Testing 'Intense Debate'

Test post for template using Intense Debate

Questions for a Christian from a Pastafarian

This was in response to a friend in Facebook. The discussion was spawned after this twitter posting "Just enjoyed a religious debate.I don't understand faith. Why believe something you can't prove?I'd rather remain open to all possibilities.". I'm curious to see what people have to say in a more public forum.

I'm not sure which religion you belong to. I'm assuming it is some form of Christianity. If so: I don't debate there is some history that was recorded in the Bible. I just say -- so what? Ultimately it was interpreted and written down by the flawed minds and hands of mankind. There's no way to tell what was fabricated and what was real. Sure there are parallels in multiple gospels, sure there are things that can be proven as historical facts. Ultimately 'Jesus was God incarnate, and was resurrected after dying for our sins' must be believed without 'proof'. Works of literature (of any kind) and word of mouth are not proof unless they can be reproduced in our physical world (i.e. scientific textbooks).

So here are my questions to a Christian:
1) Assume for discussion you exist in a future where all people died, all recorded history was destroyed, and all prior civilization had been pulverized. Assume you somehow exist there without oral tradition (history has been lost). In that reality... does God exist? Would you be wrong for believing something other than Christianity? If upon death you did not recognize 'God' & rejected 'him' as 'God', would you be confined to hell or purgatory?

2) As a Christian, how do you reconcile that you are the minority in your beliefs? Roughly 1/3 of the world believes in Christianity. The other 2/3 believe in other religions (or atheism).

2.5) If the other 2/3 of the world live moral lives (according to the tenants of Christianity), but believe in different Gods, what do you think will happen to them upon 'judgement day?'

3) What is wrong with saying: Religion was created in simpler times by people who needed something to believe before science? Assume for a moment that you watched a 6000 year movie and it is over (Christianity was an entertaining story). Why is religion useful other than providing an entertaining way to: A) structure teachings of morality B) provide community to followers and C) giving followers 'answers' to unanswerable questions (why are we here? where did the universe come from? etc) that someday may possibly be provided by science. Why not just call it a 6000 year parable, learn a lesson & move on?

4) Do you believe in evolution? If so, how do you reconcile this with Biblical stories of creation? If not, how do you explain A) fossil records B) carbon dating (age of earth > 6000 yrs) C) genetics, cross breeding, etc.

5) Assume that when you die God does not exist, but there is some afterlife. Won't you be disappointed? Why not go into death with an open mind and decide what you believe when there's something real to witness?

I personally have never heard any satisfactory answers to these questions. Usually the answers seem to be grasping at straws as science fills in the gaps. I concede that there are things I don't know the answers to. I 'believe' that answering these questions without proof leads to segregation, dispute, battles, and world wars. Why not just be open to the possibilities until only one truth presents itself?

Kavya

Kavya
Originally uploaded by jpski.

Feet!

Feet!
Originally uploaded by jpski.

--
Jeremy Przasnyski
AIM:jpskiii | Y!:jpski | GTalk:jeremy.prz

Shocking Myself for Jersey

Jessica & I wanted to train Jersey using a shock collar because we wanted to be able to run with Jersey off leash without having to worry about him getting run over by a car or running off into the woods. Before using the shock collar on Jersey we both agreed that we should use it on ourselves first so we knew what we were subjecting our helpless dog to.

GPS on iPhone baby!

GPS on iPhone baby!
Originally uploaded by jpski.

Holy $417! Thank you Navizon! This is awesome! I now have GPS on the iPhone. If I can help out by war-driving and collecting GPS data... I'm all over it! How many exclamation points can I add to this post?!

Thank you gizmodo bloggers, thank you Digg, thank you authors of Installer.app, thank you Navizon!!!

SiCKO - Healthcare is a Natural Right!

I just watched SiCKO and I'm seriously sick of the state of our country. My brain has been a firestorm of thought trying to figure out what to do. I'm an action-oriented person and have a hard time sitting idly by and letting things be. I only have 4 options:

• Do nothing
• Bitch about the state of our country.
• Move to another country.
• Try to reform our current system (it is not just healthcare that needs reform!)

Taking a step back from the movie, here's what our problems are that I believe are causing or continuing the healthcare problem in the US:

• Lobbyists have a huge influence over the government.
  
• The poor are (generally speaking) uneducated about the problems with the healthcare system and/or our government.
• US Citizens seem to have a fear of taxes.
  
• The poor have statistically low turnouts at the polls come voting time.
• The poor do not generally get heard by people who influence decisions at high levels of society ant the government.
  
• The election process is broken. I.E. - the election process in its current state naturally creates a two-party system, where neither party has the balls to 'rock the boat' and make any major changes. A two-party system doesn't elect the best candidate, it elects the lesser of two evils.
• The US public is uninformed about the general state of the lives of citizens of other countries (who experience better lives, or worse lives).
• The US rich and middle class are generally ignorant about the problems of the US poor.

Wow! That's a lot of problems that I just spouted off the top of my head. I'm at a point in my life where I'm trying to figure out what I'm here for and how I can influence the world in a positive way. I'm tired of being a sheep, working a 9 to 5, funding a war I don't believe in, driving a gas-consuming vehicle, and consuming too much electricity because I can't afford to be fully green and live completely off the grid. I need to do something!

Okay... so what do I do? In regards to SiCKO and the state of the healthcare system: Our system won't change itself. A large majority of the US citizens need to care enough about healthcare to make a change. People need to believe that healthcare is a natural right before society and government make the necessary changes to manifest the benefits that right to all people within our borders (US citizens or alien). Again... so what do I do? I guess the answer to that is to start with convincing as many people as possible that healthcare is a natural right.

Who should I convince? I believe in surrounding myself with passionate people. Passionate people are motivated to get things done. In this case, the passionate people are the people being affected the most: The poor, the elderly, and the sick. They are the people most affected by the denial of their natural right to health and healtcare.

Here's my plan: I want to inform the poor, the elderly, and the sick of the problems and give them a course of action to take. Actions that can affect people. As a software engineer and a true geek I'll do that through technology. I have a projector, speakers, a projector screen, and a modified XBox that have so far been used for nothing more than palying video games and watching movies. However, these luxuries are also a portable platform for showing people the truth about their world. I'm going to present to people the state of the world. I'll start by showing SiCKO to whoever will see it and giving them a plan of action to take if they want to initiate change in their world.

Here are the actions that I think people should take:

• Educate yourself and everyone around you - about everything that people are passionate about.
  
• Help people register to vote.
• Convince people that their vote matters.
• Spread the word about instant-runoff voting. Instant-runoff voting will eliminate the two-party system.

Here are the actions I personally am going to take:

• Take my projector, screen, speakers, and XBMC to a demographically low-voter-turnout neighborhood.
• Have public showings of SiCKO and other controversial films.
• Give people information about what they can do to affect their world.

If you are reading this, kick Jeremy Przasnyski's (the author of this blog) ass if he does not take the above actions. Our world needs to change. The wealthy don't deserve healthcare more than the poor. Healthcare is a natural right.