Is Blind Faith the Answer for Truth?

Keith Crowe

“… if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

A parable found only in the Christian text, which did not exist until the 4^th Century CE, when several “catholic” religious communities began an Empirical compelled series of Council meetings beginning in Nicea, and renamed itself the “Roman Catholic Church,” and is subject to the same scrutiny for “truth” as any other of the thousands of religious texts.  Faith does not transform anything into fact or truth, nor can it change a leopard’s spots.  Faith is the mental key which allows fiction to mask reality.

Misplaced Faith can result in a very bad experience and a deeply scarred life.  Just ask the investors in Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay’s Enron Corp., or in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC., or any of the victims of hundreds of other shady snake-oil salesmen.  Their investors were misled and lied to by people responsible for these crooked commercial corporations.  And, these are only a few of the ones we know about because they were caught cheating and stealing. How many “snakes” are still out there lying to vulnerable and fearful people.

The secular commercial world isn’t the only place people can be misled and duped by snake-oil salesmen.  MANY Evangelical churches, i.e. John Hagee’s Cornerstone Ministries, Jim Baker TV Ministries, Jesse Duplantis Ministries, Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church Ministries, and many more, are tax exempt, family owned CORPORATIONS who answer to no one outside of their family circle regarding corporate financial matters.  Many live in Gated and Protected Communities in mansions complete with servants and chauffeured limousines, and own multiple (congregation financed) private jets, and enjoy numerous “mission trips” to the playgrounds of the rich and famous.  Although those listed represent only a small number of a much larger religious extreme, they are by no means alone in the business of religious brand businesses and competition.

Religions claim that it only takes an “act” of faith to believe and accept their tenets and promises.  However, a threat with vivid descriptions of an eternal punishment that awaits non-believers in an unavoidable afterlife can be an effective incentive to encourage acts of faith.  Why is this even believable?  With thousands of religions competing for a commitment to their order, how can anyone determine what is truth and who is a true god?  Has there ever been a “mountain moved from here to there” in the history of the world?

One might say that a mustard sized seed of faith worked for the 16 terrorists who were responsible for thousands of deaths on 9/11, but the mustard seed sized faith didn’t work for the thousands of victims who were desperately praying for rescue from an obvious fate in their hour of despair.  Neither has a mustard sized faith or prayers worked for the thousands of innocent men, women and children who were victims of religious promoted wars producing atrocities in the Holocaust, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, Africa, China, North Korea, etc. – who faithfully pray to sleeping gods to “move the mountain” and rescue them from persecution and death.

If “prayer” was as effective and focused as many religions claim with prayer meetings, prayer warriors, prayer teams, etc., we wouldn’t need half as many Medical Centers specializing in maladies and diseases of every organ of the sick and dying, as there now are in every major city in America.  We just would not need this many healers if prayer and faith could do it for us.  Consequently, in the face of health disasters over which we have no control, we resort to ancient superstitions and fears who turn to supernatural powers that do not exist, for help in our times of need.

Faith springs eternal not only in every mustard seed, but in all the seeds of every organic life form of nature in the universe.  They all have faith that they will have a future to complete their purpose of existence.

However, not all will be successful.  Some seeds will fall by the wayside and the birds will devour them, others will fall among tares and thorns to be choked to death, some will fall on rocky ground with no soil to take root, and some will fall in prepared and fertile ground with support and encouragement to grow strong and succeed in accomplishing its purpose in life, to support the perpetuation of the species.

Nature exists and succeeds only by a constant struggle to live through cycles of Life.  Cycles that are measured in hours for mayflies; seasons for leaves, flowers and fruit; years for mammals; and centuries for giant sequoias.  Nothing exists or lives trouble free, it’s just that some life forms have more struggles than others.  There is nothing fair about the struggles for life.

