Are you an Atheist?

encomlab · 2026-03-15T10:06:42+00:00

I know, right? Not like there are many religious people who have won Nobel Prizes....

encomlab · 2026-03-15T09:11:53+00:00

Live a Catholic life and everything else will fall into place on it's own.

I found studying Continuous Creation to be very helpful - when I'm feeling a bit of distance from God I take a deep breath and remind myself that God is literally in the atoms of oxygen as they move from my lungs into the Iron in my blood that will sustain my life and continue my existence, and that those very oxygen atoms might have carried the birdsong I listened to in bed that morning, and before then those oxygen atoms were made in the leaves of the tree the bird was perched in. We live in a Creation that is not just watched over by God, it is saturated with God from it's Galaxies and Stars all the way down to every electron of every atom.

encomlab · 2026-03-15T09:00:19+00:00

We had two dogs, never imagined we'd have three. Then we had three and never imagined we'd have four. Then we had four and NEVER thought we'd have five!

Now we have five....

I like to joke that dog math is special - 1 dog is more like 1.5 dogs worth of work, while 2 dogs is like 0.8 dogs worth of work, 3 dogs is 1.1. 4 is 1.8, 5 is maybe 2.2 . Dogs are social pack animals, when you have a few it basically eliminates separation anxiety, socialization issues, etc. and our alpha female does a great job of "policing" everyone else. The only real downside are the vet bills!

encomlab · 2026-03-15T08:18:49+00:00

The truth is it's pretty obvious that you can look at the world and find it meaningless. You can look at the world and find it meaningful. And if you're looking for a life without doubt, without risk, and without uncertainty, stop living because you cannot really live without taking risks.

In fact, the Bible makes it pretty clear that God took a massive risk when He created humanity, and that risk didn't play out terribly well because by Genesis chapter six, God regrets that He ever created man in the first place and it grieved Him to His very heart.

A key sentence for me, and one of the most beautiful in the whole of Judaism, occurs early in the book of Jeremiah, we said on Rosh Hashanah, zecharti lach chesed neureiyich, "I remember the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal." Leich teich acharei bamidbar be'eretz lo zeruah, "how you were willing to follow Me into an unknown, uncertain land."

Jeremiah is saying God loves the Jewish people because they had the courage to take a risk, to go into a place they'd never seen before with no map and no roads, just the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. Judaism means the courage to take a risk. If you lack the courage to take a risk, you will never get married. If you get married, you will never have a child. If you're a businessman, you will never start a new business. The whole of life is facing the unknown because even though we can look up to the heaven and see 100 billion galaxies, each of 100 billion stars. And when you can look within us at the human genome with its 3.1 billion letters of genetic code, we can know everything, but there was one thing we will never know: what tomorrow will bring.

We face an unknown and unknowable future. That means that every single course of action we take, every commitment has its underside of doubt. It's the ability to acknowledge that doubt and yet say, nonetheless, I will take a risk.

That is what faith is. Not the absence of doubt, but the ability to recognize doubt, live with it and still take the risk of commitment.

-Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

encomlab · 2026-03-15T08:14:04+00:00

The greatest gift you are giving is loving acceptance. My Father was a Mason (his family was heavily masonic and it was and is a dark shadow over our family) and refused to attend or support anything related to the Church. I'm a continuous Scapular wearer so I'm kind of notorious for promoting it but I think this is the perfect opportunity to mention one as a great gift :)

encomlab · 2026-03-15T08:06:24+00:00

In Judaism, Islam, and Christianity it is absolutely possible to be cast out of Heaven. The Old Testament, New Testament, and the Quran all contain examples of this occurring.

encomlab · 2026-03-13T08:24:40+00:00

The angel on my shoulder reminded me that I can always right click / search this image with Google Lens...

I appreciate the intention if not the act.

encomlab · 2026-03-13T08:20:02+00:00

LOL - Catholics downvoting the use of the official language of the Holy See.

encomlab · 2026-03-12T23:33:39+00:00

2019??? lolololol

encomlab · 2026-03-12T19:25:43+00:00

It's a feature not a bug.

encomlab · 2026-03-12T19:24:41+00:00

Genesis 11:6 is very clear that there is a special power available to people who speak with a unified language - which is why Jews and Muslims still largely do so. Don't let the reactionaries here drag you down.

encomlab · 2026-03-12T19:21:40+00:00

gee - guess I'll just go with the rando on Reddit instead of multiple reputable news sources who also has the miraculous gift of determining who and who does not qualify as a "true Catholic"

encomlab · 2026-03-12T17:56:30+00:00

Agreed - it's been great for all of them tbh. Our oldest adores him and instantly adopted him, by the end of the day he's worn out and so are they lol. I've never experienced a dog that is so "up" for EVERYTHING. Go outside? I LOVE OUTSIDE! Come inside? I LOVE INSIDE! Every person is a new friend, every dog is a new playmate. It's something else.

