... since my last confession, uhm, post. For the record, I do do "confessions" for several reasons, the main one being I am no longer considering any religious affiliation.
I have been a Catholic, then I identified with Buddhism and Wicca; I say "identified" because I like what they proclaim (notice I did not say "preach"?), but I was never actually into their deities. No, I do not mind Vishnu, or Gaia, I just never had the drive to "worship" them.
Yep, what started out as a "good, Catholic girl", turned out to be a religion-free woman who's got a lot of brains and is never afraid to use them, and that would be the main reason I am religion-free. You see, if you just "believe", they got you by the proverbial short and curlies right there, and you are in the cult. But, the moment you start to "disbelieve" and question the system, a whole new world of possibilities, truth, and just plain common sense opens up to you.
It took me years of reading up and trying it out for fit but... none of it actually fit. The Catholicism, as much as I would agree with some of the precepts (commonly known as "commandments" but I don't like that word), the general idea of a whole belief system based on fear, the whole fear, and nothing but the fear? Nah. Sorry. You present me with facts proven by science, and I will believe you. But, if you merely quote a scripture that is not even an original "word" of someone's but, rather, an interpretation of someone's words, and you insist that this is the only "truth" and nothing else matters, I'd say you need your head examined. Or be locked up in a looney bin with all the other assirted religious nuts...
My local paper (St. Albert Gazette) must have ran out of a newsworthy facts to report because, as of lately, there seems to be an ongoing debate between a Darwinist and a Creationist. The Darwinist has a plethora of facts and evidence to dismantle the theory of creation to bits, yet the Creationist has the main and undisputed, the one and only thing they just love to base their whole theory on - the Bible.
As previously stated, it is not even an original text but a collage of "he said, she said", written down about two thousand years ago (Earth is now roughly 4.5 billion years old), translated and further interpreted by the re-writers, and tailored by the church as to what they want, or don't want, us to "know". How is that for truth and transparency, or rather a complete lack thereof? Epic Fail.
Let us recap:
- age of Bible: about 2 thousand years (for the written parts) but there is NO consensus, even between the believers; You don't believe me? Google it. Or check the links below...
- age of Earth, according to Bible: about 6 thousand years; a guesstimate derived from when Adam was allegedly "created" so, as the alleged "first man" plopped into the world that has just been allegedly created in the 6 days prior...
- age of Earth, according to scientific proof (fossils, amber, skeletal remains of dinosaurs, mammoths, saber-toothed cats, Neanderthals, etc.): about 5.4 billion years.
Well, since I have personally touched, handled, and owned things that are about 60 million years old (Baltic amber), guess which theory I'll believe.
LINKS:
http://www.icr.org/article/how-old-earth-according-bible/
http://www.creationtips.com/earthsage.html
http://archaeology.about.com/od/baterms/qt/baltic_amber.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber-toothed_cat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal
