Showing posts with label sermon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sermon. Show all posts
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Sunday Sermon On This Christmas Day 2016
Sunday Sermon On This Christmas Day 2016
Marcus and Agata are really celebrating Christmas Hard.
Look, we even bought a tree
Is there a War On Christmas?
Since we are not card carrying Christians you could ask this question. But the answer is that we respect the right of Christians and encourage them to celebrate Christmas in their own peaceful religious way. So long as it does not harm anybody we are all in
Of Course
We would like to point out that we are advocates of
Peace on Earth and Goodwill to all people, 365 days of the year
We give generously, 365 days of the year
We try to be kind, considerate and respectful, 365 days of the year
We try never to discriminate against people because of Race or Sex or Sexual Orientation, 365 days of the year
You see, because if you are a Mindful, thoughtful Secular person this is the added burden you face. We try to do these things every day of the year, not just at Christmas.
Oh, and we read and study the Bible more than most Christians that we know, daily in fact, but not for advice or guidance you will understand.
This Christmas
I have received some humour from Religious friends:
It is never our job to convert anybody, but at this time of good will I would ask you to respectfully look at these 2 short, gentle YouTube videos
Sean Carroll and Naturalism
Belief in Belief in God
Now go back to that gentle, peaceful and respectful Christmas Celebration.
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Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Sunday Sermon Meanwhile in America
Sunday Sermon Meanwhile in America
Meanwhile, Id like to state for the record that Im definitely not terrified of Muslims.
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Saturday, September 9, 2017
Sunday Sermon April Fool 2017
Sunday Sermon April Fool 2017
Feather Wrap
Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales (1392) contains the first recorded association between April 1 and foolishness.
April 1st is a traditional day when practical jokes and hoxes are presented, and Marcus preferred medium is the Internet. Here are some of the best for 2017
Lane Valet
ONEsie
Gnome
And Finally
We can all be easily fooled. Many of us are taught a Religious narrative from birth. Should the same be introduced at a later age, at an age we could reason and debate, it would seem ridiculous to many, and be rejected out of hand. Or at the very least, in adulthood we would be able to choose the most comforting delusion that meets our needs
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Thursday, September 7, 2017
Sunday Sermon Good and Bad Childhoods
Sunday Sermon Good and Bad Childhoods
Good and Bad Childhoods
The youtube video is self explanatory.
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Friday, September 1, 2017
Sunday Sermon Some reasons why he left
Sunday Sermon Some reasons why he left
Why he left Islam
The Aside
If you are reading this, then by definition you have Internet Access. I hope your bandwidth is fast enough to look at YouTube and here is why.
Over the last 15 years Marcus has exponentially gravitated away from the paper based documentation sources to a mixture of Online websites and living repositories of information.
We do live in a world of manufactured, mis-represented facts, suppositions or theories, but by cross checking sources, and actually using your Brain to screen out the inconsistent then you are hopefully left with at least a set of plausible propositions.
YouTube now forms a major free online resource that I recommend you take advantage of. Indeed this above video is a good example
- It puts forward propositions
- With supporting references
- It invites you to check them out
- So that you can verify the arguments put forward are based on agreed texts / statements
So now back to the Video Itself
Not Equal
All religions are not equal. In fact it is usual for each Religion to have a revealed Truth, supported by one or more Holy Books, that are usually not to be subject to revision or criticism.
Yet for each Religion that represents a world view even a superficial study will reveal that their differences and contradictions give us reason to believe that at most one is the truth but that zero can be assumed and each religions infallible holy book is true by circular argument
Back to The Plot
Please watch the video, and consider subscribing to the channel I hope it encourages you to do your own research. Maybe you will find this video is so wrong it will actually lead you towards Islam, or maybe not.
Links
And so much more: Quran and Scientific Miracles
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Thursday, August 24, 2017
Sunday Sermon God and Existence
Sunday Sermon God and Existence
Rusty Cage: Gospel
Sent to me this week for my continued entertainment
Let There be Light
If just one of these messages makes you think for yourselves then my job is done for this Sunday sermon.
