The Final Events (of bible prophecy)

Though I've spoken out many times before against religious fear mongering and the bigotry it can inspire, it should be stated that I hold quite a lot of respect for a great deal of religious individuals. So I try to keep my criticism leveled firmly at actions that most people would consider wrong and deserving of it. If a guy blows himself up in Israel in order to kill civilians believing, through religion, that it is God's will and he'll be rewarded for it, it clearly deserves derision. When a preacher tells poor people in America that God thinks they must give their hard earned money to him so he can buy a Gulfstream II it clearly deserves derision. And, albeit a far more minor offense, when adherents of a religion consistently try to scare the shit out of you so you'll convert, I believe, it also deserves derision. So it was with annoyance that I opened my letter box today to find yet another attempt at scaring me shitless.

A while back I received the DVD: THE FINAL EVENTS on my doorstep and I thought, bugger it I'll have a look. It was predictable rubbish, the end is nigh, the signs are here, it is written, if you don't convert etc...... What shocked me the most was that by the end God had committed worldwide genocide not once, but twice! I was being asked to convert to this religion, believe these events were coming and to actually love the God who would carry out the killing. It was a tall order, too tall in fact so I threw the DVD onto the step where I'd found it.

Jump ahead 1 year (to today) and there's a FINAL EVENTS pamphlet in my letterbox telling me that someone's preaching this drivel locally and that I should come along. It's an exciting program:

Night One: See how Bible prophecy is encoded in symbolic imagery and how the Bible has predicted all the major world empires of history down to our day

So in short, some genius has "decoded" the Bible's "symbolic imagery" to predict world empires. Not off to a good start.

Night Two: What are world events telling us? Why is there an increase in natural, social and political disasters? Are these signs of a greater event?

I wasn't aware there was an increase! History's positively chock full of natural, social and political disasters.

Night Three: What did Jesus mean when He said He would return to the earth? How and when will He come? What is the Rapture? How will this affect the world?

Clearly you've just gotta believe to attend night three.

Night Four: How did this world become so sinful? Who started the rebellion against God? What is it all over? Where will it end?

Did it become more sinful? What do they mean by sinful? Of course having watched the DVD I already know what they mean, "moral decline". This is code for: there are too many gays and too many people fail to realise that they're an abomination. Nice.

Night Five: The Antichrist 1

Scary!!!

Night Six: The Antichrist 2

The Antichrist gets two nights in a row in case the first doesn't sufficiently frighten the hell out of you (literally).

Of course I'll probably go if I've got nothing better to do.

In Trouble? Just Find Jesus

I think it's pretty clear now that if you're in America and you find yourself in hot water your lawyer is going to suggest that you find Jesus, and that you announce it, fast!

Paris Hilton found Jesus pretty quickly once she'd landed herself in jail as did her friend Nicole Ritchie. I guess finding Jesus is the perfect way to call off the dogs (oops! I've given it away) and let them know that you're on the path to redemption. But Michael Vick the disgraced U.S footballer has found Jesus in record time.

After being caught out as the financier of Bad Newz (it's got a Z so you know it's cool) Kennels ,which operates dog fights for the amusement of insiders, and in being complicit in killing six to eight dogs for "under performing" he's all of a sudden found Jesus:

“I’m totally responsible, and those things just didn’t have to happen,”

“I feel like we all make mistakes. It’s just I made a mistake in using bad judgment and making bad decisions. And you know, those things, you know, just can’t happen.”

"Dogfighting is a terrible thing and I reject it ... I found Jesus and turned my life over to God. I think that's the right thing to do as of right now."

Oh piss off! I'm all for forgiveness but we shouldn't be taken for saps with this rubbish. Firstly, Vicks didn't make a "mistake". He didn't trip over and think "oops I just financed a dog fighting ring for six years and killed six to eight dogs via hanging or drowning!" These were callous premeditated acts over a lengthy period. Secondly, why didn't he find Jesus six, five or even one year ago? And where did he find him anyway?

On further reflection, it raises questions about Jesus' character considering he can apparently be found in jails all across the U.S. Kevin Andrews would be forced to deny him a visa on 'character grounds' surely.

Greens Watch Get's Wierd

For a while now there's been a bit of a hoo haa about Greens Watch but for some reason I haven't bothered to venture over until today. 'HarrangueMan' and 'An Onymous Lefty' have both posted jibes at this new site, and Iain Hall (unsurprisingly) made it his blog of the month! But I found it unremarkable, in fact, boring, so I thought I'd find something funny in the 'Creepy Greens' section but alas, most were just dumb. Take their attack on Greens member Leanne Daharja Veitch for being the leader of 'a sinister cult based on the Occult and Witchcraft.' Nowhere in the piece do they provide evidence of this 'cult' as being 'sinister', in fact when I followed the links (when they worked) I discovered something quite different. Greens Watch states:

' Leanne founded a secretive coven she calls "Akasha"'

'Her sect has over a hundred followers who perform rituals involving swords and knives as part of the sect's occult ceremonies.One can only assume these Witches are under Leanne's orders and are ready to muster in support of the Victorian Greens when commanded.'

