emergency plan christianity
There are many environmental causes (besides indoctrination) that can mess with the head and make one think they have experienced god or demons.
Neuronotes has a fascinating blog about the brain. It makes me realise that however strongly-held my position is on atheism, I could yet have a knock to the head or other trauma that could skew my world view and leave me convinced that gods exist. As Christianity is the closest to hand religion in my culture, it’s likely that the Christian god God would be the deity of choice.
But how could I reconcile what I know about Christianity with any uncontrollable and irresistible ‘knowledge’ that the god God exists? Here is my guide to the least harmful version of Christianity I can think of, for anyone (including myself) who could one day finds themselves in this awkward position:
- Having accepted that the gender-neutral god God exists because I can sense it, I would have to assume that the Bible is the result of the inevitable crossed wires that would occur when a super-being capable of creating our reality tries to communicate with humans. Therefore, cherry-picking would be encouraged. Being able to disregard any part of the Bible I find morally offensive leaves Christianity much more open to being described as a benevolent god’s belief system.
- One of the main confusions in Christianity is clearly that a super-being would want to be worshipped or would consider blood sacrifice gifts for bad behaviour to make sense (in any culture at any time). The god God I hope to never sense through accidental brain trauma, won’t want me or any other humans to sing bad songs or believe it ever wanted lambs murdered in acts of repentance for doing what a created being does.
- The god God, being a super-being, created a scientifically sound universe, so there’s no need to explain anything about existence in terms of magic.
- The god God didn’t create evil and the god God doesn’t beam down a sense of perfect morality to humans. People are just doing what they’re doing. Like dogs or dolphins or ants.
- Basically, if I’m unlucky enough for any of this to ever happen, I’ll make sure that the god God is a benevolent little friend in my head who wishes everyone well and plans to sort everything out to the satisfaction of everyone at some point in the future.
If you’re already a fan of the god God but don’t enjoy some of the aspects of Christianity that are unpleasant (like telling people an invisible spirit is trying to trick them into being nasty, or being stupidly judgemental about consensual sex, or treating women like second-class citizen brooding mares, or teaching children unscientific nonsense, or sitting in a draughty buildings singing terrible songs) please feel free adopt my emergency plan Christianity. No fee required.
Have you ever seen Ghostbusters? For some reason your post made me think of this:
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Woh, a giant marshmallow man was exactly what came to my mind, too 🙂
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Lol!
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I don’t think I did the quote justice. Have you ever considered that environmental factors could make any or all of us suddenly believe in gods? We talk the good talk when our brain is in its current configuration but we’re mere mushy animal brain at the mercy of chemicals.
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Victoria is the best one to ask that, but I think she’d answer, Yes. We’re pretty pliable packages when it all comes down to it. Am reading a book right now which has creatures that operate as a pack, but under a single consciousness to direct most activities. Two’s, threesomes, foursome’s, up to a hundredsome’s these creatures function, continually assessing and reassessing each others memories, thoughts, urges. That’s pretty cool when you consider us, who’re singletons.
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A Fire Upon the Deep?
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Yup! It’s really very good. You read it?
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Yeah, a few times now. One of the rare times you see an actual alien society, and not just human knock offs with quirks.
There is also a prequel, A Deepness in the Sky, which has almost nothing to do with the other. Still a fun read though.
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Next on my list.
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Sounds interesting. What other books do you like? (before I consider investing in something I can’t wade through)
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You talking to me?
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I replied to you. You mentioned a book.
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Just checking. Yes, I’d recommend it, although i haven’t even reached half-way yet. Nice to read some science fiction again.
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What’s your favourite book ever? Just checking because if you like the kind of books I hate there’s no point in me checking out this interesting sounding book.
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Ha! Best book ever is impossible to answer. I am however particularly fond of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Heart of Darkness is a work of genius.
Your turn
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Oh, now I remember you rambling about Alice on many other occasions. I had a niggling feeling there was something about books where we clashed! 🙂 “Your turn” – haha, that’s very funny, of course you have memorised all my posts over the last year and remember clearly the genius of fascination that was ‘top 10 books of all time’.
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Don’t wiggle out of it, Wisp. Name ’em! 🙂
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Sigh, we’ve already had a conversation about this:
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Oh, so you have. You can’t honestly expect me to remember the happenings in April last year though. I’m lucky to just remember my pants 😉
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Yeah, I’m beginning to re-evaluate our relationship John. All those months playing with PeW together and you can’t even remember my favourite books! It’s so … superficial. 😉
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All I hear is “Blah, blah, blah, I still haven’t read Alice, blah, blah, blah.” 😉
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🙂 I’m going to get you back once I can concentrate on being really cheeky.
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Oh, did you see the link further down to a post you might be interested in: http://herose4grace.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/old-testament-historical-proof-is-all/
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What a load of selective trollop. These apologists don’t seem to understand the meaning of the words “historical fiction.” They also just love to ignore the overwhelming body of contradictory evidence concerning the actual (alleged) events. Odd people.
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Well, I’ve been missing out on all the fun. Btw, what is PeW? I attempted to look it up but I doubt it means Pre-existing Wetlands. 😀
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That would be much more exciting! We had a blog buddy for a while called Physics and Whiskey – he was a fishy evangelical deconvert but still Christian (similar to naivethinker). John and Ark got bored of his persistent logic and started shouting at him. He disappeared. I miss him.
