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Dark Ages

Entry 518, on 2007-04-23 at 14:57:34 (Rating 5, Religion)

I know its not considered particularly appropriate to talk about the "Dark Ages" now, and that we now know that that period of history was not as "dark" as popularly portrayed, but there is no doubt that prior to the Renaissance, and especially the Enlightenment, there was a huge slow-down in human progress, largely due to adherence to dogma instead of free enquiry.

Its also easy to blame everything on the insistence of the Christian church on following a dogmatic faith instead of trying to pursue real truth (and not their interpretation of what truth might mean). The church was responsible for some good things during that period as well, and also preserved some of the knowledge of the Classical period, so they weren't totally bad.

Where is this cross between an anti-Christian rant and a rather abbreviated history lesson leading? Well probably nowhere, but I just felt the need to express my outrage at how human progress was held back for a thousand years by a bunch of self-serving, corrupt zealots calling themselves the Christian Church.

This all stemmed from (you guessed it) listening to a podcast this morning. It was one of the excellent series done by the BBC's Radio 4 called "In Our Time". This particular episode examined the origins of anaesthetics. A key element of the discussion was the repression of the use of anaesthetics because of religious belief. The church taught that pain was part of God's plan and that the pain of childbirth (for example) should be endured, not lessened.

What a complete prat and a total doofus God is! Not only does he stuff up his creation of humans so that all sorts of pain occurs, but then he tells us not to try to avoid it. Honestly, if I thought he existed I would still rebel against him anyway, because he really is just an evil dictator. So what do you think of that, my Christian friends! Thank you for listening. That is the end of this rant!

Comment 1 (635) by Anonymous on 2007-05-10 at 09:08:21:

Wow, that was fun to listen to. Well, if there was no pain, you would not learn how to get through anything. So there you go my atheist friend!

Comment 2 (637) by OJB on 2007-05-10 at 16:24:41:

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I spend a reasonable amount of time each day thinking about and writing these entries so its always good to hear where someone has actually enjoyed reading them. But wait a minute... you aren't being sarcastic are you? :)

So pain is a good thing, is it. Does that mean that Stalin, Hitler, and all the other people who brought death and misery to the world were actually doing us all a favour?

Comment 3 (644) by Anonymous on 2007-05-11 at 13:51:49:

Well, I was not being sarcastic, I actually do enjoy reading your blogs even though I might disagree with some, but doesn't everybody? I do appreciate you putting your opinions on here. It is fun.

Pain is a good thing. God put them here on earth for a reason. Though they are bad, I think we learned alot from them and now know alot more. But, what they did was completely wrong, it has made us stronger in the end.

Comment 4 (645) by OJB on 2007-05-11 at 14:44:47:

OK, so you can't lose with an attitude like that! If good things happen we thank God for all the good stuff he's done. If bad things happen we thank God because the bad things made us stronger. Tell me, is there anything that could happen which would weaken your faith in God?

Comment 5 (646) by Anonymous on 2007-05-12 at 08:24:23:

Yes, there is. Doubt is one huge one and I had huge doubt for over a year but I have come to realize that it is true and there is no reason to doubt. People also can weaken your faith because they can try to tell you it is not true or something like that. Another thing is ourselves, we can really fool ourselves into anything. So, yes, there are alot of things that weaken our faith in God, but if you endure, it gets stronger in the end. After my doubt, I now stronger in my faith and am a "rock." :)

Comment 6 (648) by OJB on 2007-05-12 at 13:30:07:

OK, I thought I was implying that I would like to know what it is that would cause you to doubt the existence of god. You've told me that there is/was something but you never told me what it was.

Its this unreasonable certainty that I was complaining about in the original blog entry. People were so convinced they were right that they didn't bother trying to figure out what was really true. It was only after the Renaissance and Enlightenment that people realised that we can figure out the truth by experimenting and observing instead of just accepting what someone else said.

And we have never looked back. Our lives have been revolutionised by science. Where do you think your computer and the Internet came from? They certainly didn't appear as the result of a prayer meeting, you know!

Comment 7 (659) by Anonymous on 2007-05-30 at 13:36:56:

I know computers and the Internet did not come from a prayer meeting. God gave us the brains to figure these things out and science has revolutionised our lives, but not in all of them.

Comment 8 (660) by OJB on 2007-05-30 at 23:36:19:

If God gave us the brains to figure things out why is the natural result of using those brains the conclusion that he doesn't exist? There is a strong correlation between intelligence and non-belief in God. And if God gave us brains and using them tells us he doesn't exist, then why does he send us to Hell when we reach that conclusion?

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