tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88613269368746978252024-03-14T00:47:35.176-04:00liberalmuffinMy thoughts on life.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.comBlogger166125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-2620676989956095192019-06-19T14:01:00.000-04:002019-07-10T00:13:22.451-04:00Forget<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<![endif]-->A nihilist and an idealist <br />
Jamming along in an amateur midnight Mass <br />
Chance and circumstance melt our past and present regret <br />
Chaos in sync with beating hearts.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-50625783856722808812019-04-13T17:12:00.000-04:002019-04-14T16:02:13.443-04:00Next Time On...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ShcsXOa4mko/XLJQYNqRMLI/AAAAAAAABUk/QuswdreURF0rCua0_ta6XDi4HBGzd2dAwCLcBGAs/s1600/Toonami%2BAbsolution.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ShcsXOa4mko/XLJQYNqRMLI/AAAAAAAABUk/QuswdreURF0rCua0_ta6XDi4HBGzd2dAwCLcBGAs/s320/Toonami%2BAbsolution.webp" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
A blue burst of energetic motion,<br />
Is now a charred ember of yesterday's animation.<br />
Black and orange, a hero’s coloration,<br />
Eclipsed by the golden triumph of transformation.<br />
Though its broadcast was worn down through fading tapes and adult obligations,<br />
My dreams live on aboard the Absolution.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-66751617065578355012019-04-07T15:40:00.000-04:002020-01-20T23:17:57.675-05:00Doubting Aquinas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
I should preface this article by stating that approaching a figure as brilliant as Thomas Aquinas is daunting, especially for a layman. That being said, I believe the fundamental claim in his Five Ways that, “we can demonstrate the existence of God from his effects” to be provocative. It may not be as bold as Anselm’s ontological argument that God is entirely self-evident through deduction, but Aquinas does think it reasonable to say, “to know that God exists in a general and confused way is implanted in us by nature.” As a Christian myself, I am not so sure he succeeds in showing us God as revealed through natural laws. <br />
<br />
The first two arguments are functionally synonymous. For his motion argument, he argues that there can’t be an infinite chain of objects put in motion because you would never arrive at a “first mover.” However, he then draws the same line of reasoning for an infinite number of “causes” as he does with objects being set in “motion.” Since his wording could easily be switched around, the arguments are rather redundant. However, this says nothing to the actual point being made and whether it is indeed sound. <br />
<br />
When Aquinas says that various objects put into motion “cannot go on to infinity,” it’s quite clear what he’s referring to: It’s the problem of infinite regress. That is, something cannot go on forever. Or more specifically, a sequence of events must be traced back to an original source. If there is not a foundational first cause, then nothing would have happened at all. In other words, there is no creation without a creator. As for the logic, it seems ironclad. This is even how Big Bang cosmology works: the planets and stars didn’t always exist. It reminds me of the old story of “turtles all the way down,” when a shaman is asked what holds up the Earth. I believe a skeptic would be forced to at least accept that some kind of force, outside of our understanding of time, created the universe. <br />
<br />
However, this only gets you to a single character trait of the God of Abraham and Isaac: That he’s eternal. Of course, this is a necessary condition for belief in Jesus Christ, but most certainly not a sufficient one. So, this moves us to the third argument. His argument from “possibility and necessity” is also a first cause argument. It partially distinguishes itself by defining contingent and necessary beings. Yet, besides this new wrinkle, Aquinas is just repeating himself: You need a first cause/prime mover to get past the problem of an infinite number of objects set in motion, causes, or possibilities. Again, the argument does get you to an atemporal entity, but that’s all it does. This justifies belief in Thomas Paine and Voltaire’s clockmaker, not the God of the Bible. To mistake deism with theism is a confusion of terms. Theodore Roosevelt, over 100 years after the publication of The Age of Reason, was not so egalitarian in thought as Aquinas when he commented that Paine was, “A filthy little atheist.” <br />
<br />
So, we progress to the fourth argument… but only the second idea. Aquinas’ argument from gradation claims “among beings there are some more and less good, true, noble and the like.” What he’s trying to get at, is that the very idea of things in the world being “more and less” is in reality proof of perfection. To put it in another way, saying a man was kind to his wife would imply that there is a moral standard that’s higher than that man. So, not just something kind, but the kindest of all. For Aquinas, this must be God. <br />
<br />
Honestly, this is where Aquinas’ logic becomes genuinely flawed. The only way for this argument to work whatsoever is for someone to agree that there’s meaning in the first place. It’s more of an argument for the cultural good of a belief in God, that without it, humanity would become amoral. Personally, I’m convinced of that… but Aquinas has tried to set before us five arguments to show God’s existence, not the ideal of being “a city on a hill.” It’s painfully obvious that there are millions of people on this planet that do not believe in morality or truth to start with. All a nihilist has to say to this argument is, “Well, to hell with your meaning.” <br />
<br />
His final argument is what he calls “the governance of the world.” Put simply, it’s an argument from design. Of all Aquinas’ points, this is the only one that is wholly without merit. He asserts, “We see that things which lack intelligence, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that not fortuitously, but designedly, do they achieve their end.” The problem here is that it’s not plain at all that design is the cornerstone for natural phenomena. <br />
<br />
When Aquinas uses the word “fortuitously” he’s arguing out of pure ignorance. Clearly, we have far more scientific knowledge now than ever, but that’s not even required to disregard Aquinas’ claim. To say that’s something’s hard to understand, that nature is complex, does not actually prove anything. It may well be that something is so complicated that it transcends human understanding. So, it does not follow that because we fail to grasp something, that a designer is needed. Again, this is an argument from ignorance, and posits a “God of the gaps.” <br />
<br />
Secondly, as we are more scientifically advanced than the 13th century, there are indeed other explanations for the complexity we see in nature. Natural selection, as first revealed by Charles Darwin, does show how we could have design without a designer. To quote the biologist Richard Dawkins, “Natural selection is the very opposite of sheer chance.” Again, I am a Christian and I don’t believe evolutionary processes explain everything. That being said, it is not true that, “whatever lacks intelligence cannot move towards an end.” I strongly disagree with the materialist presupposition, but it’s possible that merely passing along genetic information is sufficient for the beauty on this planet. If that’s the case, then adding a deity does not increase explanatory power. <br />
<br />
I think Aquinas’ last “way” is as good a segue as any to elucidate why I find philosophy of this sort so unhelpful. As for the fifth proposition, I confess I hold it (as well as Paley’s watchmaker argument) in much contempt. I simply don’t like my faith being reduced to ignorance and a bastardization of science. Admiring a beetle’s complexity seems pretty far removed from spiritual concerns. Furthermore, even though I’m logically convinced of a first cause, I see no occasion to celebrate as a Christian. The ancient pagans, as well as modern Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Deists, and even literal Satanists would all agree in earnest that something didn’t come from nothing. Again, I ask what exactly has been accomplished? I would argue nothing important at all. <br />
<br />
As someone who is Jewish by birth, then came to accept outright atheism, I have never been seriously convinced of Christian apologetics. I suffer from BPD, a mental illness, as well as challenges from Asperger Syndrome, a developmental disability. My thoughts are radically different from a statistical aggregate of normative population groups. When you’ve openly contemplated suicide, and have, in actuality, tried to kill yourself, is when talk of external reality ceases to matter. I came into faith because of a deep yearning for meaning, and I believed then, as I do now, that Jesus is that answer. Ultimately, I have hope against expectation for man's salvation from the void. In my view, there is only the individual and God.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-91773805656882400172019-02-11T02:27:00.001-05:002019-02-13T21:10:07.905-05:0030<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
We are your sons<br />
We are your fathers<br />
We are your half-smiles and frail limbs <br />
We are your motel vacancies in blood long shed.<br />
<br />
Shadows cast in the dim light of societal separation <br />
A winding ward’s floor, once bleached like bone<br />
Is now a cockroach’s pitched and pitted playground<br />
Men still endure here against all indignity. <br />
<br />
A screaming curse against once firm truths<br />
Be they sacred stone or a brother’s bond<br />
Shaking hatred shatters even Christmas photographs<br />
It hurts, it hurts, my god, it just hurts. <br />
<br />
In even this<br />
We still have an embrace to give<br />
