Justice?

My Government teacher has an odd idea of justice. He thinks that murderers should be killed in the same way they killed their victims. Every Friday we go over current events. He picks out a few news articles he thinks are interesting, and overviews them with the class. Then on Monday, we come in with a typed summary of the article and our opinion on it. Well, every once in a while, we'll go over a murder or something.

A week or two ago, we went over this story, about Michael Brewer, a 15 year old in Florida who was set on fire by three other 15 year olds and a 13 year old. The Government teacher is a very friendly guy, and he just loves to involve us in these things. So he says to us, "Well quite honestly kids, I think every one of them should get the death penalty. And not only that, but I think they ought to be set on fire and burned, burned for the same duration they let Michael Brewer burn." Then he turns to us and says very enthusiastically, "Don't you think?" And of course everyone nods vigorously and shots "Yeah, yeah!" All that. This doesn't just happen once. He did it with the story of the gang rape of a young girl during homecoming, with numerous stabbings, kidnappings, hangings, all sorts of stuff.

I can only be silent, staring at him in disbelief as he tells us that he personally would like to be the one to stab a man 7 times in the chest. Should we make a separate branch of the Court System, or perhaps of the armed forces? An organization of highly paid and trained murderers? Should we be installing torture chambers in prisons? Lethal Injection is one thing, gruesome mutilation before they are allowed to die is quite another.

He has even said so himself! "Laws are rules that society has agreed to follow. Those who go against these rules are labeled criminals. What do we do with them? We remove them from society, for the betterment of society." His words. Those are his words. Don't tell me you can't see a contradiction there. We imprison people, or in drastic cases kill them, for the safety and betterment of society. Not as some arbitrary act of petty revenge. No matter what sort of personal satisfaction you might receive from your cruel and macabre punishments, the justice system is not meant to be a vehicle of revenge.

Fun Times

The world dances through the sky all day, it must be having fun. The clouds put on costumes and act out what might be, they must be having fun. The stars shine with an optimism unparalleled, and must be having fun. The birds sing sweet songs of promises yet to be made. Of poems yet to be written. Of dreams yet to be dreamt. Surely, they must be having fun. Can you say the same?

Chosen Ones?

“If I wasn’t right, I’d value what you said a lot more.” – James Golden

Where do you think that quote is from? I’ll give you a minute to come up with something…If you said an argument with a Jewish kid, then you’re right! Yup. You heard it. He’d value what you said a lot more if he wasn’t right. But he is, so, too bad. It started as him telling us his conversation with a rabbi about kosher living that he’d mentioned on facebook (I asked him) and he proceeded to explain. It was pretty long. Oh, and my brother was there to. It was a back and forth thing after a while. You know, we say something, he say something. My bro and I had really different approaches. That’s what I think is sometimes bad about more than one nonbeliever in the same argument – there’s so many things wrong with each religious statement, there are so many ways to disagree with it. And we covered a lot of topics too. All the classics. You know, determinism, purpose, creation, the Old Testament, all that good stuff. I have a harder time staying calm during these things than my brother. He’s awfully good. I think a way me and my brother are different is that, my brother doesn’t need to do all my research and study and findings. Because he can just look at the basics. “What was the purpose of religion, originally? Why do people believe the things that they do?” And so forth. Tis fun times. Near the end of our talk, James said, and I’m paraphrasing, ‘You know what, you guys are right. And I totally agree with what you are saying. It would work for every religon, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, whatever. It just doesn’t work with Judaism, because we’re right.

So remember that, if you are ever in doubt. Atheism is the right choice, unless you’re talking about being Jewish. Because they’re right. They are the chosen ones! He says that sometimes too. Reminds me more than a little of Anakin from Star Wars. “I AM THE CHOSEN ONE!”

Past's Troubles

Given the urgency of the present, and the suspense of the future, how can you hold on to the past's troubles?

The Changing Seasons

The world neither begins nor ends with the changing of the seasons. It just changes.

Neutral Moral Values and The 99

Two things.

1. About a week or so ago, I woke up and came into the kitchen, where my mom was doing her crossword. We talked for a bit, you know, small talk and all that, when she told me that she had forgotten to wake up my brother. He was to do some work for one of my uncles (I've called him Tom before), who lives somewhat far away. Mom was going that way anyway, for a farmer's market thing, so she said she could wake him up and give him a ride. Well, the time came, and she didn't. Went to the farmer's market, got back, and remembered. Oops. So she wakes him up and he has to go all the way there on his bike, through pouring rain. She couldn't take him, had to go to work.

Anyway, she asked me to text him that she was sorry. I laughed, and sent it, while at the same time sarcastically commenting "Oh, yeah, I bet that'll make him feel so much better." Light chuckling from my mom.
"Okay, I'll do a few "Hail Mary's and Hail Father's".
Sorry about the long setup, but it's all been leading up to this.

"That's something that always bothered me. Do something bad? It's okay, show us that you believe what we believe enough and it'll all be better." And then, in a little funny voice I did a little acting skit. Short, barbed, and somewhat mean.

My mom, who as I said grew up a catholic, was uncomfortable with this. She asks me what she's asked numerous times before (all have been answered with good sense and reason that she can't help but agree with), "Why do you have to make fun of it? Just because you don't believe what they believe doesn't mean you shouldn't respect them." I explain that I make fun of things, not just because they're ridiculous, not just because I think they're wrong, but because they're immoral.

"Immoral?" She asks. Yes, immoral. It's punishing people who have done nothing. Saying "You will go to hell. You will be burned and tortured for eternity. You are a BAD person." All you have to do to fix that is say, "I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior." That, by itself, is not a moral statement at all. It has a neutral moral value. Nada. None. It isn't good, it isn't bad. And yet it is made out to be the ultimate "Good" thing. That's what is wrong. It is wrong to assign moral value to something that is totally neutral in that area.

