You claimed specifically there are no atheists in foxholes. I said that you were lying or misinformed about that, because there certainly are atheists in foxholes. My spouse is an army veteran, has spent time in foxholes, and is an atheist. Pat Tillman, who left the NFL to serve in Afghanistan and was killed there, was an atheist. There is a whole association for atheists in the military, and they are building a list of “atheists in foxholes” online: http://militaryatheists.org/expaif.html.

So now you know. If you continue to claim there are “no atheists in foxholes”, then you will certainly be lying. You say you have been teaching for a long time. That doesn’t count for anything if you are teaching things that are not true.

I have no idea why you think Terri Schiavo or tornadoes in Florida have anything to do with atheists in the military. You can’t get out of having made an incorrect statement by changing the subject, making dire predictions or quoting the Big Book of Hebrew Mythology at us.

If you make a specific claim, be prepared to back it up. If you can’t, then don’t make the claim in the first place.

I dont think that is entirely true. Many people(including myself) have given up on God and did not want to repent and turned our backs only to be brought back into Gods Light. We are here because of His love for us and is merciful towards all souls. If at the very end of their lives they decide not to repent then its possible they will forever be lost and fall from grace. Im just giving my own opinion and facts about what I have seen and done.

Doubting is not the same as writing off the possibilities that life has to offer. Being allowed to doubt is crucially important, to prevent ancient dogmas and superstitions from controlling one’s life. We should embrace all this life has to offer, because it’s the only one that we are certain to have.

You indicated that “belief provides hope”. I don’t think that the hope provided by belief is enough to offset the harm done throughout history by belief in supernatural powers, and blind obedience to the people who claim to speak for them.

Being a skeptic does not mean never believing anything. But it does mean believing only those things for which there is sufficient evidence, and rejecting or withholding belief in those things for which evidence is lacking. It means evaluating the probability of something being possible, and comparing that to the weight of evidence presented. Extraordinary claims require extrordinary evidence. Or, as Tim Minchin so wisely says, “If you open your mind too far, your brain will fall out”.

I agree that belief as it has been handed down thru the centuries has its limitations, but it has provided hope in a world where many results of our actions have been catastrophic. The bigger concern is where that belief guided by religion takes us. It delays what may be fulfilling until after death.

Relativity in a world where many wonder if there is any kind of absolute has only a fixed number of outcomes that our imagination can detect. The only real absolutes being birth, life and death. It seems tragic to me that so many people “live” ( more like accept suffering) for a better afterlife or in some cases live to debunk what almost is like bad sci-fi.

Labels unfortunately help in sustaining relativity for the pictures they paint. Take the words God and Savior…so many connotations and in many places and in many times so much tragedy and death. What could be the difference for people if we for instance changed those words into Good and Savor. If we could learn to savor the good ( as opposed to differentiating the good from the bad) we may create different options for each of us and our race, still in the world of relativity yet keeping an eye out for what is truly good.

Now that ‘eye’ becomes significant. That awareness brings appreciation and an element of investigatory prowess that can elevate the quality of and the respect for life. God or not. Common sense suggests that appreciation and respect go hand in hand with dignity. What then can utilize that eye?

Develope more appreciation…which may be our greatest asset and slowly the relativity of good and bad appear to be more of an inlay on life that we put there like a covering on a sandbox. The sandbox may have the purest sand and indestructible beautiful wooden borders but we just make our own sand and use material that we think resembles that wood using the cover as a foundation. And trembling it has become!

If it were made possible to penetrate this cover would it be divinely conceived or would it be the choice of the individual? Relativity on one hand says divine and impossible; on the other, no god and impossible…agreement only on the impossible.

So what is possible will not begin with words but more likely a single eye to look for and sense what may be the greatest of all possibilities. We know it’s not on top of the Himalayas, in our various forms of governing, entertainment, technological advancement nor so far in our belief structure. (one way or the other)

Most of the world’s major religions with a historical central figure report that that figure plainly indicated and revealed there is an abundance of ‘good’ accessible to the single eye within each person. That is the most significant common denominator of all the writings.

Yes mathmatically it seems a longshot. Fear, doubt and arrogance obscure our single vision. Opinions born of relativity in all its forms cannot subtract that possibility.

Symbollically one apple did not delete the other option. God or not, our selection did not come from gratitude or a single eye.

That things are going to continue to get worse regardless of men and their science.. That the forces of nature are going to be unleashed and more world wide disasters are on the horizon. Because of these forces…famines, plagues and wars are also coming to our lands. The key is frequency and intensity. In other words the pauses between great disasters are getting shorter.

As for where I am getting stuff…it is written in the prophets they shall all be taught of GOD, therefore everyone that has heard and learned of the Father cometh to me. – Jesus. Also the day is coming
that they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying know the Lord for all shall know Him from the least to the greatest.

As for the world financial system that is upholding Babylon..it will eventually come crashing down never to rise again. Then Babylon will become powerless and will not be able to oppose the establishing of the kingdom of God. Besides by then, everyone will have just about enough of problems created by greed.

bert10