This priest has no self identity. He is still emulating a foreign religious reject. Even the people of Obroniland where I have been living for the last 49 years don't emulate this irrelevant loser any longer. I am surprise ... read full comment
This priest has no self identity. He is still emulating a foreign religious reject. Even the people of Obroniland where I have been living for the last 49 years don't emulate this irrelevant loser any longer. I am surprised that the semi-educated and indoctrinated priest cannot find any Ghanaian or African to emulate. Everything that the desert Jesus said, many wise elders in my little Ghanaian village can say better.
Andy 8 years ago
Diasporan, I typically not respond to postings, however, your response has compelled me to. You should be in your mid to late 60s if you have been in Obroniland that long, and for you to call Jesus Christ "irrelevant loser"? ... read full comment
Diasporan, I typically not respond to postings, however, your response has compelled me to. You should be in your mid to late 60s if you have been in Obroniland that long, and for you to call Jesus Christ "irrelevant loser"??? I think you are one of those "miseducated negroes". At your age I wish you know what entails into becoming a Catholic Priest; Catholic priest are the most seasoned, groomed, nurtured and formed human beings with higher academic caliber, to which, Mr. Diasporan, I don't think with your unsubstantiated & careless utterances, you could last a semester in a Catholic seminary. We all have old wise men/women in our villages, some of us come from royal families with wisemen/women, but those wise men/women believe and adore Christ. Don't let your Obriniliazation let you lose your soul...sad we cannot rely on aged people like you to lead our country; no wonder Ghana & Africa is a mess because of careless talk from a grandfather like you who should be making sense, but rather making senseless out of yourself...I feel sorry for your grandkids.
Professor 8 years ago
Let have a look at historical gods
The belief in "god" seems to be ubiquitous through the ages.
We know, for example, that the ancient Egyptians believed in their gods so fervently that they built massive structures like ... read full comment
Let have a look at historical gods
The belief in "god" seems to be ubiquitous through the ages.
We know, for example, that the ancient Egyptians believed in their gods so fervently that they built massive structures like the Great Pyramid -- still today one of the largest and most enduring human constructions ever created. Despite that fervor, however, we as a society have decided with complete certainty today that the Egyptian gods were imaginary. Thus we do not build pyramids anymore and we do not mummify our leaders. We reject all of the rituals and ceremonies of the Egyptian religion because there is no evidence of their gods' existence.
More recently we know that tens of millions of Romans worshiped Jupiter and his friends, and to them they built magnificent temples. The ruins of these temples are popular tourist attractions even today. Yet society have decided with complete certainty that these gods were imaginary. Mainline society is no longer building temples to these gods or worshiping them because there is no evidence for their existence.
Much more recently, we know that the Aztec civilization believed in their gods so intensely that they constructed huge temples and pyramids. In addition, Aztecs were so zealous that they were acrificing hundreds of human beings to their gods as recently as the 16th century. Despite the intensity, however, we know today that these gods were imaginary. The Aztecs were insane to be murdering people for their gods. Killing a person has no effect on rainfall or anything else. We all know that. And there is no evidence whatsoever demonstrating that the Aztec gods exist. If the Aztec gods were real, we would still be offering sacrifices to them and these sacrifices would be effective.
Thus we come to understand that he fact that millions of people worship a god is meaningless.
The "God" and the "Jesus" that Christians worship today are actually amalgams formed out of ancient pagan gods. The idea of a "virgin birth", "burial in a rock tomb", "resurrection after 3 days" and "eating of body and drinking of blood" had nothing to do with Jesus. All of the rituals in Christianity are completely man-made. Christianity is a snow ball that rolled over a dozen pagan religions. As the snowball grew, it freely attached pagan rituals and beliefs in order to be more palatable to converts. You can find accounts like these in popular literature:
"The vestiges of pagan religion in Christian symbology are undeniable. Egyptian sun disks became the halos of Catholic saints. Pictograms of Isis nursing her miraculously conceived son Horus became the blueprint for our modern images of the Virgin Mary nursing Baby Jesus. And virtually all the elements of the Catholic ritual - the miter, the altar, the doxology, and communion, the act of "God-eating" - were taken directly from earlier pagan mystery religions."