Honeybee hives, termite and ant mounds may exist for years, although worker bees, termites, and ants may live only for weeks, depending upon weather and foraging conditions.  The queen of each species may live and continue to produce workers for several years.  For each, there is a continuous struggle to survive and remain useful.  When the queens become aged, a few of their newly birthed larva are fed a “royal jelly” which causes them to grow into new queens, and others are fed a different royal goop that causes them to grow into drones (males) for the purpose of mating with the new and emergent queens, who immediately set to work attempting to create a new colony, usually in a new location.  Rarely do they take over the colony from which they were born.

Inside jungles and forests, the struggle for life exists in much of the same way.  The tallest and most successful vegetation and trees produce most of the fruit and seeds that fall to the floor.  If the fruit or seeds are not consumed by animals, and when conditions are right the seeds germinate and become fledgling plants to begin the struggle to reach for sunlight from above and necessary moisture from the surrounding soils.  If the canopy is too dense, many plants never receive the necessary amount of sunlight and therefore never make it to maturity.  Eventually, holes are made in the canopy when an older tree is damaged or dies and falls to the floor, opening a hole for sunlight to penetrate to the floor and benefit the fledgling plants.

This delicate balance in the struggle for life has existed and succeeded for billions of years.  Until now.  The greed and proliferation of mankind has upset the delicate balance of this garden planet.

The world is in a critical crisis of continuing to be the garden it became billions of years ago.  The only creature responsible for this crisis is mankind.  If mankind were suddenly eliminated from the equation, the world could heal itself and continue to be the garden it once was.  How is this healing possible if mankind cannot be totally removed from this planet, you ask?  As the density of mankind increases, we become more susceptible to contagious microorganisms who can survive extreme climates and lay dormant for centuries until there is an optimum opportunity to awaken and continue their struggle to survive, thereby reducing the numbers of everything, including mankind.

Fewer numbers of mankind will reduce the demands for “sport hunting and trophy collecting;” over production of meat products by inhumane conditions; destroying forests to raise profitable grains to feed increasing numbers of animals for mankind to eat; and requiring less fossil fuels and their related emissions that continue to diminish the quality of the magic atmosphere that once existed to support the evolution and creation of life.  In short, without mankind (or a significant reduction of the same), this world could easily heal itself.

Faith can’t do it, prayer can’t do it; increasing the numbers of mankind won’t do it; increasing the numbers of religions who rely on supernatural spirits won’t do it.  And, we are not capable of reducing our own numbers.  So, what is left are infectious microorganisms to thin the ranks and numbers of people who have done nothing more than to be in the wrong place at the right time to allow opportunity for microorganisms to thrive through social interaction of mankind.

I have faith that if, or when, mankind becomes aware of the desperate and critical conditions necessary to reverse the destructive path we have created, the earth can and will succeed beyond our wildest dreams to become a garden planet once again.

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What If . . .

What if Jesus’ younger brothers and sisters were typical of their day?  They would most likely have been married and had children of their own by the time Jesus, their eldest brother at the age of 30, left home and the family Carpentry business, to begin wandering the Jordan Valley.

Mary, like most mothers/grandmothers, would continue to live in Nazareth supporting her married children spending her days caring for and spoiling her grandchildren.  Would Mary have left her home, her married children and her grandchildren, to travel with her wandering son, Jesus?

After three years of wandering the Jordan Valley and living off of the kindness of strangers, Jesus was arrested by the only group ever threatened by his public speaking and actions, - the Sanhedrin and Pharisees.  Jesus was accused of sedition by the Sanhedrin and turned over to the Roman ruler, Pontius Pilate on trumped up charges guaranteed to result in his execution. 

Sedition in any country meant a speedy trial, and an execution by a slow death on a large wooden post erected in full view of a busy thoroughfare entering a large city to get maximum publicity.  To guarantee a maximum publicity, the victim was left on the post after he died for sometimes weeks with a sign to warn others of the results of attempting to overthrow the ruling powers.

Nazareth is 90 miles from Jerusalem. There was no public transportation or communication between the two towns.  Mary and her family would not have received the message of Jesus’ conviction of sedition and execution for several days.  It would then take several more days before the 50+ year-old, Mary, with support of her sons/daughters, made their way back to Jerusalem to beg Pontius Pilate for the’ body of Jesus for burial. 

