No More Hall-Decking for You Guys

“Twelve Jews were brutally murdered, huge numbers maimed,

and many Jewish women were raped. Two million rubles worth

 of property was destroyed.”

~ Lawrence Kelleman

I

sn’t Christmas a wonderful time of year?

Consider this:

     Thus says the LORD, Do not learn the way of the nations, And do not be terrified by the signs of the Heavens, although the nations are terrified by them; For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with hammers So that it will not totter” (Jeremiah 10:2-4).

     Okay, that's it for all you Christmas-tree-hugging Christians. If you believe in what the Bible tells you, there will be no more Christmas trees or decorating!

     Thou mustest not decketh the halls!

     And lest you think the tree is the only borrowed symbol or tradition practiced by the God-fearing, allow me to shed a little light in a dark place.

In ancient Babylon, the date of December 25th was a celebration in honor of the son of Isis, the Goddess of Nature.

     In Rome, long before the birth of Christ, the Winter Solstice day of Saturnalia was celebrated in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Mummers, who went house to house, singing and dancing, sprang from this celebration, and from it, the tradition of caroling.

     Northern Europeans celebrated Yule, on Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in honor of the birth of the sun god, Mithra. Kissing under the mistletoe began there, as a fertility ritual. Evergreen trees were brought indoors to remind them of the coming harvest.

     Even the Druids had a ritual around a tree.

     Since pagan Romans were in the majority in the year 350, Pope Julius I declared that the birth of Christ would be celebrated on December 25th, so as not to alienate them, and in hopes that they would convert to Christianity a bit more easily if they could keep the date of their feasts. The ritual of gift-giving began in Rome, as well:

     In pre-Christian Rome, the emperors compelled their most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during the Saturnalia (in December) and Kalends (in January).  Later, this ritual expanded to include gift-giving among the general populace.  The Catholic Church gave this custom a Christian flavor by re-rooting it in the supposed gift-giving of Saint Nicholas.[1]

The history of Saint Nicolas began in Turkey, where Nicolas was a bishop who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. After his death December 6, 345 CE, he was idolized, and eventually became the central figure when his bones were moved to Italy, and he replaced Pasqua Epiphania, “The Grandmother,” who used to put gifts for children in stockings. When The Grandmother was ousted, Nicolas became the focus of gift-giving. This cult made its way to Germany, where Nicolas was merged with the god Woden, and the white beard, winter clothing and his travel on a flying horse became the norm.

In a quest for adherents, the Catholic church adopted the Nicolas figure, and encouraged the pagans to exchange gifts on December 25^th, rather than on the 6^th. He soon became known by the Dutch version of his name, Santa Claus. The rest is just the natural progression of time and tradition.

     Christmas, then, is not a history of Christian celebration of the birth of Christ. It is more accurately a time when Jews were tortured and murdered, and a modified incarnation of the most reprehensible pagan rituals ever known. Here’s why:

     The pagans of Rome would force one community member to partake in debauchery and gluttony, and then when the festival ended on December 25th, they would destroy the dark forces by killing him.

Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city.  An eyewitness account reports, “Before they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators.  They ran… amid Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily.[2]

In Warsaw, on December 25, 1881,

Twelve Jews were brutally murdered, huge numbers maimed, and many Jewish women were raped. Two million rubles worth of property was destroyed.[3]

Julius Streicher, a particularly depraved assistant to Hitler, wrote a Christmas editorial to Der Stuermer, an Anti-Semitic newspaper. In it, he said,

If one really wants to put an end to the continued prospering of this curse from Heaven that is the Jewish blood, there is only one way to do it: to eradicate this people, this Satan’s son, root and branch.

     Merry Christmas, everyone.

And that’s not the only thing that Christians don’t understand about their own beliefs. Many common themes and terminology don’t stem from the actual scriptures.

     Dan Barker, an ex-Christian minister and author of many essays and several books, including, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist, confronts this.

The next time believers tell you that "separation of church and state" does not appear in our founding document, tell them to stop using the word "trinity." The word "trinity" appears nowhere in the Bible. Neither does Rapture, or Second Coming, or Original Sin. If they are still unfazed (or unphrased) by this, then add Omniscience, Omnipresence, Supernatural, Transcendence, Afterlife, Deity, Divinity, Theology, Monotheism, Missionary, Immaculate Conception, Christmas, Christianity, Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Methodist, Catholic, Pope, Cardinal, Catechism, Purgatory, Penance, Transubstantiation, Excommunication, Dogma, Chastity, Unpardonable Sin, Infallibility, Inerrancy, Incarnation, Epiphany, Sermon, Eucharist, the Lord's Prayer, Good Friday, Doubting Thomas, Advent, Sunday School, Dead Sea, Golden Rule, Moral, Morality, Ethics, Patriotism, Education, Atheism, Apostasy, Conservative (Liberal is in), Capital Punishment, Monogamy, Abortion, Pornography, Homosexual, Lesbian, Fairness, Logic, Republic, Democracy, Capitalism, Funeral, Decalogue, or Bible.[4]

---

[1] Clement Miles. Christmas Customs and Traditions: Their History and Significance, (Dover Publications, 1976), 178, 263-271.

