And on the 8th day, God said, “Okay, Murphy, you’re in charge!”

This little known passage from the original version of the King James Bible was somehow lost in one of the translations the book went through in the years after JC’s adventures, so little is known of its origins, and why it was included in the holiest of books. If anything, its very existence tends to verify the rest of the claims made in the book; nothing is more truthful than reality, and Murphy is well known to all of us who live on this planet. His ubiquitous presence is made felt in every activity humanity engages in, from simple household chores, to sending rockets into space. Not only does his presence make itself known in abundance, but is actually assumed by almost everyone; we are all so used to him f___ing with us, we just shrug our shoulders, grin, and bear it….

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t ever in the Bible; I admit to stretching the truth a bit, and can only claim wishful thinking as an excuse. Because I do wish that this little concept, to wit: Murphy and his ubiquitous and oh-so-powerful natural law, had been included in at least one of the versions we see today. It would make reading through it much more palatable, as well as lending a strong arm to belief and faith, for there is far more observable evidence of Murphy’s activities than there are of most of the other stuff in the book;  acknowledging that would be advantageous, and go a long way toward convincing a lot of skeptics to reconsider their original assumptions as to veracity……

“I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State.   My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.” — George Carlin (Amen to that! And RIP George…..)
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Love is a rose, but you’d better not pick it.
It only grows when it’s on the vine.

Does anyone besides me, and doubtless, Bette Midler, remember the last two lines of the stanza in the song? They are actually the kicker to the thought, the hammer that drives home the nail….they go like this:

You lose your love
When you use the word “mine”……

Point made, ’nuff said….. but that wouldn’t really be my style, now would it? And besides I have a reputation to maintain; no one can spout more nonsense in a shorter time than me, and make you think that something was actually communicated. It’s one of my daily goals to write at least 1000 words before noon, and I don’t care who I trample under the load of crap that sometimes is needed to fulfill that goal. But, really now, this song doesn’t really need much more; its simple style belies the depth of the message, which is therefore crystal clear, and does not require that I point it out to you. All you need to do find an old copy of the song, and listen to it…. it is one of my all time favorite pieces of music, and if nothing else, can serve as more evidence of my strangeness…..
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“There are more stars known to exist right now than the total number of all the grains of sand on every beach in the entire world. With those kinds of odds, it would seem downright naive for someone to go to a beach in, say, some out-of-the-way inlet in Baffin Bay, stoop to pick up only one tiny grain of sand, and declare that that grain alone was the only place where life could exist.” — Hugh Downs

Ah, but Mr. Downs, with all due respect you have forgotten Rule #1 from Mr. Long’s Notebooks, to wit: Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. It merely takes utter faith to put your claim to rest; the faithful can believe anything, as long as it is couched in Scripture-like language, or is labeled as truth by an icon of their particular area of belief. It’s easy for them to explain away such facts; they just don’t believe them.

First, they say, the stars we see, and all the physical laws we have deduced over the years that explain how those stars were formed over eons, not merely millenia, are false, erroneous. All those facts are illusions, put there by God to deceive us, and tempt us away from His Truth, which by their reckoning puts the age of the Universe at about 4200 years, having begun one Monday morning that long ago, with the creation of the whole shebang taking place, not in eons, but in seven days. I’m sorry, but I find that to be just a little more specious than I care to entertain as Truth.

Second, why would a reportedly all-powerful entity want to play tricks like that? I’m not all-powerful, but it seems a little childish to me, and I have a hard time buying into the assumption that someone who is omnipotent would do something so outrageously dumb; it’s a little too reminiscent of a Three Stooges sketch for my taste.

Secondly, I don’t recall, in any of the dozen or so reportedly holy books I’ve read, anyone ever even implying any such concept, or anything close to it, nor does the deity they are discussing make any such claims. Seems to me that anyone who wanted to be worshiped would want the supplicants to know the real reason why. I’m also a bit suspicious of the claim that an omnipotent, omniscient entity would require adoration, blind obedience, and worship, or even want it at all. That kind of attitude, when directed toward me in even a mild form, I find to be repugnant; it makes my skin crawl to have someone gush over me, or admire what I’ve done too strongly. I can’t imagine any entity deserving the name of God wanting any part of that……..and neither do I…..

“God is not all-powerful, as he cannot build a wall he cannot jump.”– Pascal

Wow! Talk about logical certainty! Which, if you stop to think about it, makes mankind the more powerful, as we can do that. Hmm….. let’s see, that one doesn’t actually follow from the first; omniscience is implied yet not assumed, but rather considered as part of the argument. From a purely reasoning standpoint however, what Pascal has said here is in reality a paradox, or rather, he has pointed out the paradox in the assumption of omnipotence in any entity, whether human, or presumably divine. Whichever premise is actually true is one of those mysteries that may never be solved, at least not by reasoning only. It may need physical evidence of some kind before it can be adequately answered. But it does go to show how powerful reasoning can be, when in the hands of an expert……. nothing is sacred, thankfully…..
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A Moment of Haiku

Bare is the soul
who will not see the truth,
even when the truth sees them.

gigoid
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I’m surprised there aren’t more solipsists!

Gut busting laughter ensues…… I mean, really, there can only be one…. and I’m not ready to give it up just yet…
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In looking back over today’s work, and remembering what has been done recently, I find that I’ve been pretty critical of most religions. In that respect, and in my own defense, I do try not to be disrespectful, beyond a bit of name-calling I’m guilty of for sure (usually involving the S word). I also would like to say that I acknowledge the good works that most religions do in the world, whatever their motivation for doing so; it is generally intended to improve the lot of the downtrodden and needy, and so deserves respect. If anyone has hurt feelings, or has any arguments in support of opposing viewpoints, I welcome any discourse in which you wish to engage, cheerfully. And go ahead and call me a few names too, if that helps. But, please do me one favor…..think about what I say, rationally, without getting emotionally involved. It will make both our lives more comfortable, as I tend to strike back hard and fast when attacked without apparent cause….. a leftover habit from my time dealing with the certifiably insane members of our society…..   😉