More about Stephen Hawking's Nonsense

Here is a link to a good article. I particularly like the expression, "Atheistic faith masquerading as science".

Another article on the nonsense by Stephen Hawking is here.

Corporate Double-Talk

Listen, don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of businesses making a profit. Also, I don't hate the rich (after all how many poor people can give you a job, huh?).What grinds my gears is when any employer, big or little, will take advantage of the employees.

I was pondering some of the stories that Neil told me about his cheapskate but very large Fortune 100 company. First, they claim to be interested in "diversity". Their propaganda has phrases like this:

• Diversity is about having a broad mix of talent in our operations
• A diverse workforce offers unique perspectives, ideas and solutions
• [With] diverse workforce, we can better meet the needs of the increasing multicultural clients, communities and individuals
• Build teams that bring together varied points of view to generate unique ideas and business solutions
• Age, experience, gender, ethnic backgrounds all contribute to a grand and glorious whole (my summary of some of their other propaganda)

 And so on, and so on.

Bank Boston has nothing to do with this discussion. I just like the picture.

Gives you the idea that they value people, right? People are those things that have their own needs, wants, desires, infirmities, ambitions and so on. Personally, I would have plenty of advantages to offer to The Company. But I have the baggage of a partially neglected but still medicated heart condition, medicated diabetes, back difficulties, a diagnosis of "severe depression" (not so severe anymore, but I have "spells") and other things.

If you, Mr. Employer, claim to value people, you had better be prepared to accept the whole package.

Neil raises a very good question, and I agree: If The Company values the diversity of employees, and expect this diversity, then why on earth do they demand a uniformity of production? Yes, that's a very good question.


Here's something else that came up about their cheapness: Raises. I believe in a two-tier approach to a pay rise. First, a "thanks for coming in and being a good worker" kind of thing. Then, an increase based on merit. If it's all based on merit, and the standards are too high to obtain the pay rise, The Company should not be surprised when productivity drops off and good employees become less good, even finding other jobs. If you want good work, you pay for it, capice?

A Word of Thanks to the Atheists

Buona sera. Ready for some brutal honesty? Good.

I have had many discussions with atheists, atheists pretending to be agnostics, agnostics, deists acting like atheists, anti-theists and what have you over the years. Also, I have been involved in drive-by postings, both to and from these groups. (For the rest of this article, I'm going to stick with the term "atheist", since those are the majority of my encounters, and the rest are not exactly "believers".) Many of these exchanges have been online, whether this Weblog, other peoples' Weblogs, forums and the like.

I realize that atheist encounters from civil and intelligent people have been good for me.

"Have you gone completely daft, Uncle Bob?"

Nope. I'm still partly looney, but not all the way yet.

I've learned some things. If people pay attention and use the experiences, they can grow from them. (I should put a sock in it right now because that's good right there, but I have to go on.)

The encounters with have helped me in several ways.

Sharpening my presentation. There have been times that I did not give enough attention to what I was saying, and they called me on it by questioning, as in, "Are you saying such and so?" Wow, it sounded like it, and I didn't want to sound like such and so, therefore, I had to clarify.

Making me think. Similar to the above point, I have been asked about something in the course of exchanges, and had to do some research as well as clarify to myself what it is that I want to accomplish. And I have been asked some hard questions that were good for me to examine.

Realizing that we agree on some things. That's right! I have posted an article and comments to that effect, too. Neither of us like fake Christians (false converts), Christians that do not know their Bibles very well and other things.

Civility. There was a time when the trolls would attack and I would send them home bleeding and crying. Yes, I still want to lash out, but I want to act in a manner pleasing to God. And yes, I admit that I have work to do. Mind you, some people have ridiculous images in their minds on what a Christian should be. Sorry, Sylvester, I can't match every individual's own image. The fact is, we have a right to stand up for ourselves and to point out where you are in the wrong. 

Sometimes, I have to rattle your cages to get your attention. You may perceive it as uncivil (and sometimes I get excited and you're right on that score once in a while), but I hope that I can get you to think instead of just react. When it comes to trolls, however, I just let them know that they're not fooling anyone; I've been around the Internet longer than some of you have been on this planet for quite a while (had to make a correction there, I did horrible math).

It's funny when I'm being set up and you get surprised when I'm civil in my responses. Well, if you give a civil comment, that's what you'll receive. In fact, one guy was bragging that he wasn't going to be the first to start mouthing off and waited for me to start something. The problem is, his first comment was antagonistic. I let it go through, anyway.

I've learned how Internet atheists think. Frankly, you have a great deal of work to do. Getting into heavy philosophy strikes me as a way to dodge issues. And you love to play word games! Since my time is valuable and my blood pressure is supposed to be regulated, I'll simply cancel an obnoxious exchange. Also, I have learned that most Internet atheists are far different than the ones I have dealt with in real life. (Except for Scott back in Eighth Grade, who was ranting that "all Christians should be burned at the stake". Never did find out what brought that on.)

You helped bring me back to my faith. Gather 'round, gang, it's testimony time. I wandered away from my faith for about fifteen years. I'm still doing self-examination, but I see now that I wanted to please myself instead of Jesus Christ. More and more sin entered my life. Although I never renounced what I knew to be true, I put it all on the back burner.

The very second article that I wrote for this Weblog was in response to Internet atheists being obstreperous and illogical. I was defending my faith, even though I was more of a Buddhist than a Christian back then. Other times, I engaged in apologetics as well, including defense of the validity of the Bible.

These encounters, plus several other factors that are not relevant to this article, helped me to realize where I really belonged, and I recommitted my life to Christ a few months ago. Now, I'm making up for lost time and learning quite a bit.

So, thanks to atheists &c for helping me to come back to Jesus and the opportunities for growth that you have provided to me.

If you ever browse this Weblog, I hope you'll find some other items that you find interesting, educational and entertaining. Shall we argue about something else? I still say Firefox is the best browser, and people who use Internet Explorer 6 need to upgrade fast. Hey, even if you don't go to Firefox, at least upgrade to a new IE, OK?

Ciao!