You can run, but you can't hide!

There is a site called " Religious Tolerance " that gives a fair and unbiased view of all the major World Religions and I find them quite refreshing to read since they offer many different theological points of view.

I have on occasion written a few essays and pieces for them over the past year and apparently this put me on the radar for a dedicated group of missionaries that now seem determined to bring me around to their way of thinking.

The best I can figure is that since I am a self professed Agnostic and not an outright Atheist they feel that a barrage of biblical quotes and twisted logic will bring me around to their point of view.

(The woman I talked about a few days ago is one of them!)

They didn't complain when I talked about the Muslims or the Hindu's or whatever, but as soon as I questioned their core beliefs (The Divinity of Jesus, etc.) they were on me like a pack of hounds.

(It's the old story that you can run down somebody else's faith but don't dare question mine!)

There are now three, and sometimes four of them writing me in rotation and it will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

Hope I can put a stop to it all without getting too obnoxious but you never know!

Will keep you informed.

Your "Friend in Jesus" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 at www.God-101.com

Sunday Morning Funnies!

I would like you to know that even though I might make fun of people from the Southern States at times, (You know, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana etc.) because of their narrow minded, right wing fundamentalist views on Creation, Abortion, Biblical Literacy, Stem Cell Research, The American Way, Scientific Endeavours, Morality and General Sophistication, I in no way mean these things personally and bear you no ill will.

If you don't know who I am talking about, the people in question do!

And by the way, Canada is NOT a foreign country....... Louisiana IS!


(And by the way, Neil Young had it right!)

-You're probably a redneck if you think a Volvo is part of a woman's anatomy.
-You might be a redneck if your house is mobile and the six cars in your front yard are not.
-You're probably a redneck if you can burp and say your name at the same time.
-You just might be a Red Neck if You've ever used lard in bed.
-You might be a redneck if you buy your mom False Teeth for mother's day.
-You have to help your richest relative remove the tires from their new home.
-Your house doesn't have curtains, but your truck does.
-You've ever worn a tube top to a wedding.
-You only own four spices: salt, pepper, ketchup, and Tabasco.
-Going to Wal-Mart is a favorite past time known as
"goin Wal-Martin."
-Your home has more miles on it than your car.
-There is a stuffed possum anywhere in your house.
-Your pocket knife has ever been referred to as "Exhibit A”.
-Your sister has a "Soldier of Fortune" subscription.
-Your wife is your sister and your daughter.
Your bank checks feature pictures of dogs fighting.
-You've ever stabbed someones hand while reaching for the last pork chop.
-On Christmas eve, you left Santa a beer and a Slim Jim.
-When sending your wife down the road with a gas can, it is impolite to ask her to bring back beer.
-Never relieve yourself from a moving vehicle, especially when driving.
-Do not remove the seats from the car so that all your kids can fit in.
-Do not lay rubber while traveling in a funeral procession.
-Never take a beer to a job interview or ask if they press charges.
-Always identify people in your yard before shooting at them.
-Always say "Excuse me" after getting sick in someone else's car.
-It's considered tacky to take a cooler to church.
-If you have to vacuum the bed, it's time to change the sheets.
-Always provide an alibi to the police for family members.
-A centerpiece for the table should never be anything prepared by a taxidermist.
-Do not allow the dog to eat at the table no matter how good his manners are.
-Be considerate of your guests. Point out in advance where the injury-threatening springs are located on the sofa.
-If your dog falls in love with a guest's leg, have the decency to leave them alone for a few minutes.

-Unlike clothes and shoes, a toothbrush should never be hand-me-down item.
-While ears need to be cleaned regularly, this is a job that should be done in private using one's OWN truck keys.
-Proper use of toiletries can forestall bathing for several days. However, if you live alone, deodorant is a waste of good money.
-Dirt and grease under the fingernails is a social no-no, as they tend to detract from a woman's jewelry and alter the tastes of finger foods.
-Plucking unwanted nose hair is time-consuming work. A cigarette lighter and a small tolerance for pain can accomplish the same goal and save hours. It's a good idea to keep a bucket of water handy when using this method.
-You use "fix" as a verb. Example: I am fixing to go to the store.
-You have been fired from a construction job because of your appearance.
-You've ever made change in the offering plate.
-If the fifth grade is referred to as "your senior year”.
-You've been on TV more than five times describing the sound of a tornado.
-You had to remove a toothpick for your wedding pictures.
-You have to go outside to get something out of the fridge.
-Someone asks to see your ID and you show them your belt buckle.
-You have a special baseball cap for formal occasions.
-Your underwear doubles as your bathing suit.
-You have ever been accused of lying through your tooth.
-Your family tree does not fork.
-You know you are a redneck when the only pool u have is a sees pool.
-And finally, what’s the last thing a redneck says before he dies?
………Hey guys watch this!

