The Calladus Blog

This is what "Christian Love" looks like...

You fear the Lord. Just admit it. You fear something greater then yourself. You have been abused and left by those close to you so you dread the one thing that can make you whole. The hole you can't fill within you is the space you need to fill with God. Nothing else will fill it. There is nothing else in the world that will fit in the desolation you have. It's not your fault though. Having so many disillusionments in life can destroy anyone’s ability to allow faith in and hate out. The loss of loved ones and the anger at something you don't even believe exists must be insufferable. I will pray for you and that you find Reconciliation.
- Paul Gilman, Fresno Bee

Armchair psychoanalysis can be pretty funny - especially from a believer. What is even more funny is that it seems that Paul has been reading my blog. Perhaps he knows about Ronnie? He is sure to know about my wife. I'll admit - last year was a bad year for me. I spent the first six months being terribly depressed, and I got help.

But I didn't require spiritual help - Instead I got real help!

I took the antidepressant Wellbutrin last year after coming back from Korea. And I spent some time with a qualified psychologist. I've made major adjustments to my environment, and spent time with close friends. My family was there for me in my deepest time of need, and my friends kept me fed and my apartment clean while I worked things out.

God, Allah, Zeus, Vishnu - none of these, or any god, were required. And if asked, none of them would have been able to provide the care that I required. Because they don't exist.

I've been very upbeat this year. I've become more active in the community, I've got a girlfriend now, someone who I care about a great deal, I've moved into a new house and am looking forward to putting my woodshop back together. I do more volunteer work and give more to chairity than I've been able to do for a long time.

But of course, I can't be allowed to be happy, because that wouldn't fit God's plan, according to this nitwit - Paul Gilman.

Other people have jumped to my defense in the comments at the Fresno Bee, and the response by Paul Gilman is... enlightening.

mbm64
Paul,
Are you aware that you are not just venting to your computer monitor but to a human with very real emotions and feelings? This is quite possibly the most alienating and offensive post I've ever read. If you don't understand why, then you should stop posting.
paulgilman
The truth hurts? Dig deep and you will find God and his love for you.
mbm64
Let me clarify. You have ripped open another's horrible wound and poured caustic pain into it. You have no spiritual authority to treat another that way, because you are not Jesus or the Holy Spirit. In your need to pontificate, you have wiped your feet all over someone. That's what I mean by alienating and offensive.
paulgilman
Well I guess you will have to get over yourself. I open wounds that need opening and cleaning out by the purity of god.

"By the purity of God!" That is a very scary statement isn't it? That is exactly what I can imagine a black-coated white collar wearing preacher to say just as he throws a torch into the pile of wood at my feet!

It is funny. I've been having a very good year this year. I've been remembering what my wife told me - she knew she wouldn't be around forever, and she encouraged me to "enjoy my life". I've made changes in my life to do those things that we couldn't do while we were together.

And dear readers, family, friends - when my time has come to cease existing, please take the time to celebrate my life by celebrating your own lives.

Don't waste your time thinking hateful thoughts about my fictional eternity of torture. Because only the sick and the evil, and those who are inhumain through willful ignorance would think such a torture is just, and that an all-powerful God who permitted such a thing is loving.

As for Paul Gilman - hey thanks for reading my blog. Take a look around, maybe you'll learn something... like basic compassion.

“It was evil to Jonah, a great evil.”

When atheists mention those parts of the bible that are unconvincing, "Jonah and the whale" are a frequent bullet point. Christian apologists deal with this objection pretty handily.

First, an apologist will point out that it wasn't a "whale", but was instead a "great fish".

"Jonah" by George Frederick Watts Second, a humongous fish that can swallow Jonah whole, and keep him alive for 3 days is really no problem for someone who believes that God can do the impossible. From Answers in Genesis:

Could God have prepared a great fish to be in the vicinity of the foundering ship, to scoop Jonah out of the raging sea, transport him to shore and vomit him up?
Absolutely! If He is the all-powerful Creator God, preparing a fish and timing the whole event was not a great drain on His power or ability. He is in no way limited by what He created.

See? God can do anything! A giant fish is really no problem, and is easily brushed away. Literalist Christians will insist it was a fish, and those who are slightly less literal will begrudge a whale - but either way, it is not a problem for them.

But to me, the most damaging part of the story is God's apparent wishy-washiness. This story would seem to demonstrate that either God is capable of lying to his worshippers, or if he is not capable of lying - then he is unable to see the future. His omniscience comes into question.

In Jonah 1:2 God says, "Go immediately to Nineveh, that large capital city, and announce judgment against its people because their wickedness has come to my attention." Jonah, of course, turns the other way and flees.

What was Jonah supposed to say to the people of Nineveh? Once he arrived, Jonah was supposed to announce that at the end of 40 days the entire city "would be overturned" - which is another way of saying that it would overthrown and destroyed, and has the connotation of destruction by military conquest. After he got out of the fish, and arrived in Nineveh, Jonah did make this announcement.