2. The 99: The Ultimate Near Death Experience. If you're under 10, you can't go see it. If you're under 11, you can't go on the website. Not recommended for pregnant women or people with heart conditions. They use a whole bunch of strobe lights. Sounds like a pretty scary haunted house-type deal, eh? Well, it is. There's even a theme to it! From the website:

On average, 99 young people between the ages of 10 and 25 die every day in the United States.

THE 99 is a walkthrough theater that graphically reenacts the five leading causes of death in teenagers and young adults. Many of these deaths are influenced by drugs or alcohol and a vast majority of them can be avoided.

THE 99 is a state-of-the-art production designed to portray the very real consequences of poor decisions that claim almost 37,000 young lives every year. The production is not based on fear or scare tactics, but rather is based solely on reality with each room designed from real life situations.

The catch? It IS based on fear and scare tactics. At the end, you are basked in a holy light, and JESUS SAVES YOU! WOOOOOOOOOOOOH! That's right. Run by a church. My guess is the Catholic Church, but I could be wrong. Anyway, before I knew this, I had two tickets, and my cousins like being scared, so I asked them if they wanted them. It was only afterwards my brother told me about it, and I did some more research.

Indecision

If you're going to make a decision, even a bad one, make it yourself. Never let indecisiveness make a choice for you.

The Case for My Uncle

So, my uncle...have I told you about my uncle? He's called Dave in this post, "Religious Debate". Pretty much everyone on my mom's side of the family was raised Catholic, but of all his siblings, he's the only one who stayed with the church. Actually...my aunt (his sister) is catholic as well. Forgot about that. Ah, well. That's still three out of five (two uncles and my mom) who are now something else. Anyway, he's quite devote, and usually never even thinks of questioning anything. He's not a hateful or spiteful person in anyway, however. He's very caring, despite never being very involved in my upbringing like some other family members. I see him as your average, middle class joe. A supervisor at GM, a nice suburban house, a wife and two kids (both grown and gone now). He lives a sort of 1950s American dream. But anyway, he knows that my family and I aren't "believers", and he worries. When he was a child and even a young man, Hell seemed a perfectly acceptable idea. Certainly no one he knew was going to hell. Hell was a place for the other people. Different people, not like normal people. Faced with reality however, he is frightened. His own sister, burning in hell! Two young boys, his nephews!

So he tries to convince us sometimes, as evidenced by the first post I introduced him in. I feel kind of bad for him, so wanting all his beliefs to be true, while desperately trying to save us from the very punishment they created for us. I saw him almost cry once. And yet, at the same time, I'm a little angry at him. Frustrated. I know I shouldn't feel that way, but I do. Still, he's my uncle, and he's a good man. Still, he's my uncle, and he's a good man. He dropped off a book today, filled with Christian apologetics. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, "The Case for Christ", by Lee Strobel? I've read it before. It's complete and utter drivel. Strobel has written several books in this same vein, with "The Case for Faith", "The Case for a Creator", and whatnots. They're all very similar. I haven't talked to him yet, but I was thinking about what I might say to him. This is what I've come up with: Strobel was a Christian when he wrote this, for more than 20 years. He’s a pastor who’s authored a bunch of pro-Christian books, and he has a son who’s a biblical studies graduate. When you go on a search for the truth, you shouldn't be convinced you already have the truth. Then, I plan to point him to what Strobel says in part of his conclusion, after insisting the Jesus is our Lord and Savior for a few pages.

"maybe questions still linger for you. Perhaps I didn’t address the objection that’s uppermost in your mind. Fair enough. However, I trust that the amount of information reported in these pages will at least have convinced you that it’s reasonable — in fact, imperative — to continue your investigation."

I will then ask him, "How about you? Have you investigated? Or just accepted what you've been told? Ask questions. Maybe the answers will surprise you."

I'm positive that he has not actually read this book. He doesn't need to. He already agrees with the premise. My uncle's never been a reader.

The End - But Not Really

Stories never really end, we just stop telling them.

Land Down Under

So, got back from two weeks in Australia today! Well, technically yesterday, I suppose. It was absolutely amazing. I can't even attempt to go into details here, there's just too much to say. I did keep a pretty detailed journal, though, so I think I'm good with not forgetting anything. I was one of forty-two students on this trip, 31 of which were from Texas. Another 7 from Florida. Only 4 of us, including me, from up in the the midwest. So, needless to say, I have a few interesting stories. For example, this awesome kid who wants to be a doctor, and gave little lectures on evolution at the wildlife sanctuary, who is also an ultra believer that's going to get a barbed wire cross tattooed on his neck. Nice contrast, huh? Or the Republican Buddhist Asian supremacist, who yelled very loudly on the first day, "Abortion is murder! It is not a right!" And he has this annoying habit of blanking out whenever anyone disagrees with anything he says. You'll start to speak, and after you're done he'll say something like "I'm sorry, what did you say? I kind of blanked out there." It's willful blocking of any opposing viewpoints. Oh, yeah. That was just heaps of fun. But at least I was told I was going to hell only 3 times that trip! Thought it would be a lot more. Yeah, I was aiming on making friends and having fun, so I pretty much tried to dodge every bullet I could. There were a few other things. Huge, blatant racism. A poor understanding of basic politics (from a kid whose dream is to be a senator - eek!) But on the most part, I met a lot of cool people, made a lot of good friends. I enjoyed it.

Oh, and Happy July 4th! I'm going to a party sometime this evening, firecrackers and all that.