Atonement -"beware of the dogma!"

    For Jews, this is the time of year of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. For the course of this day, in addition to fasting they ask forgiveness for all transgressions of the past year. This hopefully wipes the sin slate clean and enables them to continue forward with a renewed incentive to improve their lives and actions over the coming year. For those of this faith this seems quite reasonable.
    In the case of Roman Catholics, their confessional provides a similar incentive on a more frequent basis -maybe even weekly. However in this case and that of other Christian denominations there is a significant and extraordinary addition to the process. They are told that the forgiveness of their sins has been made possible only by virtue of Jesus's torture and sacrifice on the cross. I have long pondered how or why this should be the case. What possible connection could there be between the pain, torture and murder of a victim of a crucifixion 2000 years ago and the sins of  contemporary humans in 2013 AD (-or C.E.).  Try as I might I just don't get it. The two events are entirely unconnected and have no perceivable commonality anywhere.
    To add to the confusion, it is not clear whether Jesus is in fact God, his son, or both. Either way it makes no sense. Why would God deliberately a) allow himself to be tortured -a totally invalid proposition or b) willingly submit his son to the ordeal, which since he is also his father is equally invalid.
    This is yet another example of insidious religious dogma intervening. Why is it not possible for anyone to ask and receive forgiveness from God directly? In virtually all faiths -even traditionally benign Buddhism, which arguably is a philosophy rather than a religion, there are the inevitable groups of self-appointed divine representatives who interpose their authority on those prepared to listen to their litanies of threats,warnings and negative prognoses. Indeed the emphasis concentrates almost exclusively on a diet of "thou shalt not" restrictions, with consequential suffering and punishment rather than on spreading love and compassion which ostensibly should be their main objective .
    We all possess an extraordinary brain to think with and a mind with which to reason. If these attributes are God-given what possible reason could there be to reject and relegate these truly amazing facilities to the innermost recesses of our sub-conscious. It has always seemed to me that this proposition is analogous to "The Parable of the Talents" where the recipient of one talent buries it unused in the ground.
    Regardless of personal beliefs, it seems obvious that we should all constantly endeavour to exercise "love, compassion and goodwill towards all men" and generally attempt to make a positive contribution towards a better world. With or without divine participation there is no difference to the way we should live our lives. Perhaps the most profound dictate is that everyone should to live in accordance with "The Golden Rule". This instructs us to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" -or in its compact form "do as you would be done by".With a global population of approaching 7 billion, this three word philosophy is becoming increasingly relevant.
`    The situation is similar in both cases; the only difference being that the faithful -for mainly self- serving reasons, believe that their actions will enhance their prospects for the afterlife. In the other case all good works are done solely for reasons of genuine concern and compassion for their fellow humans.
     I believe that we are all born with an instinctive morality. Sadly in many cases, without positive encouragement and ongoing practical examples, this can become progressively and sometimes radically diluted during our formative years and subsequently distorted in today's materialistic society.
    Surely to continually reflect upon, audit and then positively update our lives to the betterment of society at large requires no pleading to a supernatural entity. It's very simple. We all all know what we have to do. The bonus is that these actions may stimulate those with whom we are in contact to react similarly and thus exponentially "spread the word".
        

Giving credit where credit is due!

    In my last post "TV Schedules", amongst several other channels I was critical of  Rogers Sportsnet Ontario. However I am pleased to report that recently there has been a considerable improvement. Happily some of the Poker tournaments and other non-sporting fillers seemingly were foregone in favour of  -more and different sports!! During the week of August 24-30th, there was excellent live coverage of the classic "Vuelta a Espana" bicycle stage race, and also taped coverage of the USA Pro Challenge stage race. On the water, the kayak and canoe Slalom World Cup kayak were featured as was the absorbing Louis Vuitton series of ocean sailboat races.  Well done! Keep it coming.