Science Created Religion 101

In the Beginning

In addition to his being willing to eat anything he could get into his mouth, the survival of man was aided by his ability to take what his senses perceived and store it as symbols that his mind conceived. An apple had a visual impact. It could also be smelt and felt and tasted and all of these externally perceived qualities could be combined into a mental conception and labeled with a word symbol. That produced a unified set of descriptive qualities.

"Genesis 2: 19 - 20 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called ever living creature, that was the name there of; And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.........."

In the beginning Men collected information about the objective reality through perception and internalized it as a conception with a label and expressed it as a sound. Sound labels were externalized and agreed upon as objective realities of the perceptions that they identified. Language was born. Everyone who learned the spoken word knew what an Apple was.  Conception begat communication which begat community which begat personified knowledge. Labels of sound acquired power to create internal concepts and Religion was born.

"Genesis 1:1 ......God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:3 Then God SAID, "Let their be Light."

Genesis 1:6 Then God SAID, "Let there be an expanse."

Genesis 1:9 Then God SAID, "Let the waters...be gathered"

Genesis 1:11 Then God SAID, "Let the earth sprout vegetation"

Creation by sound proceeded from Jewish mythology to Christian Mythology:

"Gospel of John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1:2 He was in the beginning with God.

1:3 All things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being.

1:4 In Him was life and the life was the light of men".

Most Fundamentalist Christians refer to the Bible as the Word of God. In Fact the Christ was the

Word of God (The Creator) and the Bible is about him. The Bible is not in itself Holy.

Today we use the word Amen (Hebrew) in prayer because it signifies Creation of Truth. It is used to mean,"So be it." It is derived from the Egyptian  Amon, also spelled Amun, Amen, or Ammon, a deity who was revered as king of the gods.

In Hindu mantra chants it is the sound Ahmmmm that is the sound of creation. When Jesus uses the words Verily, Verily it has the same root. That is why the Christ Mythology refers to him as "The Way, The Truth, and the Light". It is derived from the concept of the SUN (Son) God. The Christ Myth has  the Concept becoming Manifest in Perception creating Reality.  Science works in the opposite direction,  Perception is manifest in the form of Concept in the mind. Religion accepts the Concept as absolute unchanging truth and resist the nature of perception to change the view of knowledge.

In some cultures, the Serpent is the Hero in the Garden of Eden story. He taught man that knowledge is to be sought. God wanted knowledge to be accepted by man as dictated to him by Religious Dogma or Mythology.

Give me Freedom or Give me Money

Freedom is a strong word and a condition to be desired. Patrick Henry said it with ultimate emotion when he said "Give me Liberty or give me Death". The problem is not in the strength of the emotion, but in the content of its character. 

 The Beloved Comedian Jack Benny had a great story about being confronted with a mugger who said, "Your money or your life." After a long pause the mugger said "Well?" Benny replied , "I'm thinking, I'm thinking!!". You will know freedom when you can define your needs or desires and have a means of achieving them.

The battle cry for Libertarianism is small government, low taxes, and maximum personal liberty. That is also the battle cry of Right Wing Republicans and helps explain the Libertarian alliance with Anarcho Capitalism. Then when you throw in the Right Wing Christians who are needed to furnish the votes necessary to win elections, you have the problem of a strong group that want Government Power to legislate morality and turn us into a Christian Theocracy. That gets in the way of the personal liberty that pure Libertarians want.

The problem is in how one defines personal liberty. What is the content of its character? Do you want freedom from ...or... freedom to... or both. Are you a Capitalist Libertarian or a Social Libertarian.

Capital Liberty is about:

1. Right to life

2. Right to property

3. Freedom of Speech

4. Equality before the Law.

5. No restriction on adult behavior that is not harmful.

Social Liberty is about.

1. Right to cultural identity.

2. Right to gainful employment

3. Right to food, clothing, and shelter

4. Right to education.

The first group of standards is about freedom from interference with the ownership of property and impositions on personal liberty. The second group of standards is about entitlement to community service from the Commonwealth and recognition of individual values. 

The first group is supportive of unrestricted Capitalism . The second group prefers a social network to support personal survivial within the community. Both groups claim to support Representative Democracy as the solution to achieve their aims. 

 In most of the standards of Freedom or Liberty they are in agreement. One of the main areas of disagreement is in unrestricted Capitalism which history has shown often leads to unproductive Greed and authoritarianism . The other is that entitlement to share the commonwealth can lead to high taxes, big government, and sub level productivity.

If both groups remain true to their commitment to democracy as a form of government, America will continue to find creative ways to encourage both efficient competition and to insure individual survivial  above grinding Poverty.  If we continue on our current path of confrontation and misinformation, we risk a loss of freedom and the triumph of Special Interest in the form of Extremism and possible Dictatorship. 

 We must decide if we want to live with freedom and Liberty or be ruled by the pursuit of wealth and Power. We must decide the future of America and do it now. 

William Hodge

History and Health Care

It is one of the oddities of history that the earlier political forays into Medical Care with government participation had a Republican in favor and Labor Unions opposed.