(With thanks to Jeff Foxworthy for the inspiration!)

There was this gas station in "redneck country" trying to increase it's sales, so the owner put up a sign saying "Free Sex with Fill-up."
Soon a "redneck" customer pulled in, filled his tank, and then asked for his free sex.
The owner told him to pick a number from (1) to (10), and if he guessed correctly, he would get his free sex.
The buyer then guessed (8) and the proprietor said, "No, you were close. The number was (7). Sorry, no free sex this time but maybe next time".
Some time thereafter, the same man, along with his buddy this time, pulled in again for a fill-up, and again he asked for his free sex.
The proprietor again gave him the same story and asked him to guess the correct number. The man guessed (2) this time, and the proprietor said, "Sorry, it was (3). You were close but no free sex this time".
As they were driving away, the driver said to his buddy, "I think that game is rigged and he doesn't give away free sex". The buddy replied, "No, it's not rigged - my wife won twice last week”.

Your "kissin cousin" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Deal with it!

When I first started this blog and others, as well as comments I made on a few blogs I follow, I put the following quote on the Masthead for a definite reason.

"I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the only warrant and the sanction. Your religion stops where my rights begin. Deal with it!"

Because of my disdain for mainstream religion and how it is all driven by a human agenda mixed with a good dose of avarice, I naturally expected quite a bit of backlash.

What I didn't expect was a lack of outrage from the Muslim community compared to the vile, vindictive, virulent, vixenish vilification and vituperation I have received concerning the denouncements from the "Buddies of Jesus" and all other manner of adherents of the religious far right that exists here in North America.

Even some of the Muslim sites I follow in places like Egypt and Lebanon are more concerned with political matters and oppression than with pulling a "Salmon Rushdie" against people they disagree with.

I know I am in a predominately-Christian neighborhood here in North America as opposed to the reception I might receive if I was in the Middle East. Non-the-less, the mere mention of the fact that the "Christ" of the bible is quite different from the historical "Jesus," as I do in my book "The Plain Truth About God-101" (what the church doesn't want you to know!) sends a lot of fundamentalist Christians into fits of frenzy that I could write such blasphemous material.

Please, please, stop with the letters designed to help me mend my ways and come around to your way of thinking. Please don't tell me I will rot (or burn) in Hell if I don't repent and accept your version of Christ and especially don't try to argue and debate with me on matters that you have been brainwashed with.

I refuse to participate.

My opinions on matters religious have come to me through many years of hard thought and internal debate and all the evangelizing in the world will not make me "see the light!"

I do not know if there is an actual "Heaven," or if the opposite extreme is true, that after death there is "nothing."

I can tell you for sure that Paradise does not have 72 virgins waiting or that only fellow believers and I will go through the Pearly Gates. (Whether it be 144,000, 39 people taken up in a flying saucer or 900+ drinking cool-aid!

I can also not tell you the nature of God since God, by God's very definition, is quite beyond our understanding. All I know for sure is that these questions are not in the domain of the here and now.

If I am to have any sort of a belief, it is my belief that anyone of a deep religious conviction should put that energy to better use by trying to live an exemplary life before we "shuffle off this mortal coil!".

This would lift humanity to a higher plane of spirituality and make this "vale of tears" a little easier to handle.

We have to stop childish things and rather stand with our heads tall and take responsibilty for ourselves, not just leave it up to some supernatural force. After all, that is our purpose; to get through this life and do the best we can, period!

Your Humble Scribe;
Allan W Janssen

By the way, if you want to see God at work - read the article below!

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) at; www.God-101.com
And the petition to have people mind their own business instead of yours at; http://www.petitiononline.com/moses/petition.html

Your rights stop where mine begin!

The United States has a problem with Islamic Fundamentalists but so far they seem to have a handle on things since 9/11. Canada, much to our surprise, has it's own terrorists as witnessed by the 16 wannabe's that were caught earlier this year.