[2] David I. Kertzer. The Popes Against the Jews: The Vatican’s Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism. (Alfred A. Knopf, 2001), 74.

[3] Lawrence Kelleman. “The Real Story of Christmas.” Simple To Remember. http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Christmas_TheRealStory.htm.

[4] Dan Barker. “Quotations.” The Infidels: Infidels, Freethinkers, Humanists and Unbelievers. http://theinfidels.org/zunb-danbarker.htm.

No More Hall-Decking for You Guys

The Great Gilgamesh Nut Cow Or, The Great Flood Fib

excerpt from

Supernatural Hypocrisy:
The Cognitive Dissonance
of a God Cosmology

Volume 3: Cosmology of the Bible

The Great Gilgamesh Nut Cow

Or, The Great Flood Fib

“There’s a huge hole in the whole Flood drama, because

anything that could float or swim got away scot-free, and it

was the idea to wipe out everything, He didn’t say, ‘I will kill

 everything, except the floating ones and the swimming ones,

 who will get out due to a loophole.’”

 ~ Eddie Izzard

T

he story of the flood is a familiar one to most people. A man is instructed by God to build a large boat to save himself and his family, along with the male and female of each animal species. God then sends a great flood, and all are drowned except for the occupants of the vessel.

     Am I speaking of Noah and the Ark? Yes. But also of The Epic of Gilgamesh, and The Egyptian Book of the Divine Cow. (I kid you not.) From texts discovered in the tombs of pharaohs, we learn of a tale about the people turning bad and the sun god who had to kill them all and start civilization over. The Divine Cow was a transformation from the Goddess Nut. (I promise you, I’m not making this up. But someone did, and that’s the point here).

     The biblical motifs of the Fall and the Flood suggest a rupture, a necessary loss of "eternity", forcing mankind to return to the original state of perfection through history. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, this cleavage between man and God ensued when the former ate from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge (between good and evil). So history starts when, stripped naked, man, in blood, sweat & tears, has to work for his living. But this is not enough. Divine wrath floods humanity, leaving only a small percentage a life. The literary parallels are obvious.[1]

     The Gilgamesh story was itself a borrowed tale of Sumerian origin. Both these ancient stories were combined and altered to produce the biblical flood story. The Gilgamesh epic was written on 12 clay tablets in cuneiform script, and dating to between 2750 and 2500 BCE—long before the story of Noah was to have taken place. In fact, The Epic of Gilgamesh is thought by ancient historians to be the oldest written story ever found.

     Most Christians view the flood story as unique to Christianity, but it is, in fact, a copy of the two other stories, tweaked to fit the needs of the Christian religion. There are obvious similarities that cannot escape the attention of anyone capable of employing reason. For example, In the biblical account, we see:

      Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the Earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under Heaven; everything that is on the Earth shall perish. “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. “Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. “As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.” Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did (Genesis 6:14-22).

     In the Epic of Gilgamesh, we see:

Tear down the house and build a boat!

Abandon wealth and seek living beings!

Spurn possessions and keep alive living beings!

Make all living beings go up into the boat. The boat which you are to build, its dimensions must measure equal to each other: its length must correspond to its width. Roof it over like the Apsu. I understood and spoke to my lord, Ea: 'My lord, thus is the command which you have uttered I will heed and will do it  (Tablet XI).

The Gilgamesh author also used the measurement of cubits[2] as did the biblical story of the flood.

The child carried the pitch, the weak brought whatever else was needed. On the fifth day I laid out her exterior. It was a field in area, its walls were each 10 times 12 cubits in height, the sides of its top were of equal length, 10 times It cubits each (Tablet XI).

Both stories also tell of the boat mooring or being stuck on a mountain. In the Bible, it was Mountains of Ararat, in Gilgamesh, it was Mount Nimush.

     And just as the Genesis story, a bird was sent out to seek land, and finally land was located, and the animals of the ark were released. In the biblical account, it says,

...and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the Earth. Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the Earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself. So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the Earth. Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again (8:7-12).