"Nothing in Christianity is original. The pre-Christian God Mithras - called the Son of God and the Light of the World - was born on December 25, died, was buried in a rock tomb, and then resurrected in three days. By the way, December 25 is also the birthday or Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus. The newborn Krishna was presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Even Christianity's weekly holy day was stolen from the pagans."
This article points out that, "It has been noted since antiquity, and in modern scholarship since the 19th century, that Jesus Christ has striking parallels to other deities worshiped in Hellenistic religion, specifically to the cult of Dionysus in the Greek mystery religions and with the Buddha." The article goes on to demonstrate striking similarities between Christianity and the religions that came before it.
It is extremely hard for a Christian believer to process this data, but nonetheless it is true. All of the "sacred rituals" of Christianity, and all of Christianity's core beliefs (virgin birth, resurrection, etc.) come straight from other religions that were popular around the time of Jesus. Articles like this and this can help you learn more. Once you understand the fundamental truth of Christianity's origins, the silliness of the whole thing becomes apparent.
Obviously the pagan believers, from whom Christianity derived its myths, worshiped gods that were imaginary - If gods such as Horus, Ra, Mithras, etc. were real, we would have proof of their existence and everyone would be following those gods. Our "God" and "Jesus" today are simply extensions of these imaginary forerunners. Therefore God is imaginary.
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Understanding the Rationalizations
A Christian will often rationalize this situation by saying, "Yes, the Egyptians and the Romans worshipped false Gods, but Christianity is real. Just look at the billions of people who believe in Jesus Christ." This strength-in-numbers rationalization may feel comforting, but it is meaningless. The fact that millions of people worship a god is meaningless.
It was once the case that most people believed the world to be flat. Widespread belief did not change the fact that the world is a sphere. The scientific and observational evidence that we have available today is undeniable -- the world is a sphere.
All scientific evidence shows that God is imaginary. So does all historical evidence. This leads any rational person to conclude that Christian beliefs are pure mythology. Christianity is just like every other mythology that mankind has dreamed up through the ages.
Whisky 8 years ago
Professor, are you okay?
Professor, are you okay?
Professor 8 years ago
The fact is, God never answers any prayers. The entire idea that "God answers prayers" is an illusion created by human imagination.
How do we know that "answered prayers" are illusions? We simply perform scientific experim ... read full comment
The fact is, God never answers any prayers. The entire idea that "God answers prayers" is an illusion created by human imagination.
How do we know that "answered prayers" are illusions? We simply perform scientific experiments. We ask a group of believers to pray for something and then we watch what happens. What we find, whenever we test the efficacy of prayer scientifically, is that prayer has zero effect:
It does not matter who prays.
It does not matter if we pray to God, Allah, Vishnu, Zeus, Ra or any other human god.
It does not matter what we pray about.
If we perform scientific, double-blind tests on prayer, and if the prayers involve something concrete and measurable (for example, healing people with cancer), we know that there is zero effect from prayer. Every single "answered prayer" is nothing more than a coincidence. Both scientific experiments and your everyday observations of the world show this to be the case every single time.
For example, this article says:
One of the most scientifically rigorous studies yet, published earlier this month, found that the prayers of a distant congregation did not reduce the major complications or death rate in patients hospitalized for heart treatments.
And:
A review of 17 past studies of ''distant healing," published in 2003 by a British researcher, found no significant effect for prayer or other healing methods.
This article from March, 2006 discusses the fact that the same conclusion was reached in another study:
In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that having people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery. In fact, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications.
In this article we find an amazing quote where theologians and religious leaders declare that prayer has no actual effect:
Religious leaders will breathe a sigh of relief at the news that so-called intercessory prayer is medically ineffective. In a large and much touted scientific study, one group of patients was told that strangers would pray for them, a second group was told strangers might or might not pray for them, and a third group was not prayed for at all. The $2.4 million study found that the strangers' prayers did not help patients' recovery.
This is a remarkable example of "positive spin" -- religious leaders are "breathing a sigh of relief" because prayer has been shown to be meaningless. The fact that prayer is a total waste of time does not matter to them. It does not matter that all of Jesus' promises about prayer in the Bible have been proven completely false.