Our illness is not yet death<br />
And we are alive.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-80086001732814588212019-02-06T00:05:00.000-05:002019-02-06T00:05:09.800-05:00Babel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qtQJDMZfzBU/XFpqrrjb2OI/AAAAAAAABSo/kmSsDfh37c4eq0LSfpcLVZvRw2VO0PwlQCLcBGAs/s1600/Turris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qtQJDMZfzBU/XFpqrrjb2OI/AAAAAAAABSo/kmSsDfh37c4eq0LSfpcLVZvRw2VO0PwlQCLcBGAs/s200/Turris.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
There is as much romance in man’s madness,<br />
As there is aesthetics in the rotten yellow of his sunken grave.<br />
An epicurean delight,<br />
Still soils the sheet.<br />
Art is not more than the sweat on a carpenter’s brow...<br />
I am no poet and I will never write again.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-34610087586586874472019-02-05T04:20:00.000-05:002019-02-10T15:22:24.465-05:00Elitism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hrS0YpomG_0/XFlUyeh2UII/AAAAAAAABR4/VFbnd1lzBeEcPHvWh452qzOKDJNgaE2LwCLcBGAs/s1600/Hipster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hrS0YpomG_0/XFlUyeh2UII/AAAAAAAABR4/VFbnd1lzBeEcPHvWh452qzOKDJNgaE2LwCLcBGAs/s1600/Hipster.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Deliverance before dessert,<br />
An IPA before introspection,<br />
Hipster small talk on trimmed tablecloth.<br />
Hands too soft to claim a blue collar,<br />
But a brain too simple to tremble at a spinning sphere with zero significance,<br />
They don’t belong anywhere except in the ground.<br />
Have your cake and eat it too…<br />
Then get the fuck out of here, this ain't no open mic night.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-68247043023293456062019-01-27T09:32:00.000-05:002019-04-29T13:27:08.611-04:00Tomorrow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DPxrRXL28dA/XE3AYvDaidI/AAAAAAAABRI/OWpAIRZqmYE1HXcYhcNl4a0FKWOJ-xBxQCLcBGAs/s1600/Shower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="292" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DPxrRXL28dA/XE3AYvDaidI/AAAAAAAABRI/OWpAIRZqmYE1HXcYhcNl4a0FKWOJ-xBxQCLcBGAs/s200/Shower.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
It’s the idea I like.<br />
When I was still boy enough to sit under morning shower<br />
Streams, the water pouring assurances for a proud day…<br />
A fetus snuggling for warmth on bathroom tile.<br />
It’s the jack off but not the cold comfort come. <br />
Not the Finish at all.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-54261900053435563132019-01-25T05:43:00.000-05:002019-06-03T22:19:41.264-04:00Jon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YwZ-YXKpPAI/XErnW2Iu4rI/AAAAAAAABQo/rolN98Zz2k8EKwQQKhGzc8Qruip-MoGpgCLcBGAs/s1600/Uncle%2BPhil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="290" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YwZ-YXKpPAI/XErnW2Iu4rI/AAAAAAAABQo/rolN98Zz2k8EKwQQKhGzc8Qruip-MoGpgCLcBGAs/s200/Uncle%2BPhil.jpg" width="139" /></a></div>
<br />
A delusional negro regarding my better nature.<br />
One who simply needs a corrective lesson in the old philosophy of man against man.<br />
A push here and an epithet there are all he needs to be cast out from my present company.<br />
Yet he remains a stubborn and fixed point,<br />
An outlier of outstretched brotherhood… one I cannot repay.<br />
No Atlas Shrugged or stumped Thinker of solidarity,<br />
He is faithful to Jew and Gentile cosmic posterity.<br />
<br />
I am on a sinking continent of slipping cerebral paint.<br />
Quiver, Quiver, and Cower from the Sun on High!<br />
Or hold onto the fleeting image of transfiguration with swollen and bloodshot eyes!<br />
Can my split soul be made whole from peering into the pool of another’s faith?<br />
I fear Belle Isle tolls for me still.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-90599147429355887662019-01-25T00:23:00.009-05:002021-04-02T12:00:00.812-04:00Black and White<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j-7No_3xO_0/XEqcvmHYrQI/AAAAAAAABQQ/wBZT5N87UlMPFrlCLlk2h8m6FlyFLKtrwCLcBGAs/s1600/Dim.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="424" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j-7No_3xO_0/XEqcvmHYrQI/AAAAAAAABQQ/wBZT5N87UlMPFrlCLlk2h8m6FlyFLKtrwCLcBGAs/s200/Dim.jpg" width="148" /></a></div>
<br />
The kicked in door by a polished boot was at least pure.<br />
Where a flag was planted on a broken corpse and printed in its blood.<br />
There were no limp-wristed pretenses or mewling crocodile tears then. <br />
It was some comfort that you might as well have shut up before you died.<br />
Indeed, only the masculine are wielders of such rippling evil.<br />
<br />
Jesus sounds like that kid at a glee club before an atomic wedgie…<br />
But Beatitudes is strong stuff,<br />
And God-fearing altruism before Hellfire is some Bruce Lee shit.<br />
Homeland pride grafted onto faith is the word of a wolf,<br />
Bear your cross and be consistent.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-67254871346023148402019-01-22T05:57:00.002-05:002021-04-02T11:49:37.683-04:00Beneath Humanity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In cracked concrete and servant’s squalor,<br />
Or luxury apartment decadence.<br />
The kind and right word to a friend,<br />
Or the blackening descent of flexed contempt.<br />
A marathoning pornographic puritan,<br />
Or dripping tissues in wastebasket metal.<br />
An eloquent appeal to the executioner of lit orbs,<br />
Or the acceptance as vermin in eternity’s pit.<br />
The heart remains vicious,<br />
And movement is unchanged.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-78466097558285281012019-01-20T05:35:00.001-05:002020-10-10T17:33:12.884-04:00Jew<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KLv8ozBNYIg/XEROILBFIPI/AAAAAAAABPg/E6OHMqJpXoQXcwaCFrDRpYsWFJ2aNUnDACLcBGAs/s1600/Father.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KLv8ozBNYIg/XEROILBFIPI/AAAAAAAABPg/E6OHMqJpXoQXcwaCFrDRpYsWFJ2aNUnDACLcBGAs/s200/Father.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<br />
Maternal love not yet cleft apart from the womb.<br />
Birth seems as the sea before crashing upon mortality’s shore.<br />
A fractured identity molds as shame in a murmuring synagogue.<br />
Knowing not the Lord’s language or a present patriarch.<br />
Displacement and disappointment,<br />
A minority of a minority.<br />
The sins of a father pass with his child waiting under rainfall.<br />
An orphan in New England’s modern misery,<br />
Yet young Moses drifted downstream as God’s elect.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-80827907282006457262018-12-17T19:40:00.002-05:002019-02-18T21:17:07.671-05:00Six Feet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dTJ0t2wN7_I/XBhAPcdfxYI/AAAAAAAABOs/uQVtRazw6rEQaqMrVZ2otf46qUPVzeSKgCLcBGAs/s1600/Doctor.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dTJ0t2wN7_I/XBhAPcdfxYI/AAAAAAAABOs/uQVtRazw6rEQaqMrVZ2otf46qUPVzeSKgCLcBGAs/s320/Doctor.webp" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sitting in a supermarket of sickness,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A waystation of fading men benched with honor. <br />Alone with asymmetrical despair, <br />As a spider darkening a white wall. <br />What to read about? <br />Kierkegaard or Earthworm Jim on the Sega Genesis? <br />Gazing at Google… <br />A meaningless search field punctuated by forgotten frivolities.<br />Flesh, wretched even to my own vision, is clinically massaged by a gloved hand. <br />“Well, you’re probably fine.” <br />“Get out.”</span>Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-52910424786863505222018-11-29T19:29:00.002-05:002021-03-31T14:17:07.292-04:00A Walk in the Park<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DAppEga57GI/X3eUb1r3CLI/AAAAAAAABas/WD43MEl_5u8FjgN6gUoQjr7bF72bwxSSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s969/Silent%2BHill%2B2%2Bforest.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="969" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DAppEga57GI/X3eUb1r3CLI/AAAAAAAABas/WD43MEl_5u8FjgN6gUoQjr7bF72bwxSSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Silent%2BHill%2B2%2Bforest.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div id="E100" is="qowt-word-para" qowt-eid="E100" qowt-entry="undefined" qowt-lvl="undefined" style="line-height: 1.38; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">Out of the car and its dirt-peppered cover of reality.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A collage of dying reds and yellows,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Designed to stoke sight in my darkened third eye.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Perhaps a feeling?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But a man's on the path.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He has invented traffic and is as unwanted as an accident.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Before him there was no other, now he'll need an ambulance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A reminder that I suffer from another's very visage,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A melancholy I cannot mend.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Narrow Way gives way, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And Pandemonium's port opens.</span>Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-48712170611741848942018-11-21T03:45:00.000-05:002019-04-29T12:57:40.078-04:00The Depraved Nature of a Church at Peace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-25PLXBOAtaA/W_UacZA1G7I/AAAAAAAABN8/H7O3imyYf5An50vHc3703RIHi65NSY9zACLcBGAs/s1600/Pope%2BWizard%2BHat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="500" height="261" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-25PLXBOAtaA/W_UacZA1G7I/AAAAAAAABN8/H7O3imyYf5An50vHc3703RIHi65NSY9zACLcBGAs/s320/Pope%2BWizard%2BHat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
