Who IS this guy?!

'Niceguy' Eddie

Political Talk Show Host and Internet Radio Personality. My show, In My Humble Opinion, aired on RainbowRadio from 2015-2017, and has returned for 2021! Feel free to contact me at niceguy9418@usa.com. You can also friend me on Facebook.

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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

My reply to Duta

(Ed Note: This started out as my reply to poster Duta's comment under my last post.  It got too long, so I put it here.  I'll let it serve as a lead-in to some of the stuff that Steve pasted way back that I wanted to re-visit.)

Duta,

What I have seen countless times, from my own personal experience, is that THE TRUTH in any situation depends almost entirely on ones own point of view. And I think this is a pretty good example of that. You imply a lack of humility on my part for my lack of belief. And you may have a legitimate point, from your point of view. There are a couple of things I would like to point out. The truth, if you will, from my point of view.

First of all... I DO NOT "refuse to believe in a higher power." What I DO is reject the models that have proposed to me so far, all of which I find to be completely lacking in humility, I might add, and engender a most undeserved certainty - especially in their belief in things that are DEMONSTRABLY false.

Now... Do I believe in a "higher power?" Yes. Believe it or not I DO. Is it the same as yours? No, most assuredly not. It the same as ANYONE else's? No, probably not. Not that I've seen so far anyway. But, as I was implying in linking to Prof. Carrol's section on Atheism, Atheism is not the POSITIVE BELIEF in the NON-EXISTENCE of a higher power. It is not as you put it, a REFUSAL to believe. I do not BELIEVE in the existence of "God" as the concept has so far been defined. What I've heard so far falls into the category of either completely absurd, or reasonable, but not very meaningful. In any case NOT BELIEVING in the existence of God is not the same thing as BELIEVING God does not exist.

Which bring me to the OTHER part of this...

As I wrote a while back, regarding "miracles" If "God" is showing humanity any "favor" at all, why does it always seem to be in countries who do more medical research, who have more medical and scientific resources and who have the most money?

Answer: Because it is SCIENCE, not "faith," "god," or any other kind of "magic" that conquered Infant Mortality, Small Pox, Infections, Polio, Pertussis, Measles, Malaria, etc... It is SCIENCE, not GOD who turned Diabetes into a disease that you can live with indefinitely, and is making strides and doing the same for Cancer, Aids and many others. Open-Heart Surgery, Pre-Natal Surgery, Organ Transplants, Artificial Limbs, Artificial Organs... These are the result of SCIENCE and MANKIND'S LABOR and DISCOVERY. NOT God. Until we discovered these things? GOD was keen to let 50% of Children DIE in infancy. God was keen to strike people down in the prime of life, out of the blue, Healthy on Monday, dead on Wednesday, by the MILLIONS, whether they went to church or not

It was once believed that lighting strikes were the will of God.  And "He" seemed to destroy countless man-made structures with this display of his "power." Funny how a simple, grounded, Iron rod rendered this awesome power completely harmless, no?  We will do the same with everything else.  I have no doubt of that, all it will take is TIME and KNOWLEDGE yet to  be discovered.  You say we're helpless? I'm not buying it. If we were ever helpless it was when we HAD no science, and ALL we had was "God." If that was God's plan? I have news for you: WE'RE WINNING.

Anti-Biotics, Chemotherapy, etc... Have the same success and failure rate regardless of ones religion, and no attempt to show the benefit of "prayer," independent of other factors has even succeeded. (Hey - without Medical Care, PRAYER alone will KILL YOU, and I can find hundreds of examples of THAT, just ask!) BELIEF maybe, but it's also been shown that BELIEF helps regardless of WHAT you believe IN!  So... hardly evidence of the power of any ONE God.

And the way I see it? If there is a higher power, that is exactly what it's plan was from the start. There is no doubt in my mind that this "higher power" has no interest in interfering with what goes on down here. There IS no "grand plan" as far as I'm concerned. If we become the masters of our environment, and live together in peace and flourish? Then we are a success. And we die waging war, allowing famine or chasing superstition instead of science? Then we have FAILED. And we deserve our fate, having brought it on ourselves.  In short I don't reject the entire IDEA of a higher power, just every one I've been presented with so far. And I do so, because (as I laid out in that earlier piece) to do otherwise, to believe in "miracles" would imply that I believe that God is evil.

Believe me... It is very much for my children's benefit that I put my "faith" in Scientific medicine, even as it currently has very little to offer with regards to autism. What it DOES offer WORKS, and that it is lacking in so many areas is not license for anyone to come along and simply propose ANYTHING. And those that do? Have IN EVERY SINGLE CASE been exposed as frauds (after money) at best, and DANGEROUS at worst - children have DIED because their parents have put their faith is non-scientific "treatments." I will never do that, and I have no problem at all condemning those who do. These "faith healers" and other pseudo-medical charlatans who've had patients DIE who could have been helped by standard medicine, should be in JAIL.

For the sake of my children, my faith is in science. For the sake of ALL MANKIND, my faith is in science and will remain such. As I have said many times, and will say in my next post, in Reply to Steeve, I see no good coming from RELIGION moving forward. And it hardly due to arrogance on my part. It has everything to do with the arrogance of Religion itself.

It is RELIGION I reject. NOT the mere idea of a higher power.

Thanks for your comment.

