Religion VS Science

One thing I've learned from the university:
Don't trust anybody, not even your lecturer and your parents. Go find it out yourself. Do research, go online and find multiple sources to convince yourself. Don't just listen to one side of the story. Yes, I agree and have become somewhat good at it

What is science?



Science is, in its broadest sense, any systematic knowledge that is capable of resulting in a correct prediction or reliable outcome.

Via this definition, we can conclude that if we execute a given method, the outcome would always be similar, regardless of the person who executes it.

In layman term; if we all throw an apple upward into the sky, it will eventually fall to the ground, no matter who does it.

Religion, on the other hand, is not so simple.

Religion is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or a set of beliefs concerning the origin and purpose of the universe.

In religion, there could either be one god, or multiple gods. And these gods act randomly; ie there is a probability of a miracle happening right there and then, but it will not always be the same, and it doesn't happen to everyone.



That's the most fundamental problem with religion. Religion claims that everyone is equal in god's eyes, well I think everyone IS EQUAL in science. Miracle doesn't happen to everyone, but whoever throws an apple upward will end up being hit by the apple on the head.



Religion is a very effective/potent weapon. Religion could trigger war, for example the war between the crusaders and the Ottoman empire. Religion caters for the most vulnerable aspect of mankind; emotion, and that is why there are so many emotional people gathering around sacred places seeking advice on how to handle stress and other emotional problem. Because we are an emotional creature.



And because of this, religion has never fallen short of pilgrims. There are always people who are willing to do what it takes to please the gods. For example Jihad; war to defend the religion from filthy hands. The extremists claimed that they were doing jihad against America, by killing innocent people? That's one pretty extreme thinking. I agree that some people are bad, but not all people from a particular race are bad, that's racist, and that is what Adolf Hitler believed in.



True enough, religion also suppresses human behavior. Without religion we are no better than animals, or are we? In fact there is no homosexuality in the animal kingdom(except for some highly intelligent animal, eg dolphin), no incest, no child sacrifice. But with the emergence of religion, in the Mayan and Chinese civilization for example, child sacrifice became popular as a way of pleasing the gods. Cannibalism were integrated into spiritual ceremony, for example the Druids of ancient Britain, and again the Mayan civilization.

Today, however, religion has skewed away from its proper path. Today I read a news about a church in Florida that plans to burn copies of Koran on 11 September in memory of those who perished in the event. I thought the bible teaches us to forgive our brothers, and to love our enemies. Are they not deviated?



Also a news about the spiritual leader of a Buddhist sect who claims to be the Living Buddha. He claimed that he was endorsed by the Dalai Lama as an authority in Tibetan Buddhism, which was later denied by sources close to the Dalai Lama. He was accused of raping one of his female disciples in 2000. I don't wish to publish the website address here. I may not know the whole story, and I shall not judge solely by listening to only one side of the story. I'll leave it to you all. But when a person is caught lying, it might be just the tip of the iceberg, you may never know how much he has been lying all these years...



The same is happening in Singapore, where a pastor of a glamorous church gets probe over alleged mis-usage of church fund. Good job~ bro, you just put a stain on the banner of Christ.

Racism aside, religious dispute is by far the worst crisis that hits modern humanity. Religious tension are making our everyday headlines now. Given the freedom in cyberspace, people are free to make fun of other religion, and become really good at it.

So... with so much problem plaguing religion, why has nobody turn to science?

For most people, science is something too technical to handle. For lawyers, for example, science is just beyond their comprehension(according to my sister who is a lawyer).

Well the truth is, science is fun. And it is simple, logic and easily comprehensible, given that you are taught by an instructor of Richard Feynman's calibre.



And there are some religious people who thought they knew everything, trying to dispose the atomic theory and laugh it off by offering a much simpler explanation, and at the same time making fun of the mechanism of car engine, fan, mechanical stuff. Well for those of us who are in the field of expertise, we would regard this dude as another moron making a clown of himself.