"For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." This verse spoken by Jesus Christ, from the Book of Matthew, is a fine working definition of the church. You'll notice earlier in the same chapter, Jesus also tells his audience to point out the sins of a believer to the church if he should fail to listen. In our glossy modernity of iphone and ipad plastic, what is called the church is far too invested in gluttony to care about the sins of a parishioner, let alone their own.<br />
<br />
If you ask a gay man in America what he thinks of the church, then you should already know the answer. If you don't, then you're a liar. It has been a bludgeon wielded against them. Effeminate attempts to claim that church has simply "been done wrong" misses the obvious conclusion. A brick and mortar church, that is as an institution, cannot exist in a land of peace and prosperity. It decays quickly into a spiritual cirrhosis.<br />
<br />
The church as a city on a hill has only worked in times of persecution. This claim is easily demonstrable. The Black Church encumbered by chains gave strength to the voice that God was with them in the world of their present agony. The Confessing Church in Germany screamed out the Gospel as their lungs were choked from the smoke of human furnaces. It ought to go without saying that the Orthodox Church of both of these eras were firmly entrenched against the dignity of souls. The Southern Baptist Convention and Nazi "Positive Christianity" subsisted on political power and mere economic opportunism.<br />
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Once a church stops feeling the ache of every sinner's labored breath on this wretched planet is the moment I can and will tell it to go straight to Hell. Every church now, from the Catholics to the Anglicans, to the Russian Orthodox, to the smattering of tax-exempt American parasites, all of them are a monument to at least ineptitude... if not idolatry. Taking mission trips to vacation spots like Turkey, while the religion of their hometown smolders. Perhaps meeting as Christians in groups of two or three is preferable to tithing just so Liberty University can stump for the president. To many, it might be that the church is reduced to a piece of gothic architecture and a few funny hats. <br />
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The modern ecstasy-like concoction of church group-think has deluded us into thinking that faith is something other than a personal struggle. Faith never leaves the subjective. Attempts have been made otherwise, and from them have all come shameful notions. The yawn inducing yes-men of apologetics have failed and will surely continue to fail with their overt intent of making belief more palatable to the businessman born without want. One can get no further than finding God in oppressive silence.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-35633300454867538862018-06-04T10:50:00.000-04:002019-05-23T14:17:10.677-04:00I am no more or less than myself<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The title I’ve chosen to use for this article is from an anime. That’s probably not too surprising for those that know me. However, the anime in question, Neon Genesis Evangelion, is one of the most existential pieces of art I’ve witnessed. It starts out following the well-trodden cliché of a teenage boy piloting a mech (here called an EVA Unit) to save the world. For a title from 1995 the general premise is not much different from 1979’s Mobile Suit Gundam. In that show, the boy, Amuro Ray, became very capable with few moral qualms about being a child soldier. On the other hand, Shinji Ikari, from Evangelion, was not so eager. In fact, he’s a coward.<br />
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Shinji reminds me of myself… in that he’s uncertain about his identity. He’s afraid of everything, from human contact to even knowing what he wants in life. However, his one fleeting pleasure is from the praise of his superiors for doing a good job at piloting a weapon. Shinji falsely believes that even though he hates himself, that if he pleases others he’ll find meaning. Evangelion’s last two episodes have received much criticism from a change in tone to their slow pace. In fact, the creator, Hideaki Anno, received death threats for his ending. Anno also suffered from clinical depression.</div>
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I imagine people hated it because it was too real. The finale didn’t have giant robots blowing up other giant robots, instead, Shinji comes to an internal revelation: That though he still hates himself, maybe his life is worth living. In other words, he comes to believe his own personal truth. Shinji, though an animated character, is us when we ask ourselves, “Who are we really?”</div>
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I suppose it might be a lack of imagination that I relate my deepest thoughts to an anime. Yet I find that Shinji’s desperation to find meaning through simply being complimented is uncannily similar to my attempts to please others by mimicking their beliefs. Due to my Borderline Personality Disorder, one of my coping mechanisms in the past has been to just give assent to whoever I look up to. I’m afraid of abandonment and betrayal, so I would lie to myself about what I truly thought regarding God. If you always agree with someone, the less chance there is that they can hurt you.<br />
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However, there’s a limit to self-deception. I would push all my doubts away, but eventually the dam burst. The last seven months I’ve tried to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and just be a fancy kind of Albert Camus absurdist in order to somehow float above left-wing Atheists and right-wing Christians. <br />
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To be an Atheist and not despair, you have to have faith you’re going to live in a Star Trek fantasy land where we all sing and hold hands in space despite our inherent selfishness. In order to be a Christian, you have to have faith that 2000 years ago a Palestinian rabbi was the Son of God, was executed, and subsequently broke every natural law by coming back to life three days later. Both of these are insane. Rather, they both violate what we know of reality. Humans are greedy and dead people stay dead.<br />
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However, I believe that if one is looking for some finished crossword puzzle of truth that is 100% provable (or even quantifiable in any way) then they are wasting their time. There will always be some argument, some piece of data, that will seem like it absolutely does not fit into your worldview. For the Atheist, they cannot explain what sparked the Big Bang without going into different hypothetical dimensions and a different hypothetical “bubble” multiverse. It’s an excuse to get around the uncomfortable fact that the universe is not eternal as Atheists had hoped before evidence of galaxy redshift was found by Georges Lemaitre, a Catholic priest and astronomer in the 1930’s. So, Atheists must look toward a secular miracle to explain away the basic logic of causality.<br />
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Yet the Christian is no better off. He cannot explain why there are billions of empty galaxies with hundreds of billions of empty planets if it’s indeed accurate that the salvation and sanctification of mankind on Earth is God’s only true concern. Why would God wait 13.8 billion years (minus two millennia) until he got started with his one and only plan? Why are we not even in the center of our own galaxy? Why allow dinosaurs to evolve and thrive for millions of years only to inevitably smash them with an asteroid in the Yucatan Peninsula 65 million years ago? Why not just skip the reptiles and go straight to it with mammals? Why keep human beings naked and cold in the dark for tens of thousands of years before fire and the wheel? Why wait for Mary in Bethlehem to reveal yourself?<br />
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If Christians want to ignore all these questions or pretend that the Earth is 6000 years old, then they are welcome to it. Just know that whatever apologetic you come up with, be it the Shroud of Turin or trying to prove the eyewitness accounts of the Gospel, you will get no closer to producing God. Neither will wallowing in the depths of arcane doctrines like Calvinism or Arminianism produce him.<br />
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Fundamentally, after all this time I am still choosing to believe in Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with Christianity magically filling in every intellectual gap. It doesn’t. It doesn’t even answer moral questions I have. Why did God allow the Holocaust? Why does he still allow innocent children to be sexually abused in the world even at this very moment? No amount of Bible study will give you the right formula.<br />
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No, there is only one reason to become a Christian… and that is Christ himself. As an individual operating under Descartes’ philosophy, “I think, therefore I am.” Or, to quote Evangelion again, “I am no more or less than myself.” To put it another way, I can only relate to another how I personally see things. I can only speak for myself. I know many people have sacred beliefs that are dear to them. I know that in my attempt to fight hypocrisy and double standards that I can often come off as an elitist myself. I’m not blind to that fact. However, I do try to be honest.<br />
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So, why am I still a Christian? It’s the same inspiration that forever boomerangs back into the forefront of my mind: that Jesus loved me so much, that despite my utter sinfulness, He volunteered to die in my place so that I may eternally live through Him. Not only that, but God promises me that my mental illness which has caused me to scar my body and almost take my own life three times is merely part of, “light momentary troubles and are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” What’s even greater is that if Jesus has mercy on me, then there is hope for everyone that suffers and believes in His name.<br />
