Natural Wonder Fellowship

First of all, why are the gods so interested in what you eat,  or when you eat it? I vaguely remember as a child that we weren't supposed to eat meat on Friday, but fish was okay. I don't know why our house (sort of) followed what I think was a Catholic dietary rule, since we were supposedly Lutheran. I don't know why the Catholic rule existed (or still exists). Mentioning seafood reminded me that the Abrahamic gods either don't like pork or certain birds, and require halal meat (but not donkeys, horses, some others) (Allah), or prohibit non-finned "fish" or non-kosher meat (Yahweh/Spirit), or prohibit meat on Friday (God/Jesus/Ghost; possibly only a specific sect's rule). The Baha'i (monotheistic personal god) are mostly vegetarian (and denounce cruelty to animals). The Hindus (Brahma, Vishnu, Krishna, many others) do not eat beef (cows are considered sacred, hence the "no sacred cows" idiom in the US). The Sikhs (Allah, via gurus) are mostl...

The below sample set (from a single source, in a limited time period) is aside from the graft and embezzlement (April, 2018) on the part of many of the mega church leaders. Examples also do not mention any of the clergy child abuse and pedophilia scandals involving numerous denominations of Christianity in the west. The Sweet Jesus Ice Cream ad seems to have brought out some of the whiniest of the U.S. Christians a while back (April, 2018). I haven't looked to see how the ice cream chain is doing. It's within the airport facility in Baltimore. I need to try it the next time I fly. The blog piece and comments cracked me up though. In a country with a secular constitution, how can the predominant religion that has forced its symbols, beliefs, and iconography into our schools, our courts, and our government complain about being mocked? The U.S. is not supposed to have a tyranny of the majority. The U.K. is predominantly Anglican Christian, and still has the head of that church...

I've been seeing recently people claiming that atheism is a religion! Needless to say I find this confusing after years of being called heathen, devil worshiper, and more, now suddenly atheism is a religion? Memes are popping up "Atheism is a religion like bald is a hair color", "Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby", and others along the same vein. To be clear, theism is a belief in the existence of a god or gods, specifically of a creator who intervenes in the universe. Atheism is a lack of such belief. A gnostic claims knowledge that a god or gods exist; an agnostic makes no such knowledge claim. The word "secular" means not related to religion, so a non-believer is secular; a believer is non-secular.  That's it, that's all there is to it.   I think the confusion originated with "state of religion" type surveys (Pew and others asking respondents to self identify their religion). As "nothing in particul...

Several interesting things have been going on. Troubling environmental news on several fronts. The Amazon rain forest is burning at the worst rate in years, and driest of the dry season has not even arrived. When Notre Dame Cathedral burned there was a hue and cry from all corners. That structure can be re-built. The rain forest cannot be replaced. It produces about 20% of the oxygen in, and removes a significant amount of carbon dioxide from, our atmosphere. Who's even trying to address that issue? Certainly not the current White House occupant. The fires have been raging for over 3weeks now. I recently read that Brazil (maybe) was going to send some army troops to fight the fires. Are military personnel trained to fight wild fires? It is something, at least.  A while back I received my DNA results from Ancestry. I've been working on my "tree" there for about 3-4 years or so. I'm running my parents, my deceased first husband's parents, and my current hu...

Meditations on The Light For beauty and truth and peace,       of that of which I am.                                                Can we not see our own life lease,       from that of which I am? Will greed and lust and pride,      be the moral of our guide? Will we give up all our light,      do we feel we shine too bright? Will we embrace the right to live,      and allow our hearts to give? Will we partake within the love,      that fits us nicely like a glove? To not be part of the dark,      and stigma be our mark? But a question of a greater right,      from that within, which is "The Light". Words of a "Friend of The Light" (used with permission) Image "mystic Mountain" part of Carina Nebula, credit Hu...