Moreover, scientific frauds are easily detected. Every theory and law can be proven via experiment. Whereas in religious matter, no one knows when are u gonna get healed from your sickness, and no one can be sure about divine intervention. That is why the allegedly-corrupted spiritual leaders thought they could wipe away their shit stain by using the RELIGION banner; raping disciple and misusing church fund. Whatever they say is deemed correct by their fanatic followers.

For example the case above, the buddhist master is still at large, convincing his followers of his innocence in the sex scandal. Since they all are intoxicated by his words in the first place, they would probably nod hysterically at whatever he says.

One thing I've learned from the university:
Don't trust anybody, not even your lecturer and your parents. Go find it out yourself. Do research, go online and find multiple sources to convince yourself. Don't just listen to one side of the story. Yes, I agree and have become somewhat good at it =P



Malcolm

Tapeworm

Tapeworms are thin, resembling a strip of tape, which is why they are called tapeworm.

This parasitic creatures spend the early part of their lives in grazing animals and the latter part of their lives, when they reach adulthood, in digestive tract of meat eaters. Tapeworms absorb partly digested food through their skin from their host.

Gulf Oil Still Around

Spilling a glass of milk is bad enough, spilling 4.9 million barrels of crude is a disaster of a lifetime.

Yes.

The title says it all. It's still around. Four months of cleaning and US$3 billion later, the slick is still around. Pathetic? Yes it is~

The wellhead was capped on July 15th, and the cleaning process followed soon after. Until recently, August that is, people have discovered oil residue in gulf beach sand.



In fact, scientists are still finding plenty of spilled Gulf oil—whether it's bubbling up from under Louisiana's islands, trapped underneath Florida's sugar-white beaches, or in the ocean's unseen reaches.



A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report said that about 33 percent of the spilled oil in the water has been burned, skimmed, dispersed, or directly recovered by cleanup operations.


This is how they clean up the mess.. burning the oil. This in turn will release a vast amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Another 25 percent has evaporated into the atmosphere or dissolved in the ocean, and 16 percent has been dispersed via natural breakup of the oil into microscopic droplets, the study says.

The U.S. government estimated that the Deepwater Horizon spill had yielded about 4.9 million barrels' worth of crude, that's 4900000 barrels~~ a barrel holds 159 litre of crude. At Rm 1.85 per litre, that's equal to a staggering RM 1.44 billion!
That amount of petrol could subject my bike to 289 million refueling, or support 289 million-100 CC motorcycle for a week.



This has a long term impact on the environment. Thousands of birds and marine life died in the process. The effect of this oil plume will go on for decades, if not centuries.



Having enough trouble on board, BP tries to settle some of the debt by selling some of its assets to Petronas~ At the start of August, the group agreed to offload its Colombian business for 1.9 billion dollars to national oil company Ecopetrol and Talisman of Canada, and they are expected to sell off up to 30 billion dollars of assets over the next 18 months to settle the costs from the oil spill disaster.



Lucky for us, Mother Nature has her own soldier to combat this problem.

Oil-eating bacteria is hard at work at the crime scene to help us clean up the mess. The ocean is home to many groups of bacteria that can break down the chemicals found in crude oil. Some, like Alcanivorax, are oil-eating specialists that are usually found in low numbers, only to bloom when oil spills provide them with a sudden banquet. That’s exactly what has happened in the Gulf of Mexico.



Nonetheless, there is no room for complacency. Effective though the bacteria are, the oil contains some components that they simply won’t be able to break down and the sheer scale of the spill cannot be taken lightly.

So the lesson to all of us: don't spill anything. You cannot see what's hidden behind the consequences. Spilling a glass of milk is bad enough, spilling 4.9 million barrels of crude is a disaster of a lifetime.