In this likely scenario, Mary would not have been present at Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, and unlikely that she would have been allowed to consign his body to a Jerusalem tomb. 

A Secular Creed

Keith Crowe

Prologue

Thousands of traditionally organized religions, cults and political persuasions have been responsible for the separation of people into warring tribal factions capitalizing on their ignorance, superstitions and fears, and continue to perpetuate brands of separation with organizational interests and the proliferation of brick, mortar, steeples, stained glass, and the systematic practices of ideologies based on ancient racially-biased folklore and mythology.

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I believe the universe began in a cataclysmic instant of time initiated in an unknowable circumstance, resulting in a continuously evolving universe filled with developing forms flora and fauna that will never have a capacity to know or understand the initiating force(s).

I believe there will never be an evolving biological mindset that can encompass or imagine the infinite or the eternal.

I believe throughout the history of this planet, there have been and continues to be, many exceptional persons who have shared their special leadership skills, insight and knowledge of life and its relationships to nature.

I believe all life forms are instilled with an innate compassion and charity toward all living things through a common bond of respect that binds all life together.

I believe every molecular body in the universe from galaxies down to viruses, exist in a 3-cycle state of birth, life, and death; and are composed of material produced in the origin of the universe and in the death of stars.

I believe all biological life is composed of a common molecular material that is released back into the environment after death to be used again and again in the rebirth of more biological life forms of flora or fauna.

I believe death is the final state of all things when personalities and histories continue to exist only as a memory in the minds of those who were acquainted, for as long as they shall live.

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Can a Created object ever know the nature of its Creator?

I believe - the Force that is credited by religions for creation of the universe, exists in every atom that was, and continues to be created in the plasma death of stars.  It is manifested in part by what we define as "gravity."  All physical bodies, organic, inorganic, mineral, flora, and fauna possess this property in every atom of its body.  Some call this energy a "spiritual link " that exists between everything that IS.  All biological entities, including plants as well as animals, possesses a "sensory system" that gives us a consciousness, a will to survive, and a procreative mandate that is shared with the universe.

Humans have created names for invisible forces who are credited with things we do not understand or cannot control, which we call Zeus, Yahweh, Trinity-God, Allah, etc., but conveniently overlook that the character and nature of these deities only reflect the traditions of our own tribes, and do not begin to describe an Intelligence that created the universe.  As evolving products of this planet, it is unlikely that we will ever have or develop an ability to describe or communicate with a Creator of the universe we find ourselves in.

Even though we have developed only a limited knowledge of the universe it has allowed us to investigate deep space communities, and a sensory system that allows us to explore our origins from a cataclysmic event 13.7 billion years ago, we will never be able to comprehend the nature of infinity or eternity.  We can only say the words and define a fragment of their essence.  The closest thing that we have incrementally discovered regarding the realm of infinity and eternity, is the nature of Atoms which are used to construct a universe.  The extraordinary character of atoms is that they are born in the plasma environment of stars and never die, expire, or cease to exist.  On the last day of universal existence, a hydrogen atom will still be and act like a hydrogen atom, a helium atom will still be and act like a helium atom, etc. etc.

Every cell of every biological life form, both flora and fauna, is constructed by DNA/RNA molecules using the same 5 basic types of atoms; hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus as tools to construct every body cell part.  Although trace amounts of 20 other elements such as, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, potassium, iron, iodine, etc. are needed in all biological life forms, the 5 basic types of atoms are the major building blocks.  We are more alike than our physical appearances would suggest and when we die, all of the atoms that compose our being are eventually released back into the environment from whence they came, unchanged.  Hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus and the trace atoms will continue their original separate personalities, characteristics, and identities.

Sons and daughters born to the same parents are rarely identical in either appearance or behavior.  They are conceived at a different reproduction stages of each parent and are influenced by separate and different experiences while they progress from birth to adulthood.  Each begins life with an altered set of genetics and experiences to become new links in the evolutionary chain of life to cope with new and ever-changing environmental conditions.  Unable to do any less leads to extinction.