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But make no mistake. We are called to be “fools for Christ’s sake.” In the same passage, we are also told that, “the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” So, you can work a white-collar job, put on a suit and tie and then go debate a skeptic; just remember that we are not meant to look respectable or intelligent in society. We are supposed to be spat on. As Jesus said, “So the last will be first and the first will be last.”<br />
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Finally, I am committed to focusing “not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.” Therefore, I will believe in Jesus alone and not submit to any particular church’s dogma. Though I’m aware many people will reflexively lump me in with Jerry Falwell and Roy Moore, I refuse to just accept what is deemed orthodox in Donald Trump’s America. I will not defend these statements, nor do I feel that I have any obligation to do so as a free man. I hope that all men are saved eventually, as the early church father Origen once did. I believe God smiles upon faithful gay marriages. I believe in the theory of evolution. I believe in Big Bang cosmology. I believe it’s blasphemy that Christians came into political power through emperors Constantine and Theodosius. Furthermore, I also believe that the United States has been an idolatrous and godless nation from its inception.<br />
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I care about trying to minister to those without hope, which is why I’m finally getting my associate degree in human services. I care about trying to be a better Christian, so that others with mental illnesses know that suicide isn’t the answer. I care about reaching those the church has left behind. I care about praying for what God wants me to do, even if it’s unpopular. I care about worshipping Jesus, my personal savior, in my own personal way.</div>
Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-73523458545403117232018-05-19T20:02:00.000-04:002019-03-27T12:09:23.875-04:00Stop ruining peace in Israel and Palestine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Although I'm not considered a Jew by Orthodox standards (I am by Reform Judaism standards) since only my father and his side of the family is Jewish, not my mother's... the bottom line is if I lived in Germany during the 1940’s with my last name as Cohen, my ass would be rounded up and put in a concentration camp before I had time to eat a latke. So, I write this with some semblance of authority.<br />
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After last week’s horrific slaughter of 60 Palestinian protesters (including 8 children) by IDF members, I’ve finally decided to speak my mind on the issue of Israel and Palestine. The entire debate has very simple solutions, and indeed, always had. One can certainly say that the way Israel was established in 1948 was the wrong way to go about it: bringing in displaced people to a land already occupied... but here we are exactly 70 years later, and it doesn’t look like either side is going to magically disappear anytime soon.<br />
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Quite honestly, this constant conflict is kept in place by the most degenerate representatives of the Abrahamic faiths. Not any one faith or its people in general, mind you, but the Jerry Falwells, the Benjamin Netanyahus, and the Mahmoud Ahmadinejads. One of these groups, the nationalistic Netanyahu faction, refuses to remedy the situation by simply assimilating the displaced Palestinians into Israel as citizens or even producing a two state solution. The idea seems to be that if the Palestinians became Israelis, that they would somehow corrupt the "Jewishness" of Israel, which is a bigoted and baseless thing to say. I mean, Israel is a secular democracy and isn't supposed to operate as a theocracy in the first place.<br />
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Then you get the Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian factions which refuse to even admit the fact that Israel exists. I suppose this type of idiocy is best summed up by Iran when they’ve said they will "wipe Israel off the map." This rhetoric is all well and good if you're a radical Islamist that lives in the palace from Aladdin, but it doesn't give any reality based solutions to all the Palestinians that endure unspeakable poverty. The U.N. has said a while back that Gaza's conditions will officially be "unlivable" by 2020... which is, you know, just a year and a half away. The Middle Eastern coalition couldn't beat Israel militarily in the Six Day War in 1967, and they sure as hell won't now with tanks and planes from the Soviet era. Islamic countries need to stop swinging their dicks around and sit down at the negotiating table with Israel.<br />
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Finally, the worst bunch: Us. Or rather, far right Christian extremists in the United States. I’ve taken to calling them the American Taliban with business suits and a smile. Pastors like Jerry Falwell (who's now thankfully very dead), Jerry Falwell Jr., Pat Robertson, John Hagee, and Franklin Graham, as well as moronic politicians like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, don't give half a cross about the West Bank... or Israel and the Jews for that matter. They believe in a modern form of the End Times, as popularized by Tim LaHaye and the literary dumpster fire that can only be the Left Behind series. They actually think that if Israel builds the so-called "Third Temple" in Jerusalem this will spark a biblical end of the world which will lead to Jesus Christ's second coming.<br />
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Every time Jerusalem is mentioned in the news these gentle Christians are dancing a jig hoping that their rapture to Heaven is close at hand, and that the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists, and yes, even the Jews, will apparently wallow behind in blood and shit under the furry hoof of Satan. Their foreign policy is literally chaos. Should we really pay serious attention to what these delusional clowns think is best for the region?<br />
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These three elitist groups don't give a damn about anyone other than themselves. They are living definitions to the trait of selfishness. Their philosophy is essentially Ayn Rand with a prayer thrown in. They deserve our laughter and nothing more. Ordinary Jews and Muslims, Palestinians and Israelis, humans and other humans, are going to have to fix this humanitarian crisis themselves. When a man is starving, does it truly matter what label he has before you feed him? If there is a God, surely compassion and reason are gifts to be used.Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-59684075058746267462018-01-27T05:42:00.000-05:002018-06-04T03:32:08.842-04:00Labels<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It’s odd. I know that I’m quite prone to black and white thinking (called splitting) when it comes to most things in my life. It’s a result of my mental illness. Yet when I look around at the overwhelming majority of mankind, I cannot believe that their petty squabbling about political philosophies, theological differences, or even opinions on something as pedantic as the corporate tax rate, is something that ought to be considered normal. Here’s a fun game: just mention the topic of abortion in any group conversation and watch everyone cluck and sputter in their best attempt to mimic a chicken with its head cut off.<br />
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Clearly, people have strong opinions. I guess that shouldn’t be too surprising. Yet what amazes me about “normal people” that don’t have BPD or Asperger-like symptoms is this: they may be more comfortable with their own thoughts on how the world should be… or to put it another way, they quite enjoy agreeing with themselves on every issue, and they’re also inclined to find solidarity with social groups that espouse those exact same things. Conservatives seem to get along with the Republican Party just fine, while liberals seem to get along with the Democratic Party just fine. However, what they can’t tolerate is another idea that has any sort of baggage that strays from their own ideological lens.<br />
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I’m not smarter than the average guy on the street, but I am more intellectual about the world than most. However, because of my BPD tendencies, I’m unable to craft a coherent sense of self like most of humanity. I’ve constantly gone back and forth as to what philosophical label applies to me. Before understanding that I had Borderline Personality Disorder, I simply thought that there was something wrong with me on why I couldn’t form a systematic theory of ethics unto myself.<br />
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It turns out that I just had the reverse problem of mankind. The average person may be “proud to be Irish” or “proud to be Italian.” They might also shout “Black power.” Of course, some of them (as just demonstrated in Charlottesville last year) may also chant “blood and soil” and everyone’s favorite, “Jews will not replace us.” For example, as an objective observer of reality, I can look back into the 1960’s and plainly see that when Malcom X was part of the Nation of Islam, an organization that literally believes white people were created by a mad scientist named Yakub 6600 years ago (look it up), he was being just as bugfuck bonkers as a KKK member who believed in “racial hierarchies” with the white man on top.<br />