Notice the similarities in the Gilgamesh version:

I sent forth a dove and released it. The dove went off, but came back to me; no perch was visible so it circled back to me. I sent forth a swallow and released it. The swallow went off, but came back to me; no perch was visible so it circled back to me. I sent forth a raven and released it. The raven went off, and saw the waters slither back. It eats, it scratches, it bobs, but does not circle back to me. Then I sent out everything in all directions and sacrificed [a sheep] (Tablet XI).

Now, according to reason, it becomes plain that the flood stories are myth, based solely on this information, and common sense. The truth is even more illuminated by the obvious flaws.

     Historically, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers did overflow and cause great damage, but nothing as severe as the biblical account relates. The only river in the region that could have been involved was the Jordan, but it was below sea level. There are no historical records, nor archeological nor geological evidence that show a flood of this magnitude in the region.

     Aside from the obvious widespread killing of everyone who wasn’t on the Ark, including children and animals who could not logically be regarded as “evil”—there are the usual problems.

     Regarding the logistics of Noah and the Ark, first, the size of the Ark would have resulted in the boat breaking in half under the force of the first wave it encountered; modern ship builders know this for certain. They also know that Noah could not have constructed this Ark in the amount of time allotted.

     The animals that Noah allegedly loaded onto the Ark (using both versions of that information found in two different places in Genesis) would not only be too numerous to fit, as our modern science tells us that 99% of the world’s species are now extinct, and it’s obvious that even if the Ark were built and loaded today, they wouldn’t fit; so why would they fit then, when there were millions. Remember there was only “one” creation, according to the Bible. This, even though the fossil record shows us that there were many rebirths of new species when others were wiped out (remember the dinosaurs?). The fossil record also shows us that modern species began later—that’s why they are called modern. To hear the theists tell it, all the animals, of all kinds were created by God, during the Original Creation of the world. That’s easily explained, of course, by the facts of evolution; which theists insist isn’t accurate, even though we have libraries of evidence in a slew of different scientific disciplines, shown to a high degree of certainty, while the Biblical story is simply a story with no empirical corroboration at all.

     Back to the Ark: Also, there would be no room to store water and food for them, and no way the small group of people on board could care for them and clean up after them. Not to mention that it would collapse from the weight and sink. Then there’s the fact that all animals weren’t indigenous to the area in which Noah lived, yet there is no mention of a “road trip” to herd all those animals to the Ark. Additionally, if one only has a male and female of each species, this would create mutants due to inbreeding.

And what about this verse?

“…taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done” (Genesis 8:20-21).

Noah took “some of all” of the animals, which would mean there were some who couldn’t “be fruitful and multiply” because, as we know, Noah loaded the Ark with one male and one female of each kind. That would leave some without a mate. Those species must have just died out. Maybe that’s what happened to the dinosaurs, eh?

     Also, the most glaring error of all: why did the animals have to be saved in the first place? Since God is omnipotent, why couldn’t he just re-create them all after the flood waters receded?

Other details in the flood story don’t add up, either. God places a rainbow in the sky to remind himself of the event—though why a Omni-everything being would need a atmospheric Post-it Note is beyond me.

     There’s also the obvious belief by the author of the Book of Genesis that the Earth was flat, and there was only water above the dome of sky and below the ground. Again, if God created all these things, and then inspired men to write about them, would he not correct such a profound inaccuracy?

     And what about the depth of the water as told in Genesis?

The water prevailed more and more upon the Earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the Heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered (7:19-20).

If we figure a cubit as on the average being 19 inches, that would mean the water level reached around 24 feet. Obviously not enough to cover all those mountains, even the smallest of the small. It’s another case of making a mountain out of a molehill; common in the Christian religion.

---

[1]  Wim van den Dungen. “The Book of the Heavenly Cow.“ http://www.maat. sofiatopia.org/heavenly_cow.htm.

[2] A cubit was an ancient unit of length, equal to the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, approximately 43-56 cm (17-22 in) [14th century]. Latin cubitum "elbow, forearm"(Encarta Dictionary).

The Great Gilgamesh Nut Cow Or, The Great Flood Fib

Philosophy, Sexual Orientation, Elephants, & Truth

Thought I would share something that got lost in the shuffle a while back:

Posted by Kelli Jae Baeli on September 12, 2009 at 8:00pm

*from comment thread with Lee.....in attempting a succinct response, i found myself falling into my nature as a writer, and this comment became lengthy. That was a warning for the faint of heart. I cross-posted here, so that someone might be able to read it later,here, if they become overwhelmed with it, there. Smelling salts available.**

Lee, thank you so much for your thoughtful comments. I admire philosophers and philosophy majors...it's fascinating, necessary, but complicated stuff. I am only beginning to study the materials, though I have developed my own philosophies over the years, and have discovered they share elements with several other official ones. Interesting. Well, someone came up with those, too, at some point. So I would love to pick your brain about those things.

