I dream of rain

Over the last couple of months, I seem to have caught the attention of some local Jehova's Witnesses. The last few times the main guy's been bringing along different people to try and win me over some more.

It's pretty amusing, in a sad sort of way. I've been polite and totally honest with them. I've not told them to get lost simply because they amuse me with their single-mindedness, not to mention being totally blind to the glaring inconsistencies in their message. Today I reminded them of what I told them the very first time they came to my door -- that their "proof" is circular; if I don't believe in God (and/or Jesus) then by definition, the Bible is just another man-made book, and therefore no more proof of God than Stuart Smalley's self-help book.

I simply don't believe in God, at least not in the Biblical sense -- more on that later -- but if supposing I did believe in the Biblical God, it would be the Islamic variant, as it's the best religion that nobody practices. And yes, I've told them this, which seems to only make them redouble their efforts to "save" me. I can only imagine their file on me back at their church, planning out their next strategies out of a football-esque playbook.

They've already tried the "sin causes aging and thus death" and "don't fear death, God has a Plan for you and it is Jesus" (thrice), "God exists because the palm tree out front must have been designed" (twice), and today I shot down the "to believe is to love therefore God loves you" thing, after I pointed out that a truly loving God wouldn't pull a "marry me or die, but its your free choice" thing by pulling the "God died for us to redeem us for living up to his design for us, in his mercy" oxymoron.

This will probably cross the line from amusing to annoying soon enough, as I'm dealing with True Believers here. As Paul O'Neil said, "Idealogy is a lot easier because you don't have to know anything; it is not penetratable by facts." Not to say that they don't come bearing "facts" -- but I've already gone into the fallacy of "because the Bible says so, it must be true." What's particularly amusing is that in the previous breath they were complimenting me for not blindly accepting what I was raised with, for questioning what people present to me as truth. They just don't get it, do they?

Yeah, I suppose God did create man in his own image. But who created God? We did, in our own image, and if God is loving or vengeful, it is but a reflection of our selves.

Bah, religion annoys me. It's philosophy without reasoning; answers without understanding. So now that I've dissed God, what do I believe in? Cue (the end of) the Buffy Musical!

Life's not a song
Life isn't bliss
Life is just this
It's living

You'll get along
The pain that you feel
You only can heal
You have to go on living
So one of us is living

Who says we can't find truth in Fiction? Hmm. Maybe there's something to this Bible thing after all..

Life's what you make of it, folks. Get out there and live, and when Death comes by, sharpening his scythe on sunlight, you can greet him with a smile and a cup of Earl Grey, and challenge him to one last game of Chess.

NASA got in the holiday spirit and sent up what is perhaps the largest bottle rocket ever. With a few lucky fools strapped to the top.

I found a decent vantage point off the Banana River, pulled out my Communist lens cum telescope, and tried to get a few decent pictures despite leaving my tripod in my other car. The infinity focal point on the lens is a bit off, so many of the pictures are slightly out of focus. Grr.

It's comforting to know that the US still can legitimately lay claim to the Biggest Dick, at least when it applies to spaceflight. Too bad it keeps having problems shooting off, eh?