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I remember the day after Barack Obama was elected again in 2012. I was talking with a friend of mine and his wife, who were both very active in their conservative church. I tried to treat the discussion with kid gloves, so as not to trigger them. Even in doing so, the wife abruptly started sobbing about “unborn children” and how President Obama was apparently going to kill them all one by one. At moments like these I simply marvel at our species for its incredible inclination for irrational thinking.<br />
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Everyone wants a label. It seems they need it to be able to rationalize their existence on a pale blue dot spinning in the dark depths of space. Over 1300 planet Earths could fit inside Jupiter alone, and we’re here debating tribalistic nonsense like whether a football player taking a knee during the American national anthem is somehow disrespecting the troops or that it’s not the right time and place to protest. Want the answer? Well, here it is: Who gives a shit either way? Who in their right mind concerned about globally critical issues like terrorism, poverty, and climate change can possibly think anything involving the respect or disrespect of an inanimate object like a flag could possibly chart even a two on the 1-100 “Does it matter at all-o-meter?”<br />
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I think if we’re ever going to move past the “indelible stamp of our lowly origin,” as Darwin once said, then we’re all going to have to remove as much vestigial black and white thinking as we can from our collective consciousness and attempt to have discussions with people we strongly disagree with. Maybe you believe that transgender couples should have all the rights afforded to them as straight couples. That’s completely legitimate and constitutional. However, the majority of religious people on the planet do not believe that transgenderism is a legitimate phenomenon. Even if you feel emotionally triggered, you cannot coerce people into believing something they don’t. That being said, if there’s hate or discrimination based on your gender identity, then everyone regardless of labels should come to your defense as fellow human beings.<br />
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I’ve become an Agnostic, and I often get lunch with Christian friends of mine that are absolutely certain that if I don’t believe the Nicene Creed as written in 325 AD before I die then I’m going to burn in a lake of fire with demons for all eternity. This is actually what they believe. Of course, I think that’s laughable. However, I'm still convinced that we can all work together despite seemingly insurmountable division.<br />
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I think at the root bottom of morality is something innate. It’s certainly metaphysical, and you might even call it supernatural to a degree. What I mean is that while we obviously have great debates on how things ought to be, we really do have a core of hard ethics that seem to crop up on its own. When I say supernatural, I merely mean to suggest that since we cannot look at “good and evil” under a microscope, or any other scientific method, that it doesn’t seem to simply occur naturally as a survival mechanism.<br />
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I had an epiphany just last week when I read the nightmarish story in California about 13 children being physically and mentally tortured by their parents for untold years. There seems to be a metaphorical switch in our brain that trips when we hear about something monstrous like child abuse. This might be an extreme example, but I think it shows that deep down we all truly do care about each other. Children aren’t pigeonholed by partisanship, so we’re able to love them unconditionally. Imagine if we got rid of labels like children do. I don’t know if what I’m positing is that there’s some kind of cosmic force that planted these objective ethics into our DNA, but it seems to exist regardless of the origin. Maybe if we work together we’ll be able to get a beer together. <br />
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Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-75871895154957945342018-01-01T04:35:00.002-05:002019-03-09T13:53:55.995-05:00A Convinced Agnostic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I’ve decided to write this for my own catharsis and nothing more. I don’t expect it to change anyone’s mind. To quote Jethro Tull, “I may make you feel, but I can’t make you think.” I can only say that I’m being true to myself.<br />
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To clarify some unfortunate cultural ignorance, Agnosticism actually has two definitions. One is what most people say, which is that they’re undecided on Theism or Atheism and they’re still looking for evidence. The other definition, of which I fall under, is that any talk of God or any ultimate explanation as to why we’re here is fundamentally unanswerable. I’m not waiting for new evidence to come in, because any possible data we receive would be inherently unacceptable under the lens of scientific rigor.<br />
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I want to make another distinction here, in that I’m only talking about being Agnostic in the sense of a prime mover or a Deistic creator that metaphorically “wound the clock” of the cosmos. Or perhaps even that life was seeded by an alien species so advanced that they would functionally appear as gods to our primitive ape-like minds. All of these are interesting and plausible ideas. Hell, if you really want to go crazy, you can even say that since philosophically we can’t prove our five senses past brain chemicals, we could all be in the Matrix. Of course, the probability for the last one is pretty low I’d wager… Not that I wouldn’t want to be Neo. Despite the lack of evidence, I even admit in wanting to believe that there's an afterlife.<br />
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What makes me an Agnostic as opposed to an Atheist would be my attempt to be humble about not knowing everything. Science is the best tool humanity ever invented. In just a few hundred years from Galileo, we understand so much about our universe. We know the Earth rotates around the sun and not vice-versa. We know that all species evolved from a common ancestor through natural selection. We know that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old. We even know what the surfaces of all the planets and moons in our solar system are like through photographs sent back from probes like Voyager 1 and 2.<br />
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As grand as all that is, science is only capable of answering “how” questions. In which I simply mean that science explains natural phenomena in the material world. It cannot, and is not even supposed to, try to answer a question like, “Why are we here?” That’s not to say we can’t fight back against pseudoscience like young earth creationism, but it does mean that there are boundaries. For example, what caused the Big Bang is a realm that we cannot enter. Theists say God created everything, however, this only begs the question as to who created God. Atheists say that there might be billions of universes, a sort of “multiverse.” Of course, that also just begs the question as to where the multiverse came from. So, at the end of the day, we merely have to be skeptical of any “grand theory” be it theistic or atheistic.<br />
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Concerning the religions on this small planet, specifically the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, I am as close to being an Atheist as I possibly can be as an Agnostic. I view their likelihood as I would with Greek or Roman myths. However, I also recognize that the Golden Rule found in all major faiths has tremendously helped progress our collective ethics. Stories like Jesus' Sermon on the Mount still have moral power and relevance. <br />
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I was a Christian for a long time. In fact, I only left it very recently, so I don’t view religious people in contempt or anything of the sort. As I said, I simply must be true to myself. I could easily spend pages upon pages dismantling Christianity and all its intellectual pretenses as a justification for my apostasy, but the truth is there are better things to do. I was born Jewish by heritage, an Atheist for most of my life, then a Christian, and now an Agnostic. However, these things don’t define me, nor should it anyone. The only thing that ought to matter is how we treat one another. If humanity fails to love everyone, even those they disagree with, then it won’t much matter who was right when we all kill each other.<br />
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<b>"I may say that the impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God; but whether this is an argument of real value, I have never been able to decide. I am aware that if we admit a first cause, the mind still craves to know whence it came from and how it arose. Nor can I overlook the difficulty from the immense amount of suffering through the world. I am, also, induced to defer to a certain extent to the judgment of many able men who have fully believed in God; but here again I see how poor an argument this is. The safest conclusion seems to me to be that the whole subject is beyond the scope of man's intellect; but man can do his duty." -Charles Darwin, 1873</b>Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-7199350839869914132017-10-20T23:52:00.001-04:002018-08-06T09:39:02.197-04:00What's Wrong With Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, after six long years in the making I finally got to play Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite. I also bought it new near launch, something I don’t really do anymore. However, Street Fighter V passed the Xbox One by, and I wasn’t going to miss the fourth iteration of my favorite Capcom brawler. It’s hard to believe MVC 3 came out back in 2011. Despite the 11 year wait from MVC 2, MVC 3 was just as crazy as its predecessor, with crazy 3 on 3 character fights, ridiculous air combos, screen filling super specials, and a simply wonderful stylized look to the levels that payed homage to both Capcom and Marvel’s rich heritage. That’s certainly a lot to live up to… so how’d it go this time?<br />
