Atheist filipinos and Atheism in the Philippines
There’s quite a proliferation recently of atheism threads in many Filipino forums that question religion in general and Catholicism’s stand on evolution and social issues in particular. Some readers often post funny cartoons and videos. One particular video that is being heavily promoted to argue the absurdity of religion is George Carlin’s sketch on the IRONY of a BLOODTHIRSTY God who LOVES you.
Carlin is hilarious. Specially when talking about environmentalism/climate change or liberal white people’s guilt.
One thing I have to point out about his sketch regarding religion, he seems to base his anger at religion on the Catholic cathecism of his Irish Catholic upbringing–that God created a hell that is currently ongoing and that burns people for eternity. Pair that with God’s “supposed” benevolence and love and you get an ironic Laugh Riot. This is funny on a superficial level but for those who actually have taken the time to read the Bible, it is quite disturbing and quite sad actually.
Not all Christian denominations follow this line since it contradicts the nature of God the Father as an all loving/all compassionate Creator. Indeed, it would seem patently unfair for someone to burn in eternity for actions he did in one 70 to 80 year lifespan. Flies in the face of all the parables in the Bible where God seemingly forgot how to count–so boundless is his Mercy.
I guess it does make sense for some denominations to propagate and maintain this misconception since they believe in the doctrine of Salvation through works and faith. You can work your way to heaven. Hence, if you are faced with the eternal fires of hell, you can, at your deathbed, be “persuaded” to give lands and money to the Church to “save” your soul. There’s a strong monetary incentive to slander the nature of the Lord. And coming from those who are his supposed “servants” here on Earth.
And for those who rush to their Bibles to point out the word “forever” in Matthew when seeking to bolster the concept of a current Hell burning eternally, I suggest you look up all the other instances of the mention of “forever” to see the TRUE meaning of the term in Matthew. You will see that over 50 times(!), covering both the Old and New testaments, “forever” refers to activities/events that didn’t last eternally (the famous example–Sodom and Gomorrah) but the consumption lasted only as long as the item being consumed. This is just the most obvious part of the argument, there’s quite a bit more.
I guess much of the humor of Carlin is all about the Straw Man argument in logic. Compile a caricature and bust it down and look like a hero by claiming you destroyed the real argument you based the caricature on. It works well for some topics, not so much for others.
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