Depeche Mode: Personal Jesus
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Saturday, August 12, 2017
Sunday Sermon Islam and Daughters
Sunday Sermon Islam and Daughters
Stephanie: Life Beyond Faith
This is surely worth 9 minutes of your time.
If you want me to summarise:
All religions are created
All religions are not created equal
Some are much less equal than others to the point of disgrace in modern times.
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Sunday Sermon The Desperate State of the Nation
Sunday Sermon The Desperate State of the Nation
Misdirection
Its been another troubling week in world politics from Marcus perspective and I dont pretend to have all the solutions.
I can however state for the record that I am absolutely appalled by the games being placed in US political circles, predominantly by, you guessed it, the new Trump Administration.
What I would politely ask you to do is
a) Watch the above 90 second video. That is not so difficult. Think about all the irrelevant jibes that both major US parties are throwing at each other. How many of these are misdirections? Keep your eye on the real issues please people.
Hemant: Outside Test explained
b) Consider the Outsider test for Faith. This is a principle popularised by the former Church of Christ minister John Loftus. The above video by Hemant Mehta explains the principle. Please consider why you accept statements made by your Political Party as clearly true and yet similar statements made by the opposition as Patently False. By what standard do you make these sure fire assessments.
Meanwhile: Just one of many poignant images that turned up in my RSS feed this last week:
A sign at the US Holocaust Museum
Extra Homework
John Loftus: The Outsider Interview
I am definitely pivoting from my initial point, but Id rate the above 35 minute interview with John as great viewing, whether you are religious or not, or political or not.
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Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Sunday Sermon Murder in Istanbul
Sunday Sermon Murder in Istanbul
Google Realtime Search
I was thinking what title to name this latest atrocity. Should it be an outrage, or tragedy, but no: simple murder sums it up for me.
This was an intentional act by at the time of writing person(s) unknown reported dressed up as Santa Claus murdering innocent revelers in the Reina nightclub in Istanbul Turkey.
Actually Marcus was in Istanbul just 18 hours ago though I did not have time to visit the city centre let alone any Nightclub.
When these murderous atrocities are made our viewpoint is often thrown off target and a number of predictable and sad responses come forth from the usual world leaders and authorities
The Prayer Response
White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the attack on "innocent revelers" celebrating New Years shows the attackers savagery. He said the U.S. was sending thoughts and prayers to the relatives of those killed.
For me the Prayer response devalues the concerns of secular people and is particuarly ironic in the case where the Predominantly Christian audience (USA in this example) is praying across the religious divide for a Islamic atrocity (I mean carried out in a majority Muslim country).
Since I believe the power of prayer is has the effectiveness (to quote my old manager) as the square root of f**k all, cant the White House and indeed every government find a better way to express their concerns.
Do Turks Hate Santa?
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/01/turkey-christmas-christians-attacks.html
In recent times Turkey moves towards a more fundamentalist Islamic interpretation and IMHO from Google the incidence of particularly Christian persecution increases.
Google Search
Agata Asked
Agata asked me: Should I continue to ask you who was responsible for these murders or is it obvious? Her comment was insightful in the sense that this modus operandi is one we have seen all too often from certain individuals claiming to represent the views of /The Religion of Peace/
In this case the group committing the murders is not yet known so we should not formally pre-judge the situation. But I can tell you that I would be astonished if police were looking for Buddhist or Jain extremists.
The Real Religion of Peace
All religions were not created, and I stress created equally. Sam Harris provides the classic reference IMHO
Sam Harris: Religion of Peace
Right Now
Id ask people
- To be well read and knowledgeable on these terrorist attacks
- To investigate for yourselves what core beliefs certain religions espouse
- In particular if you are religious for your religion. If you dont agree with them, in what way are you religious?
- Are there religions that have world views that directly oppose democracy, freedom of action for men and women, and discrimiate against women or minorities. Find out for yourself, dont take my or anybody elses word for it
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