TwoToes came into my life July 5, 2001. He was about 4 months old then, according to the vet. so he was of a late Feb/early March litter. He had multiple birth defects, including conjoined toes on his front feet (the opposite of polydactyl), some weirdness in the iris if his eyes where they didn't contract properly in bright light, instead they formed unevenly sized diamonds instead of the expected circular pinpoints. Supposedly also had a heart murmur, but only 2 vets heard that so I guess it wasn't serious. He was found on the center line of a busy downtown Baltimore street and picked up by a good person who took the kitten to animal control to turn him in. It just so happens that on that day, at that time I had come to animal control to renew my "multi-pet permit" (formerly called a kennel license). Finished my administrative business inside and met the kitten's guardian angel in the parking lot. He had found that if he turned the animal in, it would be destroy...

We need to think about, do about, this: Please feel free to share.

I don't know why, but the word "secular" seems to confuse people. Kinda like the word "atheist", I believe. As a "theist" believes one or more gods exist, an atheist does not. That's not to say an atheist is certain that no gods exist, but is not convinced that any gods do exist. Just as secular (like the United States government) means non-religious, non-secular (like the Iranian government) means religious. For those interested, here is a pdf to help clerics deal with members of their congregations who may have confessed to them their changing beliefs to a secular outlook. These members are still the same people you've known, and may be hoping for your understanding and support as they continue their journey. This hand out may also be helpful for individuals, including clerics themselves who may be questioning or struggling with what they've been told. Know first off -- THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU! It is natural to use your int...

Fell across this Mar 27, 2019 -- I thought it deserved to be shared far & wide, so posted it here. It is well worth watching. There are two video links on this page. The first one as intended, and the 2nd just popped on because I find it hilarious. No, IDK how, but several people have said "what Carlin video?". People can make me laugh sometimes. Real Truth About Religion: THE GOD MATRIX - THE WISHING GAME ALSO an oldie but a goodie from George Carlin .  Tree of Knowledge

This Blogger/blogspot site has been so helpful in getting a few thoughts onto "paper" as we continued to work on my own hosted site. It is not thoroughly complete - but I am asking BETA testers for help now. The site is  Natural Wonder Fellowship The address is not yet widely known. It has not been advertised at all. It is not completely ready for what I hope will be multiple users. It is only late today (17 Jan 2019 5P eastern U.S.) that I announced it for BETA testing. It is a members only site. You are required to sign-up for access to content. The Welcome Page there explains more. I appreciate any help you can provide. I hope you are willing to wander, and try the 3 different levels planned for site users. Not all in one visit, of course. I will really need somewhat informative comments (positive or negative; or suggestions as you feel appropriate) and a request from you so I know you're interested in taking the next step, before granting access to the next user...

This may be something of a "cheap" post. I found this Robert Ingersoll selection and simply wanted to share it. I thought this may be the best way to accomplish that for now. “When the great ship containing the hopes and aspirations of the world, when the great ship freighted with mankind goes down in the night of death, chaos and disaster, I am willing to go down with the ship. I will not be guilty of the ineffable meanness of paddling away in some orthodox canoe. I will go down with the ship, with those who love me, and with those whom I have loved. If there is a God who will damn his children forever, I would rather go to hell than to go to heaven and keep the society of such an infamous tyrant. I make my choice now. I despise that doctrine. It has covered the cheeks of this world with tears. It has polluted the hearts of children, and poisoned the imaginations of men. It has been a constant pain, a perpetual terror to every good man and woman and child. It has filled t...

Why can we not discuss our beliefs? Or better stated, why can't we discuss our different beliefs? It seems to me that open discussion, questions, explanations, evidence would be the first thing true believers would want to engage in; share their reasoning with anyone interested. I've not found that to be the case though. I think most who do not understand something would want to engage in discussion to better understand. It's natural curiosity (I think).  So, why is it getting harder to talk about god? I don't agree with this writer's statement that we are a majority Christian nation, nor his outlook that we need more god talk ("when people stop speaking God because they don’t like what these words have come to mean and the way they’ve been used, those who are causing the problem get to hog the microphone") but I do agree we do need more real communication in order to grow understanding among ourselves. Christians may be the majority cohesive group in...