For 13.7 billion years an evolutionary event has been in progress supporting a wave of life that has rolled through time long before mythological legends were ever recorded on animal skins and clay tablets.  Every culture that has ever emerged from the Olduvai Gorge and Lake Turkana regions of East Africa over the past 3 million years, has developed stories about the creation of the world they live in, none of them accurately describing the reality of today’s knowledge bank, but representing points of interest to their tribes and cultures.

No matter how sophisticated and advanced our tribes may become, it is unlikely that we will ever be able to define, know, or understand the force(s) that is responsible for the creation of the universe in which we are only a very remote speck.

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Life is a “Crap Shoot ”

Life is a just a fractional link in the evolutionary DNA/RNA chain of time.

We had nothing to do with the initation of our existence and very little to do with the intention of our learning experiences which have resulted in who we are today.  It began as the result of a chain of innate biological programs that surface when a critical maturity level is achieved and is identified as the procreation sequence of all biological species, as well as our own ancestors.

The “will to live” begins when the progeny of a biological species is able to functionally survive in the environment they are hatched or born into, whether they be seedling, hatchling, larvae, or infant.  The quality and span of life of individuals or a species depends upon an ability to cope and adapt to environmental conditions.  Either the individual or the species survive and thrive, or they become extinct.  Between these two possibilities lies an infinite number of variations of “pauper or princes” possibilities.

The sensory system of single-cell organisms from which all biological life has descended, is necessary for survival by both flora and fauna, and are designed to detect the difference between pleasure and pain.  These two divergent conditions control our learning experiences and direct choices of seeking or avoiding conditions that produce any measure of these extremes.  Surprisingly, the same environmental conditions produce either pleasure or pain in both flora or fauna, i.e. climate, moisture, nourishment, opportunity to advance, opportunity to mate, etc., and favor genetic changes which are best able to seek the advantages and avoid deficiencies of these life requirements.

A simple algae is the very distant ancestor of all flora in existence today.  The thousands of variations from broad palm fronds to needle like leaves, from shrubs to towering giants, to a tolerance of wet, arid, and artic conditions has been accomplished by minimal deviations of the genetic DNA/RNA reproduction through succeeding generations, directed by the pleasure and pain responses of the sensory system to conditions of this planet.

The same evolutionary process has existed for all fauna of this planet.  We all had the same common beginning from a simple single-cell organism whose sensory system has directed it to grow influenced by a pleasure or pain mechanism, into the thousands of insect and animal species that exist today, influenced by; climate, moisture, nourishment, opportunity to advance, access to mate, etc.  Both flora and fauna are products of, and shaped by, the physical conditions of this planet.

Four sons are born to the same parents over a twelve-year period.  Each brother is different in physical appearance by the slight genetic variations of their ancestors.  Their lives are different based in small part to the slight genetic variations, but more so by the sequence of experiences each has had in their progress to maturity.  Even identical twins are not completely identical.  There are still genetic variations, but on a much smaller scale, and although there may be similar sequences of experience, one will possess a more environmental compatibility than the other.

Individual ability to achieve a level of maturity and procreation of both flora and fauna is only possible if each personal sensory system is able to direct the individual in a path between the extremes of pleasure and pain, the basic teaching and learning tool of a successful existence.  Creativity, compassion, and charity can only become a result when the sensory system experiences the dimensions of both pleasure (feeding the ego) and pain (for empathy).

The primary purpose of the existence of each generation of biological species is to extend and continue the links of the evolutionary chain.  Some will continue the propagation of the species through procreation, but all have a responsibility to support and protect the evolutionary development of every species that exists today.  To allow individuals or species to dominate the process by promoting its own selfish purposes (kudzu & oligarchs) is a criminal threat to the continued success of evolutionary life on this planet.

From star dust we are formed, and to star dust we shall return when our “link” in the genetic chain of life is finished.