Teddy Roosevelt's Progressive Party supported it and Labor Unions opposed it. Roosevelt

had split with the Republican Party and was influence by the American Association of Labor

Legislation(AALL) and included a plank in his platform. The American Federation of Labor

(AFL) felt worker benefits should be an organizing tool rather than by government

intervention. Another harmful effect in history is that the Socialist Party proposed a medical

System as early as 1904 and opposition has attacked Government Health Care as socialism

and Communism every since. Even as Universal Health Care is involved in its best chance

of becoming a reality, the charge of Socialism is its greatest enemy. It may be the one thing

that can destroy the grass roots power that is necessary to great social change.

The 1920's continued with slow development in Medical health Care delivery systems. The elite and intellectuals pursued Government involvement with out much success. They never learned the are of developing a grass roots movements. The slow growing Union Movement continued to bargain for Health care as an organizing technique. The Science of Medical Care began to develop at a more rapid pace and the access to advance techniques became more complicated and expensive. People began to have hope in medicine and were less willing to accept sickness and death as the will of God. The problem then as now was who can afford it.

The Great Depression seem to be a opportunity to advance the cause, but the overriding concern was work and wages rather than Health care. The Labor Union movement finally got government backing and Roosevelt felt more comfortable getting the Social Security system started rather than fight the Socialist Battles by copying the Health systems developing in Europe. The non-profit Blue cross and Blue shield systems were growing and forming associations with each other but serving individually in the different States.

World WAR ll brought wage controls but opened up benefit possibilities with tax advantages for companies and Medical insurance started a more rapid growth. Private insurance plans found it more profitable to enter the market. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 under Ronald Reagan took away some of the tax advantage of the Blue Cross/Blue shield non profits to allow for profit Companies to compete more effectively.

The next real chance for national Health Insurance came under Harry Truman. Truman's commission on the Health Needs of the Nation declared it a "Basic Human Right". President Truman wanted to protect all people equally against ill health. Unfortunately Southern Democrats did not like the opposition of Truman to Segregation and joined Republicans to oppose most of Truman's major domestic proposals. Seems to echo the Republicans alliance with Right wing Christians of the South in today's politics.

The only real success in bringing health care under Government influence began with the Veterans Care System and then when Medicare and Medicaid Bill was signed into law under the Lyndon Johnson Administration July 30, 1965 Finally President George Bush created the Prescription Drug Benefit under Medicare in 2003. That was an unusual thing for Republicans

to do until you realize that the Bill was never Funded with taxes and was designed to protect the Monopoly Drug companies had on prices in the US. He also gave Private insurance companies a bigger role in providing Coverage for Drugs under The Advantage Plans that allowed them to charge the government higher prices for their service than it cost the Social Security System to do the same job.. That is one of the Major reasons for the fast growing cost of Medical Insurance.

It is also one of the major reasons for Republican Opposition to the Health Care Plans now being advanced through Congress.

So we are once again at a cross road in equatable Health Care for all Americans. After a hundred years of Republican opposition will we fail again. Have we developed the grass root movement we will need to force a vote for justice and fair treatment or will the cry "SOCIALISM" once again blind the people to the hidden hand of Special Interest. Will the protection of high profits for Insurance Companies kill the courage of some Democrats to serve the people instead of themselves. Lives are at stake and we must decide how much a life is worth. It is one thing to accept Death in the fight for Liberty, but how much Death is acceptable in the fight to protect "Profits" and the protection of the wealth of the few over the benefit of the many. Let us at least this time use the power of Democracy to protect the well being of the American People.

My TV pleasure without guilt

I started this particular blog because of a question posed on Plinky ( http://www.plinky.com/) , "What's your 'guilty pleasure' TV show?" I could think of nothing .

I can't say that guilt ever occurred to me while watching TV. Boredom,yes - but guilt is not a typical emotion for me. My taste and my wife's taste are very often different and mutual viewing is sometimes boring for one of us. And then there is my Son and my grandchildren, they also have their differing taste. I guess that is why we have three TVs ,not to mention three computers. I guess guilt will have be a problem for the gods. I don't have time to hide.

Off course, maybe if I could get the Playboy channel, I would watch in secret.....Nah! I would probably invite over some of my Christian friends and tell them that we were going to watch new Movie called "Apocalypse and the New Earth". , and I would video tape their reaction. Except my Christan friends don't trust me. They love me and want to save me from being a "backslider" (A "backslider" is one who has lost his way and returned to the ways of evil). It has always amazed me that a community could pursue consuming Hate and determined Love at the same time.

So much for guilty viewing. This blog was an interesting exercise in learning how to write with almost no redeeming social value. So I decide to publish it anyhow. It is difficult to write life changing social commentary all the time, so I thought I would give you this filler today.

I will throw in a few TV watching images just to add a little class to this time waster.

cartoonstock.com

sodahead.com

chetthaker.wordpress.com

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essentialbaby.com.au

I Love the Daylilly

I  Love the Daylilly

I love My Daylilly I have since I was five years old. I offer to share my Love. My first experience with dayllies was a mass bed of the old fashion orange daylilly (Hemerocallis fulva). The bed was watered frequently from the sink drain in the kitchen and green and thick most of the year. It bloomed profusely for about two weeks in June every year. I planted my first Vegetable garden along side the flowers We moved away from that small house when I was ten years old I never forgot the beauty of that mass of daylilles.