And I don't for an instant think that having books published qualifies me to discuss and explore and understand difficult subjects any more than anyone else who applies the mind in an earnest way. (Maybe it would if my publisher was RANDOM HOUSE, but alas.) My earnest application of learning just manifests in writing, as that's my comfort zone for communicating difficult ideas. But clearly, you sport your own eloquence.

First, your question about sexual orientation--it is my considered opinion (and i believe science bears this out) that you don't CHOOSE to be gay. (Why would i choose to be a hated minority without the same rights as anyone else, and a one in a thousand chance of meeting someone to share my life with? Absurd, when you think about it). The only choice to be had, here, is whether or not you choose to accept who you are, or not. So while nurture might play a role in some very rare circumstances, I believe it is almost ALL nature. For, if someone is the victim of abuse by someone of the same gender, when they are still young, and this is started early enough, it can cause confusion and stunted, unhealthy development. But this in no way "makes" a person gay. Again, the question remains whether or not they understand and embrace who they are naturally, regardless of their experiences or traumas. A good example are those gay people who are reportedly "cured" of their gayness by the power of GOD and religion and some Christian activist group.

I contend that you cannot be cured of homosexuality any more than you can be cured of being of Nordic descent (though some Vikings, Geats and Heathobards might disagree with me). I also contend that if you weren't homosexual to begin with, then of course having gay sex would be "unnatural" for you. And these "cures" might be more about finally reaching your natural sexual orientation. I don't think it has a damn thing to do with religion or God. It's biology, pure and simple. We are hardwired to respond to certain types and certainly one of two genders (except for the bisexuals among us--i think they are kind of lucky). Imagine how confusing it would be for all those confused people if there were 3 or 4 genders (Not sure how that would be so--maybe that's an idea we can knock around, just for fun on another thread). But i--as they say--digress. I have recently realized that i wish i were bisexual. It would certainly improve my chances of finding dates and/or a partner. Especially with the specter of that "atheist-thing" hanging over me like the Sword of Damocles.

I actually covered this gay vs. religion issue extensively in a paper, which is published in one of my anthology books. It was so long ago, i was still a "Gay Christian." LOL.

Anyway....

I can say that everything you pointed out, Lee, is exactly as I feel. We are of like mind on all of that. The only difference in us are the obvious things, like, I spent most of my life in the Bible belt, and was a Christian, and of course, that I am Gay. (I'm risking the assumption that you are straight). But those differences can serve to strengthen relationships with other open minded people, as they make us think, perhaps, a new thought. I can't speak for everyone else, but i appreciate variety, as i agree it is the spice of life.

My cosmology path would have been ever so much easier, had I been raised in a secular manner, as you were. It took me far too long to finally do the work necessary to completely own my nonbelief. It was a process from naiveté to wisdom, that took quite a long while, as i was a late bloomer, and extremely gullible and even jejune. But not vapid. Let no one ever utter that i was vapid. (I have to cling to something). I went through the motions of being Christian, while noticing the flaws in the logic, and resisting its demands for subservience; so I then tempered my beliefs with other name tags, like "Spiritual, but not religious", to include a year-long stint with the Law of Attraction (AKA, the Secret) bandwagon, which i summarily jumped off of in derision, (and yes, sprained my ankle) saying, "What a sales-job." That pitch, I believe, was based on, first, the need for people to feel they have control over themselves and their world, without taking responsibility for it, AND the truth of the benefits in positive thinking and motivational application. But this LOA/Secret cult usurped and twisted those truths into something else entirely, which has done a fine job of becoming another zealot religion.

I have not begun to examine the degree to which I can embrace some of those other spiritual ideas; I've been dealing with the big stuff and want to get that squared away before i begin another journey (and another book) about the spiritual-but-not-religious aspects. Like whether i believe in a soul, and reincarnation, or that there is something other than randomness...(don't get me started, i don't have the energy to even address that, until i finish the current project).

So when i had discarded all of this, I was left with these empty hands of "belief" and I had to figure out what i did believe in, and whether I was courageous enough to embrace it and live it. It's still in it's infancy, (consciously, anyway. I'm sure i was an atheist most of my life) but I can say one thing i DO believe: I believe, with a high degree of certainty, that I will never be able to go back. Something happens once you know a thing--if you're honest and strong enough, that is--you know what you know, and only brain injury will change that fact.