Keith Crowe - 7/27/2019

Origin of Deities

     Every identifiable culture since the beginning of time has created a multiplicity of gods to forge history and traditions in molding races and languages of people.  Gods that possessed the same characteristics of the cultures they were associated with.  Gods married (sometimes several wives) and had families; the Gods fought among themselves for superior positions;  the Gods even committed murder of other deities and humans to enhance their powers.  Gods mirrored the culture of their creators.  There have been thousands of gods to guide and control the fate of their adherents, many of which continue to exist even today, too many to enumerate in a page.

     The earliest gods had only single focused powers of interest for which they were summoned by humans for aid or influence.  These multiple gods were called upon for their specialties concerning men, women, children, families, fertility, domestic animals, wild animals, seas, war, peace, earth, sun, rain, seasons, crops, under-world, etc.   Later, many of these deity specialties were combined into single gods as their powers of influence tended to overlap.  Today, some single gods have inherited the powers of all previous multiple gods.  Although most Western cultures use the same texts to define a single god, they continue to pursue the aid of multiple gods.  There are multiple Baptist Gods, there are multiple Methodist Gods, there are multiple Jewish Gods, there are multiple Muslim Gods, there are multiple Catholic Gods, etc.   Many of these gods share a common history but have become separated by political, cultural, and ritual practices.

     Today, there is a new god and her name is “Science”.  She has become the whipping-dog of all traditional gods, not by her aggressive nature, but by the presentation of a new knowledge and reality of the universe.  Science has provided verifiable answers to natural cataclysmic phenomena, superstitious curses, threatening plagues, miraculous healing, seasons, historical creation, and the eventual destiny of our solar system.  This new god has provided mankind with an alternate philosophy to traditional ignorance, making ritual prayers to powerless demagogues of ancient texts obsolete, which is upsetting to the traditional religious community.

     Science has opened “Pandora’s Box” to verifiable information.  She has answered the age-old question, “where did we come from, and why are we here – now.”  Answers which conflict with traditional information produced in the vapor of superstitions and ignorance.  Cultures and traditions are experiencing an impending sense of finality and terminal anxiety.

     The knowledge-bank produced by Science is growing by leaps and bounds.  Her High-Priests are forging answers about the universe from the sub-atomic world, and using it to enable a vision into the past 13.8 billion years. 

     Just as fish are condemned to live their lives in the confinement of water, so are we condemned to live our lives in the confines of this planet.  We are products of this planets characteristics, its gravity, its seasons, its chemistry, its atmosphere, its protective Ozone layer, and are condemned to remain prisoners of this realm for as long as we shall live.  Although we dream of establishing biological life on a Planet B, we are unable to make the necessary transition required to do so in only single generations.  To say this transition is impossible is to deny that we (humans) have made a similar transition from single cell origins.  It can be done, but will take many generations of biological adjustments.

     Until then, I wish you to, “Live long, and prosper”.

Here's what I Think !

     One day, several years ago, a man named Gronk said, “Ugh grok wiiny,” and he picked up his club and spear, and set off from the shelter of his cave to slay a beast for dinner.

     Since that day, man’s language, tools, occupation, skills, neuroses, and gods have become increasingly modern.  These, as well as many other accoutrements, have evolved to enable Gronk to exchange his cave, for a 4-bedroom, 3.5-bath, 3-car garage (which will probably never see a car), and a 20 year mortgage, to become the sophisticated, debonair, dandies we are today.  Even though all of mankind has not yet reached a uniform communication, i.e. “the red house,” “la casa roja,” “La maison rouge,” “cave, red,” we can still get the picture in some rudimentary form.

     

     When we examine the trappings man has brought with him through the past 3 million years, we find the level of refinement has evolved with man’s growth from a Gronk to an Einstein.  The language, tools, occupation, skills, neuroses, and gods have become refined in each culture through their confrontation with the environment in which they live.    