A peer-reviewed scientific study published in 2001 did indicate that prayer works. According to this article:
"On October 2, 2001, the New York Times reported that researchers at prestigious Columbia University Medical Center in New York had discovered something quite extraordinary. Using virtually foolproof scientific methods the researchers had demonstrated that infertile women who were prayed for by Christian prayer groups became pregnant twice as often as those who did not have people praying for them. The study was published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine. Even the researchers were shocked. The study's results could only be described as miraculous."
This study was later proven to be completely fraudulent. However, everyone who cut out the original article in the NYTimes and posted it on their refrigerators still has that article as "proof" that prayer works.
This article entitled A prayer before dying uncovers another case where a "scientific study" of prayer is unmasked as fraudulent.
It's not just prayer that is ineffective. Not even a hopeful attitude helps. According to this article:
A positive attitude does not improve the chances of surviving cancer and doctors who encourage patients to keep up hope may be burdening them, according to the results of research released Monday.
The dictionary defines the word "superstition" in this way:
An irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome. [ref]
The belief in prayer is a superstition. It has been proven scientifically over and over again. When a prayer appears to be answered, it is a coincidence. Quite simply, prayer has absolutely no effect on the outcome of any event. The "power of prayer" is actually "the power of coincidence."
Therefore, as in Proof #1, one of two things must be happening:
God is imaginary.
God does exist, but he never answers prayers. Unfortunately, God is defined by the Bible to be a prayer-answering being. The contradiction between the reality of God and the definition of God proves that God is imaginary.
Prayer does not work because God is completely imaginary.
Andy 8 years ago
Professor, I am not going to get into dogma with; personally after 3 lines of text the rest is garbage to me; am going to be very succinct and to the point and I think that shows the caliber of professorship.
I think your ar ... read full comment
Professor, I am not going to get into dogma with; personally after 3 lines of text the rest is garbage to me; am going to be very succinct and to the point and I think that shows the caliber of professorship.
I think your argument and "dissertation" (the so-called imaginary of Christians) rather SUPPORT our Christian FAITH. You may call it imaginary with no scientific or empirical proof; and that's the point; because it is our BELIEF, our FAITH, our pursuit of interest that we ascribe to Jesus & God. So I am glad your own argument support our Christian and Catholic faith & belief; the mystery behind it negates the need for scientific and empirical data. Our religious freedom is ours to deal with, we love & enjoy the mystery with our Maker, our God & the Trinity; nothing scientific data could take that away from the over 2 billion worshippers, unless you call us idiots, and we will accept the insults in the name of Christ; I know of soooo many renowned professors in this mysterious faith and belief system; just call them idiots.
Whisky 8 years ago
A good one there
A good one there
Whisky 8 years ago
Prof, you are obviously very knowledgeable and very analytical. You obviously have problems with God's attributes as Omnipotent , Omni benevolent , and eternal being.
Prof, you are obviously very knowledgeable and very analytical. You obviously have problems with God's attributes as Omnipotent , Omni benevolent , and eternal being.
This priest has no self identity. He is still emulating a foreign religious reject. Even the people of Obroniland where I have been living for the last 49 years don't emulate this irrelevant loser any longer. I am surprise ...
read full comment
Diasporan, I typically not respond to postings, however, your response has compelled me to. You should be in your mid to late 60s if you have been in Obroniland that long, and for you to call Jesus Christ "irrelevant loser"? ...
read full comment
Let have a look at historical gods
The belief in "god" seems to be ubiquitous through the ages.
We know, for example, that the ancient Egyptians believed in their gods so fervently that they built massive structures like ...
read full comment
Professor, are you okay?
The fact is, God never answers any prayers. The entire idea that "God answers prayers" is an illusion created by human imagination.
How do we know that "answered prayers" are illusions? We simply perform scientific experim ...
read full comment
Professor, I am not going to get into dogma with; personally after 3 lines of text the rest is garbage to me; am going to be very succinct and to the point and I think that shows the caliber of professorship.
I think your ar ...
read full comment
A good one there
Prof, you are obviously very knowledgeable and very analytical. You obviously have problems with God's attributes as Omnipotent , Omni benevolent , and eternal being.