It's Not Anybody's Fault

 Doug B. over at Groping The Elephant has written a couple of posts (here and here) on the recent outbreak of tornadoes in our area in the South and Midwest. I wasn't going to comment about the storms until after reading Doug's comments and stumbling upon the following video.



As a former Christian, most Christians reading this will probably think I was never a "true" Christian, but in my former life I held tight to the comfort in the belief that God watched over me. The only change between then and now is that I no longer believe in a Divine creator, and yet my family and I were unscathed by the storm. It's videos like these that break my heart not because I believe that they're stupid to pray a storm away but that in the aftermath while believers share their survival story with others those who don't survive are often forgotten or even blamed for their own deaths. I believe that prayer does bring comfort to the believer but after the storm settles most believers don't wrestle with the question of why. As Doug brought up in his post good ol' defender of the faith Pat Robertson stated that it is our fault that people died. Our fault. God is blameless and we brought our own demise upon ourselves because we failed to pray. As families across my county huddled in their basements and shelters I'm certain that the vast majority of people were praying their hearts out, and the storms didn't miraculously stop.

I am thankful that my family avoided the storms but I understand and accept that it was probability and not divine protection. It is nobody's fault that that the storms brought death and destruction. Prayer doesn't protect but I admit that it may bring comfort, yet what we should be doing is helping instead of damning our fellow man. My heart goes out to those that didn't make it and I hope that the local communities affected by the storms will help each other rebuild and recover.

The Reason

Since the birth of this blog I've stated that its main purpose is for reflection and not as a pulpit to put down the beliefs of others. And as far as I can recall I don't go out of my way bashing the beliefs of others except when it comes to acts of clear injustices. Just by looking back on my own personal growth I've moved from Seventh Day Adventist-> Theist -> almost Muslim convert-> Theist again -> Pantheist/Agnostic/Humanist. I can't really decide what I am now cause a) I don't really care for titles and b) I don't want to be pinned down to another tribal group again. When it comes to questions about God and the afterlife although I find the questions intriguing at the end of the day I'm not comfortable accepting ANY of the answers provided by any faith. I don't believe our existence in this reality is meant to be spent thinking/praying/hoping for safe passage into the next reality (i.e. Heaven). I just don't find any of the answers believable or even useful in my life. Religious answers can still be useful to others even if I find them useless. If a Muslim finds peace in his daily prayers to Allah who am I to take that peace away from him, and the same goes for anyone else from any faith. I'm not out to convert others to my point of view simply because I understand that the journey I took to get to where I am is something that can take years of reflection and thought. To get to where I am you can't just offer a statement of faith or offer a prayer to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, (Praise his Noodliness, R'amen) it is a lifetime of wrestling with unanswered questions and understanding how that struggle makes us human. THAT is what drew me away from religion and towards spirituality. 





I know I posted this video before in my series on Atheist Spirituality but this video captures the beauty of being human, and accepting the mystery and joy of simply being. But just because I'm not a religious man means I'm disgusted or even against religion. I absolutely love listening to testimonials, to simply listen to another person's journey is foundational towards loving our fellow man. I may not accept your beliefs but I respect its importance to you. Your story is a part of who you are, so who am I to destroy your identity? But I do see religion as language and story, but even if I don't accept the story as truth I love listening to a good tale because it describes the struggle of being human. The only thing I am against is whenever story (religion) taken as literal truth causes pain, suffering, and injustice to others. THAT is what I am against, not the religion itself but the pain caused to others. To simply be, love, and experience my humanity is more than enough for me.

8-bit Last Supper

I love a good Last Supper parody.

[Via Unreasonable Faith]

While searching for a full list of names for a few of the characters I didn't recognize on the far right I stumbled upon this page containing a treasure trove of Last Supper parodies. It's not completely up to date ( they didn't have the one from Lost) but it's got over 50+ parodies. Enjoy.

Time Lord Victorious

Time Lord Victorious

There were a couple of recent articles found here and here, and a Doctor Who episode I recently rewatched on Netflix which all run along the same theme. They all touch upon the theme of a supreme/higher being with absolute power. The Doctor Who episode entitled "The Waters of Mars" displays one of the Doctor's darker moments after rescuing Captain Adelaide Brooke who should have died on Mars and is an important figure to earth's history thus altering, or so he thinks, a fixed point in time. The Doctor proclaims himself the Time Lord Victorious as Captain Adelaide Brooke challenges the monster the Doctor has become.

Captain Adelaide Brooke: "And if my family changes, the whole of history can change. The future of the human race. No one should have that much power."

The Doctor: "Tough."


Not only does the concept of an all powerful deity being in 100% control of everything in the universe reeks of injustice and immorality (at least to me), I can't imagine anyone with that much power over life and death without a broken heart, or in the Doctor's case, two broken hearts. A deity with absolute control over the cosmos may be comforting to many but to others comes across as a complete monster over the slaughter of women and children in the Old Testament and unjust as the giver (and withholder) of "God-given" rights. I acknowledge that this may simply be a difference of opinion in how we view the divine, but a deity which asks of us complete submission and repentance without reciprocating shared suffering and shared forgiveness seems too alienating for my taste. As the brilliant Amelia Pond says in "The Beast Below"

"If you're were that old and that kind, and the very last of your kind, you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

I find that the concept of an all-loving God is more comforting than an all-powerful God yet the all-powerful God seems to over shadow the all-loving. A God who suffers,a broken and lonely God, seems more in touch with humanity than one who rules over its creation. The image of the divine I lean more towards is that of God as a verb more than a noun, an action instead of a being.

Life in a Day

For those who haven't seen this film yet I highly recommend watching Life in a Day which is streaming on Netflix. Life in a Day is a worldwide project where people submitted clips of what they did on July 24,2010.  It's not entirely thrilling since it is just a series of clips of people going about there everyday business but what I love is the tender and vulnerable human moments in the film. What I also enjoyed is seeing the immense differences and similarities we share with our global neighbors.  There's something about the these types of grand "big picture" films that reminds me how precious life is and how we are interconnected with each other. For those who don't have Netflix (really? If you don't have Netflix you really are missing out, the best $8 I spend every month) you can watch the entire film streaming on YouTube on their official channel here. Also on the channel there are  clips showing a few people in the film where they are 1 year later and there comments on the project.