Cerebrum Society

(IQ 130+)

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My Religious Beliefs in a Nutshell (Christian Deism)

This is the symbol of Christian Deism--my belief system. I won't go into detail about my religious background right now (that will follow in a later post), but I will nonetheless outline the essentials of my theology--the culmination of a debate that has raged inside my head since high school.

Let me be clear: I am NOT trying to convert anyone to my manner of thinking or anything of the sort--merely sharing my own battle with faith and reason that occupied many thoughtful evenings. In short, I hope to encourage anyone who's dealing with similar issues, engage your curiosity, and hopefully enrich your own experiences. Thus I procede...

My Beliefs

1. God exists and created the universe (by means of evolution).
2. All human beings are born with God's law (morality) imprinted in their hearts and minds, which he wants us to act upon.
3. All people can know God through practicing their God-given morality and reason, which better ourselves and humanity.
4. All morality can be summed up by Christ's greatest commandment: "Love your God, and love your neighbor."
5. All peoples are loved by God: Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Deists, Agnostics, gay, straight, black, white, yellow, red, brown, Republicans, Democrats, religious and non-religious...
6. God has not abandoned the world, miracles are possible, and faith is the recognition of God's presence in our lives. (Faith and the promise of God's involvement in my life at key moments have made me who I am today--I could not and would not live in a world without them).
7. God does not send people to everlasting punishment because they did not believe "correctly" in something; this puts God into a box.* I like to think that God is a lot more understanding and merciful than many give him credit for. (However, I do believe that people of all faiths will be held accountable in some way for their actions in accepting or rejecting their innate sense to love and care for others).
8. I believe Christ and God are one. That being said, I don't believe that God rejects people if they don't share my belief, or if they have a different interpretation of who Jesus was. I also believe that God has manifested himself in all cultures throughout human history--be it: through reason, through nature, through faith, or through an individual (the Buddha, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, Dante's "good pagans"...)
9. The greatest way for us to worship God is to truly love him and to love our fellow humans. That is true religion--not incense, hierarchies of priests, liturgy, rituals or chants.

*Having been told by Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals, Greek Orthodox, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, non-Denominationalists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and countless others that I'm wrong in my theology and probably going to hell...makes me think that noone has all the answers. If I listened to half of these people, we're all going to hell if you think about it. :P Again, God is a lot more merciful and understanding of the human brain than most people are.

So, there you have it. In my next note on religion I plan on offering a background of my own experiences with faith growing up, the debates I listened to, and how I arrived at my present conclusions. Peace and love be with you all.

7 Future Scientific Discoveries

Science has revealed so much to us about ourselves, our universe, and our common origins. Significant developments have already occurred in the last nine years--specifically the discovery of “dark flow”, the celestial phenomenon that is only beginning to be understood by Earth’s leading astronomers. Another notable success was the Phoenix Mars Mission, a voyage of discovery that uncovered considerable amounts of liquid water in Mars’s northern polar region and deepened our interest in the possibilities of extra-terrestrial life (prehistoric or modern)--not to mention the recent discovery of methane gas effusing from the Martian surface. So, given the status of the 21st Century as the age of science fiction and unimaginable technology, I will list 7 developments that I (God willing) hope to see within the next 50 years:

1)Cures for cancer, diabetes, and aids. i.e. these 3 diseases claim more lives and cause more health problems than any other--applying reason and empirical analysis to these problems will render positive results, much like antibiotics in the 19th Century and the polio vaccine in the 20th

2)Ending of world hunger through aeroponics, hydroponics, and genetically-engineered crop resources. i.e. botanical technologies able to produce foodstuffs so nutritious and enormous they could (if properly funded) feed the world several times over are now available--produced without pesticides or chemicals harmful to the environment, these green agro technologies will revolutionize our lives forever

3)Discovery of the ultimate theory of astrophysics--what Stephen Hawking calls “The Mind of God” i.e. this would reveal to us how essentially everything works and operates on a subatomic level, allowing us to peer into the most essential parts of what makes us ourselves--it would become the ultimate natural philosophy, eclipsing any speculation about matter ever conjectured--and for me personally, it would be a fascinating look into the complexities of God’s creation

4)Human being on Mars i.e. the landing of a human on another planet is close to being within our grasp--as Mars has always been our next-door neighbor, landing on the Red Planet seems a fitting end to our isolation 4.5 billion years in the making--the scientific data collected (and possible discovery of life) would be priceless for human knowledge

5)Increased understanding of human genetic origins i.e. studies like the Human Genome Project, the Genographic Project (of which I am a participant) and many others have revealed that we are all related, descended from a group of Africans who lived roughly 60,000 years ago--increased understanding of our common origins promotes tolerance among people and nations alike and furthers the march of reason

6)Creation of random particles from particle accelerator i.e. by employing particle accelerators like the massive facility at CERN, we will gain an insight into what was going on at the moment of the Big Bang--at this point in time, our math and science can describe the whole of cosmic history, save for the moment of creation--learning about how particles generate from nothing will be an intimate portrait with God’s primeval physics

7)Acceptance of scientific discoveries by the public at large i.e. to this day, many opponents of science argue that it is incompatible with religion, and therefore cannot and should not be accepted--this is dangerous because it stymies the development of individuals (young in particular) who may one day provide us with vital knowledge for our civilization--Kenneth R. Miller, an evolutionary biologist/Roman Catholic has worked tirelessly to bridge the gap between science and religion, arguing that scientific discovery further promotes his belief in God--the same can be said of former atheist philosopher Antony Flew, who abandoned atheism because modern findings suggest that, in his own words, some sort of “intelligence” was involved

Sapere Aude! (Dare to Know)--Motto of the European Enlightenment