Why did Jonah flee, instead of going to Nineveh to make this announcement? Was it fear of God? Fear of destruction? Rejection of God?

No, Jonah was an honest man, a man of conviction who did not want to see himself made a liar. The announcement he made in Nineveh, the announcement that God had Jonah make, had no qualifiers to it. He didn't say, "If you repent now, this fate will pass you by" - no he was very clear. In 40 days, the city would be "overturned". There was no wiggle room.

But the citizens of Nineveh repented in the hopes that this fate would pass them by. They repented from the King all the way down to the youngest citizen. They covered themselves in sack-cloth and ashes, and refused to eat - and refused to let even their animals and livestock to eat.

And God stayed his judgment due to their repentance.

And Jonah prayed to God and said, (paraphrased) "This is why I fled, instead of following your instructions to go to Nineveh. I fled to try to prevent this, because I KNEW you were going to do this!" Jonah threw a fit over this, and demanded to be allowed to die on the spot.

God then goes through a little morality play in order to tell Jonah that he really doesn't have a right to be angry. And that the population of Nineveh, all 120,000 of them, were unable to tell the difference between right and wrong, and therefore deserve pity.

My first thought at God's response to Jonah is that God isn't very well versed in human psychology. Of course we have the right to our feelings - they are ours. We don't have the right to act out on our feelings. Telling us that we don't have a right to our feelings is a way to make us feel guilty over having such feelings. But why should I be surprised that God would want people to feel guilty? That's the default state of most Catholics!

A little more seriously, my second thought is that God takes pity on the tens of thousands of citizens of Nineveh for their inability to know right from wrong, but has no problem exacting vengeance for the Israelites on the Midianites - including killing every male Midianite - all the way down in age to innocent babies. Apparently the "gracious and compassionate" "abounding in mercy" God that Jonah whines about in Jonah 4:2 runs out of that compassion for the innocent in Numbers 31.

But what is most striking is the implication of the entire story. God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh and announce that they are doomed. And then (due to the actions of the citizens of Nineveh) God changes his mind.

Did God not know he was going to change his mind? Could he not see the future and see how the citizens of Nineveh would react? If so, then his command to Jonah was truthful, but his omniscience is lacking.

Could God see what Jonah's announcement would do to Nineveh? Could he see that he would choose mercy in the future? If so then his omniscience is fine, but this shows that God is willing to lie to one of his own prophets. And if God lies, then everything about Christianity is immediately thrown into doubt.

This is where I get the title of this blog entry. My New English Translation quotes Jonah as saying, "This displeased Jonah terribly and he became very angry." In this context, "This" means God's decision to show mercy on Nineveh, which has made Jonah a liar. Another translation of this passage from Hebrew could be, "It was evil to Jonah, a great evil." ("It" refers to God's actions.)

No wonder Jonah was so angry - you would expect a God who is both good and omniscient to be incapable of screwing up so badly.

Office Depot still insistent on getting rid of customers

I posted in May about a deceptive practice used by Office Depot - using product tags to represent stock in the store, when that stock isn't actually available in the store. In fact, a product tag may represent stock that can only be ordered from Corporate - and yet, this is not stated anywhere in the Office Depot product display.
If you read my May posting, you'll see I got a bit upset at this practice.
So I complained to the BBB.
Office Depot sent me a reply on June 6.

Thank you for contacting Office Depot via the BBB. I opened this case file to address your complaint regarding the tags that were still out on display although the camera was out of stock. We value you as a customer and sincerely apologize for disappointing you, as that is never our intention.
I contacted both the Store Manager and the District Manager to address your complaint so I could find out the reasoning behind it. The reason the tags are left is to give our customers an opportunity to have the store place an order or attempt to contact a different store for a transfer. What was wrong however, was to ring up your sale before checking the stock. This is being addressed by our District and Store manager to make sure this doesn't happen again.
I want to thank you for letting us know about this disappointing experience as it has enabled us to do something about it so it doesn't happen again. As I stated, the real problem was not checking stock before ringing up your sale.
I appreciate having had the opportunity to address your complaint and hope that you will continue to place your trust and confidence in Office Depot. As a gesture of customer service, I’m sending you an Office Depot Gift Card valued at $25.00. You'll receive the card in 7-10 business days and I hope you will accept it with my compliments. If you ever need help again, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
Vera Barber
Coordinator, Executive Customer Relations

My response:

Ms. Barber,
I'm sorry that Office Depot has seen fit to decline to change their practice of advertising products as if they were immediately available when the store does not have any in stock.
On the day I tried to purchase this camera, I went to the store to purchase something else. The camera was an impulse buy. I liked what I saw, and I made plans to use it when I got back to my place of employment.
In other words, I wanted to use the camera immediately.
Office Depot has a deceptive practice of using product tags as if they were immediately available in stock. There was no signage that stated that the products might not be available, that the store might have to call around to other stores, that the product might have to be ordered from corporate.
Your letter only serves to make me MORE upset. It is a "Not-pology", an "I'm sorry you were disappointed, but we are not changing our store policy about deceptive practices".
This is, of course, Office Depot BS, and I begin to understand why Office Depot stock has taken such a beating in the last couple of years.
Ms. Barber, I've written my story in several places on the Internet, I have told it to many of my co-workers, including the administrative assistants at the company I work for (2,000 employees at our location alone), and I have informed the BBB that I'm not satisfied with the lack of business change with your company.
I will continue to do so until Office Depot changes this policy of advertising products that are not immediately on hand, as if they were actually in the store. Tell me you have corrected that, and I'll tell everyone that you have done so.
And I'll return as a customer.
Mark Boyd
Fresno

And there was a second round of letters where Office Depot actually responded to my response! (And it's no wonder - these letters are an echo of what is being posted at the BBB).

Dear Mr. Boyd:
I am sorry if my prior response gave you the impression that we did not care. I know it's frustrating to spend time shopping, pull the ticket and wait for help only to find out that the item is not in stock. Regardless of whether or not it is actually considered illegal or deceptive, it certainly doesn't represent good customer service and I want you to know that I am sharing your comments with our SVP of Store Operations as well as our VP of In-Store Customer Experience. Our intention is not to inconvenience you but to ensure that to communicate that the product is still available to be ordered.
I want you to know that I do see your point and that it is clear that we could do a better job of communicating this while also not giving our customers the impression that the item is available on hand to be purchased and taken home that day. I do appreciate your feedback and I'm really sorry that we disappointed you.
Office Depot needs your business a lot more than you need an Office Depot store nearby and I want to assure you that we will review this practice going forward.
Sincerely,
Vera Barber
Coordinator, Executive Customer Relations

My response:

Ms. Barber,
I will be happy to return as a customer when I know that Office Depot is no longer advertising products as if they were in stock.
I know it wouldn't take much, like a sign that said, "This product may not be in stock, please ask a sales associate to verify." However, I'd consider that to be questionable - why have twenty product tags advertised in a big floor display while at the same time saying that those tags don't actually equate to a real product on hand?
Wouldn't it actually save Office Depot some money in the long run to have a thinner cardboard poster-style display with just a few product cards in it? And perhaps some verbiage under the card that states that the item can be ordered if the customer still wants it?
It seems like the intent here is to get the customer to the cash register with the product tag, and then urge the customer to order the product from corporate, or from another store. Perhaps a little psychology is involved? An "out of stock" sign might make the customer move on, whereas getting the customer to the cash register with a product tag might make him more likely to buy?
I like Office Depot. It is right next to the company I work for, and I can walk over and pick up those things I need. Staples is a 10 minute drive away. But until I know this practice is changed, I'll keep making that drive.
Mark

The BBB is waiting for Office Depot to respond again. If they do not respond, or if they respond without changing this practice, then the BBB will grade them accordingly.
And I'll keep this exchange online, until Office Depot decides to change their policy.

How can I contact that sweet old lady? The one who expected a rapture?

I met her in July of 2008. She was the sweet, apple-cheeked lady who wanted to talk to me about God, and about the May 21st Rapture.

I wanted to meet with her on the 22nd, the day after the rapture - the day I was, according to her, supposed to be in Hell.

But the drive-in burger place where we had met has been closed down, condemned, and is surrounded by a tall chain-link fence.

And I was busy on the 22nd, giving a talk to the American Atheists convention in Oakland - so I couldn't meet - even if she had agreed to meet me.

Since then, so many things have happened. I've moved (and am moving again!). My wife died. And Harold Camping, the man who predicted the May 21st Rapture, has had a mild stroke.

I wonder about this apple-faced Grandma. No, actually, I worry about her. Camping has millions of dollars, and a huge radio network worth millions more. Much of that money came from donations from those who could ill afford it.

How much did this woman give? How much of her retirement is gone? Maybe a better question is this; is any of her retirement money left?

Is this woman in good mental health? Does she have family to watch over her? There is a reason to worry.

A young girl in Russia killed herself over this prophesy, and another man in Taiwan. Lyn Benedetto tried (and failed) to kill herself and her children by cutting their throats with a box cutter.

And Camping has gone even further by saying that the May 21st date was merely a "spiritual rapture" and that it actually happened. The "End of the World" is still on target for October 21st, according to Camping.

Well, according to Camping before his stroke. I wonder if he will say something different now? But that's beside the point I want to make here.

Although the failure of the May 21st rapture (or it's success as a 'spiritual rapture') may have been a "wake up call" for many of Camping's believers, there are many more willfully deluded who will now be planning for their financial insolvency for the October 21st deadline.

Will the "spritual rapture" of May 21st goad other true believers into committing suicide (financial or physical) before October 21st? And after that date passes, how many more apple-faced grannies will need to go onto some sort of public assistance?

Maybe I can't talk to her - how can I find her?

But if you were a believer in Harold Camping, and you need someone to talk to - let me know. Email, phone call, text message - you can find it all in my "About Me" section on the sidebar.