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Not too well. In fact, not well at all. Of the four features I just listed that made MVC my fighter of choice, only one of those things made it into this game: the super specials. To be fair, Street Fighter or even Mortal Kombat has super specials, so that alone is not going to save this game. I suppose at this point Capcom expects that I should be thankful that Ryu can still fire a large hadoken. Sorry, I’m not.<br />
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So, to go point by point here, let’s talk about the 3 on 3 fights. Whoops, I forgot… there are no 3 on 3 fights anymore. Instead, they’ve gone back to something that hasn’t been in a MVC game since the first one in 1998. I’ll merely remind you that’s nearly 20 years ago when the N64 and PS1 were in their prime. Imagine if Street fighter V just took their mechanics back to Street Fighter 1 in 1987 so as to not “frustrate new players.” It’s clearly an attempt to just make this a game for casuals as dictated by Disney. We don’t want the Angry Birds crowd to feel left out, now would we?<br />
<br />
Ah, and now about those air combos… oh, damn my poor memory. Shucks, they’re gone too. At least half of the fun of MVC 2 and 3 was finding a creative and natural flowing way you could knock your opponent in the air, bounce him around, and keep him there. It was an art of sorts. Now in Infinite you can barely get the guy in the air to do a few meager moves on him, which I guess makes sense now. You don’t want to hurt him too much… there’s only two characters left after all, right? There are a few air combos I’ve seen done online, but pretty much all of them boil down to just getting one guy in a corner and trapping him. This has simply been called “cornering” since the days of Street Fighter 2 and it’s just a really lazy strategy, even if it’s effective.<br />
<br />
Then we actually have the look of the game. Well, at least there are actual graphics on my television I guess, as opposed to a black screen. Progress? Of course, there is the issue as to whether the in-game graphics make me want to duct tape my eyes shut. The answer is yes, yes they do. Apparently, Capcom decided to go with the Unreal engine for the character models and levels this time… and good God do they look hideous. The characters look like lifeless mannequins, especially any character that’s even slightly stylized. Mega Man X and Zero for instance look like their blank doll eyes are going to steal your soul. Who the hell thought that anime-like characters such as these and others, would be best served by the engine that runs Gears of War? Someone’s doing bumps of cocaine at either Capcom or Disney… Hell, maybe they’re all going at it like Tony Montana in Scarface. Also, to be brief, the stages look completely bland, and they’re almost entirely focused on the Marvel universe. Boring.<br />
<br />
Let’s also talk about the infinity stones. First off, it’s obvious, but I do feel the need to say that the only reason this game was finally allowed to be made, was because Disney thought it would make a nice advertisement for their new Avengers: Infinity War movie. This is also why Disney refused to use any Marvel characters used in Fox movies, such as all the X-Men, The Fantastic Four, and Deadpool. To not at least have Wolverine in here is just shameful.<br />
<br />
So, what exactly do the infinity stones actually do in this game? Well, in theory they attempt to make up for a lack of a third character by giving you one of six different colored stones with various abilities. It actually sounds compelling on paper… until you realize when you go online that only one stone really matters: the soul stone. When the soul stone is powered up it can actually bring a downed character back to life. In addition, you can actually control them both simultaneously against the poor bastard who is about to have a train run on him. I once had a guy who revived his dead partner not one, but two times. It’s like playing whack-a-mole.<br />
<br />
Are there a few good things in Infinite? Yes, I don’t deny that. It’s nice to have Mega Man and Venom back. It’s also pretty cool that we finally have a story mode now. I even think the new villain of Ultron Sigma actually makes a lot of sense. That being said, this is not Marvel vs. Capcom to me. I honestly don’t know what this is. I suppose it’s trying to be its own thing, and I can accept that… However, whatever game this actually is, it is quite simply not for fans of MVC 2 or MVC 3. I’m also honestly disgusted at how corporatized this game is. Everything just reeks of Capcom sheepishly approaching Disney and routinely asking “Is this okay, Mr. Mouse?” I still wouldn’t call Infinite a terrible game, but I won’t be playing it anymore either. Maybe Dragon Ball FighterZ can save us all. Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-82179591168459606952017-06-01T16:25:00.000-04:002019-07-12T14:09:35.503-04:00Dragon Ball Super is the new GT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">Warning:
if you don’t watch Dragon Ball Z or Super, then this post will mean
extraordinarily little to you.</span></b></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">Now with that out of the way, we can get to the
meat of it. Let’s start with the basics… As silly as I know it sounds, Goku was
an early kind of Christ figure to me as a small child. His ethics were
profound, yet was an exceedingly simple man to understand. He believed in
forgiveness, was a loving father, and being remarkably powerful, he protected
the planet from evil.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">A character like Goku only really makes sense
when the stakes are high. Goku, being a martial artist who constantly wanted to
test his own limits, came into many situations where his back was against
the wall. Dragon Ball Z (really all the way up to Cell) also had Goku’s
friends assisting him to manage some outrageous wins for the good guys. </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">Just the first saga with the Saiyan invasion
had every one of “Earth’s Special Forces” pulling out all the stops against
Vegeta and Nappa. Yamcha,</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">Chiaotzu, Tien, and even the
mighty Piccolo fell in battle. Furthermore, if it hadn’t been for Gohan,
Krillin, and Yajirobe’s surprising act of bravery in slicing off Vegeta’s tail,
victory would never have been achieved. Also, when it all comes down to a coward
like Yajirobe, you know you’re cutting it close… The bottom line: people aside
from just Goku pitched in and the weight and urgency of the battle was lost to
no kid watching Toonami at the time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">Then you get to the Android Saga when a time
traveler named Trunks warns everybody that their future just went full
Terminator and they need to train like hell to stop it from happening. Not to
mention, just the appearance of Trunks, this awesome new character, and how he
killed Frieza by brutally chopping him into chunks with his sword and then
proceeding to blow those same bits up, was literally the coolest thing I had
yet seen on TV. Once again, these moments were filled with the question, “Are
they actually going to win?” Or just as important, “Is someone going to die and
not come back?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">Now… sigh… we get to Dragon Ball Super. I could honestly talk about DBZ all day and my favorite episodes (best one is
Save the World, just saying), but that would defeat the purpose of this post.
God in Heaven, where to even begin with this fan fiction? Well, let’s just
start from the beginning I suppose. While I did enjoy the two new movies in the
theater (Battle of Gods and Resurrection F) the problem is that Super literally
just adapts HALF of its show into being just drawn-out filler of the films. It’s
truly quite remarkable. With Dragon Ball Z you had filler like Garlic Jr. for
an obvious reason: They were still drawing the manga! So, this is the first
anime I’ve ever seen that has self-imposed filler because apparently the
writers for this show are a bunch of asshat monkeys… and please don’t give me,
“This was all from Akira Toriyama’s imagination.” It’s not. I don’t believe
that for a second. It’s just like GT because it has Toriyama’s name attached to
it but not much else. Maybe he did some character designs like Super Saiyan
Blue, similarly to how he also did the sketch for Super Saiyan 4 in GT.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">I could also rant and rave for days at how the
animation and line work looks like garbage… but I’ll simply say that if you
think the animation looks “modern” it’s only because they’re putting a CGI type sheen on everything. It’s not good, it just looks shiny.
Compare that to just the one scene of Vegeta raging out and beating the crap out
of Recoome… my God, the vivid frames of movement. It’s such a shame because
back in the day Toei had great hand drawn shows. Even Sailor Moon had tons of
detail.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">Another gripe with Dragon Ball Super is that
there’s no weight, there’s no gravity, there’s no urgency, and there’s no real
threat. The only time when Super isn’t stealing from their own films, is when
they decide to do the most boring and tiresome thing a shonen fighting anime
can do in the year 2017… Have another tournament of course! I mean, really?