During my teenage years, the flower beds belonged to my mother and my gardening was mostly vegetables, strawberries, and melons. I did not renew my interest in daylilles, until I returned home from military, got married and purchase my own home.

The first varieties I planted were the old orange ones I remembered from my child hood. I also got the lemon yellow that was one of the earlier varieties and the orange variety that had a bloom with a multi-set of petals(and sepals) instead of the usual six(3 petals and 3 sepals). I started with these because I could get them for free from friends who love the old varieties.

Then I discovered that the father of a friend that I went to high school with was an amateur Hybridize who had developed several named varieties. I then started adding to my collection. Overtime I purchase different varieties that bloom at several different times from early spring to late fall. Some bloomed more than once during during the year and were called rebloomers. I had varieties as small as 12 inches and as tall as more than 3 feet. I had colors from almost white to deep purple. My all time favorite is a small cultivar called STELLA De ORO. Its blooming scape(stem) is about 12 inches tall. It has a small tight yellow bloom and it blooms at least three times during the year. It will multiply very fast. I started with three several years ago and now I have about a couple of hundred plants that I use as border plants along my fence line.

The daylilly is the perfect perennial. It comes in many colors and a variety of shapes and sizes. It can be used in all types of landscapes alone and in combination with other plants. It doesn't take a lot of care. It can be found in a wide range of climates, has few disease and pest problems and can grow in wet and dry. It does well in full sun or partial shade. By using a number of varieties, you can have blooms from early spring to l
ate fall.

I have other flowers(gladiolas, iris, tiger lilles) but none have that special place that started in the heart of a five year old boy. I tend to grow them in rows rather that formal garden layouts because it makes it easier for me to organize them by blooming date and size and flower shape and color. It makes it easier to hybridize(cross pollinate) for new varieties. Take a look at the Daylilly and you will find a new passion if you love flowers.

Christian Mind Changers

I came from a religious family and practically grew up in the church. I was a "born again" Christian by the time I was 12 years old. I approached religious scholarship with the same intensity that I had for all things that I was interested in learning. I read books about sermons, books about religious leaders, books about the Bible, and even books about Christian history and about other religions. I took every Bible study course offered by the church and read the whole Bible cover to cover. Parts of it I read many times. My goal in life was to become a church pastor and Preacher of the Gospel .

The older I got the more I realized that most church members knew very little about the Bible. Most of them thought that if they worshiped regularly, made public professions of faith in the Church Theological Dogma (which they didn't really understand) and obeyed the Ten Commandants, their ticket to heaven would be punched.
The most important part of being a Christan was the support of the religious community and the respectability it gave you in the general community.

But that wasn't enough for me. As I have already said, I had an intense interest in knowledge of all kinds. The study of science had convinced me that the world was far older than six thousand years, that Adam & Eve had to be an allegory, and that a world flood and salvation from drowning by way of the Arc was an impossibility. 

By the time I understood the implication of evolution the deal was done. If I was forced to accept the Bible as literal and without error in order to become a Minister I would have to live a lie. I was unwilling to do that

There were practical problems for me in church teachings. When prayer went unanswered (as it usually did), the explanation that God answered in his own time or his own way or sometimes said no was not acceptableto me. God either helped or he didn't. 

 The idea that a person could be subject to punishment for ever and ever because he did not accept church doctrine or had never even heard  of the Church Doctrine that one must know to have the option to choose was Unjust and without Mercy and unacceptable. God himself would have to explain it to me and I might not accept it even then.

There I was at 16 years of age with out a religion, without a chosen profession and without a direction. I was an Agnostic leaning at times to Atheist and at time to Pantheist( where the Holy Being's only job was to Be). 

 I also knew that Science had just began to reveal Knowledge or at least had given us a method to "Propose but Verify". And slowly I discovered freedom and passion and new purpose.

 While my life took a pedestrian path and I never acquire the credentials to prove I know what I know, I did acquire the confidence to know that I know what I know. After you have had a chance to absorb that convoluted statement, I will tell you where I now stand. I have reached the comfortable age of 67 without acquiring a fear of death and lost the fear of speaking to controversy. I have renewed a great passion for writing that I had in my youth. My sense of ethics, human value, and a passion for making life as good as I can remained with me even when God had gone. The journey ahead is shorter than the one behind, but it is filled with joy and anticipation. Come! Walk with me.

LOOKING FOR NUTS

Glenda is my daughter. She has her Degree in Psycology. Part of her job is counseling I thought this was to funny to pass up. I hope she doesn't get to mad at me for taking advantage. I should have ask first. But I'm too old to change now.

Glenda Hodge:

This squirrel was sitting on my window sill at work. How can I work with a crazy squirrel looking at me!

July 29 at 8:48p

Glenda...there were sooooo many comments that just popped into my head when I read the part about, "how can I work with a crazy squirrel?" I was thinking...you work with WHOM everyday? haha haha

Glenda: people, for the most part, are predictible. I don't know what that squirrel is doing.

Thu at 11:35am