Strong Atheism

Last night I did a little reading at strongatheism.net. I consider myself a weak atheist, but I'm curious, and open to other ideas. I don't have a network of atheists that I can talk to, so if I want to hear another perspective on the topic, I use google.

I need to read more before I can truly decide what I think about what they are saying. From what I read, they strongly believe that science and logic are useful for learning about our universe. I agree. However, if there was a god, would science and logic be useful tools for learning about it? If there truly were a god as infinite and powerful as the one that the Christians, Muslims or Jews tell us about, I don't think that science and logic would apply to it in the way that we use them on normal concepts and objects. By it's very nature, such a god would defy these laws. In fact, such a god would be the originator of these rules, and would not need to adhere to them.

One of the articles that I read was here: http://www.strongatheism.net/library/atheology/apathetic_god_paradox/. In short, humans are motivated by need. More powerful beings need less, and would be motivated to do less. An infinite god would have everything, and be motivated by nothing, and thus would accomplish nothing, not even creation. Thus a god did not create the universe.

Ironically, this reminds me of a book that I read in High School, back when I called myself a Christian. The title is "The Sovereignty of God" by A.W. Pink. Back then, it blew my mind. It basically says something very similar, bible passages to support the claim. Pink's conclusion was very different of course. He basically said that God needed nothing, and could not be changed, moved, or anything of the sort. God Chose creation because it pleased him for reasons that we can not fathom. According to Pink, god exists outside of time, so the words, 'pleased', 'chose', and 'reasons' are insufficient describe this 'action', but nonetheless, it is true. According to Pink, the readers response to this knowledge should be worship.

This doesn't prove the author of the article wrong of course. It just shows a different reaction to the same concept.

The article doesn't seem to cover the concept of 'lesser' gods. The kind that the Romans and the Greeks worshiped for instance. The way I understand these gods is that they weren't infinite, just much more powerful than us. I think that this is important to note, since the vast majority of gods that man has dreamed up fall into this category.

Anyway, I believe strongly in our senses, reason, logic and science. They are all we really have for learning about the universe around us. However, in my opinion, the folks at strongatheism.net have elevated these concepts to the same level that theists place their gods.

Went to a show

I'm mostly writing this to get into the habit of writing. I may eventually have a focus for this blog, but for now, I'm just going to babble things that probably aren't interesting to anyone but me.

I saw (in order of appearance) High on Fire, Converge, Mastodon, and Dethklok. I had never heard High on Fire before, and although they put on a decent show, I don't have much interest in them.

Converge, as always was amazing. They were a mismatch for this show however, they couldn't move the crowd much, and I even heard a few people-- expressing their displeasure with enthusiasm. I was very disappointed about that; They were the only band that I left the bleachers (and my girlfriend) for, in the hopes of joining a circle pit. No one moshed of course, they just kind of stood there. People complained about Jacob's vocals. I can appreciate that, he doesn't really sing or anything, he just kind of barks. He definitely makes up for it though with stage presence and enthusiasm. The man was all over the place. In fact, they were the only band that was very animated. I guess this is the kind of show that I am accustomed to. In a way, they seemed like a bull in a china closet. Although the other bands were intense, and many people would be shocked to hear someone call any metal show a 'china closet' let alone a show that was headlined by a "death metal band", I don't think that people were prepared for their level of intensity. I can't wait to get their new CD. On a different note, I still miss Dalbec. I really liked his influence in the band.

Mastodon was a surprise. I had never seen them perform live before, but I am a long time fan. I don't know if they've had a line up change or not, but they sound completely different. The vocals were clean, the music was often slow and dreamlike, and they used the large display system behind them to show weird psychedelic images, and what looked like clips from very bad vintage horror films. It was more stoner music than anything else. I was actually getting kind of bored (maybe because I don't smoke) until their encore. They switched from moody to outright brutal with some of their older music. They got rid of the bizarre imagery and replaced it with old album art, they picked up the pace and the vocalist switched from dreamy to downright pissed. This made my day. Although they were more or less stationary, their performance was impressive and perfectly executed.

Dethklok is Dethklok. This was the first time I had seen them play. In my opinion, Dethklok is a mediocre metal band. The cartoons, and comedy are also mediocre. However, when you combine them, they are a force to be reckoned with. The thing about them is that I've known a lot of metal heads that act just like the idiot cartoon characters in the band, and that is why I like them so much. The only reason they are funny to me is that on some level I can relate to some of it. After seeing them live, I like them even a little more. The vocalist is amazing (in the metal sense), and the music is intense, and sometimes even interesting. In between songs, they had little cartoon shorts that were funny for me, but I think that most people would find them grotesque and stupid. In truth, Metallocolypse is stupid and grotesque, but that's what it's all about, making fun of a subculture that really deserves it.

Testing

This is a test, only a test. I may actually start blogging, but I need to become familiar with the tools first.