Hello folks, I the Blasphemer is back once more after a very long vacation. Articles have not been written to this page for quite some time now and that was because I had some "technical" issues to deal with before I could resume posting new articles. Atlast, that is done with and now you can expect more good stuff to come. As you also know, we got a face lift to the appearance of the whole site for the better. We received too many complaints that the red on black wasn't good for the eyes. Well, after staring at the page for atleast a good 2 hours or so, we did come to somewhat of a conclusion that perhaps, it wasn't too good afterall. Oh well. So at long last, here is a new article to issue in the comeback and new design.

For the 4^th of July, I went to this good sized party, had an excellent time, lots of beer and mindless chatter. As the night was wearing down, people were getting more relaxed and just enjoying their corona or what naught and people started breaking up into little groups to talk amongst themselves. Well, I was chatting it up with about 3 other people and lo and behold, the subject got into religion. Imagine that! me? Talking religion? Ha! Anyhow, as the chatter got deeper into the subject, I realized that two of them were die-hard Christians...(although their actions proved otherwise), and the third character claimed Agnostic. Anyhow, one of the two Christian fellers started talking about how Christianity was the true religion and how he believed with all his heart that God is real and how he was saved. After listening to him rambling on arrogantly, they asked me, "So what is your religion?". I told them I had none. They said, "Oh, so you're an Agnostic?". I said, "No, not that either since an Agnostic doesn't believe in God and a broader idea is they don't believe in any god. As for me, I believe that there has to be something up there but we as humans cannot and may not ever know who or what it may be. The term I prefer is simply, "entity". And man, the minute I said all that, those two "Christians" started getting all huffy-puffy. Hah hah, there I saw my chance to spew my blasphemy and get them all worked up...........I was starting to love it.......yes, yes I know, a true devils advocate.

So anyhow, there we were swapping ideas...(me staying calm and them getting all worked up as any Christians would), and it went on as such for a good 2 hours or so. I started bringing up other religions and what they thought of them as well as asking them philosophical questions. I said to them, "Tell me this, and be truly honest. What if you were sitting here as you are now but instead of a die-hard Christian, you were a die-hard Hindu. Would you be saying the same things about Hinduism as what you said about Christianity?" And do you know what he said? He said, "Of course not, because I know that Chrsitianity is the real religion". I said, "No, you're not comprehending. No offense but, the problem with Christians are that their mind sets are nothing but Christianity. They refuse to reason, to listen to other plausible ideas and cannot for the life of them take themselves out of their Christian shoes and put them in another religious shoe just for one moment. A die-hard Oakland Raider fan would be saying that his team is the greatest ever and can beat anyone. A die-hard N.E. Patriot fan would be saying the same exact things about his team. And if the Patriot fan decided to jump to the Raider's bandwagon, he would then be saying the same things about the Raiders as the prior Raider fan". And God damn it to hell, he still did not understand because shortly after that, his response was, "But Christianity is the right religion". I saw then that there was no hope. Maybe the "fear" of God was to prevalent in him. In either case, everything that I have been saying up to that point was absolutely moot........for the fact that I was sure that it went into one ear and out the other.

However, the Agnostic guy seemed really interested. He was listening to everything that I had to say quite intently. I mean, I don't know if it was just out of respect or what not, but he listened and threw out questions.......intelligent ones at that. One of the questions he asked was, "Since you've studied many religions, what have you discovered or what is now your conclusion?". well, the facts are, of all the religions that I've studied and tried to study, it's strange to say......especially coming from me but, Christianity as a whole seems to make the most sense. I mean, yes, there are a damned amount of contradictions........but if you actually think about it, really study every word and even go as far as tracing the meaning of many of those words/sentences..........your conclusion might end up as mine. But this is not to say that I'm leaning more towards the Christians for any reasons of favor. You know me, I've always been the person outside looking in on religion..........not a religion, but religion. At the same time, many of the religions that I've studied, they all have a redeeming value...(don't tell that to the Christians or Muslims). There is something to be had from all of them. Siddhartha Gautama came up with some great lines......strait philosophical mind-benders; Quote: "Am I? Or, am I not? This Being, whence has it come? Whither shall it go?". From Zoroastrianism; Quote: "When you doubt, abstain". From Taoism; Quote: "Mankind differs from the animals only by a little and most people throw that away". From Islam; Quote: "Patience is the key to contentment". From Hinduism; Quote: "You must learn to be still in the midst of activity, and to be vibrantly alive in repose". From Sikhism; Quote: "The imprisoned soul is only liberated when it has covered the self-spread distance, the self-imposed journey of 'i', and reached the ultimate point, 'thou'.". From Judaism; Quote: "A wise man knows what he says, a fool says what he knows". And Alas, from Christianity; Quote: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.". Of course, there are many other beliefs with equally powerful quotes, but I don't wish to go through the list. Have you noticed one thing here? Maybe you haven't, but look at all these quotes I mentioned, these are values that one can contemplate. None have any religious connotation. These are values that all men, women and child can live by regardless of belief.................or the lack there of.