Complexity is an issue with which we humans have a bit of trouble. Well, okay, it's just ANOTHER issue with which we struggle - along with (for example) that whole Being or Not To Being thing - but it's enough to go on with for the moment. Anyone who has seriously looked into atomic theory and chemistry should be able to appreciate how complex things are at a basic scale, and anyone who has studied a bit of biology is likely to be amazed - and confused - at the complex interactions in even the simplest systems.

I've offered some simple experiments in previous articles, but I'm afraid that might not do the trick this time. Analogies are useful in their comparative powers, and the simplicity they can bring to complex issues, but this time we're going to explore the issue at hand directly.

I was asked recently by someone whose name I don't even remember (thanks, internet anonymity!) for a response to something his father had said. "How can you look at all of existence and not see the hand of God? How could any of this exist without Him? I can't imagine how it could all come about!"

How could it come about? Oh crap, what have I been doing?!... wait, does that make any sense? The answer, of course, is an emphatic "No!".

Okay, let us think about this for a second. This is what we know as the Argument from Improbability, very similar to the Argument from Ignorance ("I don't know about it, so it can't be true&quot. Lets do another little experiment.  I want you to imagine a ball. I guess you could pick up a real ball if you really want, but it isn't going to help you that much. Now that you've thought of the aforementioned ball, nice and round and bouncy, even, imagine that there are two squares of tape on the floor right next to each other over there (no, other way... yeah, there). Now if you were to throw the ball at the two squares you could reasonably expect it to hit, say, the middle if you're a good shot, or that rather expensive lamp if you aren't (see why I'm only having you imagine this?). But leaving aside your pinpoint precision, or my wild side-arm tosses, the ball could be thought of as bouncing inside one square or the other. That sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

It Aint All Black And White

I would go to the bar and have plenty to drink

to ease my burdens and be merry and be happy

so don't be so quick to tell me I have a problem

cause when I drink enough all my problems look gray to me

CHORUS:  black & white

                   wrong & right

I'd like to write a bit about something that bothers me quite a lot: the argument from improbability. Given that this is my account, and not yours, I really am going to write it.

The argument from improbability basically states that the world in which we live, the circumstances which we see, life itself, are all too complex to have happened by chance. I believe Christian apologists (I love that term - they have to call themselves apologists because there's just so much for which to apologize!!) have "calculated" that the probability of everything happening exactly the way it has happened by chance is 1:[more atoms than exist in the universe] against, so there must be something guiding everything. Sounds pretty daunting, doesn't it? Even leaving aside the fact - yes, I said fact, for fact it is - that evolution is not random because many, many people have written on the subject, the argument from improbability is conceptually flawed.

Say La Vi

hit the road & don't look back

run away escape your past

the future is on the horizon

no need to cling to what you're leaving behind

CHORUS:  just wave goodbye

                   wave goodbye

                   & say C'est la vie

                   C'est la vie  C'est la vie C'est la vie

come what may

tomorrow becomes today

you can sit around & wait

or get away from your yesterdays

CHORUS

hit the road & head for the horizon

greet tomorrow & put the past behind you

today let go of all that was

& get up & go to what is to come

CHORUS

Religion & Politics

go on & have your talk with God

tell me all about it if you want

talk about them scriptures that you've read

tell me what you think should be in my head

CHORUS:    I stay away

                   from religion & politics

                   I stay away

                   from politics & religion

                   I stay away

                   from bullshit competitions

listen to your news

choose the channel that tells you what you want to hear

campaign for the other to lose

vote with your fear

CHORUS

I have listened to what you think

when will it be my turn to speak

do you want to hear what I have to say

or do you only want me to agree

CHORUS

Your God Is You

take a look in the mirror

and say hello to God

God is the voice in your head

that tells you what you want

tells you what to do

your God is you

CHORUS:  wake up wake up

                   from your ancient dreams

                   wake up wake up

                   and be free

                   wake up wake up

                   from your ancestors’ dreams

                   wake up wake up

                   and be free

you can try to make me believe

you can try to scare me to agree

but I refuse to get on my knees

I refuse to help you believe

your God can’t tell me what to do

cause I know your God is you

CHORUS

you’re caught in a delusion

you’re mind is full of confusion

Neighbors

paint your pretty pictures

& put on your church clothes

you can play the good guy

& polish your halo

I'll be the bad guy

I'll sleep in on Sundays

I'll get drunk & have fun every Saturday night

I'll do it my way

CHORUS:  I won't rain on your parade

                   if you don't rain on mine

                   I won't piss on your leg

                   if you don't piss on mine

                   you can have your faith in hell

                   & I can have my good time

                   I will be your friendly neighbor

                   if you will be mine

we don't have to agree to get along

we can be free

I can sing my ungodly songs

& you can preach what you believe

but if you're preachin' with the sword

My name is John Paul / Bruce. I just wanted to introduce myself real quick. I am 29 years old and have recently become an atheist... I chased sex, drugs and rock & roll from highschool to college. In college I searched for spirituality and was attracted to eastern thought & rastifarianism. Eventually I realized that truth exists and decided to search for that above spiritual experience. One thing led to another and I became a Christian. I was involved in various ministries. While I was in Mexico I realized that I wanted to committ my life to the poor. Soon after that realization I went to work with the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa's community). I was a full time live-in volunteer with them for 2 years. After 2 years with them I decided to join the Army when it was clear that we were about to engage in war with Iraq. I was a light infantry soldier and did a 13 month tour in Iraq. My unit was the Q.R.F. (Quick Response Force) which meant that we moved from place to place to plenty of unstable areas that needed our support (from Najaf to Mosul and plenty areas in between). We were constantly on the move and had a handful of combat experiences. I got out of the Army in APR 2006 with an Honorable Discharge and then entered the seminary to become a priest. I was in seminary for one year before leaving. During seminary and after seminary I engaged in deeper critical examination of scripture and theology. Recently I have let go of my belief in God. I have also returned to the Army (as a medic).

If been busy lately but still I found some time to write some blog entries.

http://christianrr.blogspot.com

The oldest of the new blog entries is called Meditating on Workfare. It's about the teaching of Yoga and Meditation in school. The Way of the Master presented it as bad, religion biased and demonic.

I refused that, called meditation a form of self-hypnosis and stated that it is beneficial for students to learn it as a tool to cope with stress.

The second topic of that entry was workfare over welfare. I feel obligated to write that entry because Todd really did something good. He rebuked a lot of the misantropy that you encounter when talking about welfare.

He suggested that workfare programs would be better than welfare - to which I had in a friendly way to disagree and suggested edu-fare program.

http://christianrr.blogspot.com/2008/04/wotmr-meditating-on-workfare_01.html

The second entry was to care for Todd's well being. After praising him in my entry before I had to bring him back to the grounds again by criticizing his Latin.

http://christianrr.blogspot.com/2008/04/todd-friel-defintion-of-word-universe.html

In my newest entry I return to Albert Mohler and discuss the difference between civil-unions and marriage from a secular view.