An essay donated by Susan Humphreys

A Seventh Day Adventist tries Atheism for a year

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Pastor Ryan Bell, a Seventh Day Adventist, has started on a journey to try on Atheism for a year. I mentioned this in another short essay I wrote last week. This past week he wrote an essay using the analogy of living in a well lit room with a partially opened door at one end. He can’t see anything beyond it because it looks dark and forbidding and how he has been tempted for quite some time to step through that door to see what is there. Read his essay for yourself, it is quite good at http://yearwithoutgod.com.

The comments are equally interesting and it is interesting to me that most people are polite, only occasional nasty or rude remarks. The comments lead many ways one of which was what happens when you go through that door? What if he decides to turn back? There was a discussion about the “void” on the other side of the door.

The talk was quite serious and towards the end I felt it needed to lighten up a bit. So I wrote part of the following. I have reworked it for this web site since I spent a bit more time refining it!

Ya know, once Hannibal got those elephants over that mountain pass and started down the other side he looked back and said “whew, that was tough, we ain’t doin that again, from what I can see it looks like it is downhill all the way!” Only we know he still had a few more hills to climb and rivers to cross.

When Caesar crossed the Rubicon he looked back and said “whew, that was tough, we ain’t doin that again, the worst part is over, and there is no turning back.” And we know he kept on going.

When Pandora opened that box she said “well this isn’t quite what I expected, cats out of the bag now and there is no getting it back in.” We know she did manage to keep Hope from escaping.

When Eve took a bite out of that apple she said, “Hey, this is really good! Tart but sweet. Then she turned to Adam and said, try it you’ll like it!”

In the Tao teh Ching, Lao Tzu says in #64:

“A tree as big as a man’s embrace springs from a tiny sprout. A tower nine stories high begins with a heap of earth. A journey of a thousand leagues starts from where your feet stand.”

He also says in #71:

“To realize that our knowledge is ignorance, This is a noble insight. To regard our ignorance as knowledge, This is mental sickness. Only when we are sick of our sickness Shall we cease to be sick. The Sage is not sick, being sick of sickness; This is the secret of health.”

I think Pastor Bell’s journey is going to be an interesting one and I for one am glad that he is allowing us to accompany him on his adventure into the “void”! Daring to go where no man…. Wait where many of us have gone before him, following a well worn path and discovering that the "void" ain't what some would have you believe. It is a wonderful, full, lively, invigorating and welcoming place.

Originally posted: 2014-JAN-30
Latest update: 2014-JAN-30
Author: Susan Humphreys

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