More on those questions

The guys at keep probing the nutty world of the blindly dogmatic. They deal with money (what I think really motivates the wingnuts); science, as one of the main enemies of their nuttery; and magic, something that every established -and organized- religion accuses its competitors of suffering. Blind faith does require a leap. A huge one.


Proof #10 - Watch the offering plate

Have you ever thought about the offering plate in church? If God is real, why do they have to pass it? If you read these verses in the Bible, you can see that God claims to be extremely powerful and willing to answer any prayer:

* Matthew 7:7
* Matthew 17:20
* Matthew 21:21
* Mark 11:24
* John 14:12-14
* Matthew 18:19
* Mark 9:23
* Luke 1:37

Now consider this: Why don't the ministers and deacons of the church gather together every Sunday morning and pray to Jesus for the money they need? Why doesn't Jesus answer their prayers? Why do churches have to beg for money from mere mortals when there is an immortal, all-powerful God who should provide anything they ask for? Here is what "God" is saying:

Pray to me for anything and I will hear and answer your prayers. I say it in dozens of places in the Bible, but I like the way I say it in Mark 11:24 the best: "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Anything you need -- money, love, happiness, you name it -- I am here to provide it for you.

Now, there is just one thing I need in return. I need your money. I need lots of your money. The Bible specifies that you tithe ten percent of your income to me, but think of that as a starting point. Feel free to give more!

Because even though I created the universe and everything in it, and even though I will give you everything you ask for in prayer, I can't give a cent to any church, ever. When they pass the offering plate at church, be sure to give generously!

This, of course, is ridiculous.

The reason why they pass the offering plate at church is because God is imaginary.

Proof #11 - Notice that there is no scientific evidence

There is no scientific evidence indicating that God exists. We all know that. For example:

* God has never left any physical evidence of his existence on earth.

* None of Jesus' "miracles" left any physical evidence either.

* God has never spoken to modern man, for example by taking over all the television stations and broadcasting a rational message to everyone.

* The resurrected Jesus has never appeared to anyone.

* The Bible we have is provably incorrect and is obviously the work of primitive men rather than God.
* When we analyze prayer with statistics, we find no evidence that God is "answering prayers."

* Huge, amazing atrocities like the Holocaust and AIDS occur without any response from God.

* And so on...

Let's agree that there is no empirical evidence showing that God exists.

If you think about it as a rational person, this lack of evidence is startling. There is not one bit of empirical evidence indicating that today's "God", nor any other contemporary god, nor any god of the past, exists. In addition we know that:

1. If we had scientific proof of God's existence, we would talk about the "science of God" rather than "faith in God".

2. If we had scientific proof of God's existence, the study of God would be a scientific endeavor rather than a theological one.

3. If we had scientific proof of God's existence, all religious people would be aligning on the God that had been scientifically proven to exist. Instead there are thousands of gods and religions.

The reason for this lack of evidence is easy for any unbiased observer to see. The reason why there is no empirical evidence for God is because God is imaginary.

Proof #12 - See the magic

When you look at different religions, they usually contain "magic." For example:

* The Mormon religion contains the magical golden plates, the magical angel, the magical seer stones, the magical ascension of the plates into heaven, etc.

* The Muslim faith contains the magical angel, the magical flying horse, the magical voices, the magical prophet, etc.

* The Christian faith contains the magical insemination, the magical star, the magical dreams, the magical miracles, the magical resurrection, the magical ascension and so on.

The presence of "magic" is a clear marker for "imaginary." For example, how do we know that Santa is imaginary? Because (among other things) he has eight magical flying reindeer. How do we know that Jack and the Beanstalk is a fairy tale? Because (among other things) the story contains magical seeds. In the same way, how do we know that God is make believe? Because God is surrounded by magic.

According to believers, God is an all-powerful being who has the divine, magical power to do anything. How do we know that this belief is a fairy tale? One way to know is to try to invoke God's magical power. For example, as described in Proof #1, the Bible tells us in many places that God answers prayers. However, whenever we try to pray, we notice that nothing happens (See Proof #1 and Proof #2). That tells us that God is completely imaginary. The magical powers ascribed to him are a fairy tale.

Another way to know is to read the stories of magical events in the Bible. There is the magical flood, yet we know with certainty that the flood never happened. There are the magical miracles of Jesus, but (predictably) none of these miracles left behind any tangible evidence (see Proof #14). There is the magical resurrection, yet there is zero evidence that it ever occured and no reason to believe it (See Proof #15).

God is identical to Leprechauns, mermaids and Santa. God is a magical fairy tale creature. The magic surrounding God tells us that God is imaginary.