Here's the metaphor I use, a common one to make the point: I'm in a room with some other people, and there is this huge pink elephant standing in the middle of that room. Everyone is ignoring it. I'm the one saying "Um, hey, don't you notice the elephant?"

"What elephant?" they say.

Then the beast takes a huge crap on the floor, and they just continue to mingle in the room, squeezing their eyes shut, dragging their feet through excrement, and appearing unaware.

Not my kind of room.

I am constantly floored by those who choose blindness over sight. They are, in a very real way, Intellectually Blind-sighted. (*blind-sight is a fascinating subject that merits investigating, if you haven't already...)

DIGRESSION!

Now, I said all that, to say this: Once you see the elephant; once you acknowledge not only its existence, but it's affect on your environment, and it's affect on others, you are then on a different track. You then have to apply that knowledge to everything else in your life: shake out the cobwebs, scoop up and dispose of the CRAP, open the windows to air out the room, rearrange the furniture, and take out the trash. And soon after this, is where the reality of your position in society hits you. You are now, officially, a pariah. But as I say in my book, I was a pariah before, several times over, what's one more example?

Honestly?

One more example, i didn't need. But the truth is the truth, and i cannot and will not pretend otherwise. My integrity won't let me. So i have to face those fears of isolation and ostracization all over again in the milieu of social interaction of any kind. I'm an atheist now. And there will be many who will dismiss me immediately when they know that, because they don't know anything about me, or atheism.

I will stop here, before this becomes another book.

Thank you for engaging me.

Jae

Comment by Nate on September 12, 2009 at 8:47pm

Is it ok that I read that, even though I'm not Lee? I hope so. I found this fascinating. I describe myself as a spiritual atheist, even though labels are confusing and easily misunderstood. I guess all that matters is that I know what it means. I never dabbled in LOA but I know some very intelligent people that have done so on their way out of more conventional religious belief. I appreciated that you saw through it and yet are able to see that the "hook" does have basis in "the truth of the benefits in positive thinking and motivational application".

"Something happens once you know a thing--if you're honest and strong enough, that is--you know what you know, and only brain injury will change that fact." Exactly. This is why I feel it's not entirely accurate to refer to atheism as a choice. Once our previous religious delusions are deconstructed, there's no turning back. This is why high-control groups are so adamant about "protecting" their members from information that's critical of their dogma. A sinner can repent, but a thinker will never again be content to simply believe.

Thanks.

Philosophy, Sexual Orientation, Elephants, & Truth

Done. Really. I mean it.

After I got those proofs mentioned in previous entry, I (naturally) found many things that needed correcting. And more information that needed to be added. It has been feeling like I'll never be done. But in between the high stress of a certain personal situation, i finally got them done, edited, and sent again. Then after i sent in the final material, decided i still hated the covers, so redesigned them AGAIN. This time, i like them, and that's the final version. Really. 

These volumes were supposed to be available for holiday sales, but the aforementioned stress successfully put an end to that. I've never missed a deadline before. So will be glad when the situation rights itself in March. (Unless some other unforeseen re-emergence of the bad situation arises). Keep your fingers crossed, and send me good wishes, if only in your own mind. With my new position as Managing Editor for LightSwitcher Books, LLC, i will need things to go more smoothly.

Here's a little mission statement about LSB:

Bold. Illuminating. Evolved.

That's the mission statement, in a nutshell, for LightSwitcher Books. We want to revive the old masters so the world can enjoy them again; we want to put in print, for the first time, stories from the older generation, who have seen what we could never see, have lived through challenges we may never face, thanks to their existence; we want to publish promising new authors who have something compelling, informative, or entertaining to share-sparing them the inevitable years of competing with the authors who set their sights on the major publishing houses. We are not shackled by the politics of the publishing industry at LightSwitcher Books. If we believe the world should see it, we will print it.

Here's to being bold and illuminating and evolved.

Enjoy.

Done. Really. I mean it.

Supernatural Completion

I finally ordered the proofs for my 6 volume book, Supernatural Hypocrisy: The Cognitive Dissonance of a God Cosmology. It will be available for the Holiday Shopping season.
Volume 1: Cosmology of God & Jesus
Volume 2: Cosmology of Christianity
Volume 3: Cosmology of the Bible
Volume 4: Cosmology of the Dark Side
Volume 5: Cosmology of Science
Volume 6: Cosmology of Atheism


Three years in the making, this is not a project I would like to do very often. It was mentally, emotionally and physically draining. The amount of research, double-checking, rewriting, formatting and other such mundane details were often mind-numbing. Then there was the constant decision-making about what information goes where--the subject of each volume often overlaps the subject of another, and I was constantly trying to keep track of where it all should go. It was, literally, like working on six books at a time. I crashed my Firefox browser and Word frequently.