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Oh — thanks. =D
OK, one more question: What is a fishy evangelical deconvert?
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He may not have been all he appeared to be. I thought he might be an undercover evangelical agent testing out how to respond to atheist arguments. Hence PeW – bit of a fishy smell, and kind of pretentious so in French. Made sense at the time …
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Gotcha. The stench of fish and whiskey, Oy.
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And while you’re compiling your list here’s a little song to help you think:
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This looks entertaining! I’ll have to wait till my daughter’s finished watching Noddy. Is it something she might enjoy or is it cartoon genocide? Reminds me, I need to teach her that nice song about the floodie …
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Cartoon genocide is educational, apparently.
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That’s a brilliant cartoon! Love the music too. Where did you find it?
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Wow — that video puts it into perspective. I added it to my YT favorites. It reminded of this:
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Arch recommended it. I believe it requires the broadest possible audience.
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I would definitely say so. Many adults who do convert to some form of religion do so at a traumatic time in their lives; after a heart attack or some sort of near-death experience, the loss of a loved one, while trying to overcome some sort of addiction.
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I think you did the quote justice. This is not a popular subject — and for obvious reasons. It’s also difficult to find that delicate balance of spreading awareness about environmental factors involved in belief in the god God or any other gods, and not stigmatize those with brain injuries and neurological disorders. There is significant evidence that hyper-religiosity is a major feature of common neurological disorders, often caused by traumatic brain injuries (TBI). According to the Brain Injury Association, TBI occurs approx.every 15 seconds in America. Each year, more than a million children in the U.S. sustain brain injuries, ranging from mild to severe trauma. It’s the most common cause of disability and death in children.
When you look into the behavior of many characters in the Bible, you see the symptoms of hyper-religiosity. So are people following the leadership of those with mental disorders? I do believe that the numbers of brain injuries in the hub of 3 major religions were much higher back then. Much higher. War is a common cause of brain injuries. In fact, it’s considered the signature would of war by the Veterans Administration. Was there ever a time when this hub wasn’t at war?
Ellen White, the prophet and co-founder of the 7th Day Adventist denomination (the fastest growing protestant denomination in the world), was whacked upside the head with a rock when she was a kid. When she came out of her coma, she believed she’d been touched by the god God, and so did others. In clinical terms, it’s called a sudden religious conversion. There are approximately 25 million people attending the SDA church each week. That’s just one person who sustained a head injury and has impacted millions.
I like your emergency plan, and I especially appreciate you bringing awareness about this subject. Thank you so much.
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*wound of war
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Thanks for approving! You’re right that it’s a delicate balance in terms of not stigmatising people who have experienced brain injury. I think it’s a serious and very interesting point that any of us at any time could change our opinion on this without reference to any logical arguments we may have formed against it. Really interesting about the founder of 7th Day Adventist. I don’t suppose many cult/religion founders would advertise knocks to the head.
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That makes me want to watch Ghostbusters! It’s been so long. I can see how that came to mind. But my emergency plan Christianity is viable (not like that marshmallow man), after all, everyone else is cherry picking, I’m just doing it from a rational point of view. If I have to believe in the god God, it will be benevolent.
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There are many who subscribe to the form of Christianity you describe. I don’t see why this would be a problem if you bump your head on a rock and decide to believe in a deity.
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Maybe it could catch on with the others too. It makes about as much sense as anything they believe …
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I watched the movie Apocalypto last night. Highly recommend it if only for the last two minutes.
It puts all religious discussions in perspective and demonstrates ( I think) how nuts Christianity truly is.
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Highly recommend it only for the last two minutes? That’s not inspiring. You haven’t commented on what your emergency plan is for if you suddenly can sense without a doubt that gods exist.
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Yes that was rather a vague film review, I must be honest. I had your post in my mind and the last two minutes illustrate what I would do – what thew characters did.when ‘god’ turned up.
Hide behind the sofa like when the JWs come calling?
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Just found a post for you and John. Tagged atheism, so clearly wanting input:
http://herose4grace.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/old-testament-historical-proof-is-all/
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Where on earth do you find these things?
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That was just on the atheist tag in WordPress. I’m surprised Ark didn’t bite, I thought that would be the kind of thing that would have him drooling with excitement!
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I’ve bitten. She’s a silly person, as Ark would rightly say.
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Here’s another one, JZ, if you’re up for a *cough* challenge.
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What a silly man, and an equally silly challenge. Don’t have time right now, but i’ll let it stew and see if anything pops up.
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LOL! Yes, I’m not even sure how I got about following his blog, but some very silly ideas, indeed.
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Did you give up so soon or did you get spammed? Looks like someone that just doesn’t want to discuss it.
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I have two comments “awaiting moderation.”
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Arkenaten brought me here. Interesting post. The biggest problem I have with religious dogma is when people apply it order to alter/manipulate someone else’s behaviour/viewpoint to suit the dogma believer. Usually makes me think of the Spanish Inquisition – extreme version admittedly. I am also intrigued on how some people can pontificate on what God thinks and wants in order to brow-beat others.
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Any friend of Arks and all that. Yes, the Christian tendency to know what the god God wants based on their funny feelings and selected book passages can be very irritating. It’s odd to think people can believe these things, but actually comforting to think it might be more to do with chemicals than anything else.
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