How Long?

I am sure some will find this horribly offensive. I can't really apologize for this because I am just saying what is on my mind and this is something I will allow for you to do as well. All of my evidence is circumstantial and this article was not published with the intent of changing anyone's opinion nor is it intended to connect those who agree. My opinions are exactly that, my opinions. I will not engage in any conflict over this topic so take it somewhere else.

I have been puzzled for some time about the suggestion that the planet we inhabit and the universe of which it is a member has only been in existence for less than 10,000 years. I grew up with Christian teachings being shoved into my head and was told all kinds of strange stories that could not be answered sufficiently to pacify the logic of my the eight year old mind. The favorite story that was most often presented for me to begin questioning was this story about a man and his family building a big boat that they would load a bunch of animals on so that they might survive the wrath of their angry deity in the form of a flood. As a young child who had been around a few cattle and who had also been to a zoo, I marveled over the magnitude requirements of this floating barn. I considered the amount of hay just for the cattle and did some elementary school math with assumptions for the number I had guessed of animals there were. Of course I also considered that some animals diet consist of other animals so there was some questions there. Then there is the whole returning from the dead thing that I found seriously insulting to my intelligence by the age of 12. The really odd thing is that all of the years I was exposed to these stories, everyone ran for the hills when the question of how long ago was the creation.

Even though I was not a subscriber, I was very tolerant of the churches that regularly delivered variations of these stories in an effort to fill the collection plates. I would attend various churches with people I knew as a sign of respect that they had discovered something I had apparently missed. Many years passed and I had heard nothing of anyone claiming to know when the creation had taken place. My first exposure to this claim of knowing when the universe was created was when I took a friend to a Christmas mass around 6 or 7 years ago. I always found the Catholic Christmas traditions to be amusing until this night. The priest started reading his script and immediately made the statement that 6,998 years ago God created the heavens and the earth. Here go all of the flashing lights, red flags, and every other method of my brain saying "Hold on a minute." because this was something that I had been waiting to hear someone say in a church. I had a few Catholic priest friends who were professors at a local university that I could not wait to get an explanation from on where this is coming from. These professors during the week would perform mass once or twice a week to maintain their status as priest. I will not divulge everything that I have learned from conversations with these dudes but it was extremely fascinating to get an understanding of why they lived these lives of informational conflict.

The explanation I received on the age of the planet and the universe was that since the Bible is like a family history book and had genealogical records that served as a pedigree for all the descendants of Adam and Eve so someone did some math by making some assumptions on the predictable ages of each person at recorded points in the Bible. This explains why there is still some degree of variation in the numbers being quoted. These are also the same folks who explain that the Old Testament was memorized and maintained as an oral collection of stories. I don't want to even get into how seriously nuts to consider that people would be very diligent in memorizing these stories when they are wandering around in a desert trying to find food and water. I am sure there were a few details that dropped out through the generations. I mean really, the Old Testament is either filled with enough genealogy data to bore children to sleep or some really epic tales that would amaze and distract them from realizing how messed up their current circumstances were. So the finally got around to writing it all down and adding some to it. Then someone that could afford the project decided to hire some dudes to combine all of these books into a single book. Being overwhelmed by the project, this group decided in an effort to make things more consistent they omitted a few chapters that gave conflicting versions. Then there is the translation issue, since I am learning to speak German I am very aware of what happens when you try to translate and how contextual information seems to be diminished in the process. That brings us to the next big mystery that I have been working on.

How can anyone with an education actually disregard scientific data on the topic and be convinced that the universe is less than 10,000 years old? This has been boggling my mind for a while because the number seems to be increasing in certain countries. I have spent a considerable amount of time doing analysis in the subconscious part of my mind and occasionally allowing for some priority processing to take place when I witness spectacular exhibitions of conflict on the subject.

First of all I do not disapprove of religion because it serves as a fantastic morality guide and source of comfort for many who are facing circumstances that exceed their ability to reconcile the conditions that threaten their lives. I will however break down the anatomy of how churches function in a way that some people will find highly offensive but when the anger has cleared they may find a way to agree to some degree or another. A church is a business unit which may consist of a single church or as a network of churches who solicit religion and community to those who choose to follow. A church as a singleton entity has financial needs to maintain delivering the services which they provide. These financial needs require that churches continue a state of growth in order to not fade through natural attrition. In order to maintain a constant growth state, there are some aggressive actions required to attract new members who will contribute to the community effort to expand and maintain their existence. Nobody can deny that when financial matters are involved there is always the temptation to sucumb to instinct of greed and indulgence in acts of greed leads to corruption.