Dragon Ball, Yu Yu Hakusho, G Gundam, and Hunter X Hunter have already done
this to death. It’s a proverbial dead horse where even his ghost has been
beaten to death. Are we genuinely still doing this Japan?</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">My final complaint is the worst one. They destroyed
Future Trunks and his entire reason for existing. It’s the equivalent of
dragging a beloved individual like Giordano Bruno through the streets and
burning him and his ideals to the stake. Trunks had lost almost everything. The
point for his continued heroism was that he still had people to protect. His
mother and the remnants of humanity counted on him as a savior. Super might
actually be worse than GT because it retconned one of my favorite characters
and now his universe is literally an empty hole. Gee, thanks Toei. The saddest
part of all is that the 20 out of 21 episode saga of “Goku Black” was actually
really good. I mean it. It had urgency and dramatic storytelling… it was truthfully
close to Dragon Ball Z. Then came episode 21. Oh Kami, what have you done? Trunks had decisively beaten the bad guy with a new type of Spirit
Bomb attack, and everyone was celebrating… then it all just gets
reversed with some kind of magic. I sure hope Trunks doesn’t have
PTSD now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;">I’m a huge fan of Dragon Ball Z. Sad as it may
be, DBZ and the N64 basically formed the basis for my childhood. So, it’s with
great and bitter disappointment that I must say Dragon Ball Super is not
for the Toonami generation. If you like bullshit like One Piece, maybe you’ll
find yourself at home. As for me, I’ll just keep watching Attack on Titan
Season 2.</span></div>
Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-282287868894578202017-02-22T14:40:00.000-05:002019-01-18T03:06:41.538-05:00Gay Marriage Once Again<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
I'm a Christian that supports gay marriage. Many teens are kicked out of their homes by their parents for coming out, or just as worse, told that they're "being sinful" and need to "suppress their urges." Also, remember when "reparative therapy" was a thing and Exodus International said you can "pray the gay away?" Too bad Alan Chambers, the founder of that entire organization, admitted he still had same-sex attractions himself, eventually shut down the practice, and even issued an apology. From the Kansas City Star in June 2013, “We’ve hurt people (and) caused years of undue suffering.” <br />
<br />
The recent study done by John Hopkins and Harvard University confirms what common sense told us all along: that being ostracized or hated for loving someone of the same gender makes gay teenagers more likely to commit suicide. In states that barred gay marriage before the 2015 Supreme Court ruling, the statistic for gay teens attempting suicide was 28.5%... do you know what it was once the law changed? 24.5%. Gay marriage is saving lives. <br />
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It's amazing, no church cares about divorce and adultery anymore (conservatives just elected a man as president that's been married three times), but homosexuality is apparently the big sin. In my own church, they allowed a divorced man to play in the worship team, but they would never allow a married gay man to do the same. It’s the Pharisees and the blind leading the blind all over again. How many times do we have to fight for civil rights and the church be on the wrong side of it?<br />
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In the antebellum South, there was a belief that all black people were actually descendants of Cain, and their black skin was there to outwardly show their sin. This “Curse and mark of Cain” was the actual worldview of white slaveowners. That’s how they conditioned themselves to be monsters to innocent people. They would also quote Ephesians 6:5 as it says, “Slaves obey your earthly masters...” Flash forward to 1958 and not much has changed… here’s Jerry Falwell doing his best racist rant he can muster, “If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God's word and had desired to do the Lord's will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision would never had been made. The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.” Yes, even after almost a hundred years since the end of slavery, the Southern Baptist Convention was still that stupid.<br />
<br />
I'm going to be real honest here. I don't care what Leviticus 18:22 says about not lying with another man, Leviticus also tells us to stone disobedient children and to kill a man who works on the Sabbath. These laws were specific for the Israelites 3000 years ago, not us. And now this moves us to literally the only other verse in the Bible that mentions homosexuality: Romans 1:26. Yes, it does say that God gave them over to unnatural passions… but again, we’re talking about a generation and a culture that existed 2000 years ago. Was Paul honestly talking about a devoted gay monogamous relationship here? Paul also says for women to be silent in church. Jesus (who never mentioned homosexuality, but did repeatedly talk about divorce and adultery) also tells us to turn the other cheek and to not match evil with evil. Last I checked, women are still talking in their churches in America. Last I checked, our so-called great “Christian nation” has been involved in numerous wars that have bombed children and butchered their tiny bodies. Doesn’t really sound like loving your enemy to me…<br />
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The bottom line is that you can easily handpick a verse in the Bible (which is not one book, but 66 books written all across ancient history) and say, “Aha, see! You’re wrong!” What’s harder to do is actually look at the heart of scripture… which can only be Jesus. Sometimes people can’t see the forest for the trees. It’s like the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus says the First Great Commandment is to “Love your God with all our hearts, souls, and minds.” Jesus then says simply this about the Second Great Commandment: "Love our neighbors as ourselves.” <br />
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I merely ask if we’re loving our neighbors as ourselves when we tell our gay brothers and sisters that they must live alone for the rest of their lives. That they can never be married or have a family. Many gay people are pillars of support in their own community, some even serve and die in the military. I am unapologetically liberal, but it’s as a Christian that I cannot say to a gay teen thinking of suicide, “Sorry buddy, but you’re just going to have to suck it up and deny your identity and live in solitude for the rest of your life… but don’t worry, Jesus loves ya though!” This is not love, and I just refuse to do it. If I’m wrong about believing in a God that loves us too much, then I suppose I’ll follow old Huck Finn’s example, “All right then, I’ll go to Hell.” <br />
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<b>"And these children that you spit on, as they try to change their worlds, are immune to your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through." -David Bowie, Changes</b>Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-20037456438861470092016-07-26T18:12:00.005-04:002020-10-09T21:30:33.922-04:00Star Trek Beyond<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EXXxrtkKFgs/V5ffjhKwhKI/AAAAAAAABBw/eA6BvHYJ1TwEFlRgHtCwAkSsAYnyCLO-gCLcB/s1600/Star%2BTrek.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EXXxrtkKFgs/V5ffjhKwhKI/AAAAAAAABBw/eA6BvHYJ1TwEFlRgHtCwAkSsAYnyCLO-gCLcB/s320/Star%2BTrek.jpeg" width="204" /></a></div><p>So, is Star Trek Beyond the Fast and Furious shit show we sci-fi fans all thought it was going to be? Well, a little yes, but mostly no. Surprisingly, the main problems with the film aren't poor actor chemistry or too many stunt scenes (although there are a lot of the latter). <br /> <br /> The essential trouble, if you could boil it down, would be the story. Quite honestly, it’s very clumsy bordering on being nonsensical. The main villain, Krall, is essentially the equivalent of a big dude whose shadow is looming over the city in an arcade game’s intro. Even his “plot twist” later is pointless. <br /> <br /> Unlike Khan’s character in 1982's Wrath of Khan, Krall has no legitimate beef with the Federation. Khan was marooned by Kirk on Ceti Alpha V, which then became a barren world. There most of Khan’s crew grew sick and died. Krall, on the other hand, is basically Tom Hanks from Cast Away. His revenge is akin to blaming a root for tripping him. <br /> <br /> All that being said, Beyond is a true summer blockbuster. Explosions dart the black recesses of space, and photon torpedoes bloom as miniature suns. Hell, even the Beastie Boys have an actual plot inclusion that will sure to be a crowd-pleaser. <br /> <br /> But what makes this still Star Trek to me are the characters and their love for one another. A moment between Spock and Bones on their unspoken friendship really got to me. As Zachary Quinto’s Spock mourns his predecessor’s passing, the audience feels a sense of reverence. Just one question: How many times are they going to blow up the Enterprise? </p>Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-40369941310787006232016-06-28T11:17:00.008-04:002020-10-09T21:35:24.417-04:00An Anime Dark Age<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kdjiLiXl09E/V3KU1H4yThI/AAAAAAAABAM/wOootCF4sh0Ma1bLz-cSux06jtscwGIeQCLcB/s1600/Toonami.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kdjiLiXl09E/V3KU1H4yThI/AAAAAAAABAM/wOootCF4sh0Ma1bLz-cSux06jtscwGIeQCLcB/s320/Toonami.