But I believe this work is unique, in that it is in 6 volumes; I didn't have to hyperfocus on one area of the subject matter, and condense it down so much. I could cover the territory i wanted to cover--share my journey--without leaving out any crucial bits that ultimately led me to my personal cosmology. I addressed each one I felt was primary in the search for understanding. So the book is fairly comprehensive in that way, though i learned quickly that there could have been another 6 volumes.


Just a couple stats:

• In all 6 volumes combined, there are 1,322 pages and I used 477 sources.
• I referenced Wikipedia only once, because it was the only place to get a biographical tidbit on a certain person. Otherwise, i used only reputable sources--science, news magazines, journals, newspapers, books-- including many translations of the Bible, and translations of the Septuagint, Pseudepigrapha and other apocryphal texts.

I drew from a wide array of source-types and areas of study. The information and examination I used considered many different disciplines. Some of those include:

• anthropobiology --  study of human biology
• anthropology -- study of human cultures
• archaeology -- study of human material remains
• astronomy -- study of celestial bodies
• bioecology -- study of interaction of life in the environment
• biology --  study of life
• bionomics  -- study of organisms interacting in their environments
• Egyptology -- study of ancient Egypt
• epistemology -- study of grounds of knowledge
• genesiology  -- study of reproduction and heredity
• genetics -- branch of biology that studies heredity and variation in organisms
• geochronology -- study of measuring geological time
• geogeny --  science of the formation of the earth's crust
• geogony -- study of formation of the earth
• geography -- study of surface of the earth and its inhabitants
• geology -- study of earth's crust
• geomorphogeny -- study of the origins of land forms
• glossology  --  study of language; study of the tongue
• historiology --  study of history
• ichnology  -- science of fossilized footprints
• iconography -- study of drawing symbols
• iconology -- study of icons; symbols
• ideogeny --  study of origins of ideas
• ideology -- science of ideas; system of ideas used to justify behavior
• idiomology -- study of idiom, jargon or dialect
• lexicology --  study of words and their meanings
• liturgiology  -- study of liturgical forms and church rituals
• metaphysics --  study of principles of nature and thought
• microbiology -- study of microscopic organisms
• micropalaeontology --  study of microscopic fossils
• mythology --  study of myths; fables; tales
• neuropsychology -- study of relation between brain and behavior
• noology -- science of the intellect
• palaeoanthropology -- study of early humans
• palaeobiology -- study of fossil plants and animals
• palaeontology -- study of fossils
• patrology -- study of early Christianity
• philology -- study of ancient texts; historical linguistics
• philosophy -- science of knowledge or wisdom
• physics --  study of matter and its motion through spacetime
• pisteology -- science or study of faith
• psychology --  study of mind
• psychopathology -- study of mental illness
• satanology --  study of the devil
• sedimentology  -- study of sediment
• semantics -- study of meaning
• sociobiology -- study of biological basis of human behaviour
• sociology -- study of society
• stratigraphy -- study of geological layers or strata
• theology --  study of religion; religious doctrine
• thermodynamics -- study of relation of heat to motion
• zooarchaeology --  study of animal remains of archaeological sites
• zoogeography -- study of geographic distribution of animals
• zoogeology  -- study of fossil animal remains
• zoology -- study of animals

If understanding belief, religion, God, and truth creates a list like that, then over-simplification of science by Believers,  is a little  infuriating.

This has been a taxing journey for me, but one which had to be taken. I have grown so much in my knowledge and understanding, and I have absolutely no doubt where i stand on the issue of religion. For myself, or for the world. My hope is that readers will find this work compelling, entertaining, informative and helpful in their own discernment of what they do and do not believe.

Supernatural Completion

Science Heals, Religion Steals

Excerpt from

Supernatural Hypocrisy: 

The Cognitive Dissonance of a God Cosmology

Volume 5: The Cosmology of Science

“Science has done more for the development of the Western civilization 

in one hundred years than Christianity did in eighteen hundred.”
~John Burroughs

WE ENJOY THE SPOILS OF MODERN SCIENCE and technology which allows us to soar into the clouds and reach any destination in this manner, both quickly and comfortably. Individuals from antiquity must have lamented -- and had much time to lament -- the laborious tedium of traveling from point to point by foot or by beast. It is no wonder that mythology hosts an inherent wish to fly by its creation of the Phoenix, Pegusus, Sirens, Harpies, Griffins, Cherubim, Angels, vampires (as bats) and even Superman. We seem to maintain an uncommon fondness for the miraculous and the mythical, even to our own detriment and to the annihilation of others in our species, as well as the lesser species in our food chain. But just as we have assimilated into this technological society with our actions, so must our hearts and minds move from the imaginings of despairingly tedious superstitious history toward the truth which resides in realism.

