Life is Here and Now
By D. Bowden

I recently saw the film "March of the Penquins." These creatures live an isolated life, yet, disaster finds them at every turn. When a baby penguin dies, the mother grieves. Same for elephants, and many other non-human creatures. Christians will say, "they are only animals, you cannot compare humans and animals." But Christians believe that their God created ALL things, and this is the only cruel way an all powerful and supreme being would think to set things up? The way things are is in total contradiction to loving ways of a god who supposedly could make things ANY way it chooses...yet this god of biblical mythology chooses bloodshed in many forms to get his way. (The Old Testament is the bloodiest and violent piece of literature ever published.) Innocent children suffering or being murdered at the hands of their own creator, good people dying at the hands of evil-doers while a "loving heavenly father looks on and allows it to happen?" Instinctively in nature, a loving parent or guardian jumps in there and puts himself between the danger and the children in his or her care. The Christian god sits back and lets it all happen. Christians, when faced with this question, impatiently answer, "it is not for us to question God's ways." We are made with questioning minds aren't we? Believers, or wannabe believers, always have a comeback and they cannot satisfactorily address these questions.

Most religious people live FOR the afterlife, looking to the great beyond where things are going to be so awesome with "heavenly father" who promises streets paved with gold and no more pain and heartache. So, if this were true, why bother with this world? If heaven is the goal, then why put all these people into what they believe is a cesspool holding pen of wickedness when things are so much better "up there"? I also cannot understand why Christians become upset when a loved one dies since they believe they will see this person again. Christians, and other relgious groups such as Muslim, Jews, etc. believe the dearly departed is going to their ultimate goal..yet when faced with the death of the loved one they scream, cry, moan, and grieve loudly and long. Collapsing across coffins, pounding their fists in rage and anquish. If they truly believe, wouldn't it be more likely the ones left behind should have a party and celebrate the "passing on" to a "better place"! They should be thrilled for the departed and excited for when it is their turn! Instead, the reaction is the same grief as any other living thing. I am told that is because grief is a HUMAN reaction. I agree, it is a HUMAN reaction, but not strictly. Many animals also grieve, (as I have stated above). With Christianity and other religions that focus on death, there is always an excuse instead of admitting that they DO NOT REALLY BELIEVE IT. IF they REALLY BELIEVED they are going to be rejoined with their loved ones in heaven with their loving heavenly father, they would NOT BE SAD. There is a question in their minds that they do not want to admit. If their claims were true and they truly believed they were going to be with their loved ones again, it would be no different than saying goodbye to someone who is going on a long trip..."bye, see you later!" Instead, grief most often never goes away and stays with a person for the rest of their lives after a loss of a loved one or friend.

Since the beginning of time as we understand it, humans have been searching for a reason for their seemingly meaningless existence and for ways to cope with their inevitable demise. In order to cope with their perceived crappiness of life here on planet earth, and things that cannot be explained, humans turn to booze, pills, food, television, porn, working out, music, and any number of things, and then religion, which often goes hand in hand with any of the above and in any combination. The pressures and stresses of living are sometimes so great that some people can no longer cope at all and just totally give it all up, religious or non-religious...makes no difference. It is all in the attitudes that are instilled inside them, and how much they WANT to survive for as long as possible. Some have a much better outlook about the world we live in than others.

Along with many good things that happen in this world, there is also bad. In addition to horrendous things done in the name of politics, religion and so on, something is being killed, eaten, dying a pathetic death and most of the time underservingly. If whatever happens to a "believer" is good, God or Allah is given credit, if it is bad, then it is man's fault or just natural disaster ... or the evil and ever-lurking Satan. If a god is in control why would this god let the horrors continue? Especially to the innocent and his faithful? Because there is NO ONE pulling strings....It is NATURE or human's being cruel to one another. As for natural things, something must die so something may LIVE. Even the crucifixion story is set up like this, it is based on NATURAL ORDER... the baby penquin dies so the albatross may live, the antelope dies so the lion might live...then Christians say Jesus died so "we all" may live. So, why do humans die? So a god might live? That is aburd!

What do I believe then? I believe in the HUMAN RESILIENCE AND SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. MOTHER NATURE...I believe humans are responsible for evil acts, either intentionally or unintentionally due to any one of millions of causes ranging from psychological to environmental, poverty and ignorance, to greed and callousness. Many violences in nature are just ugly necessities, like the albatross eating the penquin chick for dinner so it can survive at least another day.

I must admit that I don't do as much as I should to make the world a better place, but I am not living with my head in the clouds, or in the sand either. I am not proclaiming to believe one thing and living in contradiction against my professed beliefs. If we just sit back and say some voodoo prayers, wait for a heavenly father to wrinkle up this crappy "rough draft" of his supposed creation and start anew, this whole universe is DOOMED. We all need to open our eyes and see how really good LIFE is HERE AND NOW...HERE ON PLANET EARTH.