So when was God invented, then?

On Sunday my friend Steve got kicked out of Sunday school for asking who invented God. He's a pretty strange kid too (he likes dismantling things). But on Sunday I think he just asked one too many questions. Our teacher didn't answer but got all red in the face and started yelling at him. Then he called his parents and told them to pick up their devil-child and not to bring him back.

I have to say I didn't understand what all the fuss was about. I always thought Sunday school was about learning something. (If you have never been to Sunday school, this story about Sunday schools in Britain will tell you what it's all about.) I even found this quote on a website called time4thinkers:

'What is Sunday School all about?
It’s an environment where you feel totally supported. You can ask the hardest questions as you’re figuring out how to apply spiritual truths to your own experiences.'

I am thinking of bringing it to Sunday school next Sunday and showing it to our teacher. But I have a feeling that this might tip him over the edge.

I thought Steve's question was really interesting. So I asked if it was OK for me to use it on my blog. His parents didn't want me to. But when they called my dad to complain about it, he said he had no idea what blogging was. My dad can be really funny sometimes.

Anyway. 'When was God invented?' is quite a difficult question to answer. Most people would say that he wasn't invented at all, but that he has always been around. (While we're on it, I have to say that I don't understand why God has to be a man. He might as well be a woman. But that's something that will have to wait until some other time. Here's a website on God and Science that goes some way in answering the question. It's still not very clear, but it basically says that 'God is not male, since He is not a physical, but a spiritual, being.')

For people who believe that earth was created in seven days, God has to be something that came first because otherwise he wouldn't have been able to create everything. This means that for creationists (that's what you call them), God was 'invented' before everything else. But for people who believe that God is only an idea, he has been around pretty much as long as people have, because they are the ones with the ideas.

Other religions such as Islam and Judaism have a God too. This complicates things a bit because some religions have been around a lot longer than others. It seems that people have always had to believe in some God-like creature, no matter where they're from. In ancient Greece, people even thought that there were several Gods sitting on a hill called Olympus. Those gods enjoyed messing with people, so they sent all kinds of challenges their way and watched them struggle. It's not clear when the Greek gods were invented but they pretty much died after the fall of the Roman empire. I think that Gods in general only live as long as the culture that believes in them.

Here's a cool website about all of the Greek gods and their relationships. (Check out this Wikipedia picture if you want to know what the Greek gods on Olympus looked like). I think you can say that every culture invents or discovers their own gods. And depending on the culture, these can then be around for quite some time or disappear when the culture that invented them goes down the drain.

The problem with Steve's question is that most people act a little crazy when religion is involved. I think this is because people have to believe in something that can structure their lives. But I don't think they should go all red in the face when they have to explain it to someone. If it is true that God gave his only son to the world as a payment for our sins - as we were told in Sunday school -, I'm sure he won't mind us asking a few questions about his age.

After all the stuff I found, I think it really doesn't matter if God was invented or if he has always been around. If you're a religious person, you should always act as if he's watching you. And if that helps you be a nicer person, it also doesn't matter if God is Jewish, Christian or if he is a Muslim.

I took the picture with the religious fanatic from http://bellitta.com. The picture of God was painted by Michelangelo.

Disabled People can be A-holes too

In school today we were told that 'political correctness' means to treat all people the same, no matter where they're from, who they are or what they look like. Our teacher said it doesn't matter if someone is disabled, white, black, male, female, short or strange, for as long as you treat them all as if they were normal. And he also told us that we should never call someone an idiot or an a-hole to their face. Especially when we're talking to disabled or to black people.

I didn't understand why calling someone who is black an idiot would be any more wrong than calling someone an idiot who is not. I was also confused why it was OK for my dad to call George from next door a 'little bastard a-hole' for hitting our cat for no apparent reason, and why it would be wrong for him to call him that if he was sitting in a wheelchair. I mean, to me it really doesn't matter if George is short or black or green. He would still be a giant a-hole bully for hitting our cat. So I did a little research and here is what I found:

Most people don't know what 'political correctness' means. There is an Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook by someone called Henry Beard (check out the book on Amazon). But most people think that 'political correctness' means not to say or do something you really want to say or do because it is not allowed. Check out this article by someone called BJ Gallagher in an American newspaper, who says that the way people understand political correctness has gone way too far and how it now controls almost everything we think and do.

I checked the dictionary and also did a little search online. It seems that political correctness has more to do with language than it has to do with what we think or do. What it means is that we should not use words that 'exclude, marginalize or insult people' on purpose. (I found this in the Oxford Dictionaries here). But it doesn't mean that we can't say what we think if someone like George behaves like a giant bully idiot.

On my way home, someone in an electric wheelchair hit me from behind because he was talking on his mobile phone and didn't look where he was going. He didn't say sorry or anything but drove on and hit a few of my classmates too. He was angry and started shouting at them because they didn't get out of the way.

My ankle still hurts from where he drove into me with his chair. So I think it should be OK for me to call him a rude idiot. Political correctness should mean that if you are an idiot or a giant a-hole, it should be OK for everyone to call you one, no matter if you're black, white, male, female, short or disabled.

The cat picture is from Pawnation.com.

What happens if you fart in Space?

When Superman is on a mission to Krypton (or when he's orbiting Earth to pick up stuff from somewhere else), he can fly through space without a space suit. This is because he's super strong and doesn't need any oxygen or pressure regulating gadgets. But sometimes I wonder what happens to his farts up there.

I mean, he is up there for quite some time, usually. And  it's pretty cold in space. So, the question is: what happens if he has to cut one loose on one of his space missions? Will it become solid and then stick to his cape? Farts are gassy, after all. And in school we were told that gas becomes liquid when it's cold enough.

I found out that human farts consist of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane and of hydrogen sulfide. The sulfide is what makes them smelly. But the other gasses are mostly there because of your digestion. Check out some interesting facts on farts on Brenna Lorenz' Blog here. As it turns out, Superman's farts are a bit of a mystery, so I just assumed that they are human.

I did some research on temperatures in space and it seems that space is pretty unpredictable. NASA says that temperatures in space are always around absolute Zero (-270 degrees Celsius). This is because space is a vacuum. But there is some back radiation that makes bodies a bit warmer or colder, depending on the sun (you can check out some rather complicated NASA stuff here). So what they're saying is that, if you're in the shadow of a planet, you could freeze to death at -180 degrees. If you're in the sun, you could happily burn at 115 plus. (I had to ask one of my teachers to explain the NASA stuff to me a little. Check out this website at Universe Today for an explanation of space temperatures that is a bit easier to understand.)

Anyway. For Superman this means that it pretty much depends on where he's flying and when. If he's got the sun in his face, farting might not be a good idea. Hydrogen sulfide is highly flammable, so he might burn his trousers off. If he's flying close to the Ozone layer, he might leave an explosive condensation trail because nitrogen reacts with ozone. And then everyone would mistake him for a plane.

But it turns out that some of his fart gas could actually end up in his cape. If Superman is flying at night and in the shadow of a planet, liquid nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and methane can get stuck in his costume. Nitrogen turns into a solid state at around - 196 degrees, Methane at -161 and hydrogen sulfide at -82.

It's good to know that no one will ever see Superman with a wet cape from farting though because most of the nitrogen will be burnt off by the ozone layer on his way back from space. The rest of his skid marks will probably evaporate into our atmosphere on his re-entry.

If you ever wanted to know what happens to normal Astronauts when they fart into their space suits, check out these cool facts on sciencemuseum.org.uk.

   


I found the cool Superman picture on Odin's Ravens Blog.