Malcolm

info:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/08/24/oil-eating-bacteria-have-started-to-clean-the-deepwater-horizon-spill/

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iio0iuCI6Aju2ambwIdTXdn8OOPg

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/100805-gulf-oil-spill-cement-static-kill-bp-science-environment/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/100819-gulf-oil-spill-bp-underwater-plume-science-environment/

Brainwashed?

Before coming to KL:

1)Was a devout Christian-believed that Science and Religion are compatible
2)Not so lanxi
3)Obliged by the rules and ethics of religion and humanity
4)Science is not the solution for humanity
5)Marriage is wonderful


Coming to KL:

1)Reject Religion-its our hormones and enzymes at work
2)Vanity soaring sky-high
3)ethics of religion and humanity-vain way of keeping us in check-there are so many examples of religious people turning into morons themselves-eg pastor of a church in Singapore, Marilyn Manson, a self-proclaimed Buddhist leader from Taiwan, a gay pastor establishing a gay church in Malaysia, the corrupted Vatican - whereas the general public who are not limited by religious constraints are acting more appropriately that those who are.
4)Science can explain everything.
5)Marriage is awful.


There are news about people coming back to life after death-I'm not buying it-The doctor who proclaimed the persons' death might be a poor doctor. He might have made a mistake-we often see that in poor countries-even rich countries-doctors are human too.

The instrument might be faulty, or better still, the person might have gone through a period of "death" without actually dying. There are animals in the animal kingdom that could "die and live again" for example virus, which could lay dormant for thousands of years until a suitable host appear. Also snakes, which are cold blooded. They would be frozen during winter, but as soon as the snow melts they'll come back to life~ also hibernating bears, whose heartbeat slows down to 27 per minute during hibernation, and crocodiles with 2 heartbeats per minute when holding its breath underwater.

Perhaps I really am screwed up mentally by physics. I can feel that I think differently-not becoming a genius, but becoming a screwed person. If I really become a scientist one day, I would probably be the sort of Evil Scientist we often see on TV.. reading too many thing screws up my mind... what's happening to me... I'M SO SCREWED.

Pharaoh of Exodus

The bible says that Moses was raised in Egypt. He killed an Egyptian and escaped from the land until he was called to return to Egypt to deliver the descendants of Jacob from the oppression of the pharaoh. The attention of this entry is not on Moses, nor is it on the children of Israel, but rather towards the pharaoh himself, the antagonist of the story.



If the bible is true, then who is the pharaoh of Exodus? Here we have the Bible versus the history of Egypt. If the story in the bible is true, then we would have its timeline aligned perfectly with the historical record of Egypt.

Attention: This entry contains blasphemous content.

We are familiar with King Tut, King Seti I, Seti II, Ramses I, Ramses II, Tuthmosis, etc etc. Altogether there were approximately 322 known pharaohs in Egypt. There were many more who were chiseled off from history, be it from vengeance or murder, we will never know.

Although the bible never specifically identifies the pharaoh of the Exodus by name, it does tell us the exact date of the Exodus.

1 Kings 6:1 states that Solomon began building the Temple in the fourth year of his reign, 480 years after the Exodus.



Most bible scholars agree that the fourth year of Solomon's reign was 967 B.C. So the date of the Exodus can be calculated: 967 + 480 = 1447 B.C.

The bible says that the Pharaoh whose daughter adopted three-month-old Moses died when Moses was nearly 80 years old, meaning that the Pharaoh of the Exodus reigned for over 80 years. Pepi II, who ruled for 90 years, is the only pharaoh who meets this requirement.


King Pepi II

But King Pepi II was born in 2278 BC and died in 2184 BC, whereas the story of Moses was dated to be around 15th to 13th century BC. Way off the mark~

Bible scholars generally agree that Ramses II is the pharaoh mentioned in the bible. He built a royal city named Pi-Ramesse, many just assume him to be the pharaoh of the Exodus. However recent excavations at the site indicate that this city was occupied much earlier by the Egyptians. There is no way Ramses The Great could be the pharaoh that drown in the red sea. If he had drown, he wouldn't have a mummy at all for his body would have been swept away into the sea.