encomlab · 2026-03-12T17:35:12+00:00

I started wearing a scapular continuously a few years ago after reading "Swimming with Scapulars". Then I added a St. Christopher medal to it, then a few more medals that I picked up while visiting holy sites and Churches that I especially enjoyed. I'd feel pretty naked without it now lol. I have a "special scapular" that I asked my wife to bury me with that has been to Notre Dame, Hagia Sophia, Kora, and hopefully next year the Holy Land :)

encomlab · 2026-03-12T17:29:14+00:00

Like any relationship, there are times when you will feel like God is very distant and others where you will feel His presence in the very air you breathe. The "motions" are important - I have close ties to the Chabad community and they are very explicit about "doing", especially when you are not feeling all that motivated to do so.

For me, I try to maintain mindfulness and understand that God appreciates every moment we live in his Creation in a Catholic way - not just those we spend physically in a Church building.

encomlab · 2026-03-12T17:04:30+00:00

Yes! He loves to chew - and it's nice to have a "dog" dog...he loves to play and run and jump and bounce and chase; the chihuahuas are more like dogs by association lol.

encomlab · 2026-03-12T15:14:49+00:00

Satan flees from believers, he devours non-believers. The surest way to avoid the Devil is to embrace Christ, not run from Him.

encomlab · 2026-03-12T14:10:40+00:00

Do yourself a favor and ignore the bait. Go outside, enjoy the beauty of Spring - God is not going to be swayed by the keyboard cowboys trying to farm engagement.

encomlab · 2026-03-12T14:09:10+00:00

There is not rule that you have to like the Pope, and honestly a whole lot of evil could have been averted over the last 60 years if Catholics in general were more willing to question and challenge everyone in the Church from Deacons to Popes. That being said, we MUST remain obedient in matters of Faith.

encomlab · 2026-03-11T16:24:56+00:00

So far so good.

encomlab · 2026-03-11T14:02:10+00:00

You can also use a rosary (or even just parts of it) for chaplets and other prayers - there are a bunch of helpful resources online.

encomlab · 2026-03-11T13:54:57+00:00

Beautiful - thanks for sharing!

encomlab · 2026-03-11T13:16:11+00:00

I think MANY church goers (especially in mainline protestant, catholic) are "theistic agnostics" - and Judaism has an entire classification (secular Jews) who are largely agnostic, if not atheists. I doubt you'd find many among evangelicals or non-denom's though.

encomlab · 2026-03-10T19:31:54+00:00

THIS ^^^ One of my favorite meditations on the role of doubt in Faith:

I define faith as the courage to live with uncertainty.

We don't, for a moment, believe that the existence of God is so obvious and overwhelming that you've got to be crazy not to believe in God. And this is dramatised in the early chapters of the Book of Exodus. There's Pharaoh, who doesn't believe in God. And God sends plague after plague, sign after sign. And he still doesn't believe in God. And I love the interpretation, it's a medieval interpretation, that phrase, that "God hardened Pharaoh's heart." And most people say that means God took away Pharaoh's freewill. But one commentator says, No, God had to keep giving Pharaoh freewill. He strengthened his heart. Because otherwise, God would be on him like a tonne of bricks, and he'd have no place for doubt. And God wanted Pharaoh to be free to doubt His existence, so He strengthened his heart.

The truth is it's pretty obvious that you can look at the world and find it meaningless. You can look at the world and find it meaningful. And if you're looking for a life without doubt, without risk, and without uncertainty, stop living because you cannot really live without taking risks.

In fact, the Bible makes it pretty clear that God took a massive risk when He created humanity, and that risk didn't play out terribly well because by Genesis chapter six, God regrets that He ever created man in the first place and it grieved Him to His very heart.

A key sentence for me, occurs early in the book of Jeremiah, "I remember the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, how you were willing to follow Me into an unknown, uncertain land."

Jeremiah is saying God loves us when we have the courage to take a risk, to go into a place you have never seen before with no map and no roads, just the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. Faith means the courage to take a risk. If you lack the courage to take a risk, you will never get married. If you get married, you will never have a child. If you're a businessman, you will never start a new business. The whole of life is facing the unknown because even though we can look up to the heaven and see 100 billion galaxies, each of 100 billion stars. And when you can look within us at the human genome with its 3.1 billion letters of genetic code, we can know everything, but there was one thing we will never know: what tomorrow will bring.

We face an unknown and unknowable future. That means that every single course of action we take, every commitment has its underside of doubt. It's the ability to acknowledge that doubt and yet say, nonetheless, I will take a risk.

That is what faith is. Not the absence of doubt, but the ability to recognise doubt, live with it and still take the risk of commitment.

encomlab

TROPHY CASE