One of my favorite irreverent comic strips just made me LOL. It was just too precious not to share. I have nothing to add to its message, hahaha. Well done, author! I just discovered that it apparently needs a few more words in order to show the "labels" and the 'share' icon on the top right of the piece as you read it. So, Author said this comic was originally published December, about 10 years ago. I wasn't reading his (or her) strip then, so it was all new and funny all over again to me. I love the implementation of the irony meter! Seems to need repair quite often though.   (hmm, okay that didn't seem to make a difference -- sorry IDK why it's being weird; but now you can see why I prefer to have more control over the software that runs my sites. It's coming along, slowly. Oh, ok good! That's enough extra words for it to display properly, jeez!)

Truth is hard to come by these days. Truth is not dependent on how you look at things, truth is pretty absolute based on fact or reality. Yet jo urnalists are being attacked by the President of the United States for reporting truth that Mr. President doesn't want you to know. Journalists are being jailed or worse in several Middle Eastern countries for reporting truths their governments do not want told. This war on truth began years ago, but has really taken off since Trump coined (or at least popularized) the "fake news" label.  There is no such thing as "alternative facts" in spite of what Ms. Conway would like you to believe. Excluding the often capitalized "Truth" of spiritual or fundamental "reality", truth is "the body of real things, events, and facts; actuality" according to Merriam-Webster, or "a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like" according to Dictionary dot com, or "all ...

How dare they?! That's basically what Christian leaders are beginning to say. In a pre-Christmas speech, the pope told some 20,000 pilgrims and tourists gathered in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City: “Even we Christians, who are also the people of God, risk becoming worldly and losing our identity, ‘paganising’ the Christian style.” This commentary piece from 22 Dec 2018 lays out a lot of the reasons people are seeking spiritualism outside the confines of church dogma  ( http://indiafacts.org/pagan-revival-why-it-is-a-nightmare-for-christianity/ ). I found it quite informative; well worth reading. The Catholic Pope  seems to be on a crusade against paganism – the original and vibrant indigenous religions across the planet that Christians tried to destroy in the centuries past.  It seems to me that the organized churches might want to address their own dirty laundry before seeking to blame outside influences for their declining membership. The movement awa...

All peoples of the northern hemisphere celebrate a winter holiday around this time of the year. Through the centuries and among cultures, it is called different things and celebrated in different ways, but all involve love, thanks, rejoicing, possibly token gift-giving, feasting, and partying. As  religions began solidifying from the stories and myths created by our ancestors, they had to incorporate the existing sky watchers' knowledge. Besides, who doesn't like a good party in the depths of winter darkness. It isn't even really mid-winter; it is the beginning of the coldest days of the year, BUT it also marks the beginning of the "return of the sun". The days finally become a bit longer as the sunrise is a bit earlier; the darkness becomes a bit shorter. As I posted on a ministers' board on December 21, 2018 " Happy Solstice!! Whether you realize it or not, in the northern hemisphere, the sun will be getting slightly closer and rising a smidge earl...

Humans consider ourselves superior to all other life forms on the planet. We alone have created skyscrapers, literature, medicine, courting, burial, and religious rituals, complex math, and have even begun to study and learn the universe itself. We have established communities and law, farming, transportation systems, central heating and air conditioning, and indoor plumbing. We expect our fellows to follow our moral code of right, wrong, love, empathy, compassion. We are so pompous, so ignorant. We really think we're "all that", but we are physical hosts for millions of organisms within our own guts. They live, thrive, and multiply without knowing or caring they are in a "superior" species. They live their lives in the warm, moist, airless darkness they've evolved to inhabit. Only as side benefit, does their day-to-day activities help us digest and absorb nutrients from our food and eliminate our own bodily waste. (Please, before you start spouting ...