The Ant And The Contact Lens
(Religious Spam)
[name suppressed]
| NOTE: Many may find some We belong to more than a few strange and questionable lists -- and it would shock the average Positive Atheism reader to know that we even receive some of this material. One fellow operates a few lists that we are on, and though we find many of his sentiments despicable, we also find it rather fun to spar with him over the basics of his Christian theism. Here is an example of one such match, where we chose to ignore his most odious aberration (his racism) and lob some volleys back and forth over the basic Christian concepts of God. If you can see through all this, enjoy -- if you will. Our main goal was to discuss some of the flaws in the popular Christian theistic position which involves an enigmatic deity of the rescuing variety (at the beck and call of his insolent and self-indulgent subjects), who answers every inconsequential prayer while appearing to ignore those great evils which abound on our planet. |
From: [suppressed]
To: <Recipient list suppressed>
Subject: Fwd: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Friday, June 16, 2000 11:29 PM
A true story by Josh and Karen Zarandona
Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took a hold on the rope, and started up the face of that rock.
Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact lens. Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there. Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it.
When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff. She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me." Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom. At the bottom there was a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?" Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it.
Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."
I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally say, "God, I don't know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if you want me to carry it, I will." God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. Yes I do love GOD. He is my source of existence and my savior. He keeps me functioning each and every day. Without Him, I am nothing, but with Him I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Phil 4:13)
From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: [suppressed]
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2000 1:10 PM
What a miracle! This is proof positive: There simply must be a god! (Never mind all those poor schmucks who starved to death in Ethiopia during the time it took for them to walk down the mountain!)
Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
From: [suppressed]
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2000 1:49 PM
heehhe, knew this would get a rise out of you. ahahah
those starving in ethiopia are not "schmucks" ...they are "niggers" so that is all the more proof that god is out there trying to clean up the world
From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: [suppressed]
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2000 3:28 PM
I guess even an all-knowing, all-powerful god does things (like creating Ethiopians) that he later repents of having done (Gen. 6:6).
Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
From: [suppressed]
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2000 3:25 PM
yes exactly
From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: [suppressed]
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2000 4:46 PM
What a guy! What a guy!
Glad he cannot possibly exist!
Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
From: [suppressed]
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2000 4:43 PM
huh?
From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: [suppressed]
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2000 6:13 PM
The volcano god. Glad he cannot possibly exist. Glad the universe is essentially pointless, and that all meaning is found within the minds of the beholders.
Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
From: [suppressed]
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2000 6:08 PM
where did u come up with that conclusion?
From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: [suppressed]
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2000 7:51 PM
Human reason. How else does anybody come up with any conclusions?
Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
From: [suppressed]
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2000 9:38 PM
by the scientific method
From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: [suppressed]
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Sunday, June 18, 2000 3:18 AM
Like I said, human reason, which is the basis for the scientific method, which takes for granted that we are fallible and can't know everything. The scientific method is a community discussion in which the participants agree to abandon any theory which can be proven false or logically impossible. Also, we don't have to go along with a proposition unless and until its proponents come up with sufficient evidence. It all rests upon human reason, though.
Reason, through logic, tells me that an all-knowing, all-powerful entity would not do something which he would later repent of doing. Historical evidence tells me that the Biblical tales give every indication of being tribal myths told by flea-bitten goat-herders around a campfire of camel dung. Particularly telling is the fact that the god of the earlier myths is a little guy (who is one among many competing tribal totems) and is capable of making mistakes, and the god of the later myths is the so-called One True God who is all-powerful and all-knowing and would never make a mistake, but has had it all planned out from the foundation of the earth.
These myths were the exclusive property of the priestly class until long after they had been established as the law of the land, and they were not open to public scrutiny (according to scientific method) until a few hundred years ago. We have guys like Wycliff and King James I to thank for bringing the "Scriptures" to the common man, and making them available for public scrutiny (according to scientific method). By then, though, it was too late to edit out the inconsistencies that such scrutiny brought to light (although the "New International Version" of the American Evangelical movements and the "New World Translation" of the Jehovah's Witnesses have given it the old college try).
Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
From: [suppressed]
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Sunday, June 18, 2000 7:45 AM
Reason, through logic, tells me that an all-knowing, all-powerful entity would not do something which he would later repent of doing.
ehehheeh
we are told in the bible that this is precisely what happened. that was the reason for the flood.
and ur "reasoning" is obviously flawed. u attempt to apply ur frail human "reason" to the "all-knowing"??
hahahah ahhhahahahh hahah
From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: [suppressed]
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Sunday, June 18, 2000 11:51 AM
What else is there to apply to such a concept? What else besides human reason do we have to determine whether a claim is worth considering?
I mean, aren't you applying your own reason in deciding whether to adhere to the Bible?
Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
From: [suppressed]
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Sunday, June 18, 2000 7:37 PM
What else is there to apply to such a concept? What else besides human reason do we have to determine whether a claim is worth considering? I mean, aren't you applying your own reason in deciding whether to adhere to the Bible?
nope. i tried living my life by reason. i nearly died. in desperation i tried this faith stuff. it worked. i cannot "reason" or otherwise explain why it works. fortunately i have quit trying....now just enjoying
From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: [suppressed]
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Sunday, June 18, 2000 8:59 PM
I'm not sure I even understand what faith is, or how it would differ from what I do.
Is it magical or something?
Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
From: [suppressed]
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Sunday, June 18, 2000 9:01 PM
I'm not sure I even understand what faith is
i KNOW u dont understand
or how it would differ from what I do.
u will never understand that difference until you have a "vital spiritual experience". it is not something that can be described or eplained or reasoned to the uninitiated. dont worry abt it cliff, perhaps it is a blessing that u dont know. because many of us had to literally go thru hell before having such an experience.
if u are happy with ur present life then dont try to change anything.... "if it aint broke dont fix it"
Is it magical or something?
yes it is magic
From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: [suppressed]
Subject: Re: Re: Ant and the contact lens
Date: Monday, June 19, 2000 3:14 AM
u will never understand that difference until you have a "vital spiritual experience".
Then how is it proper that I should be held accountable for "knowing" what I cannot know? (John 15:6, etc.)
Is it magical or something?
yes it is magic
How, then can we know this? Why does all this so closely resemble everything that is obviously the work and words of so many hucksters and charlatans?
I mean, if you had genuine supernatural powers, would you show them off by pulling rabbits out of a hat?
This all sounds so convenient, but I'm not a man of convenience. I work for all the answers I get and I expect no free lunch. This is only right, and this only is right.
Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
Material by Cliff Walker (including unsigned editorial commentary) is copyright ©1995-2006 by Cliff Walker. Each submission is copyrighted by its writer, who retains control of the work except that by submitting it to Positive Atheism, permission has been granted to use the material or an edited version: (1) on the Positive Atheism web site; (2) in Positive Atheism Magazine; (3) in subsequent works controlled by Cliff Walker or Positive Atheism Magazine (including published or posted compilations). Excerpts not exceeding 500 words are allowed provided the proper copyright notice is affixed. Other use requires permission; Positive Atheism will work to protect the rights of all who submit their writings to us.