Apologetics?

Why are apologetics necessary? I was thinking about that today. My take is that they are necessary to defend the indefensible and to maintain a magic mindset. When religion and science collide the normal person off the street may start to question. So up pops the apologist to explain things away using circular logic and pseudoscience so the lay person can feel good about their religion again.

If a religion is true it should stand the test of time and should not conflict with science. That is, it should not conflict with the geographic record, the archaeological record, biology,etc.

As I have said before, if God hides things he is a trickster and not worth worshipping.

Stress

Why do we let things get to us. Or specifically why do I let things get to me. The director of the department I work in made me out to be a terrible person in front of the rest of the people int he department. It stressed me out so bad that I began to have stress induced angina. It happened before the class I teach and I had to sit for a little while in the locker room shaking before I could go to teach. I don't know why it affected me as much as it did. Maybe because after problems in the past and extensive talk with a third party I thought things were good. The person is plain socially inept. Luckily I am not the only one who thinks so. Others in the department have stated the same thing.

Its two days later now and I feel better. It happened on a Thursday and I told my supervisor I was not coming back to work till after Easter.

So what makes the physiological affect that I had?

What kind of liberal am I?

My Liberal Identity

You are a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the reality-based community, where science, reason, and non-Jesus-based thought reign supreme.

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Magical Thinking

I'll be blunt. Religion can kill. Yeah yeah. We know that only people kill people (or nature etc). How can religion kill people? By the belief in the magical mindset.

A friend was recounting a poor mother who had cancer and instead of getting proper care she used homeopathic treatments and prayer. Guess what? She has two weeks to live.

Such is the problem with magical thinking. As we know, magic is all smoke and mirrors. It is a deception. And unfortunately the people who buy into this magical mindset as it comes to religion are the ones that suffer in the end. My heart goes out to the children of this woman who will be indoctrinated into this same mindset.

Religion kills.

So here I am... Thinking about apologists

I ran across an interesting way of describing the difference between apologists and critics. I'm rephrasing it (i.e. eating the book and making it my own...) to bring out my take on it.

A Mormon apologist wrote an article entitled 'What critics don't understand' ... The article implies that critics cannot understand the position of believers. That the "spirit" is the true test of knowledge. But is this a valid epistemological undertaking or belief?

The apologist or believer relies upon their testimony for "truth." Despite what the facts may say to the contrary.

And so the critics do understand this. And many critics were once in the same position, but let reason trump testimony. Critics understand that testimony is subjective, emotional, and lacking in reason. What the apologists and believers do not understand is that they are lacking reason, understanding and objectivity.

More disappointment

Well last week my heart procedure failed. They could not remove the blockage from my RCA. And then in recovery my left femoral blew. They had to quickly put this painful device on me to keep me from bleeding out. I ended up laying flat for close to 10 hours. My back hurt so bad I wanted to cry. And now I am walking funny and am bruised from my navel to my knee on my left side. And it hurts.

The doc wants to try again but I don't know if I want to. Sometimes I'd like to just lay down and not wake up.

Disappointment

How do we deal with disappointment?

I have always used food in the past to deal with stress and disappointment. This time around I'm not going to. But what to fill the void not eating? This is always the hard part. So, will try to use exercise to do that as I am desparately trying to lose weight.

I have read quite a bit about low carb diets. I started one about a month agoand then got sick. Before getting sick I had actually started to lose weight. My friend Sandi told me about a program begun by a group of trainers who appear to have done their homework. They have a book and consulting and i will give their system a try. A consulting cardiologist that I have seen advised me to use a low carb diet. Apparently diets rich in carbs, which is what I was on, leads to diabetes and all sorts of problems. Especially with a lot of sugars. So am giving the low carb a try.

And keeping a positive outlook.