    

     Just as the earliest tools were quite crude by today’s standards, so too were their gods.  Deitomical names given unseen forces to explain the mysteries of nature (volcanoes, earthquakes, storms, etc.), in the same way the word, “wiiny” was used to identify the “beast” usual served for dinner.  As natural threatening forces became better understood and predictable, deities became refined and re-associated with other mysterious events that continue to threaten, such as debilitating illnesses, misfortunes, the unknown, etc.    

    

     The sophistication level of gods has continued to grow within cultural limits.  Greek gods were worshiped and legitimized by Grecians;  Roman gods worshiped by Romans; the Buda adorated by Buddhists; Yahweh claimed by Jews; Allah created by Muslims; and the multiple configuration of a Trinity by Christians; and so on, and so on, ad infinitum – and, never the twain shall meet.  Each deity seems to reflect the traits of the culture by which they are embraced.    

    

     Gronk’s gods had a far simpler task in meeting Gronk’s daily survival requests than the gods of the 21^st century.  We have become increasingly neurotic and absorbed with multiple events that threaten our perceived daily survival, and have developed coping habits with ornate buildings, complex and organized social structures, prayer warriors, beads, incense, candles, etc., for things our deities can, or must do, for us.    

    

     In short – we, like the Gronks, continue to struggle against the perceived powers of darkness which we believe have been intentionally placed before us to threaten and interfere with our desires and destiny.  We want our path cleared of any impedance, and straightened for ease, and seek the gods who can do this for us - if we only believe in them.    

    

     The Gronks have succeeded in their created task, either in spite of, or due to, their belief in unknown powers they feared, by the evidence of our existence today.  Our created purpose is to continue to support the wave of life surging through time, and has been so successful that it is now pressing the limits of this planet to sustain us.  Will we resort to beseeching the gods to save us from ourselves and our imagined fears, as demonstrated by the swollen numbers attending church services the Sunday after 9/11?  Or will we, like lemmings, continue our rush into the sea.    

    

     After 80+ years of actively participating in religious life, all of which has been plagued with unsatisfactory answers to a myriad of questions, I can no longer accept the philosophy of a god who manipulates lives or answers prayers.   The ancient texts upon which religions are based were written hundreds or even thousands of years after the subjects of their texts (all of which were located in one teeny tiny corner of the planet), by men who fitted pieces of oral traditions together to answer Gronk’s questions – not the questions of an enlightened scientific generation who has measured, weighed, and defined the universe in which we find ourselves.    

    

     Where was Yahweh when unanswered prayers of millions of people were marched into Holocaust ovens?  Where was the Christian Trinity when thousands of prayers were unanswered when Allah inspired terrorists attacked on 9/11?  Where are the gods of the millions of unanswered prayers offered from hospitals, hospice facilities, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey, and 100 other countries of abused humanity around the world?  Apparently, modern deities prefer to dwell in comfortable ornate and gold-laminated temples and enjoy incense, communion wine, candle light, and offerings (cash or sacrifices only).

I think - an unknowable Creator made the universe which began in an instant of unimaginable conflagration, commonly referred to as the “Big Bang,” 13.7 billion years ago. 

I think – there is no possible way a created entity, such as we are, has, or will ever have, the capacity to understand, know, or even imagine the essence of a Creator capable of initiating a universe.

I think – all life forms of this planet are the products of evolutionary development by influences of the physical characteristics of this island in the Milky Way galaxy, its gravity, temperature, atmosphere, daily cycles, annual cycles, and orbit.

I think – the closest thing to eternity, or an eternal existence we can imagine, are the elements (atoms) of which everything is made – organic, inorganic, biologic, flora and fauna, the cosmos.  The essence of atoms is eternal, unchanging, and the building blocks of the universe.

I think – gods were created and characterized by mankind to relieve our fear and anxiety of the unknown.

I think – our minds and bodies are capable of more natural healing than we know, compliments of our evolutionary development, and that dietetic abuse is a detriment not only to a healthy existence, but to the temples in which we dwell.

I think – the sense of taste is a defense mechanism to warn us of nutritional harm, not a habit to be continually satiated.

I think – I shall never see, a verse as lovely as a tree.