In Scotland it's not much of a problem since the Scots don't take ANY shit from foreigners, but all of this seems to pale in comparison to the problems the authorities are having with Fundamentalists in France and Britain.

In England alone an estimated 3,000 young British Muslims have undergone training in al-Qaeda camps. Islamic terrorism, we are now told, will remain a fact of life for a generation in Britain.

This article by Douglas Davis, former senior editor of The Jerusalem Post and memeber of the Middle East Writer's Group, puts it into the proper perspective.

Britain's Muslim population numbers about 1.8 million. Most, of course, do not support terrorism. But, some do!

Actually, opinion polls indicate that about 160,000 (9%) of Muslims in Britain support some sort of terrorist acts on British soil to further their religion and ideology.

That shouldn't come as a complete surprise. For years, Britain has been a haven for Islamic extremists from South Asia and the Middle East.

London, at times, has been called "Londonistan," and Britain has become the European hub for Islamist logistical planning, dissemination of propaganda (via mosques, the Internet, books and leaflets) as well as low-tech fund raising.

Prior to the bombings of July 2005 the British authorities had a tacit understanding with local Mosques that they would block their ears to the hate-filled preachings of Isllamic clerics as long as there was no blood on British streets.

England tried "appeasement" once before (WW-11)and it didn't work too well that time either. I's too bad Britain didn't take it's cue from France. One flash of rhetorical violence at a Friday sermon there invariably leads to a visit from the authorities and a deportation order shortly after.

When the British government finally decide to crack down in late 2005, it found itself hobbled not only by its own weak laws and generous asylum traditions, but also by civil rights legislation.

The net result has been a series of judicial locks and weak legislative attempts to deal effectively with the threat.

Sooner or later one of these many plots will succeed and we will witness a repeat of July 2005, but perhaps with many more victims.

Only then will the British State put aside political correctness and spring into action, much the same as Canada did when a member of a dissident Mosque informed on the 16 "would be" terrorists in Toronto and put an end to their plans.

This is one of those cases where the needs of the many override the rights of a few.

Your Scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) at; www.God-101.com
And the petition to have people mind their own business instead of yours at; http://www.petitiononline.com/moses/petition.html

You can all go to Hell!

I spent the last few years or so visiting a bunch of different web-sites that give their views of the world and the "here-after" from a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist etc. etc. point of view.

They all exhibit the same tendencies.

They believe that the world not only revolves around them, but that it also always operates in a way that makes sense only to them. If by chance it does not conform to their ideals then there is something wrong with the world, not themselves!

Thank God that moderates have been tempered enough by modern secular society that they and their beliefs are compatible with the general population and other faiths.
(Or tolerated anyways - and, I still have enough spiritualism in me to say "Thank God!")

The consensus now among the major religions is a policy of "live and let live!"

The fundamentalists, (whether they be Christian or Muslim) on the other hand, still live by the rule that they are right and everyone else is wrong. They, in their arrogance, believe that they have an inside track on paradise and anyone who disagrees with them is bound for hellfire and damnation.

Although Christianity has lost some if its zeal for spreading the "Word" at all costs, Islam has the distinction of not only being directed by God to convert all non-believers, but to do so by force if necessary.

This, along with a closed mind to any outside influences, makes for religions that are both stagnant and rigid. The Bible or the Koran can be held up like a shield to protect the adherents from any attempt at logical or even rational thinking.
"Nothing can sway us because we are the choosen and you are naught but infidels!"

I have, in my ignorance, debated and argued with staunch religious practitioners and the only thing I accomplished was to frustrate and aggravate myself.

No amount of logic, obvious facts or just plain common sense could sway these people from their choosen path. They will engage in all sorts of convoluted mental gymnastics and outright self-deception to avoid beign confronted with a threat to their carefully nurtured "belief system!"

The only way to go through life for them is with blinders on least their universe crumbles under them from an erosion of faith!

Rather than continue to enrage and exasperate myself I have come to the conclusion to just ignore them all and make the best of life according to my own ideals and convictions.

A patient goes to the doctor and says; " Doc, it hurts when I do this!" To which the doctor says; "Then don't do that!"

So---- you can all go to hell! (no pun intended.)

Your frustrated scribe;
Allan W Janssen