What’s the point of it all?

God is the correct answer to a silly question.

— Xenocrates

This fantastic sight wasn’t created. It evolved that way. The NGC 1672 Spiral Galaxy © Hubble Telescope.

A young woman confronted me recently about my last post. She was angry at me because it made sense. All her life, even though she doesn’t subscribe to any particular religion, she still wanted to believe that somewhere out there, there was something more than the life that we have. Apparently she was dissatisfied with how her life turned out and hoped that there was something more. So I conceded that yes, there is something more, but it is probably not spiritual. She was furious: “Why not?” She prodded. “How else can we explain our existence if there isn’t some grand purpose to it?” This post is my answer to her question.

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■ E-mail: accordingtoxen[at]gmail[dot]com

Tough Questions Christians Fear

One who has tough questions should never ask them of those who fear the answers.

— Xenocrates

Taking my elders to task on tough Bible questions.

Have you ever had one of those moments growing up when you were presented with an idea that you immediately accepted, but deep in the recesses of your mind, something didn’t add up? That was my entire childhood really. That’s basically how I grew up with religion. This post is for all the younger folks out there who have questions they are either afraid to ask or were given circular, useless answers. Read on to see what all your church elders were so afraid of.

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■ E-mail: accordingtoxen[at]gmail[dot]com

Atheism Exposed: Skepticism

“Sometimes the truth is inexplicable – and that is the plain and simple truth.”

– Xenocrates

Consider this: If a dog really did eat your homework, how’re you going to prove it? You could examine the bowel movement of the animal. However, assuming your homework was written on paper, it would have already become an indistinguishable, finely digested mulch at that point. The teacher’s skepticism about your story is palpable though, largely because of their inability to prove it and the unlikelihood of its occurrence. Does your teacher’s doubt about your story prove that it isn’t true? No. Yet, this is how skeptics think. They believe that whatever can be doubted is not likely to be true. Skeptical Atheists love this technique for asserting the “likely” non existence of God. While that is true on some level, it’s easily the worst way to make any kind of assertive proof of anything.

Atheism Exposed: Agnosticism

“Ignorance is only proof of ignorance, not proof of non-existence.”

– Xenocrates

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one present, does it make a sound? Scientifically, the answer is yes. Sound is basically the vibration of air. Philosophically speaking however, the answer is no. The concept of sound is meaningless without an audience. Using this extrapolation, Agnostics have cleverly crafted an ideology which boldly claims that because of our incapacity to detect or prove God, then one is not rationally inclined to believe in God. However, I think my agnostic friends have confused two essentially unrelated ideas. Ignorance is only proof of ignorance, not proof of non-existence. The two concepts are mutually exclusive. But that’s not the only thing amiss in this peculiar flavour of atheism.

Atheism Exposed: The Motive

“Without proof, belief is still belief – even if you believe in nothing.”

– Xenocrates

Is Atheism a religious belief? Most would argue no, since atheism is purportedly anything but religious. However, of late I’ve been observing a pattern among atheists that has made the entire movement frightfully indiscernible in motive from the very religious proponents they seek to rebut. The trouble lies in the fact that the argument between the two camps is about insubstantial belief – something that is unquantifiable one way or another. As a result, both sides of the fence are making all of the same mistakes – which is why their motivations must be called into question. That is the point of this post. Nonbelievers and people with imaginary friends, follow me for a moment. I have a few things I want to pick your brains about.