Getting it Straight

We live in perilous times as anyone who browses the Internet can readily see. The many crises we face are largely the results of our own foolish actions throughout recorded history. Our thesis in The Time of the End - Announcing the Millennium is that much of our trouble stems from a warped view of reality, much of it fostered and maintained by organized religion. Our aim is not to attack anyone but rather to present a saner, fact based, and understandable view of God, the world we live in ( Purgatory ), and where we are headed.

Just to settle the matter of the Millennium: it's here. At one minute past midnight, December 31, 2000, all hell didn't break loose as the Ignorant have taught the easily convinced to believe. In fact the Church of Rome and its recalcitrant spin-offs have been predicting the end of the world for centuries. It hasn't happened yet and won't for about two billion years more, but that doesn't mean that we aren't in the end times.

The question is; the end of what?

We believe it should be the end of; wars, rumors of wars, the desecration of our lovely planet; the ignorance, superstition, and apathy, that promote divisiveness among ourselves, largely due to the polyglot religious beliefs that infect the souls of many. Where religion should bring people together in common cause, it has instead served to drive men apart.

Recognize the fellow at the top of this page? Kind of looks like Jesus; no? Of course it could be God getting his beard tweaked by the nearly nude nymphet. But wait! The Roman Church tells us that Jesus is God; so what's the difference? Either way this is a mighty presence, designed to scare the daylights out of you unless, that is, you've been "saved". But if you haven't, look out!

This God/Jesus is sitting on his throne judging us, even though Jesus told us to "Judge not lest ye be judged." That's a contradiction, one of many in the Church's teachings, and that kind of spoils the whole concept, so let's just ignore it. We mustn't let facts get in the way of "faith".

Actually, the guy on the throne in the picture is Zeus, the Greek god of Olympus, the template that the Church used to create God in the image and likeness of man. This "God" has so many flaws of character that if a man demonstrated these same pathologies, he would be locked up in an asylum.

The Millennium is here alright. Just a reminder: a millennium is a thousand years, and we have barely scratched the surface of this one. With some 992 years to go, the propects look pretty dim. But there is hope, and that's what our effort is all about. Visit the website;

http://timeoftheend-faithandreason.net/

and see what you think. You might like it once you get into it. And if you don't agree with it, that's fine! We won't set fire to you.

Forbidden Territory

The central theme of this blog is a spiritual one and seeks to couple the two cardinal faculties of mankind, faith and reason, into a seamless, mutually supporting philosophy. I believe we have succeeded; the ebooks and articles on http://timeoftheend-faithandreason.net are the result of over thirty-four years of investigation. We have applied mathematical precision to this task: that any argument put forth in these writings submit to the principal law of Mathematics, i.e. if it is a logical, understandable part of the whole ( like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle ) then then the structure holds; otherwise the entire project is flawed. The basic mathematical law I refer to states that a given Truth must hold in every conceivable instance of application: if there is but a single exception, the argument is either a conditional truth ( a reality ), or it is outrightly false.
One might ask; why bother with all this? And, quite honestly, there was a time when I couldn't have answered this question. I didn't know why this interest captured my attention so completely, except that it was exciting and fun! The actual work was sporadic, depending upon the nature and means by which the bits and pieces came to my attention, but it was always on my mind. I can't account for this except to say that I have ( had ) the sens of being taken over by some warm and loving power that seemed to be guiding my every move. As time went on and I got to see the elegant logic and beauty of this work I became willing ot be led no matter where this journey would take me.
I'm not a mystic. Didn't see Jesus, my head is not bathed in light, and the only visions I can claim are those that anyone with imagination can easily identify. This has been a purely intellectual pursuit, but over time it has given me a new faith, a new understanding, and a boundless love of life. And all this with a sense of humor. A friend once asked me if I truly love evrything. To which I replied, "I love every scorpion in the Mojave Desert." My friend looked puzzled and asked why. "Because they stay in the Mojave Desert!"
To clear up another point: I am not interested in saving the world. I have pursued this interest out of the growing belief that this is my prupose in life. It's for my spiritual advancement; I only wish to share it with others who are seeking an alternative to the Ignorance and Superstition that is at the heart of most religious belief. I recognize that there are people who are so steeped in traditional "christian" dogma that they will reject outright any and all of the ideas I represent. Fine! These people are locked up behind a wall of prejudice, drummed into their heads from earliest childhood and presented to them by self-styled authorities who ladle out a witch's brew of love and fear. And to ensure its survival the authorities have advanced the idea that it is wrong to question their beliefs, yet it is quite all right to question, even attack the beliefs of those who do not agree with them. It's called missionary work, sort of a spitiual "regime change." Of course the real reason for the ban on discussing religious matters with such as these is that it's many contradictions pose questions that have no answers. Better they not be asked.
My position is this: visit the website, read what's there, and question it to your heart's content. If this philosophy has any merit it will stand on its own; no smoke and mirros, no evasions, no convoluted explanations: just simple, straightforward facts that you can verify for yourself. Actually, I owe a debt to the "christians"; they've been handing out Bibles all over the place. Now all it takes is to open the book and read what it says, without the fancy dancing of selective interpretation. Do this and you may find that;
The Exodus was actually a reign of terror,
The Israelites didn't want to leave Egypt,
Moses was not a great teacher but a harried underling,
Isaiah did not predict the birth of Jesus, and
Jesus isn't coming back.
This is only a very short list of the truths contained in the Time of the End. Read it and maybe we can head off the fabatics who are so convinced of their noxious and oppressive belief systems that they are actively working to bring the Battle of Armageddon about. They do not for a moment believe they are wrong; and that isn't faith: it's ideaology. It isn't Truth.
The Time of the End? Could be all wrong, but that's for you to decide.