Science has proven itself valuable time and again. It has been the messenger of understanding to the human race for some time now. Even myths that are still stubbornly clung to, have been proven false through the process of scientific method and empirical testing and double-blind examination.

For instance, the hoopla about the Shroud of Turin was eventually shown to be just that. Carbon dating showed that the fabric was not old enough to have been the burial cloth of Jesus, even if we accept the postulate that Jesus lived at all. Archeologists have also recently found another shroud that carbon dates to the alleged time of Jesus, (between 1 and 50 CE) but its material (not available in that region at the time) and its weave (too complex for the time) supports the finding that the Turin shroud was created in the Middle Ages, between 1260-1390 CE.

The Jerusalem tomb in which the new shroud was found, had been sealed shut with plaster for the last 2,000 years, and scientists suspect it was not opened for the second burial (it was customary to rebury the dead after a year) because they were trying to prevent the spread of tuberculosis and leprosy, which was found in the DNA of the bones in the recently discovered shroud.

This information should act as precursor to our ability to scrutinize mysterious discoveries, before we attach a magical explanation to it. It should extend to other seemingly miraculous things.

For instance, we know now that God did not carve out the Grand Canyon with his giant cosmic spoon. We know it began to form almost 17 million years ago,[1] by the process of water and wind erosion, continental drift, volcanism and the behavior of the Colorado River.

We have been schooled in the realities of stage magicianship, and allowed ourselves to be amazed while also knowing that this performer has no mystical gift bestowed by an endowment from dark arts, or an omniscient being, but is merely fooling us with his skills at sleight-of-hand and optical illusion. And many will depart from that auditorium and next day, to be found in church, worshiping that invisible being with complete and utter devotion. Until those stalwart believers admit there that is no difference in the two, we will remain a nation with believers in the majority, and will suffer for its various consequences.

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[1] Wilford, John (2008-02-06). Study Says Grand Canyon Older Than Thought. New York Times.

Science Heals, Religion Steals

The Great Fib

excerpt from 

Supernatural Hypocrisy: 

The Cognitive Dissonance of a God Cosmology

Volume 3: Cosmology of the Bible

 by

Kelli Jae Baeli

The Great Fib

There’s a huge hole in the whole Flood drama, because anything that could float or swim got away scot-free, and it was the idea to wipe out everything, He didn’t say, "I will kill everything, except the floating ones and the swimming ones, who will get out due to a loophole. ~ Eddie Izzard

The story of the flood is a familiar to most people. A man is instructed by God to build a large boat to save himself and his family, along with the male and female of each animal species. God then sends a great flood, and all are drowned except for the occupants of the vessel.

Am I speaking of Noah and the Ark? Yes. But also of The Epic of Gilgamesh, and The Egyptian Book of the Divine Cow. (I kid you not.) From texts discovered in the tombs of pharaohs, we learn of a tale about the people turning bad and the sun god who had to kill them all and start civilization over. The Divine Cow was a transformation from the Goddess Nut. (I promise you, I’m not making this up. But someone did, and that’s the point here).

The Biblical motifs of the Fall and the Flood suggest a rupture, a necessary loss of "eternity", forcing mankind to return to the original state of perfection through history. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, this cleavage between man and God ensued when the former ate from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge (between good and evil). So history starts when, stripped naked, man, in blood, sweat & tears, has to work for his living. But this is not enough. Divine wrath floods humanity, leaving only a small percentage alife (cf. Noah). The literary parallels are obvious (cf. infra).[1]

The Gilgamesh story was itself a borrowed tale of Sumerian origin. Both these ancient stories were combined and altered to produce the Biblical flood story. The Gilgamesh epic was written on 12 clay tablets in cuneiform script, and dating to between 2750 and 2500 BCE—long before the story of Noah was to have taken place. In fact, The Epic of Gilgamesh is thought by ancient historians to be the oldest written story ever found.

Most Christians view the flood story as unique to Christianity, but it is, in fact, a copy of the two other stories, tweaked to fit the needs of the Christian religion. There are obvious similarities that cannot escape the attention of anyone capable of employing reason. For example, In the Biblical account, we see:

Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. “Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. “As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.” Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did. (GEN 6:14-22).