Taking a side step for a moment to explain a corrupting force that may or may not have become involved. Modern politics is controlled by money if many aspects. The amount of money that goes into an election campaign is insane to say the least which leads most politicians to spend far too much time thinking of getting re-elected instead of focusing on the governing that they have been hired to do. This has made it possible for lobbying organizations to apply a form of influence to suit the financial needs of the group they represent by contributing to politicians campaigns as well as finding other ways to provide incentives to get the votes swayed in the directions that allows them to maximize their profits. The special interest groups have even gotten into the business of authoring legislation so that the politicians can focus on public appearances as well as preparing for the next election cycle. This is not news and if it is news then, my friend, you should spend less time with your head in the sand.  The special interest groups find themselves at odds with other groups like, lets say, scientist. Scientist tend to bring forward information that can cause great expense or even the elimination of some forms of business by reporting on the pollution and contamination an industry is creating.

Scientist are smart folks aren't they. They are able to provide answers to questions that would otherwise require the suggestion of magic to explain. They can find cures for diseases, put people and things into space, and they can even explain why we stay on the planet and not float out into space. That is some big stuff. There is a lot more stuff they have figured out too like our current habits and consumption are going to make our planet inhospitable for not only ourselves but thousands of other inhabitants of our fair planet. The scientist are scared and trying to sound the alarm. This scares the financial interest that are making huge profits from exploiting our planet. The special interest groups launch an assault on science from as many angles as possible. Denial by politicians works for a few years but this can only last for so long considering the track record that politicians have with being truthful. This presents a real challenge because now they have to find a way to undermine these really smart people we call scientist. What could possibly influence the constituents of a democratic nation?

Hey, people like to watch TV and read newspapers and, whoa, there is the internet as well. Ways to influence people that scientist might be wrong by shoving it directly into their faces. So the infiltration of the media with conflicting messages and scientist who succumb to the instinct of greed that are willing to say something they don't agree with because it improves their financial situation begins. This reaches a lot of people who find themselves questioning the reports of the scientist claiming we are killing our planet and ourselves. A direct feed into the minds of a significant portion of the population, who for some reason do not have the desire or the ability to think for themselves, buying additional time to rape the planet and poison the inhabitants. This is still not quite enough to encourage the population to look the other direction. The politicians are still getting a lot of pressure to make the business community comply with the necessary implementation of methods that will reduce the destruction. How else can the financial interest influence the population that everything will be OK? Some type of magic will be required to convince enough people to ignore what is being done to them.

The oldest source of selling magical ideas to people is through religion. Hmm. Churches require a steady cash flow to maintain and expand their existence. It was very popular in the last century for members of certain crime organizations to have their sins forgiven by making a significant contribution to their church. Churches are the only place that can convince people that scientific evidence is irrelevant because after all, God created the heavens and the earth in 7 days just a few thousand years ago so God will protect his creation just as he did when he instructed Noah to build a boat to preserve all of those animals and all. Since this is all done by magic anyway, who cares how we use the planet. I mean really, God created this one, he can just create us another one when this one is used up. Squeeze that sponge until it is dry and then soak it up again. This seems to be the belief of far too many people these days. It is even becoming a political issue about which information is being taught in the school rooms. The textbooks are not consistent with the ones I used and not all of the changes are the result of new things that have been learned in my lifetime.

Oh, the politicians can embrace their religions and bolster this conflict of information that people are supposed to be sorting through as well. This is simple enough since they are on the same payroll with the churches. Blind faith and supporting that nice guy from your district how surely has your best interest in mind are serious contributors to demise of the future existence of mankind and any other kind that lives here on our lovely planet. This concept is nothing new, as long as there has been wealth it has been used to gain power and vice versa. Corruption in religious environments is nothing new. Corruption in politics is nothing new. Those who wield power to influence your opinion is nothing new. Convincing your that something bad for you is really good for you is nothing new. Allowing yourself to be the chump who doesn't consider what you are being told might be a lie is a personal choice that everyone has to make for themselves.

I cringe when I hear the word convinced. People who are convinced are doomed to stagnate in the confines of their beliefs. A curiosity about the validity of someone's statements is an opportunity to grow as an individual. What really is best for each of us? What really is best for all of us? I do not have answers for that and having put a great deal of time into studying these I can tell you that nobody has the answers to these questions. This puts the responsibility for the individual to decide for themselves what is best for the current situation and to have an open mind that what worked last time might not work this time. Keep your minds open and question all thoughts, especially your own.