And according to history, Pharaoh Ramses II did not begin his reign until around 1290 BC, which is much later, so he couldn't have been the Exodus pharaoh.

King Amenhotep III, who fathers King Akhenaten, was also one of the candidates, though the suggestion was soon lifted for lack of evidence.
Ramses I died during year 2 of his reign, which is consistent with the content of the bible, and his time is also consistent with Moses's appearance in history; 13th century BC.


Oh my Lord, it must've been really cold down there in the underworld..~

Is Ramses I the pharaoh we're looking for?

The answer is NO.



Already an old man when he took over the throne, Ramses I probably died of old age. The evidence? Well his grandson, Ramses II has already been born during his accession. The pharaoh in the bible who chased after the Israelites drown in the red sea, so Ramses I is NOT the pharaoh we all are looking for.

If the history is correct, then is the bible wrong?

We all know that Egyptians are smart. They have their own calendar, they are very skilled in astronomy, mathematics, language. They built the pyramids. They respect women; there were three female pharaohs in their history; Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, and Cleopatra, and woman have equal rights as man. They had everything recorded down systematically, and so there is little probability that their chronology is wrong.


Queen Hatshepsut, the first female pharaoh in history

Moreover, their chronology is supported by carbon dating. Mummies are carbon-dated to verify the date of their death, and the technology is consistently accurate.

The first five books of the bible were written by Moses; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.



How can one person remembers the history before him so well? He escaped Egypt for forty years, how could anyone guarantees that he remembered the date correctly? I, for one, seriously doubt that. He wrote the story of Genesis, Noah's Ark, Abraham and Issac, etc etc. It's a miracle he could remember all of them so well.
Thus it is not surprising if he'd made some mistakes especially in terms of the date and the sequence of pharaohs.


Josephus

Tuthmose III
Jewish historian Josephus, who lived during the first century, wrote the followings about King Thutmose III:

" A state of war broke out between the Egyptians and the Ethiopians. At this time Moses had grown to be a man. The two sides fought a great battle in which the Ethiopians were triumphant, and they pushed to conquer all of Egypt. The Egyptians looking for help inquired of their priests. The priests revealed to them that they should make Moses their general . . . Moses then became the commander of a great army . . . In a surprise attack against the Ethiopians, Moses led his troops to victory."

It may be that Thutmose III, being jealous, took credit for victories over the Ethiopians, even though Moses achieved them.


Tuthmose III

But if one reads Exodus 14:30 carefully it states the following: "So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore." This passage indicates that the dead bodies of the Egyptians were deposited on the shore of the Red Sea. This would have allowed the Egyptians access to his body for burial.

Not Convincing.

His arguments are ludicrous, as they are made based on assumption. There is no evidence in the bible to prove that Moses had led an Egyptian army against the Ethiopians.

Moreover, he also included that Hatshepsut co-reigned with her husband Tuthmose II and became the pharaoh of exodus, though actually she co-reigned with him for three or four years before Tuthmose II died from a skin disease. She then took over for the next 17 years as the sole ruler of Egypt until her death, allowing her nephew Tuthmose III to ascend the throne and chisel her off the history book.



One thing is for sure: Josephus's arguments are made in agreement with the bible, and pathetically skewed to align itself with historical record.

We will never find the pharaoh mentioned in the bible. Scholars have browsed through the entire chronology of egyptian kings from the 15-13th Century BC and found no one that fits the criteria in the bible.

Then I ask: Is the Bible wrong, or is it something wrong with historical record?



I'll leave that to your imagination~



Malcolm

info:
http://www.kingtutshop.com/freeinfo/ramses.htm
http://www.biblehistory.net/newsletter/moses_pharaoh.htm
http://www.bediz.com/hatshep/story.html
http://www.britannica.com/women/article-9039510
http://allanturner.com/pharaoh.html