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, we see:

Tear down the house and build a boat!
Abandon wealth and seek living beings!
Spurn possessions and keep alive living beings!
Make all living beings go up into the boat. The boat which you are to build, its dimensions must measure equal to each other: its length must correspond to its width. Roof it over like the Apsu. I understood and spoke to my lord, Ea: 'My lord, thus is the command which you have uttered I will heed and will do it. (Tablet XI)

The Gilgamesh author also used the measurement of cubits[2] as did the Biblical story of the flood.

The child carried the pitch, the weak brought whatever else was needed. On the fifth day I laid out her exterior. It was a field in area, its walls were each 10 times 12 cubits in height, the sides of its top were of equal length, 10 times It cubits each. (Tablet XI)

Both stories also tell of the boat mooring or being stuck on a mountain. In the Bible, it was Mountains of Ararat, in Gilgamesh, it was Mount Nimush.

And just as the biblical story, a bird was sent out to seek land, and finally land was located, and the animals of the ark were released. In the biblical account, it says,

...and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself. So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again. (8:7-12)

Notice the similarities in the Gilgamesh version:

I sent forth a dove and released it. The dove went off, but came back to me; no perch was visible so it circled back to me. I sent forth a swallow and released it. The swallow went off, but came back to me; no perch was visible so it circled back to me. I sent forth a raven and released it. The raven went off, and saw the waters slither back. It eats, it scratches, it bobs, but does not circle back to me. Then I sent out everything in all directions and sacrificed [a sheep].(Tablet XI)

Now, according to reason, it becomes plain that the flood stories are myth, based solely on this information, and common sense. The truth is even more illuminated by the obvious flaws.

Historically, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers did overflow and cause great damage, but nothing as severe as the biblical account relates. The only river in the region that could have been involved was the Jordan, but it was below sea level. There are no historical records, nor archeological nor geological evidence that show a flood of this magnitude in the region.

Aside from the obvious widespread killing of everyone who wasn’t on the ark, including children and animals who could not logically be regarded as “evil”—there are the usual problems.

Regarding the logistics of Noah and the Ark, first, the size of the Ark would have resulted in the boat breaking in half under the force of the first wave it encountered; modern ship builders know this for certain. They also know that Noah could not have constructed this Ark in the amount of time allotted.

The animals that Noah allegedly loaded onto the Ark (using both versions of that information found in two different places in Genesis) would not only be too numerous to fit, as our modern science tells us that 99% of the world’s species are now extinct, and it’s obvious that even if the Ark were built and loaded today, they wouldn’t fit; so why would they fit then, when there were millions. Remember there was only “one” creation, according to the bible. This, even though the fossil record shows us that there were many rebirths of new species when others were wiped out (remember the dinosaurs?). The fossil record also shows us that modern species began later—that’s why they are called modern. To hear the theists tell it, all the animals, of all kinds were created by God, during the Original Creation of the world. That’s easily explained, of course, by the facts of evolution; which theists insist isn’t accurate.

Back to the Ark: Also, there would be no room to store water and food for them, and no way the small group of people on board could care for them and clean up after them. Not to mention that it would collapse from the weight and sink. Then there’s the fact that all animals weren’t indigenous to the area in which Noah lived, yet there is no mention of a “road trip” to herd all those animals to the Ark. Additionally, if one only has a male and female of each species, this would create mutants due to inbreeding.

And what about this verse?

“…taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done” (GEN 8:20-21)

Noah took “some of all” of the animals, which would mean there were some who couldn’t “be fruitful and multiply” because, as we know, Noah loaded the Ark with one male and one female of each kind. That would leave some without a mate. Those species must have just died out. Maybe that’s what happened to the dinosaurs, eh?

Also, the most glaring error of all: why did the animals have to be saved in the first place? Since God is omnipotent, why couldn’t he just re-create them all after the flood waters receded?

Other details in the flood story don’t add up, either. God places a rainbow in the sky to remind himself of the event—though why a Omni-everything being would need a atmospheric Post-it Note is beyond me.

There’s also the obvious belief by the author of the Book of Genesis that the Earth was flat, and there was only water above the dome of sky and below the ground. Again, if God created all these things, and then inspired men to write about them, would he not correct such a profound inaccuracy?

And what about the depth of the water as told in Genesis 7:19-20? “The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.” If we figure a cubit as on the average being 19 inches, that would mean the water level reached around 24 feet. Obviously not enough to cover all those mountains, even the smallest of the small. It’s another case of making a mountain out of a molehill; common in the Christian religion.

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[1] See van den Dungen.

[2] A cubit was an ancient unit of length, equal to the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, approximately 43-56 cm (17-22 in) [14th century. Latin cubitum "elbow, forearm" (Encarta Dictionary).

The Great Fib