12 comments:

  1. Not all Christians believe that humility only resides in the faithful. Only the arrogant ones.

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  2. I've been disabled since birth. My late grandmother took me to a minister who claimed he could heal me when I was about 7 years old, and believed that God would heal my disability with all my heart, and needless to say He didn't. Since that day I no longer trust ANY organized religion and I tend to think all these of these so called "healers" are liars and frauds.

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  3. @Sammy,

    I don't reject, nor do I judge "Christians." In fact, I'm wating for a couple of pretty conservtaive ones to arrive, because we're going to the Tiger's with them game tonight. LOL

    And yeah, it is the "arrongant" ones, as you say, that I have a problem with. But in my experience those are also the ones who try to insert Christianity into the LAW and into the CLASSROOM, and that's where I really draw the line. And tehse are the ones that you just can't discuss politics iwth, because they act like Jesus would vote Republican.

    @Christopher Back,

    I'm sorry to hear about your experience, but I'm afraid it's all too common, and there is no shortage of sheister's in this world willing to take advantage of people like your Grandmother. I think your skepticism is well placed.

    'Faith' is only as good as what it's placed in. I'm sure your Grandmother's heart was in the right place (as I'm sure Duta's probably is) but if she used her HEAD, she could have spared you any disappointment you experienced, and avoided wasting your time and her money.

    Thanks you both for your comments.

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  4. @Christopher Back,

    I dig the O-P avatar, BTW!

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  5. By the way, I found your site by way of Iron Knee at Politicalirony.com. And I'm forever grateful. I've been going back through your posts and love you how you (most often) sum up my thoughts on matters.

    @Christopher: God was too busy making sure the Yankees won the World Series and the Steeler two Super Bowls. ;-)

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  6. I never cease to be amazed at how insistent some people are in claiming they are correct about what God is or even if He exists. My faith is my faith. I don't want anyone telling me who,what, when or where to worship. I don't want religion in my government or my schools. My faith comes with a huge responsibility to reach out and care for the marginalized, prisoners, the poor, hungry, rejected, and lonely. My faith has made me a noticeably better person as it should. What would it say about God if I claimed that he led me, loved me, guided me and then was not a likable person? An improved person? It would say that God is a weak co-conspirator to my human-ness and not creator, king, redeemer. James 2:14 "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15.If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16.and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17.So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." So telling you or anyone over and over and over again that there is a God is kind of senseless when I can show you. Talk is cheap. I can only show you my savior in my works. I am the hands and the feet of Jesus Christ. It is not a part time gig. My transformation was just that. It was not like putting on a new hat. It was like getting a new heart. It is wondrous and I am blessed. To me God is real. The only reality. But I don't shove my beliefs at other people. My three best friends are a Jew, an atheist, and an atheist Jew. True story. And I love them all dearly!

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  7. We just got back. Tigers Won 7-1. Fun game. Saw a guy score from first on a bunt. Never saw THAT before. (There was an Error, but still...)

    @Sammy,

    Sorry, but I believe it's been a somewhat *ahem* LOWER power that's been helping the Yankees all these years! (But I'll be sure to check out Politicalirony.com, thanks.)

    @Jlarue,

    I've said it before and I'll continue to do so: If everyone treated their respective religions the way you treat yours, the world would be a much better place. I will probably never share your belief, but I will certainly never tell you that it's WRONG. Although you know... there are no shortage of "Christians" who WOULD tell you, on no uncertain terms, that "acts" and "works" will not save you, and count for naught!

    Kind of a similar note to your last point...

    My oldest son was baptized as a Catholic, although we no longer practice. At school, his first two really close friends were Ahmed (a Muslim) and Shouhamm (a Hindu.) Now... All three were autistic, but there is something beautiful that I think we can all take away from these three, special needs kids - a Christian and Muslim and a Hindu - who had absolutely no clue that they had any differences from each other, anything that should seperate them, or any idea just how profound their friendship really was in the grand scheme. When you condier how much bloodshed and pain and suffering these three groups have inflicted on each other throughout history, and yet... to them? They were just a bunch of kids who understood each other. Just fellow human beings who took each other at face value.

    There is something truly profund in that.

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  8. Thank you for your scholarly post.
    In my comment to your previous post, I wasn't referring to God as in organized religion, but to God as in our hearts, a spiritual superpower.
    You're not the only one who believes in science and scientists; I believe in them too, but merely as God's messengers who have both limited powers and God-like powers.

    The way you enumerate the achivements of modern medicine is rather misleading. Many diseases considered extinct, are coming back in more agressive forms. As for diseases people struggle with them constantly ( auto-immune diseases, obesity, alzheimer etc..)all scientists come up with is - "blame your Genetics!".

    We feel progress, and yet this is an illusion, there's no real progress. Fewer children and adults die of diseases nowadays, yet more, much more than ever die in accidents and in natural disasters. There's some frightful Balance out there that we humans cannot control - only God.

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  9. "And on the 8th Day God said, 'Murphy, Take Over.'"

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  10. @Duta -

    At last we've arrived at looking at the same set of facts, and simply drawing different jusdgements. I can see what you're saying about "God in our hearts," but I just can't get on baord with the rest of it. I can only conclude at this point that we simply see the same world differently.

    @Conchobhar -

    Did he EVER! LOL

    Thanks for your comments.

    (BTW - did anyone notice the pro-religion links that come up in the ad bloc with this post? LOL. Does anyone else find that amusing?)

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  11. If prayers worked, I'd be healthy, rich and good looking!

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  12. [Looks at self...]

    Hmmmmm... Maybe I should re-evaulate this whole 'prayer' thing...

    LOL

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