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>There's always been slow years in any entertainment medium, or even in a historical context. That’s just life. However, with the topic of anime for the last ten years or so, I have to say that quality products are down to a minimal trickle. The age of Akira has passed. <br /> <br /> Like any complex phenomenon, multiple factors are at work. But first I’d simply like to highlight what anime used to mean for me. I was born in 1989, so while much groundbreaking anime had already come out, it wasn’t really until 1998 or thereabouts that I actually recognized what anime was. You see, collectively we as a culture had been watching anime since the 60’s with Astro Boy and the 70’s with Speed Racer… but we all just thought that they were drawn weird. Even Voltron in the 80’s suffered with this assumption. <br /> <br /> By 1998 Pokemon finally came out, and with that came the licensed anime. Pokemon, as ridiculously simplistic as it was, was the first show to have all the hallmarks of anime on American television. Then the floodgates opened on Cartoon Network. Ronin Warriors, Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, and of course, Dragon Ball Z. <br /> <br /> Anime back then had humor, sure. But if you look at the overall arc of its style from the 80’s to the end of the 90’s it mostly had one thing in common: being badass and having an unapologetic macho streak. Being the non-historian that I am, I suppose I’d place the beginning and end to awesome anime as a general trend from 1984’s Fist of the North Star to 1998’s Cowboy Bebop. <br /> <br /> Then you get into the stuff they never dared show on Toonami, which ahead of its time as it was, still was a children’s programming block. Radical content like Akira, Ninja Scroll, Ghost in the Shell, Vampire Hunter D, Demon City Shinjuku, and Wicked City blew away my teenage mind when I brought them home from Blockbuster. It wasn’t just the bloodshed, it was the manic yet masterful way these titles were drawn. Not with fancy computer algorithms either, but hand-drawn frame by frame just like the great Disney animators of old. <br /> <br /> Now with big exceptions like the Hellsing Ultimate reboot and Attack on Titan, I really think mainstream anime has lost its way. No longer can I show a bunch of friends a new anime and expect their jaws to hit the floor… instead, I can expect a shrug. Which is fitting, because that’s what Japan itself seems to be doing. Katsuhiro Otomo and Satoshi Kon have been replaced with Ouran High School Host Club and Lucky Star. Unfortunately, this is not an aberration, it’s the status-quo now. <br /> <br /> I’m not that smart, but if I could, I’d give Japan some advice. That being, stop overworking your animators like glorified sweatshops and listen to their creative input for once. Stop producing garbage for the lowest common audience. Yes, stupid high school comedies might be good for business on paper, but it’s a dead end. Go back to your roots. Don’t just make everything CGI. Tell a story worth telling. Finally, be badass again. </p>Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-44977668462803516952016-03-10T20:47:00.004-05:002018-04-21T02:29:17.139-04:00The public death of American Christianity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UxT8mwXyylY/VuIjhX5l8XI/AAAAAAAAA-4/MfyEdDfFvvo70l2qNJg2I6bDeWdPqIIWQ/s1600/Trump%2BHitler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UxT8mwXyylY/VuIjhX5l8XI/AAAAAAAAA-4/MfyEdDfFvvo70l2qNJg2I6bDeWdPqIIWQ/s320/Trump%2BHitler.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Words have meanings. That’s as simple a fact as admitting that some things are so and some things are not so. In 2016, however, the definition of a “Christian” has officially become nonsensical and irrelevant in the United States. Obviously, there are always gray areas… probably hundreds of them. Yet with the inevitable rise of Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, all rules have been broken.<br />
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Quite honestly, the religious right or “moral majority” has always been hypocritical to some degree. This is due to the founder of the movement, Jerry Falwell, being largely unaware of basic theology in a way that other evangelicals like C.S. Lewis and Billy Graham never were. These cracks were evident from the 80’s. Civil rights for minorities was shunned, wars were lobbied for, and the rich were made richer and the poor were made poorer. When you have an ignorant teacher, you create ignorant students.<br />
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This long assembly line of pious stupidity helped create the America we are held witness to today. The tragedy of it all is that conservatism, and yes, even the GOP have a proud history. While the two parties did fracture ideologically in 1964, it is a fundamental truth that the “man who freed the slaves,” Abraham Lincoln, was indeed a Republican. How far they’ve gone into the Wilderness!<br />
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Even men like Ronald Reagan, someone I thought was dramatically overrated, kept the Oval Office dignified. When Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire,” it wasn’t just an insult. He was protecting something noble. He talked about us being a “City on a Hill,” a Biblical phrase his Christian audience well understood.<br />
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If Donald Trump had been president then, I honestly have little doubt that he would have engaged in MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction). And, quite frankly, I wouldn’t have blamed him for it. That’s because Donald Trump isn’t trying to protect something near and dear to him. He is trying to win… by scorched earth if he has to. When Trump says that we as Americans have to collectively lower our moral standards and torture to fight enemies like ISIS, he is saying he doesn’t care if he fights evil with evil.<br />
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The bottom line is that Donald Trump is not a Christian. While we are rightly admonished in the Gospel for talking about a speck of sawdust in a brother’s eye while we are stricken with a plank in our own, we are also called to speak out against false prophets. If Donald Trump is just a “politically incorrect” truth-teller, then I’m Donald Duck. He wants pure power.<br />
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When Trump says he’s never asked God for forgiveness, when he calls Mexicans “killers and rapists,” when he refuses to denounce the Ku Klux Klan, when he mocks our veterans, when he says that we need to ban all Muslims from America and even create a “database” to identify them, and when he says he wants to actually target the wives and children of terrorists, I have a Biblical duty to call out this monster.<br />
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I will never be a conservative. I am a liberal and proud of it. That being said, if you voted for Reagan or look up to Lincoln, and call Jesus as your savior, you cannot vote for Donald Trump. It’s better for you and Christendom that the Republican Party lose the White House than lose its soul instead.<br />
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<b>“Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.” -Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf</b><br />
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<b>“Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy’s hatred, the greater his need of love. Be his enmity political or religious, he has nothing to expect from a follower of Jesus but unqualified love. In such love there is no inner discord between private person and official capacity. In both we are disciples of Christ, or we are not Christians at all.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship</b>Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861326936874697825.post-87666797450930855872015-06-23T09:20:00.001-04:002020-10-09T21:38:33.287-04:00Gay Marriage is Biblical<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hfegULI06j4/VYlcc1RJbZI/AAAAAAAAA88/GTVaTy9ONt8/s1600/Gay%2BPride.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hfegULI06j4/VYlcc1RJbZI/AAAAAAAAA88/GTVaTy9ONt8/s320/Gay%2BPride.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Progress is a good thing. As a black man, would you rather be enslaved in 1860’s antebellum South, or live free in the modern day Union? Would a woman rather subsist without the right to vote in 1910, or flourish in today’s America? These are easy questions for a reason. That reason, put simply, is that humans can improve themselves. We can become nobler. <br /> <br /> The controversy of gay marriage never bothered me as an atheist. From that perspective, as long as there wasn’t a victim, it was okay. However, since becoming a struggling Christian, morality has become stickier. The issue of holiness and purity has thrown a wrench into my thinking. For a while, I was actually against it, maintaining that gays could only be Christians if they didn’t act on their feelings. Then I started actually thinking. <br /> <br /> Similar to interracial marriage in the 1960’s, gay marriage has been called “unnatural” and “ungodly” by conservatives. I have seen compilations of racist and anti-gay quotes on websites with their sources and dates taken out… and you literally can’t tell them apart. They’re the same argument, just from a different era. <br /> <br /> Are there verses in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, that speak against same-sex attraction? Yes, I admit this. Perhaps the most quoted is Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” Yet Leviticus also instructs us to stone our children for disobedience. We don’t follow this stipulation anymore. <br /> <br /> Beyond that, what is the core of the Gospel? It is Jesus and His love for us all. Constantly throughout the New Testament, Jesus contradicts the rule obsessed, outwardly focused Pharisees. When a woman is brought to Jesus for adultery to be stoned, Jesus forgives her sins instead, a revolutionary act. Is it possible that the Church’s teachings on gay marriage are a little too similar with the Southern Baptist Convention’s support for slavery and racial segregation? <br /> <br /> But what really changed my mind and cemented my beliefs about gay rights was this: I knew gay people. Once you know someone personally, it’s harder to hate them, or deny them rights. I’ve always been a liberal in the truest sense of the word; I believe in liberty for everyone. To me, Matthew 7:16 is proof alone that gay marriage is moral and even biblical. “You will know them by their fruits.” <br /> <br /> Think about it. By 2015 haven’t we seen tender and loving same-sex couples? Haven’t we seen children being adopted by gays and being cherished? Haven’t we seen gays bravely serve in the military? I’ve seen it. The truth is that if gay marriage was evil, you would know it. I think love is love, and I believe God agrees.
Alex Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12514020300778466215noreply@blogger.com0