his wife. So, what does god do? Kill the baby! Yeah, another great solution. How about making David's genitals fall off instead!
It just makes you think.

Dreams and Religion

     The more I think about it, the more convinced I become that our ability to dream was one of the major factors in the development of religion.  Very often what we dream about are things that have happened in our lives recently.  So,the animal that attacked the caveman during the day, could visit him in his sleep, but where is it?  What if he had killed that animal during the day? Where did it come from? Is the animal's "spirit" or "soul" coming back for revenge?
     Guess there must be another world where these things live... thus the creation of the spirit world.  Also, seeing deceased loved ones in dreams could lead to the belief in afterlife and souls. 
     I know other animals dream. I've watched the REM activity in my dog as she lies on the floor. This is often accompanied by whimpers or growls. However, she has no real language to communicate this experience or the means by which to record it.  If she  did then maybe there would be a religion for dogs!

Our Christian founding fathers of America...

It is really irksome to hear a number of people say that they think a good American is a good Christian like the men who founded the country. Nothing is further from the truth.  The original founders of our country did everything they could to keep religion out of government.  Many of them were from England and France where religious persecution was rampart and that was what they were escaping from.  Also, for that reason, the Constitution clearly states there will not be an official religion for the country.  ALL religions are to be tolerated and respected.  Do your homework people!

Spirituality and Religion

So, is being Spiritual different than being Religious?   It seems to me that Spiritual people still believe in spirits (souls, ghosts, etc.).  Logically then they also believe in a higher being which is overseeing all that we do. I think that would make spiritual people agnostics.  Spirituality appears to be an unstructured kind of religion. These are usually the same people who believe in hands on healing, gem stone healing, pyramid power, and other things of this type.  For me, the jury is still out. 

End of the World?

I just heard another report about some religious fanatic who predicted the end of the world again! I seem to recall hearing of many (5 to 9) times in human history when a person or group of people claimed to have knowledge of when the world will end.  These are the people who are overly obsessed with death and dwell on what's coming afterward.  I think "after life" is going to be just as exciting as "before life"!  However, I must keep in mind that there are those amongst us who claim to have an awareness of previous life.Personally, I think it is all just a bunch of malarkey.  When the astronomers tell me that they see a giant asteroid or meteor headed for our planet, then I will start to worry... a little bit.  Although worrying won't help much!

Is Catholicism truly monotheistic?

I was talking to my friend on the phone and he mentioned St. Tamanny Parish in New Orleans.  That got me to thinking...
The Catholics claim to be monotheist but they can pray to a whole multitude of Saints.  Aren't these Saints just like a bunch of little gods.  I just went to a site about Catholic Saints and it lists 835!  You can pray to different Saints to get help with different problems.
Sounds a lot like polytheism to me!

Is "thinking" an Evolutionary Quirk?

Of all of the thousands of species that have evolved on this planet, we are the only one with the capacity to "think".  By "think", I actually mean the ability to mentally store facts, rearrange them, record them and express them in a new form - technology, science, literature, art, music, etc. Perhaps some people would like to call this being creative.  That's okay, I'm not going to argue over semantics.
Now, some animals have the ability to "learn" and make rudimentary tools. Evolutionarily speaking, this is probably the forerunner of our thinking ability. It is a similar talent on a much smaller scale.
Anyway, this ability to do this leads us to all kinds of abstract thoughts. We come up with interesting questions like "What is the meaning of life?" or "Where do we go after we die?" and so on.  Perhaps, there is simply no more than what meets the eye.  We live, have fun or suffer or a little of both, and then we die. After all, 99.99% of the life on this planet has no problem with that.  Why do we have to think there is some grand design to the whole thing?
Does the absence of this grand design somehow make life not worthy of living? I think not. The pure joy and happiness found in your family, doing good for the community and helping to improve the world for future generations makes it all worth it.

Is God a good father?

Okay - I don't think I would treat my kids the way God treats his loved ones. He sets up trials and pitfalls and then hands out severe punishments for infractions... eternal damnation... burning in a hot fire for ever!  If he has the power (and supposedly he does), why doesn't he just create a happy situation right from the start?  We could all just start out happy and healthy in heaven and be there for ever. Maybe God gets bored and needs to be entertained by us?  After all, he needs love and get's angry, takes revenge, etc. ... so, bored is just another emotional state like that.

Heaven sounds boring.

Well, good religious people go to some sort of happy place after death. Let's use the term "Heaven", but keep in mind that I actually refer to the concept as it is mentioned in a number of religions.  So, if you do what the religious leaders and deities want, then you get a reward for eternity. I'm not sure what you get to do for eternity, but everybody seems to want to do it.  Or, is it perhaps that they don't want to think of it all ending as nothing. Sorry, I diverge.  Most religions say that you will get to praise the supreme being for eternity. But, can you watch TV? Play video games? Are there sports in Heaven?  Do you get to eat meals? How about ice cream? I would definitely want some snacks to hold me over.
      So, I've never heard any definitive answers explaining how one passes time in Heaven.  Since it is for ETERNITY, you would think people would want to know.

Is God an Alien?

Okay, I can't help thinking about these kind of things.
 As it turns out, God is not of this Earth or even this Universe. Right there that makes him sound like an alien to me. However, add to that his omnipotence and omniscience, he is even more alien to us.  He can control our lives and the course of history.  Also, if we don't do what he wants... then we better watch out! We will suffer for eternity!  I'm not sure why people would worship such a being.  I'm also not sure why more people don't question the practice of worshiping this being. Oh well, each to his own.

Welcome to Wisps

Wisps are simply little thoughts I have on a number of things - politics, religion, human relationships, etc.

I would like to keep things simple and to the point. Very often I will pose questions or observations without supplying an answer or conclusion. Sorry, that's just how the wisps flow.