But all the link provided was an explanation about 'Akasha' which was all quite above board and very typically pagan. Greens Watch, it seems, had merely decided to embellish when it added words like 'sinister' to it's description. Greens Watch doesn't stop there in it's attempts to slime her:

'Leanne has an Amazon reading list of Pagan Reading for Kids. Greenswatch fears her children will be raised subjected to this sinister occult brainwashing.
Her children are named "Dragon" and "Dawn Star".'

Firstly, who gives a shit what she calls her kids. Secondly, if you follow the link to her list you'll see this beat-up for what it is. Leanne states at the beginning:

'These books contain real truths - love, friendship, family. They show characters overcoming adversity, questioning what they see around them, and struggling to overcome what sometimes seem to be insurmountable odds. All throughout, the natural world is cherished, valued and respected. These are Pagan values in the deepest, most real sense.'

Wow!! She sounds scary!!!!!! And just look at the list itself, let's hope her children won't be subjected to:

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar board book by Eric Carle
2. Petunia's Christmas by Roger Duvoisin
3. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

You get the picture. What a terrible parent, and what poor children they are!!!!! But it doesn't get any better for Greens Watch, over and over they distort the truth to sustain the unwarranted attack:

'When not worshipping satan, Leanne runs a Green Group/Witch Recruitment Front called "Greenripples" '

WITCHES DON'T WORSHIP SATAN DICKHEADS SATANISTS DO!!!!!!!!!

Maybe they already knew this, maybe not, but I'm sure they didn't really care how truthful they were being. And after all this rubbish printed in their pleas to the ignorance of others they finish with this:

'This person is a dangerous influence inside the Victorian Greens and should be expelled immediately. The greens have called national inquiries for other organisations and cults yet fail to hold their own members to the same level of scrutiny.'

What cheek! To assert that someone is 'dangerous' surely you must provide something to prove the accusation but Greens Watch failed to provide any evidence for their claims. How can they be taken seriously?

I've got a tip for Greens Watch. There's another bizarre 'sinister' cult whose members are well represented in Australian politics, especially the Coalition and the ALP. It's followers believe the world is 6,000 years old and that a guy died 2,000 years ago and was miraculously resurrected!!!!!! They believe that when you die, if you're good, you'll go to a place called Heaven but if if you're bad you'll go to a place called Hell and burn for eternity. This 'cult' has presided over wars, slavery and all sorts of crimes against humanity and is still used to discriminate against minorities!!! Does this sound any less creepy?

To tell you the truth I do think Leanne's kooky, but no more kooky than any other religious believer. For Greens Watch to even bother with this is a serious black mark on their whole 'mission'. It seems that Greens Watch has now bullied Leanne sufficiently enough for her to have blocked her web site, which is interesting considering the treatment they give the Greens for 'silencing dissent' within another section of the site.

Kudos wankers, Kudos.

Religion And The $1,000,000 Note

There are many reasons why I'm an atheist and no doubt in the course of time I'll tread my way through them all. A key reason is because of the way some believers of theistic religions, in particular Christianity and Islam, use 'scripture' to, in my opinion, justify their deep bigotry. While fundamentalists will always espouse the most intolerant views, even a moderate level of belief can foster discrimination.

Fancy Sydney Bishops declining to an invitation to the Lambeth Conference because the U.S Episcopalians have ordained a gay Bishop and some have blessed gay unions. These U.S Bishops should be cheered for their progressive and tolerant outlook that would no doubt do religion's image some good. The U.S Episcopalians have largely been terrific in this area for some time, producing forward thinking leaders such as John Shelby Spong whose books have attempted to coax Christians to cast off such discrimination and have highlighted the threat of fundamentalism for decades. All we need is a Spong of Islam and maybe reason has a chance of winning the day. So it's a shame that Sydney's Bishops have to be so narrow minded and continue to tacitly support bigotry from behind that ever present shield, the Bible.

But on to something else:

A few weeks back, my wife found a $1,000,000 note in an elevator. The discovery was no doubt a tad exciting even though we all know there's no way to cash it in. The picture on it's front was that old criminal legend Ned Kelly and it's likeness to what one might imagine a real $1,000,000 note was quite striking. But when you turn it to the back there's a problem:

So this note had a message to preach, and that message is that she was going to Hell. Even though she's a good person in every way and wouldn't ever set out to deliberately hurt a soul (except me in a fight), she could still expect to face fire and damnation at the end of her life for maybe 'looking with lust', or god forbid using 'God's name in vain'.

God Damn I thought!!!! (oops!) Can't they just let others be? Why must they attempt to guilt us, or scare us into religion, and how is that a good way to be inducted anyhow? It's on Hellfire where I agree with Dawkins the most. Those poor children raised within these religions will grow to believe that their thoughts can land them in Hell and an eternity of pain. Is this not child abuse?

The note held a web address which I visited, and can I just say that you won't find me at Evangelism Boot Camp this year.