About Me
I’m a 4o somethin’ year old ex-theist living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I’m married to a beautiful, intelligent woman with whom I share an obsession over a beautiful and clever daughter. My personality is something of an enigma, possibly between an INTP and an INFP (maybe leaning more on the INTP side).
On this blog you’ll often find me working through my former belief in evangelical christianity to understand what my current freethinking/atheist self is all about. Oh, and I’ll have the odd post on martial arts too.
daydreamer 
Dorinda & Quintin said,
October 7, 2006 at 3:42 pm
Congratulations Jerry. We are very happy for you.
Love Quintin and Dorinda
Jerry said,
October 10, 2006 at 6:20 am
Thanks, guys. Great to hear from you! It’s been awhile. I hope all is going well in your neighbourhood. Happy Thanksgiving!
Laura said,
May 11, 2007 at 10:17 am
Hi! I just sort of stumbled upon your blog while I was thinking about existentialism, religion, and psychology. Your posts are really interesting and I look forward to reading more. Check out my blog when you can. It’s only a week old and under serious construction but you might get an understanding of why I appreciate what you’re writing about.
Peace,
~L
Will said,
August 25, 2009 at 6:59 am
Great Site! I stumbled upon it when researching for my own parenting blog, and brother, does this ever ring-true. Personally, I choose to be a non-religious believer myself, but I understand it as that — My Choice, and I’ve found for years that rational perspective (flavoured much like what you’ve illustrated here) keeps me from presenting (or clinging to) my beleifs as though they were The Truth. The actual facts are these: 1. We cannot know The Truth, and 2. Faith is good for the psyche.
Cheers! Will
Jerry said,
August 25, 2009 at 10:06 am
Hi Will,
I’m glad you dropped by, and thanks for the compliment on my site.
Two things you mentioned stood out to me and I was wondering if you might want to elaborate on them. The first, being the label ‘non-religious believer’. I’ve heard of it from others before but have yet to understand what that looks like.
The second thing is your fact #2: “Faith is good for the psyche.” By “is” do you mean always? Also, what do you understand as ‘the psyche’, and how is faith good for it?
Jerry
Will said,
August 25, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Thanks for responding so quickly!
As for what THIS ‘non-religious believer’ looks like, I’ll occasionally listen to music from my Christian past. (I now see Christianity a re-packeged Mithraism, Osirisism, ad infinitum) I enjoy the life-affirming aspect of it, and while such theme’s are present in other music, the concentrated tincture versions are nice every now & again. I enjoy learning about other belief systems, especially of Indian (yoga, Hindu, Buddhist) or Chinese (Taoism), but especially WASP Kabalah (see Golden Dawn) From the latter, I learned to treat god(s) like Jungian archetypes “It’s all in your head. The trouble is, we have no idea how big our heads really are.” (Lon Milo DuQuette)
As to how faith is good for the psyche, you may have called me on my bullshit; I said ‘psych’ in a non-clinical way to refer generally to “Head Space” As to how it’s good, It’s helpful, in various interactions,l to pray that they remember what they’ve sown. But mostly, it’s a sense of gratitude that’s good for my head space.
And generally, happy people are healthier, and miserable, stressed-out people are likely to be ulcer-magnets.
Let me know if there’s more to clarify
Will
PS Love the recent “Open Minded” video!
Will said,
August 25, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Oops! I meant to say “I pray that they remember this (whatever was prominant in the interaction, be it good, bad, or ugly) when they reap what they’ve sown” The lesson being: re-read, THEN post š
Feel free to stop by fatherhoodothercommonterrors.blogspot.com
Cheers!
Will
Will said,
August 25, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Okay, you’ve got my wheels turning, and I’d like to present more food for thought: Can organized religion be a good intruduction for kids to the bigger questions? I’m confident you’ve already given an unequivical NO, and I’m equally confident that you’re curious enough to read on…
We don’t teach kids objective logic right away, we teach them black-and-white decision making skills first. Prime example: “You cross the street at the corner, only on a green light, and only when you see the white walking man and ABSOLUTELY NOT the red hand. This is not how you & I cross the street, but this is how we learned to cross the street.
Now, did a senior citizen save all the species of the earth in a really, really big boat when the earth was flooded? Probably not, but such a flood happaned, and it can probably be assumed that many species were saved by such people. As a child, the story of Noah’s Ark made sense, and introduced me to these ideas. Now, when I hear of clam fosils in a mountain, I have a frame of reference.
In conclusion, I’m afraid of religious influence on my children, but acknowledge that such influence did me some good back in the day.
Jerry said,
September 11, 2009 at 8:14 am
Just to be clear, do you think the flood (written about in other ancient literature) was really a global flood? And how do you feel about the biblical writer of Genesis writing about God having a hand in global genocide?
Christopher Hitchens often asks people, “What good has religion done that can’t be done without it?” (Not a direct quote, but something along those lines.) I haven’t really put a lot of thought into an answer, but I’ve been meaning to. Maybe you have some suggestions?