Big and Little

Question: What is the tiniest nation in the world?
Answer: I am.
Seriously. Think about it.
As a citizen of the United States I enjoy a sovreignty that is defined by the Constitution: I am a sovreign citizen. That means I have certain rights; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights are protected under the Bill of Rights and as long as these are in force I have a measure of security. And freedom. I am free to think of myself as a little nation, one among the many others that I daily come into contact with. Maybe if all people thought of themselves as nations, we would all be better off.
Seriously. Think about it.
The United States has become the world's biggest debtor nation; our government borrows and spends more money than we can ever hope to recoup over the next three generations. I don't.
As the tiniest nation in the world I have an economy just like the big one. I engage in trade with various businesses, spend money, and receive goods and services. In this sense I am in the import/export business; I export labor of various kinds and import money with which to buy the commodities I need. In all this I manage to keep Production ahead of Consumption, and I'm the better off for it. I even have a budget surplus each month. I even save money! And I don't have any debt! Congress, are you listening?
It's sad to note that so many of my brother and sister nations are in such overwhelming debt; credit cards, sub-prime mortgages, exhorbitant medical costs, and the "essentials" that mark people as successful are, in fact, impoverishing them. Look at where gasoline prices are going: this time next year a gallon of gas will be $8.00, but not for me: I don't own a car. Don't need one as I live in a city with everything I need an easy walk from where I live. And if I truly need a car I can just rent one, do what I need to do with it, then return it.
I ride a bicycle everywhere. My transportation costs are zero most months, and when I have to have the bike repaired, get new tires, or just have it periodically overhauled, it's inexpensive. I ride a twenty-five year-old Gitane 10-speed that has over 23,000 miles on it; ten months out of each year I ride over three-hundred miles, and about half that time, over 400. I don't have to choose between food and fuel; food is my fuel. And I am in superb health. Big Pharma doesn't have its hooks into me, and if dctors had to depend on people like me for a living they'd starve to death.
That's what I do. And there are things I don't do that are equally important.
I don't invade my neighbors' homes and try to tell them how to live.
I don't hand my money over to perfect strangers to "manage" for me. They make money whether I win or lose.
If something is broken, I fix it instead of running right out to buy a new one.
I rarely purchase anything at retail, even new clothes. I'll share a couple of these strategies with you on another post.
But most importantly of all, I don't import the panic and frenzy of the outside world. I don't watch televion news or read newspapers: I don't want to cloud my conscious mind with a lot of trash that I can't do anything about. I keep up with world events on the Internet where I can get a variety of in-depth commentary. I am at peace because I believe that what's going on "over there" is not as important as what is going on in my own sphere of influence.
I could go on and on, but will close with another question.
If a tiny nation like I can manage to live within my means, why can't the Big One do the same?

The Sound of Silence - Spooky.

The pitiable state of the world today begs for a unifying principal to bring people together. Just recently I appeared at the courthouse for jury duty; it was the third time in five years, and for the third time my number didn't come up. I knew it wouldn't ( my juror number was so high that it wouldn't have come up if I'd sat there for two days ), but I had to stay until dismissed so as not to risk a contempt citation. I don't like contept citations. Something was different about this crowd ( about 400 people in the jury room ) that set it apart from the other two times.
The other times the people who congregated in the jury room were open and engaging, and I met several new people. But this crowd sat in silence, hardly looking up from the iPods, cell phones, Blackberries, and sundry other gadgets they were playing with. It was spooky. It was a long two and a half hours for one as garrulous as I am.
I like meeting people. Social intercourse is a vital part of a well-adjusted society and the free exchange of ideas is necessary to the concensus of opinion which defines and unifies a people. It will be my intent in this blog to present an alternate, hopefully sensible, view of our nation, the world, and it's people. Most of this material will be from my website;
http://timeoftheend-faithandreason.net
It has been on the Internet for six years and has been well-received by visitors from around the world. The ebooks and articles represent a compilation of thirty-four years of research and investigation. My colleagues and I are currently working on a set of video presentations that will appear on YouTube, with expanded formats on the website. Hope you enjoy the experience.