Jerry
Will said,
September 18, 2009 at 7:00 am
Tough call — I’m not sure if “The Floods” in the various lituratures were written around the same time. As for the Divine Justice aspect, it seems like primitive minds trying to understand something that’s just too big for their frame of reference. Now, why are some still clinging to this interpretation? Old ideas don’t die easily. I’m sure there were still people practicing blood-letting during the Renaisance! My best theories on Devine Justice all resemble Karma — reap what you sow, baby!
One of the 2-3 Tom Clancy booke I’ve read, Atlantis Found is based on the theory that The Flood was from a astroid impact that created Hudson’s Bay. Being that big, it wrecked havoc world-wide. He quotes his source, but I can’t recall off the top of my head.
Jerry said,
September 18, 2009 at 8:54 am
“My best theories on Devine Justice all resemble Karma ā reap what you sow, baby!”
Yeah, I think Karma can account for the evil we’ve, at least, contributed to. I also think the greater struggle is accounting for the evil/suffering we’ve experienced that we (individually and/or globally) haven’t contributed to.
This latter problem has led to all sorts of redefining of the words “God”, “good”, and “evil”. Some may refer to this process of redefining as ‘divine correction’ and still chalk up the theological/moral contradictions as a result of human minds being too primitive to fully understand and relay God’s teachings. But I think, in this day and age, it’s time for us to stop selling our ability to reason so incredibly short.
If there is a God capable of articulating who and what he/she/it is, and capable of articulating a justification for all evil and suffering, despite our assumed incapability to understand the rationale, I’d still like to hear it or read it (provided that it be simultaneously presented to all humanity without a human agent as it’s messenger). Now THAT would be something!
But among many conversations, I’ve been told human language is too limited to communicate THAT knowledge OR such actions would not take place in “the best of all possible worlds”. ‘How does someone know this?’ you might ask. Because, I’m told, such a revelation has not happened and God exists despite the lack of universal/empirical evidence. So, if God exists and this revelation hasn’t happened, it shouldn’t happen.
“But how can an “Omnibenevolent God” exist in a world with the kind of suffering that had no human contribution to its evil cause?” you might ask. I’m told by some that if it’s not the result of Adam and Eve’s sin, it’s the work of Satan and his demons. (Sounds similar to a polytheistic paradigm such as the Greek pantheon).
“I know it’s claimed that God gave humanity ‘Freewill’ so that those who accept God’s salvation are freely choosing to do so via love – which can also only exist as a choice. So, why would God give freewill to Lucifer (later ‘Satan’) and not offer Lucifer salvation after he rebelled against God?” you may ask. “And how does a perfectly good being have a desire to choose evil if that desire is evil itself?” you may also ask. I’m told these things haven’t been communicated in the bible, so no one knows.
“Then, why doesn’t this omnibenevolent God tell us about this critical knowledge on the origins of evil?” you may ask. Again, I’m told language is too limited and that wouldn’t be the best of all possible worlds… and around and around we go!
Dan said,
January 12, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Jerry, it’s Dan from the Freethinkers apostate group. How’s it going? Just happened to stumble across your blog today for the first time. I read your brief bio. You’re INFP or INTP? I’ve always been somewhat fascinated with personalities. I’ve tested frequently as INFJ. In reading the description, I feel it fits.
Hey, are you on Facebook? I’m just starting out on there (again). Thought I might look you guys up. I’m at work, so I can’t access the site from here. But I’ll look you up when I get home. Take care!
Jerry said,
January 13, 2010 at 2:12 am
Hey Dan, it’s good to hear from you. Hope you had a great Christmas (or Mythmas).
It’s been awhile since I’ve explored Myers-Briggs personality tests, but ya, I too am somewhat fascinated with this attempt to describe people.
Becky has been trying to get me on Facebook, but I’ve shied away from it. Coincidentally, I shied away in part because I assumed it to be a little more extroverted than I’d like. You’ll have to tell me about your take on the whole facebook experience.
See ya at the next Cafe Apostate?
Dan said,
January 13, 2010 at 8:41 am
I’ll be there! It sure has grown from that first meeting. That group keeps me strong. But I can’t tell you how torn I am still surrounded by Christian family. It’s one of those bitter/sweet things, I guess. I’m trying to take a little positive from both sides.
Jerry said,
January 13, 2010 at 11:03 am
Great! I’m hoping the new location facilitates the rapid growth. This group is valuable to me, too.
You have a beautiful family, by the way. Becky and I were honored to be introduced to them. And, Dan, I think there’s a lot of positive to be taken by us humanists (check out the conversation I’ve been having on Saskatoon Freethinkers meetup page lately).
See ya at Mackenzie Cole!
Dan said,
February 17, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Hey Jerry,
Haven’t heard from you in while. Hopefully all’s well. I heard you picked up a few extra shifts this week. If it’s not going to work to get together this week, we can always make arrangements another time. Hope you had a good Valentine’s weekend! Kristin and I saw Avatar. Good movie! Anyway, we’ll chat soon!